Taking meds makes adult with ADD feel like a mental patient

[cualexander]

I am 23 and after having problems all my life I just recently saw a psychiatrist. I thought I was going to go to the psychiatrist and he was going to write me out a little prescription for Adderall and I'd be done with it. Instead, after talking to him for an hour I got Strattera, Prozac and Valium. Taking this cocktail of drugs certainly helps me out a lot, but in some ways it just makes me feel worse because I have to take drugs to make myself be normal. I haven't even told my family I am taking them. There is only one person I have really told about it because I knew she would understand I'm not a mental case. I almost want to give them up entirely because I feel like I should be able to function without them and not have to deal with this stigma that I am a mental patient. Does anyone understand what I'm talking about?

[waywardclam]

I know exactly what you are talking about.

It is a serious blow to the pride for me to consider that I might need drugs to have a normal mind. I take great pride in my mind and the sort of personality I have.

The analogy that helps me most is as follows:

If your eyes couldn't focus, would you not wear glasses?

You have a problem in your brain that makes it difficult for you to focus. The drugs are simply your mental glasses. They don't change you.

[fasttalkingmom]

Good point clam

[pershingd]

Couldn't have said it better myself. It would have only taken me way too long to think of it.

David

[cualexander]

I never really looked at it that way and I wear glasses even... Thats a good analogy. Now if I can just overcome my new found addiction to these forums I'll be in good shape.

[jaimegerise]

Great analogy, clammo!!!

Another thing to remember....there may come a time when you don't even need the meds to help you function "normally".....

I started taking meds when I was at my worst point...and was on them for 2 years....However, the 2 years I was on them allowed for me to be better focused and in that time I was able to learn better coping strategies, reprogrammed my way of thinking about various things, etc....and because I was able to be clear with the meds to gain this new insight....I was able to finally get off of them because I learned how to function properly...the drugs were no longer my crutch.

An analogy for this is high blood pressure patients. Some people with high blood pressure get on HBP meds to help fix the problem...when all they really needed to do was change diet, ex, stress levels, etc. BUT, while they are working on making those things better, they need the medication to control the blood pressure in them meantime. Once they can eat better, and exercise, and relax, etc...they are taken off of the meds....they can control it naturally.

That's just one perspective. Granted, there are some who may never function as they wish without meds, but that's OK. Like clammo said, better to use the meds to help you (glasses to help you see) than to feel like you're in nonstop chaos (have blurred vision and run into da wall )... Or in the case of the blood pressure...some just have defective heart valves or some other major physical defect that causes the high blood pressure and no amount of diet and exercise and meditation helps....they NEED the meds, or else face the consequences.

Just remember to do what works for YOU....don't worry about what other doots think

[gabriela]

totally agree with clam and jaime on this one!

[Garry]

Originally Posted by waywardclam

I know exactly what you are talking about.

It is a serious blow to the pride for me to consider that I might need drugs to have a normal mind. I take great pride in my mind and the sort of personality I have.

In one sence I agree with what your saying in a realalistic point of veiw, as far as a Linear Thinker is concerned.

I also look at it in the sence that I have to take drugs to slow my mind down to a speed that a Linear Thinker can communicate effectively.

The world in general is so wrapped up in "TIME and MONEY" that they don't take the time to smell the flowers , look at the clouds or help a snapping turtle across the road so he wont get run over by a Big Truck.

I feel so sorry for them.

The analogy that helps me most is as follows:

If your eyes couldn't focus, would you not wear glasses?

You have a problem in your brain that makes it difficult for you to focus. The drugs are simply your mental glasses. They don't change you.

This is so true but it is once again back to "Who has the problem"

The 5-6 % of the population that enjoys taking life at a slower pace , or the 94-95 % that don't know how to slow down and enjoy the very essance of life and only know how to enjoy the plastic things of life.

I am also caught in the everyday life where I must (sometimes) {take drugs} to, as Stabile so aptly puts it, "Go into Stealth Mode" , so as to not set off alarms in the Linear Thinker segment of the population.

I really like your annalogy about the glasses Clam, as I can see perfect to drive or distance , but only need them to read.

I do have bi-focals but I hate weraing them becuase everytime my eyes change which part of the lense I'm looking out of, my mind has to refocus also so its like constantly turning of the power to my computer and re-booting.

Back on subject -- I am subject to the same thing right at the moment with my job where thy expect the run to be done in 10 hours regardless of any exterior reasons , (heavy day) or ( not feeling like rushing ) ect:

I know I can do it in the 10 hours working at a quick pace but some times I don't feel like working at a quick pace or when its a paticularly heavy day.

I find if I take 1 of my medication (dexadrine) it gives me a clear mind and I can work at a quick pace , but if I take 2 (10 mg) then I get turbo charged and can go like crazy.

My point is I don't want to take my medication as a physical stimulant (as a upper) just so I can do my job and if that is what is going to be required of me , then I will be looking for a new job.

I have agreed to accepting 10 hours pay if it takes me longer becuase I dont feel like rushing and my boss has agreed as long as I make it to the drop off point by the required time.

Bottom line is " I will only take my medication when I feel it is nessary ", as I have foggy brain , "but not becuse the job requirement is to do the job in 10 Hours.

There is no reason to have it done in 10 hours on most runs as the dump is a private dump of which we have keys, the only reason to do it in 10 hours is that the University Educated Owner has it all calculated out at so many stops, at so long per stop and so many miles . (Linear Thinking at its best)

He has not calculated taking the time to look at the flowers along the way or talk to a customer who just wants to chat or helping a snapping turtle across the road.

[Wheezie]

Originally Posted by Garry Lawton

There is no reason to have it done in 10 hours on most runs as the dump is a private dump of which we have keys, the only reason to do it in 10 hours is that the University Educated Owner has it all calculated out at so many stops, at so long per stop and so many miles . (Linear Thinking at its best)

He has not calculated taking the time to look at the flowers along the way or talk to a customer who just wants to chat or helping a snapping turtle across the road.

I love this post Garry! I can just picture U.E.O. (university-educated owner) being *completely* baffled by the idea that his system is faulty because he failed to calculate the time it takes to help a snapping turtle across a road.

Wonderful!!! I think the really inspiring part is your confidence in yourself. It is so true too, if you're not hurting anyone, and you're getting the job done, why does it matter how long it takes???

Thanks for sharing this slice of your day.

[Mariela]

First of all: What's wrong with being a mental patient? I am.

At the same age you went to a psychiatrist, I went. After having problems all my life, also. I was first diagnosed as bipolar and the doctor prescribed me lithium.



Although I was afraid of what others might think of me when they knew, the feeling of relief was more important to me, and still is. All those years, from childhood to adulthood, that I thought I was a monster and it was all my fault, and now I finally had found the real reason. Knowing that it is not my fault empowers me. Look at the bright side: Now you have an "excuse" to justify some of your errors.



Later, the diagnostic changed to schizoaffective. Then I think I felt the way you feel now, because I started on antipsychotics. And I thought: "This is getting closer to schizofrenia." But now I don't care. I look and act very normal in public and most people don't notice anything wrong with me. If I tell them about my condition, they don't believe it.



The more educated you get on the subject, the more you understand there is nothing to be ashamed of. Also, knowing that some famous people are mentally ill also, like Isaac Newton, which was bipolar, Abraham Lincoln, also bipolar, many actors and actresses, etc. , helps.

[gabriela]

the fact that i'm on concerta doesn't make me feel like a mental patient - not at all!

the fact that - since they do have a (what's the word in english???) "case file" (???) on me at the psychiatric clinic at the local hospital - i feel like i have to convince other (i e non-psychiatric) doctors that i'm really *ill*...

like when i had pneumonia in january - i show up at the er, and when they ask me about what meds i take, i answer "efexor", they start asking me if i'm feeling okay, if my life is better now...


i sometimes feel they'd write my "physical complaints" off as "psychological" even if i showed up with an open hip fracture or something...

[Dsherman]

so far it hasn't made me feel like a mental patient. Maybe because I do like to joke around alot and I keep saying to my wife every day "Time to go take my happy pills again" and we have a good laugh.

[Maurice]

Originally Posted by cualexander

I am 23 and after having problems all my life I just recently saw a psychiatrist. I thought I was going to go to the psychiatrist and he was going to write me out a little prescription for Adderall and I'd be done with it. Instead, after talking to him for an hour I got Strattera, Prozac and Valium. Taking this cocktail of drugs certainly helps me out a lot, but in some ways it just makes me feel worse because I have to take drugs to make myself be normal. I haven't even told my family I am taking them. There is only one person I have really told about it because I knew she would understand I'm not a mental case. I almost want to give them up entirely because I feel like I should be able to function without them and not have to deal with this stigma that I am a mental patient. Does anyone understand what I'm talking about?

I understand that it is immature thinking like what you just talked about is where the "stigma" about "mental patient" comes from. Maurice

[γ-quantum]

i dont know which problems you had / have exactly, but be careful on the valium. unlike the antidepressants (SSRI and NRI) you were prescribed, valium actually is addictive. i guess if you have extreme anxiety or something, it is better to be addicted than to be suffering from that, but i wouldnt take benzodiazepines for longer than a week if it wasnt absolutely nessecary... the withdraw symptoms are about equal to the withdraw symptoms of severe alcohol addiction, which really scares me.

and apart from that... yeah, so what, being a mental patient is like being any other patient, at least to me and with what i have. i wouldnt tell other people in real life at random though... same as i wouldnt tell other people about my thyroid malfunction or hypertension, or... there's just a lot of stuff that other people simple dont need to know, and then there wont be any issues. just my opinion.

[kattsqueen]

Ya could just tell them you are synaptically challenged!!!

Good new though if you can get the adhd treated appropriately perhaps the problems with depression and anxiety may be ameliorated and you wont need the antidepressants and valium...

katts