Posted by getinwl72 on October 25, 2006, at 20:07:14
In reply to Re: Question about stimulants and ADHD (and brief » saturn, posted by Racer on October 13, 2006, at 12:56:04
> > Hey there Racer->I can't give you a better explanation of the above post- It's late, I'm tired and It's a little too Med Wordy for me at 9 pm after a 12 hour day at work, but..
For me, I actually take a stimulant and a Benzo.
I take Adderrall during the day which in fact helps me stay focued, less reactive to dumb stuff, less Irritable, much more productive at work and at home. People like me better, trust me.:-)
However, in the late afternoon as the Adderrall starts to wear off, my anxiety starts to kick in and I take .5 mg of Xanax to get me through the rest of the day, I am still able to concentrate, just without the jitters that were coming.About 2 hours before bed, I take 60 mg of Cymbalta, 100 Mg of Topamax and 1 mg of Xanax. It works for me. I don't really care what the PDR says, the American Psychiatic Association Practicing Guidelines either. When you have taken medications and built up tolerances to them over the years, you have to start getting creative and do what works for you. Hopefully people have doctors that recognize the need to get creative. I am a controlling person by nature and take the lowest possible amount of my medications to function at the highest possible level without feeling drugged. I actually feel good. So, to debunk the theory that Stimulants Either Calm Person A or increase energy in Person B, while Benzos Either calm Person B or increase Energy in Person B is simply not the case. A and B are people and unless you try them alone or together you just wont know for yourself what works. They both calm me and increase energy. It depends on when I take them , alone or together and at what time of day. There are several factors to be considered.
Just my 25 cents on the matter for what it's worth.:-)
> >
> > I personally cannot see how this might correlate to ADHD however.
>
> Her thinking, as far as I could tell, was that since stimulants would increase stimulation and calm hyperactivity in someone with ADHD, then something that was supposed to calm someone else would therefor activate someone with ADHD. My answer was simple: the one doesn't follow the other. Just because stimulants are useful for the symptoms of one disorder, does not mean that anxiolytics will exacerbate the symptoms. {If A then B} does not equal {if B then A}. (In other words, my attempt to explain why she was wrong was based on logic, not science...)
>
> In my own experience, benzos are lousy for me when I'm anxious. I think what happens is that their effects make me feel more vulnerable, so I get even more adrenaline going. That's just my thinking on it, it may not be what's happened, but I've had bad experiences with them -- including blackouts -- so I know they can create that sort of problem. And I do settle down better on Ritalin. But while that may be evidence that her thinking has some basis -- I'm not the one she was talking to and about, but I do get more anxious on benzos and calmer on stims -- I don't think it's because my chemistry is such that all drugs will work backwards on me. (In fact, I think that's an idiotic theory...)
>
> OK, so since I've just proven that my attempt to explain the fallacy is pretty pathetic, can anyone give me a better and more accurate explanation?
>
> Thanks!
poster:getinwl72
thread:694246
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20061020/msgs/697749.html