Jennita, what a simple, clear explanation of the side effect & brain reaction! It made sense to me.

I always have side effects to everything; drugs never work the same for me as others. It's like my brain has its own anxiety attack when I take something that alters its chemistry.

KawaiiGal, I've had ADD, OCD, depression and anxiety all my life, with text-book examples of each. In addition to Adderall, I'm taking other medications, both to deal with my other problems, as well as to counteract the side effects. For instance, I'm taking Requip to tone down jitters and eliminate painful muscle spasms (which does concern me--that I am taking something to cover up a side effect to a drug I don't like having to take).
For *anxiety* I am taking small doses of risperdal, which, in larger doses, is used for schizophrenia. I am definitely less anxious now than I was before I took the Adderall, which I'm still taking, though in low doses.
I'm also taking Zoloft (for depression) and Trazadone at night, but not because its an anti-depressant, but to off-set the Adderall so I can sleep before 4:30am (not too happy with the idea of that anti-side effect either).
Sometimes I take a 5mg of Ritalin around 2pm, which helps me focus in the afternoon at work, but also makes it hard for me to go to sleep at night.

KawaiiiGal, Your description of symptoms and side effects are very similar to what I've heard/read elsewhere. I'm a little different than most, in that I'm still only taking 10mg of Adderall after about 6 months.

Quote from seriousperson:

Jennita, what a simple, clear explanation of the side effect & brain reaction! It made sense to me.

I always have side effects to everything; drugs never work the same for me as others. It's like my brain has its own anxiety attack when I take something that alters its chemistry.

KawaiiGal, I've had ADD, OCD, depression and anxiety all my life, with text-book examples of each. In addition to Adderall, I'm taking other medications, both to deal with my other problems, as well as to counteract the side effects. For instance, I'm taking Requip to tone down jitters and eliminate painful muscle spasms (which does concern me--that I am taking something to cover up a side effect to a drug I don't like having to take).
For *anxiety* I am taking small doses of risperdal, which, in larger doses, is used for schizophrenia. I am definitely less anxious now than I was before I took the Adderall, which I'm still taking, though in low doses.
I'm also taking Zoloft (for depression) and Trazadone at night, but not because its an anti-depressant, but to off-set the Adderall so I can sleep before 4:30am (not too happy with the idea of that anti-side effect either).
Sometimes I take a 5mg of Ritalin around 2pm, which helps me focus in the afternoon at work, but also makes it hard for me to go to sleep at night.

KawaiiiGal, Your description of symptoms and side effects are very similar to what I've heard/read elsewhere. I'm a little different than most, in that I'm still only taking 10mg of Adderall after about 6 months.

Thanks for the compliment. It's a shame you have to take all those pills but at least you are sticking to low dosages. Basically though, the docs have you on uppers and downers. From what I've read, this is the stuff that can later on get you a bi-polar diagnosis, if you don't already have one. It's those high/low brain chemicals that are symptoms of that disease and almost everyone with it has had some history of drugs, either legal or illegal, or even alcohol and cigarettes since both effect brain chemistry too.

I do believe that perhaps a person can be born with bi-polar, but I doubt many really are as I'm very suspicious that chemicals themselves actually cause real chemical imbalances, whether it be by accident, prescription or abuse. So it's no surprise to me they find brain damage in such people in pet or MRI scans since chemicals are capable of doing this.

The brain scans of ADD kids is questionable since usually they have already taken ADD drugs..in other studies, sometimes the brain size differences or usage of glucose in the frontal lobes could be because of the non-ADD control kids being alot younger than the ADD kids in the studies, in other words, sometimes studies paid for by drug companies can be manipulated to produce positive results. As we've seen in recent accusations of hidden negative result clinical trials of AD's when a certain NY district attorney started investigating company records.

What I really don't like is that they cannot tell by any biological test for any one patient if their neurotransmitters are really that low/high or not and they have no standard measures to determine it. It's all based on "drug effects" and theory. They really can't prove any biological disease in these things, especially when most people diagnoised with a mental disorder pass all physicals and biological tests.

This is unlike diabetes, where there are diagnostic tests to determine blood sugar levels consistancy and also home kits for patients so they know when and how much insulin they do really need. IMHO, it's dangerous to play around guessing about brain chemicals since brain chemicals not only control emotions and impulses, sleep, etc. but also our hormone and nervous system functions.

Anyway, just be careful like you are being with your meds, if you can't stop taking them. Beware of tolerance and the need for higher dosage in the future because that's what may cause some problems for you later. Good luck.

Quote from Jennita:

...I've read that, with drug-free time, the brain can recover from downregulation. But it could take months/years for complete recovery...

Oh, that it were so in my case!
After 20 years without any self-medicating or prescription medication, and 6 months of therapy with no drugs, my choice seemed to be either to lose my job or try medication.

It seems sometimes one is the chicken and sometimes that same one is the egg.
Jennita, I believe you agree with this, but feel not enough people are willing to consider the alternate view when medication isn't working.
Let's just hope that those whose lives will be made better by medication will try it, even if they are the few.
I don't see any of my meds being a cure, except maybe the Risperdal for anxiety, which in higher doses is used for Schizophrenia, which kind of freaks me out. But it does at least prevent my insides from feeling bathed in hormones of distress everytime I obsessively think of something that is not as it should be.

Jennita, I appreciate the concern you feel for others with such a passion.