You did a great job expressing your thoughts!
You are 15 years old and probably for the past few years your hormones have been doing loops through loops! It is really normal to be depressed at your age, and if it is happening all the time, you need to see a doctor.
You are also old enough to consider other options when it comes to medications.
Ask your parents if you could go in and see your doctor by yourself, and talk to him or her about your problems. That is what they are there for, and it will show a lot of maturity on your part if you do:)
Good luck and keep us posted!
I agree with what everyone said.....Good Luck.Even if your mom goes into your appointment with you, you still can tell the dr you don't believe you are getting the best results from your meds. Your mom probably sees outward signs that it is still working but she can't possibly know what you are experiencing inwardly.
Be prepared to explain exactly why you think they are no longer working. What is now different from when they did work? Why are you interested in Straterra? Let him know everything you can think of which will help him understand.
Write it all down on paper so you can remember, or, if you are like me you will forget until you are out of there and its too late.
Let us know how it works out. We all want you to recieve the best med for you and we want to see you go on to a great future!
While it's certainly possible your drugs aren't working, keep in mind that it's virtually impossible to tell so long as you're still on them. You'd need to go off them for several weeks in order to have some basis for comparison. If you think it's worth the risk, that's certainly something you could bring up with your doctor. Given that you've been on them for so long, you'd want to be very careful about going off (i.e., careful titration; don't just stop). But do keep in mind that introspection isn't always a good way to determine whether something's working or not. I think a psychiatrist is probably going to be more receptive if you frame your suggestions along the lines of "could we maybe try ... for a few weeks to see how that works?" rather than demanding to be taken off a drug. As barb notes, you should have some rationale for wanting to change anything. Thank you so much. I completely agree. It's always been hard for doctors to diagnose me because I just change my personality around them. But thanks so much.It's so hard to explain to people what is happening in your brain. I read a description somewhere that said time is not linear for ADHD people, everything is absolutely happening at once. How can this be described to "normals"? I think seeing someone is a great idea, not being understood and having to struggle w/being a teenager today must be difficult, let alone having ADHD. I hope you can convince your Mom to support you in trying something else. Good luck and remember...No matter what anyone says, you know what is happening in your brain and they don't!Everybody thank you so much. I am interested in Straterra because I've heard so many good things about it and it's on of the only ones I haven't tried. I know it's normal for teens to get depressed but I don't think it's normal to have regular panic attacks. I've got them under control now. I just tend to relapse a lot and would like to have it all under control. I was actually off of the Concerta all summer and I felt exactly the same. I think I'll talk to my mom about seeing a psychiatrist again. The hard part for me is explaining the differences. I know that people think well if you're not hyper anymore it's working. But that's just not the case. In my head I can't concentrate, and I just can't show them that.