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My girlfriend’s naturopath doctor recommended a product called Calms Forte. It is a natural herbal supplement that shuts off the chatter in your head so you can go to sleep. The stuff is cheap online ($5 bottle lasts me a month). Been using it for about 2 years now. Great stuff. It does not make you drowsy, just quiets the brain. I take melatonin in combination with it to help me fall asleep.
If I take only melatonin, I am tired, but I struggle and fight to stay awake thinking about a million things. If I only take the CF, I lay in bed, but takes forever to fall asleep.
REPORT ABUSEIf the ADD show really told your story and you felt understood, GET A SECOND OPINION. Not all doctors are good doctors. Just sayin.
I actually pursued diagnosis after I watched ADD and Loving it. Medication also helped, but it was frustrating finding the right med for me. Generic Ritalin (methylphenidate) still working after 1.5 years.
REPORT ABUSESpeaking of smells, I also have a really good sense of smell.
HOWEVER, several years ago, I was put on an oral antibiotic (10 days) and that pill had the ABSOLUTE WORST side effect. After taking the pills for 2 days, my sense of smell increased by 10 TIMES normal. I felt like I was a bloodhound. I could smell EVERYTHING. This is not a good thing. Many things smell BAD. At least 50% of everybody now had halitosis (bad breath), whereas before I never caught a whiff except for one or two individuals. Body Odor smells were constant and came from EVERYWHERE. I was grossing myself out with BO and had to take a shower twice a day.
Lots of machine oil smells. Some hydraulic oil and gears oils are stinky but when you can smell them 10 feet away from the source is downright disgusting.
That was the worst experience I have ever had. Even my favorite foods smelled questionable and sometimes awful where they used to smell appetizing before.
My sense of smell returned to normal level about 1 week after stopping the antibiotic. Foods, people, breath all went back to normal levels. THANK GOD!
Antibiotic was not working as expected. Dr switched me to a different type. I told my Dr about the side effects and she said it was common occurrence. I do not remember which one it was.
New antibiotic did not mess with my sense of smell, but it did give me the WORST case of morning mouth for 10 days straight! I wanted to cut off my tongue as it was the source of the foul odor and taste for that week.
Being sick SUCKS!
REPORT ABUSESpeaking of earplugs, it takes takes practice talking to someone when you are wearing earplugs in a quiet area. Many times I end up either shouting or whispering because the earplugs block my own ears from hearing my voice, which helps you regulate your own voice level.
I can hear voices much clearer when I am wearing earplugs in a noisy machine shop or sitting in a sports bar. I really do not care if I have a bright orange dot in my ear if it helps me chill out.
REPORT ABUSEEarplugs saved my sanity many times.
I work in a noisy machine shop, but we have about 10 different ear plug styles to choose from. Find the right ones and you can wear them for 12 hours no problem. My favorites are contoured orange foam and have the highest decibel reduction (33db).
I will put in the earplugs anytime I start feeling irritated–be it machine noise or people around me having a meaningless conversation about whatever and need the earplugs to remove myself from listening without leaving my work area.
Buddy and I went to a sports bar to get some food after work. The music and noise was overwhelming after about 5 minutes. I walked to my vehicle and returned with my earplugs. He looked at me like WTF? I said it is either earplugs or I have to leave. This place is really pissing me off. Earplugs in and I was calming down. I now keep a set of earplugs on me at all times.
I have even worn the earplugs in a training session in a quiet room to block out the whispering women sitting behind me. I came to hear the presenter, not the gossip crap. Really irritated me to the point of turning around and shouting at them to STFU or put in earplugs. Problem solved. I could hear the presenter just fine, and the whispering was now gone.
If I REALLY need to be left alone, then out comes the contoured earbuds for my mp3 player. I can not stand the earphones for nearly as long as the earplugs, but they block out ALL external noise essentially telling everyone around me to leave me the F alone.
REPORT ABUSEForget to breathe? Stop breathing? LOL. I did not realize how OFTEN I do that while reading a book or watching TV–at least until I was hospitalized in the ICU over my Crohn’s and bleeding. They kept me in the ICU as precautionary measure. Had to have me hooked up to the heart and breathing monitor at ALL times. I set off the breathing alarms about every 5 or 10 minutes. I had to concentrate hard to breathe without setting off the alarms. After about 6 hours of false alarms every 10 minutes, they got the doctor to remove the breathing alarm. They were not worried and did not run into my room because the heart trace was perfectly fine.
REPORT ABUSEWell I finally found something which keeps me from biting my nails (guy). My nails have not been this long or healthy in 20 years.
I tried the bitter anti-bite nail polishes recently, besides feeling girly putting the stuff on, they were not real effective after the second day. I had to constantly reapply the stuff as it would peel off, which then further enticed me to bite more. I did notice as soon as I put the polish over the rough nails, my desire to bite disappeared as there were no more rough edges to catch my attention.
I tried several different clear nail polishes, which worked better, but I was still reapplying it frequently to eliminate the rough spots.
We went to a beauty store (instead of the grocery store) in search of a professional product. The lady recommended China Glaze. I bought the strong adhesion base coat and the fast forward top coat ($5 for each).
I put the stuff on and noticed it flowed and dried better than the cheap stuff. Later I noticed I was still biting and scratching my teeth on my nails, but this time, it was different. The coating was VERY hard. My teeth could not catch an edge or scrape any polish off. The old polish was dead soft in comparison. I can easily scratch a plastic pen body with my teeth, but this stuff was real hard. I can probably use my fingernails as a screwdriver now. lol.
I also found to eliminate the girly shine, I can wash my hands and scrub my nails with a scotch brite pad from the kitchen to dull the finish after the finish dries for a while. The stuff will take on a matte finish like regular nails, but will not come off with anything besides nail polish remover. I was using contact cleaner in the shop and the polish was still on. I did find out that brake fluid will eat the polish, but brake fluid will strip paint off a car anyway.
The stuff lasts me about 5 days without doing anything. It does not chip or flake off. Great stuff. I reapply more (without stripping) when the cuticle grows out a bit. Been using it for 10 days now and I just bought more to make sure I have it stashed in several locations as insurance.
I still put my teeth to my nails, but now nothing happens.
REPORT ABUSEFebruary 26, 2011 at 3:54 am in reply to: 1st dose of Ritalin taken about an hour and a half ago #101055I will get mild headache sometimes on the Ritalin. Headaches are usually a sign of dehydration. I remember to drink more water and no more headache. A lot of medications need extra water to flush them out of your system and this is no different.
REPORT ABUSEDoc upped my dosage to 20mg twice a day instead of the 10mg twice daily (methlyphenidate).
Focus is back like it was when I first started taking it. I really appreciate how the med makes me feel when I am around my kid. I have tons of patience when dealing with difficult situations (kid stuff again) where before I would get frustrated rather quickly. I noticed that my patience dropped off as I got used to the dosage. Patience is back now that dosage is doubled.
Help with patience around my kid was the primary reason I started taking any ADHD medication. The Concerta was horrible. The Ritalin works for me. The benefits of the medication at work are just a bonus.
REPORT ABUSEIt appears like I may need to adjust the dosage with my doctor. My old habits are creeping back as I am getting used to the medication. I am no longer feeling any benefit and my activity is slowed. Breaks and lunch are back to normal. I am starting to crave computer time again and I am staying up way too late again.
One thing I did notice a few weeks ago as a side effect though. I am normally a salt-a-holic. I crave salt on meals and snacks–always have. Candy bars and cake are not something I even ate or cared about. About 3 weeks after taking the meds, I noticed meals were tasting salty without me adding any more salt so I stopped using a salt shaker. I also noticed an increase in desire for sweet snacks that was rarely there. Last week, I ate two candy bars in a day and also started eating hard candy.
Again, this is unusual. It is not life threatening, but I did notice it was out of the ordinary. The past few days I have not had any sugar.
Another side effect with the medication I noticed from day one is I tend to bite my nails MUCH MORE OFTEN as the med is wearing off in the afternoon. I have resorted to wearing gloves as often as possible at work, but my fingernails still look like hamburger.
Weight is unchanged in the last two weeks. I am still at my smaller belt size, but have dropped no further.
Pre-authorization for the med finally went through. That was a lot of hassle–especially when it only saved me $12 a month vs paying it out of pocket. BFD.
REPORT ABUSEI am on HRT since 4/2008–(37 y/o male). I felt better about a month after taking it. The biggest indicator for me was I was loosing my leg hair on my calves. I went to the doc and was like WTF? I thought I had thyroid problems. Nope. Low testosterone. Leg hair grew back. Sex drive also came back.
It did not seem to have any effect on my ADD issues though. I started taking Ritalin about a month ago and that helps a lot.
REPORT ABUSEMy number visualization is very similar to nellie.
Numbers start at Zero. They go up on an incline to 10, then make a 90° left turn. 11-20 go downhill slightly to 20 then another 90° left turn. 20-30 go back uphill, then at 31, it makes a 180 left turn uphill (kinda like a switchback road up a mountain). The switchbacks continue until 100, then turn in the same direction as the 1-10 incline and take a long slow uphill to infinity.
Negative numbers are just a long slow downhill infinity slope from zero about 45° off from 1-10 numbers.
Now visualizing calendar years are a whole other system of lines, turns and slopes.
REPORT ABUSEDoc checked me out. Everything is fine. My blood pressure is good. It was much lower than is normal for me, I asked her to recheck it to be sure. Getting the pre-authorization on the med as this one is working. ‘Legal speed’ is also what the doc called it when talking to my GF. Doc also wanted to make sure I was sleeping ok. No issues unless I forget to take my melatonin, but that is no different than before.
No mood issues. I really do not feel the med ‘kick in’ like I did when taking pain meds for example. I just feel like the need to ‘get things done’ slowly builds and then fades without any real conscious awareness that is what is happening. On the other hand, my co-workers and friends sure know when I am taking it. One comment was, “What are you on and where can I get some?”
REPORT ABUSEStill taking my 10mg x 2 METHylphenidate daily. Going to see doc tomorrow for check up. I lost about 5 lbs and one notch in my belt. No real surprise as this stuff makes me run around getting things done at 100 mph. I am now right at my ideal BMI, so I am not concerned. If I drop another 5 or 10 lbs, I will drop the med. I do see the need to take a break from the med on occasion–to give me a chance to rest instead of go Go GO.
I am still not looking at a clock. Co-workers still need to tell me to take a friggin break or go to lunch.
I am still happy to report no issues with anger like I had before with the Concerta.
I have noticed one other side effect of the med. I am not on the computer surfing near as much as I used to be. I am on the computer very little now and I have no more than 2 tabs open when before it was 8-10. Computer time at work is now almost zero. I barely even remember to check my company emails once or twice a week.
Point being, I am not needing any computer stimulation time, where before it would be hours.
REPORT ABUSESame exact situation happened today (kid stuff) as when I was taking the Concerta.
The situation was EXTREMELY frustrating and infuriating while I was on the Concerta. However, while taking the Generic Ritalin, the same situation seemed to be like no big deal. I was surprised the situation felt easier to deal with while taking the Ritalin than if I had taken nothing.
Girlfriend even commented how well I handled it this time vs last time. She said sounds like you may have found something that works for you.
I also had another good test for the Ritalin today–necessary legal paperwork, AKA, Kryptonite. I plugged through it while normally, I would take many breaks and really not get much done. Girlfriend again commented how well I handled it without needing constant reminders to get it done.
I was off work today. This is my first day taking the Ritalin while not at work. I did not feel like I was on speed, but just had a better attitude in general to get things done, while also feeling more relaxed dealing with the above mentioned kid situation. I also noticed I am drinking less than half as much caffeinated beverages as before. Obviously, a sign I was self medicating and not needing the caffeine stimulants as much.
I am still at the 10mg dose twice a day. I do not feel the need to increase the dosage. This level is working. I will update as the month progresses.
Concerta and Ritalin have the same active ingredient, but I wonder what else was in the Concerta to cause people to have anger side effects. I have read anger issues about Concerta in a few different places, but not read much at all about anger being associated with Ritalin.
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