I’ve struggled a lot with trying to take drug holidays. When I do them, I end up lying in bed all day and become depressed and/or extremely tired.
What are things that you do to make it easier?
For those that don’t know: A ‘drug holiday’ is essentially a day that you don’t take your ADHD medication so that your body has time to decrease tolerance and make the medication more effective.
I don’t, my psych straight-up told me they’re not recommended or frankly needed for most people, definitely something you should consider talking to your doctor about your treatment plan. Personally I’ve not seen any decrease in efficacy with 4 years of vyvanse not due to work stress or poor sleep, but every person reacts differently to medication.
Yeah, I don’t. Even in holiday I want to be able to go look at stuff and read books, not just lie in bed scrolling my phone and feeling mad at myself. But what has been helpful is getting different dosages (a benefit of the terrible ritalin supply is I sometimes got my 40mg as 4x10mg). That way I can take less on days when I’ve not got a lot on, and just want to relax. But taking nothing is not a good day.
I dont take my stimulants on weekends in most cases. But in the instance where I did start to develop a tolerance we switched to a different type or class. We recently switched from Vyvance back to Aderall XR because the Vyvance efficacy was dropping.
define “adhd meds”.
Not taking a stimulant shouldn’t cause anxiety or depression, but going cold turkey for antidepressants might after a short while and just not taking those is nothing i’d recommend in any case.
I take concerta which although a stimulant is also an SNRI, so a lot of drugs in this class are also anti depressants. Even with amphetamines one of the most common withdrawal side effects is depression.
Do you stop the SNRI on your holidays? If so, don’t.
I’ve never taken concerta but I have taken a different SNRI and I’d start to feel like utter shit by the afternoon if I forgot to take it in the morning. I would be way more worried about skipping an SNRI than a stimulant, personally.
I don’t do drug holidays. I know a lot of people do, but I just can’t function. It makes sense that when you don’t take the medicine that helps you function, it’s really hard to function.
An SNRI should be taken every day (at the same time) or you’re going to feel weird. It’s not like the amphetamine meds.
Edit: actually that’s Methylphenidate (Ritalin) which “acts primarily as a norepinephrine–dopamine reuptake inhibitor (NDRI).”
Ohhh okay, that makes more sense. My bad.
Is a single day really effective enough to decrease tolerance?
Probably not. My question is general on time cuz some people take a week off and some people take the weekend off
Not looking forward to that … I slowly increased the dose over 6 months as effects were fading, but I’m near the normal adult dose.
Would Modafinil work during the “holidays”? It has a very decent effect on me, although with huge side effects, but things get done and it should not (as I understand the matter) have cross-tolerance with a stimulant.
Try substituting another stimulant. Nicotine and caffeine are pretty common ones that can help take the edge off
