Hello everybody!

Just posted a few replies to other forums and thought it'd be proper to introduce myself.

I'm a 27y old male living in Helsinki, Finland, Europe. I live with my GF and work in telecoms.

I was diagnosed with inattentive ADD a few weeks ago after a lengthy period of depression and corresponding meds. I'm on Concerta now but it doesn't seem to help much so I'm thinking of changing meds.

Umm, well that's it folks :). Feel free to ask any questions which might spring from my decidedly short intro.

Cheers,

Porkkana

I don't have any question, but I think it's cool your from Europe..... :)

Welcome !


Paula

Telecoms eh? What do you do? Is it Nokia, or is that just too cliche? If you were in Canada I'd ask if it was Bell or Nortel.

Welcome Porkkana to the Forums....Sorry Concerta is not working....I'm told that for some people who are on Concerta and is not working, that Adderal does work a bit better....Anyway, please keep writing and you will get lots of support....:)

Hi!

In Rostock, on the Baltic coast, I might be the nearest other person on the Forums to you - it's even possible to get a ferry directly from Rostock to Helsinki. Still a good 1000 km away though...

I'm new here myself, but welcome anyway!

Jonathan.

Welcome porkkana!! I have a good friend of mine who's wife is from Helsinki! It is really beautiful there!!

MightyMouse

Originally posted by porkkana
Hello everybody!

Just posted a few replies to other forums and thought it'd be proper to introduce myself.

I'm a 27y old male living in Helsinki, Finland, Europe. I live with my GF and work in telecoms.

I was diagnosed with inattentive ADD a few weeks ago after a lengthy period of depression and corresponding meds. I'm on Concerta now but it doesn't seem to help much so I'm thinking of changing meds.

Umm, well that's it folks :). Feel free to ask any questions which might spring from my decidedly short intro.

Cheers,

Porkkana

Welcome to ADD Forums!!!

Welcome to the ADD Forums, Porkkana.

A question I have is, How prevelant is the diagnosis of ADD in Finland? Is it a well known disorder? What meds are available there?

Greetings Porkkana. I am 1/4 Finn myself, Thunder Bay has the largest concentration of Finns outside of Finland itself in the world...

I have heard that a great percentage of people in Finland suffer from SAD, is there some chance that is connected to your depression? My own family tree matches this tendency and so do I.

Anyways, a big welcome from me too...

(Trying to remember how much Finnish I remember, and it's about 25 words in total :D )

Originally posted by BIG
Welcome to the ADD Forums, Porkkana.

A question I have is, How prevelant is the diagnosis of ADD in Finland? Is it a well known disorder? What meds are available there?

Hello Big

It's very hard in here to get the diagnosis . Seems like in the whole country there are only a few really qualified doctors who know anything about ADHD. That said, I was diagnosed as adult, so I don't know anything about how the public school system finds and diagnoses kids, could be better.

As for meds, there are (AFAIK) Ritalin, Concerta, Dexedrine and Adderal. It's also very hard to to renew your receipt because all the meds are controlled substances in here, so there's no automatic renewal of receipts. Plus for the fact that all the people in public healthcare (otherwise pretty good over here) are really reluctant to renew said receipt because they are controlled substances. It's taken me close to two months, two doctors and still no new receipt. Seeing a doctor and psychiatrist
tomorrow, hopefully something comes out of that.

Sorry if that doesn't make any sense, I've slept like three hours in the past 36. That's shift work for you :(

Originally posted by Paul S
Greetings Porkkana. I am 1/4 Finn myself, Thunder Bay has the largest concentration of Finns outside of Finland itself in the world...

I have heard that a great percentage of people in Finland suffer from SAD, is there some chance that is connected to your depression? My own family tree matches this tendency and so do I.

Anyways, a big welcome from me too...

(Trying to remember how much Finnish I remember, and it's about 25 words in total :D )

Hello Paul

That's interesting about Thunder Bay, I've always thought that Sweden or the States have the largest population of Finns outside of Finland. I have in fact on occasion toyed with the idea of uprooting and moving into Canada. Seems like very nice place to live, but maybe I should come and visit first :) Also, from what little I know, the immigration policies are quite strict nowadays.

About SAD, there's been a lot of talk about it in the media over the years. It certainly is connected to my depression since winters have been quite hard on me in the past. It's no wonder though when you think about the fact that even here in the south it's pretty much pitch black for the better part of the year. Not to mention in the north where weeks go by without the sun ever getting above the horizon.

I bought a light box last fall that gives around 4000 lux at 50 centimeters. Sitting in front of it for 30-60 mins in the
morning helps a lot.

Thankfully that's a bit compensated by the summer sun, it's pretty nice to be sitting outside at 3am when the sun is shining.

25 words is pretty good, I know quite a few foreigners who've lived in here for years and they know less Finnish :)

Porkkana

Porkkana: In case you ever think of moving to the states with your girlfriend, well, let me tell you about Florida -- I moved here about 13 years ago -- one of the reasons being because of my seasonal affective disorder.....there's always sun here in sunny Florida..and my SAD has been much better.....:)

Like you, it was always quite hard on me....I must admit the light box sounds like a great idea....

Anyway, welcome again...glad you're here.....:)

Originally posted by why
Telecoms eh? What do you do? Is it Nokia, or is that just too cliche? If you were in Canada I'd ask if it was Bell or Nortel.

Hello Why

I'm a network engineer at an ISP.

Welcome porkana
to our home away from home

I'm ADHD and aware of the difference ADD (inattentive) makes on being comfortable being boraged. Your English, including spelling seems likely better than my own...

Drugs, in my single opinion, tend to affect a single axis of a multi-axis problem. Failing asleep can be effectively, sometimes, countered with stimulants. Look for ANY postive effect and see what you can do with it.

That said, I'm back into an "off drugs" state for now. i'll see what the future brings.

Originally posted by porkkana


Hello Paul

That's interesting about Thunder Bay, I've always thought that Sweden or the States have the largest population of Finns outside of Finland. I have in fact on occasion toyed with the idea of uprooting and moving into Canada. Seems like very nice place to live, but maybe I should come and visit first :) Also, from what little I know, the immigration policies are quite strict nowadays.

Maybe I should have said the largest concentration? I am certain there are more Finns in the entire USA for example, but probably not more Finns in any one small to medium sized city.

Or maybe I am off base, I don't know where my high school Finn teacher got that information, it could be wrong. Now that you mention it it seems that Sweden WOULD have a lot of Finns. My name is actually Swedish in origin, my ancestors on that side moved from Sweden to Finland two or three hundred years back.

Canada IS a very nice place to live. It's not as strict to immigrate here as it is in the States as well. If you ever seriously consider it, let me know and I will see if there is anything I can do to help you. It's said that the Finnish community stopped here crossing North America "because they knew they had come home."

Hmmm... Digression time! Here are all Finn words I remember (minus the accented letters because my keyboard doesn't have them):

Counting - yksi to kymmenta and could bluff my way up to 9999
lumipallo = snowball
kauppa = store
pankki = bank
sauna = steambath (but we just call them saunas here)
pieni = small
vanha = old
mies = man
poika = boy
tytte = girl
tie = street

minun nimeni on = my name is
sinun nimesi on = your name is

viili and mojakka = some kind of Finnish foods

saippuakivikauppias = something like "fish store", it is the longest palindrome in any language.

Uhhh... that's pretty much all I remember from high school Finn except that you kicked the Russians' butts in a couple of wars. :D :D :D

Welcome to our little hang out.

Originally posted by Wheel1975
... I'm back into an "off drugs" state for now. i'll see what the future brings.

David, if you don't mind my asking, why have chosen to be off drugs for now and how is it working out for your so far?

Welcome to the fam, porkkana! We're a fun bunch! :)

Welcome fellow shift worker. :)

Sleepz