<p>Well, I’ve been on Strattera for awhile now. I’m up to 60 mg. My mood issues are gone for the most part. I used to get attacks of paranoia (my doctor and I began closely studying my actions and moods and realized that my mood issues were actually caused by the ADHD… Instead of reacting on a normal level, I reacted on a severe level. That’s where paranoia attacks would come. That’s where the bipolar like actions came from. And low and behold, Strattera is working wonders with it.) I’ve had weight loss on it, but in a reasonable amount. I just now am working on learning skills. (Like not to procrastinate… :D) And organization. I broke down and had to ask my mom to help me clean my room and get more organized–this was difficult due to the pride of being 18 and having to admit, even though I might be an “adult” I still need to learn a lot more skills. But it seems to be working. School is still pretty difficult for me, but I’m learning and coming to terms.</p>
<p>im so glad you are doing well…it takes awhile to sort out correct meds, make dr appointments etc. it is really frustrating and time consuming and im so glad you are doing well!</p>
<p>musicallylatin,</p>
<p>Thanks so much for the update! It is good to learn that you are doing so well!</p>
<p>Someone mentioned a generic for Strattera. A friend of mine was on generic for Wellbutrin, and had bad side effects – those were greatly lessened when she took the brand-name Wellbutrin.</p>
<p>ADD medications have helped a great number of people to lead more normal lives. They can be like a miracle. But you should definitely listen to people around you and ask if THEY think the meds are helping, or if they have any concerns about your moods or behavior.</p>
<p>^ That’s what I’ve been doing, and my grades are evidence of the improvement the meds have made. I can actually get work in now for once. I’ve gotten things in early. My teachers thought they were seeing things. An anti-anxiety med has been pretty helpful as well. 
My moods are under control finally and I can tell what’s me needing to eat, what’s ADHD reaction, and what’s normal finally. (I get cranky when I need to eat. Not necessarily when I’m hungry but when my blood sugar is low.) It’s really great. I know what’s going on for once.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for the update!</p>
<p>My son goes to the doctor next week - meds need to be tweaked again.</p>
<p>Hi, I’m new here but just wanted to offer some encouragement. My son was diagnosed with Inattentive-type AD/HD, dysgraphia and motor processing disorder several years ago, and he’s a high school sophomore now, doing well now after much trial and error - and his hard work! </p>
<p>Make sure you monitor as closely as possible the results you’re getting from any meds you try. By that I mean some concrete way to measure along with some subjective ratings. For example. Strattera didn’t really work for my son but we just drifted along, mostly because I was ambivalent about meds for him. (Let me say that I have since come to a different understanding of and appreciation for medication. It has allowed him to work hard and be successful - rather than struggle, fail, become frustrated and disheartened.)</p>
<p>Next he tried Concerta ER which really worked well after cutting the dose back, but then he needed to add short-acting Focalin in small amounts for early math and science classes (before the Concerta took effect), and sometimes for homework (after the Concerta wore off). Now he uses the Daytrana patches, but again cut back on the dose - not quite as much focus, but he avoids the increased heart rate, “seriousness” and jumpiness which added to his anxiety. </p>
<p>Second, he has really benefited from some simple external supports, like routines he’s developed and ways he approaches work. He had some coaching on how to keep himself on track; that got him started, and he’s just continued to try out different ways to keep organized along with his materials, projects, time use, etc. I have tried to support him as he’s matured and his needs and abilities changed, and helped him try different things until he figured out which ones worked best for him. Different ways of setting up notebooks, how remind himself, visual cues and prompts, etc</p>
<p>Hope that helps. Just keep working at it and you’ll make progress. What’s that saying: if we just keep bringing our best selves to bear, we’ll go on to higher and higher ground.</p>
<p>Meds should only be a temporary solution since it is unhealthy to take amphetamine for extended periods of time. I was diagnosed with ADD and I a doing excellent now. My parents didn’t believe in ADD and actually took me in for a second opinion. The second psychiatrist confirmed my ADD and my parents refused to acknowledge my disorder. Instead they made me deal with it.</p>
<p>Now I am doing very well and most of my friends that took adderall, ritalin and concerta are failures or addicts. You need to learn to deal with your shortcomings. The real world doesn’t give a **** if you have a disorder. There are no excuses for why you don’t get your work done.</p>
<p>I am a CPA candidate. Do you think I could ask the IRS for extended time to prepare a tax return because I have a disability? **** no!</p>
<p>HAHAHAHAHA</p>
<p>Learn to deal without drugs in the long run.</p>
<p>there are some really cool sounding neurofeedback programs my son will try when he gets home from camp. have you tried any valley? his psychiatrist says they can be really helpful</p>
<p>Have ADHD as well as other LD’s. Take Adderall seems to help ! It helps to stay well organized and becuase stuffs takes me longer I work ahead on h.w and do it on the weekends. 504 plans exist at some scools and are used to help students with no severe Ld’s such as Add / Adhd u might wan’t to look into them…</p>
<p>@Kayakmom- My daughter did a neurofeedback program called “Play Attention.” She did the program from November of her 7th grade year to December of 8th grade (this past year). She is on 50mg of Vyvanse. What we found was that the Play Attention did not “cure” her of her need for meds. It did help her awareness and has helped her self-regulate her attention to task. She has become less dependent on meds in order to complete tasks (that could be a result of maturity, however). Either way, I have been willing to try anything and everything to help her and it was worth the risk of walking away with nothing. However, it did help her learn how it felt to pay attention- something she could not relate to at all. </p>
<p>All her life she has been told to “pay attention” and now she has a feel for what that means and what she needs to do to achieve it.</p>
<p>Oh, and Hsgurl makes a wonderful point. At least in my daughter’s case, it sometimes takes longer to get things done. Her sister refers to it as “the snail’s pace.” She is very smart and has not gotten anything lower than a B for the past 3 years. She will have all honors classes as she enters 9th grade.</p>
<p>However, keeping on top of things and even working ahead on the weekends has been key.</p>
<p>Vehemently disagree with Valley Accountant. If you do a search of the literature and look at perscription drugs for ADHD and drug use, the literature indicates that the use of illegal drugs is INCREASED if ADHD is not medicated. In our daughter’s case, the use use of meds increased success in developing great strategies for working with the symptoms as well as her success. This success led to increased self esteem, which the literature suggests and our anecdocatal one person study suggests assisted her instaying OFF illegal drugs. She was on a variety of meds for 6 years - then decided she didn’t need them - now has decided that she wants to go back on them in anticipation of the new demands of college and a need to develop good strategies quickly and efficiently. Make sure you are followed by a good psychiatrist - it is not like Tylenol but critical to manage professionally. Most of the people that I know who “failed” medications did not take the time to see a psychiatrist specializing in choosing the right drug/doseage, and quit when it didn’t work instead of modifying their methods.</p>
<p>Illegal or legal amphetamines are still amphetamines. Real life doesn’t care if you are disabled. Get used to dealing with your disorder without drugs. My friends that were given legal amphetamines ended up as drug addicts. Not my friends that were taught to deal with their issues.</p>
<p>She clearly is still addicted to the drugs if she needs them for college. It is very unhealthy medicating yourself in response to your environment. It is not any different than an alcoholic drinking away his depression.</p>
<p>I feel very sorry for your daughter. She obviously will have some issues later in life now they you have allowed her to become dependent on substances. =(</p>
<p>ValleyAccountant, I find your reply to me on post #53 extremely insulting. I looked at your posts on other topics, and you clearly have lots of common sense in many areas, especially in your specialty field of accounting. You have given great advice in many areas, and you are clearly goal driven. However, you need to develop humility and and a more tactful and measured communication style. You are 22 years old. News flash - your opinion is not seasoned by much “real life” YET. To be honest, I recently fired someone just like you for exactly what you just did. She had a tremendous amount of talent, and no tact, humility, or respect for what she didn’t know. You are off to a great start - if you can control your mouth and your fingers. And in terms of my daughter? I would hire her, promote her, admit her to grad school, and hand her the keys to my business before I would let you make coffee. Grow. Up,</p>
<p>@shoot4moon- Honestly, do you really think someone who replies to others in the way that valley has is “over” his issues because he/she has dealt with them? Doesn’t sound like it to me…</p>
<p>You are right just take some drugs to deal with your issues! I am not 22. I am also not at the entry level I have worked in the real world since I was 15 and in consulting and tax for 2 years. You firing someone is irrelevant. </p>
<p>The real world doesn’t care about your disability. Deadlines are deadlines.</p>
<p>valleyaccountant—sorry your parents didn’t acknowledge your disorder, but expected you to deal with it. this is curious, what did they expect you to deal with if they didn’t acknowledge it? I wonder how that affected your own perception of having add, it’s not something to be ashamed of. I know in our family we accept those differences, as a parent, I did acknowledge my daughter’s add, and also expected her to accept her uniqueness, and use multiple resources to help, which at a certain point included medication as needed, working around deficits, pushing herself where needed, and also accepting the unique strengths she has as a person with add, open mindedness, creativity, sensitivity. </p>
<p>your attitude is belittling of others’ experiences, not really sure why it bothers you if others choose to use what works for them? why so mad about that??</p>
<p>certainly add behaviors like impulsiveness, reactivity are possible reasons, you might want to take note of those as they may indicate you haven’t come as far as you might think in managing your add.</p>
<p>Well I am anti drug use I don’t belittle. Drugs are not the answer for most people. They are a temporary solution for a permanent problem. Frustrated parents have it easier when they can just give the kid a pill. Most don’t consider that in the long run dependency on substances is unhealthy and detrimental.</p>
<p>My parents knew I had issues with school since my high school grades sucked. They took me to see doctors who told them I had a disorder. I have an aunt and uncle that own a large clinic in socal and they did a bit of research and came to the conclusion that I may have issues as a teenager or child but I may not as an adult. They also researched some of the substances given for ADD and came to the conclusion that they are very dangerous, addictive and habit forming.</p>
<p>Rather than deal with drugs my parents just put me on a healthy diet, got me tutoring, and also got an assessment of my strengths and weaknesses. Even if my grades were B’s and C’s in high school my parents figured that it was better than having all A’s through using amphetamines.</p>
<p>I went to junior college out of high school found my niche and did very well eventually. I graduated from a state university with high honors and now I work in tax consulting for a regional CPA firm. I am drug free and I have always been.</p>
<p>Some people aren’t strong enough to be athletes…</p>
<p>Should we give them steroids and force them to play on the football team?</p>
<p>Hell No!</p>
<p>That would be ridiculous.</p>
<p>So why do we give amphetamines to kids that have issues with school?</p>
<p>SO BIG PHARMA CAN MAKE $ OFF PARENTS!</p>
<p>Gosh, Valley, you pegged me. You are so right - I just want to give our daughter a pill. The behavior plans, star charts, positive and negative reinforcment, sleepless nights, long planning conversations, medical rule outs, diet changes, tutors, coaches, and gentle shaping? Those were just for show. The fact that she has slowly evolved into a wise, kind, grateful, intelligent, amazing kid that demonstrates a strong moral compass?? She is just fooling me I suppose - of course you are right. Thanks for straightening me out - I guess I have doomed her to a life of drug abuse - probably I will just hand her the money for college now so it can go straight up her nose or into her arm since you know that is what she will do, and God knows you know her so well. Too bad for me, and I was so looking forward to hearing about that honors curriculum. Lucky me to have you to change my course - and here I thought we were so successful! Guess all our pride is misplaced. Wish she could be just like you.</p>