It's recommended that a doctor pull the meds from a patient from time to time to see if there is a loss of the improvement and to be able to judge how well they are doing. About 2 months in is recommended (that's when tolerance usually kicks in) but I hear it varies a great deal from doc to doc. They usually take you off for a week because by 7 days off the body has no residual effect and by then you should be back to your ADHD self if it worked.
What they are looking for is the old symptoms coming back. If you truly have ADHD it's bad before meds, gets better on meds and after meds are taken away you should revert at least partially.
To take you off everything but antidepressants or stratterra you do just as if you were taking a med holiday. You can do it "cold turkey" - totally remove them as unless you show signs of dependence on them it's not harmful.
I use dexedrine too Lewiss and you should think of self-imposing a med holiday one week for every 2 months on it unless the MD says it shouldn't happen. Do discuss it - it's not that scary! I get cranky and foggy-minded but when you come back after the week the meds are just like the first day you took them!
I would like to pose this question to any and all who have been through this. Every time I read about stimulants, as surely as death and taxes, it is always mentioned that the patient gets temporarily taken off of it to see how the patient is doing. I haven't as of yet been through that. When is this done? How long is temporary? What are they looking for?
And lastly, when they take you off of a stimulant permanently, how is this done? I'm on Dexedrine and would appreciate cases in point to that drug if possible. Thank you in advance for your help!
Much appreciation for your input, Glen. And on a side note, how much do you take a day? I mean, what is your dosage? And also, how long did it take on Dexedrine before you felt like it was working for you?My daily dose is 20mg once and sometimes twice daily.
I felt the dexedrine working almost on day one! Amazing and unique it seems but it was like someone pulled the fog away and was the best day of my life so far. I remember it well - November 24, 2004.