Hi new member here......I was wondering if anyone knows how the process as to how they let you stop taking Ritalin and say you no longer have ADD is like.

In simple do you need to see your regular physician to properly be taken off of it? Or could you just call them and say hey "I been noticing an improvement, other people have, and I feel I don't need to take it anymore," and then your physician says you no longer need it???????

Ritalin and other AD/HD medications do not make AD/HD go away. It's not like an anti-biotic.

So I'm assuming that it could back at any time???

Because I am a 20 year old male in the U.S. Coast Guard and I am having a terrible time concentrating. I feel as though I'm right back in third grade. And the thing is I might have an erroneus enlistment which means I could be seperated from the service.

Because what my original question is all about is that I needed a waiver showing I've been off Ritalin for 7 years. Which I got absolutely no problem, they didn't even have me see my old doctor. I told my mom all the problems I've been having and asked her about my old issues and she said all the doctor did was take my mom's word that I was doing better in school and I guess said I don't need to come in. No last visit from this doctor, no nothing when I was younger. And getting this waiver was such a piece of cake it was kind of fishy.

I feel I've been wronged and was improperly diagnosed that I could come off of it.

For some people the symptoms fade as you make the transition to being an adult, but, from what I've read, about 60% of people with ADHD will continue to have issues as adults.

Is not being ADHD, or not being on ritalin a condition for you being in the Coast Guard, or was not being on ritralin how you were rediagnosed as being ADHD negative? Not sure I understood that.

-g

For some people the symptoms fade as you make the transition to being an adult, but, from what I've read, about 60% of people with ADHD will continue to have issues as adults.

Is not being ADHD, or not being on ritalin a condition for you being in the Coast Guard, or was not being on ritralin how you were rediagnosed as being ADHD negative? Not sure I understood that.

-g

You can't have ADD in the military. And if you have ADD you can't enlist in the military. You are not allowed to take Ritalin in the military. So what happened was, I needed to show proof to my recruiter that I have been ADD free for a certain number of years. This paper from the doctor was easy to get and it basically said I've been off of it for 7 years and I am fit for military duty.

The thing is, I had no proper doctors visit saying that I was OK to come off of it. My mom called this doctor, and said that my teachers had noticed an improvement, and apparently said that I could come off of it.

How in the world, can I properly be diagnosed to come off of Ritalin from a teachers view alone. You can't tell me all teachers are properly educated in ADD.

THIS is why I feel wronged and didn't get a proper diagnosis to come off of it. Was I wronged?

Wow that sucks. It seems pretty ridiculous -- if you were undiagnosed ADD, you could get in, no problem; but if you are diagnosed and getting effective treatment, you can't enlist; and if you were misdiagnosed as ADD negative, then you are not allowed to take ritalin even though it helps. I guess what you do depends on which is more important to you staying in the Coast Guard or dealing with the possibility that you are still very much ADD positive. Is there anyone you can trust who you can ask about what your options are? Would they allow you to take something else (like strattera, which is not a controlled substance, since it has no abuse potential)?

-g

All I really wanna know is if my doctor screwed me over by giving me this waiver to get in and never properly diagnosing me when I was a kid to come off of it.

It's hard to say for sure from this distance, but sounds like it to me...
-g

If a doctor was treating you properly I would assume that he would not have asked you to come off the medication just at the drop of a hat.The body takes time to adjust anyway.

There are other ways of treating ADHD without taking medication which I have come across and am going to find out about, as I do not want my son to have to take medication at twelve years old that could be potentially addictive.

There are exercises that develop a certain area of the brain that is underdeveloped when you suffer with ADHD.You may have noticed improvements in your ability to concentrate as you may have been performing tasks in your work that have accidentaly developed this area of your brain.

medtv.com - half life of ritalin (http://adhd.emedtv.com/ritalin/how-long-does-ritalin-stay-in-your-system.html)

As far as the doctor is concerned only he can speak for himself. As an independent observer the doc maybe figuring the strict military structure will aide you in ADD symptom control by providing a very strict structure for you so you do not have to do so for yourself per say. He may believe this willbe enough for you to be able function without medications and do fine.

Medications are simply ONE way of controlling ADD "symptoms' which is by by altering your brain chemistry, This enables you to better organize stuff like your thoughts, belongings and your day. If some one is doing this for you by expecting very specific things in a certian way then you have to do little organizing for your self initally.

However internal chemical control isn't the only way to ADD symptoms can be dealt with they are only one way.

Besides external structuring by an institution like the military and internal changes of medication the third why I have witnessed ADD symptom control is by environment arrangement. The difference between this external symptom control and the military is the person develops his own world in a way he can function with the ADD "symptoms" intact. . . .my male partner does the third option and it is the hardest, of the three. He works for himself and has this life arranged where he as an ADDer can still function without external control or medications. . . .

My curiosity is

You wanted a paper signed so you could go in the military so he signed the paper,yet you are unhappy. What if he had refused to sign it would you have been any happier? If he has been your doctor for a number of years or if he has been the family doctor perhaps he felt he knew you well enough to make this decision.

ADD medications like Ritalin do not build up in the blood stream like antibiotics or antidepressants. . .. it has a quick onset then leaves the body.

You can't have ADD in the military. And if you have ADD you can't enlist in the military. You are not allowed to take Ritalin in the military.Who told you this?

ADHD is not something that disappears like Tara said an infection. or even a cut. I have noticed as an adult that the way my symptom that I have now( even though I was not formally diagnosed ADHD ) have become more suttle than when I was a child.

I asked my psychologist what he thought I was and he told me ADHD and a LD... but when I went to a neuropsychologist he put me in a different category because I am also eplieptic. I have many of the symptoms that someone with ADHD has but that is not what is on my letter for the school.

Again, ADHD doesnt go away, it stays with you, but in a different way.