I had a back injury about three years ago and they put me on vicodin. It helped with the pain but the weird thing was it helped with a certain part of my add. At the time I didnt know I had add, I only knew something was off. The part that it helped with was the stress, frustration and motivation. I only use it on the weekends because I am afraid Ill gain a tolerance to the drug. The problem is my psychiatrist wont prescribe me any stimulants because I am not prescribed the pain killers. He has put me on wellbutrin and staterra which didnt help. He wants me to stop the painkillers which I am fine with. IF he can give me something to help with my symptoms. The whole process is insane. I cant wait until you can go into the doctors office take a brain scan (?) and get prescibed whatever drug would be best for you. This whole process is exhausting and I can see why people give up and continue their own path of self medication.

For most pain things I get prescribed codine. I noticed a difference in the "ADD" too even though I also at the time didn't know that I had it. I think for me it was mostly because the codine put me to sleep, so I was sleeping better at night and waking up less tired.... which is one of the major problems ADD has caused me. I have had good luck with my doctor and meds so far. My thoughts are with you, good luck!

Vicoden just makes me sleep, but I can see how it would help some people with ADD symptoms. Self medication is really seductive for ADDers because it has that "instant gratification" aspect. OTOH, the psychiatrist is right... getting off the illegal stuff is the best thing to do. You're much better off if you can be medically supervised with respect to all your meds.

It sounds like you're not physically dependent on them. I bet if you could go a month or 2 without using, the doctor might be willing to prescribe something other than the Wellbutrin and Strattera. On the other hand, there are also other meds that might help, such as tricyclic antidepressants or provagil, which are not abusable that the doc might be willing to prescribe anyway. Either way, I really hope you get a handle on this, because, believe me, I know how frustrating it is to just wait to be treated. I thought the 2 months it would take before I could get my initial psychiatrist appointment was going to be forever.

Yes, I have the EXACT same problem. It is unfortunate that you can not treat ADD with pain killers. I have talked to A LOT of people who are addicted to heroine/opiates/pain killers and most say the same thing: they wake me up. Whenever I get any kind of pain killer I am alert and focused. I even aced an economics class while taking percocet back in college. I am more focused and get things done. When I am not on pain killers I have a lot of ideas, but nothing seems to get done. I have tried adderol, concerta, and some other general ADD medication, but since I'm already a "stimulate" person they make me FLIP OUT. I'm not sure if I have ADHD in the general sense, but I am very flighty when I am not on pain killers. I have been on and off pain killers for 5 + years and the times where I am on them business get started and money is made. When I don't have them things go a lot slower because I am not very focused.

My experience with opiate drugs is limited but my experience was that they induced manic symptoms.

What exactly is your back injury diagnosis?

This thread is from 2005... I doubt the OP is still posting.

I found opiates helped with my ADD also. Before I even knew about ADD I started using codeine and found it helped me concentrate, gave me motivation and relaxed me. I started using it almost every day and then moved onto to stronger opiates when it stopped working. I never took so much that I was laying on the couch unable to move but my tolerance grew quickly and I had to take more and more. I bet you can guess the rest of the story :P

I'm on subutex now which is used for opiate maintenance. Haven't used any 'real' opiates in years and I think I'm lucky that I got addicted to opiates and not meth or speed.

Haven't used any 'real' opiates in years and I think I'm lucky that I got addicted to opiates and not meth or speed.

Opiate withdrawls are horrid for chronic users. Meth/Speed is mostly just craving and depression. Opiate w/ds can cause nausea, throwing up, no energy, mud butt, depression, cravings, tremors, inability to sleep, etc.

I've seen people go through opiate, meth, benzo, and cocaine withdrawls and opiates and benzos are the worst.

Congrats on staying away from them, I abused them years back and would go through 400-600mg of Oxy or ~550mg of hydro a day. (APAP was filtered through the CWE process). Quit cold turkey and never will go back after that week of hell. It was like being trapped in Michael J Foxs loaded with laxitives, depression, and was unable to sleep for the first 4 days.

Be safe and be careful. Do research before you put **** in your body, this has saved my *** more times then I can count.

Been clean for nearly two years and ended up being diagnosed with adhd, Adderall works wonderful for me along with vyvanse. ADD untreated increases your chances of abusing drugs.

Cheers

Unfortunately - I know about opioid dependence too well myself. As a single parent with no "support system" - I wasn't able to "check into rehab or detox" - so I did the only thing I felt I could do - I went on Methadone. After about 3 years on that, I have finally found a suboxone prescriber and have an appt next week!!

Oh Boy!!


Sue