I had my final appointment with my psychologist and he diagnosed me with Inattentive ADD. He sent his report to my doc and now I have an appointment scheduled with him Monday regarding medication options. However, I get on this board and it seems that Adderall is making a lot of people miserable and they're trying to quit.

I really need the help because juggling a home, career, social life, and school is near impossible. My psychologist said medication is the most effective way to treat the disorder, but i don't want to create a problem that I'll have to deal with a year or two from now.

Any Advice.

There are some posters who have trouble with Adderall, but there are a lot that have had good luck with it. Personally, I've been taking 25mg of Adderall xr for about 4 months and within the last 3 weeks added a 20mg IR booster of Adderall to be taken at noon. Honestly, I think the med is wonderful. I wish I would have been diagnosed sooner in my life. I think a lot of my anxiety has been related to not being treated for this condition. The best way to describe the feeling with the medication is all the "background" noise in your thoughts disappears. You can focus, pay attention, comprehend, and form your thoughts so much easier, things aren't so clouded. I would highly recommend the drug, recommend taking it as directed by your doctor, and starting on a low dose of the medication as well. Some people post having all kinds of weird side affects, ie..hallucinations, heart palpitaiton, severe anxiety, etc... I talked with my doctor about this, he said they were started on too high of a dose. Hope this helps.

My psychologist said that it would even help me pay bills on time. For whatever reason, I'll think about and just not do it. To combat this I have set up a lot of my bills to be automatically deducted from my account. It has nothing to do with not having the money.

For example, I wont pay my cell or cable until they actually call, and then I'll pay the balance in full over the phone. Once, I had a bill collector call about a credit card I had in college. I payed right then over the phone and now the payment doesn't appear on my credit report.

I need to get better organized and not have these silly problems. I'm trying to understand how a drug is going to help me fix these types of issues.

If you're newly diagnosed its "hit or miss" time with your treatment in regards to medications.

There are different types of medications for ADD ADHD. You'll likely be prescribed one drug at a low dosage with directions to increase the dose every few days or so. Stay in accordance to your doctors instructions, and never deviate. Please dont take more than recommended. If you feel the need to, call your doctor for advice. Tolerance and effectiveness will be discussed at your next dr appointment...and if it seems to be doing ok you will remain on that dosage. If it seems to initially work well, but recently has not, then another dose increase or an afternoon dose "booster" might be in order..if you don't like the effect at all, then another type of medication will be suggested and experimented with...it's frustrating at times, but worth it in order to find the medication and dosing schedule thats just right for you. Communication and honesty with your doctor is key. always state any and all side effects you've experienced with the drug..(to prevent forgeting i always kept a drug journal)

be preparred, you're in for quite a journey..but the outcome will prove beneficial i assure you.

Bessie, your absolutely right, I could not have said it better myself. Keeping in contact with your doctor and taking the med AS PRESCRIBED is the two most important things I can stress. Good Luck.

I'm far to scared of the consequences to not proceed cautiously. Do you all think the meds will help with the things I mentioned above (like paying bills on time). I know for a fact that my pdoc prescribed adderall to one of my employee's son in law. I assume he'd likely go that same route for me. What are your thoughts?

mlc2656,

Everybody's response to these medications is unique. Honestly, up until about 6 months ago, when my son was diagnosed with ADHD, I thought the whole ADHD thing was a joke. My son being diagnosed is what set me on my path of looking into myself and the struggles I went through. My eyes have been opened.

From what you've written in this post you obviously feel like something isn't right, like something is "a miss". I would talk with your doctor, go with what he prescribes you, take the medication as prescribed, research and educate yourself about your condition, and read on this forum about other's experiences if in fact you are diagnosed with ADD/ADHD.

Go for it and good luck.

I've been on Vyvanse (30 mg) for the past year and a half and I've found this medication perfect for my life (21, college, ADHD/ADD combo). In the past 5 years since I've been diagnosed I've been on Ritalin and Adderal XR. They both decreased my appetite and made me nauseous in the mornings (Ritalin not as bad as Adderal). Also I felt like I was taking drugs to make me "normal". They changed my personality and mood to the point where I began to miss who I used to be. I switched to Vyvanse which is waaaay better. It feels a lot less intense than Ritalin or Adderal--I don't get really any bad side effects. Also it lasts for I think 12-14 hours or something and there's no crash or feelings of coming down. Vyvanse works really well for me but I probably won't take it anymore when I get out of school and my life becomes less demanding (I'm really hoping that happens). Good luck in finding something that works for you :)

Adderall has worked well for me for years. Recently a little less effective, but still good. Low side effects. I take 60 mg a day of IR. I would not want the Extended versions.

The side effects for me have been basically no appetite and have lost a lot of weight. Which I don't mind. But i have to make myself eat still, in order to get not to skinny and to maintain energy.

The main problem with stimulants is that they can cause you to not eat or sleep. You HAVE to eat enough to get the nutrition you need, even if you have to force yourself, and make sure you time your last dose early enough so that you can sleep at night. Like, if I was starting out I wouldn't take a dose after 3 pm.

The worst is when you get into a viscious cycle of taking it to stay up late, then sleeping only a couple hours, then taking it to get up in the morning. And not eating . Your energy stores will be depleted and you'll be fatigued and exhausted.

This is not because of the drug itself, it is because you are not taking it correctly. Anyone not eating or sleeping is going to get exhausted and run down, even without taking meds.

Being cautious is normal. However, if you don't try Adderall or any other drug you'll be cutting yourself short of the benefits. Biochemically, we react to drugs differently. One drug might work well for some and others may cause horrible adverse effects. It's a trial and error game that you have to play in order to find a suitable medication. Being scared will only exacerbate anxiety and that will only deter the beneficial effects of the drug. Be calm about it and have some faith in yourself and the drug.

Good Luck.