Celebrating small victories in treatment & diagnosis!

[Hoshi]

Amongst all the struggles we face on the road to a diagnosis and treatment, there are a lot of small victories!

This may seem silly... maybe it is... but it can be such a horrible experience full of questions, anxiety, hellish waiting, and often times doctors, friends, family, or co-workers who give grief or discouragement. It just feels like sometimes you need to celebrate when you get one step closer to successful treatment! You know - something to counteract the lows.

So, anyone have anything to celebrate? An official diagnosis after a long time waiting? Maybe just finding a good doc who understands?

I finally found a psychiatrist who knows about the medication and is willing to work with me on it!! I don't have to live under the scare-tactics and unnecessary monthly drug test of my FNP...and I have a say in my treatment. I'm certainly celebrating!!

[annieoakley]

Originally Posted by Hoshi

Amongst all the struggles we face on the road to a diagnosis and treatment, there are a lot of small victories!

This may seem silly... maybe it is... but it can be such a horrible experience full of questions, anxiety, hellish waiting, and often times doctors, friends, family, or co-workers who give grief or discouragement. It just feels like sometimes you need to celebrate when you get one step closer to successful treatment! You know - something to counteract the lows.

So, anyone have anything to celebrate? An official diagnosis after a long time waiting? Maybe just finding a good doc who understands?

I finally found a psychiatrist who knows about the medication and is willing to work with me on it!! I don't have to live under the scare-tactics and unnecessary monthly drug test of my FNP...and I have a say in my treatment. I'm certainly celebrating!!

what is a FNP?

[Skully]

I am celebrating something that has nothing to do with ADHD but still it is a victory for me. I have Tarsal Tunnel (same thing as carpal tunnel but in your feet) and I found a surgeon in Baltimore Maryland who can actually help me! I have been waiting 10 years to find someone who can help rather than tell me "sorry, you'll just have to live with it. Here, take some pills."

[Hoshi]

Originally Posted by msam76

I am celebrating something that has nothing to do with ADHD but still it is a victory for me. I have Tarsal Tunnel (same thing as carpal tunnel but in your feet) and I found a surgeon in Baltimore Maryland who can actually help me! I have been waiting 10 years to find someone who can help rather than tell me "sorry, you'll just have to live with it. Here, take some pills."

Ouch, that sounds painful. Congrats on finding the surgeon!! Also, lol @ your sig. That's awesome.


annieoakley: FNP = Family Nurse Practitioner

[kattsqueen]

with the help of this forum and the wonderful people and information i have found i am once again going to get the help i need..

11 years ago when i was having my son evaluated for adhd along with depression I had my first light bulb moment... thats me too!!! Except the hyper part.

Light bulb number two my teenage daughter then 18 (already attempted suicide twice and been hospitalised several times too that was her too!!)

within two months we were all diagnosed and happily cruising around on our adderal i supervised my sons meds, but since my daughter was 18 turned that responsibility to her...

in two months my son who was six foot tall and had gone from 110 skinny pounds ( in the middle of the growth spurt) to 100 lbs needless he wasnt happy and neither was i..
also he didnt care for the way he felt... so off he came

a month later after my daughter finally experience a full blown psychotic break she was taken off also..(I should have handled the meds my mistake) she was off too.

not even a month later even though i felt calm and was able to focus and not feel like a loser blood pressure spiked severlly and I was off too...

Can you imagine being 42 years old with a severly depressed daughter a son who was showing the same signs as his sister and finally we have our answers only to have it all taken away with no alternatives for me or my daughter..

My son was by choice...he is now being evaluated again soon and will be trying again (again by his choice) Yay!!

I pretty much had given up hope for my self till I came here and found all the information about non stimulant meds and other alternatives (thank goodness my brother had given me his old computre)

By coming here i found out about dopamine levels and the part it plays in add
fibromyalgia,chronic fatique, depression and anxiety.

Everyone of the above named disorders were mine and in my record///

by coming here it got me interested in exploring my options...
I have found that some rhuematologists are now treating fibromyalgia with you guessed it stimulants!

Guess what else sometimes chronic fatique can be treated with stimulants?

Depression can sometimes be treated with stimulants, and if you have add it can also be treated with stimulants (or perhaps a dopamine reuptake inhibitor, or a parkinsons type medication that also addresses dopamine) strattera perhaps

its is only coming here and checking out the information and links left by some very caring persons at this sight That ive come to the conclusion there may be help for my chronic fatique, depression,anxiety and concentration and memory problems available and it may all be taken care of by the treating of only one symptom
the attention deficit disorder? (oops for got about the chronic pain of the fibromyalgia)

and by getting interested insearching for the answers here and other related searchs I have found a clinic about 70 miles away that treats and diagnoses fibromyalgia, chronic fatique, and attention deficit...the web sight says one to two weeks for the initial appointmet.. tomorrow my son is coming out here and we are both going to talk to the clinic and set up appointments...

I left a job i loved in 1991 due to chronic pain fatique inability to concentrate start and finish my work and extreme anxiety...
now 18 years later and I may finally have the answer?

youd never believer where i worked. I worked at community mental health services as a qmrp (qualified mental retardation professional) I had originally wanted to work in the mI division...

I was well liked there but just could not keep up with the work...executive function disorder) after two times requesting time off due to severe depression and stress primarily brought on by inability to take care of the small stuff... I quit and filed for disability which i was given..

a career out the door due to a little pill icould have been taking two or three times a day?

Granted, back in 1991 inattentive- add did not exist id been diagnosed and treated( ineffectively) for all the others by then . I certainly couldnt blame the psydocs the rhuematologists et al.

I do believe it is imperative that the psydocs really understand the devastation these conditions can have on a person and not write it off to modern culture or what ever!! Minds are being opened and solutions are becoming available just wish it hadnt taken so long for me

Thank you all, sorry about the chapter and verse here

katts

[selby]

Every time I find out that something helps, or doesn't, it's a small victory. I found out that, for me, Concerta is way too harsh and just gave me a huge headache. Dexedrine showed promise at first, but later the rebound just made me terribly depressed. Now I'm on Adderall which seems more mild than either of those, which I like so far, and Wellbutrin. Been on it for a week, waiting for it to really kick in...

I have heard that l-tyrosine helps, but also that it's been linked to skin cancer?? I've found that exercise really helps as does a diet with a lot of protein. I'm still looking for an ADD treatment that won't make me depressed or angry at every little thing, hope I find it soon..