meds withdrawl PLEASE READ! | ADHD Information

He is on Calm Child (I have recently posted its' contents on the Alternative postings)  and Omegas.  He also drinks green tea every morning and I try to give him ice tea (sometimes mountain dew) in the afternoons.   If you are interested in alternatives to medication look at the Aternative and Complementary Medicine board, there is alot of helpful info. unconditionaluv38556.8416782407cat, I totally agree with you.  My son was on Adderall xr and his "rebounding" was way worse then his ADHD symptoms.  When he got into trouble at school it was always at the end of the day when the meds was wearing off.  I decide to take him off the meds, at first for the summer, now I decided to do it permenately.   Number one reason being is that the meds help him focus at school but it really altered his moods, for the worse.  Number two reason--he lost an alarmingly amount of weight.  He has been on herbal and vitamin supplements all summer with great results.  Yeah, he still has his moments, but all in all he seems much happier now. What kind of herbal and vitamin supplements is he on?What the child is expereincing is the return of the ADHD symptoms when taken off medication, not withdrawal from medication. Stimulant medications for ADHD flush out of the system and unlike blood level medication there is no need to wean off or worry about withdrawal as a result of being taken off medication and if taken as precribed, there is no potential for addiction. What happens is the child goes from feeling in total control to feeling totally out of control when the medication is stopped so the ADHD symptoms return with vengence. If the child is hyperactive, they may be even more hyped out for a while due the feeling once again of not having any control over their impulses.Hi,
I've noticed the rebound thing in myself, on days I
don't take meds. The next days, though, are usually
pretty good, as long as I remember to give myself
extra time to accomodate for increased spaciness
and other symptoms. Also, though, I've found that the
second day (or the day after, if i was taking a lower
dose than normal) I've lately been doing the things
I've "learned" using meds. This connects to the
"medication as a tool" idea in one of the forums
here. I don't find it lasts all that long, but I've also got
to manage all those areas of organisation that a kid
wouldn't have to. Anyway, it's great that she is able to
"behave" while not on meds!

Hi Cat!

I personally would not necessarily call it "withdrawal", as that usually used when describing the physical and psychological symptoms that follows discontinuance of an addicting drug. Although many (most? all?) of the ADD drugs are potentially addictive, I do not believe it is the case with your daughter. Generally (as far as I know) the term used here is "rebound".  There is a marked agitation or even *exaggeration* of pre-medication symptoms as it is wearing off. From what I have found in my reading and on the internet, rebound is common with Ritalin. I just started myself on Ritalin about two weeks ago and noticed exaggeration of the symptoms after it wears off (rebound). In my case, I am back to "normal" within a few hours. Since your daughter has been taking her medication longer, maybe the rebound lasts longer (but, hey,  I ain't no doctor). I believe that it similar to the way my glasses work. When I take them off my eyesight is worse for a while until my eyes start to adjusts. Perhaps there is something similar here.

Another thing it might be is that she has grown emotionally or psychologically dependant on the effects. By that I mean, that before she was medicated she was able to control her behavior slightly. On the medication there was no need to make an effort and she got "lazy". Without the medication, she is still making no effort at all to control her behavior and then it appears worse. It is only after a she notices the changes herself that she is able to control it again.

I have also noticed that my son can behave fairly normally without it. He does a a few minor episodes, but we typically skip the medication on weekends or others days when he has no homework and we are around to "guide" him.  

Regards,

jimmo

 

Hi,

I am new to this site. I just wanted to share my experience with parents who have thought to take their children off medicine for summer/otherwise, or for parents who forgot to medicate their child one day and had a day from you know where!

My daughter who is now 10 1/2 was first diagnosed with ADHD at age 3. I know, thats young! At age 5 when she started school, we had her evaluated again (due to problems at school) and she was put on medication. She has been medicated every since then. I never took her off during summer, because whenever there would be a day I forgot, she was uncontrollable! I thought I couldn't do that to her, me, or her daycare or summer camp teachers! At the beginning of summer break this year, I ran out of her precrisption on a Friday afternoon, and forgot to pick it up before the Dr. Office closed. The following Monday was Memorial day. That meant she would be without her medicine for a whole 3 days, the longest ever! I thought I would be pulling my hair out before Tuesday came. Saturday was horrible! She was uncontrollable. Sunday she was a little more managable. By Monday, she was very controllable. I was astonished! I even made the comment to her that she was doing great, and it was almost like she had taken her medicine. She agreed, and asked if she could try to stay off it for a while. We decided on it and she has been doing wonderfully this summer! She's even more friendlier! (the medicine seen to put her in a mood much of the time). I am convinced that the horrible behavior I had seen after being off the medicine for a day was withdrawl, not the way she would be without medication. I am even more convinced of this today, because yesterday, she wanted to take it to see if it made a difference. When I picked her up from camp yesterday I asked her, and she said It did make her much more calm and she felt like she was in a bad mood. I told her not to take her medicine again this summer. We would wait until school started back up and go from there. Since she didn't have it today, the camp counselor called  to inform me that she was very disobedient and out of line today, more than ever. I have never gotten a call from camp! I know she is going through withdrawl from being medicated yesterday. I am not even sure I want to put her back on medicine when school starts. Sure, she still displays symptoms of ADHD when she's not medicated, but it's managable. I hate the way it makes her when she comes off.

So, for all you parents who wanted or want to try to take your child off temporary or permenant, if you can just stick it out for a few days until withdrawl passes, I really believe it will work!