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ADD sufferer from Germany here. What interests me, is how ADD is looked on in other countries. Here in Germany the official position in the media and public can be pretty much summed up with KID DRUGS and BIG PHARMA$$$. Truly balanced articles and documentations that actually look into the arguments on both sides and put them to the test are rare. ADD is mostly seen as simply made up by greedy pharmaceutical companies and lovely parents or as a condition caused by our modern, stressful life, or as a character trait full of possibilities, that mustn't be suppressed. America is seen as the mecca of Ritalin where prescriptions are handed out for every kid that as much as looks at his neighbor in school. For example school classes with 30% of the children on ADD meds are an often cited example. Since I am studying Electrical Engineering at the moment, I don't want people to find out about my condition and that I'm treated with stimulants, because I fear that they'll think I'm faking to get study drugs. Therefore just a couple of close friends and family know. From the ADD threads I read on SA so far I got the impression, that the situation in the USA is no much different from the situation in Germany. What might be further advanced is the knowledge in the medical community, as you would suspect, since ADD was pretty much discovered there. This lead to a higher rate of diagnoses, which gives the false impression, that american children are overdiagnosed if compared to German rates (which are still far below what you would expect from a condition that is present in about 3% of the population). What is your perception of the public opinion about ADD in your country? I have another question: I know someone who is pretty much a ADHD poster child. He reminds me of my former me, although he got it even more then I ever had. My question is if I should have a Talk with him. He is starting apprenticeship now. His school time wasn't really smooth, but he went to a Alternative private school that wouldn't know ADD when it bit it in the rear end (I should know, they missed it in my case too). My suspicion is, that he doesn't know enough about ADD to make a connection to himself. While he seems to cope education wise (for now), his social side is severely laking (even by my meager standards). When I think back, I wish that someone would have come to me and told me to get me checked out. It would have spared me a lot. So my question is not really, if but how I tell him. Have any of you done something like this? How did it go? If not, how would you?
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Feb 10, 2010 12:40
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Ellen Page Reactor posted:Every time someone says PCP in a post here my first thought is No, don't take PCP! That's a terrible idea! and then I remember what it means. Well, in this case the avatar was missleading.
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Mar 23, 2010 16:52
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TheGopher posted:Maybe the way my parents treated me as a child partly has to do with my mental illness? No way, that's impossible. Not if said condition is usualy caused by your genesor in rarer cases by brain injury or toxic exposure. Of course your parents could have had a hand in the later, but even then its not something you can fix witch seettalk like this. My GP told me, that "its sad, that in our modern society people feel the need to take medication to ceep up with society's demands". Yeah thanks Doc... I don't tell anybody unless I have to (with so far mostly surprisingly good results). Here in Germany we imported the "Cocain for Kis" controversy without actually drugging kids first. Therefore People have no clue what ADD actually is, but have very strong opinions about medical therapy. Plankalkuel fucked around with this message at 10:18 on Jul 27, 2010 |
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Jul 27, 2010 10:11
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Combat Pretzel posted:I guess the ability to perform longer reading session disqualifies me of any ADD. Still, it's curious how much symptoms line up with generic laziness. I can see why some feel it's being overdiagnosed. ADD is not the inability to concentrate! It is the ability to concentrate "on demand". Someone with ADD can concentrate as well as a healty person if the brain is ok with it. In fact Hyperfocus, meaning intensive concentration to the exclusion of everything else is quite common for ADD sufferers. The label Atention Deficit Disorder is really missleading, since its rather a deficit in the ability to consciously focus attention. When I was younger, I would read several books in one week. I could also spend days or weeks thinking the same topic through and through in any waking moment I wasn't activly occupied by something. That was not something I did willingly, but rather rather something my brain had set its mind on and I had to go with it. The ability to do something you are naturally interested in doesn't disqualify you. Yes, ADD has symptoms overlap with general laziness, but don't let that discourage you from seeking a professional diagnosis. The two are not the same. My advice is to go and get checked out, because diagnosing yourself with abnormal brainfuction is impossible because you don't know how it is to think with a normal brain  .
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Jul 27, 2010 13:38
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Jolan posted:Quick question: would it be allright to combine ritalin and concerta, as in take one ritalin 10mg, then take a concerta 54mg about 3h30 later? I used to only take ritalin 10mg and then taking one more pill on long days wouldn't be a problem, but I don't know how that would work with concerta, interaction-wise. Generally it shouldn't be a problem since both mediactions use the same active ingredient. Just make sure that previous dose has mostly worn of, otherwise you'll get all jittery and nervous, but after three and a half hours that shouldn't be critical.
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Aug 14, 2010 11:01
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Effexxor posted:Wait, how are you getting the concerta? Why on earth are you not asking a psychiatrist this? If you need to focus, just take another dose and eat a lot of Tums, don't mess with another med. They are both the same medication (methylphenidate) with different release mechanisms. Its quite common with methylphenidate to use long time release meds for most of the day and extend the duration by short time variants when needed. You are right however that such things are something to ask the specialist who prescribed those medications.
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Aug 14, 2010 23:01
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