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Post by Linda on Nov 7, 2003 8:05:04 GMT -5
I know a lot of people do not agree with this..but do you give your kids med breaks?  Since age 5 we started giving breaks..now we do away with week-ends-summer etc.  :)Personally speaking I think with the stims running in and out of there systems...they start out "fresh" come monday.  What do you think and do?  |
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Post by eaccae on Nov 7, 2003 8:33:10 GMT -5
It's funny. We are starting to do the opposite. DS has been on meds for 3 years now. We have never given it to him on weekends or during the summer. Recently we have started giving it to him on Saturdays and now we are starting Sundays as well. Mostly because he seems happier - he is more in control and can enjoy the things we do much more. It took 3 years for us to reach this point though. ;D After talking with so many people and getting so many different opinions for the last 3 years - it kind of made sense to us - the meds help him focus, helps his high energy (although this doesn't really bother me I'm so used to it) and helps his impulsivenss (which has become a HUGE problem over the weekends). We also get together at our family's farmhouse almost every weekend with either friends and their kids or cousins. I hate spending my weekends yelling and punishing DS for the same things over and over - which I know are a result of the ADHD - and finally DH and I decided to try the meds on Saturdays. Wow! We are having enjoyable family weekends for the first time in a long time. AND DS is clearly much happier. Now don't anybody get me wrong here - we have ALOT of behavior modifications in place and are extremely consistent with punishments etc. (one of the reasons the weekends have become so hard). I'm the crazy lady with the 4pm-bedtime routine and alarms. So I know the answer isn't medication. But the reasons I am giving DS his meds is to help him out overall - which to me includes the weekends. He doesn't stop living and learning and socializing when school is out. It just took me 3 years to get to this decision. I think whatever your decision, though, is the right decision for you! ;D It took me 3 years to think this was okay - so I certainly don't think it's wrong to take "med breaks" |
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Post by Veronika on Nov 7, 2003 8:37:39 GMT -5
That's a tough one. I think it depends on the child. The first time our dr told us to give Johnathon a 'meds holiday' he told us to bring him into the office that day to see how he was doing. Johnathon was running on the tables, knocking off the magazines, barging into the other offices, slamming the doors etc...  The dr told us to NEVER do that again. But that was when he was around 7 yrs old. Now he's 12 yrs old, and during the summer of 2002 we didn't give any stims. He was fine because he didn't have to focus. Last summer we took off the stims to and it was hell! I think it depends on the age of the child and how severe their ADD/ADHD is. |
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Post by catseye on Nov 7, 2003 9:17:47 GMT -5
Sd was not takeing her meds on the weekends, mainly because she doesnt eat very well with medication, and we have to get this child to make up for it on the weekends...
The weekends were getting bad though, so about 3 weeks ago we started using meds on weekends also... Weekends are traditionally family time, and it is better to have family time without the child hurting people, bouncing off walls, and really made the weekends miserable for herself, and the whole family...
I agree that it depends on the child, and the family really... If the child is not so wild, and uncontrollable that the family can enjoy their time together great!!! But when it gets to the point no one wants the weekend to come, you have to do something I guess..
cat
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Post by vickilyn32 on Nov 7, 2003 15:02:11 GMT -5
When Dan was on stims we never gave them to him on hollidays, weekend, summer, etc. and never had a problem, but he is only inattentive with just some impulsitivity. If there was something he had to sit through like when he went to boyscout camp we gave him the meds then. I agree that this needs to be a personal choice made for each child. This is what has worked for us.
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Post by AnneM on Nov 7, 2003 18:03:21 GMT -5
I tend to meet it half-way and I often give him HALF his normal dosage at weekends .... just enough to help him BUT not enough to wreck his appetite .... i.e. he normally takes 36 mg and at weekends he just takes an 18 mg .... however often on Sundays he takes a complete break .... & YES I do agree with the "fresh start" on a Monday - it seems to me that medication works "better" after a break!
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Post by PJD1120 on Nov 8, 2003 16:12:58 GMT -5
I was giving my son a break because he won't eat while on concerta but he is hard to get along with. Last summer wasn't bad but this past summer was terrible. We didn't even want to go on vacation. He has lost 4lbs since school started so sometimes I have to give him a break but it is rough.
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Post by mom2tj on Nov 8, 2003 18:40:22 GMT -5
We dont medicate in the summer but during school we find that if we dont give it constantly we get somthing like a rebound effect I know it should be out of his system but for some reason DS gets moody and very adgitated on mondays and sometimes tuesdays when we take breaks on weekends. so Dr sugested we medicate on weekdens to give some kind of concistancy he is alot better and we dont have anymore crying episodes and homework gets done with no yelling! So for us this is what works! I dont feel like I medicate to make my life better DS is not hyper its just he seems so much happier with routine.  |
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Post by Jorgy on Nov 9, 2003 18:03:20 GMT -5
One summer I tried to decrease his med and hopefully wean him off for the summer. With just the decrease he became very impulsive again. He started playing with matches! Scared me to death. Since then he gets meds everyday. Maybe we'll try again when he is older. Sue
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Post by sierra on Nov 11, 2003 1:26:17 GMT -5
We didn't do a med break last summer but I think we might this summer. At least for Li'l Sprout. He's still sharp and on task without meds. His ODD and hyperness just go wild. I think that with some serious behavior modification we might be able to work on those issues now.
Of course we had a med break this weekend that makes me wonder. He's one hot chili pepper.
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Post by milesofsmiles on Nov 11, 2003 9:38:29 GMT -5
We give our son a break on the weekends, and holidays. I have noticed that since school started he is exibiting a little more "H" when he is not on medication. The main reason for the break is to maintain and increase his weight. He does not eat much for lunch during the week. Miles |
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Post by Angelia on Nov 11, 2003 10:28:33 GMT -5
When my son was younger he had a problem with having tics, and we noticed that they were induced by the coming on and off of meds. So, for years we could not miss even one dose or he would have a really bad spell of tics. His tics have completely stopped now, and this last summer his doctor recommended us to take him off to see where he was at so, we did and he did not have any tics, and it was nice seeing his true self for awhile, but on the other hand it showed us exactly why he is on meds. So, I truely believe that it is up to each individual child and parent on what they can handle.
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Post by jdmom on Nov 11, 2003 10:35:52 GMT -5
J gets upset tummy and headaches for about a week when we begin any new medication. I've always been afraid to give weekend med breaks cause I'm worried that the side effects will come back on Monday? Has anyone had this happen to them? Maybe I should give it a shot, it seems like it might help the "effectiveness" of the medication and the meds do decrease his appetite somewhat. It would be nice for him to eat noramlly on weekends.
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Jenn
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Post by Jenn on Nov 11, 2003 14:18:33 GMT -5
If we give my son a med break it is on Saturday only. We find if he don't take his meds on Sunday than Monday is not good for him.
Kat can take a weekend break if we wanted, but with her, she is not hyper but does stuff that a 2-3 year old would do. She is very whinny and pesters everyone.
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Post by LitlBaa on Nov 13, 2003 2:24:34 GMT -5
When we changed insurance and doctors he wanted Katie off Ritalin on weekends and vacations. It wasn't a pretty sight. She was h*** on wheels and couldn't get it together on Mondays. The first week of Christmas vacation was a nightmare, you know it's bad when none of her Grandmas would deal with her. I put her back on and told her doctor this was not working in a really big way. There have been no breaks since. She doesn't seem to like herself when she feel out of control.
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