[SprinkL3]

My psychotherapist is treating me for both DID and PTSD. She suggested that maybe I can ask a psychiatrist about ADHD medication to help me when I'm feeling overwhelmed with my many alters. I was wondering if anyone here with DID has taken that kind of medication.

I do NOT have ADHD, by the way. She only suggested it because I was telling her my struggles with feeling overwhelmed with many triggers and many alters handling those triggers.

I'm new here, so hopefully this is okay to post here.

[amandalouise]

Originally Posted by SprinkL3

My psychotherapist is treating me for both DID and PTSD. She suggested that maybe I can ask a psychiatrist about ADHD medication to help me when I'm feeling overwhelmed with my many alters. I was wondering if anyone here with DID has taken that kind of medication.

I do NOT have ADHD, by the way. She only suggested it because I was telling her my struggles with feeling overwhelmed with many triggers and many alters handling those triggers.

I'm new here, so hopefully this is okay to post here.

you dont have to have ADHD to be prescribed ADHD medications...

here in the USA we dont have ......one......... medication treats this disorder or that medical issue.

we have .......many.......... medications and each of those medications treat a whole bunch of things.

ADHD meds dont just treat ADHD,
Anxiety meds dont just treat anxiety.
depression meds dont just treat depression
and so on and so forth.

if you have a library go in and tell the librarian you would like to see a book called "The pill book". open the book to any page, any medication. you will see a list of 10, 15 sometimes 20 mental and medical problems that one medication is used for.

Dissociation is a problem where "something" triggers a person to feel their dissociation symptoms.

depending upon what your specific dissociative symptoms that you told your doctors, therapists, mental health treatment providers that you have, is the kind of medication you get.

just like if for example if you had a heart condition. your doctor wouldnt be treating the heart. your doctor would listen to what you "symptoms" are then give you meds that treat those symptoms to make your heart work better.

your doctor listened to you describe what your problems were, and looked at the report (if any tests were done) then based on the symptoms you described you were prescribed the medication that works for those symptoms.

my suggestion is talk with your doctors they will explain to you how and why you were given or it was suggested you be on this ADHD medication.

[SprinkL3]

I wasn't given a prescription. It was a suggestion from my psychotherapist to perhaps ask my pdoc or primary care about.

I've not been on any medications for over 15 years, except one-time use Ativan.

I just thought it was odd that the suggestion was brought up for DID, specifically.

[Nammu]

I think it’s odd too. I was on meds for my ptsd but most of them made the dissociation worse. I think your wise to avoid meds.

[SprinkL3]

Originally Posted by Nammu

I think it’s odd too. I was on meds for my ptsd but most of them made the dissociation worse. I think your wise to avoid meds.

Thank you so much for affirming and validating that, Nammu!

I was told by about three different psychiatrists and quite a few psychologists that sometimes meds have an adverse reaction with people who dissociate. Almost 20 years ago, a psychiatrist weaned me off of meds because they were making my dissociation worse. She said I did much better without the meds, after having monitored me for over a year without them. She observed me in just talk therapy with a social worker instead, and after checking in for that long, she decided I didn't need psychiatry unless I needed short-term medications for anxiety. I eventually learned how to just use holistic meds for things like sleep aids (melatonin, which the VA prescribed) and a light box (which the VA also prescribed to help me wake up in the morning and find energy when my vitamin D levels are so down, and remain low).

Coping skills help me the most.

[stahrgeyzer]

I read that antipsychotic have been shown to reduce the frequency of transitions between alternate personalities. Also some studies show that a combination of SSRI and lamotrigine can be an effective treatment for dissociative disorders, especially depersonalization and derealization. But as with all meds, it might work well for one person and horrible for another.

[SprinkL3]

Originally Posted by stahrgeyzer

I read that antipsychotic have been shown to reduce the frequency of transitions between alternate personalities. Also some studies show that a combination of SSRI and lamotrigine can be an effective treatment for dissociative disorders, especially depersonalization and derealization. But as with all meds, it might work well for one person and horrible for another.

My pdocs have told me that those drugs will not work for me. They might work for some people with comorbid disorders and/or symptoms, but unfortunately, those won't work for me. I stick to what the pdocs have cautioned me, since only talk therapy has helped me for over 15 years. Medications in the past worsened my conditions. But to each their own.

It concerns me when people make suggestions about meds without first asking about histories and truly understanding that some people cannot take certain meds. Also, the interaction with certain meds and chronic fatigue syndrome or other physiological disorders can make those conditions worse. I cannot afford to make any of my conditions worse. My conditions have already worsened.

[stahrgeyzer]

Sorry for any confusion. I was not recommending anything to you! I was merely stating facts.

[SprinkL3]

Originally Posted by stahrgeyzer

Sorry for any confusion. I was not recommending anything to you! I was merely stating facts.

Sorry, Stahrgeyzer - I didn't mean you. I meant my good therapist who suggested the medication for me, even though she's not my pdoc. She was a medical officer in the military, so I hear where she's coming from. It's just concerning to me when I try to explain how past psychiatrists already established that talk therapy is really all that I can do safely, without iatrogenically harming other areas.

What you brought up just reminded me of what suggestions I've had in the past by well-meaning psychiatrists (mostly interns being trained at the VA) and well-meaning psychotherapists. They want to make suggestions, but they often admit that they are just suggestions and nothing they are experts in.

I stuck with medical experts in areas concerning medicine is all I was saying.