I made a very enlightening assessment of my current being and situation on my evening walk today- I came to the conclusion that ALL OF MY SYMPTOMS ARE BACK!!! :eek:

The monster wins. I officially give up.

I am compulsive, inattentive, a smart *** (in my head) at least I can sort of control that, I am ADHD!

I do like my medication. I notice some benefits. But for all intense purposes, everything is back. Whaddya do?

Do you laugh? Do you cry? I have accepted and realized I am never getting off of the merry go round. Ever.

So many emotions all at once...

I am the ADHD monster. We are one in the same. Welcome back old friend. Aren't you glad the medication was just a temporary smoke screen.

In closing, during this brief moment of clarity, I am wholly, absolutely, and genuinely upset at how ADHD holds me back in my career and relationships. This is the worst part about the disorder in my opion. ADHD costs me money and time- on several levels.

ADHD is not fair to myself nor others around me.

My doctor told me that it's normal for external factors to reduce the effects of your medication. i.e. if you've been travelling on a plane, your body may be fighting viruses and infections. You may not show any signs of being sick, but your body's fighting it anyway behind the scenes causing different responses to how the meds make you feel. Lack of sleep can play a big role in the efficiency of your meds. His comments were about Strattera. He says that it can feel like it's not working for 3-4 days at a time sometime, and that these periods where they don't work recur pretty frequently.

Take a weekend off, chill out, take it easy. Drink lots of water, exercise and take your meds. And orange juice and an apple a day.

And orange juice and an apple a day.


If you are on a stimulant then skip the orange juice because it decreases the absolution of the medication thus decreasing it's effectiveness.


also . . . . .I have said this numerous times before and I am saying it again


Just because you no longer feel the medications does NOT mean they are no longer working. Do not go on feelings go on your ability to function. . . . Some times you have to "will your self to do some thing.



Feeling are fleeting and are not the correct way to tell weather or not the medications work, because the truth is if you take a medication regularly long enough the "feeling" will go away. . . simply because your body has adjusted to the changes they create. How ever be not mistaken by this because the chemical changes still happen even if you no longer feel them .

Analogy

A man who has always kept a bread will notice the change in the feeling of his face when he first begin shaving it . He will notice the feeling in his face because it is different than it was when he had a beard, However if he continues to shave every day he will remain clean shaven. Just because he becomes used to the feeling of being clean shaven doesn't mean his razor has quit working. . . .the same principle applies to ADD medication. . .




Function is the way to go and function comes with effort only. . . . you must make an effort to function because frankly every one that does function makes a decision followed by some effort to do so. Some times you have to "will' your self to do some things that is how non-ADDers have to do it.

Maybe you are not reaching your goals because you have failed to define then in specific terms. Success is ? and how is ADD causing you to loose money be specific at looking for answers do not include the words because I have ADD, it doesn't matter why you are not getting "A" done it matters what exactly is preventing you from doing so. Organization systems not working are you procrastinating, this is still a problem for me when it comes to unpleasant task. Maybe your systems are not you friendly or go against he grain of how you are a person work.


My medications do not get me out of bed nor do they get my happy hinny to work. I do that however on medications I am better able to manage my time, I am aware of it's passing. My big problem use to be distractions while getting ready. I can think about doing some thing like loading the dish washer and realize I do not have the time and simply make a choice not to because I remember my main goal is getting ready for work. I have to make myself get out of bed however I can decide to stay out of bed and begin my day even on those days I do not want to. These are the things life consist of for most every one even those who have never been ADD. It doesn't matter how many pills I swallow if I do not have a destination I will never arrive, that is life but many of us were so busy trying to keep our heads above water we failed to learn some of these basic things. . . . that others already know.

Non ADDers are able to consciously control their attention span, they can choose to pay attention to some thing while refraining from giving into other ideas that pop into their heads. It doesn't mean they do not have intrusive thoughts they are simply aware of them happening and are able to consciously filter them out or dismiss them. Even on medications some stimuli I can not filter out the best I can do is back ground un-necessary stimuli but I can not do it for long even on medications so I have learned to identify when some thing is distracting and deal with it in a non-chemical way.

I find Gary's TV distracting the constant talking distracts me when I am trying to read and often times Gary will want me to see some thing on TV which would draw my eyes off what I was doing on the computer and I would end up being more interested in watching TV than I was doing work related stuff on my computer like the budget or our expenses records. . . . . stuff I hate doing. I use head phone with music which helped a lot but I still got distracted by Gary wanting me to look at some thing. So I put a curtain up between the computer area and the TV. . .which means I can't hear Gary, he can not distract me by waving at me nor can I be be distracted by the visuals on the TV. In other ward being on medication allows me to acknowledge that I was sucking at the paper work processing part because basically I hate it but Gary is umm not very functional unless one likes digging through huge piles of paper looking for when this was bought or that was delivered . . .I hate that worse than actually entering it into the computer. . . . . the chemical changes in my brain allowed me to realize I was being distracted and I needed to eliminate distractions. . . .and to do that I had to determine exactly what was distracting me and how. . .why was obvious . . . . I would rather watch TV than do records and crap. . . . notice being ADD although a qualifying reason was never a part of my solution search because it isn't. . . .it does matter why I am distracted it only matters that it happens and I have to deal with it effectively in a non-chemical manner and I can do so. I do it all the time and so do people who are not ADD.

Un-medicated I will not even realize I am being distracted, I will simply wander off then blame it on Gary for being a distraction, or yell at him to let me be, which I some times do any way {because he is a distraction} I do not resort to screaming at Gary until I have tried to circumvent the distractions he presents and I have tried ways to remain on coarse If every thing I am doing fails and he continues to be a problem which now requires him to walk behind a curtain and get between me and the computer screen . . .then I tell him "if you want this crap done leave me alone" . . . .Gary is a bit ADD and he doesn't notice I have work forms up or steam coming from my ears so he had to be every so harshly reminded {he doesn't do hints}

You may need to do some mental sight seeing like I did. ADD doesn't go any where medication allow us to have more control over our attention spans but they do not make us not ADD. . . . I am sorry you are finding this out the hard way like I did. I hope you are able to find some thing useful in my response.

I wonder if a lot of stress can also affect the working of meds? I have had quite a stressful time lately fighting a government dept for a low income card to help with my health expenses & it seems to have reduced the effect of my dexamphetamine. Has anyone else had the same sort of thing?

meadd823,

Who is Gary?

I believe that is her husband. :D

Just because you no longer feel the medications does NOT mean they are no longer working. Do not go on feelings go on your ability to function. . . . Some times you have to "will your self to do some thing.



Feeling are fleeting and are not the correct way to tell weather or not the medications work, because the truth is if you take a medication regularly long enough the "feeling" will go away. . . simply because your body has adjusted to the changes they create. How ever be not mistaken by this because the chemical changes still happen even if you no longer feel them .


Good point. I sometimes wonder if my meds are doing anything for me and whether or not I really need to keep taking them. But, I often forget to renew my prescription in a timely manner so I end up going a few days without meds until I get my new prescription filled. Inevitably, during those few days, I am reminded how well the meds ARE, in fact, working and I decide I do need to keep taking them!