I found this forum a few weeks ago and joined today. I've struggled with ADHD symptoms all my life, I'm 29 now, and tried a prescription for ADHD several months ago which didn't work out so well, but I'm currently giving it another try (Strattera, side effects suck – nausea, sleepy, dizziness, and chill bumps, which don’t suck but are just there). I've been using marijuana for the last year and a half (I’d used casually when I was younger, but hadn’t since I was 19). In this time, I feel it has helped a lot, but at the same time, I'm uncomfortable depending on a substance (that's illegal, no less), to remain functional.

Anyhow, I did quit for a while when seeing a counselor, but after having been off it for nearly three months, I decided after making up a list of pros and cons (Basically, disorganization got really bad, I got way behind on housework, got behind in schoolwork, and gained 15lbs after having made great strides in weight loss, and my sex drive is nil without it) and talking with my husband, to start again, and quit seeing the counselor.

So it's been about six months since then, and things are good. I smoke about three or four times a week in the evenings, and do my 'stoned' thing, which is clean the house like crazy, exercise like crazy, work on math, plan out projects, write and brainstorm on my book, and organize things and have some ‘quality’ time with my husband. Three months ago, I started waking up with lung pain, and realizing I had to quit smoking something. I stopped smoking cigarettes (yay! I'd tried for years to do that), and the lung issue cleared up. Since I started smoking marijuana eighteen months ago I’ve lost 75lbs (have about 25 to go to my ‘ideal’ weight and a size 8). The only ‘problem’ I see is that it’s illegal, and as I plan on going into a professional field once I’m done with school, it would cause problems if I ever get caught (which, as I only do it at home and in the evening, won’t likely happen).

Anyway, I could see marijuana being used to treat ADHD the way I react to it (which is different from how most people seem to), but alas, I’m not in a state that allows medical marijuana.

Has anyone else had an experience like this or have thoughts on this? I wasn’t sure whether or not to post here or to the substance abuse/dependence board, but since my usage is more about alleviating the ADHD I figured I’d post here (or maybe it’s just that I do so much activity and creative thinking, I can make up for days of disorganization in a few hours?). I did mention the marijuana when I started the Strattera to my doc, but he seemed to dismiss the way it alleviated the symptoms as me just wanting to be high, I think.

Anyway, last time I tried the Strattera, it worked great for about six weeks, then tapered off to nothing, and the side effects got too much to handle even after I’d quit drinking coffee thinking that was exacerbating the stomach symptoms. My doctor says that with stimulant medication, he’d want me to make an office visit every month for an EKG and other tests, which seemed a little extreme and too expensive.