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Post by mom2tj on Jan 20, 2004 21:17:38 GMT -5
Hi everyone.... I had such a long day.... DS was sick with the stomach flu so he did not take his Concerta today, like always when he skips a day he gets so emotional and cried for no reason he gets so depressed..... that's the reason he takes it 7 days a week because if he misses I'm doomed  I put him to bed early because I think I was going to loose it. I fear for the summer  I want to give him a break from meds in the summer but if he is anything like this I'm in for it  I will stick it out but boy will I need help.... I fear for the long run how will he deal with this as an teen I know I'm aread of myself here but I cant help it . |
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Post by ohmama on Jan 21, 2004 0:33:45 GMT -5
I don't get it. If giving this medication helps him and he needs it 7 days a week....why would you give a med break in the summer? I realize I'm new to the whole med thing and I'm trying to understand but I constantly see parents wanting to give a med break. Why? Is that advised by the doctor and does it depend on the particular med? Would it be bad not to give this break?
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Post by sierra on Jan 21, 2004 2:45:59 GMT -5
There's a lot of reasons to take med breaks. One is to see if your child still needs medication once the ups and downs even out. For kids who don't eat real well when medicated getting a chance to store some calories is a good idea.
I think it also helps us parents get a baseline on our kids ADHD behaviors. How impulsive are they? How inattentive are they? How hyperactive are they? Do their comorbids get better or worse when they're not medicated?
I guess my one caveat is when it comes to teen ADHDers and driving. If they still have issues with inattentiveness and impulsiveness when they're unmedicated they may need to restrict their driving to only times during their window of attentiveness.
As parents we can't really gauge these things without med breaks.
Some kids do outgrow the need for ADHD meds. They still have ADHD but they've developed compensatory skills that help them past their roadblocks. As an ADHD adult I'm real familiar with this. I wasn't medicated as a child and I had no idea I had ADHD until we were going through the diagnosis process with my sprouts. But I had learned to compensate over the years. As an adult people thought I was a little on the lively side and a little unpredictable but nobody least of all me thought it was ADHD.
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Post by ohmama on Jan 21, 2004 14:33:08 GMT -5
So then the theory is that ADHD is outgrown? Would this be true of other brain disorders in the ADHD spectrum? Maybe not outgrown but would it be logical to expect for example that something such as bipolar, OCD, ODD, etc. would improve to the point of stopping medication eventually? Or is this theory limited to ADHD? I know the brain is able to compensate but is it able to function to the point of not needing the medication? I wonder what would determine who can and who cannot compensate?
It's an exciting thought. Perhaps if the ADHD was mild this could be possible...just thinking out loud.
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Post by mom2tj on Jan 21, 2004 15:27:02 GMT -5
Personaly I want to give him a med break because he is so thin and I want to try to have him put on weight.
I know he will not outgrow ADHD I didnt but as I got older I (not a severe case) learned to deal with it.
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Post by dansmommy on Jan 21, 2004 17:21:59 GMT -5
Well -- most kids with tics grow out of them. My ds has tics, though, and he assures me that he won't grow out of them. I think ADHD changes in teens/adults too and not everybody needs meds as they get older. My understanding is that kids with ODD who don't go on to develop conduct disorder grow out of it. OCD, however, doesn't seem to go away. I don't know much about bipolar, but my understanding is that if it's treated when kids are young they don't develop permanent changes in their brains that cause them to be chronically mentally ill. Christie
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Post by HooDunnit on Jan 22, 2004 12:03:01 GMT -5
Regarding ohmama's question, if ADHD can be viewed as a developmental delay in the growth of inhibitory neurons in the prefrontal cortex, then children who "outgrow" their ADHD (which I have read is about one third) simply grow, in time, these inbibitory neurons. It is my feeling that exercise helps the growth of these neurons, as Putnam has argued in his book Nature's Ritalin for the Marathon Mind: Nurturing Your ADHD Child with Exercise. So ADHD children by being hyperactive are doing what is best for them. They should not be slowed down physically. I took my own son out of school for five years and put him in gymnastics and Hapkido. He had stenuous workouts every. Currently, he is doing stunt bike tricks in the basement of my bookstore. All these things require concentration.
Barry
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Post by dansmommy on Jan 22, 2004 13:27:11 GMT -5
Well, I don't seem to be able to copy but that's very interesting, HooDunit. Did you delay introducing academic subjects? I used to read homeschooling books that recommended that very thing. I could strongly see this as a benefit to my dd 4 who is not ADHD but is behind in gross and fine motor skills and speech enunciation. Christie
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