Hi,

Just wanted to know to what degree that medication for ADD affected one's ability to concentrate? I'm going to a psychiatrist on Tuesday to determine whether or not I have ADD (I think that I do!) and wondered to what extent does medication help you focus? From anything I've ever read on ADD/ADHD, it appears to be a lifelong condition. What really sucks (I think it's kinda tragic) is that it didn't really occur to me, until recently, that I might have this problem (I'm 31 now!)


Jason

On Concerta (methylphenidate), all I could concentrate on was how crappy I felt and how badly I wanted it out of my system (it's 12hr time released *shudder*).

Adderall gives me an amazing amount of focus. Works really well. Unfortunately, I had enough uncomfortable side effects that I couldn't take it daily and the generic IR only lasted a couple hours for me.

So far, Dexedrine seems like a nice compromise for me. I don't feel as driven as with Adderall but I am able to focus more than usual and don't get a laundry list of unpleasant side effects.
I'd say it's like Adderall "made" me do things and Dexedrine "allows" me to do things.

Those are the only ones I have experience with. And of course, these meds affect everyone differently.

Unfortunately, I don't think you really can get an idea of what works from other people. Each type of medication is different for each person. One person could feel extremely focused on Adderall while another may not feel a thing and also have some bad physical side effects. You just have to be willing to "shop around." Also, a doctor can't really talk to you and then get a very good idea of what is going to work for you in particular. Again, you just have to try them out and try not to get frustrated if the first few don't work how you want them to. Good luck!

Thanks....I've been on Paxil for several years as an anti-depressant, so I guess, at some point, I will have to switch to some other medication...not Ritalin, though. Tried that many years ago and my heart started beating too fast!

I'm a newbie to this too. They don't help you concentrate as it sounds. For example, I can't concentrate because I have so many things in my head that when something is not as interesting as the other things around at that moment those thoughts start taking over what you're doing. I make relations of many things until I end up completely lost for several minutes. With meds I've felt that everything gets almost completely quiet; in other words I'm not thinking in so many things at the same time and can stay focused on less things and in a better way. I still have everything else though.

^ I use the word 'mental noise' to describe it, its like the loudness of all the thoughts is kinda dimmed.

Are you able to sit and read text book type material without getting bored?

Are you able to sit and read text book type material without getting bored?
I wouldn't say "not bored" but I can say that with Adderall I was able to get through textbook material without getting stuck reading the same sentence over and over or simply not absorbing any of the information because of the noise.

I'm not sure about that particular task with Dexedrine yet because I'm on break and just started it. I'm hopeful though.

I think that medications are 50% of the battle. Behavior is the other 50%. You have to be willing to change certain habits along with taking the medication on a regular basis.