taking time off?

[Daven]

Ive seen verious threads with comments about taking weekends and such off, then ive seen some that state that the drug has to build up in your system, thus should not be taken off. So any final world on whether its ok for me to take the weekends off?

[Tara]

I think it depends on what you need to do on the weekends. For many people with ADD the weekends are even harder then the work week because there isn't really any built in structure.

[Daven]

Bah, i put the question badly. What i ment was would it cause any change in the effectiveness of the concerta to take weekends off. I have read a few places that it takes a few days to build up to the maximum effectivness, but i dont know how much merrit to put into those statments.

[Tara]

It's my understanding that stimulants don't need to build up like other medications. I don't always take my Concerta everyday and it still works fine.

[Imnapl]

What Tara said is the same for me.
L.

[meadd823]

I have daughter on Concerta, she takes week-ends off and doesn't take her medications. Not always just depends on what she has planned. Stimulents are not like antidepressents where the medications have to built up in your system before they are effective. They enter your body rapidly, do thier job and exit your body. Taking time off should not decrease thier effectiveness as they aren't a build up drug. Now many people do feel if they take drug holidays it doesn't work as well. I think it depends on how your body reacts to the medications. Some aren't bother by stopping and starting stimulents others are, depends on you and your body. However the doctor who prescribed the medication to you should be the "final word". I would consider asking him what he recommends.

[Daven]

Alright thanks for the help. Thats along the same lines i was thinking, just wanted some reassurance.

[fluffy_bunny]

When I was still experimenting with which drug worked best for me, I found that when I switched off the Adderall XR, I had horrible emotional meltdowns for about four days. Apparently that happens to a small percentage (~5%) of the population. If you take a med vacation and that happens, you'll know you're in that lucky few.