Anybody on ADHD meds?

I've been a life-long sufferer ( and denier ) of ADHD. I'm thinking of going to my doctor to see if she thinks I need to be on meds. I have, in recent years, suffered because of my lack of attention span, and have had to step back in my job duties, because of mistakes made, due to said lack of attention.

Before my professional life it has been more of a distraction. I am smart enough to pass classes without being all there, so it didn't affect me in school, enough to make me seek help. I've always been aggravated that I can't sit and read for more than a few minutes without having to get up and run around. I always find many things to do on the way to getting something done, and quite often never get to the thing I intended to do. I have several projects that are sitting around waiting for me to finish them, etc...

For anyone who might be on, or have experience with someone on ADHD meds, what can I expect? What might the pitfalls be, and what might the positives be?

( I started this message 3 times in the last 10 minutes. Hooray finishing )

 

Thanks for the feedback. I've always done pretty well in school, mostly in spite of the fact that I couldn't sit still or focus. I had teachers mention that I was too fidgety all through elementary school, but I did well in the classes. My main method of dealing with my restlessness was staring out the window and daydreaming. I started doing that after I got in trouble a few times.

It didn't make a huge impact until college. Due to my lack of attention and focus I ended up on the 8.5 year plan. You screw up ONE test and that puts you behind... Another story, I guess.

My coping mechanisms are lately I've been trying lists on my cell phone, but I quite often forget I have the list and why I have the phone out in the first place...

 

I've been on every ADHD medication under the sun. Throughout middle school and high school, the available research suggested that stimulant medications could lead to Tourette's Syndrome in people with nervous tic disorders, so those were all out. Those years were filled with various tries at low doses of tricyclic antidepressants, all of which helped with attention and focus but had extremely severe side effects. The worst were aggravation of my tics; tofranil was one of the best to treat the ADHD symptoms but my facial tics were bad enough that every muscle above the neck was in constant pain from twitching so much; wellbutrin has the opposite effect, suppressing minor tics but exaggerating large movements to the point that my parents and teachers mistook them for seizures.

Once the large-scale studies disproved the link between stimulants and induced Tourette's, a whole other world opened up for me. My brother also has ADHD, and he hated the effects the medications had on him, and I ended up trying his leftovers (please spare me the lectures on ethics and legality.) Ritalin is amazing. Focalin (the dextro isomer of methylphenidate) was even more effective and lacked the side effects. Concerta, which is extended release methylphenidate, got me through a couple of exam weeks and although I wouldn't recommend it, I stayed up for 60-70 hours a few times and still felt pretty good the next morning (and made dean's list those semesters.)

Provigil(modfinil) is a narcolepsy medication that's prescribed off-label for ADHD and is a miracle drug. It doesn't so much keep you awake as it removes the feeling of a need to sleep. For attention, the only way I can describe it is being like watching stadium lights come on - after it's absorbed it has a fast onset - ten minutes after you take it the feeling is like hearing the clunk of breakers flipping and twenty minutes later everything is as clear as daylight. For the next 8-10 hours you're as awake and focused as you'll ever be. Staying awake with it was great until somewhere around the end of the third day when I started hallucinating, after which I toned it down and only pulled the occasional all-nighter.

After a few years out of college, I started to feel like my ADHD was hindering me at work. I was easily distracted and I could feel my productivity slipping. I mentioned it to my doctor and he said "at your age, Adderall is probably the best. Just take it as prescribed and call me if you feel any negative side effects." I ended up with 30mg extended release and it worked really well. I could focus easily, I felt more alert, my nervous tics disappeared completely, and as an added bonus, the reduction in my appetite helped me to lose 30 pounds. At the moment, I'm off of it because I've had heart palpitations, a few skipped beats, and my doctor told me to see a cardiologist for evaluation before he's comfortable prescribing any stimulants. I'll see how that goes, if the cardiologist recommends against stimulants, I'll talk to my doctor about trying something like Provigil again.

Talk to your doctor, see what they recommend (and switch doctors if they're one of the cranks who still claims that ADHD doesn't exist,) and let them work with you to find what works best for you. Be up-front about effects and side effects, and hopefully you'll find something that works for you.

 

So, DSM-5 has changed things a bit. Forgive my long quote, Imma put it in a block so you can skip it or not. Please do NOT diagnose yourself.

Contrary to popular belief, the ADHD brain actually runs too slowly. Hence the use of stimulants. Imagine listening to a vinyl record on the wrong speed or trying to watch a movie at 1/2 of the frame rate. It's impossible to process the information in a coherent manner, much less to actually pay attention to it.

There are a few ways to treat ADHD... stimulants or non. The stimulants (Ritalin, Adderall, Concerta, etc) tend to have appetite, sleep, and anxiety side effects. You'll find out very quickly if it's the right med or if you don't have ADHD. They wash out of therapeutic levels daily. You'll still pop for amphetamines on a drug test for about 2 days after your last dose.
The non-stimulants, like Strattera, stay in your system all the time, so it takes a little longer to build up the right levels in your blood stream, similarly to an antidpressant. So you have to take them every day, even on vacation, or go through that period of time building up to a therapeutic level again. A lot of people don't take their stimulants on the weekend or when they don't need to focus, if it's mainly a work issue.
We're seeing a lot more use of Vyvance, Intuniv, and Abilify (<--the horror!) in more severe kids with aggression and more significant issues with impulsive behavior. I'm not really a proponent of adult meds all the time, but some people really do need a low-level dose of something to really improve their focus. My brother did majically on Strattera for about 5 years until it started to lose its efficacy with him. He's a little shit, so he probably wasn't taking it all of the time, anyway.
The real thing to do is to educate yourself on what ADHD is, how the different drugs work on different symptoms, and talk to your doctor about the results you want to see.

Probably not the information you were looking for, but there it is.

 

I took vyvanse for a year or two as an adult with ADHD. It worked for me, but at too high of dose, I could become easily angered and irritable. If you can moderate properly I believe it is a good medication for short term use. However, you have to be careful not to become dependent on it. I stopped taking it after about 2 years and never went back, but I believe I learned how to manage my ADHD better because of my time on the medication.

 

^^^This is the map of my life.

I'm apparently the inattentive type. I'm going to forward this list to my wife, for a laugh, and see what she says.

A couple of years ago, I downgraded my position here at work from Server Administrator to a configurations expert ( I put the hardware together ), because I was making too many mistakes. I left before I took down a server that people's lives were counting on. The distractions from work were getting to me. I had left a job with an office with walls, where it was easier to get things done, to a cubicle world job. I started effing up immediately. At least I still have a job.

 

My eldest son has ADD - no aitch in it.
He learnt bugger all at school. His ed psych spotted all the symptoms - and hid them in a report that only those with knowledge of add/adhd would spot. Did not believe in it.
After proper assessment and meds - sons life turned around.

 

Update. I have an appt with the doc tomorrow. I'll let you know. Thanks for all the replies.

 

Soooooooooooooooo ... How'd it go?

 

Got a prescription, but have to see if the insurance is going to cover it... Red tape, red tape...

 

Depends on the script. The non-stimulants can be a bitch to get covered. And some don't like the extended release. And then they have concerns about how many tablets a month in case they can be abused, in the case of the stimulants.... It's a mess.

 

My insurance is usually cool, but we will see. There was only one thing that they did not cover, and that was, even in my mind, completely optional. Since this is a schedule 2(?) drug, they have to have a pre-approval process.

 

Still waiting on prior-approval. Seems like the doc could just send for this from the insurance co, then when approved it could be sent to the pharmacy. but no, you take the script to the pharmacy, then they fax your doctor, who apparently faxes back to the pharmacy, and the insurance co, then magic may or may not happen and the prescription fairies shit some drugs your way, maybe. I'll know one day