Reply To: need advice

[seabassd]

@sb12 , It sounds like you’ve had some good results with Prozac. I believe I read somewhere that Prozac was being prescribed for adults with ADHD with some positive results. I guess this could just be due to the reduction in anxiety, depression, etc. from taking Prozac and therefor a person is less distracted. Not sure really.

I’ve taken Prozac in the past but I ran into some sleep disturbance with it so I eventually got off of it. I think it helped cut down on some of the anxiety I experienced with ADHD meds, so you may want to consider that if you decide to start taking stimulant meds. I’ve never taken Welbutrin or other non-stimulant ADHD meds so I can’t really speak on that. Hopefully your PDoc will help you in making the right decision.

As far as Stimulants go I’ve tried just about everything. It’s only been recently that I’ve stumbled across one that works for me. I’ve taken Vyvanse, Focalin, Ritalin and  Concerta. Now I’m on Adderall. So far so good. So if you decide to take ADHD specific medication be sure to try different ones out. Don’t make the mistake like I did and lock into a specific stimulant despite experiencing some pretty yucky side-effects. I settled on Ritalin( which for me was creating some pretty bad anxiety and depression)(everyone has different experiences with different meds.). I didn’t want to test drive any more meds so I settled. I was being impatient, like we can be from time to time. The result was that I fell into a depression which I’m just now coming out of. What’s funny is that I kept blaming myself for the depression without considering the stimulant side-effects.

As far as memory and organization I love learning techniques like “Chunking”. You know ,breaking a large task down into really small bite size bits that aren’t overwhelming. I use to have to write this down, but now I just sort of do it naturally.  I also like “Stepping Away”. This is where I focus on something else for a bit and then come back with a fresh perspective to the project I’m trying to complete. I also find that alternating mental tasks with physical tasks to be helpful. Another good one is just writing down two or three of the most important tasks for that day instead of a giant to-do list, which just overwhelms me. I still have to use these techniques despite taking medication though.

Medication helps calm me down so I can sit still for more than a few minutes, so it helps me stay consistently on task. I also think it helps me prioritize things a bit better. I guess it makes me a bit more of a linear thinker, like first do this, and then this and so on. This is good in many situations but I prefer to lower my dose or skip it when I need to be creative. So I try to schedule dosing depending on my needs. “Pills don’t teach skill”  – Right?

I’m going long as I always do. One last thing though not really related to anything you mentioned in your post.

Watch out for perfectionism. This has been one of my bugaboos. I kept wanting medication to turn me into a perfectly functioning person. In some cases this lead me to increase doses and push myself harder and harder. Not saying that this is something that you are or would have to deal with. Just a side note I wanted to share.

Keep us up to date on what you decide. Wish you the best.

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