Posted by Lou Pilder on March 24, 2012, at 11:23:43
In reply to Dexedrine making me more distracted, posted by West on March 24, 2012, at 11:12:22
> I've just had a second ADHD specialist confirm that I have ADD (PI).
>
> Here's the thing: Concerta has makes me so tired I was bedridden for a lot of the time I was on it (about 3 years !) I also nearly completed a suicide attempt over Christmas, at least partly brought on by terrible insomnia, which Concerta produces. It may have also exacerbated depression. I was fine as long as I was in my own little bubble, but felt very uncomfortable around others.
>
> Now I'm trying dexedrine for the second time, as It's the only stimulant based alternative to methyphenidate where I live, and am having a number of issues.
>
> - It doesn't help distraction, but increases it (at 5 mg b.i.d).
>
> - Whilst igniting the desire to read, it makes it no less difficult. I have longstanding issues with sitting down to read something which is a means to an end (like reading an instruction manual to make music on Logic) rather than immediately gratifying (like researching drug treatments online)
>
> It's very difficult not to skim read text as I impatiently seach for the "meat" in a paragraph. Though not peripherally stimulating per se, on dexedrine my mind is moving too quickly for my brain to settle on and absorb each sentence. Reading fiction, which I rarely do anyway (which is a great sadness to me) is a complete turn off.
>
> - Higher doses just worsen the problem, I startle at noises, or quickly find pointless things to do to appease some of the frustration felt from not being able to settle down to something more edifying.
>
> - Allowing the 2.5 hour window of "therapeutic", or, as I'm starting to believe, hedonic, effect to pass might help this, but I wouldn't know, as by this point I'm what is technically termed as "crashing". This could be more precisely defined as a sudden awareness of lack of positive affect, presumably contrasting with the the state before it, but which, due to various complications (see above) I was not aware of at the time. I begin to experience the scattered thoughts, negative rumination and free-floating anxiety this implies; back to square one.
>
> - Add to this the logistical difficulties Dex presents in that the final dose must taken be 10 hours before you plan on sleeping (based on its average half-life)- and you have rather a difficult chemical to work with.
>
> I'm starting to think I'm not ADHD at all: why is my mind racing when it should be calmed? Why am I actually more distracted. Why am I all of sudden irressistively attracted to playing Call of duty: Modern warfare?West,
You wrote,[...Concerta..on it (about 3 years!)...nearly completed a suicide...exacerbated depression...dexadrine..increses it...just worsen the problem...].
poster:Lou Pilder
thread:1013800
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20120316/msgs/1013802.html