ADHD (Attention Deficet Disorder) Drugs for adults- do they work?

[Conversationist]

There has been alot of talk about ADHD for kids, but I am almost 50 years old and have the hardest time sitting still. I go nuts at work sitting at a desk and doing administrative work. People tell me that I may have ADHD and the drugs would help me.

Even at home I have a hard time sitting still watching a TV show or movie, I get so bored and restless so quickly!

Anyone take these drugs for being so restless and hyper and DO THEY WORK?

 

[SunFloridaDisney]

My boss' wife does, and she says they have made a huge difference to her! One vote in favor. Talk with your doctor about it. Good luck!

 

[Pam]

Have you asked any of your friends in real life? Maybe some of the ones who tell you about their sex lives can help you.

I would also recommend seeking a medical doctor's expert opinion!

 

[Bella the Ball 360]

I think I have a mild case and can make myself attend when I really need to BUT we had a consultant come to our school for professional development. She told us she had been diagnosed about two years prior and was on drugs and it was the best thing she ever did. She was in her 50's and said she was so mad b/c her whole life had been a struggle and then she was diagnosed and the drugs helped her substantially. I had a professor in grad school who was just the opposite. She had decided not to take her drugs and it was very painful for those of us who had to deal with her. She was so scattered and could not sit still. Does not sound bad but when you are in a class for 90 minutes and you cannot get more than one or two coherent thoughts on paper b/c the professor cannot get our more than one or two thoughts that are sequential and on topic it is torture.

I would say definately try whatever your doc suggests. Whatever you do don't listen to Tom Cruise!!

 

[Meriweather]

DH just started taking them in the last several months.
He couldn't concentrate enough at work and they have helped him a lot.

 

[Jimbo]

The Worlds Series of Poker's main event started this week, and Paul Phillips, one of the top pros, is keeping a diary of it at Slate. Here's something relevant from the first entry:

What separates good poker players is not knowledge but execution. When I am focused, my execution is excellent. But the challenge of the WSOP is to stay focused for a week solid, for 14 hours a day. How do I do it?

I've long been an enthusiastic believer in better living through chemistry. That's why, when I was diagnosed with ADHD two years ago, I didn't hesitate to fill a prescription for Adderall. A few months later, I won almost half a million dollars in a World Poker Tour event, then another $1.1 million in another WPT event soon after.

With Adderall in my system, I am like an information sponge, able to process data from several players at once while considering my next action. It also improved my patience. I can't count how many chips I used to squander playing hands out of boredom. Now, I have no problem folding as many (or as few) as the game conditions require.

This year, I have a new chemical weapon: Modafinil. Like Adderall, it stimulates wakefulness and enhances focus but without the annoying side effects of an amphetamine—for me, reduced appetite and insomnia. Drugs are not a substitute for healthy living habits, but the WSOP isn't a spa. With Modafinil, I feel well-rested even on limited sleep, and during a weeklong tournament it's pretty much impossible to sleep properly. Through judicious use of both I can operate at my full potential for days on end.

So he's a believer.

 

[mt2]

I have ADD. The meds have been a god send. I didn't get diagnosed until I was 27 (I'm 39 now).

There have been times that I haven't been on meds (due to pregnancy. I didn't want anything in my system at all). One night at Epcot when my DM and I were walking back from Illuminations, she told me that she will always love me because I am her DD but when I have forgotten to take my meds she doesn't like me. OUCH! I am "lost" and I get mad at everyone for it.

I have a DAunt (she is 65) and is classic ADD. Her thoughts are so scattered and she is bouncy. Whenever I am around her I see myself without meds. I don't enjoy what I see and feel. She drives the rest of us nuts.

I guess I'm trying to tell you to try it to see if it is right for you. I know I'll never go back.

mt2

 

[Christine]

A co-worker that I have known for 10 years uses methylphenidate (Ritalin) for adult ADHD. He was diagnosed about 15 years ago (before I knew him). He had been through all sorts of problems before the diagnois--alcohol and marijuana abuse (in order to try to self-medicate), depression, mania, mood swings, and thoughts of suicide. When his youngest son was diagnosed at age 9, it all sort of clicked in his brain "hey, I think *I've* had this all my life." He got on medication and was like a brand new person. He constantly talks about how he wished he had access to the medication as a child because he feel that he was unable to live up to his potential back then--he was so out of control.

There are times that he goes on 2-week "medication holidays." Believe me, there is a HUGE difference in this man when he is off medication. I do not mean to say that they change his personality at all, because they don't. But when he is off medication he is extremely impulsive, he goes from one thing to the next, he suffers mania, and he becomes extremely sensitve/thin-skinned. It's weird. Oh, and he can't do his work.

He has one of the worst cases of ADHD I think I've ever seen.

Now, I do not have ADHD and I sometimes have the same problems as you. I can barely sit and watch a TV program. I can't stand it. I have a hard time concentrating on my work because it's boring. Everyone has a normal amount of this from time to time. What you need to look at is how you have behaved historically. Did you always perform well in school? If so, that's an indicator that you don't have it. Do you do well at your job? Can you finish tasks at work? Also, you don't "contract" ADHD as an adult. If you have it, it will have always been there.

 

[Rafiki Rafiki Rafiki]

Yes, they work if you can remember to take them. However, there is such a stigma involved... and you have to get a new prescription every 30 days.

I take my adderall when I really need to concentrate.

 

[Boston Tea Party]

DH tried Adderall but it didn't work for him.

He take Ritalin and it works well.

He is a different person - can focus and has more patience.

 

[EsmeraldaX]

I refused to take them as a teen and I refuse to take them now.

Ritalin scares me. Took it once, in my teens, to appease my parents and it turned me into a zombie. I have ADD pretty bad, the slightest thing can make me distracted. I actually used to have to wear ear plugs at work until I got moved to a different desk because the woman who sat across from me chewed and snapped loudly on bubble gum all day and it was so bad, I literally could not concentrate (and it got me frustrated and angry...there is more to ADD than just being distracted, the frustration that comes from the distraction is the worst).

The earplugs did well to block external distractions. As for my mind wandering, it does still, but I can at least semi control that from years of having to learn how to do so without meds.

Personally, the less medication I have to take on a daily basis the better.

 

[dcentity2000]

Remember, as with all medications there are upsides and downsides.

On the positive, the drugs have been proven to work with a fairy reasonable success rate usually without any major side effects.

On the negative, taking medication will invariably mess a little with your body and patients may experience anything from a "hot head" sensation to convulsions.

Bear in mind when researching that negative results are RARE and that any benefit is usually HYPED UP.



Rich::

 

[EsmeraldaX]

Bear in mind when researching that negative results are RARE and that any benefit is usually HYPED UP.

Rich::

Excellent point, Rich. I think a lot of people forget that when they look into medications.

 

[dcentity2000]

Excellent point, Rich. I think a lot of people forget that when they look into medications.

Yeah.

For one reason or another I'm on fairly tropical meds at the moment and among the side effects on one are listed:

• Death by cardiac arrest
• Stroke
• Convulsions

Not reassuring. HOWEVER, on some pain killers I bought from a pharmacy, side effects include:

• Death by cardiac arrest
• Stroke
• Convulsions

In other words, they are not likely to happen at all and the labels often overstate the potential dangers in order to evade prosecutions.

There's no reason to be scared of the medications so long as you do some appropriate research (so you know what to expect) and so long as you don't expect a miracle cure.

Medicines for ADHD are reviewed by users on http://remedyfind.com/

It's well worth a gander



Rich::