Reply To: Concerta – "Controlled Substance"

[shutterbug55]

Welcome, lunasea275.

You have a great friend! Just remember, what works for them, won’t necessarily work for you.

A lady on the bus who takes wellbutrin for her ADD, recognized I might be suffering from ADD as well. She gave me a copy of “ADD and Loving it”, which started me down this path of discovery. Wellbutrin makes foggy, and twitchy at the same time. YUCK! I finally found Adderall, which seems to be tailor made for my brain. I take a minimal dose a couple times a day, and it helps.

First off, you will be working with your doctor on meds. Finding the right one, that addresses your issues best, will be an individual process. Generally, you want to know which drug or combination of drugs, taken in the right dosage(s) at the right time(s) is right for you.  All meds affect us differently. After all we are all individuals and we are all on different points of the spectrum.

I don’t know what your situation is, but if you have someone very close to you, ask them for help. You will need this person to take notes about you and how you react to the drugs your doctor is prescribing.

You both will need to write notes about which symptoms you want help with and how those drugs are helping. Your goal is to minimize those symptoms as much as possible, while minimizing the side affects of medication. My top four was hyper-focus, communication skills (blurting, interrupting), constant thoughts racing around in my head, which I call “monkey chatter”, and inattentiveness.

You both will need to write notes about side affects. Yep all the meds have side effects. You have to decide are the side effects worth the help you get from the meds.

You both will need to talk to the doc about all this and ask questions. Like how much experimentation with dosage and timing can you do on your own, with the meds they perscribe.  Remember as smart as docs like to think they are, they haven’t got it right yet. Why do you think they are still “practicing”? They aren’t mind readers either, so constantly remind them about YOUR goals.

Meds are only part of the treatment. They are NOT a cure. There is no magic pill out there that will make your ADD go away. All meds will do for you is give you a little space to step back from the situation so you have a chance at altering your behavior.  Counseling and learning as much as you can about ADD will help as well.

At the end of all this and you have your meds dialed in, you can get larger prescriptions, or multiple prescriptions, so you don’t have to see the doc so often. My doctor writes me two or three prescriptions for a 30 day supply each. I turn them all into the pharmacy next to work and at the first of every month go down and pick up my meds. Easy.

At the beginning, you WANT to see the doc all the time. Your doctor is trying to be helpful. Work with the doc. Unless you are very lucky, you may go through several medications, before you land on one that works the way you want.

 

REPORT ABUSE