Am I just a non-responder?

[Anonymous]

I’m 42 and was diagnosed last year. I am trying to study for some industry certifications and decided to try meds to see if they would help me sustain focus while studying. Strattera did not work for me at all. I started at 25mg for two weeks. Increased to 40mg for two weeks. Upped to 60 for two weeks. 80 for two weeks and then 100 for a month. At 40 the only sign that anything was happening was that I would start to feel nauseous for about 15 or 20 minutes after taking the meds. This continued all the way up to 100. I had no other effects (positive or negative) until I hit 100mg. At 100 I would be a lighter sleeper and most nights would wake at about 3:00am. I would toss and turn for an hour or so and eventually fall back asleep. There was also a slight decrease in libido. However, no increase in ability to study without reading the same page 10 or twenty times.

I started 30mg of Vyvance two weeks ago and I don’t feel/see any effects whatsoever. I have an appointment to see my Dr. in a weeks time to check the progress but I’m beginning to wonder if it is a fruitless exercise.

My son responded immediately to medication. Adderall XR was like a light switched being turned on but we had to take him off it because it was affecting his sleep too much. Biphentin completely removed all of his personality and caused him to tick so we took him off that quickly. He’s on Vyvance now and it has worked very well for him. I would think that if he responded to the meds so quickly that I would have a similar reaction.

Over the years I have noticed that I don’t have typical reactions to medications. For instance, if my wife takes Nyquil, gravol, etc, it just puts her right to sleep. Nyquil makes me jittery and fidgety and keeps me awake. I could munch on gravol all day long and not feel the least bit drowsy.

In one of the videos, Dr Hallowell had mentioned that about twenty percent of the adhd population don’t respond to medication, including himself. My pharmacist told me that the blood brain barrier in some people can be more restrictive in how it allows certain chemicals to pass through so those people tend to respond less to medications. Dr. J., any comment on the blood-brain barrier? I was hoping meds would finally give me a fighting chance at studying without superhuman effort. Am I just doomed to be a non-responder? Any input would be greatly appreciated.

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