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Good post, I have a rather unique problem maybe someone can give some advice to.... I know that I must have ADD, I fit every single symptom, Adderall (which I'm not prescribed) has its paradoxical reaction for me, and I think my other psych. problems may stem from it. For the past month or two, I've been taking Adderall daily, 10mg in the AM and another 10 in early afternoon. I have insomnia and anxiety, so the stimulant makes my anxiety a little worse, but helps with fatigue from insomnia. Overall, I am able to get so much more done with my life that it is a profit overall. I want to speak to a psychologist and get a diagnosis, and then hopefully get on Adderall on a prescription basis. Trouble is, I've had addiction issues (am in recovery). I know that I could never ever abuse stimulants, I've tried that a couple of times (several years ago) and the results are so disastrous I could now have such a surplus of Adderall that I'd sooner throw it away than abuse it. So, I know that I won't abuse stimulants, but would a psychologist? I'm a college student and I'd be going to the university's counseling service, so that also makes me suspect to begin with. I'd really like to talk to a shrink about addiction things but this makes me very scared to, I'd sooner omit my drug abuse and get a prescription. In short, to what extent can I lay it all on the table? Again, I am in recovery.... deptstoremook fucked around with this message at 01:01 on Aug 30, 2009 |
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Aug 30, 2009 00:51
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What's the rationale behind requiring (or preferring) one to have had a diagnosis during childhood? I wasn't fortunate enough to be in therapy or see any shrinks when I was a kid, so obviously I don't have any sort of documentation of what may have been ADHD. More importantly, if it's a disorder characterized by X, Y and Z, and I present with those, why would it matter whether I had those traits in the past? I don't understand how that affects the scope or impact of the disorder.
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Sep 6, 2009 02:07
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Hello all, I posted a couple years ago asking if I should go on Adderall for my ADD (not ADHD). So I'm looking for some advice. Warning, small personal issues dump. I was tested in college for ADD, and even though I think those test results were compromised because of my active drug addiction (opiates), I definitely went for a reason. I never got prescribed Adderall or whatever, and the past few years have been devoted to me getting off drugs and dealing with a bunch of other poo poo in my life. But enough of that, I'm here to talk about my ADD. Through college and until recently I've been able to mask a lot of the issues I face because (a) I'm smart, and (b) I can work fast even if I'm neglectful, procrastinating, and distracted 90% of the time. However, I'm now trying to balance a focus-intensive job (I'm a grant writer) and focus-intensive personal work (I'm a creative writer and preparing to apply for an MFA), I'm finding that my ADD symptoms, nascent before, masked by my drug use, are really coming to the fore. I find myself (I think) self-medicating with caffeine and nicotine, now. I'm also 3.5 years sober so any of these attention issues which I might have attributed to drugs or my home life are obviously not related to that. Even if the amphetamine medications are more attractive to me--I have had positive experiences with them when I took them responsibly--let's face it, they're an awful idea for a recovering addict, I've abused stimulants in the past, I already suffer with a great deal of anxiety and have trouble sleeping. So to my mind, this leaves Strattera. From what I've been reading, Strattera (of course) works for ADD, and the other potential off-label uses for anxiety, depression, and compulsive eating would also help me directly, if it works. I just wonder if I'm just normal and being hysterical. Do any of yall find these symptoms jive with what you experience?
I'm not looking for a diagnosis (I've got that, officially & personally). I just want to know if I'm being ridiculous. I have appointments with my therapist and my internist on the 29th, during which times I plan to discuss these issues and (hopefully) get a Rx for strattera.
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May 16, 2013 19:37
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deptstoremook posted:Hello all, I posted a couple years ago asking if I should go on Adderall for my ADD (not ADHD). So I'm looking for some advice. Warning, small personal issues dump. Thanks for all the advice and thoughts last page. I met with my therapist. Even though she's generally anti-meds, we talked about Strattera and she thought it could certainly help. So I wrote my doctor, and she phoned in an Rx for Strattera (40mg once per day) which I started this morning. I already have a kind of strange fatigue/distance and slight muscle "rubberiness" feeling from it. Does this match others' experiences or am I just freaking myself out about it?
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Jun 1, 2013 22:23
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I'm REALLY trying not to freak myself out or talk myself out of the Strattera, but I'm finding the side effects are difficult to deal with, mainly the fatigue. This is my fourth day. About an hour or two after taking my dose, I feel whenever I close my eyes I could fall asleep or doze off, and I'm having these episodes of just "spacing out" (something I never did before). The fatigue is bad, I don't have hyperactive ADHD (I've just been calling it regular ADD?) so it's not like I had boundless energy to start, quite the opposite in fact. Also some constipation, chills, and feeling very warm. Appetite suppression is a beneficial side effect for me so I'll set that one aside. When the side effects wear off in the evening, I'm right back in "ADD land," talking about 10 nothings at once, fidgeting, and not really doing anything productive. Will these side effects fade with time? How long does Strattera take to start working? Right now it's just negative. My doc has talked about increasing the dose (and I see people on 80-120mg on the internet), and I'm worried these negative effects will get worse.
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Jun 4, 2013 19:23
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Well, the Strattera was causing psychological side effects so my doctor recommended I not use it. I had a long discussion with her about therapy with stimulants, and we decided that Vyvanse 30mg would be a reasonable place to start, with bi-weekly check ins and me seeing my therapist every week for a while. The first couple days on Vyvanse were a bit rough, mostly in the sleep department, but I'm actually able to stick with tasks and make a reasonable schedule for things to get done. I'm 5 days in now, and I'm still getting some euphoria when it "kicks in." As an addict, this is worrisome for me, even if it's mild. I hope that will go away with tolerance (but hopefully the beneficial effects won't). Any experiences in this respect?
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Jun 18, 2013 19:30
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Flashbang! posted:Passive\inattentive Adhd + anxiety over here with looming problem. I've struggled with this for as long as I can remember. My mother had been quasi aware of this for a few years (has a different form of it herself) held off trying to treat it for fear of side effects. More on that shortly. Sounds like a pretty deep entanglement with your mother (no judgment, I helped write the book on "unhealthy parent-child relationships"). Your medical treatment is your business first of all. Your mom is allowed to express concerns, for instance if you are having mood changes or physical effects that she notices or is affected by, but I would recommend trying to go see your doctor alone. That can be hard, I know. But I think you'll get better care if you think about what your treatment means for you and only you.
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Jun 19, 2013 18:00
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More questions and more anxieties! At 30mg, Vyvanse was working well for just shy of two weeks. In the last couple days the euphoric effects have all but disappeared (this is good). However, alongside that the duration of action also seems to be decreasing. Previously it was working for almost the full advertised time--I take it between 9:00 - 10:00 a.m. and until now it would last until about 10:00 p.m., though almost invisibly in the later hours. Yesterday, I found it petered out a couple hours early, and today even more rapidly, maybe even immediately. It's 3:00 p.m. and I can already feel myself starting to bounce around on different things like this stupid forum post and all those e-mails I'd better get around to. Is this typical? My doctor at first suggested that I might need to increase the dose after a couple weeks, but will an increase in dose increase the duration (good) without increasing the "abuse potential" side effects or general stoned feeling (bad for me and bad for my productivity)? Just looking to hear others' experiences. This thread has been a real resource the past few weeks, so thanks as always!
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Jun 25, 2013 21:50
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Liffrea posted:I've just been diagnosed with ADHD, predominantly inattentive, with co-morbid anxiety, and was hoping to get some advice/feedback from people about the treatment suggested for me. The evaluator at the center I went to suggested that I start with coaching for now, and see what happens for a few months, and if that doesn't work, a full neuro-psych evaluation might be in order along with medication. I just spoke with the coach recommended to me over the phone and while I liked her a lot from the initial conversation, unfortunately it doesn't look like our schedules are going to mesh. She's going to try and put me into contact with other coaches who might be able to accommodate my schedule, but I do have some questions about what she told me: Jesus. Can I ask a few questions? What kind of center were you going to that recommends a coach instead of a "real" doctor? Not to be all "Western medical doctors, psychiatrists, and psychologists can be the only source of care," I know life coaches can be really helpful for a lot of people. My sister was coaching (informally) a woman with a spatial disorder, teaching her how to find her way around the city and stuff like that. But $240/45 minutes (that's $320/hour), by phone? Seriously. If you want some coaching read people's strategies online and in this thread. You can get this kind of regular care and accountability from the right kind of therapist, who should be covered by insurance if you have it, and even if you don't, would run you $80-$120/hour. Yes, I got an evaluation just for ADHD. The whole thing smells really fishy and I think you're right to be skeptical. Exorbitant rates (strike 1); she doesn't want to meet in person (strike 2); she's discouraging you from pursuing other avenues of treatment (strike 3). I would even say the center that referred her is suspect by association.
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Jul 2, 2013 19:25
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Authentic You posted:Post diagnosis, I'm better at catching myself going off on internet benders or getting ridiculously distracted Xibanya posted:I have been on Adderall xr 20mg with lexapro for about two months now and now I have a really irritating problem. A few pages back, someone mentioned that reading the ADD thread is like seeing posts by your evil (long-lost?) twins. I wonder what it is about ADD that makes you just not pay attention to anything? I call it "clicking the internet" because I'm not really reading or engaging with what I'm doing, I'm just sitting there staring at the screen and clicking kind of as a formality. To contribute, Xibanya, I'm on Vyvanse and I had a similar issue. I would usually take my meds ~9 a.m. and then around 6 or 7 it would wear off. I bumped my dose I'm now on 40mg, so about your dose if the conversion rate is to be believed) and that increased the duration, but one thing I noticed is that the Vyvanse continues to work after I stop "feeling it," just in a more subtle way. I will also take my dose later and I don't have too much trouble sleeping. I find I can go as late as 11:00 or 11:30; I do have insomnia and take Trazadone for sleep, but I don't need to take more Trazadone if I take my Vyvanse later. Your mileage may vary. Also look into a magnesium supplement (chelated citrate or glycinate), it's really slowed down or even eliminated my tolerance to the vyvanse.
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Jul 21, 2013 18:32
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Dolemite posted:Lately, I've been hating sharing with people that I have ADHD. That's funny because since I started treatment I've been diagnosing everyone around me with ADHD (as a kind of half-joke); I also found out my boss has it too--I always figured she had a terminal case of ADHD, but she confirmed it for me. So that was probably the best possible outcome of the conversation "hey, sorry about forgetting everything all the time and not really listening, but I'm on meds now."
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Aug 13, 2013 18:12
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: Yeah, I have ADHD, makes life hard, but I deal
: Sometimes I forget my car keys. I think I have ADHD too!!!
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NeilPerry posted:I'm thinking about quitting ritalin and learning to cope with my inattentiveness and procrastination in other ways. I'm afraid using it the past half year has ruined my relationship, or at least had a hand in it. I think it made me too antisocial and apathetic, and when I stopped using it as frequently I managed to get to a different conclusion about my feelings towards my significant other. Before I was convinced we could not work out in a long distance relationship(I'm leaving for a year in September) and had maintained that I wouldn't do it. After taking ritalin less regularly I kind of started feeling more... well, feelings, and I started realizing how much she meant to me. But by then she had already gotten over convincing me and found someone else. I don't attribute it all to the ritalin, but I do feel as if it had a hand in it. Not ritalin, but I've been on Vyvanse for a few months now and I have some concerns about it (it can worsen my pre-existing anxiety sometimes and makes me a bit more impulsive, addiction potential, etc). I've talked to my girlfriend about going off meds a few times, mostly idly or when I'm having a bad day. I think it's a recovering addict thing to periodically want to "fix everything" (no caffeine, no junk food, no meds, start exercising), but I digress. Anyway, from my girlfriend's perspective the Vyvanse has saved the relationship. I can actually pay attention when I'm having conversations with her, and I'm not always running around in my head towards every direction but the thing she's talking to me about. I can stay on topic and remember what I wanted to say, and respond in a meaningful way instead of with jokes or non sequitirs (probably a coping strategy for not being able to listen to people). As she put it, I converse now, instead of talking at. On the other hand, I have heard here and there that ritalin can cause flattened affect, so maybe that's what you were experiencing? I definitely retain all my senses of feelings, emotions, and creative impulse on the Vyvanse, perhaps consider it as an alternative treatment?
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Aug 19, 2013 20:55
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TheBigBad posted:I don't think you can attribute your relationship troubles to ritalin. It sounds like a typical and reasonable reason and way to break up. Lots and lots of correlation does not imply causation in your post. I think this is needlessly harsh. Drugs can definitely change your affect, mood, emotions, and how you think about life. And if you don't want to take the word of this recovering addict, consider that almost every psych med has well-documented and not always positive side effects that cause changes in "high-level" thinking about goals, relationships, creativity, et cetera. It's true that NeilPerry's feelings might have arisen naturally over time without drugs--after all, relationships grow closer or fall apart, even if that sounds tautological. But if we take him at his word--which we kind of have to--then reducing the meds resulted in a change in thinking and an increase in empathy and sense of intimate connection, which is not unexpected at all especially given what other folks on Ritalin have said. I feel a bit annoyed with your post, actually. You're projecting ("Put both of your lives on hold," "co-dependent"); people do long distance relationships often, even if they're difficult. Also, you can say "correlation does not imply causation," which is a nice way of looking at things if you're a robot or a statistician, but in lived experience correlations matter a great deal. As a kid I threw up while eating broccoli, because I had a stomach virus. The broccoli didn't cause my illness, but I still avoid broccoli. All that aside, there is good evidence that in the case of Ritalin and emotional blunting, there may in fact be a causation. Maybe I'm projecting too, though, since I just ended counseling with a therapist who refused to acknowledge that external things can influence and pressure my actions and thoughts. Which I think is bullshit, if that wasn't clear enough.
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Aug 20, 2013 19:14
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Budget Bears, that sounds like quite a challenge. As other posters mentioned, I was the same drat way. On the bright (?) side, I learned pretty early how to weasel, flatter, misdirect, and cajole my way out of having to turn things in, which turned out to be an important life skill!
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Sep 18, 2013 22:43
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AnonymousNarcotics posted:I can't take adderall because I have a history of drug abuse (self medicating much?) but I probably should see a doctor because this sucks and I'm afraid I'm gonna get fired because I have so many absences and I really do love my job. For what it's worth, I also have a history of addiction that I've always disclosed fully & frequently with my doctors, a history that included (though not primarily) stimulant abuse. When the time came to do something about the ADD, I was pretty anxious about the stimulant issue. At first I tried strattera for a while but it didn't help much, so my internist decided on Vyvanse, which is not abusable (except, obviously, via the "take more than you're prescribed" method). I was anxious about being on it for a time, but now I really hardly think about it. I don't expect this to be very convincing, if you're having the same feelings I did, but if your issues are serious enough, and the drug helps enough, even as a (recovering?) addict you may be able to see it as different than getting high. I hesitate to talk about "thinking logically" around addiction, but my line about the Vyvanse has always been "yeah, I could take a half dozen of these, but then I'd have to get off it for good since I'll abuse it." And that's always been enough, but I'm 5 years out from daily drug use at this point. Depending on where you are in your recovery, and what your drug of choice was, that might not be a reliable enough argument. Full disclosure, however, even the lowest dose of Vyvanse (30mg, which the internet says is something tiny like 10mg of Adderall) had fairly pronounced effects for the first couple of months, by which I mean that I definitely did feel kind of high. I'm very sensitive to amphetamines, though. It happened again when I moved up to 40mg, but I never feel high at all, now, especially after I moved back down to 30mg a few months ago. PS -- and this is of interest perhaps to the rest of the thread -- I decided to request accommodations at my job for my ADD. It was almost no problem, and they granted me my own office and, informally, I know it took some of the scrutiny off my general absentmindedness. I have a fairly understanding director, and I work at a large research university, so those factors probably helped. It may be worth a try for you, too, but I did need to get a letter of support from my doctor. deptstoremook fucked around with this message at 22:45 on Apr 21, 2015 |
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Apr 21, 2015 22:42
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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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