ADHD Doesn’t Recommend a “Medication Vacation”

Parents of children with ADHD often ask their doctors, “Can I suspend taking medication at the beginning of the new semester if my child shows no obvious symptoms during the holidays? Because after all, medicine is three times poisonous”…… In the past, China’s clinical treatment of ADHD, due to focus only on children’s learning problems, but also concerned about the side effects of drugs on some children, often using intermittent treatment, Monday to Friday to take medication, the weekend or summer and winter vacations and other holidays to stop taking medication, set the “This method of taking medication is not scientific, and is very detrimental to the standardized treatment of ADHD in children. With the introduction of medications with fewer side effects, China’s latest ADHD medication guidelines do not recommend “medication holidays”. Once a child suffers from ADHD usually need a longer period of continuous treatment, on the one hand, because children with ADHD in learning often due to lack of attention, easily distracted, coupled with weak control ability, in the learning encountered difficulties often show shrinkage, in the school is only passive listening to the teacher, learning lack of initiative. This passive mode of learning is manageable in the lower grades of elementary school, but in the higher grades, generally the majority of children in the third and fourth grades of elementary school, there will be fluctuations in academic performance, followed by learning difficulties. Only on the basis of medication, children with ADHD can maintain normal attention and control, with the help of parents can gradually learn to make learning plans, improve the learning plan according to the actual situation, and gradually form good learning habits, through a long period of cultivation, the formation of learning autonomy, the medication can be gradually reduced, and even stop taking medication. On the other hand, there are obvious deficiencies in social functions such as interpersonal communication in ADHD, they are often scolded by parents at home, and rejected by teachers and classmates at school, resulting in poor self-esteem, lack of self-confidence and other psychological and behavioral problems. If medication is stopped when there is a slight improvement in the child’s symptoms, the social functioning of children with ADHD, such as interpersonal interactions, will not be able to continue to improve, resulting in recurrent and fluctuating symptoms and affecting the effectiveness of the treatment. Therefore, at present, domestic and foreign clinical experts mostly advocate continuous medication, only in this way can we continue to improve the social function of children with ADHD and achieve the desired therapeutic effect. ADHD is a treatable disease, and children should be treated promptly once diagnosed. Basic medication supplemented by a combination of psychological and physical therapy is the most effective form of treatment, with medications such as methylphenidate hydrochloride controlled-release tablets that have fewer side effects. In addition, parents should have enough patience for the treatment, foreign experience generally need about one and a half years of treatment time, but according to the child’s specific situation to determine the timing of discontinuation of the drug, generally discontinued after a period of time without recurrence of the disease will be assessed as “cured”.