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Cakebaker posted:It's never the same for everyone, remember everyone has a different personality and differing personality traits, ADHD or not. In my case nobody including me ever thought that I might have ADHD until a doctor mentioned it in passing (although right after he went "naaah probably not") which made me look it up, did a lot of reading and I realized some of it fit me eerily well. But other parts seemed totally off so I didn't really know what to think. I recently came out to myself as having ADHD. When I was younger I was a real wiseass, who essentially told the psychologists who diagnosed me with ADHD to gently caress off. I then spent most of my teenage years barely coping with school, and then eventually dropping out. Through sheer force of will I managed to go back and finish my highschool credits, while getting accepted to a very good university. But as soon as I hit Uni, I quickly realized that my coping skills just weren't going to hack it. Something would always snap while I was doing readings and I'd be off staring into the clouds just thinking about random bullshit. My main coping mechanism was listening to DNBRadio.com, slamming a large energy drink, and then staying on task for hours. If I hadn't done it for a while, I could last as long as 6-7 hours doing that. If I kept that rhythm at every three days, I'd be OK. But Uni doesn't give three days, you have to do readings every day or two. So the rhythm got switched to every day very quickly, and that 6 hours turned into 30 minutes, which then descended into caffeine dependency just to not feel like poo poo. I'm surprised by heart rate and blood pressure didn't skyrocket. I drink lots of water and eat relatively well so it wasn't so bad. But basically everything you're saying matches my experience. I was recently prescribed Dexadrine 5mg to try it out and see if it had any positive effect on me. The results were immediate. I began remembering important things even with tons of distraction, and my concentration and interest to stay on a single task have improved dramatically. It even raised my confidence levels quite a bit. I think part of the problem is that I was so unsure of many things because I knew I was so forgetful around things, which made me double-think anything I did, adding a ton of distraction. Not that I remember things, I seem to be more confident in my actions. It does sort of make sense that I would need to take a stimulant like caffeine to keep concentration before, though. That's probably why I kept trying to find work in coffee shops... It took a long time to admit I had this and needed medication to manage it. I hope I can still save my term. It's still early in the year. This should become a lot easier.
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Oct 31, 2009 02:07
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| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 22:49 |
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Well, it's been a week and a half on Dexedrine and I suppose I should talk about my experiences. I've been on 2x5mg/daily (once when I wake up/have breakfast, once during mid-afternoon) and what I'm experiencing is the fact that while at first concentration and drive were amazing, they quickly degraded when the insomnia kicked in and I started getting a kind hypertension through my entire body, mostly located in my neck and torso. So the medication has sort of ceased to function. I suppose I'll be going cold turkey over the long weekend I've got and hoping I'm not totally earth-shatteringly miserable (I'll probably be fine, might even just take quarter-dose to detox). Personality wise there have been positive effects. I'm taking care of more "social chores" that I've been putting off (talking to people I've been meaning to for a while), in addition to being able to express my opinions a little more clearly and bluntly which has helped me in a few situations. I'm also more confident, and even did some public speaking with absolutely no fear. It's helped me remember a lot of distant past events I had actually forgotten about, as well. But, I'm just going to go back to my doctors and ask if I can try Adderall XR instead. Dexedrine has just been a little too extreme, even if the hubris and increased confidence is nice.
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Nov 11, 2009 07:40
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Zhentar posted:If she thinks you have to be hyper to have ADHD she's an idiot and probably shouldn't be practicing medicine. There are two subtypes of ADHD, predominantly inattentive, and predominantly hyperactive/impulsive, and the considerable majority of adults with ADHD are predominantly inattentive. It's also a kind of misconception that kept me from believing I had ADHD and that the shrinks I went to were hacks, even though I realize now that I have all the signs of inattentive ADHD. I thought you had to be hyper and bouncing off walls all the time to qualify for it. I just felt uninterested in doing things, even though I loved the material. I chalked it up to depression, but even as that went down steadily, my inattentiveness stayed exactly the same. In fact, it even got worse, because I had the drive and determination to go out and do things but would always forget little details, appointments, etc. I probably would have crashed and burned unless I put absolutely everything into my iCal planner on my MacBook, and had it make my iPhone beep every time something important (or non-routine) come up. I could remember to go to class specific days and I wouldn't forget the different times of classes. But, say, my Friday class is going on a field trip. Instead of meeting at 10AM in the tutorial hall, we're meeting that evening at 5PM. I would show up to class at 10AM wondering where everyone was, and then remember after I got there that there was a field trip that evening. Or maybe that after class I was going to meet a friend for coffee... I'd go home and completely forget about it even though I was looking forward to it all week. This would happen about 60% of the time on average - the 40% was when my iPhone would scream at me that I have an appointment. I knew I'd be hosed if I lost that thing. But yeah, I realize now that ADHD isn't something I should be ashamed of and that psychoactive medications aren't the devil. Amphetamines don't destroy your personality, they just make you focus on the little things and chores that need to get done. If your personality is based on being a procrastinator, then you might have a problem, but otherwise it just helps you be successful in life, from social things such as friends and hobbies, to school and work.
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Nov 11, 2009 20:07
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Yesterday (the 12th), I saw my doctor and got Adderall XR prescribed, discontinuing Dexedrine. It cost a fair chunk of change (mostly covered by my student health plan), but today I took 10mg once in the morning. My energy was sustained through most of the day, and I didn't feel the extreme emotional/mental crash. Right now I'm just kind of tired like I want to go to sleep, with a little bit of mind fog and difficulty explaining advanced concepts. As opposed to getting really moody and feeling like I want to cry. Yesterday I took only 2.5mg (half a pill) of Dexedrine, being kind of tired and useless most of the day. I noticed something when I was sleeping that night: I had the most vivid dreams ever, with three big long ones one right after the other. When I woke up, I realized that I hadn't had any dreams in almost two weeks. Dexedrine was preventing me from getting any REM sleep, which is why my mind was getting so fragged. Tanking the dosage allowed my body to finally force itself to have one giant night of REM sleep. I woke up feeling better than usual, and managed to get a lot of things done today. I'm not sure any of you have any of these symptoms on Dexedrine, but if you are, I'd recommend cutting your dose to basically nothing for a few days, or switching to Adderall if possible. The last two weeks have been completely insane for me trying to make this medication work, but I think I've figured it out now. I've also read stuff that suggests that taking 50mg of 5-HTP (serotonin precursor) before you go to sleep will help with insomnia or moodiness with prolonged use (by replenishing the serotonin used by the amphetamines), but YMMV. I apologize if I've been posting too much, I just want to help anyone avoid the crap I went through in the last couple of weeks.
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Nov 14, 2009 05:55
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TheTarrasque posted:If I don't have health insurance, could maybe a walk-in clinic give me a script for adderall or something if I chatted with the doc for a little while? Because ADHD testing around here runs a minimum of $500, and that's if you completely debase yourself and beg them to cut all available corners for you. This is through a neuropsychologist's office. Honestly, amphetamines are up there with opiates and some of the more abused drugs out there. Stuff like Adderall has been described as an "epidemic" in college campuses across North America. You're going to have a hard time selling an Adderall (or other stimulant) prescription to a walk-in clinic doctor. Hell, I've seen people walk out of a walk-in with opiate prescriptions, but this was after they went to a chiropractor, another doctor, and gotten a prescription for powerful anti-inflamatories that ended up not working. I managed to get mine from my regular GP fairly easily, but this was after presenting my case of extreme caffeine dependency, bringing in the summary page from the DSM and describing how I had every symptom of "inattentive" listed, and having a prior diagnosis for ADHD back when I was a kid. Your best bet is to save up and get tested. Otherwise you'll look like a drug seeker.
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Nov 14, 2009 21:32
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| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 22:49 |
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THE AWESOME GHOST posted:How common do you guys think overdiagnosis is? I know a couple of friends who take ADD meds, but they say things like "I don't want to do homework and I can't pay attention in class" Which honestly to me sounds like every single student in the world. I thought I might even have it because I would put off homework and doze off in classes, but when I switched majors I paid perfect attention in all my classes so really it was just I hated what I was learning. Well, the thing is that it wasn't just affecting school for me. School was just one of the larger symptoms of the problem. I would be forgetful about EVERYTHING, even stuff that was fun or recreational and I was looking forward to. An amazing stand-up artist I wanted to see with friends? Forgotten. Wanted to hang out at a friends place? Forgotten. Birthday party? Forgotten, or if I remembered, I'd forget their present. Meeting with parents/doctors/therapist/what have you? Forgotten. Then there was stuff about me constantly leaving my wallet everywhere at random stores, nearly losing my iPhone an average of two or three times a month, losing my umbrella every time I went outside when it rained, and even stuff like the fact I drove my bike over to a friends place. I'd drive over to my friends on bike, then take the transit or walk home, waking up the next day, remembering that my bike was half way across town. When I added up all of these different things, I realized that maybe this was a little more than me just trying to avoid doing schoolwork. Work, play, it didn't matter... my entire brain was scattered about everything. Now I can go out during the rain and I won't lose another $15 umbrella, and I can actually meet up with friends on time! Wow! edit: It most definitely is over-diagnosed. When I was diagnosed with it, I told them they were stupid pill-pushers. I knew psychiatry was ripe with people like that. With more experience being around therapists and so on, my view of them lessened. So I tried Dexedrine and then Adderall. I've been on the stuff for a month or so now, and stuff got better. But I would never do it if everything else except school was going fine - I'd just improve my work ethic. Lainlike fucked around with this message at 21:21 on Nov 24, 2009 |
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Nov 24, 2009 21:12
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