how do you know your meds R not working? | ADHD Information
breakdowns, over-reactions, and extreemly low frustration tolarance.
This really sounds like me right now and what is a memory? I have thousands! But sorting them out with linked emotion is beyond beleif for me
no meds
I had this weird episode last week...
I started to feel really antsy, completely stressed out and kind of felt like I could not fit into my own skin... (I can't find a better way to describe... sorry). First I thought that I forgot to take my pill in the morning (one time that happened and I felt somewhat similarly) but I was almost sure I did take it. The next day I made sure I took one but felt the same. There could be a couple of other reasons such as 1. my mgr was out of town and my to do list kept growing at lightning speed with every email she sent so I was just feeling overwhelmed and paralyzed by having so much to do that I almost did nothing but obsess. 2. this guy that I've been dating has been pissing me off with some of his actions so I was wondering if that was a reaction to that?
I feel ok now, but I rarely take the meds on a weekend. Now I'm hoping if I get some work done today to make up for my procrastination on Thu & Fri I'll feel a lot better tomorrow.
Still, I know some of you mentioned in your posts that the meds stopped working: how did it demonstrate itself? I'm curious to know and to also have something to benchmark off of if this weird feeling continues...
Thank you for the answers. I am ADD with combined type.
[QUOTE=GlenW]
Just don't let your MD abandon you to the meds. Meds are never enough. Think about therapy - it works wonders honestly.
[/QUOTE]
So do these boards.This is why the doctor/psych is supposed to take you off meds from time to time - in order to see whether the meds are actually working.
Usually if the meds aren't working you'll see it so gradually that you won't see it yourself. Others will have to gauge it as it's subtle.
When you take a week off it though it gets obvious. You'll feel tired and foggy-minded. You'll feel on edge and easily annoyed. Also you'll feel that you just don't have the initiative that you normally have.
Just don't let your MD abandon you to the meds. Meds are never enough. Think about therapy - it works wonders honestly.
When I find myself in that stage where I've
"many projects going at once, trouble following through"
and staying up til 05:30, then waking up at 07:30, and finding myself on the boards.
Geez, I did a million things yesterday and last night.
I forgot what they were, though.
Glen, what kind of therapy do you find works best?
Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT). Though honestly I haven't had much other therapy to compare it to. I had a little of that "tell me about your mother" type but CBT is more about "how would you do that?" then "how could you do it better?". It's all about reworking strategies for life to be non-ADHD if possible.
I tried that a couple of years ago for my "general anxiety" and it worked but then I got out of habit of practicing...
I should get back in it...
i'm growing a tolerance to my adderall but taking 1000mgs of magnesium every day helps the hyperactivity big time! even when i feel the adderall not working.Angela, what type of therapy are you doing with your life coach?I have reasently discoverd that my meds don't work any more. I'm still trying to find the right dosage for me so I'm on a very small dose.
A week ago I suddenly sat down and thought of the last 4 weeks. I wanted to know if there was a pattern in my behavior and it was. Some things had gone from good to bad with smal steps.
Like my concentration, I didn't think it had improved with meds but when I thought of it, at first I could watch a whole hour on tv without running around but now.... I was back as before meds. Now I got very overwhelmed in the early afternoon all ready but a month ago I didn't get that way at any time. Now I couldn't read on my english/american-boards cos I didn't understand cos I couldn't remember what I was reading about, I read and understood very good in the begining with meds. The biggest diferens was that now I got very very absorbed about a subject on a board for like 1hour and then I got sick and tiered of it but before I could select more than one subject that I was interested in and stick to them for days or as long as the discusion were going on. Along with getiong absorbed with things came being easiely angry, happy, sad etc. Oh and not to forget I got sooooo resless all day I simply couldn't sit still for a moment.
So now I have gotten my meds adjusted but it's still not good. When I first started to read this thread I felt "I have to write how I feel" but then a friend strated talk to me on msn and I got absorbed with that until he got off. Now when I return to this thread it doesn't feel so important any more and I can't seem to get to the point either :-D Sorry.
Well, that's how I feel my meds aren't working, not the same day but after a while feeling funny I realized what the reason was.
/Kaks
I just want to share my experiences with therapy. I started medication for ADD about 3 months before I started therapy. I felt like a new person and had all this energy and felt like I could see into the minds of other people. I loved the way I could focus and concentrate for the first time in my life. But I didn't know what to do with this new brain of mine. One day I was reading some posts about the importance of therapy along with medication, so I did some research, made some calls and found an adult ADD psychologist. Seeing him has totally changed my life. He explained to me that the medication is a tool, but if you don't know how to use it, you don't get the full benefits from it. And boy was he right! The medication makes me think about everything differently and he is showing me how to project those thoughts and not make the same mistakes I've always made because I am so severely ADD. I view him as my life coach because for 35 years I've looked at things one way, and now I'm realizing that the way I looked at everything before meds was totally @$#!$% up! .IMac38943.8558796296
I have read that CBT is especially good for ADHD inattentive type. That we are statistically the best responders. Also those with Comorbid conditions to ADHD respond really well.
Researchers have found ( Weiss and Barkley, I believe..) that the ADHD hyperactive/impulsive response can be good but its inconsistent in children. I havent seen anything about adult hyperactives in CBT tho. so it may be totally different. Since even though we have defictis in executive functioning, we still have better than what we did as kids.
so all in all, worth a try and REALLY worth it if your are primarily inattentive.
SHerry