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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 7 of 7. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by jaby on May 13, 2002, at 17:59:34
For anyone that does, what do you use, how much, how long have you been doing it, and how is it working? I would be curious how you got atarted on this route as well. Thanks so much!
Posted by katekite on May 14, 2002, at 13:43:15
In reply to Who uses a stimulant as their primary AD?, posted by jaby on May 13, 2002, at 17:59:34
I guess I fall in that category. I'm taking ritalin. And gradually going off of klonopin, which for me does almost nothing.
Technically I've been diagnosed as ADD, though I do not recall my organizational problems being as bad as a kid as they are now. That diagnosis was about 6 weeks ago and I completely agree that I fit the characteristics and have for a couple years at least. At this point I am happy to have a drug that helps and feel like it doesn't matter whether or not I was actually born this way.
I started with zoloft back about 10 years ago after a genuine depression. Then since its been a see-saw of medicated and unmedicated times, tried probably 25 or 30 meds altogether. No one ever suggested ADD as a possibility, just different drugs. Nothing ever really helped to the point where I felt reasonably happy and good about life for more than a few weeks. Anxiety and moody not-really-that-depressed-just-occasionally-suicidal was sort of the theme.
Basically how I got "here" (at ritalin only) is that I ran through all the serotonin active drugs -- and last fall started thinking along the lines that maybe they were all wrong about me.... started just randomly typing in descriptive words about myself into the yahoo search engine, things I didn't even think were actually bad, just my characteristics, things like "can't seem to hold a job" and "lazy" and LOL after a while I noticed ADD websites came up a lot. I didn't think it was possible since I did well in school but finally read one anyhow. It said I didn't have to have done poorly in school. And so I followed up on the idea.
I also should say that while I'm pretty happy overall now on ritalin, I'm still in the midst of a medical evaluation since my pdoc keeps saying that no one but me has hypertension in response to 2.5 mg of ritalin (hypertension I'm living with instead of stopping it, since it helps so much).... ie I may have medical issues which were making me depressed/anxious as well. Not that I wasn't "appropriately" medically screened, I was checked about 10 times for thyroid problems.
Don't know if that helps, but that's my story
Kate
Posted by jaby on May 14, 2002, at 14:02:37
In reply to I do, for the moment, posted by katekite on May 14, 2002, at 13:43:15
Thanks for your message. My situation sounds somewhat similar to yours. Psych problems run in my family and I have suffered with GAD/depression for about 5 years now. I have done all the SSRI's (more than once), the other newer AD's, have done best on mood stabilzers, but nothing gets me back to normal. I now use valium and neurontin. I just started effexor again and have had some good things happen, but some unbearable side effects as well (mostly horrible headaches).
My dr. has me taking sudafed around the clock for a sinus problem. The stimulant effect of that has helped somewhat and that's why I inquire about the true stimulants. My last pdoc in S. CA felt they were some of the best antidepressants.
So what kinds of things got you the ADD dx? I question whether I might have some of the same characteristics and if maybe my depression is dopaminergic more than anything.
Also, why do you say that you are using the ritalin just for now? Are there things you don't like about it?
Thanks for taking the time.
> I guess I fall in that category. I'm taking ritalin. And gradually going off of klonopin, which for me does almost nothing.
>
> Technically I've been diagnosed as ADD, though I do not recall my organizational problems being as bad as a kid as they are now. That diagnosis was about 6 weeks ago and I completely agree that I fit the characteristics and have for a couple years at least. At this point I am happy to have a drug that helps and feel like it doesn't matter whether or not I was actually born this way.
>
> I started with zoloft back about 10 years ago after a genuine depression. Then since its been a see-saw of medicated and unmedicated times, tried probably 25 or 30 meds altogether. No one ever suggested ADD as a possibility, just different drugs. Nothing ever really helped to the point where I felt reasonably happy and good about life for more than a few weeks. Anxiety and moody not-really-that-depressed-just-occasionally-suicidal was sort of the theme.
>
> Basically how I got "here" (at ritalin only) is that I ran through all the serotonin active drugs -- and last fall started thinking along the lines that maybe they were all wrong about me.... started just randomly typing in descriptive words about myself into the yahoo search engine, things I didn't even think were actually bad, just my characteristics, things like "can't seem to hold a job" and "lazy" and LOL after a while I noticed ADD websites came up a lot. I didn't think it was possible since I did well in school but finally read one anyhow. It said I didn't have to have done poorly in school. And so I followed up on the idea.
>
> I also should say that while I'm pretty happy overall now on ritalin, I'm still in the midst of a medical evaluation since my pdoc keeps saying that no one but me has hypertension in response to 2.5 mg of ritalin (hypertension I'm living with instead of stopping it, since it helps so much).... ie I may have medical issues which were making me depressed/anxious as well. Not that I wasn't "appropriately" medically screened, I was checked about 10 times for thyroid problems.
>
> Don't know if that helps, but that's my story
>
> Kate
Posted by DiscoPuppy on May 14, 2002, at 14:52:18
In reply to Who uses a stimulant as their primary AD?, posted by jaby on May 13, 2002, at 17:59:34
Wow, what a great question! I have started a similar thread, which might give you some good information.
I think I would benefit from a stimulant after trying virtually every antidepressant available (never tried MAOIs or TCAs, though)
> For anyone that does, what do you use, how much, how long have you been doing it, and how is it working? I would be curious how you got atarted on this route as well. Thanks so much!
Posted by fachad on May 14, 2002, at 21:59:52
In reply to Who uses a stimulant as their primary AD?, posted by jaby on May 13, 2002, at 17:59:34
I do, and have been for quite a few years now.
Take a look at these posts I have put up before on this issue:
http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020307/msgs/97442.html
http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020307/msgs/97130.html
http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020215/msgs/94906.html
Those posts will give you quite a bit of background on stimulant monotherapy for depression.
> For anyone that does, what do you use, how much, how long have you been doing it, and how is it working? I would be curious how you got atarted on this route as well. Thanks so much!
Posted by Christina on May 15, 2002, at 9:38:37
In reply to I do, for the moment, posted by katekite on May 14, 2002, at 13:43:15
My story is very similar to Kates. I started an AD/mood stabilizer roller coaster about 7 yrs ago (for depression), and recently added Adderall to the mix, and weaned of the Prozac I was taking.
It's been interesting.
I'm starting to miss the "I don't give a shit" attitude from ADs, but I don't miss weight gain.
Without the ADs, things bother me a bit more, but maybe it's nice to actually feel some type of emotion again. The ADs really dulled my otherwise charming personality. Hee hee.
The adderall helps keep me focused for work, but when it wears off, I want to crawl in bed and watch movies.
It's still a wait and see game for me and the doc.
Posted by katekite on May 16, 2002, at 11:41:43
In reply to Re: I do, for the moment-to Kate, posted by jaby on May 14, 2002, at 14:02:37
>
> So what kinds of things got you the ADD dx? I question whether I might have some of the same characteristics and if maybe my depression is dopaminergic more than anything.
>
I found the quiz at mindfixers.com to be helpful. Mostly what got me the ADD diagnosis was inability to organize my life. Up until I quit my job around a year ago I was fairly organized, not that much worse than others. At most times I went to shrinks I was depressed and they would ask if I was forgetful and disorganized and the answer was of course and that only made them think I was more depressed.I hated structure and always liked weekends better etc, but a complete absence of structure was worse. After I quit the job and after I came out of a depression, I realized that here I was a full grown human with plenty of spare time, not even depressed, and keeping my laundry clean and my refrigerator stocked seemed kind of overwhelming....every day was frustrating just to get it done, get up, eat, do a few things, etc. ie the tasks of everyday living were somehow more difficult for me than for others. That's when I started randomly typing words like 'lazy' into search engines.
I looked into ADD and most importantly, had someone other than myself rate me on the quiz (for example I would never admit to how much I interrupt -- or I more likely don't know). When I did the quiz versus my husband we had rather different answers for me.
So that's kind of how the diagnosis came about. Really I was the one who brought it up to the attention of shrinks and docs.... one of the things about ADD is people are almost always more 'together' in the office than at home, because of the artificial structure and the idea that someone is watching you, one tends to be more controlled (true of everyone probably). So its often not evident at all to a health care provider -- I can't blame them for not noticing.
> Also, why do you say that you are using the ritalin just for now? Are there things you don't like about it?
Yes: my blood pressure goes all wacky with a dose of ritalin that would normally be given to a child under the age of 5. So I may have some medical issue there and I'm scheduled for a few tests. I can't take as much ritalin as would probably be good for my ADD symptoms. Other than that I really like ritalin. I have also tried dexedrine spansules, and that lasted a bit too long for my liking but was ok, and I will want to try adderall when I can. I want to try them all and pick the best one.
One last comment is that I have had anxiety issues since the age of 12 or so, and ritalin makes them go away. Plus I used to pull my hair out (since age 12) in a mild way, an impulsive behavior that is completely gone now.
Anxiety responding to stimulants is fairly uncommon, but not unheard of. In my case it turns out that anxiety is more a mental restlessness, so that I think a million things about every choice, worry over options, sometimes don't finish sentences because I'm off thinking of some other ending. Plus my eye contact is terrible. So social situations have always been hard because although I hear it all, maybe I'm not looking at people, or I am looking but worrying at the same time, etc....can't totally concentrate on listening. This leads to a certain look of anxiousness when really its more like I'm jumping up and down inside my head. With ritalin I'm able to control where I want to focus. I can even say to myself: ok now is not the time to worry about that, and it will work. ie a lot more control over my thinking.
What I find ironic is that so many new wonderful medicines have been invented in the last 15 years and that only hurt me..... if it had been 15 years ago I would have tried the tricyclics and then a stimulant in short order.
Basically it comes down to the idea that I'm a dopamine responder and not a serotonin responder.
kate
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