http://www.addforums.com/forums/images/icons/icon5.gif Re: Student....pre-nursing student, college, please HELP!


<HR style="COLOR: #d1d1e1" SIZE=1><!-- / icon and title --><!-- message -->I have been on generic Ritalin for about the past 2 1/2 months, with a 8 mo. "holiday" from stimulants, which I used to take Ritalin XR which seemed to work better for me. Lately, I have been having troubles with the short acting medicine wearing off and the feelings I get 3-4x/day of the "crash" irritability, no motivation etc...I am also on Wellbutrin XR 150 mg/ day for depression, which has helped to somewhat lift (and the sunshine helps.):) Clonazepam 1-2mg/ day taken as needed, for anxiety. Dr. wants me also to take Abilify for a mood-stabilizer. Have been doing so, but 3 out of the 4 meds above list rash, hives, itching as side effects...and I was just starting to feel better until about a week ago when my beautician (just a split-end trim) noticed a red rash on the back of my head.

Also have had a rash on my head that itches, and lately more of my body. So I called my Dr. to let her know about these recent symptoms, as today was really bad! Just to have no call back at all! Not even the pharmacist could be of help. I am sooo irritated I could just scream! :mad: Esp. since I will be starting college again, tomorrow. (Which I have considered some of it to possibly be nerves, because of school.) And I have had to withdraw a couple of quarters, due to non regulation of my medications...and after reading most of the day today, I find that all my meds could cause a rash and or itching!!!

Anyone else having similar problems?? I keep seeing more pos. forums about the Adderall, than I do the Ritalin. :confused: Knowing people are affected differently, but wondering if I might get some help here from others that were on Ritalin and switched to Adderall or Concerta long acting or ? and may also have co-morbid conditions such as Depression and Anxiety?

Please Help! Thank you in advance.:rolleyes:

My son has tried concerta, ritalin, adderall, adderall xr, focalin & most recently vyvanse. Concerta & ritalin supressed his appetite to the point where he lost 15 lbs in jr high when all of his buddies were gaining weight- that didn't work. Adderall & xr were better w/the appetite thing but he was an emotional wreck when they'd wear off, crying if I like couldn't make him a pizza or something. Focalin was semi-effective but kept him up all night long & he'd be waking up for school on 3 hrs of sleep. Vyvanse was a nightmare-- did it's job keeping him focused but again he'd be up all night, couldn't sleep & he became very aggressive on it. He's now on nothing for add but started taking abilify (10 mg) @ night & that's really helping his moods. He's diag. as adhd & non-spec mood disorder... the doc said we'll start him on strattera in a few weeks once the abilify has had a chance to build up in his body. I'd definitely discuss w/the doc-- you might have success on the vyvanse- I've generally heard good things about it on the forums here.

any update on how the abilify is working for your son? did it help his add at all?

also since you had problems with many medications i was wondering why you would consider adding another medication on so quickly to something that seemed to be helping

just got my bipolar diagnosis from my physician after years of knowing it anyway. The clincher was a major depressive episode which nearly resulted in a suicide attempt. So now I'm on abilify and effexor (he wants to take me off effexor as soon as he feels comfortable). I'm also taking stratterra for the adhd. I am feeling better. Have not flown off a mountain or had a crash since then, feel more stable than i have in a long time and can now realize just how seriously I have been mood swinging for a couple of years.

The problem is that now I feel like I'm walking around in a fog. I'm on pretty low doses, but still usually feel like I just want to lie down. Is this normal for this combo? Will it go away. I'm trying different times for them. I don't know how long i can stay on them if I'm like this.

I think its important to understand that most bipolar people do not take their meds. While some people may see this as a failure on the part of the bipolar people i really think this is a failure on the part of the medical community to offer them medications that actually work without unbearable side effects.

Also it is because the main concern of most treatments for bipolar is to start by taking away the highs. The are so very concerned with anything that might possibly trigger a high and so much less concerned with anything to help prevent lows.



the highs make the lows bearable, without the highs my average mood is much lower.

maybe see if you can get an increase in the adhd meds to counteract the tiredness.

may also be a good idea to find an bipolar forum to post this question on. there are many forums for bipolar that have lots of activity.

I think its important to understand that most bipolar people do not take their meds. While some people may see this as a failure on the part of the bipolar people i really think this is a failure on the part of the medical community to offer them medications that actually work without unbearable side effects.

Also it is because the main concern of most treatments for bipolar is to start by taking away the highs. The are so very concerned with anything that might possibly trigger a high and so much less concerned with anything to help prevent lows.



the highs make the lows bearable, without the highs my average mood is much lower.

maybe see if you can get an increase in the adhd meds to counteract the tiredness.

may also be a good idea to find an bipolar forum to post this question on. there are many forums for bipolar that have lots of activity.

I agree with everything except the highs making the lows more barrable. My hypo manic phase tends to produce even more hell than the depression..

Ourdestiny: How are you doing now?

I think its important to understand that most bipolar people do not take their meds. While some people may see this as a failure on the part of the bipolar people i really think this is a failure on the part of the medical community to offer them medications that actually work without unbearable side effects.

Thanks so much for voicing this!!! I think a lot of MD's loose sight of the fact that they are treating a human being rather than a constellation of symptoms. I used to have a really hard time understanding why/how people stopped taking their medication until I saw people suffer.

Is it really crazy to stop a medication that causes such severe brain fog that reading becomes impossible and causes someone to gain 50 lbs?

[I take this somewhat personally because I'm a behavioural pharmacologist by training, and really think we need to develop better drugs or at least figure out what makes the drugs work so we can make better ones with fewer side effects!]