Re: Wow, Oh My God, WTF!!!!!

[Patte Rosebank]

Well, my psych believed me (a good thing), and says we need to proceed carefully (also a good thing). Having the diagnostics in-hand, and being able to discuss them logically really helped. Going on the assumption (and he stressed that at this point, it’s still just an assumption) that I’d scored 100% for Combined, he asked me about how I’d come to this assumption, what I was like in childhood, and about what led to my being on medications for depression and anxiety, and how they have and haven’t helped me. The more we discussed it, the more I realized that the depression and anxiety are just the symptoms of having to struggle to function with ADHD. So, for all this time, we’ve just been treating the symptoms, instead of finding and treating the cause. Now what?

The plan is to wean me off the Effexor XR (which will take about 2 weeks, and probably won’t be much fun), but keep me on the Seroquel. Then, I’ll start on a low dose of Ritalin in the morning, with my usual nighttime dose of Seroquel. I’ll also keep a journal of how I’m feeling and functioning for the next 3 months. During that time, I’ll talk with my brother and my parental units daily, so they can also assess how I’m doing. This is how we did it 12 years ago, when my original psych was trying to find the right medicine to treat my depression, and later my depression and anxiety.

When I told my dad about my new diagnosis, and that I’ll be going off Effexor XR and starting on Ritalin, he reacted with too much caution, as he’d done when I’d first told him I thought I was depressive. He’s very concerned about the safety of Ritalin, and the fact that there are so many stories of its being over-prescribed. He said, “The other meds are working for you, so why do you want to change things?”

Why? Because the other meds AREN’T working for me. I still have all the ADHD issues I always had, but now I know why I have them, and the possible ways to fix them.

The awfully big adventure has begun!

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