40 years old and seeking medication for the first time

To each of you (Running Snow, i am ray, turbo and wendellk),

Personally I am on Concerta, I was started off at the lowest dosage and then graduated up to the third highest now at 36 mg.

A few things about me that maybe helpful. I at one point was on Paxil (a cousin to Prozac) for ‘anger’ issues but later learned after seeking to end my life on five different occasions that it was a ‘mis-prescribe’ medication to me by an ill informed doctor.

My psychiatrist currently is aware of all my past with various ‘recreational drugs’ that I have tried and my responses to them. She was somewhat hesitate to allow me to try Concerta but we agreed to keep close watch on it at all times. I have employed the watchful eyes of many family members, co-workers and supervisors to ensure that I am not missing something.

So far, I have only noticed one thing that is odd, my appetite, which after 30 minutes or so after taking it, seems to disappear for a number of hours. That being said, the positives in my case out-weigh the ‘bad’. The good being able to focus on a DIY project for more than six hours straight… quite a feat if you ask my wife.

At work, I wasn’t able to organize a bag of M&M’s into colors (extreme example but almost totally true) with my work load, meet timings, stay on track, complete projects, and complete projects on time plus many more things. Since being bumped to the next level of medication and along with a coach for organization and what not, things have vastly improved. I am not saying any of this to brag because all who know me, know that isn’t in my character. I have had my supervisors receive phone calls of praise about me, emails of gratitude and letters of appreciation, none of this is some thing that I have ever been accustom to.

This week particularly has been strange in that I got a fictional novel for my wife and myself, which she would tell you is out of character for me, since I usually read stuff on nutrition, training and supplementation for bodybuilding. I got these books last night and already, I am a quarter of the way through it. My wife who is a voracious reader can’t believe what she is seeing in me now.

Now, if you were to look at me about five months ago, you would swear you were looking at Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in that I have changed so very much.

You also have to know that it has not all been simply because of medication, although that is a good portion of it but I also see organizational coach who aids me in trying different methods of organization and processes of doing things to help me at work.

I could go on about this but if you want to know more or have any questions, please ask away.

Distracted66

I have a question about possible odors as an side effect. I’m taking Concerta 27 mg since december 11th. I’ve had a cold and a huge headache over Christmas vacation. I’m still coughing. And there is a strange and awful odor that seems to permeate me constantly. It’s stronger today. I have no real appetite. Is that odor a side effect? It’s really awful. I don’t think its anything like BO but… no I really can’t describe it. It’s like coming from me and or all around everywhere. It’s sickening.

Slow-going so far. I took the prescription to my nearest pharmacy and discovered neither the dose, nor the med was available. I won’t hear anything until tomorrow once doc’s office reopens. I so appreciate you all sharing your reactions. After a bit of research on what my plan’s copays were for specific meds, and looking at a matrix of ADD meds, conditions and side effects, my doc and I chose Wellbutrin XR in the generic form: bupropion (sp?). Like others who revisit this thread as a journal of sorts, I’ll return here and post again once I begin my trial of my first ADD med. Anxious (standard reaction) to share results with you all, counselor, doc and support group. Nervous, but hopeful?

Moka, perhaps you have a sinus infection and it’s not at all related to your meds. I had a horrible sinus infection once and those were all the symptoms I had at the time (I wasn’t even on ADHD meds back then).

I sometimes think we try to overthink any new med that we begin taking. I’m not saying we should all turn off our brains when we start taking a new med.

Instead, I think we should stop hyper-focussing on every little thing we notice or feel when we start a new med. When I start a new med, I always read about theURGENT, go directly to the hospital, seek medical assistance side-effects. The side-effects that are listed first are the ones I ignore since many of them are considered to be only minor ‘annoyance’ symptoms that either disappear after a week or so, once your system has adjusted.

We tend to spend too much time over analyzing the little things and forget to focus on the other stuff. Afterall, would we give up on chemo because we felt a bit dizzy or nauseous everytime we had a treatment? Of course not! We know that those side-effects are OK in the grand scheme of things because our ultimate goal is to eradicate a bigger problem- the cancer.

That’s why I just watch out for any of the life-threatening side-effects that are listed for any new med I take for anything. The minor side-effects usually go away on their own and if they don’t, and are more troublesome than the condition that the med is supposed to be treating- then I go to my doc and say, “we need to make some changes here”.

Just saying….

Philabuster – Hey I just read your post! Wow, that’s ADD all right. I didn’t see it earlier but saw zsazsa’s! Yeah, no doubt becoming sensitive to odors must be hard. I mean, just that smell that I couldn’t get away from was really sickening. But now though as I said earlier, I figured it was my breath or in my mouth or something. Still there… yuck! Thanks

@Crazydrummer – Honestly, I dont know how many medical studies have been done on medical marijuana for tx (treatment) of ADD/ADHD, but from what I understand of how the brain’s chemistry works, a tx that increases dopamine levels in your brain would be a beneficial tx for people who are gifted with ADD/ADHD. (Most people say “suffer”, I hope everyone else will eventually start saying “gifted” instead once everyone who has it realizes it’s the rest of the world in the dark, not us) If your brain on ADD/ADHD is a Ferrari with model T ford brakes, Medical Marijuana might just be the “governer” your engine (brain) could need to slow it down a bit. THIS IS JUST TALK, I dont condone breaking laws of governments, state, town, cities or religions (although the latter is usually pretty forgiving, the others arent). I’ve been all over the place with the meds prescribed to me since I was 13 (now 33, i think) and tried a bunch ( that were RX’d to me) with no clear winner EXCEPT Provigil, which is unfortunately quite expensive @$400 a month, and currently not covered by insurance plans as a known Tx for ADD/ADHD. I would put your focus on the chemistry research and maybe do a little digging into “uncoventional” Rx’s for ADD/ADHD (herbal supplements, vitamins, exercise, etc). But I agree that Medical Marijuana is probably underrated as a TX, nobody wants to touch that with a 10 foot pole. Thoughts any1?