There are some docs that will tell you that it's best to take it 7 days a week, and not to break... But I think most would be very happy to hear that you want to give him a break on weekends. I try and do that myself personally, and I'm a grown man (25 years old.) It's good, gives the brain and body a little bit of a break, and as always, even though it's good those meds are helping your son, it's always best to not to medicate if you feel you don't have to. You say you have him under good control at home, sounds like you have a pretty good plan thought out to me. I don't really think there's too many people that would disagree with your logic. It's a safe and healthy plan. Not taking it 7 days a week also helps keep down the chance of a physical dependency developing on the medication.
You obviously care about your child and his welfare a great deal, i hope his situation gets better. Please keep us posted, and good luck.
Also, have you thought about just lowering the dosage a little and seeing if that helps get his appetite back?
We tried this. But when monday came, the meds were really tough.
By taking them off and putting them back on is NOT allowing their body to adjust. AND it is really hard on them on Monday. I found my son really affected by the med.
I feel that you need to give it time and let everything adjust.
Pump up the calories. We let our son eat at all hours of the day/really night and everything and anything he wanted. We catered to his wishes when it came to food. AND it worked. He is 12, all A's w/one b+ on his report card and happy.
Give it a chance. pump up the calories, lots of shakes, frosties, etc. We found that our son's blood sugar would fall and that he craved sugar because of this. So it really helped giving him the initial hershey bar when he came home from school.
I hope this is of some help!!
Definitely discuss it with the doc. I know that other people have different opinions but my son takes his medication 7 days a week and never misses a dose! He just needs it SOOOOOO badly that it would be unfair to keep it from him. I think that a child's system does better if the medication is steady rather than "jolting" it ever 5 days by withholding the medication.
I know it's hard to watch your son not eating. It's like that in the beginning. Talk to the doctor. If he doesn't start to eat soon there are other things the doc can do. I guess there are situations where the doc would recommend taking him off the meds on the weekends but I would try every other option first. If your son is getting a benefit from the meds then he needs them so hopefully you and the doc can come up with a solution that doesn't take him off the meds on the weekends! Good luck!
As a lot of you may know, my son is on Focalin XR and has only been on it for 8 days now. We really only put him on the meds to help him get through school, home life is ok, as we have learned how to control him at home. Is it ok to stop the meds during the weekends? He is not eating on the medication and I just thought that 2 days a week of 3 meals a day might do his body some good. But I dont know how playing stop and go with the meds will affect him...just wondering if any of you have done this at all? Before I seriously considered doing this, I would definitely clear it with Dr., just wanted to see if anyone has successfully done it. I'm going to call Dr. tomorrow anyhow due to the fact that he has lost 5 lbs in one week and its driving me crazy. I feel like I am watching my child starve to death, he was tiny to begin with and couldnt afford this loss. I did try some advice given, and fed him before the meds and that did help this morning, he ate at 8, but hasnt had a thing since and its 5:00. He refuses even water, saying he is so full his stomache hurts. As you can see, I'm pretty much driving myself looney over this, so stopping the meds on the weekends and being able to feed my child would ease my mind considerably!!