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Hey thread, I hope it's okay to post about this here, as it's ADD-related, but if not I can delete my post and/or move it elsewhere. I don't have ADD but I work as a nanny and I'm beginning to suspect that one of the kids I take care of, an 8-year-old girl, might have it. I take care of both her and her sister 5 days a week and the sister does not show any of the same ADD-like symptoms as the 8-year-old. Whether to bring up the ADD possibility to her parents is a whole other topic, but for the time being I'd love some of your guys' input as to what you responded to as a child with ADD - what helped you focus on your schoolwork, what kinds of things helped you feel positive about yourselves, etc. The main issue is that she takes hours and hours to do her 3rd grade homework. She is very bright and, when I sit down with her and walk her through the homework, she knows all of it. She reads at a 6th grade level and is able to do 4th grade math, she understands reading comprehension, spelling, grammar, basic science; she knows above and beyond what she needs to know for 3rd grade. I've wondered if maybe her homework is too easy and is boring her, but other times I see her being challenged and engaged by the homework, so I have no idea. She will sometimes complain to me, "This homework is too hard," after I have watched her start it and then put her pencil down, and start staring at or playing with something on her desk. I will ask her, "is it hard to understand, or is it boring?" and she will say "I just can't do it." But she can't articulate why. She has told me that music helps her concentrate, so we tried that. She got distracted by the Pandora screensaver every time. I turned off the display so she couldn't see the screensaver, and she stopped her homework after every song to check if she liked the song or if she wanted to skip it. We tried Spotify, iTunes, CDs, premade playlists; she found something music-related to be distracted by. So that was out after many attempts. We've had on-and-off success setting a timer for a very generous amount of time. Sometimes she will buckle down and beat the clock, and then be very proud of herself. Other times she will get stuck on one problem and then burst out crying and have a huge tantrum/meltdown because she'll "never be able to finish." She gets distracted by me a lot (even when I am quietly sitting away from her line of vision, she will stop every one or two minutes to tell me something she saw in a movie, or something her friend said.) so I have tried having her do her homework in the guest bedroom, where there are no toys of hers to potentially distract her. She will either pop her head out to tell me something trivial every couple of minutes, or I will check on her after leaving her to work for half an hour and she will have gotten nothing done; I'll just walk in on her staring blankly into space. Also, she's incredibly emotionally and socially underdeveloped, which I think I've read can sometimes occur in kids with ADD. She has toddler-like temper tantrums, doesn't really understand rules in games, and often doesn't understand very simple logic. Not in a normal 8 year old way - in a way I would expect from about a 4 year old. This is running really long, but I kind of wanted to get some perspective of people who were once 8 year olds with ADD and see if any of this is at all consistent with what you guys experienced. I see her struggling every day and becoming completely exhausted after hours and hours of homework and I want to do absolutely everything I can to understand and help her out, but I feel like I'm running out of ideas. tl;dr please help me understand how you did your homework when you were a 3rd grader with ADD, and how I can be encouraging towards this kid who may or may not have it.
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Sep 18, 2013 05:11
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Oh man, I'm so glad there's a thread on this. I'm looking for advice from people who may have been in similar circumstances. Here goes: I was a straight-A student until my last year of elementary. In sixth grade, my grades plummeted. By grade eight, I was nearly at the bottom of my class. After hearing the reasons for my poor performance, my doctor sent me to a child therapist. I was diagnosed with ADHD-PI at 15 years old, right before my 9th grade year. (I was only able to move on to high school thanks to an incredibly lax summer school program.) They started me on Adderall, which worked well for six months until I quit taking it for reasons I don't quite remember. I think I saw some TV special on it being dangerous or something. My parents didn't agree with each other on it, and I eventually inherited this "Mental Disorders are fake and stupid!" mentality; convincing myself that ADHD was concocted by pharmaceutical companies. Needless to say, I fell back into academic crapville. I'd sit at my desk, staring at a blank piece of paper until the period ended. Just moving my pencil enough to write my name seemed like a daunting task. I ended up struggling all through high school, resulting in a 1.2 GPA at the end of my senior year. I was given the opportunity to come back and graduate with the next class, but that didn't work out either. I had just turned eighteen, so my supermarket job switched me to a 40 hour schedule, killing any motivation I had left. This was ~8 years ago now, and I feel I still haven't been able to adequately deal with it. I did eventually get my GED, but haven't been able to keep a job for very long. I'm only now beginning to explore the idea that maybe ADHD-PI has to do with this after digging up the diagnosis report of 15 year old me. I should've done it sooner, because almost every symptom listed is something I constantly struggle with. I was fired a few months ago, so I'm taking on contract art/music to stay afloat. Finding work hasn't been hard, but starting/completing it is tricky. I've tried all kinds of things to keep myself focused. Coffee seems to help a bit. It's just really frustrating that I can just sit and look at my screen and do nothing. I end up counting down the hours left in the day, pissed that I haven't had the motivation to start working. I'm able to survive on what I make, but barely, so a therapist is out of the question right now. I've read the thread, but are there any additional suggestions you guys can make for someone in my situation? 
Gaspy Conana fucked around with this message at 05:30 on Sep 18, 2013 |
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Sep 18, 2013 05:28
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Budget Bears posted:
I don't remember having homework before 6th grade, but when I did have homework, I just didn't do it very often. I'd try, but it'd take me a REALLY long time to do it, so I'd hardly ever finish. So then I'd give up, and stop doing it altogether, and got bad grades as a result. So I was very much like this kid. It didn't go away for me when I hit adulthood; last year, I had the exact same issue in my Trigonometry class. A class I loved, and was heavily invested in. If I hadn't taken my Ritalin that day? It'd take me hours and hours to complete it all, even though I knew all the concepts and found the class easy. (I had to drop out though because of illness) I'd talk to the parents about your concerns, and see if they can get screening for ADHD and/or Learning Disorders. Something's going on, and it may need more intervention than what you can provide as a nanny. Good luck!
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Sep 18, 2013 07:43
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I pretty much never did homework until about 8th grade. I remember in 7th grade I had like 60 zeroes as homework grades. I only did what I needed to in order to not fail. It's not that I was a lazy slacker, I just couldn't work up the motivation and it was impossible to focus without that pressure. Once I got to high school it was all A's from there because I wanted to get into a good college. Without a whole lot of pressure, she's not going to do her homework even if she really badly wants to.
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Sep 18, 2013 13:41
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Budget Bears posted:Hey thread, I hope it's okay to post about this here, as it's ADD-related, but if not I can delete my post and/or move it elsewhere. First an inflexible routine. The routine will save her. I recommend that some form of aerobic exercise outside precede study time. After riding bikes or running through the park, you'll find her consistently more able to focus and concentrate. I did study tests the last few semesters of college where I would pit quiet rooms in ideal study conditions versus reading material while on an elliptical and I would consistently and demonstrably score 13 points (of 100) higher on average in less total study time. Headphones with thunderstorms or rainstorms on a loop. Maybe even just http://www.rainymood.com/ going on a laptop in the room. There's something about that white noise and the low pitches of the thunder that soothes the distracted mind. Just an option that worked for me- I wore a big soft thin material hoodie with the headphones so it cut out my peripheral vision. Our brains run parallel processes whether we like it or not, so new information is new information whether its color or movement. So I found that helped sometimes. When you're evaluating for results- imagine it taking her two to three times more energy to focus. It's literally like driving down an interstate in second gear. So if you're on the downside of a sugar rush, or your amped up because it is in fact a rainy day outside- it will compound how much energy it takes to do the mundane tasks of structured school.
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Sep 18, 2013 17:57
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Xibanya posted:I pretty much never did homework until about 8th grade. I remember in 7th grade I had like 60 zeroes as homework grades. I only did what I needed to in order to not fail. It's not that I was a lazy slacker, I just couldn't work up the motivation and it was impossible to focus without that pressure. Once I got to high school it was all A's from there because I wanted to get into a good college. I was wondering if a lot of ADD kids just didn't do their homework at all. She does always end up getting her homework done, and she wants to get it done because there are consequences at school if she doesn't do her homework, and she hates being in trouble at school. So I would say there is some amount of "pressure" there. But maybe that's not enough motivation? TheBigBad posted:First an inflexible routine. The routine will save her. Thank you so much for this! We do have a solid routine which she almost always fights and tries to change, even though we've been doing it for over a year. (She wants to be able to do whatever she wants for as long as she wants as soon as we get home, which translates to watching TV for hours and not doing her homework. My rule is you can relax with a book or something when we first get home but no TV until all homework is done.) We always go to the park after school and she gets to run around and play with some of her buddies. I don't necessarily know if she has the hyperactivity component, but she is a kid, so I agree with you that burning off that energy before homework is good for her. Also, that's really interesting about the quiet room vs. the elliptical! Great idea about rainymood, too. I'm going to try that today, but I have a feeling she'll find the thunderstorm aspect scary, so maybe we'll do something like the sound of a river or ocean waves. I like your hoodie idea a lot too.
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Sep 18, 2013 18:42
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Budget Bears posted:Great idea about rainymood, too. I'm going to try that today, but I have a feeling she'll find the thunderstorm aspect scary, so maybe we'll do something like the sound of a river or ocean waves. I like your hoodie idea a lot too. This is my favorite sound: http://mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/babbleNoiseGenerator.php
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Sep 18, 2013 18:47
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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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I use Tibetan Monk chanting nowadays. I thought that might be a bit too weird and scary for a kid.
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Sep 19, 2013 06:10
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Budget Bears posted:I was wondering if a lot of ADD kids just didn't do their homework at all. She does always end up getting her homework done, and she wants to get it done because there are consequences at school if she doesn't do her homework, and she hates being in trouble at school. So I would say there is some amount of "pressure" there. But maybe that's not enough motivation? Yeah, Adhd people are really *really* bad at doing homework. It's like throwing a kid into a candy store that has game cabinets in it with a credit card that has no limit. I found I could never work at home because there was never a dedicated place just to do homework. The kitchen table was for meals, on the couch was in front of the tv, the computer desk had a computer (obviously) and my room was just full of distractions. See if there's a library or some sort of quiet learning commons close to you and take her there after school a few times a week to finish her work. It'll be a place that she can associate with getting homework done without distractions unlike her house. You'll also only be fighting with her to get out the door and go instead of trying to wrangle her to sit down and do her work. Once you get her out of the house and moving you're golden. It also means you can let her sit down quietly at a desk and work while you play with her sister in another section of the library (while keeping an eye on her). You can even make it a fun thing for her to do since on the way home you can take them somewhere for a small treat or reward of some kind. Say she really likes feeding the ducks at the park - well after she's done her homework you can all walk through the park on the way home and you'll let her feed them some shredded carrot. She's done her homework today so she gets to pick what kind of restaurant to get takeout from on this week's order. Build habits - This is the special backpack we only use to take her homework to the special quiet place. This is the hoodie she gets to wear only while she's doing her homework. These are the things we get to do when she gets her homework done, never any other time. It might seem like a bad thing to "reward" her every time she gets something done like that, but if you don't give her something tangible she can work towards to there won't be any motivation because we just don't have it. Don't give her tonnes of food, sugary treats or out of the ordinary big things for doing something like homework, but even "we can't eat dinner until you finish your homework so we can go home" can instill that really basic sense that some things have to be done because that's what people do (clean up after themselves, do homework, eat etc). You also should talk to her parents. Don't frame it as wanting to drug up their child or that your kid needs SPEED AND METH to function...but they should definitely know that something's up. Tell them you have experience with dealing or living with Adhd children if you have to since this is something that most people won't take seriously or believe unless you have some sort of vested interest in it. You can tell them straight up that your friends with Adhd (ie people in this thread) have had huge difficulties in life starting in highschool that never stopped until we got medicated. We weren't lazy, we did try hard but there was always a brick wall in our way. If the parents are receptive you can also give them some material from Russel Barkley - he's one of the leading researchers into Adhd since the 70's who also recognizes it as a genetic and biological disorder; something that can't be fixed with willpower. He's got some great material for parents out there.
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Sep 19, 2013 16:26
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Budget Bears posted:tl;dr please help me understand how you did your homework when you were a 3rd grader with ADD, and how I can be encouraging towards this kid who may or may not have it. I can only describe what I did; it may not be a good idea at all. I would set my alarm to wake me up at five or so in the morning. I would use the combination of "the alarm just startled me awake and I have a burst of energy" with "I have to get this done today and I only have a couple of hours" to power through whatever it was I had to do. It helped that nobody else would be awake and around to distract me.
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Sep 19, 2013 16:41
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I didn't do my homework, that's how I did it. I graduated high school with a 1.8 gpa. 
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Sep 19, 2013 16:48
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Oh also- we respond best to the positive reinforcement motivation. We get criticism all day every day ad infinum, so we really have to marginalized that kind of input or in a biological sense- die. So every time the schedule goes according to plan- praise and reward. Brag on her in front of her parents, etc. you'll find she will seek that kind of attention like it was candy.
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Sep 19, 2013 17:34
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signalnoise posted:I didn't do my homework, that's how I did it. I graduated high school with a 1.8 gpa. High five, 1.8 gpa buddy! I didn't do homework either, due to a combination off ADHD and not giving a gently caress. I can't believe they let me graduate. E: I wonder if having children with ADHD do homework in chunks would be a good strategy? Like answer five questions then a timed break, answer five more, etc etc. I think if I was sat down and knew I only had to focus on an assignment for a few minutes at a time I could have toughed it out catch22 fucked around with this message at 17:48 on Sep 19, 2013 |
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Sep 19, 2013 17:43
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Now that I'm an adult, I found ways to do my homework more effectively: 1. When you're spending your own hard earned money on tuition, you do your homework. Because you want to get your money's worth. Probably not applicable to an 8 year old, however. 2. Find a quiet place to study that's free of distractions. I've found that Starbucks, for example, is horrible for me. But the library? Perfect. (I also found a secret 'telephone suite' where the phones have been removed, in a hotel in downtown Seattle. I've studied there in a pinch, and no one has even noticed. I like it there because I can bring in food and drink.) 3. Sometimes, music can help a lot. When I'm reading something? I need absolute quiet. But when I'm having to do some 25 Trig problems in the next hour or two? Bring on the metal. 4. If on medication, time it so that the meds are still in your system. 5. Oh yeah - a set schedule is great. Homework starts at X Time, every day. And plan around it! And here's some math/programming specific stuff, as that's what I'm studying: 1. When doing a problem, it's really helpful to write out every. single. step. of the problem. Even if it's basic things like '6 + 5 = 11', because that can trip you up. 2. Wanting to save the planet by conserving paper isn't really good here. Use as much paper as needed to solve the problem, and sometimes white space is really useful to see all of the problem and figure it out easier. 3. This is kinda a no brainer, but make sure one has the right tools to do the job - if the class requires a calculator, get the calculator, because they're not going to allow you to use your cell phone calc app on a quiz or exam. 4. If you're in an Advanced Math course, and the optional Problem Solutions book is available to buy, definitely get it. It shows the solutions, and all the steps to get there. Very helpful! And for Programing, I really like to physically write out the program/code snippet on paper, before typing it into the interpreter/compiler and run it. Because when you get to Developer interviews, eventually? You're not going to have a computer and a compiler app to test your skills, you're going to have a white board and a dry erase pen. Which then you have to write out the code on how to calculate a factoral, or a search algorithm, etc. I know SO MANY people who code well, but get tripped up on this, and consequently don't get the job. Again, probably not applicable to an 8 year old
Qu Appelle fucked around with this message at 17:58 on Sep 19, 2013 |
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Sep 19, 2013 17:55
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I was recently evaluated for ADHD and it looks like the results are combined type - the best of both worlds, right. I'm amazed how the things most people don't associate with ADHD are also true throughout my life; like delayed-phase-sleep problems, never been able to really get going/motivated for around 2-3 hours after I wake up, can't accurately perceive the passing of time, boredom is literally painful to me, really rapid-cycling mood changes, impaired fine-motor skills, etc etc. I have been and am working with the Veterans Administration on this, still surprised that they gave credence to my self reporting and developmental history, but also surprised that the clinical psychologist who worked my case mentioned that he's been working on multiple adult cases as well. Anyone who has served can probably recognize that there are undeniably a lot of ADHD types in the military - in a number that is disproportionate to the general population. I know the structure, routine, guns, and that unique 5% excitement that comes with the 95% boredom attracted me to join, and did me well while in. My question would be what do your records explicitly say about being diagnosed with ADHD? I was evaluated via the IVA+ performance test, the CAARS questionnaire, self reporting, and a phone interview with parents. The report I got states, among other things: "..self reports and endorses both symptoms of inattention and hyperactivity, with inattention being more severe in comparison to hyperactivity." And concludes with - "Taken together, these data (sic) support a diagnosis of Attention Deficit Disorder / Hyperactivity, combined type. Mr. My Name may benefit from a trial of psychostimulant medication and should be retested with the IVA-CPT once a therapeutic does is established." I think it's sort of odd how in talking with me, he mentioned retaking the IVA+ in the future, and wants to continue to test with it once I'm medicated. It doesn't say anywhere "..is definitively diagnosed with ADHD." I want to ensure good proof of diagnosis for future health care and college-DSPS reasons. More importantly, I don't want to go through the waiting and frustration of being diagnosed again. As a medication tangent, my psychiatrist asked me if I wanted to try psychostimulant medication, but I declined as of now, for reasons that I am coming to recognize as dumb. I do however have that option next time I see him in a few weeks. I've been on 75mg to 150mg daily generic Bupropion, immediate release, for 4 weeks, which I feel has only subtly affected my ADHD symptoms and I think is causing unwanted effects in regards to nor/epinephrine. I'm physically well conditioned with a low resting pulse, and eat a super clean diet with very little caffeine, but since titrating to 150 mg/daily 2 days ago, I've been experiencing elevated blood pressure and an intermittent pounding heart (palpatations?) despite the pulse remaining low. I'm also feeling more physically restless, but not wanting to exercise due to this poo poo. I know this is a reported side-effect of Bupropion, but never thought myself in the special 1% to get it. I'm getting concerned and will probably just call my shrink on Monday if I can remember/work up the will to do so. I don't want stimulants to do the same drat thing to my blood pressure and heart, and will be tremendously disappointed if they do. Hopefully I'm not overthinking things (imagine that) and this all doesn't read too disjointed.
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Sep 30, 2013 04:39
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I'm sort of amazed at how hard it seems to be for you to get a diagnosis. I was diagnosed during college and all it took was ~2 hours of talking with the psychiatrist and taking a few tests. I walked out with two prescriptions for methylphenidate and a letter for my college's Access Services (like you, I had a mix of both types leaning towards PI). I remember walking out slightly dazed by how quickly it all went. There was a follow-up appointment two months later where I explained how immensely helpful it was (oh hey, starting up homework or study sessions isn't like rolling a boulder uphill anymore, and I can solve a math or physics problem without having to re-focus five times throughout), but that's roughly all it took. Also, not to be petty, but "data" is the plural of "datum." There was no error there.
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Sep 30, 2013 12:03
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I found it way to easy to start ADHD treatment. I told my GP at a checkup "You know I've been having some trouble staying focused and keeping on task at work......" and before I even finished the sentence she had prescribed me 18mg of Concerta to 'start off with'. I've since moved treatment of my ADHD to a psychiatrist who I see several times a year and switched to Focalin.
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Sep 30, 2013 14:41
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Marv Albert posted:It doesn't say anywhere "..is definitively diagnosed with ADHD." Because you aren't! It's not that clear-cut; unfortunately there's nothing definitive about diagnosing ADD. If you've already been through a battery of tests once, future physicians will generally be pretty accepting of the diagnosis and not give you much trouble.
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Sep 30, 2013 23:11
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Maybe it's a brand thing, but what is Focalin? Never heard of it. Also, I've been on Stratera for two weeks now, when is it supposed to 'kick in'? My treatment place says it can take 6-8 weeks, which seems a little much.. I'm on 36mg.
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Oct 1, 2013 06:55
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Focalin is Dextromethylphenidate instead of the racemic mixture.
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Oct 1, 2013 15:44
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Maybe this is a good thread to ask if it's worth trying adderall to help with my procrastination/anxiety/attention problems. During the previous years I tried ritalin, concerta, modafinil or provigil, bisoprolol(betablocker) (all giving me serious headaches without much of a positive side); And zoloft, valdoxan (giving me a wide range of side effects without any positives). Is adderall different or is it very similar to any of these? My problems aren't that bad, and I can get by without. But still, it's sometimes very hard, mainly due to the fact that I work at home alone. The only medication that has had a positive effect on me is lorazepam.
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Oct 3, 2013 11:59
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I’ve always suspected that I might have ADD. Unless I’m exhausted from work I have trouble staying still. I have an incessant urge to get up and pace around the room. Even when I’m browsing the web or doing something that should maintain my interest I’ll periodically get out of my chair and start pacing. When nothing is going on at work, I come up with excuses to walk somewhere. Sometimes I’ll walk right past my destination. I daydream constantly, to the point where it seriously gets in the way of my productivity.
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Oct 3, 2013 13:04
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Elderbean posted:I’ve always suspected that I might have ADD. I think it's one of those "spectrum" situations, where you can be easily distractable without having ADD, and they only consider it "official" ADD if it interferes with your life. If you do feel that it causes you problems, get to a shrink -- it's a struggle to work with, but there are medications and treatments that can help.
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Oct 3, 2013 13:08
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mrfart posted:Maybe this is a good thread to ask if it's worth trying adderall to help with my procrastination/anxiety/attention problems. The answer is- your results may vary. I switched recently from ritalin/concerta to adderal with good effect but I'm pairing it with pristiq. Everyone is a little different, but essentially all the various amphetamine treatments do is pound the same part of the brain to attention.
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Oct 3, 2013 15:53
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Here's how you know that you're medicated  properly: 1. You can spend hours on your Computer Science homework at a stretch, and actually do a good job on it because you also can carefully follow ALL the directions. 2. When you realised that you bungled it up massively before deadline, you have the patience to scrap and start over, instead of getting all frustrated, and turning in crap. 3. You start said homework assignment 5 days before it's due, instead of rushing it, so that when you discover said error, there's time to rewrite it all. And getting a perfect score on it Bonus: C-SPAN becomes just utterly FASCINATING. 
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Oct 3, 2013 18:33
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Just watch the West Wing. Don't even need .
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Oct 3, 2013 21:21
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Qu Appelle posted:Bonus: C-SPAN becomes just utterly FASCINATING. I refuse to believe any amount of could make C-SPAN entertaining.
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Oct 4, 2013 18:57
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wilfredmerriweathr posted:I refuse to believe any amount of Watch them take live phone calls after a major political event. They get the best callers. 
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Oct 4, 2013 21:25
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prefect posted:Watch them take live phone calls after a major political event. They get the best callers.  OBAMACARE IS GOING TO ENSLAVE MY CHILDREN Yes, C-SPAN callers are the BEST. But, even outside dramatic events like e Government shutdown, I'll find myself watching it. Like once, I watched live coverage of some Agricultural bill - and that poo poo was riveting.  yeah, I don't know either. It scratches some sort of itch. My roommate watched C-SPAN once with me, and after 2 nanoseconds, she was ready to claw her eyes out.It's also one of my father's favorite TV channels ever, and he has ADHD like whoa. He can't talk on the phone for more than 5 minutes without losing track and getting bored, but has all the time in the world for C-SPAN. Same with my cousin. It's like all the ADHD members of my family have become weirdo hyper focusing policy wonks, when we want to. Qu Appelle fucked around with this message at 06:33 on Oct 5, 2013 |
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Oct 5, 2013 06:28
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Currently on Vyvanse 30 mg (in addition to bupropion SR 150 2x/day - which was prescribed for depression, not attention deficit). I have an appointment tomorrow to discuss how the 30 mg has been affecting me. One of the things I discovered after many, many years is that in general, lower doses of psychoactive medications help more than higher doses do - perhaps because the side effects aren't as extreme (they seem to hit me hard), or perhaps because of something else in my physiology. I found Ritalin and Adderall to be completely intolerable even at low doses. The Vyvanse is so hit-or-miss that I don't know what to think. Some days I move from a pleasant feeling of "maybe I can get poo poo done today" for about an hour to a strong anxiety and inability to accomplish anything except suffer for several more hours, and other days it's like I didn't take anything at all. My morning routine is very regular: one cup of coffee at 7 am, leave for work at 9 and take my pills at 9:30 when I arrive. I usually don't get hungry until about 11 am. The Vyvanse's effects, good and bad, completely disappear by about 4 pm. 30 mg is a pretty low dose, but I am afraid of increasing it because of the anxiety it causes on the days it works. It's not a panicky anxiety, more of an overwhelmed feeling. If I could prolong the beneficial effects, I'd consider accepting the tradeoff, but right now the balance isn't in my favor. I am tired of going to my psychiatrist and saying, "This one doesn't help me either." He might be tired of it, too! And at least this, unlike every other medication I've taken for anxiety, depression (save bupropion to a tiny extent), or attention, gives me a small window of feeling like maybe I'm not a completely worthless, lazy human being. Can anyone recommend some questions I should ask my psychiatrist tomorrow? I don't like going in there befuddled.
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Oct 6, 2013 15:36
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Outcast Spy posted:30 mg is a pretty low dose, but I am afraid of increasing it because of the anxiety it causes on the days it works. It's not a panicky anxiety, more of an overwhelmed feeling. If I could prolong the beneficial effects, I'd consider accepting the tradeoff, but right now the balance isn't in my favor. I had the exact same thing happen to me when I was on stims and Wellbutrin. It's something about both of them taken together interacting and greatly increasing anxiety more than any one of them would individually. You may want to consider trying another antidepressant - Wellbutrin never did much for my anxiety anyway.
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Oct 6, 2013 22:30
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I've been on Vyvanse 30 mg for about two months now and have noticed a remarkable difference in my ability to focus and complete tasks. I've been making huge progress on a project that I've wanted to work on for about a decade now, and have recently been able to organize information for myself to such an extent that I'm actually doing what I set out to do. I've also found that I have more control of impulses, an ability to "turn off" a pointless thought thread, and I'm not as physically tired during the day. Some negative side effects I've noticed: teeth grinding (I don't wake up with a jaw or headache, so I'm not sure if I'm doing it in my sleep), losing weight, moderate insomnia, and I'm more irritable than I used to be. That last one isn't at breaking levels yet, but if I don't watch myself I snap at my family more often than I used to. On the other hand, I used to just sit in a truly perpetual daze of racing, repeating thoughts. For some reason my psych was wanted to give me haloperidol because she thought I was having a manic cycle of some sort of seasonal disorder... Glad I was able to convince her by plainly asking if it would improve my concentration, which was why I contacted her in the first place.
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Oct 6, 2013 23:31
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Huh, interesting. Good to know, too; thank you. I've been on the bupropion for a long time. I like it because it doesn't seem to increase my anxiety (when taken alone - but my baseline anxiety is pretty high) and the side effects, mainly twitchiness, are really easy for me to handle. I'm not sure what I'd be willing to replace it with, given my experiences with the ten or so other antidepressants I've tried in the last fifteen years, how sick they made me. But maybe the doctor has an idea, or there's something new out there. I know I also have years of bad habits to fix and other life issues that complicate treating these sorts of things.
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Oct 6, 2013 23:39
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Yeah wellbutrin and stimulants (even just wellbutrin and small amounts of caffeine) really did a number on my anxiety.
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Oct 7, 2013 00:22
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Ritalin was going well for about a week, now I'm getting tell-tale signs of hypomania. I'm not tired anymore (I have a sleep disorder), I just cussed out my best friend over something really stupid, and my anxiety/obsessions are just unreal now. Goddamn. My ADHD is really holding me back and I feel like I'm out of options here. Wellbutrin will probably be more of the same (mania and anxiety) and I can't afford Straterra. My antipsychotic was supposed to stop this from happening. 
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Oct 7, 2013 14:39
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Question - there's people here who take Ritalin for all 7 days without a break, right? I've had to start doing that, to balance work and school, and I'm starting to feel a tad grumpy because my system isn't getting that 'downtime' that it's grown to love. I've taken it some 15 days in a row now. So instead of having a day where I get to mindlessly read books in a coffeeshop and enjoy randomness, all of my days are working at my day job, and then every spare moment is cranking out tons of Python code for my Comp Sci class. Is this grumpiness normal? I'm thinking that it may be possible to work my schedule around so I can get my 'day off' again, but not if it's going to be at the expense of my school or job. Especially school - I'm so far getting an A in my Computer Science transfer course, and I really don't want to blow that. (And I wanted to have a mellow day at work so I could have today be that day 'off', but no! I get to train new people instead! Glad I had my weekly dose in my backpack...)
Qu Appelle fucked around with this message at 20:39 on Oct 8, 2013 |
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Oct 8, 2013 20:37
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Fluorescent posted:Ritalin was going well for about a week, now I'm getting tell-tale signs of hypomania. I'm not tired anymore (I have a sleep disorder), I just cussed out my best friend over something really stupid, and my anxiety/obsessions are just unreal now. Goddamn. My ADHD is really holding me back and I feel like I'm out of options here. Wellbutrin will probably be more of the same (mania and anxiety) and I can't afford Straterra. My antipsychotic was supposed to stop this from happening. I'm not your doc at all, but both Ritalin and Wellbutrin ramped up my anxiety like whoa. And I didn't even take them together. The only thing that worked for me was adding Lamictal to the Ritalin. I also haven't taken Wellbutrin in years, ever since the generics came out, and they made me irrationally angry to the point where I nearly picked a fight with a panhandler. I....don't normally do this.
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Oct 8, 2013 20:48
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Qu Appelle posted:Question - there's people here who take Ritalin for all 7 days without a break, right? Not Ritalin, but I take Adderall daily. I've found that when I take a 'vacation' day from it, I am so unfocused that I am unable to function. Fast food menus befuddle me. The first solid week on it was rough as I got used to it but it did mellow out.
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Oct 8, 2013 20:54
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Outcast Spy, just for the sake of experimentation, can you try a day without any coffee and report back? I found that taking stimulants upon stimulants worsened the withdrawal anxiety when they wear off, so I'm curious if cutting out the coffee would lessen the anxiety. I don't know about y'all, but sometimes I feel like the incredible hulk when my meds wear off and people are still expecting me to be operating normally.
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Oct 8, 2013 20:57
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