[skategriggs]

ok so about a year + ago i started taking focalin. Now i did a survey and everything and im pretty sure i have ADD. I have always had a problems with attention but things have been getting worse. I can't really read without thinking about hundreds of different things and ya, my list of problems could go on forever

Anyway i started taking focalin and it worked great, except for one huge problem. It made me have really bad depression problems. I couldn't talk to people i would close myself away from everyone and i had very bad aniexity.

So my psychiatrist had me try various ADD medications, everything from adderal to strattera. But everything had the same results

So he tryed giving me an antidepressant. wellbutrin. I understand this does sometime help with ADD, but not me. My doctor thinks i have anxiety problems and thats what casues my attention disorders, but after trying wellbutrin, this cant be it.

Wellbutrin doesn't really do anything for me, and I still cant concentrate. So i told him it wasnt working, and he gave me another antidepressant!! Lexapro. And thats not helping eaither!

Soo my point here is i dont know what to do, what will work for me? any ideas. Becuase ADD medications helped me so much, but that had such bad down effects that i couldnt take them.

any suggestions on meds i ma have not already tried? any help please!!

[skategriggs]

anyone....?

[nate112]

I got two brothers with the same kinds of conditions that your talking about. One of them chose to stop taking most all of his meds and try therapy and hypnosis and other forms of brain stimulation, its actually working well. The other decided to lower and get rid of a couple meds but this worsened it. My advice would be try to see if it might be a phycological factor that just needs to be recognized and delt with.

If any of these work tell me. Nate112

[skategriggs]

Originally Posted by nate112

I got two brothers with the same kinds of conditions that your talking about. One of them chose to stop taking most all of his meds and try therapy and hypnosis and other forms of brain stimulation, its actually working well. The other decided to lower and get rid of a couple meds but this worsened it. My advice would be try to see if it might be a phycological factor that just needs to be recognized and delt with.

If any of these work tell me. Nate112

thanks, yea i have a friend who suggest some targeted therapy on this. Considering i have some other problems with hair pulling that link to anxiety. But i also have another friend who had a similar problem that now takes a adderal and anti-depression mix and is working for him. I dont know how i feel about going on that route but who knows, i need to make it though school.

thanks for the help, any other suggestions welcome

[Psyched]

Hey Skategriggs,
It's good you've been talking to your pschiatrist, but you need to keep talking to him/her. I say this all the time and I'm sure others are tired of reading it, BUT: You have to be your own advocate when ya go to the doctor. Unfortunately, sometimes even docs get one-track minded and ya have to be persistant. I see it sometimes at my workplace where a doc gets so focused on WANTING something to work that he/she will give up on trying to find an alternative. Keep telling your doc that you don't believe the lexapro is working and if he/she won't listen then maybe it's time to look for someone who will. NOW, that being said. Don't just walk in and demand to be put on such and such or the doc might think you're just wanting meds. Present yourself reasonably and be open to all suggestions.
Also, make sure that you don't just stop taking meds that have been prescribed all at once. Most of them can have adverse reactions if you just suddenly stop taking them. Also, fyi...Lexapro does take about a week to work weeks to start making a difference. I'm sure how long you've been on it, but do give it time. Also, unfortunately some of the ADD meds do increase depression, so don't stop reporting those feelings to your doc either.
Hope this helped somewhat. Good luck