Posted by PsychoSage on February 13, 2004, at 15:38:39
In reply to I'm also an ex-Amen Clinic Patient, posted by MB on February 13, 2004, at 11:04:08
> Scientists tend to find what their looking for. The Amen clinic specializes in ADHD, and that's what they're looking for. Hope you like speed.
> It took me a year to recover from an iatrogenic Adderall addiction due to a misdagnosis as having ADHD. *BE CAREFUL* I was addicted, and had to call periodically to make my 15 minute, $200 phone consultation to get my Adderall script sent in the mail so I could get my next fix. I told the doctor I was getting addicted and he brushed it off. Mind you, the Adderall was prescribed *after* I told my doc that I had been in recovery for 2 years for amphetamine addiction...but he assured me that at the doses he'd prescribe, I wouldn't have that problem. It was an extreme nightmare.
>
> MB
>
>I am appalled someone does not use the DSM. I was first spoiled at my university which has the top psych department in the country because all the services are also reaserch facilites, so the DSM is definitely used for studies involving brain scans if only just to discern between the healthy and unhealthy. When I was getting treatment "in the community" I could not believe the manner in which I was diagnosed. I was asked a few questions and that was it.
I have lesser standards for people, but Dr. Amen doesn't have to abandon the DSM even though it needs some revisions that are more obvious to those in the research/academic community.
The 8.5 hours for a complete battery of diagnostic questionaires and the DSM is worth it I feel. You have to be comprehensive because a few sentences from the patient/client about their depression and anxiety should not be enough to begin treatment. Even if a patient takes half an hour to discuss themselves in their own words, I think there needs to be some cost-effective and comprehensive way of diagnosing people regardless of whether they go to Amen or somewhere else. It should be conprehensive even outside a specialty clinic or research setting.
I have a history of speed addiction that ended 3 years ago, and my doctors at university and anywhere else don't want me near an amphetamine or methylpehnidate for inattention and related problems associated with the past abuse and bipolar.
Provigil but it's like a cousin to amphetamine regardless of what you hear. I just started it, and I am just going to treat it like wellbutrin which can be euphoric in the beginning or when titrating up. This too shall pass. It will likely poop out eventually, so I just have to keep an eye out for other possibilities to aid me. My doc mentioned Aricept and anti-parkinsonians as stimulant alternatives. I thought I was doing Aricept first, but it hasn't transpired that way.
poster:PsychoSage
thread:301244
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040210/msgs/312918.html