My first day on meds!

[Anonymous]

Hey guys,

I’m quite excited to come back here and talk about my experience with meds since I’ve been coming here pretty much everday since I first read about adhd envying all the people for who meds seem to do wonders.

I got the diagnosis from a neuropsychologist yesterday, she actually presented to me the final report she had repared for me following all the different tests she had me pass in the 2 previous meetings I had with her. As I thought, I was diagnosed with ADD (the combined type: innatentiveness with some impulsivity). I left my neuropsychologist with a feeling of relief haven had confirmed to me what I knew all along. I didn’t waste a minute, this morning I called one of the local private medical clinics to have an appointment, I was actually refered to that clinic by the neuropsychologists. For some reason, meeting the doctor and explaining everything i had gone through made me very nervous, like going to a job interview almost. I waited for about a half an our, i then met the doctor, he took a look at me and 15 minutes later I was out of there with a prescription. He wanted to prescribe some concerta to me….being on the governments insurance (RAMQ) I wanted to have my meds covered (they’re only partly covered but still). To be eligible for coverage on the newer meds (concerta ; aderall XR etc) one has to try the base meds first which means the doctor has to prescribe either ritalin or dexedrine. Next time you see your doctor (after a certain amount of time ; usually a months time) you can then tell your doctor these meds don’t work for this and that reason after which you can have access to the longer action meds. In any case, my doc prescribed ritalin. Needless to say, I left the clinic with a smile on my face. Fifteen minutes later I was at drug store getting my prescription.

Needless to say, I didn’t even wait until I got home before I took my first ritalin pill. I jumped in the car, and at 12:41 to be exact I took the meds….then I waited. I then drove away thinking to myself if I would be one of those lucky ones for who meds work on the first try. Its quite hard to describe the feeling, honestly I cannot really describe it. After about ten minutes I started to feel something, by then I had gotten home and was hungry so I made myself a sandwich. Its quite funny, about 15 minutes had passed and it seems like I was assembling the sandwich differently than I usually do not as much rushing to get it made as I usually do. I was relaxed, focussed and methodical….when I finished preparing my meal, I calmly sat down, opened the TV, looked at the sandwich and took a bite….I thought to myself, wow I don’t remember looking at my food before swallowing it. I shed a tear….I’m telling you this was the best sandwich I ever had…I could also listen to what was going on the TV…i thought to myself : hmmmm ; i’m enjoying my sandwich and listening to the tv at the same time….then all of a sudden, the phone rings….at the first ring, I jump and pickup the phone.. It usually takes at least a phone ring before I realize someones calling. Its my gf on the phone, I start talking to her about my day ; everything seems to flow much better then usual, no word hunting, my thoughts are better structured then usual…I’m happy to talk to her about what i’m experiencing right now; i finally end the conversation. I jump up, head towards the kitchen, pick my stuff up again in a very methodical way ….I then head to my office where I have a large pile of paperwork that has been lying there for the past month. I pick it up and start putting it away in our file cabinet page by page….I think to myself : this is great….its like like point and shoot….I think and I do! I feel like I’m in control for once, in control of my feelings, in control of my environment, in control of my life, this feels great!

Three hours later, I can feel the meds wearing off slowly, its ritalin so it is expected, the high i had initially is not there anymore but at least I’m focused enough so that I can write this without having to look up at the TV.

I thank all of you guys for this website, for this forum, for the movie add & loving it, for these encouraging threads, it is my turn at last!!….and I encourage those who have not had treatment to seek a diagnosis and get treatment for it as quickly as possible, do your life a favor and take charge!!!

Of course meds are not everything but in that short amount of time, I can now understand how important they are….about an hour ago I called the social services center to get access to adhd coaching. They will be calling me back soon to tell me when I can start, i’m excited to start.

Thanks for everything!

John

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[Carrie]

Wow John! That is awesome! Today was my first day on medication too but I was given Dexedrine. I took it at 2pm today and now it has just worn off (and I have a throbbing head ache!!), but I was still able to read through your post FULLY and understood every bit of it!!

I didnt really notice when mine kicked in.. Work seems quieter than usual, and I seemed a little slower, calmer is a better word I guess. I wasnt all frantic all over the place as I always am. Sad thing is I had a routine and got my job done while being frantic and now that im calmer I am afraid Ive missed something. I too found I wasnt looking for words as much. I would pause and get the word where as before I would stumble and mumble and just get frustrated!

Im not too sure about this Dexedrine, and I know my head is hurting really bad right now, but its only day one! Maybe tomorrow will be better!

Great to hear your doing so awesome!!

Carrie

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[Anonymous]

Hi Carrie,

Glad to see your making good progress as well…things obviously aren’t perfect, Ritalin gives you a steep high (and im only on 10mg) and a steep drop so you can feel your focus slowly running away after 2 1/2 hours…it is supposed to last 4 hrs theoretically but in any case, i still feel the effects a few hours after which might be due to the fact that im not used to having this medication in my body. Also, i didn’t sleep much last night…..seems like thoughts were racing through my head all night and i still had an urge to get things done the next morning without the meds….obviously not nearly as intense as half an hour after taking the meds though. Once i start trying out different meds, i’ll probably be looking for something with a more “equal release”, the high is fun at first but I don’t think I would want to sustain it all the time. Finding the right meds or combination of meds to fit with your lifestyle is important,

I don’t have a headache like you but have had butterflies in my stomach since yesterday (almost like a slight heart burn feeling) nothing serious though.

One thing which really reaches out to me in what you wrote is the fact that you would stumble and mumble and get frustrated and I have to say you are the first person i’ve read who’s mentioned this symptom of adhd, I had so many problems with that and so much anxiety came from that in my case, some days i would be ok but most days i would have these problems on top of losing my train of thought, it really pissed me off and it always got the worst of me in stressful situations….

Since on the meds i haven’t stumbled, mumbled, or word hunted and im getting things done….its great, everything comes quick and at the right time!

Take care!

John

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[Carrie]

I dont know if the word stumbling is because of the ADD, but yes thats exactly how I feel! Its as if your thoughts are running faster than your mouth and everything comes out a big mess, and your exactly right about losing train of thought. A lot of times I will be talking to someone and once I get going to fast and everything starts to get jumbled up I get frustrated with that and then forget where I was going with my conversation. I too get very frustrated and I would just kinda go “UUUUUUUGH!! I CANT DO THIS” and my husband thought I was mad at him but I had to explain to him whenever im mad its NEVER at him or the kids, I just get so frustrated and am mad in general and just storm off or come to my PC and engulf myself in video games to just forget about things but trouble is then I dont get anything done.

Today is day 2 for me. I took my dose about a half hour ago. We’ll see. Im just wondering if because of my past illicit drug use with stimulants such as MDMA (5months ago), which was a very high dosage, that maybe with this low dose of 5mg I get nothing from it. I dont mean a high at all, I mean the calm where I can think and everything makes sense and I can see what I need to do and how I can do it without feeling overwhelmed! I got that from the MDMA which confused me so much when all my friend were high as kites and all over the place, I was calm, cool relaxed and could organize myself. My husband LOVED that difference where I finally “clicked” into life. Of course I didnt like the terrible mood swings, depression, and all the other garbage that came with the drug thats why I stopped using it (plus its not healthy and illegal haha).

Once again, im happy to hear that its working good for you, and it will be interesting to see what things will be like when we have the right meds and doses eh?

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[Anonymous]

Hi John and Carrie

I was diagnosed with ADHD 18 years ago, I was a Hyper kid who could not focus, after being diagnosed i was prescribed ritalin which worked great at the time, I was able to finish school with great success but after finishing I decided that i did not need to be on ritalin so i quit using it. After 12 years of being a fustrated, angry, bored individual that would not hold a job for longer that a year, and watching my relationship stary to fall i decided to get help once a again. I started off on 18mg of riatlin and am now on a 36mg dose.

The first time i took the meds again i felt the same way, relaxed, calm, it was the wierdest feeling to feel that way, but after a few days i got use to the feeling of it, and the highs and lows got shorter everyday until it was a constant feeling. But everytime the dose got stronger i would have to go through an adjustment period.

I have now been on 36mg for 1 month and everything is going good. I am learning everyday more and more about myself again, and i am so happy that i have found this site, it has really helped me understand that it can get better.

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[walkwithfarmgirl]

I totally get what you all are saying: I’ve been on Ritalin for a month and a half now, with just having started a higher dose of 15mg going on 20 in 4 days and I marvel at the difference it has made to my thinking. I always do 25 things at the same time but now find myself noticing this behaviour and being able to stop, re-focus and finish one thing first. Still have many projects around the house waiting but I’m amazed at how calm I feel going about the day.

The only thing is the fatigue that I suffer from is camouflaged and I tend to overdo things and then hit a wall for 2 to 4 days of feeling absolutely lifeless. I hope this will improve but it sure is frustrating at times.

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[Anonymous]

I’ve been on meds for about 18 months now. I remember the first day on them (Concerta) and thinking about how I was having such a wonderfully fabulous day. Not a thing was going wrong and everything I needed seemed to be right where I could find it! It was like just like a absolutely perfect day- why couldn’t every day be like this? Why couldn’t EVERY day be like this and why or why was this day so perfect???

Then I remembered….today I had taken my first day of meds…..I was dumbfounded. Was THIS, this absolutely perfect day, was THIS what it was like for every one else? It was almost like someone had pushed that ‘Easy’ button you see on the TV commercial!!

I can report that the meds didn’t make all the other issues go away but it sure made it a lot easier to work on ‘taming’ those dragons.

Yes, I still try to get involved in 25 projects at a time while I’m working in the classroom but now, at least, I catch myself when it starts up and I tell myself to ‘stop’ and finish the first one before moving to the next 24. That never happened before.

Truthfully, I like aspects of my ADHD and I certainly don’t regret having to deal with any of its issues. I noticed an article in our local paper (The Toronto Star) and it was extolling the benefits of Adult ADHD. We’ve been found to be far more creative than the non-ADHD people out there and we’re able to think outside the box. It’s true! We’re all ‘originals’! : o)

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[Anonymous]

Hey everyone, thanks for posting your experiences. I was just diagnosed two days ago and have an appointment with my doctor next Thursday for prescribing meds.

John, I hope my experience follows yours. I have to admit I’ve got my hopes up. Even the psychologist who diagnosed me said he felt the pharmaceutical route would likely be very significant for me…which also got me hopeful.

I’ve been reading some other posts on this forum and I think the Ritalin approach will be my first choice, if I’m even given one.

I’ll come back here and post my experience with you.

Thanks again.

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[Anonymous]

Hi Red,

I wish you all the best on the treatment hopefully the lowest dose gives you the same effect i have….there’s a good chance it will!

Let me update you after 9 days of taking the meds.

Well the first thing I have to say is that the brain is extremely sensitive to medication change and finding the right dose takes some time….I haven’t found the proper tune yet…I don’t necessarly recommend that people start ajusting their meds without speaking to their doctor. I played a bit with mine but my girlfriend is a doctor so she’s been following me ever since I started taking the meds.

Everyone is different which is why some release systems (built in the meds) work better for different people. I tend to need a pretty small dose in the morning 5-7.5mg and increase as I go through my day. The ritalin only works effectively for about 4 hours, so it is a bit of a pain in the neck as you get a very nice high in the first two hours only to find your concentration drop pretty rapidly in the last 2 hours of the effectiveness of the medication. I do find however even several hours after the meds are supposed to have stopped working that you there is still something left. For example I find that it is still pretty easy to do boring chores a few hours after the effectiveness range however the level of concentration for reading goes away pretty rapidly.

I find that taking ritalin first is actually not a bad idea as it gives you a steep high (its not like you’re high in the drug sense, its like you’re energized and you want to do things) so you know pretty quickly if its working or not without having a large dose which is what you’re gonna get anyways starting off. The other thing is that its release system is basic so the effect is peaky but linear (you get a rapide rise, a peak and a drop) it disolves very rapidely (no high tech gizmos) so in my case it got me to understand how the medication worked and since its short action medication I can tune the medication to my needs and it really is tuning as if I don’t take enough I feel well…..like my usual add self and if I take a bit too much I get a bit of the zombie effect.

That being said, I’m looking forward to trying concerta (same methylphenidate ; different release system) or other medications. Taking the medication 3 times a day is not ideal especially when you live an active life style and I want something that will give me an effect that is fairly constant throughout the day. I think the concerta might work good in my case since I don’t need much medication in the morning to leave my add self behind and the concerta gives you a 20/80 split so 20% is immediate release for the morning and 80% for the rest of that day. I’ll probably want to keep some ritalin around so that when the effect wears off after supper and that I need to concentrate at that time, I’ll be able to do so for the rest of the day.

All this is pretty much trial and error but I think its pretty interesting as you learn a lot about yourself and your concentration span.

I have to say I have had my most productive week since I can remember, its great! If it works as good with you as it does for me, you’ll probably come to realize to which extent adhd has effected you. Before I took the meds, I was a bit frustrated over the situation, I mean, my life hasn’t been a disaster or anything of the sort but i’ve gone through the usual difficulties adhd people have and missed out on many opportunities… I have to say i’m strong willed but since I started taking the meds, I haven’t looked back and don’t plan to either.

I’ve been unemployed for about 3 months, I left my job for several reasons, some that have nothing to do with adhd. At that time I didn’t know what I had but I knew I had something so I took these three months to look further into the problem and rethink what I was going to do next. Needless to say, I’m glad I took time for myself to find out I had adhd, its the best decision I ever made and I’m now confident I’ll be finding a job pretty soon and I also plan to start a masters degree in 2012!

Let us know how this goes for you!

Again, I wish you all the best!

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[Anonymous]

John, my first experience with ritalin (today) is pretty much as you explained it. I had a bit more energy and focus. the TV was unable to grab my attention and i attended to task after task. Lots to catch up on but I have to say, I’m hopeful.

Keep you posted.

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[Anonymous]

Hi red,

Glad to hear that the meds seem to be working well for you…its pretty fun to see the changes, my first 4-5 days on ritalin were pretty intense as I was very attentive to the changes taking place.

I started concerta yesterday…..I had a prescription of x2 10mg of generic ritalin for a month and since i was taking about 3-4 pills a day at 3.5 to 4 hour intervals, I went through my monthly prescription of ritalin in about 2 weeks and the drug store wouldn’t renew my prescription because it is a controlled substance so I got a doctor’s appointment. The ritalin was great but I found the window of effectiveness was quite small and timing the consumption of the medicine was a bit tricky but I’m glad I tried it, it got me to understand better how the meds worked.

Anyways, I’m on concerta now….36mg once a day and I asked the doctor to subscribe me some a ritalin if I need it in around 7-8:00 PM were the concerta’s effectiveness usually decreases which he did.

I have to say Concerta so far is great…..it provides a steady release which keeps you energized all day with a slight bump which feels similar to ritalin about 8hrs after haven taken it…..in my case, it lasts 12 hrs….overall its much smoother than ritalin….with ritalin, my brain felt a bit over stimulated at times and the opposite would happen after about 2h30-3hrs of taking the meds….with concerta it doesn’t happen and no annoying symptoms like heartburn or headache or not being able to sleep.

I don’t think I slept at all the first night after taking ritalin…..luckily the symptoms (in my case heartburn & restlessness) I had on ritalin went away after about 1 week, a lot of the times, you just have to let your body adapt to the meds.

Its been great so far….i’ll keep you guys posted.

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[Anonymous]

Well, interesting day. I decided to try a 5 mg dose this morning after experiencing yesterday afternoon’s rush with 10mg. unfortunately, I felt nausea after getting to work. I wasn’t alone. There’s construction below my office and there was a bobcat tractor, likely running off propane, digging in the basement. I think the fumes were to blame, as a bunch of us felt off and had headaches. Unfortunately, I wasn’t sure if this was due to the methylphenidate for me. Regardless, my dose of 5 mg, although not as noticeable as yesterday, still focussed me and kept me on boring tasks. Another problem was I worked right through my breaks, including most of the lunch hour. Ooops! Anyway, after being locked in that office, feeling slightly sick all day, I am exhausted and don’t plan on taking my 3rd dose. I’m hitting the hay for a nap. FYI, I’ve had bronchitis for the past 2 weeks so I’m due some rest.

Keep the info coming.

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[Author]

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