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My 20 year old son was diagnosed with ADHD when he was 6. At that time the drug that was used was Ritalin. We ramped him up on it meaning we started with a small dose and gave that to him for several days and then slowly increased the dosage until and just until it did what it was supposed to. It worked fine for him through gradeschool.
When he entered junior high, adderall came out. We dropped the ritalin and started him on adderall. Once again we ramped him up..giving him small doses for several days before increasing slowly. We found in both cases that my son didn't need alot of the medicine and that often 1/4th or 1/2 a pill more was the difference between it working and him being a total zombie.
At the age of 16, he began to refuse to take the meds. He claimed he couldn't be himself. Yet when he did take them, what his friends said was different was that he actually did work in school. Without them he struggled and I helped him the best I could through the rest of high school.
Even today I think he would benefit from a least a light dosage. When he was taking the meds it was for school only. He was never a problem at home so I didn't have him take it on the weekends, weeknights or during the summer months. The first few weeks before each school year, he'd start taking it again but always by starting with a small amount.
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