ADHD Medication Holiday-What are they?

I had asked a question on our Facebook Page the other day, it asked parents their opinions and personal experience regarding having what is called "medication holidays". I received a lot of great opinions, stories, and more from the wonderful members to our page. I will share more on that, but let me first explain what I have learned about these medication holidays....


What are Medication Holidays?

  A medication holiday, also called drug holiday, drug vacation, medication vacation, structured treatment interruption, or strategic treatment interruption, is when a patient stops taking their medication(s) for a period of time. The period of time could be a couple days, weeks, months or years depending on the patient.


When do patients/kids have Medication Holidays?

Usually when a parent chooses to give their child a break in medication is it on the weekends (one or both days), during holiday vacations from school and during the summer months.

Structure and Consistency is Key for ADHD

Children with ADHD are forgetful, disorganized and impulsive. They don't think before they act and lose things often. It can be so stressful and overwhelming to raise a child with ADHD and it's even more frustrating to be the person living with ADHD and trying to manage and cope with it. So, how can we as parents help make this easier? Consistency and structure are a big key in managing ADHD for both children and adults.

Consistency is having a routine and sticking to it daily. This goes with so many things in you and your child's life and even ties into the structure part of this post. Getting your child used to a routine and set times will help to keep him/her from losing and forgetting things as often. Make charts and/or checklists for your morning and bedtime routines, like the ones on this article to help your child remember what they need to do at these certain times.

Focus Pocus

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Online ADHD Diagnostics Test

Knowing if your child or yourself has ADHD is the first and biggest step to treating it. It is important to know because untreated ADHD can be dangerous. 

Try this Online ADHD Diagnostics Test

Children diagnosed with ADHD Study

According to a government report in 2011, 1 in 10 children are diagnosed with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). This is an increase from more than tens years ago. 

Now, this doesn't necessarily mean mean that there are more ADHD children, it could mean that they are better detecting the disorder and therefore an increase in diagnoses of ADHD,
which is a good thing in my opinion.

ADD/ADHD No One Understands Video

This is a video that was made by one of my wonderful readers and mother of an ADHD child. Thank you Emily Rowan Jaybosh for letting me share this great video you made! It really gives you a heartfelt insight into ADHD children and teens, it hard for them but the things that are "different" about our ADHD children is also what makes them an amazing part of this world and an important one! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!!

~S Overly

 

The Three Subtypes of ADHD

Hi readers! I keep looking into ADHD and I kept seeing these different term used called "Subtypes", so of course, I just had to figure out more about them. Well I found out that as published in the DSM-I (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) by the American Psychiatric Association there are actually three subtypes of ADHD!

ADD vs ADHD

I know I always wondered what the difference is between ADD and ADHD. So, I did some research to find out and actually got some quite interesting information I would like to share with you. As you may or may not know ADHD stands for Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder , well this (ADHD) is the official name used by the American Psychiatric Association. That means that technically there is no ADD. I was shocked! What is ADD then? Well, it is the same as ADHD but