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Originally Posted by Lauliza
I've always felt like I'm in a fog! I went through my entire childhood with ADD Inattentive type and was never diagnosed until 5 years ago (at 38) I often wonder how differerent my life would have been had I been treated for this years ago. But I've never heard the term Sluggish Cognitive Tempo. Is used to describe the processing difficulties associated with ADD? While I was always considered bright, on many things I was (and still am) one step behind everyone. I see it now with my son, and the reactions of his teachers are so frustrating. Things just don't occur to him like they do other kids, and he needs to be prompted for a lot of things. He tends to be accused of laziness much of the time and I will admit, that is how it appears on the surface. I find Adderall to be immensely helpful, but don't want to become dependent. I've never heard of Vyvanese. Is it also a stimulant?
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This is true for me as well. Vyvanse is Shire Pharmaceutical's newer stimulant medication that is very similar to Adderall. It's a pure mixture of dextroamphetamine, whereas Adderall contains ~75% dextro and ~25% levoamphetamine.
SCT isn't really a diagnosis because most of the symptoms fall under inattentive ADD, and treatment would be similar. "Laziness" is seen in both kinds of ADHD, whether it's hyperactive or just inattentive, but it's manifested differently. Inattentive ADD manifests its "laziness" by a wandering mind, lethargy, procrastination, lack of order, and I'm sure you could name some more. But the hyperactive subtype wouldn't as often be called "lazy" because his "laziness" is manifested through physical stimulation, accomplishing the same ends: distraction, wandering mind, procrastination...
One thing to remember is that AD/HD has no correlation to intelligence. It can impair a person's ability to succeed in a standardized system that is tailored to the non-ADHD mind, but this does not make him or her less intelligent. Thus, we must rely on medication and therapy in order to help us adapt to a system that is fundamentally working against us.
Many people have concerns with dependence, but the way I see it, someone who wears glasses is dependent on those in order to function the way they should, so what is the problem with being dependent on medication in order to function the way we need to? If it improves our quality of life, then I see no problem in becoming dependent on medication.