Tolerance to ADHD medication Dr suggests mini breaks
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Hi, My 9 yr old son was recently with diagnosed ADHD meds 3 weeks ago; he started Ritalin- short acting tablets (to get dose right) and now he is on Ritalin LA. The meds have been amazing- definitely a “magic switch” effect- I feel like I’ve got my son back! My only concern is that my paediatrician said that some people can develop a tolerance to ADHD medication over time and she suggested not taking the medication over a weekend once a month and/or coming off it for a couple of days/weeks during the school holidays. We live in Australia- is this theory also supported by medical professionals in the US? Listening to some of the podcasts on this website and reading some of the literature it appears that “tolerance” isn’t really something that I should be worried about. My son is doing so well and is so much happier as he is getting on well with his peers and focusing in class and his frustration levels are under control.
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Tolerance is possible, although what looks like a tolerance may not be so technically. Meds stopped working for my son like clockwork, every two months. Each time we’d increase the dose and it would happen again, until we couldn’t increase any more because he couldn’t tolerate the higher doses. His doctor ended up adding Ammantadine and it helped for a couple years (then he developed a buildup of that and had extreme side effects so he had to stop). After puberty, meds seemed to be more steady. We couldn’t take med breaks because it was really hard for my son — each time he started again, it was like starting from scratch with mood struggles and trying to acclimate to it again. Some people do fine with med breaks though.
With gratitude,
Penny -
I take breaks, and I find them very necessary.
My Concerta barely works right now, and I cannot wait for the opportunity of a re-set.
I have considered changing work settings and not getting my summer break is a major argument against.
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