Posted by zeugma on July 12, 2004, at 13:37:49
In reply to Re: Zeugma, ADD diagnosis, posted by KaraS on July 11, 2004, at 19:09:16
sorry it's so long for me to reply to your post, I had to sleep upwards of 12 hours to recover from the weekend's insomnia, and also there are some posting problems that interfere with the 'include previous post' option.
It has been a mixed blessing having the ADHD diagnosis from an early age. At 12 I was hardly able to process it other than to think 'oh no, there's something wrong with my brain.' also my parents do not understand psychiatric illness, and essentially ignored the recommendations that were made, which was not helpful in terms of my subsequent academic career. they did put me in psychotherapy, but i will save the disasters this produced for PB Psychology, if i ever do choose to publicize them.
yes I've found some things that worked or work. Strattera unquestionably did work on some aspects of my ADHD. Once I went on it I started moving up in my profession, and it had a powerful motivating effect that was great. Unfortuantely two problems:
i used it concurrently with nortriptyline, and this was pharmacological redundancy, which amplified the s/e of each;
and Strattera has a fatiguing effect that is hard to explain on a pharmacological basis. This did not manifest in me immediately, rather it slowly intensified until my already severe lethargy became unbearable. Also, while it addresses such ADHD/depression issues such as brain fog and motivation, it fails to have the 'slowing' effect that Provigil and the stims I tried long ago had, and which is probably better suited to most types of ADHD, and which I prefer to the enforced 'alertness' of Strattera. Oh, and Provigil is calming, and I am one of those ultra-nervous types.
I never tried Remeron, and am rather disturbed by its ability to increase triglycerides- I have cholesterol problems already. Also I would want to put Remeron in place of my AD if I was going to do it at all, and I have seen no evidence that Remeron is a more potent AD than nortriptyline. I would probably benefit from remeron's alpha-2 antagonism, but I already get that from buspirone. I would rather stick with what I have and use Ambien.
I also have an order for Ritalin LA at my local pharmacy and should be getting it by the weekend. My pdoc encouraged me to 'mix and match' as needed, so I have other options besides the Provigil.
The insomnia was not nearly as bad last night, so perhaps it was the pot of coffee I had Saturday evening that worsened the insomnia (normally coffeedosn't cause that unless it's Starbuck's),or maybe it's the normal 'startup' of a new med (nortrip had plenty of those too).
I know you tried nortrip and had tachycardia problems. I was kept on a very low dose of nortrip by my pdoc because of bp problems. Eventually my body adjusted and I have been able to increase dosage without recurrence of the problem. Reactions are idiosyncratic of course, but a retrial of nortrip might be something to try, plus it has some efficacy in ADHD if you do have that.
Take care,
z
poster:zeugma
thread:364549
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040712/msgs/365347.html