New to this.. and need advice

[monster]

Hey! Hate to post another, I'm new and have questions that have already been answered 1000s of times thread but I just thought

I've read all of the material I could dig up on ADD.. medications.. and what all to expect and still haven't found my answers. Although all of it did help me figure out what specifically I want to ask, this forum was a great help as it is a wealth of information on the subject. Thank you a whole lot.. not only the admins deserve thanks but every single member of the forum, because, you guys are the ones that made this place what it is.

I know I'm supposed to feel more stable.. errm.. well you know.. but I just don't see where the target is supposed to be. I have goals in mind I just don't really know if I'm trying to be more like everyone else or just to find my own rythm. I really enjoy certain aspects of myself that are labeled as symptoms of add. I do think all of the time.. I think so much I can't sleep most of the time. Honestly I enjoy thinking all of the time.. Any subject that anyone brings up I've spent many hours of my life thinking about. There is a lot to it that drives me crazy.. and even overwhelms me.. but I've always been this way, it's kind of my home. It's just that lately I've just felt like it's too loud in my head.. even when I'm alone there's too much going on.. it has caused me a lot of frustration.. and I've never been able to slow down at night. Sleep is kind of a hit and miss thing for me.. but I never get very fatigued.. even after multiple nights missed.

The doctor that gave me the proscription is the same doctor that I've seen off and on for my whole life. I've always been very timid about trying medications but now that I've been reading a lot about different things I decided to ask her about ADD. She told me that she always thought I'd had it (I started seeing her around age 8) and gave me this proscription to vyvanse without a whole lot of a discussion about it... she just told me how it will help 'level me out' and discussed how it might make me feel side-effect wise.

I've been taking it for two weeks now and I'm just looking for some advice from someone who maybe has first hand experience managing ADD.. because I don't.. I don't even have a baseline for comparing how I feel. So I don't exactly know where 'normal' would be at if I'm going to be trying to shoot for that. A big thing I'm just looking for is sleep.. and this medication really doesn't seem to be doing much of anything for me so far.

[ToneTone]

Here's the deal: I think you have been poorly served by almost casually getting a prescription from your long-time doctor. I assume this is a general practitioner? ...

GP's know so little about adhd ....Anyway, I would

1.) Find a therapist with experience with adhd
2.) start meeting with the therapist with the immediate goal of defining what you want to keep the same and what about yourself you want to change ...
3.) Find a psychiatrist who knows something about adhd.


good luck!

[monster]

Got the proscription from my psychiatrist.. not a general practitioner. I just live in an area where the nearest doctors are quite a drive to get to.. and it's usually a half-day event just to go talk with someone.. I was just tryin to see if I could get any input from someone with a bit of first hand experience with this.

[Newbie_at_38!]

So, just to clarify, you said the Dr who gave you the prescription is the Dr you've been seeing on and off since age 8 and she told you she had always "thought you had it"? She gives you these meds, without telling you much about it? And she's a psychiatrist?!

It sounds like you're in a tough situation geographically speaking, but your psychiatrist sounds like a very bad fit in treating your ADHD. I am still getting my head around the idea she's been seeing you on and off since age 8, always thought you had it and hadn't said anything to you until you raised it. That just sounds so very wrong.

Anyway, off topic I know, but not entirely. My point in all this is that you need good Drs, who know their way around ADHD supporting you in finding the right medication/s for you. And this Dr doesn't sound like it at all. You shouldn't be having to rely on a forum to help you determine what your mangement plan and goals within it should be. Not that this isn't a great place to come for support and advice. But your Dr should be taking the lead.

I agree with PP. By all means get advice here (sorry I can't assist with that, as I am newly diagnosed and not on any meds yet), but I think you need to find a good professional to work with as well.

All the best.

[ToneTone]

I'm confused as well about why this doctor didn't give you a prescription if she thought all along you had adhd. But I'll push that aside for now.

You're looking at your situation as if you're not sure if it's good or bad. Actually, that' s a conversation you can have with your psychiatrist. Don't at all feel you're being rude or rejecting of the psychiatrist by telling her that you're not sure the med is working. She should then ask you a series of ahd questions to help figure out what's going on.

See your visits as "conversations." Now, a lot of psychiatrists these days are only medication managers, who spend 10 to 15 minutes with patients. If this is the case for you, then definitely you need to find a therapist who can spend 45 to 50 minutes with you each week. This is where you can get answers to your questions. You can ask the psychiatrist for a recommendation/help for finding a counselor who knows adhd.

[monster]

Okay.. so I had written a book pretty much.. and rewrote my post 3 times trying to think of ways to make it shorter and wasn't happy any of the times so I tried to write it shorter but apparantly left out so much that my point didn't even get across.. I didn't really post to discuss anything about my doctor.. I was just looking for input on the other side. Maybe I shouldn't even have mentioned the doctor at all and just left that part out alltogether.

Honestly we talked for a whole hour long session about it.. and I got the meds. I mentioned ADD on the phone before I'd even scheduled the session so it was a full hour of talking about it.. I just wasn't really happy with the amount of information I've gotten on it and figured I'd search around the web for info and stumbled on this place so here we are.

Just a little more info on the doctor.. I was gonna include it originally but thought I was writing too much.. I think we tried meds for add before.. I'm not quite sure. I was fairly young at the time and really don't even know what meds I was taking.. I don't even remember a lot of what I used to talk about with my doctor either.

I do remember that I was pretty scared of medication. I went to a small private school when I was younger for gifted kids. A lot of them were very smart... but I'd say about half of them had some sort of mental problem as well.. I have friends who have schizophrenia.. add.. you name it. All of us being young kids didn't understand a lot of it.. and I had a few friends who didn't like meds.. spit them out when their parents weren't looking. The last thing I wanted when I was younger was to take medication. I even refused novicaine and gas at the dentist and I've had quite a few teeth removed at the dentist w/out anything for the pain. I was a wierd kid..

I do remember for a while I took abilify.. seroquel.. jees and a bunch of different anti-depressants. I've run through just about every sleeping medication out there aside from barbituates (I didn't want anything habit forming). Really.. I've run through more medications than I can even remember if I were to try and make a list.

I had a whole lotta brains as a kid but never really knew how to use most of them.. I ended up with a lot of depression. I medication in the past with a different perspective.. This, well, this is different. Anti-depressants.. I know what I'm looking for.. Same with sleeping medication. Plus I honestly can't really tell you how I thought about things when I was younger.. I do know that I was one screwed up little kid and throwing add medication into the mix of stuff that I ended up taking would have been a hard thing to really gauge the effects of.

I didn't really start this thread looking for responses like "find another doctor" I'm sure this doctor is good enough. She knows a lot about me.. and she knows what she's doing. Seriously.. "a lot of psychiatrists these days are only medication managers, who spend 10 to 15 minutes with patients" This is probably the farthest you could get from the person that I'm talking about. Hell.. I was just looking for help that didn't come with a bill. Last time I talked to the doctor I hadn't been on meds. Now, I have, and I've got more questions. I thought a little bit of insight from people who have gone through the same thing might be helpful.

[Michiko74]

[quote=monster;679158]
I know I'm supposed to feel more stable.. errm.. well you know.. but I just don't see where the target is supposed to be. quote]

In my opinion, medication should lessen your ADHD symptoms so that you're able to do things you couldn't before. If medication isn't making any changes to that, then either you need a stronger dose or a new drug.