Hi all,

My background...31 y.o female, been diagnosed for the first time last year with ADHD, major depressive episodes.

I have been taking 300 mg of Wellbutrin xl since Feb 2006, 20mg Adderall XR since March 2006. For the first 9 months it seemed like I was making great progress, occasionally having down days generally close to my end of my cycle. The past few months have been terrible...I will feel fine about 3 days into the start of my cycle (period), then I can feel moods lifting more for about the next week, but then it seems like the last two-three weeks of my cycle continue to get worse...as if the meds have absolutely no effect at all. The odd thing is that for that short time where I do feel good, I truly feel like I had progressed, and come a long way since starting treatment...but when I feel down, I feel REALLY bad... worse than I did before I started...the reason I say this is because now instead of just the psychological depression, i am also experiencing the physical (exhausted, erratic sleep, odd appetite, nausea, gas troubles, pain when exercising, etc)

It almost seems like the two parts of my cycle are moving me in opposite directions. I track my cycle and I know that the day when I ovulate is the absolute worst day of the month. so basically, Ovulation is the worst...then I start to go up slowly from there...I start my period ten or so days later, keep going up, then have about 5 excellent days...then it peaks out and I start on the decline again until ovulation.

Does anyone else experience this hormonal effect on your meds? if so, how do you help yourself? my dr. reccommended that I increase the WB by adding 150 mg starting at the day of ovulation until the day i start my period. I have done this for a couple of months now and its really helping but only the times when i am on the upswing...otherwise there is really no effect.

he also recently increased my adderall to 20mg xr 2/day, and this seemed to help, but I cant afford more than 30 pills per month, so that dosage can't continue.

any insight would be appreciated.

oops! i just now saw the sticky about hormonal impacts...sorry! mods feel free to move this if you want! :D

Well, the main difference between the first part of your cycle and the second part is estrogen. Estrogen is at its peak on the day of your ovulation, and progesterone is at its lowest, so somehow you are having a negative reaction to estrogen.

That may or may not be related to your medication, I don't know enough about endocrinology to say. I always had the opposite when I was taking Wellbutrin and Ritalin, wicked bad PMS but pretty good prior to ovulation . . . ??

Well, the main difference between the first part of your cycle and the second part is estrogen. Estrogen is at its peak on the day of your ovulation, and progesterone is at its lowest, so somehow you are having a negative reaction to estrogen.

That may or may not be related to your medication, I don't know enough about endocrinology to say. I always had the opposite when I was taking Wellbutrin and Ritalin, wicked bad PMS but pretty good prior to ovulation . . . ??well, that's kind of what im experiencing...really bad PMS but feeling great prior to ovulation. after ovulation its all downhill (when i say "start of cycle" i assume first day of period is first day of cycle)

I know that my hormones have a strong impact on my ADD, but I can't exactly tell you what chemical affects me which way emotionally.

I do know that when I'm pregnant or nursing, that my mood and ability to concentrate are improved dramatically.

I guess I was meant to have a large family.

I have a 2 yr old dd and that's it.

I have had 4 miscarriages over the last 28 years of ovulation, so I've been pregnant 5 times.

Each time, I had a clarity and self-control that I don't have when I'm not pregnant.

Weird, huh?