Saw my old pdoc got adderal XR and remeron

Hey

Well I finally saw my old pdoc. He is so great! He prescribed 10 mg adderall XR(generic) and 15 mg mirtazapine (remeron) at night for sleep.

I am kinda afraid of both meds as far as side effects. I'll be cutting down on the trazodone until it's gone as it makes me drowsy all day on 200 mg. I hope I sleep tonight.

ADHD
MDD
GAD

Adderall XR 10 mg Qam
Remeron 15 mg HS
Clonazepam 1mg BID

Well I woke up!

I took 100 mg of trazodone (I/2 previous dose) (in case the 15 mg of mirtazapine didn't work). Also, melatonin..... I am a bear to get to sleep.

It took about a little over an hour to get sleepy. I went straight to bed and slept. I woke up a few times but was able to go back to sleep. In the morning, I slept a little later and I am hung over. I took the Adderall XR as soon as I woke up. One time a day dosing. I hope this combo works for:

low motivation
loss of interest in activities
ADHD hyperactivity and impulsivity

current psychotropic meds:

mirtazapine 15 mg HS
melatonin HS
Adderall XR 10 mg
clonazepam 1mg BID

Info for anyone trying new ADHD meds. I want to keep you posted on how the Adderall XR is working.

Sorry, I misspelled Adderall in my main topic line

To update being on Adderall and remeron. I have found out that stimulants are not the right meds for my ADHD type. I must have learned how to hyper focus as a coping mechanism throughout life. I believe I fit the hyper focus, over thinking and over analyzing subset of ADHD. I don't know if all of you like Dr. Amen's work or not. I agree with some of his work but not all of it.

He talks about 6 subsets of ADHD and I believe I fit into the hyper focus group. I think this is the only way I got through school.

My first two days on 10 mg of Adderall XR was not without difficulty. I had some good things happen like FOCUS but, way too much of it. I seem to have problems shifting my focus and I stay on one thing until I almost exhaust myself. Adderall seemed to make this present problem much worse for me.

I spent all day rearranging my files and organizing to the point I lost track of time. I don't even know where an hour and a half went. I looked at the clock at 5pm and I looked back at 630pm. I usually watch the evening news and it was over.

I also had a spike in HR throughout the day and a higher blood pressure than normal. The worst side effect was a really bad headache that lasted both days and nights and kept me awake. SO...Adderall, you are not my friend.

I also had a crying spell this morning. I went back to sleep and had a nightmare. I never have nightmare's anymore. Maybe it was the mirtazapine?

I'm calling my doc to try wellbutrin. I have heard that some people do well on remeron and wellbutrin for ADHD.

Comments are welcome
Take care

I was diagnosed with ADHD, innattentive (but ability to over or hyper focus, like you) and I currently take Adderall 60mg a day (20 XR and 40 regular) and 40mg Prozac as well as Klonopin as needed (usually 1mg every or every other day) and some form of a sleep aid a few times a week.

I was prescribed Wellbutrin by my GP before I got a psychiatrist, but I couldn't tolerate the side effects. It really increased my anxiety (which I already suffer from) and it made me feel physically drained and exhausted. It was very unpleasant so I stopped taking it. Once I started seeing my pdoc shortly after, he started me on ritalin. It worked but felt a little too agitated and had a lot of chest pain with it. That's when he switched me to Adderall. I sometimes have trouble with over focusing on the wrong things, but I take a combo of the XR and immediate release versions which I think helps combat that.

I can tell you that if I had taken it when I was in high school and college, I would probably have led a different life. I am bright enough so limited and quick attention got me through my studies, but it was so much harder than it needed to be. I am in graduate school for psychology now and am able to sit through lectures and not zone out for the first time in my life. And the constant daydreaming that plagued me for years has decreased so much. It also helps me a lot with motivation and organization. I'm still not great at this stuff, but with it, I am at least normal functioning.

If Adderall doesn't help or makes you feel lousy though there are other things that work for people. Maybe Ritalin would be better for you? It is a stimulant but like I said is different from Adderall so it affects everyone differently. I've also heard a lot about Strattera, which is an SNRI. I guess it works really well for some people and is not a stimulant so it has none of those side effects. It can be tough to find the right med but from what I've learned is that people with this type of ADHD, the non hyper type, may be more in need of medication to help than people who are mostly hyperactive. It's like our brains are underactivated and need a push to get it going. that's how I feel, anyway. The headache is killer, I agree. I take a combo of aspirin and tylenol (basically excedrine migraine without the caffeine) and it works.

Sleep is difficult too, so my pdoc gave me a few things at different times, starting with Trazedone. 100mg makes me feel like I'm hungover the next day, so I don't take it often. He recently gave me Clonidine, which is a blood pressure med but used off label specifically to help people with ADHD sleep. I tend to switch up the sleep meds so as not to become dependent on any one kind (never combining any of them though). Even Melatonin is helpful.

Sorry if I rambled on too much, but I hope some of this is useful to you. I know how hard it is and sometimes meds really are what we need.

Thanks for letting me know your experience with stims. I am now on 5 mg of Adderall regular tablet and for now it helps some with keeping my attention on something. That is all I am hoping for. School seems to be over for me so if I can at least focus on something without going overboard on what I am doing, it is an improvement.

Trazodone also gave me a hangover so I am trying 15 mg of Remeron for sleep. So far it is ok. Now if I can only get my MDD under control.

For some reason, SSRI's like Prozac ( in my case Lexapro ) make my ADHD worse. Maybe I am wrong but I got more impulsive on them.

take care!