Thread: Add/adhd

Originally Posted by Stardrowned

i have had ADD since i was a kid and it really interferes with a whole lot of things in my life. i was wondering if anyone here has it and what they do about it. i'm considering going on medication but i don't want to lose my sense of self, become a zombie, lose my creativity, etc.

You will be able to focus more and concentrate on tasks at hand.

Take it for too long or abuse it and then you have a problem, just like any other substance abuse.

Either way, you're likely young and will adapt to it over time.

~

Yea, what O'nus said.

When you take too much, you will just become a "zombie", you will not be you. You turn into a totally different person, and people with ADD tend to be the nicest people out. At least the ones I know, and know of.

yeah for sure, i don't want to abuse it. i just wanna take it as prescribed so i can actually concentrate on something for more than 4 seconds and maybe even get things done

Go to a psychiatrist [aka pdoc] about your problem. I have a MAJOR Gripe about general practictioners prescribing meds for mental conditions (including depression and ADD/ADHD etc).

If you do go on meds, BE PATIENT!!!!!!
It took my pdoc and I three YEARS to find a combo that worked for me. It didn't help that I wasn't very compliant though and kept getting off the meds we tried
BUT, I also went to him initially with a prior mis-diagnosis of bi-polar disorder so we had to start from absolute scratch and he treats symptoms instead of "labels" like a lot of docs and pdocs do.

I recently went off my meds for 5 days and I remembered just why I love them so much.
I have symptoms of ADD and extreme anxiety as well as excessive day time sleepiness and possibly Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome.
I take 80 mg Celexa and only 18 mg Strattera daily. If I need help staying awake, I take 200 mg Provigil and if I can't go to sleep I take an Ambien (I very rarely ever take Ambien though which is why I can never remember the dose lol).
My pdoc wanted to try me on Abilify last week by I can't afford it.

To give you a base line though, my youngest son is 15 years old and he takes 100 mg Strattera every day.

Be honest with your doc and voice your concerns and problem. Side effects are to be expected for up to (usually no more than) 1-2 months. Most side effects I've encountered (though it will very from person to person) is headache, dry mouth, funny taste in mouth, groggines... and did I mention HEADACHE? lol Some meds should also be taken on a full stomach.
If I don't have a big meal before taking Strattera, I feel like barfing for hours afterwards.

But sticking with the treatment plan and finding something that works makes all the difference in the world, IMHO.
And, as you're doing now, continue to educate yourself on the options available to you.

If you're living on a low fixed income, some companies (or the doctors themselves) can give you either discounts or free samples.
My hubby soesn't support my treatment. He's an Ophthalmologist and we have great insurance, but there's still a bit of out of pocket expense (AFTER insurance, for instance, my Provigil runs at almost $100. a month). I kept discontinuing my treatment because hubby grumbled too much when I'd ask for money to buy my meds.
My pdoc gives me my Strattera and Provigil when he has samples (and he almost always does). Celexa and Ambien run about $10. each so I have no trouble buying those.

One site I fell in love with for researching meds is:
http://www.crazymeds.us/

I wish you much success!!

I only know one person who had ADHD, and he is on medication. If I didn't already know he had it, I would never have suspected, except perhaps late at night when the effect of the medication wears off. I suggest you give the medication a try, there's a good chance it will work, and if it doesn't you can always get off them later. Also, the dosage prescribed is much, much lower than when the drug is abused.

When I used to ride buses to school, I would often encounter this woman with ADHD. Let me tell you, she was obnoxious as all hell. I know that sounds mean, but...well, every time I saw her boarding the bus I was on, I'd start bashing my head against the metal bar, saying "Oh, CWAP, oh CWAP!" (a [rather insensitive] reference to the fact that she couldn't pronounce her R's correctly), for I knew that she would yak people's ears off about her obsession with dogs, even when they showed clear signs of disinterest.

So yeah, for these people I suggest drugs. ASAP. Get crackin', jack.

I have severe ADD. I just rode it out through school because none of the meds ever did anything for me except make me have a buzz or feel either wired out of my mind or sick, or both/all. I had to learn everything when studying by myself because I absolutely could not pay attention in class unless something really interesting was being talked about. I can't pay attention to boring shit on the first attempt. Fascination seems to turn on the brain faculties necessary for me to pay attention. Nothing else does.

The problem is that my mind is always very tuned into ideas, but not necessarily the ideas being presented to me by somebody else. It takes a lot for my focus to move from the ideas my brain is sucked into to ideas I don't really care about.

I once sat there and did nothing during a spelling test because I didn't know a spelling test was going on. I used to raise my hand during a show of hands and keep my hand raised minutes after the other kids put their hands down. One time I swung by a grocery store on the way to the dry cleaners. I walked into the grocery store with my shirts on hangers and made it all the way to the produce section before I realized I was needlessly carrying clothes. I also started shooting baskets on a basketball court while some people were playing a game. That is how out of it I am. People who say ADD is not real have never met me.

oh, one more thing. would it fuck up the whole lucid dreaming thing? would i even dream at all?

I'm on meds for ADD, and as I stated above, my son takes a much higher dosage. Both he and I still have very intense dreams. I have a lot of lucid moments but I tend to blow them off for "natural dreams". I don't think it will interfer with lucid dreaming after you've been on them for a couple months and the side effects start diminishing.

I had undiagnosed ADD for awhile. I couldnt concentrate in school, or get stuff done. I was terrible at organization, i would get distracted easy, and i had no conversation filter. If two people were talking at the same time, i couldnt concentrate on the one who was talking to me. Even if the other guy was way across the room.

I finally got some medicine for it. Strattera. It destroyed me. I turned into a zombie. Everything slowed down, i was tired all the time, and if i would stand up from sitting down, i would almost pass out. Sure i could focus better, but was it worth it? It kept going on like this till i went back to my doctor and i found out that my blood pressure was 90/60. It is usually 130/70. I had a bad reaction to the strattera.

So my doctor gave me a new medication. Focalin XR. Since then i could focus better, and i wasnt a zombie. You got to get this treated. you will find something that works for you. Not all ADD medication will turn you into a zombie, and you will feel so much better after you take it.

hello...

I was diagnosed sometime in middle school, I think, with ADD. Like Universal Mind, I can't concentrate very well In class unless the subject is very interesting to me.
Most of my time in Middle and High School classes were spent looking out the window, doodling, daydreaming, or talking to friends. I would tune in every now and then to what was being taught, so I could absorb just enough information to pass the class.
I often pass exits on the interstate because I'm daydreaming, or because a person in the car is distracting me. Sometimes, I completely tune out while driving, I 'come back' after coming to a stop at a red light. Some of you may know what I'm talking about, lol.
I feel like this "ADD" affects my life in a big way. It's really frustrating to understand and deal with. Recently, I have 'realized' how much of an impact it has made on my life... I find it funny that I didn't spend much time thinking about it when I was a teen. I look back and it seems like I have been stuck in some daydream, like a 'partial-awareness' kind of state. I'd love to talk to someone else who understands what I'm trying to say, maybe we can figure out more about ourselves by sharing ADD things. Feel free to reply or PM me.