Hey everyone, for awhile now i've suspected that I have inattentive type ADD - I'm not going to bore you with the same details people post every like ten minutes in this forum, but about a year ago (March 2006) I registered here and bit the bullet and scheduled an appointment (had a panic attack prior/during going too) but anyway I was prescribed 37.5mg of Cylert but that didn't work out too well for me because I developed 'visual disturbances' and had stopped immediately stopped taking the pills. Ultimately, I decided that having those disturbances wasn't worth the improvements that my family had noted.

Now a year later, one of my good friends said that his doctor prescribed him 5mg of Adderall XR as only a trial for ADD, and from what he says within the first week of being on Adderall, has made me think of scheduling an appointment with his doctor but I don't think my insurance will cover the charge so I guess what i'm afraid of is when I schedule the appointment and pay the same $80.00 fee my friend did, he either isn't going to agree with previous doctor's semi-'diagnosis' of ADD and say "just deal with it like you have for the past year" or write me a trial prescription for Adderall XR or some other medication.

So let me get to my point if I've been beating around the bush:

If he says "No, I don't believe you have ADD" I'm out $80.00 and as a student thats sorta hard to comeby as I don't come from a well-to-do family, my interest in attempting to be treated for ADD has piqued me again because knowing how much better I was doing on the three WORKING weeks of Cylert.

If he says yes, and gives me a one month prescription for Adderall XR, or whatever medication he decides to put me on (I'm going to mention that my friends noted improvement on Adderall, and of course my dabble with Cylert --ugh), would this mean if the medication does still work out for me, would I have to reschedule an appointment on a monthly basis ($80 a month) and then not to mention to payment for the prescription which i'm not sure is covered by my insurance.

Ugh I have such a huge headache! I am sincerely hoping that my Insurance (PPO) covers the charge, then my co-pay is only $10, but the thing that scares me is the charge for the medication, it cost $154.00 for my friend to get his prescription from the local CVS Pharmacy.

Am I stupid for over thinking this or what?

Your not stupid for thinking it, nobody wants to waste money.


Just think, are your ADD symptoms having a big enough negative effect on your life? So much that it's worth risking $80?

Push it... whatever else they think you may have will not be treated properly without proper medication.

IF you are a student, is there a student health centre at your school that you can go to? At many places (here in Canada), post secondary student health centre's are the only places that deal with Adult ADHD.

Good news!

My appointment is either for 2:00PM or 3:15PM tomorrow (forgot!)

My insurance doesn't cover the doctor i'm going to (the doctor my friend referred me to) however, with a $100 deductible, 80% of the price of the visit to the doctor is covered.

More good news, I registered to the company that handles my prescription medication and If I were to get prescribed Adderall XR, I could get it for super cheap! - $20.08 USD for a 90 month supply if they ship it, or $21.51 USD for the month's fill. This is an overwhelming relief and I am grateful! It cost my friend $154.xx when I accompanied him to fill his prescription.

I'm really anxious to go, and boone1, if it hadn't been worth it, I wouldn't even bother you guys by updating or posting at all :]

Queens U most medical systems here in the US are privatized. You have insurance and have a co-pay or pay cash. Very few are government funded and one has to qualify before seeing the doctor in order to have it covered by any government entity. There is more but I do not want to get too far off topic. Sufficient to say our health care system is much different here in the US.

Hrm. Can I ask what sort of "visual disturbances" you experienced?

Just asking because I'm having some...episodes of visual problems, and I have to consider the idea that it's my meds, but I don't know if they'd do what's happening to me. Websites of drug info aren't specific enough.

Basically it's more profitable if you're a practitioner :]

However here is my update:

As of yesterday and only being my second day on 10mg Adderall XR, I am feeling great. Loss of appetite but I suppose that's to be expected, I had to FORCE myself to eat a double western at Carls Jr. However I do feel a lot more relaxed, i'm not pacing around my room deciding if I wanna watch t.v., listen to music, or scale a freaking mountain!

Hrm. Can I ask what sort of "visual disturbances" you experienced?

Just asking because I'm having some...episodes of visual problems, and I have to consider the idea that it's my meds, but I don't know if they'd do what's happening to me. Websites of drug info aren't specific enough.I'd be GLAD.

Although I was doing good on week two of Cylert, things started to go downhill fast.

When it had started, I remember exactly as so:

I had dropped my pencil while reading something on the computer, probably researching or playing a game or whatever but decided I was too engaged in whatever I was doing to just pick it up. A couple of minutes later, the pencil had escaped my mind and I forgot about it, and from the corner of my eye, the pencil became a snake.

A snake. :faint:

It must sound funny, but it isn't if you get scared and jump out of your chair because a pencil frightened you.

Thankfully however, after about 2 months of not taking anything, they have subsided.

I had dropped my pencil while reading something on the computer, probably researching or playing a game or whatever but decided I was too engaged in whatever I was doing to just pick it up. A couple of minutes later, the pencil had escaped my mind and I forgot about it, and from the corner of my eye, the pencil became a snake.

A snake. :faint:

It must sound funny, but it isn't if you get scared and jump out of your chair because a pencil frightened you.

Thankfully however, after about 2 months of not taking anything, they have subsided.
That's interesting! Not at all what I'm getting (I'm actually getting episodes of blindness and intense blurring in one eye), but interesting nonetheless. If that's more typical, then it's probably not the meds.

(In truth, I'm not overly worried: given my family history, chances are very good that I'm just getting migraine auras with no headache.)


I am familiar with pencil-turning-into-a-snake sorts of visual effects, though. I went through a major depression six years ago, and during that period, I had a LOT of those. All sorts of ordinary objects became something dangerous, and would even stay snakes and such through several seconds of staring directly at them. I really thought I was losing it.

Luckily that ended when my depression broke. Whew. :faint:

Good news!


More good news, I registered to the company that handles my prescription medication and If I were to get prescribed Adderall XR, I could get it for super cheap! - $20.08 USD for a 90 month supply if they ship it, or $21.51 USD for the month's fill. This is an overwhelming relief and I am grateful! It cost my friend $154.xx when I accompanied him to fill his prescription. :]


Keep in mind, that in our great state of California, it is unlawful for a pharmacy to dispense more than a 30 day supply at a time. Some states do it differently, but we are in the strict one (also the state that started the whole "triplicate" process for sched. II drugs). Glad its working for you though!

If I were to get prescribed Adderall XR, I could get it for super cheap! - $20.08 USD for a 90 month supply if they ship it.
I'm certain you did not mean 90 month supply. :eyebrow: I read this as 90 pills. I never say what I really mean, I wish I could, but can't, so I'm always filtering the things other people tell me as well. :o

Type Zero:

Have you had the typical 6 to 8 hours of Adult ADD Testing by a (PhD) Psychologist? (e.g. the neuropsychological battery.)

This is your best way to prove your diagnosis and get treatment.

Some of us have had the Test Battery done. Then you just take the Testing Report to your MD and get your ADD meds.

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Unless you had Hyperactive ADHD (e.g. *obvious* behavior problem) then you were likely to have been missed, diagnostically, as a child, by the school system.

Many of us Inattentives and Combineds were missed as kids, due to doing well in early elementary school, and being quiet, etc.

I believe that most Inattentives are never diagnosed. They are instead treated for Anxiety Disorders and Mood Disorders (depression) which mysteriously never improve. (duh.)

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Testing would prove your contention about having ADD, and show the evidence of your performance impairments, in writing. (e.g. working memory, auditory or visual memory, organization, planning, sequential or conceptual problems perhaps, impulsivity and/or inattention, "executive function" impairments, etc)

Basically it's more profitable if you're a practitioner :]

However here is my update:

As of yesterday and only being my second day on 10mg Adderall XR, I am feeling great. Loss of appetite but I suppose that's to be expected, I had to FORCE myself to eat a double western at Carls Jr. However I do feel a lot more relaxed, i'm not pacing around my room deciding if I wanna watch t.v., listen to music, or scale a freaking mountain!Glad to hear the good news!

Since you mentioned Carls Jr.. keep in mind that when on Adderall XR, you should try to avoid consuming drinks containing citric acid (coke..). These will decrease the absorption of the XR (has to do with messing up the pH levels in the stomach or something..)

Glad to hear the good news!

Since you mentioned Carls Jr.. keep in mind that when on Adderall XR, you should try to avoid consuming drinks containing citric acid (coke..). These will decrease the absorption of the XR (has to do with messing up the pH levels in the stomach or something..)I don't drink soda at all. So there we go, however I do take a multivitamin -- but I take that before I goto sleep because i've read that Vitamin C lowers the absorbtion rate of Adderall XR, in turn I guess that would render it weaker ...

Lastly, yes I did mean 90 DAY supply but you know how it is, blasted typo's.

Keep in mind, that in our great state of California, it is unlawful for a pharmacy to dispense more than a 30 day supply at a time. Some states do it differently, but we are in the strict one (also the state that started the whole "triplicate" process for sched. II drugs). Glad its working for you though!Interesting, however I don't think i'd be getting the meds from an actual pharmacy -- I'd be ordering the prescription online however I think the problem is with Schedule II meds, they cannot be called in, so I have no idea how this would work (probabably automagically faxing my prescription) then pay the $20.08 for the three months worth, but rather than being sent all three, toward the end of each month, I suppose the meds get shipped right to my door on the date that I run out. I think that would work... maybe :eyebrow:

Any more information on this?