newly diagnosed with ADD, looking for opinions

[adamj]

I am a 24 year old male and was diagnosed with ADD about a month ago. Since then I have gone on an emotional roller coaster with different medications.

I have an existing diagnosis of depression and anxiety/social anxiety, all of which i took 75 mg of effexor xr for for years..... It did a good job with the depression but my social anxiety was still pretty bad.

Initially i was given generic ritalin and generic adderall. I was told to try each by itself for 1 week at a time and report back to see how well things went.

Day 1 on ritalin, 20 mg, 3 times a day. Everything was amazing, My social anxiety had completely disappeared and I was able to easily interact with anyone. I was able to pay attention to every conversation, my mind didnt wander, I could carry on conversations easily without interrupting people, etc...

The rest of the week was similar in the positive aspects, but I started to have panic attacks, heart palpitations, increased blood pressure, and increased sweating.

The next week I tried 20 mg of adderall, twice a day. The adderall initially had a slight positive affect on my ADD but not as great an affect as ritalin did. The next day I increased my dose to 30 mg twice a day and for some reason there was less of a positive affect on my ADD, but I began to get all the same negatives from the ritalin.

Next appointment with my psychiatrist she switched me from effexor xr to pristiq 50 mg to try and curb my anxiety.

I have been taking 50 mg pristiq and 3x 20 mg ritalin every day for the past 2.5 weeks and every day seems to be a little different.

Every day I have anxiety in varying amounts and usually later in the afternoon. My hands and armpits are always really sweaty, which is very annoying. On random days I will feel really withdrawn, and/or depressed. I think I can say my ADD symptoms are usually about 75% relieved every day.

Before starting on ADD medication I did not have this much anxiety, the random withdrawn or depressed feelings, nor did I perspire anywhere near as much.

I read that brand name ritalin is a LOT different and possibly better than its generic alternatives, I ran this by my psychiatrist and she didn't agree.

Should I continue to take the 3x20mg generic ritalin and the pristiq every day, and just wait for my body to become accustomed to it (will it become accustomed to it?), or should I try some other type of treatment? I really want to curb these side affects as the ADD medication is making life a lot easier.


Thanks for reading this and sharing your thoughts.

[ginniebean]

Originally Posted by adamj

I am a 24 year old male and was diagnosed with ADD about a month ago. Since then I have gone on an emotional roller coaster with different medications.

I have an existing diagnosis of depression and anxiety/social anxiety, all of which i took 75 mg of effexor xr for for years..... It did a good job with the depression but my social anxiety was still pretty bad.

Initially i was given generic ritalin and generic adderall. I was told to try each by itself for 1 week at a time and report back to see how well things went.

Day 1 on ritalin, 20 mg, 3 times a day. Everything was amazing, My social anxiety had completely disappeared and I was able to easily interact with anyone. I was able to pay attention to every conversation, my mind didnt wander, I could carry on conversations easily without interrupting people, etc...

Holy way not to titrate batman! I don't get it, why would anyone go from 0-60 in ONE DAY??? It's not the least bit surprising that you got anxiety. It actually doesn't mean it doesn't work for you, it does mean, wow wacked amount before you had a chance to acclimate.

The next week I tried 20 mg of adderall, twice a day. The adderall initially had a slight positive affect on my ADD but not as great an affect as ritalin did. The next day I increased my dose to 30 mg twice a day and for some reason there was less of a positive affect on my ADD, but I began to get all the same negatives from the ritalin.

See above!

Next appointment with my psychiatrist she switched me from effexor xr to pristiq 50 mg to try and curb my anxiety.

I have been taking 50 mg pristiq and 3x 20 mg ritalin every day for the past 2.5 weeks and every day seems to be a little different.

Every day I have anxiety in varying amounts and usually later in the afternoon. My hands and armpits are always really sweaty, which is very annoying. On random days I will feel really withdrawn, and/or depressed. I think I can say my ADD symptoms are usually about 75% relieved every day.

Before starting on ADD medication I did not have this much anxiety, the random withdrawn or depressed feelings, nor did I perspire anywhere near as much.

I read that brand name ritalin is a LOT different and possibly better than its generic alternatives, I ran this by my psychiatrist and she didn't agree.

Should I continue to take the 3x20mg generic ritalin and the pristiq every day, and just wait for my body to become accustomed to it (will it become accustomed to it?), or should I try some other type of treatment? I really want to curb these side affects as the ADD medication is making life a lot easier.


Thanks for reading this and sharing your thoughts.

Consider, taking much much less.. it's your body! google titrating adhd drugs. Maybe you need to consider starting over from scratch... I don't know.. this just doesn't sound right to me.

[Diane 1986]

Originally Posted by ginniebean

Holy way not to titrate batman!

HA! Also, excellent point.

The only thing I can add is that CertainDri does wonders for the excessive sweating.