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Quazar
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18 Aug 2012, 3:56 am

ive been taking adhd medications for 24 days and I still feel hyperactive and overattentive. is it that the meds aren't working or should i give it a few more weeks?


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Raziel
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18 Aug 2012, 4:00 am

what are you taking?


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Quazar
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18 Aug 2012, 5:13 am

Strattera


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Ilka
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18 Aug 2012, 7:49 am

When my daughter was diagnosed with ADHD she was prescribed Concerta. It did not work. All it did for her was making her numb and hyperactive by night, so she was prescribed a second med to help her sleep. She still had the same issues inside the classroom (except she could not walk around anymore) and still could not focus. She was on the med for about 3 months. As I could see it was doing more harm than good I asked my child (then 7) if she wanted to continue taking the med. She said "no, mommy, please". So I removed her from the med. 1 years later she was diagnosed with Aspergers. She is not taking meds now. She is on therapy and she had learn to use techniques to keep focused and to control her impulses. I read somewhere ADHD meds do not work on people with AS, unless you have also ADHD. If you have doubts you should ask your doctor.



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18 Aug 2012, 10:11 am

Strattera, as I recall, is the "different" ADD drug. Most of the others are stimulants and, in my experience at least, tend to work better.

One thing to consider if you're still feeling strongly unpleasant side effects, unabated after weeks of treatment: the dose may be too high. My son went through middle school and part of high school walking around the halls like a zombie (according to my daughter) and now that he is over 18 and his medication is under his control, he has lowered the dose significantly (without really discussing it with his doctor until after successfully experimenting with lowering it). . . he found it much more effective at the lower dose. Seems the side effects negate, or maybe (ironically) distract from the desired effect of the drug.

He takes Adderall, though. Not Strattera. That didn't work for him. I think you're supposed to wait a little longer than 24 days, Strattera supposedly takes its time to get working, similar to an SSRI or something.

I also take Adderall (ADHD/non-attentive type is one of my many diagnoses). Ritalin put me to sleep when I tried it. None of them work all that well. I have to be really careful what I put my focus to when I take Adderall (which I am supposed to take 3x a day, but I usually end up with leftovers), because it's going to be the same for a while, for example. But it's OK>



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18 Aug 2012, 11:51 am

I have read that with antidepressants (such as SSRI medication) it very much is trial and error in a respectful sense, just because everyone's biochem tends to be a little different. And typically the time frame given is either 4 weeks or 8 weeks.

And since, you're already approaching 4 weeks, might be worth a phone call to your doctor. And maybe say something like, 'not really helping . . . as we approach 4 weeks, I might be open to trying something else.' That is, you slightly under-sell and hope that the doctor picks up on this. Perhaps.



AardvarkGoodSwimmer
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18 Aug 2012, 11:57 am

Hermier wrote:
. . . and now that he is over 18 and his medication is under his control, he has lowered the dose significantly (without really discussing it with his doctor until after successfully experimenting with lowering it). . . . .
And sometimes something like this is necessary. But please as a series of medium steps with observing feedback, and it sounds like this is what you son most probably did.



Raziel
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19 Aug 2012, 4:04 am

Ilka wrote:
I read somewhere ADHD meds do not work on people with AS, unless you have also ADHD. If you have doubts you should ask your doctor.


Yes, most of the time it's like this and nothing happened.
But maybe it's "just" the med. and you just have to try another one.

But I also "act" and even "feel" like someone with ADHD, because there are huge similarities.
But I was told I'm not and ADHD-medication doesn't seem to work on me.


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Quazar
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19 Aug 2012, 4:33 am

I guess ill wait till school to start and see if it helps me concentrate on campus


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Kalinda
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02 Sep 2012, 3:15 pm

Quazar wrote:
ive been taking adhd medications for 24 days and I still feel hyperactive and overattentive. is it that the meds aren't working or should i give it a few more weeks?


I took Strattera, it made me manic at a high dose. It increases adrenaline. I found myself overly social, my memory was good but I was writing on my finals too much info that I failed the test. I had trouble simplifying. So in retrospect, it's good for depression but not ADHD or Bipolar. I take Vyvanse now and it's working.


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Your Aspie score: 159 of 200
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