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Re: Response to Lasagna » ben12

Posted by Lasagne on August 16, 2003, at 22:57:46

In reply to Response to Lasagna, posted by ben12 on August 16, 2003, at 15:49:07

> Thank you for replying to my post. I feel you have a good understanding of the issues I am dealing with. I seem to have general anxiety that is exacerbated by the ritalin. Working out brings me the calming effect you mentioned. Would you think that strattera in combination with ritalin would bring me to the point where working out was not a necessary means to achieving that calm state? I have been on the strattera for a week and am overfocused, yet the medicine is much more friendly to me than the ritalin. Do you think that the dose is too high or will the overfocused feelings lessen as my body adjusts to the medication and what about anxiety? I am pre-med at Northwestern so that alone brings me a good bit and the constant exercise (twice a day) in order to bring about efficient stud is wearing me down. Thanks
>

Hi Again:
Does this anxiety seem to arise as your ritalin is wearing off? My son was recently taking Adderall and in the evenings he would have terrible emotional outbursts and meltdowns when the Adderall was wearing off. Since he isn't in school right now I decided to take him off the Adderall temporarily to see if increasing his Strattera dose works to control his ADHD. We are about a week into this new experiment and so far my son seems to be improving on 75mgs. daily of Strattera. (Previously he was only taking 50 mgs. of Strattera with the Adderall XR 60 mgs.) By the way he is 11 years old and about 85 lbs. and takes 75 mgs. So that should answer your question as to whether you are on a high enough dose. The recommended adult dose is 80 mgs. daily. Although, from many postings I have read on this web-site, it seems to be a good idea to slowly work up to that level. I started at 40mgs. and then after 4 days increased to 80 mgs. (quick route) and I experienced a lot of uncomfortable side effects in the beginning. About a week into my Strattera treatment I had to switch to taking the Strattera in the evenings instead of the day, so I didn't have the uncontrollable drowsiness during the day. By week 6 my body adjusted to the Strattera and the obnoxious side effects went away. I still have a tendency at times to over-focus (it's the nature of the ADD beast), but at least when I do tasks that take focus I can follow-through without making a bunch of errors. I have also found the Strattera helps me to focus better on reading. I have become quite a book worm since starting the Strattera. I also don't procrastinate nearly as much. I am not perfect, yet improved.
The Strattera also has had a huge calming effect on me and this is the least amount of anxiety that I have felt in years. If your anxiety does not improve soon, I would talk to your doctor about starting you on some type of anti-anxiety med (Buspar has been good to me) in combination with your Strattera. It's good to excercise, but the amount that you are having to do to is obsessive and obviously takes away from the time you need to be studying or just having fun once in a while. I applaude you for doing pre-med. That is a huge thing to take on and so you need to pace yourself and realize that you do have some limitations with your ADD. You might want to go on the internet and read some information/tips on dealing with ADD while in college. They talk alot about special services that are available to students with attentional problems. You need to learn how to advocate for yourself so you can survive pre-med and med school without having a nervous breakdown. My first two years of college I went year round with practically no breaks. My dad put a lot of pressure on me to take a heavy work load and was pretty uncompassionate of my limitations. All he knew was that he was able to get straight A's in college taking a full load and while working a job too, and so everybody else should be able to do the same exact thing (He's a true egocentric). Granted I didn't have my diagnosis at that point, but my dad didn't see that everybody has different capabilities. At any rate, after two years of pushing myself hard, I fell into a deep depression and shut down and had to come home. After a summer of being home I was paralized with anxiety and could not go back to school at BYU. My dad just about had a coronary at this news. I ended up taking an 8 month break from school and then transferring to Cal State Northridge. From there on I paced myself and eventually graduated with a bachelors in business admin. It was a long road, but now when I consider how I really persevered through ADD symptoms, I am quite proud of myself. So keep up the good work and pace yourself so you can survive the journey.
Lasagna


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