Re: for concerta users

[dspicelady]

@Claudea-Originally I was on Effexor for years because my doctor at the time thought I was depressed. He felt that my agitation, irritability and distractedness was all related to depression. I was too far gone to argue at the time. When we finally managed to get a new doctor (not so easy to do where I am), I told him I wanted off the Effexor. Lots of side effects and I really didn’t feel all that depressed, just anxious. By the way, if you do get off the Effexor, do it REALLY slowly. That was a horrible ride! Anyways, my anxiety hit an all-time high. My guess is that since Effexor is something like a third-line med for ADHD, it probably did help a bit to control some symptoms, but when it was gone…yikes! During that time, my teenage daughter was suffering with her ADHD bigtime. However, this doctor decided that even though she had been diagnosed 5 years previously with that (and chose to be med-free), he was leaning more to bipolar. While we waited for a consultation at McMaster(premier hospital for mental health. you wait a long time to get in), he prescribed all kinds of crap for her. She was on so many different meds, she was a mess. He used Topamax to help counter the effects of one particularly nasty drug(olanzapine) that had her go from 113lbs to 160lbs in 3 months(she’s 5’2″). Apparently Topamax is being used off-label for diabetics to help control blood sugar levels which is supposed to help them lose weight. I think he was getting HUGE kickbacks because he thought that since her mood was better and she had lost some weight, that genetically speaking, it would also work for me in the mood department (and losing some pounds would not be bad either). Again, I was too confused, anxious and fed up to argue or care.

When she finally got to McMaster, and re-diagnosed with ADHD and NOT bipolar, we finally found a wonderful psychotherapist(an MD that focuses on CBT) and he agreed to see us both. After a few sessions with him, he diagnosed me with ADHD about a year ago. At the time, we didn’t remove the Topamax because I wasn’t experiencing anything negative with it (that I was aware of at least) and to be honest I was too afraid of going back to the debilitating anxiety. Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago, and you see my previous post.

My therapist MD believes strongly in having the patient in charge of the meds and titration (of course he does control the prescription pad). He had no problem with me removing the Topamax. He believes in letting me direct the meds. I’m on 36mg Concerta. If I feel I need to go up to 54mg or down to 27mg he will be ok with that. I also have a ritalin “chaser” on hand, in case I need it. Since being off Topamax, I haven’t needed it at all.

So after this whole long-winded post, I reread your post…..to answer your question (sorry), the doctor who prescribed the Topamax didn’t believe in or have much knowledge of ADHD in adults (or children for that matter). He felt there was a bipolarity issue for both of us. But he was sooooo wrong.

@Lucky77- I’m so glad for you that you’ve been able to reduce your scripts with no problems. I know that that’s not always the case for people. While I know it’s common for people to be placed on anti depressants or anxiety meds, when they should be treated for ADHD, some of those individuals actually need both. The only way to know is to try it under controlled conditions (or by accident :wink:)

I just felt the urge to share this, since you never know if it may help someone else. Thanks for listening and good luck!

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