'Adjusting' to meds

So when I started taking Adderall a number of years ago.. I noticed a great boost in energy (although not necessarily a boost in attention) and then I just got used to it and felt like normal.

Does this also happen with BP and anti-depressant meds? I mean.. once they start kicking in after they've settled into your body and things are feeling good... do they simply 'wear off'? Or do they continue working.. but you just don't notice it? Does this all make sense?

I think that they keep working and you just don't notice as much, however, I have had many that just quit working, but I can tell when that happens because I get really depressed.

Thank you... I guess that is where I'm going. I just went through 2 weeks of feeling pretty high (in a good way) in preparation for a big show... that went extremely well. And now that I've returned I feel the low creeping in... and there is no reason.

Psych meds tend to stop working which is why so many people are on so many at once. I think they're referred to as 'add-ons.'

Ughhh....

I wouldn't put too much stock in that comment, as the individual is always pushing homeopathic answers to everyone's med issues. I've been on several meds that have worked for decades. It's misinformation to make a blanket statement that all meds stop working.

Thank you. That previous comment added directly to an already hopeless feeling. My diagnosis and meds have been an answer to so many things... so far.

If you don't believe me, read the posts and notice the long endless list of meds and diagnoses people have. One med doesn't work so their Pdoc puts them on another without taking them off the first one. As time goes on, the meds deplete nutrients and neurotransmitters so people start develop more psych issues such as becoming OCD, ADD, etc., etc. and are put on more and more meds. It's a snowball effect.

If you give your body the nutrients it's needs, you can function. And no one has a prozac deficiency. If you think meds are so effective, read peoples' posts about how bad off they are. It's because their brain doesn't have what it needs to be able to produce the neurotransmitters so you feel normal. Would you blame someone with diabetes for needing insulin? Of course not, but you think taking amino acids so your brain can produce neurotransmitter is nuts. Why? Because the Pdocs would go out of business if all a depressed person had to do was take the right supplements instead of sit in their office once a week for the rest of their life at $100 a visit. Follow the money....

I really don't appreciate your attitude. I'm doing just fine on two meds. I'm not drugged up. I'm not sedated. And I am stable. I highly doubt amino acids would stabilize me as much as these meds have. So plenty of people do just fine on medication. You can't say that everyone does terrible on medication. And although I'm sure amino acids work for you, everyone is different. Just because it works for you doesn't mean it will work for everyone. I tried to treat my BP naturally and it didn't do ****, in fact one of the supplements made it even worse. So please, stop acting like you have found some sort of cure. By the way, are you a doctor? If you are, great, but if not, spending time on the Internet does not qualify you to be making all these statements.

And to the OP, yes sometimes meds can work for awhile and then stop working. You don't have to necessarily add another med, you may need to just schange meds altogether. Plus adderall is a stimulant, which I think you can develop a tolerance for. But don't give up. You will find something that works. And if it stops, you try try again.

You can also look into natural treatments as well. I'm not against it, I'm just against the other poster's attitude.

Well... the majority of my life (no meds at all until this year) has been a combination of periods of extremely high health standards.. surfing everyday, climbing on weekends, healthy diet.. combined with periods of no activity, crap diet, etc. The issues were there one way or the other. I've always thought that SOMETHING was missing in my brain. My intuition is to go with what the science says... which is that bipolar is both genetic and also due to a specific dysfunction in me noggin. I currently live on 10 acres of beautiful wilderness in the Northwoods, eat mostly food from our garden and nothing but real food. And right now... my brain is telling me something is missing again because I'm not all that happy right now. And I oughta be...

I spent my last two years in college going through the exact scenario you describe. I would get hypo before exams; needing no sleep, studying 24/7, feeling fine. Then after taking the exam, I'd walk back to my apartment and it would feel like I was descending into a long, dark tunnel. I'd go straight to my bed, and hunker there for days.

It isn't normal.

Another thing that I think is worth keeping in mind is the idea of 'looking at the posts' on this forum to make decisions on reality. I suspect that the people that post here are outliers in a way? Either they are new to their diagnoses (like me) and are trying to figure things out.. which means that perhaps the meds haven't truly shown their efficacy. Or... they are the people in which the meds haven't worked for whatever reason. I realize I'm not including the large number of people that post here for the simple reason of the shared community. But my point is that there are probably many 1000s of people in which medication (as well as lifestyle changes of course) has stabilized their lives and simply don't need the support that a forum like this provides. Anyway.. I'm not sure that evaluating the posts here is a good way to reflect reality. Doctors deal with whats in the trenches.. and the optimistic side of me thinks that not all of them are in the pockets of the pharmaceutical companies.

I am offended on so many levels here. First, how do you know what I have and haven't tried? My signature doesn't include everything I've ever done. Second, how dare you insinuate my pdoc is just trying to make money. My pdoc is one of the sweetest, most caring people on earth and if she could cure me by giving me money out of her own pocket she would do it in a heartbeat. Third, I have a long list of meds. But you have no way of knowing how I came by that list or why I have chosen to take those medications. My decision, my choice, my belief that this is what is right for ME.

Coming on here and scaring people and insisting their doctors don't know what they are doing is not helping anyone. It's one thing to say "this helps me" and share your experiences but you aren't doing that. You are insisting that we are all stupid for not making the choices you have made. You have no way of knowing that what worked for you would work for us and telling people that, implying that they should dump their meds that are prescribed by someone you don't know but have somehow determined you know their reasoning for providing care, you could cause harm.

I'm glad you have had success. But please share it appropriately and stop making judgments about people and situations you cannot know a thing about.