Thread: The ADD/ADHD Meds

Don't you think it says something that you see medication as the solution to your problems? You want to be a certain way, so you look for medical reasons you're not conforming to your ideal and then look to take drugs to make you that way. Dreaming of medication to help you live the life you wanted when you were 12 (or even just to improve your grades) doesn't sound particularly healthy to me Cara.

A lot of ADHD drugs are basically amphetamines - in fact, one of the prescribed drugs in the USA is Crystal Meth!!!! - so of course you'd notice a difference in your concentration level.

I don't get why you would need the drugs though. You say you want to perform better in school, but to what end? Perhaps your future lies away from maths and science.

You have a long history of getting yourself diagnosed with various mental defects so why would you assume any concentration problems are down to ADHD and not any bi-polar or borderline-personality disorders you've told us you've got? How do you know that you don't also lack a certain level of self-discipline which affects your concentration. 'Negative' personality traits are not always down to medical conditions. Plenty of people have the same issue you've detailed above without thinking they're mentally disabled in some way.

I don't think you'll have any problem getting a diagnosis for ADHD because I think you probably want to be diagnosed with it. I think I could get the diagnosis if I wanted the pills and with your experience of medical health practicioners, I'm sure I'd find it absolutely no problem before. The pills would no-doubt improve your concentration in some way but there are also side-effects and I'm not sure if they would react badly with any of the other medication which I assume you are or have been taking.

Somehow I saw this coming.

The thing is, neither borderline personality or bipolar disorder cause concentration problems. I'm starting to think that maybe, just maybe, my real diagnosis is ADD and not the ones I've been given in the past. Certainly not borderline, that's already been ruled out by my current doctor.

And it's not just me lacking discipline, either. I just got back from school, from an English class nonetheless, and I literally am unable to stay focused to what the teacher's saying. Every now and then I hear a five minutes of his talk and then I zone out again. I squirmed through the class. And I did my best, but I couldn't stop my mind from wandering. Luckily now, I'm good at English and can do this particular course from home and only attend the exams which I should pass with no trouble, but there are also other subjects, subjects where I'm either terrible at or average at, subjects that I can't study from home.

Do you know about the side effects? What side effects do the meds have, and what are they like?
If there's anyone here with preferably first hand information, it would help me a lot.

Again though Cara, you shouldn't be looking at getting medicated because you want to do better at school. That is not a healthy outlook whatsoever but it's not suprising considering your history.

As for the side effects, well it depends on the kind of medication you're on. Typically you can expect anxiety, nervouseness, pains in your head or stomach, insomnia or tiredness amongst other things.

And Cara, i'd be saying all of this if my best friend had started this topic.

I don't have any direct experience with ADD/ADHD and the treatments of it but knowing folks who have had to deal with it, there always seemed to be leap to ADD/ADHD as a diagnosis without much of a thorough assessment of other causes and treatments. It always seemed to be teachers who started waving the AD red flag and then the parents worked to make the problem fit the diagnosis because there was relief in having a target to shoot at - even if it wasn't necessarily the right one.

Not saying this is your situation Cara. Just that ADD/ADHD appears to be the common and easiest answer to what might be more complex issues.

Maybe get a second or third opinion.

I haven't even been diagnosed with it yet. For what it's worth, people like my therapist and my mom (!!) support my theory on me having ADD. My doctor seems doubtful about it, but she's agreed to that I should get re-tested.

I know you would, Brew. I just saw this coming because I know how you feel about ADHD meds. I know how a lot of people feel about ADHD meds. But I don't feel the same way, because they're my last chance of living a normal life. You probably have no idea what it's like to live with my brain. I get my ups and downs, impulses, can't focus on ANYTHING for a long time, unless it's very interesting, in which case I get too focused on it and forget about the rest of the world (and no, that doesn't mean I don't have ADD. Look it up.). I'm a real multitasker, and even though I do fine in my personal life, holding a job or studying are a real PAIN to me. Even the job that I want to pursue after gratuating high school is something where you need to understand a small bit of maths/sciences. The area in psychology that intrigues me especially, neuro-psychology, will require me to understand more of said subjects than I do.

For the record, the meds I'm currently on besides birth control pill, are venlafaxine (= anti-depressant) and aripiprazole (= ant-psychotic/manic). I'm semi-pleased with my current meds, but for concentration, they do jack.

My issue is that ADD seems to be one of those 'easy diagnoses,' where pretty much everyone on the planet can think of ways they fit the description.

However. Obviously, you have more issues concentrating than most. You've said you cannot sit down and read even a short book in one sitting, and you have to always take little breaks. That means one of two things- you lack self-discipline and are lazy, or you actually do have ADD. I don't know you well enough at all to tell you which one it is.

So I say, leave it to the doctors, but be really careful not to exaggerate your case because you really have no idea how the medication will work for you. Some people who take ADD meds end up feeling "grey-" like they're no longer creative, no longer feel like themselves anymore. Etc etc. It's one thing to risk that if the meds really would improve your concentration, but why risk it if they wouldn't help at all? A lazy person taking ADD meds would not suddenly stop being lazy. So just tell the absolute truth, try not to influence the doctor's decision, and let the process be as objective and impartial as possible so that hopefully you won't get an incorrect diagnosis.

Edited to add: Might want to look up Adult ADD, too. I don't know if there's any real difference, but in the States there's kind of a separation between children with ADD and adults with ADD. I mean, there's a separate term for it and all..

Facebook and Google 'may make you more stupid' | Metro.co.uk

isn't the article i read at uni the other day (whilst flicking through various websites simulaneously!) but some interesting ideas, i think in general having to study and concentrate on anything you don't find really really interesting can take a lot of effort though...

Thanks for the replies.

I'm not gonna exaggerate or lie about my situation when I finally do get tested. But I will be very surprised if I don't get diagnosed with it, cuz I've always had such trouble concentrating. In grade school I still did pretty good simply because grade school is easy and I'm not dumb, jr. high went a little worse but still okay, still good enough. I got into the very high school I wanted to go to. Now I'm getting trouble learning the subjects I used to be good at (ie. biology). Only languages come along pretty easily, and psychology. It seems the older I get, the stupider I turn.

My mom used to rant to me about how I wouldn't put enough effort to studying, but now that she's read about adults' ADD, she's turned her boat around. (Yeah I'd read about it myself before you mentioned it, but thanks anyway They're the same condition, but obviously, it shows a bit differently in adults)

Brew, with all due respect, if you don't have trouble concentrating like I do, you have no idea what kinda hell it is to try and study without meds to help with concentration. It gets ridicilous. Like, first of all, I can't have any other things that might steal my concentration from my homework, so I have to do it in the middle of the night. Even then I'll take a break to eat a carrott, to stroke my cat, to write in my diary - or otherwise I get so squirmish that I can't do it. It takes me hours and hours to do my homework, much longer than the average person would need. And the more tired I get, the worse my concentration skills are, and the more restless I get. My mind wanders all the freaking time. You wanna know what all I've thought about while writing this very post? The movie that's playing on TV, what I just ate, what I will do tomorrow, what my cat is doing, etc. .. you get the idea.