I have been resently diagnosed adhd combined type at 41y.o. I've been reading the boards and I want to say thank you guys for all the great info. I felt I had to make a general comment concerning medication that I've learned from my recent researching on the subject.
I've read here that a lot of people are having trouble finding the right meds, but it seems that most people are playing with stimulants only?? My cousin who has a severely adhd son has been through the gamut with treatments. She guided me towards Daniel Amen's work and loaned me one of his books (I'm sure many of you reading this are familiar with his stuff). He breaks down ADHD into 6 subtypes with different treatments for each type.
The long of the short is that there definitely are sub-types that stimulants don't work well for. Amen has other reccommendations in the book... there's even 1 type that doesn't respond well to meds at all (the kind my little cousin has).
Sorry for the long post..... I just hope that some of you reading this will consider that there's a lot more out there than meets the eye and not give up trying to find effective treatment for themselves.
There is an entire forum dedicated to Alternative Methods on this board. The reason you are seeing mostly medications here is that this is the MEDICATIONS forum....!!!I'm not talking about alternative methods. I'm talking about alternative medications.
Example: Type 3 (overfocused) Effexor, Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft (etc....)
Type 4 (Temporal Lobe) Depakene, Depakote, Neurotonin
Type 5 (Limbic) Nopramin, Tofranil, Wellbutrin, Elavil
Type 6 (Ring of Fire) this is the tough one!
BTW..... types 1 & 2 are the most common and the most receptive to Stimulant meds.
The above are short lists taken from the book Healing ADD by Daniel Amen.
Sorry about the confusion.
If you search this thread, I am sure that you will see references to those meds as well.As Chasesmom79 said, stims are the first line of treatment recommended by the various medical consensous groups (in other words- the standard of practice). Reasons for not using stims can range from parents reluctance to pre-existing conditions that make stims undesirable. One advantage to stims is that they are in and out of the body quickly so results can be seen quickly and side effects limited. Some of the other meds take time to build in the system to see any results or to see that the med does not work. All of the meds have about a 70-80% success rate but everyone is different and dealing with ADHD tends to lead to coexisting conditions like ODD, anxiety and depression (making treatment harder). Even people in the same family can react differently to the same med. Here is a med chart (it is from 2004 so does not have Daytrana):
http://www.myadhd.com/treatment_tools/medicationchart.html
You will mostly find people on this board still searching for the right med regimen. Once people have found effective treatment, they tend to not need to post here for help. This is why the board seems like everyone is searching and having difficulties. The people on this board are very helpful and the experiences others have had, helped me find effective treatment for my daughter.
vickie39083.5083333333
"....As in all disorders of the brain...." (clipped from above) I prefer Hallowell's label instead: that ADD is a "trait" not a "disorder"!
I haven't read Amen's book, and wasn't aware of his 6 add types. I'm curious, do you have to have had brain imaging in order to know what Amen category you are? (I know, I know...I should just take the book out of the library and read it...but I'm impatient (meds wore off)!
Yup to what vickie said - docs that know you have adhd try the stimulants first and hopefully observant docs ask you questions and share information about the side effects of stimulants so you can watch out for any negative of no reactions.
As in all disorders of the brain - it is hit or miss sometimes or that a combination of meds needs to be tried. Doctors also have to sort out coexisting conditions to treat the whole patient!!!
Patients and doctors need to have a candid dialogue to help sort it all out.
I was diagnosed and treated at the Amen Clinic in Fairfield years ago, and my current doctor is good friends with Amen and often consults with him. Yes, Dr. Amen breaks up ADD into subtypes and discusses lots of classes of drugs for treating each specific type of ADD. I think although his subtypes are not recognized by everyone in the science community, a lot of the medical community does recognize and value his work, including the CA Medical Board where he has been an expert reviewer. Anyway, if you read about the subtypes you will see that it makes sense the way they are broken down. He also offers and advocates lots of natural treatments as well. But if you read the meds section of his book "Healing ADD" I think you will see that he recommend stimulants for all types if they are needed to achieve the proper balance in treatment. He may add an antidepressant, anticonvulsant, or antipsychotic to the stimulant but he seems to agree that stimulants are the best for treating ADD. After years of not finding the right meds for me it was because of Dr. Amen's subtypes that my current doctor was able to find the perfect balance of meds.All valid points......
Yes there is an online test in Amen's website.
http://amenclinics.com/ac/tests/subtype_test1.php
Cheryl