How many DUers have diagnosed A.D.D?

[thefloyd]

I am just curious. I am 27 and take ritalin. I feel like I found jesus

[TallahasseeGrannie]

1. My daughter has. n/t

[NuckinFutz]

2. my hubby and sons.....n/t

[stevedeshazer]

3. Me. I'm 50.

My son, too, he's 17.

Watch out, I've had people argue with me that

1. ADHD doesn't exist,

2. I shouldn't drug myself or especially my kid.

[Momgonepostal]

7. You'll hear that right here on DU, too

I have one child with diagnosed ADHD and one as yet officially undiagnosed, but I suspect she has it too, since she exhibits many of the same symtoms.

Another classic is "That's just normal childhood behavior. They'll grow out of it." Right. Tell that to my brother.

[thefloyd]

14. I love the add doesn't exist

line. http://amenclinics.com/bp/atlas/ch12.php

Show them the above brain scans and then ask if they believe ADD does not exist

[Crazy Guggenheim]

I know about Amen. There's one big problem! He does not use

control groups! A lot of his research is suspect.

[thefloyd]

21. I am not talking

about the research just how the actual scans are different

[Crazy Guggenheim]

23. I've heard him speak twice and have known some people to get

scanned at his place. It's really interesting that they only have one type of normal brain. Hmmm.

[thefloyd]

24. Oh cmon. He is simply illustrating a point

What do you want him to post every scan of a normal brain he has taken?
What about scans of drug addicts? Should I not believe those?

[Crazy Guggenheim]

26. I didn't say that. I know about the scans of a drug addict, etc. But,

the problem is no one to this day knows what the normal brain is.

Please listen to this point. I think they confusing normal with an average. Did Einstein have an "average" brain?

[thefloyd]

28. Yea

I agree Amen is confusing Normal and average. No Einstein did not have a normal brain. Actually many people believed he had ADD!!

[Crazy Guggenheim]

29. Don't forget dyslexia .........

[Dancing_Dave]

45. Thanks a lot for the link!

Dr. Amen's neurological sub-typing of ADD is very helpul. ADD is really to broad and vague a label, and not all types benefit over the long run from stimulant medications. On the job, one will often find that some underlying disability is still there.

In the system of subtypes he gives, I have severe limbic ADD symptoms, with some milder temporal lobe ADD symptoms. I've also had some seizures, which makes treatment more difficult--some ADD medications can trigger seizures. I couldn't legally drive a car if I was on one of those now!

Dr. Amen is clearly a brilliant neuro-psychologist, and the individual time-series case study methadology he uses is perfectly appropriate to the work he does.

[thefloyd]

19. I love the

Drugging your kid line. Those people do not understand how bad a persons confidence, self esteem can be lowered with out the appropiate
diagnosis and treatment

[Redstone]

20. My answers to those dumb arguments:

1. ADHD doesn't exist,

"And you're qualified to make that statement based on exactly what credentials?"


2. I shouldn't drug myself or especially my kid.

"Oh, so if you had diabetes, you wouldn't take insulin? And you wouldn't let your kid take it?"

These work for me every time. Use them.

Redstone

[stevedeshazer]

38. LOL, that's pretty close to what I do say myself

What were we talking about again? :hi:

[Redstone]

39. It was something about, I think, AHDH. Isn't that some sports league?

Redstone

Or whoever. I forget. There was someone around like him just a minute ago, can't think of where he could have gotten to...

[Rabrrrrrr]

4. I would hope only the doctors and/or psychiatrists of DU.

Though I'm not sure if a psychiatrist can make that diagnosis without a doctor. I'm rather unclear on that.

[derby378]

6. Psychiatrists are MDs

I think they can make the diagnosis, and so can a family practitioner who has some idea of what to look for. But ADHD is generally considered neurologic or perhaps neuropsychiatric in nature.

[targetpractice]

5. I do, diagnosed at 32.

I recently switched from Ritalin to Focalin.

[Momgonepostal]

9. What do you think of Focalin? nt

[targetpractice]

13. I like it...

Focalin seems cleaner and smoother than ritalin... if that makes sense. It's basically a non-racemic form of Ritalin.

I really liked Strattera the most, but the side effects are not so great for guys.

[Momgonepostal]

16. The first doctor my daughter saw though she should try...

Focalin, but believe it or not, we couldn't find it locally. We live in a city of about 200,000 but no pharmacy carried Focalin. :eyes:

We ended up trying generic Ritalin, Concerta, and then Strattera. She is currently unmedicated due to growth issues.

[Initech]

8. YO!

I used to take a pill similiar to ritalin but I was ordered to go off it. When I did, my attention span just went completely almost non-existant.

[Redstone]

10. I was, about 13 years ago, and the medicine has been

pretty good, though it doesn't...Hey, there's a Monarch butterfly outside my office window! I'm gonna go take pictures of it!

Redstone

[southlandshari]

11. Redstone!

:rofl:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

15. You are such a funny guy, my dear Redstone.....

No wonder you've done so many things in your life.....

You can blame it all on ADD! Or you can thank it, whatever you want.....





:yourock:

[Dancing_Dave]

12. Me too.

But ritalin hasn't helped very much over the long term. It's effects kick in quick and it does help some ADD school kids to turn their academic lives around. Over the longer run of things, it does little to solve the issues that people with life-long ADD have at work, in personal relationships and so on.

Biofeedback can be very effective treatment, if you find one of the few biofeedback providers who really know how to treat ADD. The therapy is a bit more tricky than using biofeedback to treat anxiety, and it takes more effort from the patient than just taking ritalin for ADD. I think it's more effective for the whole person over the long run.

Good Luck!!! :grouphug:

[thefloyd]

17. yeah

I coasted through elementry and junior high and part of highschool simply because the content was so easy the ADD was not visible. However once I got to college things changed and my grades suffered. I started taking meds and my grades went from 3.0 to 3.5 with half the work. However what I was taking made to extremely tired. I got a job and all hell broke loose. I was fired simply because I was not productive enough. Of course I have been told by a few employers my ideas are brilliant but I make to many mistakes with day to day tasks. I started Ritalin and things have really changed.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

18. C.G.'s here. Nah I've gotta go ............

[Fox Mulder]

22. I do.

I was diagnosed at ~13, and now I'm 23, and still have ADHD. I take Strattera for it but it doesn't work very well.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

25. I took Strattera for a while and went back to Concerta.

[Redstone]

27. I took Stradivarius for a while and went back to Concertina.

So we have something in common.

Redstone

[Crazy Guggenheim]

30. ........

[Angry Girl]

31. Anybody use DMAE or anything besides Rx drugs?

[Crazy Guggenheim]

32. What's DMAE?

[Angry Girl]

36. DMAE is a cheap dietary supplement long used for ADD

Here's from the NIH (PDF FILE WARNING!)
ntp-server.niehs.nih.gov/ntp/htdocs/Chem_Background/ExSumPdf/DMAE_update_110002.pdf

and some other stuff

http://www.lightparty.com/Health/UnravellingADD.html
http://www.loweringcholesterol.net/herbal-remedies/dmae/DMAE-clinical-studies
http://www.vrp.com/art/587.asp
http://www.vrp.com/art/669.asp
http://www.raysahelian.com/dmae.html

I find it helps me concentrate.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

37. I'll take a look at it.

[pdx_prog]

33. I'm 47 and was just diagnosed last year....

Can't take medication because of high blood pressure though....even Straterra..

[Midlodemocrat]

34. I have it.

[miss_kitty]

35. me about 10 years ago

I took Welbutrin and it nearly killed me. I prefer to lose track of shit after that.

[shockra]

40. At age 37.

I took Adderall for 2 years. But the drug I had to take with it caused me to gain weight and develop diabetes.

I'd rather be taking it now if I could.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

41. Try another one.

[shockra]

44. I've tried virtually all of them over the last 20 years.

The anti-convulsants, that is. But I know I'll keep trying more as new ones come out.

I'm thinking maybe even GABA, which you can buy over the counter and has no side effects. But it might not be strong enough. Doesn't seem to have a lot of effect on me. I haven't tried it with Adderall yet which is the only way to know for sure.

[lildreamer316]

42. Me.

No drugs.I just have to super-organize my life. I do pretty well, considering I'm married to another one and he dosen't medicate either.
Lists EVERYWHERE!Post-its are my friend.

[Dastard Stepchild]

43. Moi... but it doesn't feel like the proper diagnosis...

I think I'm actually an anxious person, not an ADHD person.