The Forums › Forums › I Just Found Out! › I Suspect I Am › Worried that stimulants will exacerbate my anxiety, but desperate for relief › Re: Worried that stimulants will exacerbate my anxiety, but desperate for relief
SG, you should change your handle to “Poster Boy.”
The problem with ADD is there’s rarely a quick fix. It’s not like acid reflux. What’s more, if you see five clinicians, they’re likely to suggest five different strategies. In the mean time, you watch your life fall apart.
As for the stimulants—why not give ’em a shot? If they cause an uncomfortable uptick in anxiety, throw them out. Or see if there is something else you can take that will bring it (the anxiety) back under control. The real danger for many on stimulants is skyrocketing blood pressure and the associated consequences. But you’re 27. Certainly check with a doc, but you’re likely safe on that score.
Alas, here’s the kicker: ADD/ ADHD is a disorder of the will, a neurological obduracy; there is a disconnect between what we want to do/accomplish and our ability to convert our intentions into action. Some inscrutable, sometimes sinister, force is at the controls. A forum offering advice for ADDers is almost oxymoronic, because we often can’t muster the will to take advantage of it. People tell us to change our diet. But we can’t. Exercise! But we can’t. Employ certain mitigating strategies. But we can’t. Make lists. But we can’t. Do this; do that. But… we just can’t. At least, not for more than a week or two. So, unable to change our lifestyles or habits, we despair. And we hope for a pill, any pill, that will help give us our lives back.
Good luck.
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