Quote:
Originally Posted by beeutterfly
Hi everyone. A bit of history:
I was diagnosed with ADHD in my late twenties (now 33) and have been on and off, mostly on, stimulant medication since. Earlier this year I started off-label clonidine (technically a blood pressure medication) three times a day to help with the impulsiveness of Concerta, the medication I've found the most success with & have taken for years. Over the last few months I've acknowledged the things I've been feeling, like anxiety and aggravation, can be attributed to Concerta, so I went down to 27mg. I've been fighting pneumonia for a month and for many days took prednisone, which combined with Concerta caused mania-like feelings/symptoms (I'm also bipolar). I discontinued the Concerta while taking the prednisone, because really, I need to breathe more than be focused. I've been done with the steroids for nearly a week and haven't been taking Concerta. I've noticed that I'm a bit spacey, distractable, bouncy, but I'm also not crabby, anxious, irritable, etc. I've taken Ritalin twice since, but noticed the same, nasty feelings I had when on Concerta daily.
So, it seems the benefits do not outweigh negatives and I'm going to stay off of stimulant medication. I'm super sensitive to medication side effects, this is observable from other meds I've taken, as well. Do you all have any suggestions as to how I can treat my ADHD symptoms without medication? I work part-time and go to school full-time, so having focus and being able to concentrate are very important! I also do not drink caffeine due to migraines. TIA!  |
I don't know if I can be much help to you, but here's my take. I am 52 and was not diagnosed with ADHD until I was 40. By that time, frankly, it seemed like a moot point to me, but I did try stimulants for a while. In the end, I decided I liked sleeping and eating more than I liked being focused and organized, so I stopped the meds and haven't touched them since.
I cope by knowing what I'm good at and what I'm not. For instance, I do not try to keep track of any important papers, like birth certificates, social security cards, etc. because I will put them somewhere where I think I will be able to find them easily, and never see them again. However, I am the master of hyper-focus, which is what got me through college and gets me through work now.
I was helped more by reading a book called "The Edison Gene, the Gift of the Hunter Child" than any drug or therapy I've tried simply by helping me to understand what it really meant to have ADHD and that it was more of an ancient survival mechanism than a disorder.
WW