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Did you ever get described as contrarian, get accused of talking back at adults or as inattentive at all? One important indicator are your early grades. If you scored really high in classes that interested you and really low in everything else, that's a strong hint.
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Aug 26, 2014 17:45
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Cardiovorax posted:Did you ever get described as contrarian, get accused of talking back at adults or as inattentive at all? One important indicator are your early grades. If you scored really high in classes that interested you and really low in everything else, that's a strong hint. Until almost the end of highschool I was obsessed with doing perfectly in school. I had straight A's in everything until I took Driver's Ed at 16 (out in the midwest it's part of the curriculum). On the other hand I actually remember a special meeting my teachers had with my mom at one point where they described me (to my face!) as having an "abrasive personality."
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Aug 26, 2014 18:16
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Keska posted:Until almost the end of highschool I was obsessed with doing perfectly in school. I had straight A's in everything until I took Driver's Ed at 16 (out in the midwest it's part of the curriculum). Abrasive personality, though? Yeah.
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Aug 26, 2014 19:09
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Also, if you have inattentive type that presents very differently than hyperactive type. Inattentive type tends to have less discipline issues so it often gets overlooked by teachers who are expecting ADHD kids to be bouncing off the walls all the time. I didn't really have defiance issues with adults as a kid but I'll be damned if I was actually listening to them most of the time. If you were the sort to be kind of lost in your own world a lot as a kid, that's ADHD too.
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Aug 26, 2014 19:21
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For me, I was rarely in trouble as a child for active troublemaking, but I remember always getting in trouble for what I suppose could be called passive troublemaking. Things like leaving things messy, forgetting things, or doing nothing when everyone was supposed to be working together on something. From my point of view this was totally unfair. People kept on saying they told me things but I had no memory of this happening. I was pretty sure as a kid that my parents and teachers were making this poo poo up but I found when they said "I thought I told you..." If I said "no you didn't!" they'd get angry. Unfortunately, "I forgot" was not much of an improvement. I think it's because of all that that I inherently distrust authority figures.
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Aug 26, 2014 19:31
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For me, it was homework and chores. I was constantly in trouble for not doing them — not because I didn't want to or because I was acting out or anything but because I got caught up in something else and forgot they existed. My grades fluctuated depending on how much homework counted toward the final score. I got As and Bs in classes that didn't assign homework or weighted tests more heavily and Cs and Ds in classes that were more homework-oriented, because I would ace any test or in class assignment but never managed to turn in my homework.
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Aug 26, 2014 19:41
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I guess maybe it's just that I was good enough at school-type activities that it didn't really come up too much until I left home? I was in the gifted program in school, which meant I was allowed to pick my own class schedule junior and senior year of highshcool as long as I met the basic requirements. So I was mostly studying things I found interesting. Googling around found me this: quote:When should you consider the possibility of ADD (ADHD) in your gifted child? And wow does that describe me as a kid/teenager. I coped with forgetfulness by having very specific places to put things I needed to find (glasses go here, keys go there), and by developing a habit of writing everything down.
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Aug 26, 2014 20:13
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It sounds like you had discipline and developed good coping strategies, so it's not surprising you did well in school and generally didn't pegged as someone with ADHD. ADHD treatment is basically medication plus coping strategies so you already were halfway there on your own.
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Aug 26, 2014 23:17
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I feel like my coping strategies weren't really sufficient as I got older, tho. I had a couple of breakdowns in college, and I've barely kept things together in the decade since. I swear I feel like I've gotten dumber as I've gotten older. Here's hoping the Adderall will help me turn things around.
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Aug 26, 2014 23:44
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That's also fairly textbook. What works when you're in the structured environment of K-12 and living under the watchful eye of your parents stops working when you're on your own and trying to deal with the chaos that is college and working life. Just be glad you're catching it now and can do something about it. Medication doesn't cure ADHD overnight by itself but damned if it doesn't give you the space to start addressing the things in your life that are causing you pain.
Baby Babbeh fucked around with this message at 00:37 on Aug 27, 2014 |
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Aug 27, 2014 00:19
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I was a perfect straight-A student until high school with the help of very involved parents who made sure I studied and got my work done, at which point I went away from home to boarding prep school, with my arsenal of great study habits in tow. It did not take me very long to completely gently caress up my grades and start sleeping 2 hours a night.
Mechafunkzilla fucked around with this message at 00:26 on Aug 27, 2014 |
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Aug 27, 2014 00:24
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Yep ADHD means it's not a matter of if I'll disappoint authority figures, only when. What sucks is when you don't want to disappoint them.
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Aug 27, 2014 00:52
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quote:Is your child a night owl who seems to get a "second wind" later in the evening? Does anyone else have to deal with this/tips for coping? I'll be lethargic and unfocused for most of the day, then suddenly late in the evening/early night I'll become very energetic, driven to work, creative, and too pumped to get to sleep; basically the most "hyperactive" I get, since I don't get those symptoms during the rest of the day. Naturally this is a huge pain since there's stuff I want to do in the mornings/days but I'm asleep/too groggy to think. I'm familiar with sleep hygiene as well as melatonin/OTC sleep aids and haven't had great luck forcing myself to sleep at proper hours that way, but even when I do sleep I'm still quite tired during the day.
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Aug 27, 2014 01:43
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Tin Hat posted:Does anyone else have to deal with this/tips for coping? I'll be lethargic and unfocused for most of the day, then suddenly late in the evening/early night I'll become very energetic, driven to work, creative, and too pumped to get to sleep; basically the most "hyperactive" I get, since I don't get those symptoms during the rest of the day. Naturally this is a huge pain since there's stuff I want to do in the mornings/days but I'm asleep/too groggy to think. I'm familiar with sleep hygiene as well as melatonin/OTC sleep aids and haven't had great luck forcing myself to sleep at proper hours that way, but even when I do sleep I'm still quite tired during the day. Exercising until I want to die does the trick for me. Burn off that second wind energy ahead of time.
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Aug 27, 2014 01:59
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Nothing works for that, for me. Nothing. Not sleep meds, not sleep hygiene, not exercising (which I can't do much of because of chronic pain).
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Aug 27, 2014 02:57
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I received a referral yesterday for an initial evaluation as to weather or not my ADHD as persisted into adult life. Well, that is the point of the exercise from the doctors point of view at any rate. I was medicated and continually worked with up until early adulthood when the visits and medications were ceased abruptly. The last few years I have struggled more and more to maintain any sort of control over my life despite my continual attempts to rein in my brain through exercise, diet, time management plans and training, sleep scheduling, disabling of electronics etc. I just cant do it any more, its just taken way too much of a toll and its not working so I feel I could use the external assistance. I now spend more time trying to organise getting myself organised then I do doing anything else. I just cant shut down the part of me that jumps from task to task despite how much I try to limit what tasks exist in the first place. I poked my head in here a few months ago but I was still too...not ashamed, that is not what I am looking for. I was not yet ready to go an actual doctor and ask for help because essentially the end result is I feel as though I have failed in the very simply duty of taking care of my own poo poo in life. That being said I am at the point now where if I can not get some sort of assistance I might actually go insane. *edit* Initial appointment is next month, boo.
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Aug 27, 2014 04:19
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Mechafunkzilla posted:I was a perfect straight-A student until high school with the help of very involved parents who made sure I studied and got my work done, at which point I went away from home to boarding prep school, with my arsenal of great study habits in tow. It did not take me very long to completely gently caress up my grades and start sleeping 2 hours a night. I consistently got such low grades, to the point that I nearly got held back in 7th Grade. And every year, I get the 'you're so smart, why don't you do well in class?' lecture. It got to the point where I'd get my report card, and rip it up without even looking at it. I still have extreme anxiety over grades, to the point where I still haven't looked at my Anthro grade. (I know my math and Comp Sci ones, as I need to know those to continue on. I'm going to see a school counselor about this, when I return.) Then there was the 12th Grade, where I had a lot of family drama, and I basically mentally checked out. My solace when my English and Civics teachers got together and gave me a special assignment - a book of Hot Button topics, and I was to write opinions on them. They didn't expect me to give them some 60 hand written pages of material, and they both gave me 'A's.
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Aug 27, 2014 04:47
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I just got put on Adderall (at 29 years old) and holy poo poo; I'm on day two and I'm not relying on my calendars and alarms and notepads that I use perpetually to schedule my life to do things nearly as much. I've finished a programming course today, done work on a novel, and cleaned up around the house, even though there's construction going on over the street and probably a whole bunch of really cool youtubes of people turning wood on a lathe or instructions on how to do handstand pushups. It took me forever to finally seek out help and this is unbelievable; I feel like I could actually accomplish things. I was (as most people in this thread, apparently) a straight-A student in high school who promptly went on to drop out of five different colleges and pick up entry level skills in everything under the sun that seemed briefly interesting. I had a breakdown about a month ago and my wife convinced me it was time to see a professional, who said outright "I'm ninety nine per cent certain you've been fighting with ADHD since you were a child." This isn't a magic life-fixing blue pill, but it's just making the world a little bit quieter and letting me get on with what I actually want to do, not what my constantly fleeting impulses tell me would be cool. If you're reading this thread and you're concerned for yourself, please go see a psych or a therapist like I should have done years ago.
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Aug 27, 2014 20:59
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Whalley posted:I just got put on Adderall (at 29 years old) and holy poo poo; I'm on day two and I'm not relying on my calendars and alarms and notepads that I use perpetually to schedule my life to do things nearly as much. I've finished a programming course today, done work on a novel, and cleaned up around the house, even though there's construction going on over the street and probably a whole bunch of really cool youtubes of people turning wood on a lathe or instructions on how to do handstand pushups. It took me forever to finally seek out help and this is unbelievable; I feel like I could actually accomplish things. Thats great news! I wouldn't give up on the scheduling, alarms and notes...those are still tools that will help you stay organized. Structure is the greatest thing in the world when you are dealing with ADHD. I am going to see a psych next week to get re-evaluated since I haven't been seen in 8 years...new doc is probably already in the train of thought that I have ADHD as he read me a list of appointments he had available and then I asked him what he had next week...apparently next week's appointments were in the list he literally just read me.
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Aug 27, 2014 21:28
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OssiansFolly posted:Thats great news! I wouldn't give up on the scheduling, alarms and notes...those are still tools that will help you stay organized. Structure is the greatest thing in the world when you are dealing with ADHD.
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Aug 27, 2014 21:39
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So, everything was going vaguely well, until I botched an assignment at work. Guess who's back on the Dexedrine IR. 
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Aug 28, 2014 18:35
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Does anyone have anything hopeful to say about ADD and heart problems? I was just diagnosed with ADD and a heart murmur almost simultaneously, and I'm scared that I won't be able to take medication for the ADD because of my heart. The ADD is pretty much ruining my life and I got to feel hopeful about overcoming it for all of a day before finding out that I couldn't take meds 'until further notice'. Obviously I'm asking my cardiologist about this too, but I'd like to hear any stories about people who had similar issues and had it work out OK in the end.
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Aug 29, 2014 20:06
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God Over Djinn posted:Does anyone have anything hopeful to say about ADD and heart problems? I was just diagnosed with ADD and a heart murmur almost simultaneously, and I'm scared that I won't be able to take medication for the ADD because of my heart. The ADD is pretty much ruining my life and I got to feel hopeful about overcoming it for all of a day before finding out that I couldn't take meds 'until further notice'. Obviously I'm asking my cardiologist about this too, but I'd like to hear any stories about people who had similar issues and had it work out OK in the end. There are non-stimulant ADD alternatives: strattera, clonidine, guanfacine, and various antidepressants. These can have heart related side effects too, but probably a lower chance than from stimulants. Also: wilfredmerriweathr posted:ADHD people are pretty likely to be marijuana users as it really helps sometimes. My psych as a teenager (head of the child psych dept at the university, internationally known as an expert on ADHD) told me once that THC can be just as good as stimulants for ADHD, but only when dosed correctly.
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Aug 29, 2014 20:28
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God Over Djinn posted:Does anyone have anything hopeful to say about ADD and heart problems? I was just diagnosed with ADD and a heart murmur almost simultaneously, and I'm scared that I won't be able to take medication for the ADD because of my heart. The ADD is pretty much ruining my life and I got to feel hopeful about overcoming it for all of a day before finding out that I couldn't take meds 'until further notice'. Obviously I'm asking my cardiologist about this too, but I'd like to hear any stories about people who had similar issues and had it work out OK in the end. This is really gonna depend on the nature of your heart murmur. For instance I was born with a heart murmur caused by VSD, but I never had any symptoms and it spontaneously healed up at some point. Some heart murmurs might increase the inherent risk of taking stimulants but your cardiologist is the one to ask about it.
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Aug 29, 2014 20:41
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I was switched to Strattera from Ritalin due to high blood pressure concerns so I'm in a similar boat. The Strattera isn't as good as the Ritalin in my experience but it does help. So there are options, and medication is only one part of successful treatment (The other being coaching/developing coping strategies that work) so it's not like you can't take any steps at all to improve your life even if you can't go nuts on the 
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Aug 29, 2014 20:45
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Got diagnosed in January and started on 20mg of Adderall XR. I didn't notice anything other than random bursts of energy. I was still daydreaming constantly even though I didn't want to. The doctor I was seeing at the time was really eager to just up my dose and I ended up on 40mg a day. It just made me feel high and I started getting terrible headaches at night. My productivity increased but my head still felt crowded, I didn't experience the breathing room other people do. It didn't affect my heartrate or appetite either, just got headaches and the urge to grind my teeth. The other doc transferred out, my new one is putting me on Strattera. It's only been a few days and she said it could take a few weeks before I notice anything. Kind of weirds me out that I could be on that much Adderall and not really feel anything.
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Aug 29, 2014 22:57
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Did you try taking less than 20mg? The dosing works like a bell curve, where too much/little can cause increased side effects or simply not feel anything.
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Aug 29, 2014 23:35
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Elderbean posted:Got diagnosed in January and started on 20mg of Adderall XR. I didn't notice anything other than random bursts of energy. I was still daydreaming constantly even though I didn't want to. The doctor I was seeing at the time was really eager to just up my dose and I ended up on 40mg a day. You may also want to try concerta/ritalin. For my part, I hated XR but IR works fine, I just have to take 3 pills/day. Maybe you don't have ADHD but a different disorder? Get one of them brain tests. I would never tell someone "you don't have ADHD" dismissively, just more like, you should def be 100% sure of the disorder you have or you'll be barking up the wrong tree instead of getting the treatment you need. gently caress getting put on antidepressants was awful. They made me actually feel depressed. Still, if someone who doesn't realize they have ADHD describes some symptoms it can seem like that. "I used to like doing X but now it's boring...can't focus on anything in life, feel like my world is falling apart and it's all my fault...when I come home from work I do nothing, just sit and stare at the wall..."
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Aug 30, 2014 16:01
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Yeah XR always rubbed me the wrong way. Also there's nothing worse than having depression or anxiety due to ADHD and being scripted antidepressants without addressing the ADHD. Great, now I don't give a poo poo that I'm unable to focus on anything. So helpful. 
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Aug 30, 2014 16:23
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I hate that some days my vyvanse barely seems to work therapeutically. Like, I'll take it and just kinda feel out of it/ dizzy / reboundy most of the day. It's rare but annoying. Diet can't be the factor cause I eat the same breakfast all the time. Just went shopping and it was an easy experience organizing what we had to get and keeping back tracking to a minimum, but I was just "out of it" the whole time.
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Sep 1, 2014 18:29
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So on Vyvanse, the properly useful part of the day is only 3-4 hours long. I talked to my doctor about this, and she prescribed me 1mg guanfacine to be taken in the morning with the Vyvanse. She says this will help to extend the active time of Vyvanse. Has anyone been on this? I've been googling but can't find anything about adults taking this for ADHD. edit: Guanfacine is Intuniv. I can't find anything online about it extending or potentiating other stimulants. Also, it seems like my appetite is gradually decreasing on the Vyvanse. Even on days that I forget to take it, I eat a lot less than I used to. I've lost 15-20 lbs since starting on it in June. My doctor seemed concerned by this, but I'm more active in the summer than in the winter and lost about the same amount between June and Snow last year as well. (This was gained again over the winter, so overall it's reasonably stable.) I haven't been as active this summer though, so I figure maybe half of the weight loss is due to with the rest being due to summer. At what point should I be worried that the weight loss is unhealthy?On a non-medication note, how does everyone deal with having to plan things really far ahead? I tend to get a bit of ambient stress from anything that's scheduled farther out than about a week. It's that nagging feeling that you've forgotten something important, and doesn't go away until the scheduled event is over. I always book everything as soon as I can, but right now my GP's office, the doctor who does my ADHD, and my academic adviser are all booked a month ahead, and my psychiatrists books appointments 5-6 months in advance. This combined with other miscellaneous things (like holiday plans) that have to be booked a month or more ahead is causing a ton of stress, even though there's no real reason it should. Any tips for dealing with this? miryei fucked around with this message at 03:32 on Sep 12, 2014 |
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Sep 12, 2014 03:09
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Guanfacine is Intuniv, yeah? I don't think it would extend the effects of the Vyvnase so much as act as a longer-acting treatment on its own. I'm not familiar with how it would interact with other ADHD meds, though, so take this post with a grain of salt.
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Sep 12, 2014 03:22
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miryei posted:So on Vyvanse, the properly useful part of the day is only 3-4 hours long. I talked to my doctor about this, and she prescribed me 1mg guanfacine to be taken in the morning with the Vyvanse. She says this will help to extend the active time of Vyvanse. Has anyone been on this? I've been googling but can't find anything about adults taking this for ADHD. Count your calories for a week. That way you can judge whether or not you need to eat more or not. MyFitnessPal is what I use. Also yes... planning out adds stress which is why we tend to recommend using calendars with alarms and notifications and/or creating rituals where you keep a physical book/calendar so you can keep track of everything without having to remember it. Many of us have our significant others run our calendar as appropriate so they can make sure it makes it from the little card they hand you for the appointment into your google calendar as well. Sometimes I even call my wife just have her put the entry in for me even though I could do it myself just as easily. TheBigBad fucked around with this message at 04:05 on Sep 12, 2014 |
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Sep 12, 2014 03:48
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Well. I got Ritalin. Or rather, I got Medikinet, which Google tells me is Ritalin. What should I expect?
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Sep 12, 2014 12:08
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Ugh well guess I won't be going back on any medication. I called to set up an appointment with a psychiatrist for a re-evaluation before my doctor will prescribe me anything, and he wants to do three sessions at $130 each before he even evaluates me again for ADHD. I guess I need to find a new doctor. I hate that doctors are no longer working for a resolution, but rather gouging for money.
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Sep 12, 2014 13:51
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wilfredmerriweathr posted:Yeah XR always rubbed me the wrong way. XR is loving atrocious.
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Sep 12, 2014 13:53
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miryei posted:So on Vyvanse, the properly useful part of the day is only 3-4 hours long. I talked to my doctor about this, and she prescribed me 1mg guanfacine to be taken in the morning with the Vyvanse. She says this will help to extend the active time of Vyvanse. Has anyone been on this? I've been googling but can't find anything about adults taking this for ADHD. I take clonidine with adderal. It was prescribed because it's an alpha2 agonist I think, whatever the gently caress that does, not to lengthen the IR amph. Don't think it really did anything other than smooth out the first 2 weeks of side effects.
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Sep 12, 2014 15:04
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Mechafunkzilla posted:XR is loving atrocious. XR is the best thing that ever happened to me.
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Sep 12, 2014 15:21
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So, uh, turns my Medikinet is extended release. Is 10mg of XR really enough to see any sort of effect?
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Sep 12, 2014 15:25
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TheBigBad posted:Count your calories for a week. That way you can judge whether or not you need to eat more or not. MyFitnessPal is what I use. Yeah, I was about to say the same thing - my wife keeps the calender.
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Sep 12, 2014 15:43
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