ahains - Redmond, WA

[ahains]

Hi all,
My name is Adrian.
I'm a 29 year old male, and was just diagnosed as ADD inattentive.
I took an ADD quiz, and it was like reading a description of myself
I never had the hyperactive behavior, only the inattentive symptoms.

I'm married of 3 years, and have an absolutely amazing 21 month old daughter.
My brief history is like:
-bored in elementary school, daydreamed a lot
-bored in middle school, daydreamed a lot
-bored in high school, daydreamed a lot - holy cow this gets you bad grades!
-skipped a lot of college to kick a hackey sack and smoke pot
-dropped out of college and got a job selling event tickets over the phone
-got a job doing windows 95 tech support
-got a job doing software testing, where I have remained for the last 8 years

I have had a serious coffee and pot addiction, kicking the latter about 2 years ago. I still indulge in the former quite extensively, and now see this is probably somewhat just an attempt to medicate myself. I roast my own coffee beans, and drink straight shots of espresso that I make in my office

As for medication:
Tried 2 weeks of provigil, and didn't find it much help.
Currently on my second week of ritalin, 20mg long acting, and not finding it much help.
Hoping to next try either a higher dosage of ritalin, or else dexedrine or adderall.

Welp that's about it for me.
Glad to have found the site, it is very useful already!
Take care all,
Adrian

[Andrew]

Welcome to the ADD Forums, Adrian

[aneededchange]

Welcome to the forum!

I hope you find something that works for you ....

[Draga]

Welcome 2 the forums, Shugga. Nice to meet ya

[clawless]

Hello and welcome to the forum Adrian

[Swamp Donkey]

bored in elementary school, daydreamed a lot
-bored in middle school, daydreamed a lot
-bored in high school, daydreamed a lot

LOL!
The clearest memory I have of first grade is the teacher always saying that I stared at the ceiling so hard I was going to stare a hole in it, and the next time it rained I would get wet.

Yeah, I was bored.

Welcome!

PS, Is the coffee ready, yet?

[charlie]

Welcome to ADD FOrums Adrian!

I'd like to direct your attention to the wonderful search function on the upper right of each page. My favorite is to go to advanced search and click on the show posts button.

Quick notes that took me a while to find; calendar link above shows chat times and the bottom of each page as you scroll past the quick reply field are topics of similar interests that you might be interested in.

Read, search any words, topics, or questions that may interest you, and please POST!

[ahains]

Charlie- Thanks, I have already found some great threads from searching around. My favorites so far:

Magnesium to mitigate tolerance - http://www.addforums.com/forums/show...sium+tolerance

Taking baking soda / antacid, and avoiding acidic food/drink to boost absorption - http://www.addforums.com/forums/show...oda+absorption
(this was a good tip for me since I was drinking coffee right after my ritalin dosage)

Lead in calcium - http://www.addforums.com/forums/show...t=lead+calcium

Jonathan- Thanks for the welcome
The coffee is in fact ready, my medication log for today thus far:
6:30am: 20mg la ritalin
9:15am: (3) double espressos

Thanks everyone else for the warm welcome

-Adrian

[Tara]

Welcome to ADD Forums!!!

[tractor1]

welcome, I am also in the NW (OR). Have been treated for about 2 years, am 44 , married, 4 kids. Have tried lots of meds, have learned a lot about treatment, this site is great, the best I have found. Educate yourself about meds so you can educate your doc. They usually start low dose, as yours has, and not frequent enough, as yours has. Good luck

[ahains]

Tractor1 - I have to agree with you regarding the medication.
I have now moved to two LA Ritalin doses each day, and this is a marked improvement.
I get up at 5am, often workout, and get to work around 6 or 7am. I had home at 4pm, so I'm here for 9 or 10 hours. The LA ritalin is supposed to be good for 8 hours, but the beginning and end don't do a ton for me. What seems to work decent for me is to take one around 6am, and then a second around noon. I seem to go to sleep well around 9:30pm.
I do find that this isn't really enough for me, but if I down three double espressos in the morning, and 2 or 3 in the afternoon, I really have good energy and motivation.

This morning I was really feeling like my job was drudgery. I finally drank my espressos and 15 minutes later I feel like I have the best job in the world! It's amazing what a difference it makes. Night and day.

I kind of want to go to normal Ritalin so I can adjust the dosage more throughout the day. If I recall correctly, my health insurance will only cover a generic medicine if there is one available. My reading here about generic's has made me wary of them. There is no generic long acting Ritalin, so they happily cover this 100% (praise God that I have awesome health insurance).

Actually maybe I can just increase my morning dosage? I'll have to ask my doctor about this. I think maybe 30mg LA in the morning and 20mg LA in the afternoon might be perfect for me. Hopefully I can get a mixed prescription like that.. I don't see any reason why not.

Take care all, and happy new year!
-Adrian

[ahains]

Just in case you're curious for medication/weight ratio - I'm 6'1" and 240lbs.
I've lost about 50 pounds in the last year or so, and just got back on weight watchers yesterday after the holidays
It will be interesting to see if I need less as my total weight approaches 200lbs.
I'm lifting weights, so lean body mass will increase.

I don't know if total weight or lean body mass matters more for medication/weight ratio. It will be interesting to see.

[Pam In Pearland]

Welcome Adrian! I also have just been dx with inattentive type. I had to laugh when I read about you being bored in school. My favorite thing was to read, and get lost in a library book tucked inside my notebook. Boy did I get a whaling for that) My first med has been Strattera and it has not done anything except keep me up, make me have hot flashes and be constipated. Not a nice combination at all. This is a wonderful forum and I am so happy I found it. Good luck.