Can you really reset a tolerance you have developed for a medicine like that?
Give it a week or two and you'll be back to where to where you were before.
Yeah, I suspected as much.
Edit: Do you know if taking breaks with Ritalin and the like is generally a good idea?
Doesn't do any harm imo. You just go back to what you were like before you started taking it. May have a few withdrawals (feeling hungrier and sleepier than usual) but loads of people go off the stimulants periodically to avoid tolerance levels going up.
Breaks can be a bit disruptive for me, since I sleep for most of the time I'm off the meds and when I go back on them, I have mild to moderate insomnia for a few days, which can cause day-time fatigue until I stabilise again, so I only take breaks when I don't have anything important to do. I also have more muscle problems when I'm off the meds; even just moving around the house tends to be physically exhausting, although that can also be the case at times when I'm on the meds.
YMMV on how effective it is; sometimes I feel great after a break and the feeling lasts for a couple of weeks, other times I'm right back to where I was before after a few days. I think it might be partly to do with my muscle disorder issues; the dexamphetamine only helps a bit when I'm feeling shitty from them, so if I'm going through a bad patch with those issues, taking a break from the meds might not seem to make a big difference.
There are really only two ways to maintain the effectiveness of stimulants; you can increase the dose to compensate for your increasing tolerance, or you can take breaks to decrease your tolerance. The latter is healthier and more sustainable in the long term, and also the only option when you can't arbitrarily raise your prescribed dose.