Sunday Moring Ramblings-Topic ADD/ADHD

Morning Lee, I just took one randomly off the search for adult add/adhd.  Even took a few and they all said the same thing.  My biggest fear is that they will want to tell me right off the bat I am depressed, I know I am not.  I just can't seem to stay focused.

i would strongly caution against taking ANY meds if you can possibly do without.  ESP>  brain altering meds..  you may be able to focus or finish projects again but the side effects and long term "baggage" from the meds could be worse than your initial issues.

their are several behavioral techniques for improving the "problems" youre having.  i suggest reading up on them.  consistant work with these tools can help overcome many attention deficit disorders, borderline personality disorders and mild depression. 

i spent more than half my life as an untreated manic depressive (i dont like the term bipolar) and the last 12 years under the haze of medication.  the trade off has been painful to say the least. 

i went from a person with a photographic memory who never did a lick of homework but stayed in the top 1% of the u.s. in GPA and graduated at 15 with a full scolarship to an ivy league school to a mildy witty, but mostly dull, lump.  if i didnt have children, i probably wouldnt stay on the meds even though without them i am constantly walking the edge of a knife.

i am very anti psych meds for anyone who can possibly do without them.  they  are prescribed far too readily by mds not well enough educated to dispense them.

be careful.

sorry to be a doggy downer but..that's me

Gisele, thank you for your input!!  I am pretty much anti drug anything.  I still have left over pain meds from my WLS.  But I have gotten to a point in my life that nothing is progressing.  So, therapy would be great, some form of bio-feed back, but I need to go forward.  I need something, just don't know what.

focus can be improved with mental exercises-it really can.  there's gobs of good literature out there and docs who specialize in cognitave retraining or whatever you may need that doesnt require meds. 

it is worth it. 

cheers-

I want to warn you that you are going to hear all kinds of things from people. Don't let anyone derail you from getting the help you need. These problems can cause serious issues in life. Also, I'm really glad you are getting a thorough evaluation. Many things can mimic ADD/ADHD including depression, bipolar disorder, etc. 

If you do get a prescription for medication,  remember that the side effects are temporary. Also, don't let people scare you with horror stories about medication. If you feel like a zombie or don't feel as smart as you once did, you need to have the medication adjusted, NOT just ended. I hate that some people have doctors who don't follow them closely enough and don't listen to them about the side effects enough. If you feel miserable on the medication, there are plenty of other choices!

Really stand up for yourself when you get to the doctor and when you talk to your friends. You deserve to function at your peak capacity. ADD/ADHD is a very real disease. Don't feel like you're any kind of failure for needing to take medication.

I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers!

Hugs, 

Thanks Liz, that is the first thing to get evaluated.  Then on from there, like I said before I need something.  I can't go on the way I have been ineffective and not moving forward.

 I think U are very right to address the problem AS a problem rather than ignoring it and hoping it gets better .

At the same time... psych meds havent always been a magical solution 4 me... for  instance I tried wellbutrin as a way to ( i hoped ) gain LESS  weight and elevate my mood ( which was largely depressed because i was unhealthy  and carrying around a hundred pounds of FAT i couldnt lose - for good cause in other words ) 

Maybe im more of a food addict than U all ..but the SECOND  i forgot to take the wellbutrin I basically  couldnt get out of bed ....acted with a lack of good judgment when I DID take it ( because i was making myself manic)   ..and depressed and  constanntly binging when i wasnt .   

unfortunately in my experience there are few little magic pills that actually DID  help in any but the most fleeting  temporary sense .  

Still desperate times call for desperate measures ...and Im actually thinking of trying  Wellbutrin with a Topamax chaser as a ( supposedly ) very effective  weight loss promoting ( and relatively low cost ) ****tail .  I MUST lose twenty lbs in order to work regularly and frankly ...on its own ..it just aint happening  Sistahs .

Ask Urself honestly what percentage of this problem is Ur own desire to lose more weight .. what percentage is  true ADHD .    I had  adderall prescibed for myself ( and before that  a type of controlled substance - basically speed until triplicate forms made it too much of a PITA to get )   all to lose weight ... not  to help my concentration in the slightest frankly .  

I never found any of these  ( scary ) substances even helped a BIT  withthe overeating .....they basically act the same as any OTC  green tea/ hoodia based pill..... theyll help U eat less and be more active AS LONG AS  U take the darn expensive pills all the time ...  in REAL terms  Ull be LUCKY  if U keep off five actual lbs  taking them  while U ( not so slowly )  lose Ur mind .....

Of course I didn't really NEED  them lol except for hoping to improve the belly fat situation .   

There are  herbal substances that help U concentrate ... and help with memory retention Huperzine A chief among them ( available at GNC - one TINY  capsule a day )   .

 Also  creating a NOISE free environment really helps ......  classical music if any background .... a clean serene beautiful home .. a clean uncluttered desk U can sit at and look at a beautiful view ....suddenly I at least  find I CAN create ....and devote many hours, days and weeks  to completing the ambitious projects I start . 

Fifty years ago before psychotropic drugs both legal and illegal invaded our society .....developing DISCIPLINE  was the byword for making Urself sit down and FINISH things .... just a thought ...

I can honestly tell you I am not in a search for more weight loss.  I have lost 70lbs, gone from a XL, size 20 to Jrs med, size 8 at almost 50 I am THRILLED!!  I shop in my teen girls closets and share clothes with them.  I can still make art and if I wanted to can still do stage work.  

I am at a mental loss, I can't finish a thing and start way too many things.  I understand discipline, I have meandered all my life just getting by, doing just enough to survive.  I am tired of doing that.  I live each day in fog,  not only do I not finish projects there are days I forget to finish sentences, cause I have already mentally gone on to another subject...LOL

Fifty years ago, people without support floundered and was consider a loss to society.