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The methyl is methylphenidate - Ritalin, Concerta, etc. It's got a good reputation, and over here in the UK it's the first line of treatment.
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Nov 5, 2014 14:39
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The Door Frame posted:I'm almost upset that I never got tested earlier in life Same. I think I would've done a lot better at school if I wasn't disassociating and ADHDing out all the time, but I don't think the meds that work for the first thing were even developed when I was 17 and zoning out in history class.
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Nov 5, 2014 15:32
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insidius posted:Speaking to my doctor openly about treatment options was not a bad idea and I have no idea why I thought it would be. And yeah, MPH is one of the go-to meds for a reason. It does a great job, concerns about side effects and other dangers nonwithstanding. For all the things it can cause to happen, I haven't had any but the most minor issues. Norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors are really situational and unreliable by comparison. Nearly 250 mg of Effexor did less for me than 10mg of Ritalin.
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Nov 5, 2014 15:35
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I always found being super honest with my doc to be helpful, though I guess be careful with your doc being a little too willing to give you whatever drugs you ask for or whatever.
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Nov 5, 2014 15:40
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Haha, Effexor is supposed to help ADHD?  Yeah, right. I've been on the poo poo over a year and a half and it did squat for anything but my anxiety. It does a little for my depression but nowhere near enough. Which might be because I don't have major depressive disorder but something else, hence why I'm trialing sodium valproate right now.Ritalin XR continues to work just fine, but I'm asking to try something else, just to compare how, say, Adderall IR works for me. Ritalin focuses me and lets me get things done, but I'm still fairly absent-minded and prone to hyperfocus and I wanna see if maybe something that hits like a hammer works better for when I need to get down to work. Also, I'm worried that my heartrate and blood pressure might be going sky-high, but how do I even tell? I feel fine. I have some palpitations, but I've had them all my life and I've had regular EKGs for a few months running (while institutionalised) and they turned up a whole load of nothing but a heart rate elevated by Effexor (which was resolved the moment they lowered the dose). I had a panic attack one night but I've been having panic attacks on and off my entire life.
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Nov 5, 2014 15:44
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signalnoise posted:I always found being super honest with my doc to be helpful, though I guess be careful with your doc being a little too willing to give you whatever drugs you ask for or whatever. The problem is that I have a lot of problems that don't fit neatly into one diagnosis and I worry the doctors think I'm lying or attention seeking when I lay out the disassociation/delusions and the mood disorder and the ADHD poo poo. No, doctor, I really am that hosed up. Sorry.
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Nov 5, 2014 15:47
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I hear ya. From my own experience though watch how you feel physically being on a bunch of stuff. It took me a while to catch myself after my meds collection started looking like trail mix.
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Nov 5, 2014 15:56
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signalnoise posted:I always found being super honest with my doc to be helpful, though I guess be careful with your doc being a little too willing to give you whatever drugs you ask for or whatever. chthonic bell posted:Haha, Effexor is supposed to help ADHD? chthonic bell posted:Also, I'm worried that my heartrate and blood pressure might be going sky-high, but how do I even tell? chthonic bell posted:The problem is that I have a lot of problems that don't fit neatly into one diagnosis and I worry the doctors think I'm lying or attention seeking when I lay out the disassociation/delusions and the mood disorder and the ADHD poo poo. No, doctor, I really am that hosed up. Sorry.
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Nov 5, 2014 16:01
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signalnoise posted:I hear ya. From my own experience though watch how you feel physically being on a bunch of stuff. It took me a while to catch myself after my meds collection started looking like trail mix. That's kind of hard, because on top of being a basket case, I have what's been diagnosed as both fibromyalgia and somatic chronic pain (i.e. my body gave up on me because I'm too crazy) and thus always feel like complete and utter poo poo.  But nah, I appreciate the advice and concern, but I've been on a shitload of stuff for years now and I know to watch myself.So far the worst that happened was my eyes constantly unfocusing due to lamotrigine, the akathisia from aripiprazole (resolved once we lowered the dose) and migraines due to Ritalin XR (resolved once I was more used to the drug). Oh, and once I had nonstop nightmares being on some steroid or other, but that wasn't psych drugs, so it doesn't count. Cardiovorax posted:What with how mood disorders are basically ADHD's best buddy for life no homo, no decent psych is going to be surprised at the combination. Can't blame them for being careful about diagnosing while you have them, though. Being really emotionally drained fucks up your attention span and concentration in a lot of the same ways ADHD does. Sometimes you can't tell except by treating one option and seeing of the other stuff goes away, too. That's true. It's kinda funny how the ADHD was resolved with the first drug we tried and the mood disorder took four years to medicate into only sometimes making me suicidal and unable to get out of bed. And I mean, I'm talking the only antidepressant classes we haven't tried are MAOIs. RE: choosing your own medicine, my psychs always offered me a choice in medication, but have firmly refused to give me Z-drugs or benzos for my sleep problems (except once, when I was switching to Cymbalta, I got zopiclone to tide me over the horrible insomnia), which I'm thankful for in retrospect. Also, nobody tried to force me on lithium or TAPs, which is always a looming threat with my current diagnoses.
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Nov 5, 2014 16:10
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chthonic bell posted:That's true. It's kinda funny how the ADHD was resolved with the first drug we tried and the mood disorder took four years to medicate into only sometimes making me suicidal and unable to get out of bed. And I mean, I'm talking the only antidepressant classes we haven't tried are MAOIs. And yeah, careful with those Zs. All the fun of Benzos without doing half as good a job. Never trying that again.
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Nov 5, 2014 16:35
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insidius posted:The point is there is apparently still a lot of ground to cover medication wise Great! It sounds like you've got one of the rare good doctors that understands adhd, at least more than just "we give them x medication for it." Make sure you're completely honest with your doc about how the medication feels since you can always switch to try new ones until you find one that's right (or good enough) for you. Just remember to get rid of your old prescriptions in a safe way if you don't use them up.
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Nov 5, 2014 16:55
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I've been on 80mg of Strattera for 2 months and I'm still not entirely sure how effective it's been, although I feel as if there has been SOME improvement. The pharmacy on base screwed up and didn't get my refill in on time and I've been without medication for 3 days, now I feel really lethargic and kind of depressed. No side effects while on the meds though, once or twice I had a very slight wave of nausea when I took it on an empty stomach.
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Nov 5, 2014 20:26
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I just need to get my poo poo together for tommorow, gonna ask for a referral for an assessment
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Nov 6, 2014 00:53
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Even when I take my meds, my BP is something like 110/70 most of the time, and I'm the most stressed out person ever. I get migraines but the doctor didn't want to put me on something that would lower it even more I wouldn't worry too much about your BP, especially if you're fairly young, just don't eat too much salt, drink a lot of water and work out if you're able to. If you tend to be a hypochondriac I dunno if having a blood pressure cuff around is a great idea... but if you're stable about your own vitals it's a good thing to keep around anyway
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Nov 6, 2014 01:58
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Blood pressure isn't influenced nearly as strongly by mood as heart rate is, so I guess as hypochondriac obsessions go, this one isn't so bad. A monitor isn't a bad thing to have around for anyone, though. High blood pressure doesn't have much in the way of symptoms you can see or feel unless you are actively looking for it, which is how it causes harm to begin with. Hypertension isn't actually much of a problem when it isn't chronic, untreated and getting a chance to cause long-term wear and tear on the cardiovascular system over the course of years or decades. Plus, pretty much all of them can measure heart rate at the same time. Twofer for anyone who is on stimulants.
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Nov 6, 2014 03:54
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Wooo hooo! Finally got round to bringing up ADHD with my GP. Turns out she was actually thinking about it given the longtermness and sorts of my problems. She's changing my anti-depressants for now and she's asking my clinical psychologist to consider referring me to a psychiatrist. :3
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Nov 6, 2014 12:48
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Good job! I'm happy for you, that's a big step towards getting your life in order.
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Nov 6, 2014 12:58
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Cardiovorax posted:Good job! I'm happy for you, that's a big step towards getting your life in order. It is! She gave me some homework to tell my tutor that there is some revaluation of my situation with regards to mental stuff.
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Nov 6, 2014 13:01
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pippy posted:It is!
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Nov 6, 2014 13:40
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Cardiovorax posted:For your uni stuff? What does that do? I might try that myself if it does anything useful, I could be doing better right now. A bit of extra flexibility when handing in assignments would go a long way. It's kinda useless now in terms of assignments. I've done 97% of everything in Uni now. Just the last set of exams to go. I know I've definitely done significantly worse than I wanted to on coursework this year because I was penalised for lateness. I'm considering resitting the whole year, but I'm so close and a projected 2.1 is pretty loving great considering.
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Nov 6, 2014 14:02
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Cardiovorax posted:For your uni stuff? What does that do? I might try that myself if it does anything useful, I could be doing better right now. A bit of extra flexibility when handing in assignments would go a long way. See if your university has a disability services office. ADHD is covered under the ADA so if you bring them your diagnosis they should be an advocate for you in getting accommodations in your classes. I haven't used ours yet but I'm going to register over the break and take advantage of it next semester. Main thing I'm hoping for is lecture notes and some test-taking accommodations(specifically for essay and short answer tests, I can knock out a multiple choice affair with no problem).
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Nov 6, 2014 15:39
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What kind of career choices are recommended for those with ADD? I'm IT but it feels like I just simply get bored with whatever position I have after a year or two. I considering bouncing to analytic position at a bank just to try and find something that continually interests me.
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Nov 6, 2014 15:48
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slogsdon posted:See if your university has a disability services office. ADHD is covered under the ADA so if you bring them your diagnosis they should be an advocate for you in getting accommodations in your classes. I haven't used ours yet but I'm going to register over the break and take advantage of it next semester. Main thing I'm hoping for is lecture notes and some test-taking accommodations(specifically for essay and short answer tests, I can knock out a multiple choice affair with no problem). Tab8715 posted:What kind of career choices are recommended for those with ADD? Cardiovorax fucked around with this message at 15:54 on Nov 6, 2014 |
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Nov 6, 2014 15:51
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Cardiovorax posted:For your uni stuff? What does that do? I might try that myself if it does anything useful, I could be doing better right now. A bit of extra flexibility when handing in assignments would go a long way. My uni has several things. You can get some special considerations for smaller/solo exam rooms or doing it with a computer with spellchecking/speech synthesis (more for dyslexics I guess) or "a different form of exam all together negotiated with the examinator". They will pay a class mate to take (good) notes during lectures/lessons (you have to attend said lecture/lesson to qualify for the notes). They will also pay a veteran student to act as a study mentor for you, usually an hour a week, helping you to structure and/or plan your studies. I take good notes and hyper focus during exams so all I needed was the mentor.
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Nov 6, 2014 17:35
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Anyone read any of Dr. Thomas E. Brown's stuff? I just bought a few of his more recent books, they seem to be well-regarded.
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Nov 6, 2014 17:56
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Tab8715 posted:What kind of career choices are recommended for those with ADD?
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Nov 6, 2014 22:19
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Whalley posted:It's a shame it doesn't pay well at all, because being a barista was great for me, what with constantly changing people, staff, and only having super short tasks to do, each one being slightly different. Since I've started taking meds, I've been learning programming, and I can see web development being something I will do for a long time, because ultimately, technologies are constantly changing and you get near-instant gratification with your work, but I've also talked to other people with ADHD who loving despise the idea of coding a web app and all the weird little controllers and dependencies you wind up shifting around for every single project. I actually don't mind programming but that means I'd have to start my entire career over and going back to school. That's a hard sell when I'm nearly 30.
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Nov 6, 2014 22:58
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Tab8715 posted:I actually don't mind programming but that means I'd have to start my entire career over and going back to school. That's a hard sell when I'm nearly 30. Better late than never.
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Nov 6, 2014 23:24
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The medical field isn't bad, surgical and emergency medicine are fast paced enough to be fun and keep the mind occupied. Plus the pay is pretty nice
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Nov 7, 2014 00:06
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For me, being happy in a desk job (e.g. IT) is all about flexibility in the work environment. If you're me and you work in a place that's restrictive on what hours you work, whether or not you work from home, where you work in the office, etc, you'll be gradually boiling over with insanity while you sit at your desk making GBS threads out work 1/10th as efficiently as if you were able to move around, stand/sit to work as needed, and otherwise mix things up.
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Nov 7, 2014 01:40
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You need to get your ADHD well medicated before you should even ponder the question "what's a good ADHD job?" You need to be able to finish college and medical school, or you need to be able to persevere the routines, minutiae and boredom of EMS school or police academy, or you need to learn to not be intrinsically bored or insecure about the prospect of a long-term career in general. All of these are impossible unless your ADHD is well medicated. People who do these things and only once they are in the job discover they have ADHD, probably don't have ADHD. Marv Albert fucked around with this message at 05:11 on Nov 7, 2014 |
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Nov 7, 2014 05:08
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Or you've developed or been taught excellent coping skills. By not having adhd, I assume you mean the disorder is not having a negative impact on your life.
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Nov 7, 2014 08:11
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Marv Albert posted:You need to get your ADHD well medicated before you should even ponder the question "what's a good ADHD job?" The reason I brought this up, was due to this article A Natural Fix for A.D.H.D. I ended up dropping out of college but somehow managed to climb through various IT jobs to the point where I don't need to go back and get a degree. In retrospect this was a terrible idea but again it's worked out for me. I used to be on the lowest dose of adderall but my general doctor says I need to take test 96118 or 96119 before she can prescribe me adderall again. I tested positive for ADD when I was kid and I'm little skeptical of her claim but my insurance will cover testing so...
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Nov 7, 2014 16:07
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Marv Albert posted:You need to be able to finish college and medical school, or you need to be able to persevere the routines, minutiae and boredom of EMS school or police academy, or you need to learn to not be intrinsically bored or insecure about the prospect of a long-term career in general. All of these are impossible unless your ADHD is well medicated. Nah, you can still do all those things without well medicated ADHD, it just means you've developed a lot of coping mechanisms. A lot of people don't figure it out until later in life after they've been in careers forever because ADHD manifests differently in different people, and people find different ways of coping with the difficulties.
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Nov 7, 2014 18:59
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Tab8715 posted:The reason I brought this up, was due to this article A Natural Fix for A.D.H.D. The bit about perceiving everyday poo poo as "painfully boring" is so, so true. I described the sensation of being "desperately bored" to my psych one time. It's being boring and really wanting/needing to do something or anything, but not having the wherewithal to figure out what to do (doesn't help that I over-think everything), so I just sit and get all anxious about nothing. It sucks. quote:I used to be on the lowest dose of adderall but my general doctor says I need to take test 96118 or 96119 before she can prescribe me adderall again. I tested positive for ADD when I was kid and I'm little skeptical of her claim but my insurance will cover testing so... I thought docs could just prescribe stuff if they felt it was appropriate without having to do special poo poo (unless psychiatrists have special prescribing powers that GPs don't have that I don't know about). But I guess administering some extra tests is something else the doc can bill your insurance for. I keep reading about all y'all's experiences getting tested/diagnosed/rediagnosed and it seems like my smooth, normal-seeming experience is not the norm. I went straight to a psychiatrist who came highly recommend despite the fact that he was out of network, so I didn't deal with referrals from GPs or anything. Took forever to get an appointment because he's in high demand because he actually knows what the gently caress he's talking about with adult ADHD and the associated meds. First appointment, I went in with some medical records that noted my behavior from when I was little and an intelligence/learning disability evaluation I had when I was in high school. Those docs and details of my turbulent academic career were enough for a solid diagnosis without a battery of formal tests or brain scans or whatever the gently caress. There was no bullshit - we talked about the poo poo I was dealing with, he asked me very perceptive questions, and then he gave me a script for Concerta and Ritalin. We now do appointments over the phone (seeing as he's in CA and I'm PA) because gently caress going through all this testing and not getting the right meds poo poo. My insurance partially covers meds, but I can suck up for an out-of-pocket appointment a few times a year (he also doubles up my dose (2 x 36mg Concerta per day) and writes me a couple of scripts so I can get like four months of meds in one go and don't have to keep going back for prescriptions every thirty days. -- Oh, so I saw a flier for a psychology study or something, asking for people who are between 25 and 35 (check), are either black or white (check), have consumed alcohol in the last month (check), and oh yeah, have ADHD also (check). Almost took a number/contact stub tear-off but then there were people nearby. My curiosity might get the better of me. I'll post a trip report if I end up pursuing it (unlikely, but who knows).
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Nov 7, 2014 19:40
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What's the name of your ADHD specialist?
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Nov 7, 2014 19:52
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Tab8715 posted:What's the name of your ADHD specialist? Sent you a PM.
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Nov 7, 2014 20:54
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Long term lurker, and lucky me may be accidentally pregnant! Not only did I not plan on having biological kids because of psych issues, but 20mg of Adderall daily have been the only thing keeping me from entirely self destructing! I can't wait to gently caress up at work, have intense self loathing periods, go from manageable to zero impulse control, and be responsible for another human! Another bonus: trying to find a doctor in this area who doesn't believe you can pray away your dependence on psych meds.
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Nov 8, 2014 22:19
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How is the diagnoses like now a days? Does the psychologist just ask questions and observed you or is there some kinda brain scan n such?
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Nov 9, 2014 10:50
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DaRandomGuy posted:How is the diagnoses like now a days? Does the psychologist just ask questions and observed you or is there some kinda brain scan n such? Its pretty straightforward. You might need to take a physical or bloodwork before they want to prescribe you anything. But from my experience they ask you routine questions about you and your family's medical history, learn about how you are with school or work, and are probably assessing if you are real hosed up or a druggie or something or just appear to be struggling with things that all us ADHD idiots deal with daily. You might have to answer some questions about your fidgeting, focus on tasks, crap like that, to help assess your symptoms, but I just told my psychiatrist outright what was wrong with me and it was pretty quick. I was given a small dose of Vyvanse after my first visit, the doc said that trying out a medication is part of diagnosing someone, to see if you improve. There is no accepted brain testing for ADHD diagnoses, but work is underway there I believe so maybe sometime soon. But its more about evaluating your behavior since its a weird problem.
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Nov 9, 2014 21:00
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