ADD=anxiety and depression?

[libertnow]

I’ve had anxiety for most of my life, but luckily not to the extent of having panic attacks. However, I’ve had to deal with the symptoms of too much anxiety like the dreamy stage like feeling and trouble breathing. Basically the feelings of too much cortisol in the body.

My psychiatrist now seems to think that the anxiety is connected to undiagnosed adult ADD which he is sending me for testing for but have to wait 3 months cause the group that comes down for the test comes every 3 months. He did however still give me ritalin as he believed it would help me with my anxiety and rumination issues. He was right because it did very much. The only problem is I don’t think he prescribed me enough 10mg twice a day. I feel 10mg three times a day would be more sufficient for me. I don’t like the wearing off part and the time I have to wait till the next one. When it wears off I feel very foggy minded and head aches and sometimes pretty cranky.

I guess what I would like to ask is why does ADD cause anxiety and depression? No one in my family has ever been diagnosed with ADD, but they were diagnosed with manic depression. My brother and I who are both going through this same anxiety depression at the same time are the first to actually discover the ADD underneath it all.

I’m ready to embrace my adult ADD, but the anxiety and depression has got to go.

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[sar316]

I find that my ADHD can make my anxiety worse when the ADHD isn’t treated. I feel that when my anxiety decides to get out of hand my hyper focus on it can make it way worse to the point of crippling attacks and spiralled out of control thinking. With medication I find that I can more easily pay attention and notice when my anxiety is building up so that I can deal with it before it gets out of hand.

Medications specifically I find that a concerta (a long lasting, slow release ADHD drug) works really well for me from about 8AM until about 2 PM. If I have to last longer with attention I will take an afternoon ritalin SR no later than 4PM. I found that it took me about 6 months to get use to feeling like to completely different people in one day. There was the medicated me with a clear, energetic, relatively quiet and focused mind. Then there was the after meds worn off me with the mental cob webs, no patients, and confused me.

I’m not use to it and my partner has gotten use to it. We know that there is no point in serious conversation in the late evening because I won’t remember and can’t logic as well. He has also learned that if I say ‘I’m tired’ it’s code for I have no patients and I will rudely inform you when you act like an idiot.

Hang in there. Once you figure out what works for you the abrupt changes you are experiencing now will totally be worth it.

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[seabassd]

I think that depression, anxiety and ADHD are  fairly common bedfellows.  Not sure if this is because a person has a biological predisposition or because ADHD fallout can put a lot of stress on an individual, especially if they have gone for many years undiagnosed.

It’s hard for me to say exactly what caused some of my darker depressed moments. I tend to forget about them once on the other side. I think it’s just the fact that ADHD can have such a profound negative impact on every area of  life if not treated or undiagnosed.

Undiagnosed and/or untreated ADHD can bring with it debt issues, employment difficulties, relationship problems, divorce, emotional flux, health issues, tax problems, and on and on and on. Just having issues in one of these areas could cause depressive or anxious states. People with ADHD tend to struggle in multiple areas at once so it makes sense that depression and anxiety come along for the ride.

 

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[seabassd]

Something else just popped into my head that sort of relates.

I’ve started to wonder about the struggles I have and how they seem to cycle in the same way . It goes something like this…success, followed by boredom, then self-sabatoge, situational anxiety, eventually a drop into depression, struggle to overcome, resolve, action, and then success again which then allows the cycle to start over.

Although depression and anxiety are painful in some ways I think the struggle might be something my ADHD brain likes. Its like there’s a point when I’m bottoming out where my brain yells “Mercy” and seems to wake up and jump into action. For me I think depression can get me to a place where everything else in the world is forced to take a back seat while my mind (in a rare moment of focus and excitement) works to pull me out of the bad spot I’m in. Unfortunately it doesn’t take long before my mind starts searching for stimulation to wake itself up again.

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[Scattybird]

seabassd – re. your observation:

“…success, followed by boredom, then self-sabatoge, situational anxiety, eventually a drop into depression, struggle to overcome, resolve, action, and then success again which then allows the cycle to start over.”

It couldn’t be more true. That is exactly how my life seems to work, although maybe I would add ‘stress’ after your ‘situational anxiety’. The ‘depression’ varies in length, depending on whether the ‘stress phase’ gets my brain going sufficiently and if it does I can sometimes by-pass the ‘depression’.  If others start to interfere, such as colleagues who don’t have any concept of how I work, then the ‘depression’ stage can kick in big time.

It seems so obvious really, but it takes insight to put it into words and enough awareness to realise what is going on.

 

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