After much personal research and quandary, I have reached this decision... I'm all for medications, for those who make that choice.

I have never done street drugs, and firmly believe that any substance abuse, whether prescriptions, or street drugs, or sniffing glue, etc. is bad for the brain and can/does in fact significantly shorten ones life.

However, I feel that with regard to medical decisions, all such matters are up to the individual. We must try our best to discover our own "path" as it were. I'm not one to push the idea of meds on any one, nor do I think it is a good idea to discourage someone. The most important thing for the individual or the parent is SELF EDUCATION on the subject.

As for my own decision, it went something like this...

"Golly, I have never "done drugs" before and I know I wouldn't want to do that, but, what if it's like that! On the other hand, I can't even remember to brush my little boys teeth on a regular basis."

A great interlude of research ensued at this point. (the book "Beyond Ritalin" is a good place to start) "Well, I'm torn, I would so like to see progress in my life, but trying harder is just burning me out and making me no fun for my family. What if the meds shorten my life... Worse yet, what if I live to be 100 years old and never accomplish any of the stuff in my head, and don't remember the things that I have done??"

It was at this point that I realized all of this melodrama was rather silly, because I could simply get a weeks worth and see if it made me high or not.

Low and behold, insert drum roll here......

I didn't feel any different, no wait, that is not true, let me think for a minute... yes, that's it, eureka! The cloud is mostly gone now.

No euphoric feeling, no drunken stager, no loss of creativity, I'm still here, nothing that unusual is happening.

It's Just, my brain is mostly quiet, now. For one of the first times in my life, the haze lifts enough for me to remember to brush his teeth every morning and every night.

Every one is different, and the meds don't work for every one. But for me it was like, putting on glasses, for the first time... My vision cleared.

Some days I neglect to take my meds, (I hate taking pills!) but there is no shaking, no horrible withdrawal. Nothing very eventful, except for maybe not noticing the traffic light change. (It's a good thing the guy that flipped me off was paying attention, or that would have been bad!) And spending more time not doing the things that I consider important. Or forgetting the words that I need to finish my thoughts. I am, just as I was before.

As so many before me have said, it's not a "magic" pill you still have to struggle, but it does become less of an uphill fight.

Ginger : )

good post, but I think you have the wrong idea of what drugs are..and you are a victim to the bull**** lies the government forces us to believe....any drug you take does not "change" you as a person, you will always be you no matter what drug you are on....but yes I think ADD meds help alot

As I said...

I am, just as I was before.

As so many before me have said, it's not a "magic" pill you still have to struggle, but it does become less of an uphill fight.
It did not change me or cure me, but it has lifted the haze a bit. This is not to say that I instantly learned everything that I missed, but now I can better remember the things I knew.

As a matter a fact I like who I am, but I struggle as a result of a miss-firing brain. With the medication I still sturggle, but with more good results.

Yes I agree, good post . . . but that "shorten your life, bad for the brain, doing drugs." is just propaganda someone told you and you believed. Life is a war and there is no neutral ground. Some people feed your fears because it makes them money, stokes their ego, makes them feel superior or whatever. To quote Malcolm X (who I don't particularly like but it's a great quote.)

"You've been hoodwinked. You've been had. You've been took. You've been led astray, led amok. You've been bamboozled."

You will live longer if your whole life is in better order, and the quality of life is more important then squeezing out a few extra miserable years.

You will live longer if your whole life is in better order, and the quality of life is more important then squeezing out a few extra miserable years.could not have said it better myself

I wrote a post the other day about questions I had regarding meds. but no one replied. What I seem to see with the majority is that most people are pro-med. Sometimes I really feel alone in my decision not to medicate my daughter or myself.

Currently I am on anti-depressants because I lost my father in May but I plan on getting off of them in six months or so because it must be done safely and carefully. I have never taken medication for my ADD. Sure, I had a tough life, but I've learned to work around it and seem to be doing ok. There wasn't much help when I was kid. Now, after everything I've been through and what I've learned, I'm even considering in the future going to school for teaching ADD/ADHD children and children with Auditory and verbal learning disabilities. Many of them are quite intelligent and just need to be taught differently like I needed to be and wasn't because not much was known about it back then.

My daughter has the same genetic Auditory Processing problem as me which can't be treated with drugs and also the non-hyperactive ADD. She is going through a major growth period and puberty and I do not want to damage her health in any way or interfere with her growth. Therefore I have chosen NOT to medicate. She is an A-B student. Who could ask for more then that. It's a lot of work at times for me and my husband but I am willing to take the extra time to teach her the way she needs. The only problem for me is the teacher. She would love it for me to put her on drugs because she has to speak to her too often sometimes or she loses focus. She's not a behavioral problem or anything, she just needs a little extra help. She's on a 504 plan. Is this too much to ask of a teacher to give a little bit more help when the student is an intelligent well behaved A-B student?

I truly fear the long term affect of drugs on my daughter as she grows and on myself as I age. How do we know in 20 or 30 years what affect these drugs will have on our brains and our bodies? For this reason I have chosen to go against the grain. I am considering a special learning program that concentrates on areas of weakness. I have heard there is some success in it. Of course every case is different then others. Everyone has a different situation. I understand someone medicating a child with major behavioral problems and huge learning deficits.

My decision for my daughter and myself was made according to how we are doing without the meds and so far we are ok. What the future holds I don't know and will decide what to do then, but for now I guess I'm going against the grain and hope I won't be judged for that. Thanks for reading my post. Dee

for the record i don't think that the majority of us think that using medication without discrimination is proper.
i also agree with andocrates and abnormal jeremy completely. the drugs that are 'acceptable' vs. 'not acceptable'- in otherwords bad, unethical, harmful etc
there are no differences.
they are ALL drugs.
the only difference is if society has condoned its usage for said medical condition
unfortunately most ppl don't think critically about this issue or many others that tend to be absorbed by osmosis like george washington and the cherry tree.
if my doc gave it to me its good right?
or : if it is illegal it must be bad right?
thats absolutely ridiculous and knee jerk.
for starters: pharmaceutical companies have a huge investment in things going their way..(hey! look at vioxx ppl!) and they will pay heaps to make it happen...i'm not going to go as far as to say they are outright corrupt to the bone
but i will say this: a health system this is built on profit is questionable
when money is the bottom line, especially with drug companies, you do have to think twice.
the studies are skewed to obfuscate results
the lawmakers are bullied by lobbyists to pass certain things, or prevent items from passing by large money interests including insurance companies and pharmaceuticals, and i'm sure every accessory there is to health care and more...
so cynicism is my weapon of choice when it comes to my world view about the 'goodness' of ANYTHING
why should i take the word of a commercial? or a billboard? or what my neighbor said? an ounce of thinking is by far worth more than ppl give it credit.
with that said:

i do believe that you possibly feel persecuted for not going the medication route addfor2 and i can understand that
but i don't think i've seen anywhere in here where anyone at all has stated anything to the effect of : if you don't take the meds available you aren't doing 'all that you can do'
again and again i must reitirate
THIS IS A PERSONAL DECISION
only you, and for children, parents, can make that decision.
i would have to assume that the threads in here that are specifically for medication b/c yes a lot of us are and it does help the process immensely when one is trying to find the winning combination or strategies that can help oneself utilize drug therapy to its best benefit
you shouldn't go about feeling there isn't support for your method or perspective
i think its great that you've made the choice you have and i'm on wellbutrin and adderall as i type this
the only caveat to my mutual appreciation stance is that:
i would have to be angry with anyone that said i didn't have a right to my medication or that its the easy way out...or that i shouldn't be able to take my meds.
if anyone has that opinion i suggest they keep it to themselves
as i support anyone in a decision that would further improve quality of life i would only expect the same in return
that i believe is called : TOLERANCE
i'm as highly frustrated with this whole borderline sand in the line btwn 'i use meds' and 'i'm against meds'
we should support each other
its highly similiar to the epidural and birth. i had one and i'm damned grateful. afterall: if it doesn't affect my child in a negative way why do i not deserve the benefit of pain relief? its the most physically painful experience of my life, and i don't understand why ppl think its ok to use general anesthesia to get a tooth yanked out but when its birth OH NO! lets put on a guilt trip!
(there are a slew of other thoughts and arguments i have about this particular topic ..birth and drugs..but it borders on the political/religious no mans land so i'll stop here, anyone is more than welcome to pm me)

if i am on fire i will use the bucket of water in front of me

i'm not going to depend on hollywood's images of heroine use, or anyone's political agenda to tell me what is morally correct or wrong.
i can do that for myself thank you
and i would assume, if you're an adult
you can do that for yourselves as well.

Thanks for the reply and please don't think I was specifically referring to people on this board when I said pro-meds. I meant that most people I have met where I live that have ADD and/or have children with ADD are on medication. So far I have only met one person that has a child with ADD that is not on meds. It's not something I say Never to, just doesn't seem necessary as of yet for my daughter and I want her to get through the major part of her physical growth without anything to inhibit her in any way. I have no problem with anyone that has made different choices then myself and I support anyone that trys to help themselves when they find out they have any kind of disability. As for what is morally right for me, as far as I'm concerned it's in the Big Book, and I don't mean the media's version. Take care and thanks again for your very informative and understanding reply. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving! Dee

Well, I'd like to say that I agree 100% with the first post by Ginger404. Although I'm currently on 4 prescription drugs (3 of which I use daily, one is an as-needed albuterol inhaler for asthma), I don't really enjoy using medications. I'm the kind of person who will suffer through a headache rather than take a couple Excedrin, as long as it's somewhat bearable and I can still function. I won't even take Nyquil unless I'm really suffering.

I was especially leary of taking "mind altering drugs," at first (I think someone on here has a sig that reads "A drug is any substance which, when injected into a lab rat, produces a scientific report." Lol.) Luckily I have a great psychiatrist and I was right to put my trust in him. I reasoned, much as Ginger404 did, that I could always just stop taking the meds if I did not like the effect. (It wasn't stims for me, but the same logic applies.) The meds didn't change my personality a bit... I'm still me, just better organized and happier. Simply put, the meds work on what I want them to work on, and don't take anything away that I wanted to keep.

Now, to ADDfor2, I completely respect anybody who purposely decides not to medicate themselves or their child. My best friend has ADD as well, and she's not been on medication. She's been doing great the past few months, since she actively decided she was going to beat ADD. Her little girl probably also has it, too, but she's not going to medicate her daughter, either.

However, if her daughter reaches a point where she's old enough to be able to decide she wants medication for her ADD, I'm sure my friend would go along with it. Personally, I am not in favor of forcibly medicating children for ADD who are not old enough to participate in deciding whether or not they want to take it.

I think I've said this before, but ADD is not ADD unless it's a problem causing distress. That's the whole "disorder" part. If you and your daughter are happy with your lives and can deal with the ADD symptoms, then you don't really have a disorder, IMO, and that's a good thing. For myself, I've found that my ADD symptoms caused huge amounts of depression, anxiety, underachievement in life, etc. It's like f_wcomboadhd wrote, a bucket of water for a soul that was on fire.

Going back to the beginning (funny how that happens), I find that the meds, therapy, and the simply knowledge of my dx, have actually allowed me to dig myself out of the prison ADD put me in. I've improved a lot since starting treatment, both with my symptoms and my attitude toward my symptoms. I think it, metaphorically, saved my life.

I was in fact speaking of substance abuse when I said, "bad for the brain and can/does in fact significantly shorten ones life." I stand by this fact, not just as a complete outsider, but as an observer of friends/family and their sad outcomes.

Interestingly, I happen to agree with your statement "You will live longer if your whole life is in better order, and the quality of life is more important then squeezing out a few extra miserable years." if you are talking about medication prescribed and taken according to the prescription. (If you have a good MD. and all...) I think there are some interesting links between AD/HD stress and adrenal fatigue and other auto-immune problems. I hypothesize that taking the meds eases the stress and therefore improves/prevents these types of conditions. (Wow, I almost sound like I know what I'm talking about!! LOL)

I should also point out that I'm not new to AD/HD, I have known about it for 4 years now and have been on meds for almost 2 years. I think any placebo/propaganda effect has worn off by now...

My motto is:
"Because AD/HD doesn't go away, it just gets better"
Ginger : )

PS
No body better rip that off either!!
(It's on my business cards!) ; )

If possible could you substantiate your use of "Shorten your life?" I believe I could make the case that hamburger shortens your life 100 fold to Ritalin or Adderall.

Thousands of people die each year from aspirin, yet because aspirin has some uses it's not condemned, you can't go and find 1000 anti-aspirin web-pages. And yet as ADD people we are constantly harassed and belittled because we use medicine. People don't rag on depressed people's medication, even though thousands die every year from those drugs. Why is everyone so concerned and always happy to spout unsubstantiated medical warnings about our medication?

The anti ADD crowd are still trying to find one single undisputable case of death from an ADD drug and they can't. Again I say you have been the victim of propaganda. I'm here to tell you the drugs are safe, they have a long track-record of safety when used as directed.

I will keep defending our medication until I'm kicked off this board (which won't be long) because no one else is doing it.

AGAIN...
(You may have missed it...)
"I was in fact speaking of substance abuse when I said, "bad for the brain and can/does in fact significantly shorten ones life." I stand by this fact, not just as a complete outsider, but as an observer of friends/family and their sad outcomes."

Ginger : )

People don't rag on depressed people's medication, . .Oh
yes
they
DO...

There's been at least one book written against Prozac, (can't remember the title, sorry) and I'm sure there's a lot of overlap in what people with ADD and people with depression (and more than a few have both) hear on all sides of the medication issue, or even on the issue of whether ADD or depression even exist. "You wouldn't be this way if you didn't really want to be." "Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps." "Just try harder." "Men don't get depression." "Girls don't have hyperactivity." "These are all just character flaws and failures of will." And so on.

For that matter, there may be some well-intentioned, benighted soul trying to argue a diabetic off of insulin as I type this. For many people, if they haven't had (fill-in-the-blank) themselves, it simply doesn't exist.

Medication is not for everyone. And staying away from it is not for everyone. Which ever works best for each individual -- which I think is your main point :) and I agree with it -- has to be worked out on a case-by-case, if not a day-by-day basis.

Sorry, kinda went all tangential there...

Your Mileage May Vary. My mileage certainly does.... LOL

Well, lots of intelligent food for thought, heres mine: I can appreciate the analagy to birth medication. I chose not to have any with my three, and it was shocking how I was met with instant judgement on ME being judgemental! It was like me saying my experience was a critisism of their choice. I would never and have never judge anyone on a decision as personal as medication. Especially when there is a choice(or as much as can be perceived) However, as a 40 year old just diagnosed, I have a life too look back on of anxiety and missed (put off!) goals and opportunities, so for me, I wish I at least had someone to help me make an educated choice. I am now faced with wether to medicate my 15 year old. I will try & make the best decision I can. Long term stress and social consequences definatly count for alot along with any (if there is) physical damage. Also, people sometimes seem to forget the human body regenerates over and over again. We can take alot

Going along with the whole "substance abuse is bad for your brain," keep in mind there is such a thing as amphetamine psychosis. In general, it won't happen at prescribed doses (I believe it is possible but extremely rare), but there is the evidence that amphetamine abuse is bad for the brain.