Medication vacation

[Aniusia]

Hello, I just wanted to share: my son takes Methophenidate 5mg and Abilify 2.5mg. After the school year was over ( 7 grade) I asked the doctor if I could stop the meds for a while. My reasons :

- just break for the liver

- side effects that I am very afraid of

- wanted to check if we will really see the difference ( or reassure myself , I do the right thing medicating him)

The doctor said ok.

Well, I have to tell you- my son turned into mean, sarcastic, disrespectful teenager, he’s never been before! We went for the lake vacation , and it was a nightmare. There was no day I wouldn’t cry. I knew he’s acting like a jerk because of the adhd, but still I was very hurt.

With his adhd he was always too active, disorganized, not wanting to do homework, argumentative and impulsive, but never I noticed fresh, sarcastic comments, mean behavior or lack of respect. Why did all of this escalate?

[Onthemove1971]

Aniusia- I am no psychologist, but I strongly suspect that it is the age he is at and the difference between him not knowing what it is like being able to deal with all of the emotions inside of his body. Also do you think that the Abilify has been controling his anger and now it does not any more?

Another thing, vacations are challanging with being out of routines and schedule and taking on new tasks they have never done before are all hard for children with ADHD.

I understand a medication vacation but honestly, I could not survive. It is really hard just the afternoon difference between Am and Pm medications for us.

I have not done a lot of research on long term use of ADHD medication, but I known that with time kids mature and they get better at handling their symptoms, so medications may change for them ( they may choose to not take it when they grow up also).

For now, it is the best thing to keep our son stable and functional.

Sorry you have struggled through this and this was an interesting learning experience for you guys.

[Aniusia in reply to Onthemove1971]

Thank you for your response.

“Do you think that the Abilify has been controlling his anger”

That is one of the reasons I stopped Abilify for awhile , to see what it does to him , and it seems that it controls is anger, that he can take NO ! for an answer a little easier. Many times he just says OK , and walks away.

I just don’t remember him being so mean and sarcastic before he started medication. It almost seems like it escalated.

You are right about vacation and routine. It possibly could have been a factor.

I also hope he will mature, start realizing he has a problem and use the available tools to make life easier. The question is - when will that happen?

I keep telling him, that with all of the accommodations he has through IEP , school should be piece of cake. He says I have a problem not him. He doesn’t realize or does not want to admit .

[annmclpc]

I am so glad you had this post. I have been having the same concerns. School has been out here since the end of May and my 18 year old who will be a senior next year has been off his medication since that time. He has become a different and unfortunately unrecognizable jerk. I usually just lower his dosage in the summers, but this summer he went away for 5 weeks to a summer history academy and since he's 18 he decided not to take his meds. Well now I'm going to have a battle I'm certain cause he has another year of school and I have to get him back on his medication before I run away from home! I knew there would be some changes but I was hoping that those would be positive NOT negative. My suggestion to you is to keep your son on his meds even in the summers and just lower the dosage. It looks like the dosage you have him on is too low if that is a regular dosage and he's growing so he's likely going to need more. In our experience, the difference from no meds in grade 3 to using meds has been an "A" student who has gotten called down twice at school since he went on meds up thru his junior year. It was from dark to daylight academically. Now we are 10 years down the road from that 3rd grader and puberty and all that that brings has resulted in what I am seeing now without meds! Thank you again for posting this as I was pondering tonight that I was thinking his being off his medication was the primary reason his behavior has turned south!

[Aniusia in reply to annmclpc]

Hello, thank you for your input.

Omg! Your son is already 10 years on meds ? How is he doing as far as side effects?

Mine in on very low doses . We started on 5mg, then 10mg and 20mg, however he became wild. I did the Assurex test that showed he is a slow metabolizer. 20 mg was way too much for him. Maybe we will have to increase again.

How is your son doing in high school? Is he doing homework’s on his own? Do you have to constantly check on him?

I also was hoping, when we stop the meds , it will be positive experience. It was not

It seems that he acted worse then before he ever took meds . Is it possible? Was it a withdrawal syndrome ?