Adderrall Vacation...The Good and Bad??

[Austinsmom1234]

My son has been on adderrall for 4 years now.  He's going into the 5th grade now and still struggling with academics.  When we first started him on the meds we were giving him 10mg in the morning, 10 at noon and 5 before homework.  His father and I are divorced and rotate week on, week off.  This summer I decided to talk to my son about changing some things in his diet to see how he would feel without his pill. He'll be 11 in September and I think he's old enough to tell me how he feels and we can work together.  When I told his father that I didn't give him the pill for a week he was not happy. He says it can make him psychotic if he doesn't get the pill daily.  For the first time in a long time my son had more of an emotional connection with those around him and seemed to do fine without the pill. What are the pros and cons to adderrall vacation? It seemed to work well for us, I just need to convice his father that we need to communicate with our son about his opinions and feelings.

[1centwiz]

I too am on an adderrall vacation. I've been taking it for 18 months and I seemed to be getting worse with my excessive talking and random thoughts over time. I was on Ritalyn and wellbutrine before that but ended up in a 2 year major depression while taking them.
At age 11, I was totally an outdoors person and started babysitting. I loved to read so I'd read out loud to the little kids. It was good for me and good for them. I memorized chicken little one summer...
The biggest problem I can see with your husband is that he's not willing to take the time for son that your son needs from him. Meds can be perceived as an easy fix for many parents and teachers, but does not teach the kids any life skills. The rules that he'll have to learn like social cues etc.
Your son is old enough to understand consequences and what happens if he does not stop himself when he gets into that dark part of his mind where the "what the hell, I don't care" monster lives.
If he can learn what triggers that little monster, he'll be better for it in the long run. He's also going to have to learn that around some people, taking meds makes them feel better just knowing you are on them.
Right now my husband doesn't know I've been off of mine for the last month. And I'm being really careful with how I act now. Before I think I was taking for granted that the "meds" would keep me in line. However, I too am finding that I'm feeling more attached to him and able to express or not express myself to him. Now he's the one with the anger problem because I've taught him what is acceptable. Now I have to un-learn him...pun intended.
Mother's and Son's are allowed to have secrets. Not to say you should lie to your ex, but maybe it's time for your son to say he's taking care of the situation and let him be the boss of that part of his life.
If he thinks he's going to need the meds because he's heading for a big test or a stressful social event where failure might rear it's ugly head of the monster, then by all means, let him take the meds for a few days.
The biggest thing I'm worried about is the long term effects of taking meds. So I too have begun again to look at my diet as a means to handle my impulsiveness. Wheat/Gluten/Yeast free seems to help with my allergies and with my brain fog.
Right now I feel this strong need to connect with others because my husband left after being home almost a week. He's a long haul truck driver and so just when we get used to each other, he leaves again for weeks at a time. Not an easy thing for an ADHD person, but I'm learning to make it through the transitions better. Change is not always easy for us to manage well...We need boundaries to feel safe and tend to set rules to live by as our security blanket of sorts. At least for me, it's part of the OCD I have along with the ADHD. But everybody is different...
What also may work for your son, is if he can write in a journal that will be kept safe from prying eyes. He needs to learn to put his thoughts down on paper so that he can look back and see how much he has learned. It's a great way to get self esteem when he can see that not all of his days were all bad. Focusing on the good times helps build that confidence that he can do what ever he sets his mind to.
The other thing that may help, is some sort of reward system for good behavior. It works for me like when I get some big project done I get a new pair of socks. I love socks.... or something small that is on my wish list.
Each item has a value and each project has a value. When I have enough, and I can save them up for the bigger value items, well then I get the reward.
Sometimes it's a soda when I make in and out of the super market within a certain time frame. I tend to linger and read everything in site or all of the labels or find a new friend I end up talking to for hours in the aisle. Yep, I find other people like me like a fly to fly paper... It's so cool really...I'm off to bed, the suns' coming up because it's vampire season, sleeping in until 9:30-10am until school starts...
Cheers, Tamra

[Beldan4]

well I was never on adderall as long as your son is but being an adult with add i would forget to take my own medication. Adderall before it was found to be helpful for ADD was used as an anti-depressant. not sure if it really would make someone psycotic but stopping the meddication suddenly or even backing off puts him at risk for depression. Next is the fact that my ADD would come back with a vengance, like my whole head would fog over, as it suddenly slowed down.

The only upside to taking a vacation from medication is it resets the brains tolerance level after a time. one of the biggest fears i had while i was on it was that I would have to keep taking larger and larger doses to keep up the same effect. so i only took adderall only when i absoutly though i needed to.

However im totaly off all my medication now since finding about somthing called neurofeedback. No ADD, OCD, or depression (well at least to the point that symptoms are the rare exception rather then the rule). my therapists website is www.neurotherapynw.com it has good information and links it your interested in finding someone in your area that pratices it.