Posted by JahL on January 25, 2001, at 17:48:15
In reply to Re: Sources of Ritalin - Adderall easier? » JahL, posted by Leonardo on January 23, 2001, at 11:46:28
> I have quite a good Pdoc who hasn't ruled out stimulants, but wants to try conventional things first, to see if my concentration/attention problems are just due to depression (I don't think so, I've always had them). I'm going on sertraline (Zoloft) next, but have to wait 4 weeks for selegeline to wash out (my fault - I got that from the internet w/o prescription...)
>
> I take it you're in the UK too??YEAH.
How did you get on with your trial of stimulants?
>
> Best wishes
> LeonardoHi Leonardo. The stims did nothing for me but the point is it took just 2 weeks (& 2x 11hr flights!) to rule out an entire class of medicine (=peace of mind). I really can't see what the fuss is about; if you're going to 'abuse' ('their' term) drugs there are so many better ones on offer. They actually made me a bit edgy & I couldn't wait to get off them.
It sounds to me like you're unnecessarily denying yourself a treatment that holds obvious benefit. And the fact that yr son's been diagnosed ADHD increases the likelihood that you have some co-morbid ADD/HD.
Why not ask yr pdoc 4 a 2 week trial of Ritalin (@ a conservative dose), working on the basis that yr depression may begin to remit upon resolution of yr cognitive difficulties. My current (US) pdoc had no hesitation in prescribing stims because he has witnessed this happening before in his surgery. Besides, like you, I've *always* had attn difficulties & scored highly on the 'ADD-o-meter'.
Alternatively you could ask to augment one of yr partially-effective SSRIs with a stimulant, a reasonably common/acceptable practise in refractory depression.
4 week wash-out followed by a, what, 8wk trial of Zoloft sounds an awful long time to me...
Rgds,
Jah.
poster:JahL
thread:52294
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010122/msgs/52554.html