Recently my doctor prescribed Adderall for my ADD-like symptoms. I've never been tested for it but am seriously considering it. Anyway, I've been on the meds for about two weeks and they worked great at first, but don't seem to do much of anything now. Adderall is not the kind of medication that has to "build up" in your system; you feel the effects shortly after taking it.
I was just wondering if any of you had ever taken Ritalin or Adderall, and if so, how it affected you.
Interesting fact: LDs like dyscalculia affect a specific cognitive function while ADD affects cognition in general. Of course some of us get the double whammy, I suppose.
having never been diagnosed with ADD/ADHD, can't help you as far as taking any Adderal, etc. but did want to let ya know I saw your ques. - maybe someone else will eventually have some thoughts for you
=/ i was on ritilin and i have been with adhd/add
and with that expirence i hope u are carfull with meds
i feel that its better finding more natrual ways around the arts ud stuggle with rather then taking a pill because it wont cure u and it can hurt you and eventuly from what i hear it can wear off on the effects
i find that natural ways a better and more heathier then meds because with the ritilin i read u could suddenly just die and i whight that out with natrur ways and i figure it be hard but atleast i wont have to live like every day might be my last =/ i respect youre desion im just pointing out those meds are nothing to messaround with so plz becarfull and i hope u have made a good choice throo ur eyes
if you gonna learn about somthing learn everything you can!
also plz feel free to ask me about trains
i love talking about trains and asnwering questions about em!
Location: United States Posts: 1860 Joined: 2008-11-14
Hey Fuegos, haven't chatted with you in a while, how have you been?
Anyway, re: ADHD medication, I personally have never been on it. I do have moderate to severe attention problems, which my psychiatrist told me are "most probably ADHD" but I have never been officially tested for it. The reason for this is tri-fold. First, the testing costs over $100, which I don't want to spend. Secondly, I already have a rather long list of pre-existing conditions, I don't want to add ANOTHER thing to that list to give insurance providers yet another reason to deny me coverage when I fall off my mom's insurance in the (swiftly approaching) future.
Thirdly, I can't take stimulant medication like Ritalin anyway because it has a mood-destabilizing effect in some people with bipolar disorder, which I also have. So even if I did have an "official" diagnosis, it would do me no real good because I can't take the medication to treat it, so what's the point in having the diagnosis at all? It would afford me no extra perks as far as disability accommodations because I already get all of the accommodations that I would get for ADHD (extra time on tests, a note taker, low-distraction test taking environment, etc.). There's no point in me being officially diagnosed with it... I know I have ADHD, my doctor believes it without even having to perform the test, all of my friends and family have known it since I was a very small child. I don't really need a test to confirm it for me at a cost of $100+, when it wouldn't offer me any benefit anyway.
I feel like we have talked about mood disorders in the past, am I right? I would be careful with taking stimulant medications if I were you. They don't destabilize all people, but they can cause problems for a lot of patients with bipolar spectrum disorders. As far as the medication losing efficacy over time, that doesn't surprise me. A lot of medications that target the brain lose potency over time, some quicker than others.
Our brain, unlike other organs in our body, is extraordinarily adaptive in a chemical sense. We build tolerance to chemicals that our brain is exposed to, whether those are illegal chemicals (like a drug addict developing a tolerance to the drug and needing more and more to get the same high as before) or legally prescribed (like someone requiring higher doses of an antidepressant than in the past because the antidepressant no longer works at the level they are currently taking). So I wouldn't be surprised if your brain simply "got used to" the amount of Adderall you were taking, so now that level of the medication doesn't have the same impact that it used to. Caffeine is also a stimulant, like Adderall, and people become tolerant to a certain level of caffeine fairly quickly. People who used to only need one cup of coffee to get through the day end up needing 2 or 3, their brains just don't respond to one cup the way they used to.
I would encourage you to talk to your doctor about it. Maybe you need to take the medication less frequently so that your body has less of an opportunity to build up a tolerance to it, or maybe you need to switch to a different kind. I'm no psychiatrist so I really have no idea. As notoureguides92 pointed out, there are certain risks that come with stimulant medications for ADHD, so be aware of those risks and decide if they are worth the benefit. All medication comes with risk, it's always a trade-off - if the benefits are worth the side effects or potential risks, then you take it. If not, then you find another solution.
"The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings." - Eric Hoffer
Location: Texas USA Posts: 6135 Joined: 2008-05-25
3/10/11
Kat and Company,
Please excuse me for putting something off-topic here, but this Thread is the perfect example of what I'm thinking of,... is there a way on this forum, when we start a Thread, to get an email notification if someone posts on our Thread? And if there's a Thread that someone else started, but that we have a specific interest in following, same question. I've seen on other forums where you can 'choose' this. Fuegos started this Thread 5 weeks ago, and yet I'm sure that she'd want to read your response, Kat. - jus'
Edited by justfoundout on March 10 2011 11:27 PM
justfoundout wrote: ... is there a way on this forum, when we start a Thread, to get an email notification if someone posts on our Thread?
Yes there is. You have to press the "Post Reply" button to get this option (so don't use the quick reply function at the bottom of posts - but click the blue "Post Reply" button).
Check the option to get notified. "Notify me when a reply is posted". See attached image.
Admin attached the following image:
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Edited by Admin on March 12 2011 04:45 PM
