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AnonymousNarcotics posted:Was this to me? It's not that I think I won't get prescribed stimulants if I lie, it's that I know I have a history of abusing them and I don't want them. I don't like smoking weed anymore. Now that I've been sober most of the time for the past few years, I actually enjoy having control of my thoughts. I'd imagine it does get more complicated if your history includes stimulant abuse... I too came to appreciate the clarity that came with being off drugs, but after a few years I discovered, as I'm sure many addicts do, my many real issues (both neurochemical and psychological) which had been conveniently covered over by the drugs. One of those was ADD, and for me the uncomfortable reality of taking a drug of abuse is outweighed by being significantly more functional than I would be off meds. That's a personal choice, and I could easily have come down on your side, particularly if I had primarily abused stimulants. If that's the case, perhaps consider Strattera or Wellbutrin.
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Apr 23, 2015 17:01
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Mechafunkzilla posted:Er, haven't you been on like 5 different drugs in the last year and are complaining about how your current course of treatment isn't working? Maybe being open and honest with the people trying to treat you would yield better results... Hahahahaha gently caress that noise, psychs will judge the ever-loving gently caress out of you and refuse to treat you. They're more worried about covering their own rear end than they are about giving a "junkie" drugs. Whether or not that viewpoint is correct is up for debate, but it is not in your own interests to tell them about your drug use.
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Apr 23, 2015 21:11
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prefect posted:I am not a doctor of any kind, but I do have ADD and sleep apnea, so I feel comfortable in strongly recommending that you talk to your doc and get a sleep study done. The sleep study will leave you brutally exhausted the next day, and if you get a CPAP machine, you will have a terrible time sleeping for the next few weeks, but once you get used to it, you will love it to death. None of my doctors have suggested a link between my apnea and any of my meds. But talk to your doctors to be sure. I know the first doc that treated me and actually went through the diagnoses with me said that sleep apnea can really mess with the adhd meds since you'll be tired and compensating by taking more than you should. Sleep apnea apparently can also cause heart issues so he warned me that the stimulants also can make that worse. He was a good doctor, I wish he didn't retire a few years ago since we could have sorted this out before I ended up moving.
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Apr 24, 2015 00:19
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Scald posted:Hahahahaha gently caress that noise, psychs will judge the ever-loving gently caress out of you and refuse to treat you. They're more worried about covering their own rear end than they are about giving a "junkie" drugs. Or it's almost like psychiatrists have experience in a specialty that commonly involves people self-medicating for psychiatric issues, and may have a more complex understanding of the dynamic that goes beyond "no drugs for you, junkie!"
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Apr 24, 2015 18:24
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mike grace jones posted:I don't know what category, my doctor just said, "Listen let's try this..." but it definitely feels like it's working. This sounds very similar to my own ADD, called Over-focused ADD. A stimulant by itself will actually do more harm than good, because your brain is trapped in an endless 'loop' cycle; you overanalyze everything to the point of dwelling on things, and set such unrealistic standards for yourself before just starting the drat activity that it wears you down. Also, because the part of your brain that processes things is working too hard, you are mentally burning yourself out in a sense. Essentially, your brain works twice as hard as it needs to and only gets half the returns of a normal person, making learning things a huge pain in the rear end, as well as resulting in an insurmountable feeling of anxiety. It took me the better part of ten years before I figured this out. What finally helped solve this problem was a combination of an anti-depressant and a stimulant; you need the anti-depressant to relax that section of the brain so its not working so hard, then a stimulant to bring your level of focus back up (anti-depressants have a side effect of drowsiness, which means you're going to be very lethargic/tired on it alone). Honestly? The anti-depressant was a life saver for me; I was able to think in larger breaths at a time without burning out, and it did wonders on annihilating that constant sense of dread from the anxiety, effectively eliminating it. Usually the main reason why people have trouble treating their ADD is because it hasn't been properly diagnosed (there are 6 types in all), so look into it and see which one fits your symptoms.
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Apr 27, 2015 18:08
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Parrotine posted:This sounds very similar to my own ADD, called Over-focused ADD. Responding to posts from 6 years ago is another well-known symptom of ADHD
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Apr 27, 2015 18:11
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Isn't the 6 type thing a completely unproven theory? Like, I like the initiative to delve into the behavior more, but there's nothing peer reviewed, is there?
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Apr 27, 2015 18:26
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MJBuddy posted:Isn't the 6 type thing a completely unproven theory? The only things proven I believe is that it is a genetic disorder affecting the frontal lobe of the brain (or rare cases of brain damage causing it), and that it's not two "types" of adhd, just one with another disorder that doesn't react to stimulants that might be the inattentive type.
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Apr 27, 2015 20:45
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So I just had my first appointment with my new psychiatrist. She seems okay, and I can book appointments with her 2 months in advance instead of 8 months, which is nice, even though the first appointment was rescheduled because of ??? and pushed back a couple of weeks, making if two and a half months between the booking and the actual appointment. However, she wants me to take weekends off from Vyvanse to avoid building up a tolerance. She seems to think that I'm only taking it to do well in school. I tried explaining the other benefits I get from it, such as "not forgetting to turn the stove off" and "tripping over my own feet less" and "driving safer" and "opening the Windows 8 start menu and not instantly forgetting why I did that". She seemed completely unconvinced, but also wasn't super pushy about taking med breaks on weekends. The vyvanse works pretty okay right now, and I don't want to build tolerance and lose the benefits I get. Does anyone know if taking weekends off helps much with avoiding building tolerance? If so, does it have to be every weekend or can I do one every couple of months or something? This post might be six years old, but it's a really good description of the inside of my head most days. Sorry that this is a bit of a ramble, I woke up late today and forgot to take the brain pills, and now it's really late but I can't sleep.
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Apr 28, 2015 07:11
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miryei posted:The vyvanse works pretty okay right now, and I don't want to build tolerance and lose the benefits I get. Does anyone know if taking weekends off helps much with avoiding building tolerance? If so, does it have to be every weekend or can I do one every couple of months or something? In general, yes. How beneficial is individually specific, but holidays are believed to help maintain an effective dose for longer.
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Apr 28, 2015 07:23
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miryei posted:So I just had my first appointment with my new psychiatrist. She seems okay, and I can book appointments with her 2 months in advance instead of 8 months, which is nice, even though the first appointment was rescheduled because of ??? and pushed back a couple of weeks, making if two and a half months between the booking and the actual appointment. However, she wants me to take weekends off from Vyvanse to avoid building up a tolerance. She seems to think that I'm only taking it to do well in school. I tried explaining the other benefits I get from it, such as "not forgetting to turn the stove off" and "tripping over my own feet less" and "driving safer" and "opening the Windows 8 start menu and not instantly forgetting why I did that". She seemed completely unconvinced, but also wasn't super pushy about taking med breaks on weekends. I think it's generally more along the lines of "the more days you take off, the less tolerance you'll develop" rather than being a binary thing.
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Apr 28, 2015 13:38
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Mechafunkzilla posted:I think it's generally more along the lines of "the more days you take off, the less tolerance you'll develop" rather than being a binary thing. I agree, but there's supposedly (anecdotal?) a drop in tolerance after long holidays as well. No clue of the effect of things like taking a low dose on tolerance. And since so much is anecdotal I take it all with a grain of salt. For most people significant tolerance takes years to develop, and there's few if any studies on long term stimulant use for ADHD. I like my weekends off because it helps with sleep and resets my baseline so I can keep track of variations in my medication results, but like all things here, it's user specific.
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Apr 28, 2015 16:10
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Reading through this thread has been really helpful. It's only recently that I've stopped to think how many of my actions were influenced heavily by my poor impulse control and inattention. I always figured that the kids at school went after me for no good reason, but now I'm thinking the interrupting class, conversations, and poor emotional control just may have something to do with it. I've been making it through grad school by the skin of my teeth; the only way I've been able to get things done is by waiting for the stress and pressure of deadlines to build to a point where I got to work. I mean, staying up until I have visual hallucinations. Not a great coping strategy, I know. I still catch myself getting off track every ten minutes while I work, but I can usually get everything done. Unsurprisingly, I don't get a lot of sleep. With summer coming up, I'll have time to get back to a psychiatrist and get medication sorted out, and I'm wondering if anyone could help out. I was taking Concerta and Wellbutrin to address the AD/HD and depression, but I was an anxious mess. I couldn't get a word out during classroom discussions, so I stopped taking my medication. I was taking a low dose of prozac for years, which worked wonders for the anxiety and depression. Has anyone combined prozac with medication for AD/HD?
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May 1, 2015 06:30
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Reading things, it seems pretty easy to go see a doctor and get prescribed the meds you need. But, I had been on medication as part of a study (for depression) and one of the meds, Vyvanse, is usually prescribed for ADHD but it helped me tremendously. I wanted to stay on it but that clinic didn't accept any insurance carriers. So, about a year after that study (took me a while to get poo poo done) I finally found someone covered by my insurance. I told the new psychologist all of that. There are apparently several tests that cost hundreds of dollars not covered by insurance to get diagnosed in order to be prescribed this drug. Is that normal or am I facing extra restrictions due to living in a college town? We have tried other pseudo stimulants but they don't help. I called about 11 psychiatrists in this and a nearby town, all of whom do not accept insurances, before I went with this one associated with the university. Can only psychiatrists give this diagnosis and prescribe medication or should I be trying to see another type of doctor? Will I just have to suck it up and spend a ton of money on these tests?
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May 4, 2015 00:21
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loldance posted:Reading things, it seems pretty easy to go see a doctor and get prescribed the meds you need. But, I had been on medication as part of a study (for depression) and one of the meds, Vyvanse, is usually prescribed for ADHD but it helped me tremendously. I wanted to stay on it but that clinic didn't accept any insurance carriers. So, about a year after that study (took me a while to get poo poo done) I finally found someone covered by my insurance. I told the new psychologist all of that. There are apparently several tests that cost hundreds of dollars not covered by insurance to get diagnosed in order to be prescribed this drug. Is that normal or am I facing extra restrictions due to living in a college town? We have tried other pseudo stimulants but they don't help. I know some people out of town who get prescribed their meds from their GP, but I also live in a college town so I'm pretty much in the same boat. I actually submitted to the hundreds of dollars of testing a few years back and eventually ended up with an Adderall prescription, but recently it was nearly impossible to get my doctor to agree to prescribe it to me despite the success I had with it in the past. I ended up doing more testing and waiting several months while they tried to treat me with other drugs (to no avail) before my doctor agreed to try me on a low dose of Adderall. No one will ever believe you if you live in a college town, especially if you are (or look like you are) college aged. My doctor keeps thinking I'm 21ish years old. I've had to constantly remind her that I'm in my late 20s and that my lack of accomplishment is, at this point, pretty abnormal for my age. Regarding Adderall, I'm on 20mg XR and it's been pretty helpful so far! But it wears out before my work shift is over, like six hours in. I feel like it's barely longer than IR. How long does it normally last for people?
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May 4, 2015 06:27
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I used to have to take two doses of Adderall XR to get through the day. 20 mg after eating a heavy breakfast and then another 20 mg after lunch to get me through to 6-7ish. I was around 130lbs at the time and it seemed like an absurd amount of stimulant for someone my size.
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May 4, 2015 08:23
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buffybot posted:I used to have to take two doses of Adderall XR to get through the day. 20 mg after eating a heavy breakfast and then another 20 mg after lunch to get me through to 6-7ish. I was around 130lbs at the time and it seemed like an absurd amount of stimulant for someone my size. I asked my doc about this kind of thing a couple of weeks ago, and he explained that it's not just "weighs more > more drugs". Apparently the way your liver metabolizes the drugs is the important part, and that's not fixed to your weight.
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May 4, 2015 13:53
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prefect posted:I asked my doc about this kind of thing a couple of weeks ago, and he explained that it's not just "weighs more > more drugs". Apparently the way your liver metabolizes the drugs is the important part, and that's not fixed to your weight. It does matter wrt your blood concentration level. There's a speculative string of research that overweight adults are likely under dosed by standard dosing recs. But if you exercise, eat more greens and lose weight, your meds will work better and you'll need them a bit less!
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May 4, 2015 15:29
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i have trouble eating and i use exercise mostly to get myself to feel hunger more often so i am actually able to eat more than one meal a day
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May 4, 2015 21:28
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Ugggh my Costco switched generic Adderall from Eon to Mallinckrodt
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May 5, 2015 03:52
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Slaapaav posted:i have trouble eating and i use exercise mostly to get myself to feel hunger more often so i am actually able to eat more than one meal a day I have had similar experiences, and while most exercise certainly helps I find that specifically cardio is the best way to stimulate an appetite. Has anyone else noticed this?
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May 5, 2015 10:46
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Cardio is appetite suppressive for me. If you really want to start getting an appetite again, start lifting weights.
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May 5, 2015 19:48
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i do jiu jitsu every day now and its like you use every part of your body until you want to lie down and die after practice. its a gently caress ton of work on the core muscles but you use pretty much every muscle in your body
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May 5, 2015 19:56
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Slaapaav posted:i do jiu jitsu every day now and its like you use every part of your body until you want to lie down and die after practice. its a gently caress ton of work on the core muscles but you use pretty much every muscle in your body Yeah, combat sports are the best exercise. In related news, I'm going in for labrum repair surgery tomorrow 
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May 5, 2015 19:58
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So it's day one of Strattera for me (25mg) and I am nauseous as gently caress. I can't do any work, which is kind of counter to why I am trying this. Should I just take a gravol or something? Does it get better after a few days?
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May 7, 2015 20:22
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Did you take it with food? Never take Strattera on an empty stomach unless you like dry heaving.
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May 7, 2015 20:28
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Baby Babbeh posted:Did you take it with food? Never take Strattera on an empty stomach unless you like dry heaving. No, but I ate something an hour later. Lesson learned, thanks. I actually asked my doctor about this and he said it was fine to take it alone. Thanks, doc.
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May 7, 2015 20:30
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May 11, 2015 18:25
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Vyvanse was tested for use in treating depression for a while because it had such powerful anti depressant effects on users when they first started it. Generally though, it appears that the anti depressant effects taper off quickly. That doesn't mean it can't be a life saver in a pinch. But if you suffer from long term chronic depression, it won't continue to work. That was the conclusion.
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May 12, 2015 16:52
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So I just got a letter from my insurance company denying coverage of Concerta. The weird thing is that the letter says the medication is only covered if I have ADHD/add, which I've been treated for by a psychiatrist. Does anyone have experience dealing with this? I am definitely going to appeal as I've been on Concerta or Ritilin for years and cannot understand why they wouldn't approve it. alf_attack fucked around with this message at 12:59 on May 19, 2015 |
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May 19, 2015 12:55
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alf_attack posted:So I just got a letter from my insurance company denying coverage of Concerta. Check your insurance company's drug formulary (it should be downloadable somewhere on their website or member portal or whatever). With my last insurance, they covered Concerta, but only if you were between the ages of 5 and 17. Outside of that range, you had to get prior approval, which they denied anyway because they were dicks. I think the second appeal/request worked, though, but I mostly just remember a whole lot of frustration. And definitely get your doc to call/fill out any necessary forms to help you get non-formulary meds (if the age range issue is the case with the Concerta - that would make it non-formulary)
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May 19, 2015 13:49
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Incredible. Appointment two lasted one minute (I timed on my phone) and consisted of me saying the only thing I'd noticed was a drier mouth and leaving with a prescription for 50mg Strattera.
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May 20, 2015 20:06
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What are people's experiences with alternative medications to Adderall? Right now I am on a few doses of short release a day. I've been having some weird times with my current prescription -- I've been taking it at similar times to previously (i.e. not after ~1-2 PM), but it seems to be causing more problems with my sleep. I'm also having a harder time going off it for 1-2 days and then back on, something I had previously done during weekends in a bid to slow down any tolerance build up. Are there other medications which are frequently considered to have fewer side effects? I've been working out 4-5x a week pretty intensely, and that has definitely been useful, as has keeping a healthy diet (I think), and trying to sleep regularly. I got noise canceling headphones for my open office at work, and that has also helped. I've also been taking more time to draw up really explicit plans and to do lists daily, with the idea that the more memory I can transfer from my head to post its, the better I will be able to accomplish things. I would love to hear more things people do on a daily basis to combat ADHD. Finally, has anyone done something like cognitive behavioral or other types of therapy to deal with ADHD? Unrelated but I have to say this whole ADHD thing is stressful. I intermittently am off ADHD while waiting for refills (a situation I have resolved now), and it always feels like I become someone I like less. My working memory is poo poo, to the point that I forget what I'm doing all the time or lose the flow of conversation, I am more irritable and snap at people more, I forget social engagements and commitments all the time, and have a super difficult time finishing anything. It's just super scary thinking that the only thing between me and being like that all the time is this drug which may or may not continue to work long term.
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May 21, 2015 02:39
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Fusion Restaurant posted:What are people's experiences with alternative medications to Adderall? Right now I am on a few doses of short release a day. Yeah dude, therapy is incredibly valuable. Especially focusing on mindfulness, changing your environment or behavior patterns to mitigate the bad things ADHD makes you more prone to do (like using a calendar to remember dates instead of relying on your brain), and especially on how to advocate for yourself and explain your condition to the people in your life so that they will be more forgiving when you do get tripped up in a way that affects them. As for meds, Adderall is supposed to be one of the milder ones in terms of side effects, but if you're unhappy with how it's affecting you should really talk to your psychiatrist about it and not be looking here for alternative medication advice.
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May 21, 2015 14:19
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atleast 90 minutes of physical exercise every single day made my recent 10 days without ritalin go pretty well. i mean i had concentration issues but it helps a lot when it comes to energy levels and ability to control my mood.
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May 21, 2015 19:49
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Fusion Restaurant posted:What are people's experiences with alternative medications to Adderall? Right now I am on a few doses of short release a day. On drugs: Ritalin is a little bit milder than Adderall when it comes to the stimulant drugs, but you should mess with the dose before you switch meds. Side effects from stims seem to be very dependent on dosing. I'd also explore the long release — it mellows out the come down a bit and seemed to help with side effects I was having. There's also Strattera, which works pretty well and has a completely different method of action. Talk with your psych about it. If they're any good, they should work with you to find a med and a dose that does it for you with minimal side effects. The meds affect everyone differently so treatment is a process of trying things and seeing what happens rather than being a prescribed a one-size-fits-all solution. On therapy: Yes. CBT is great for ADHD — it helps you to recognize when your mind is going off in unproductive directions and reign it in before it's too late. It's not a replacement for medication, in my opinion, because when you're not medicated you might not have the capacity to pull yourself out of a dive even if you notice it happening. But it can help you to make the best use of the space that medication affords you. Try to find a therapist who specializes in ADHD, because they can also usually help you with organizational strategies and suggest small tweaks to your routines that will make a big difference. If your psych does a lot of ADHD treatment, they might have suggestions of local people who are good. On behavior: Yes, it sucks. This is why ADHD is so often co-morbid with other things like depression, low self esteem, alcoholism and anxiety disorders. Living unmedicated is tough, and I think every one of us who is on an effective treatment lives with the fear that one day the meds will stop working and things will go back to the way they were before. The good news is things can get better. It's not an easy process but you aren't destined to be a person you don't like being. Baby Babbeh fucked around with this message at 20:23 on May 21, 2015 |
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May 21, 2015 20:21
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Does anyone have experience with Cogmed training? I'm looking into it, but it's quite expensive. I've been taking Concerta for the past ~3 years. I found my groove dosage and I'm pretty happy with it. But my memory and organizational skills are complete, utter poo poo. I constantly find myself falling behind in work. I've been forgetting or overlooking minor details that have cascaded into big issues. Every week I feel overwhelmed, exhausted, and I can't seem to put a dent in my to-do list. I know it sounds like poor management, but none of my other coworkers seem to have these problems. I noticed they're all much more organized, they have systems. I've tried doing this a few times, a few different strategies, but none of them lasted more than a week before I forgot about/abandoned them. Despite this, and because I've been working like someone possessed trying to keep pace with everyone else, I've been handed more responsibilities and I can't afford to gently caress this stuff up because my brain doesn't work right. It keeps me up at night. I've just about had enough of this. Medication alone is insufficient to get the job done. Advice? What's the smart approach here? I've been thinking Cogmed because most of my problems seem to stem from deficiencies in working memory, especially short-term memory. Disclaimer: I work out 4 times per week and have a few years of CBT under my belt. I'm familiar with an arsenal of mindfulness strategies.
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May 27, 2015 00:04
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Well, strengthening working memory will help, but you're also going to need a system. You will never be able to keep track of everything that needs doing without it — even normal people need systems to stay organized, it's just that they need them less so those systems can be less involved. What are some areas where you feel like you're constantly forgetting, and what have you tried in the past? Maybe we've run into similar situations and can share some of our coping strategies. Personally, this is why I think working with an organizational coach is a good idea once you've got your medication sorted and it seems to be working. Treatment gives you the space to put in place the systems you need to succeed, and then coaching helps you build those systems. A good coach can look at the stuff that are problem areas for you and then help develop strategies to address those things, as well as working with you long term to actually implement them. This is actually the hardest step, because you're fighting decades of engrained practice to change how you approach things — it's a process of trial and error as you find what works for you, and a coach provides support and accountability to help you manage it.
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May 27, 2015 00:33
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Fusion Restaurant posted:What are people's experiences with alternative medications to Adderall? Right now I am on a few doses of short release a day. If you're really set on changing your  wholesale, have you asked about nonstimulants? They didn't work well for me because of side effects/poor memory, but it might be worth a shot for you. That said, it will take two to three weeks for you to feel any effect from them and you absolutely cannot skip doses ever unless you want the weeks of buildup again. I personally am on Concerta, since it's just one pill a day and I have very few side effects from it, but if you go that route you absolutely have to take the Alva-stamped pills because the others are really just XR Ritalin, at least unless it's changed very recently. I've heard that CBT helps a ton, actually! I'm looking for one mostly for my rage issues (poor emotional control plus poor impulse control plus severe social anxiety has lead to me physically lashing out because of fight/flight in the past and I don't want to hurt people anymore!) and crippling phone anxiety (I literally have had panic attacks trying to call people), but I imagine that it'd help with various ADHD symptoms. ...rereading this I am increasingly unsurprised that I can't find a day job. 
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May 27, 2015 01:24
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Baby Babbeh posted:On therapy: Yes. CBT is great for ADHD — it helps you to recognize when your mind is going off in unproductive directions and reign it in before it's too late. It's not a replacement for medication, in my opinion, because when you're not medicated you might not have the capacity to pull yourself out of a dive even if you notice it happening. But it can help you to make the best use of the space that medication affords you. Try to find a therapist who specializes in ADHD, because they can also usually help you with organizational strategies and suggest small tweaks to your routines that will make a big difference. If your psych does a lot of ADHD treatment, they might have suggestions of local people who are good. I've been on several ADHD/ADD medications and the only one that's ever been worth a drat is Adderall. A single 5MG pill, the lowest does, in the morning has made a huge difference. While this worked wonders for me it may not work for you, talk to your doctor. On another note, my health insurance sucks is there a way to get CBT through a book?
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May 27, 2015 04:48
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