How To Get Through Summer Without ADHD Meds

June 4th, 2010 | by admin |
Robert William Locke asked:


It is true that some doctors say that children need a break from ADHD drugs, just to see how they are doing. Normally summer is good time to do this and the idea of a whole summer vacation without ADHD meds is an attractive one both for the child and the parents. But is it really? Time to ask yourself as a parent some searching questions. How to get through summer without ADHD meds could be more complicated than you think.

Where will the child spend most of the summer? If it is at home, then you have to assess what the impact will be when he is off the ADHD meds. Is he going to start bouncing off the walls again ? What activities have you lined up so that he can burn off the hyperactivity? There is a great debate right now about how useful exercise in the open is for helping kids with ADHD. Some maintain that regular sports activities really help their kids. So far though, all the clinical trials have not shown that to be true in a decisive way. It may well be possible to spend the summer without ADHD meds if the child is under your supervision and within the family environment.

Summer camps are a different matter. Many parents now just send their ADHD kids to camp without their ADHD drugs. This is a very easy way to get through the summer without ADHD meds. Somebody else, probably a counsellor, will have to pick up the tab. Many kids become unmanageable and very often parents are telephoned and asked to send the drugs.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has come out strongly against interrupting ADHD medication during summer camps. Presumably there have been too many problems. This is especially the case when kids may take part in sports which require concentration and if the kids are not too focused, well, that could lead to accidents. In this case, it seems best NOT to take them off the drugs for the duration of the summer camp. Summer vacation without ADHD meds could actually be risky here.

What about eating? If kids are at home, then parents want to take them off the ADHD meds because it can give them a chance to get their appetites back and may interrupt the awful stunted growth and weight loss problem. That will certainly help to redress the balance and may help the child to get back to normal growth pattern.

Now if your child were on a natural ADHD cure, none of these problems would arise at all because there would be absolutely no worry about withdrawal effects or how he is going to react without them or whether his social interaction is going to be affected or not. There are no risks of being called by the camp director asking you to bring the ADHD meds. Getting though the summer without ADHD meds is irrelevant in this case as your child will never have any side effects or be subject to outbursts when he is on a natural cure for ADHD.



Insulated Vinyl Siding
Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
  • Digg
  • Bumpzee
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Furl
  • Mixx
  • NewsVine
  • Reddit
  • StumbleUpon
  • YahooMyWeb
  • Google

  • Should you give your child a break from her ADHD medicine in the summer?
  • What are some things that I can do to deal with ADHD during the summer?
  • Is it normal to feel extremely happy after taking ADHD meds for the first time?
  • How to live “functioning well” and think study organize plan, get anything on earth done with ADHD, no meds?
  • What kind of ADHD meds are there in Korea?
  • How do you treat a child with adhd without meds?
  • Does anyone have a child with ADHD and they were eligible for Social Security benefits?
  • Sorry, comments for this entry are closed at this time.