I have ADD. I was dx'ed as a young child. My parents never told me about it. In my teens I started to develope depression and mood swings. I just found out this year that I am also bipolar 1.

I tried adderall for awhile and it helped quite a bit with my functioning. It started losing effectiveness so I had to quit. The withdrawal has been brutal and put me in the hospital. ( long story!) Right now I take lexapro, an anti anxiety and depression meds. I will soon be starting abilify.

The question is, will meds like abilify help me function? I have lots of trouble all the time with making careless mistakes, paying attention, procastinating, my mind racing, and concentrating.

You can't treat ADD with stimulants if you also have any mood disorder. I found that out the hard way and it almost killed me. If you want to know more, just pm me.

Right now I am having a hard time and can't concentrate and all that. Can a person in my situation take strattera or is that a bad idea, too? How about coffee? ALso will proper diet and exercise help? Is ginkgo biloba safe to take as well?

Will be seeing my psych. on Thursday.What must I discuss with her?

i am only "bipolar" in the sense that when given an ssri or strattera effexor etc... i get what they call the hypomanic switch and stay up for days and try to rule the world etc... i am not even depressed ever either but I can say that I have heard that those meds are worse when there is bipolar in the picture (in the natural sense) and I can't answer the abilify thing because i had to take it to sleep after my last ssri (effexor) trial...

Jett - My SO is both ADD and BiPolar 2. Before the Bipolar diagnosis he tried strattera for the ADD and it was horrible for him, didn't help at all and actually made matters worse. He is now taking Concerta for the ADD and Lamictal for the Bipolar 2 and having wonderful results. He is also taking Lexapro for depression and anxiety, but is hoping to eventually be able to drop that one and just take the Concerta and Lamictal.

Jett - My SO is both ADD and BiPolar 2. Before the Bipolar diagnosis he tried strattera for the ADD and it was horrible for him, didn't help at all and actually made matters worse. He is now taking Concerta for the ADD and Lamictal for the Bipolar 2 and having wonderful results. He is also taking Lexapro for depression and anxiety, but is hoping to eventually be able to drop that one and just take the Concerta and Lamictal.Great to hear ... I am already on lamictal ... but was nervous that it was causing some of my ADHD problems and have since lowered the dose. Still fiddling with the ADHD meds ... I try to stay off of newer stuff and stick to the older tried and true drugs. So far no hypomania with either dexedrine or ritalin. Improvements aren't as pronounced as my ADHD shrink had hoped though so may move on ... he is a big part of the challenge at this point :(

Can I TAKE ADD and bi-polar meds???? Together??? They don't conteract each other???? What is Bi-polar I and II. I was just told I was Bi-polar manic depressive/ ADHD.... and put on some killer drugs..... not on any now I hate the way they make me feel. Any suggestions???

I can't hang around long this am and just noticed this, so quickly (and there is tons in the threads here that you may already have found):

yes you can mix and match some of the meds but, especially if you are bipolar one, in addition to regular drug interactions there is concern that the ADHD stimulant drugs can push you into a manic episode.

I think that the diagnostic divisions are lines that split a continuum but technically the difference between bipolar one and bipolar two (which you've probably found by now if you've continued looking around) is that only people with bipolar one get full-blown manic episodes. Mania is very specifically defined in the DSM and if you look around online you can find the definition. In layman's terms, if you have never been stark raving mad you don't have bipolar one and I would doubt anyone who is diagnosing and treating you for bipolar one (which may involve stronger anti-manic agents that two).

Hope that helps.

Nature