Blog like nobody's watching

[elfs]

I have recently noticed that many of my posts have been, shall we say, colorless. Well, there are some reasons for that, and I'm not going to list them not because they wouldn't add color, but because they're not the topic of this entry.

A person I trust for various reasons, and who has no financial or even personal interest in doing so, asked me if I'd ever been diagonsed as having ADHD. Not exactly. When I was diagnosed, it was 1977 and the "H" wasn't part of the diagnosis yet. Had I ever taken medication for it? No, not really. Did I drink a lot of caffiene?

Yeah, just a bit too much. On the worst day in the past couple of months, I had more than five cups of coffee-- and I have a very big coffee cup on my desk.

She suggested I try something else. Alderall or strattera. Strattera is freaking expensive; a month's supply would be $240 at least, and I don't know if or how much my insurer would cover it. Alderall is cheaper, but it's one of those ritalin-analogues, basically from the amphetamine family of drugs, and I don't know if I'd want to try something like that.

But my inablity to focus has gotten worse in the past couple of years, and Omaha has noticed it, and she thinks it might be something worth investigating. I just wish I believed my own rhetoric, that there are states of mind that can be achieved better through direct intervention, and that I should try them.

Comments

[sarekofvulcan.livejournal.com]

Is this an epidemic or something? :-) My manager was diagnosed with ADHD, so then I talked to my doctor. He said I had ADD, and put me on Strattera. It's supposed to build up over the first month: I've noticed some difference in my focus, but I've got some bad habits to break, and I suspect that the Strattera won't help as much there.

I've been taking the samples he gave me: I haven't tried to fill the prescription yet, so I didn't realize it was really expensive. :-(

[elfs.livejournal.com]

Well, I've already been diagnosed, mostly mid-puberty, with it. She was suggesting that I get diagnosed again with the adult form, and I may take the suggestion seriously. I don't seem to have trouble focusing when I get focus, it's just hard to get focus.

Zen Master or Yoga

[flying-pegasus.livejournal.com]

I get focus, I can't stop. Then I don't realize I repeat my self. I don't realize I'm addictive towards a button words, when the topic is about that one button word. (that what my thearpist says) I focus on botton word, or I'm still stuck on some other subject trying to combine it in a total different subject. See I don't realize I'm doing it until the next day.

(Learning Problem I guess, but it should be a mental problem cause it's driving me insane.)
When I type...There vs Their or They're or Here or Hear....I know I wrote 'Here' but....The next day. I look at it again. Its 'Hear'. Yesterday it was 'Here'.

(Menatly)
My thearpist is trying to help. I've been on drugs that messes up my GABA (+sleep meds), then I'll .... Well that one story you wrote sums it up. But I'm not taking illegal drugs.(Although I really thought your talking about me. I wanted to cut your throat(not really). I at that instance stop my self. Say, um not everyone reads my journal or are talking about me.) Just the chemical make up in my brain is a number. some drugs work for a while, then my mind adapts. Their it goes again....

Nightmares,Sleep dep., Pacing back and forth in la la land. Sometimes I get lost and space out, I'm in another world. Imagination is great, but when it won't stop....

My thearpist is telling me that if these drug don't help, I'm on my own. But see I realize I'm spacing out and I realize I have a problem.

My last hope is working with me now....Yoga dude or Zen Master. He seem to be helping.... Me say focus. That hell a lot cheaper than those drug.

Guess what, I'm actually sleeping through the night. Instead up sleep walking to my computer...kind of sort of. Seriously I know I was in bed, I got of went to the bathroom from there, I have no idea what was so important to get on my computer for. It's not sleep walk, but some would think it is. I know I'm doing it, just the concept in trying to wake up and stop my self. (some people claims they have sleep sex, someone try to use my problem and classified it as Sleep Sex...not sleep sex or sleep walking. It's something else.)

Then you have pagans or witches saying...NO. That your mythical gift, being able to see images in the mirrors. ( I see dead people sometimes. LOL)

I'm going to stop, I'm sorry if this is skattered...I'm right now, completely mental and depress....I don't feel like proof reading right now. You don't understand...cool. If you do...WOW!

[tehrasha.livejournal.com]

Will taking a drug to control your ADHD affect your ability to code/write? Or are your coding/writing abilities at suffering now? It would seriously suck if you managed to cure your ability to be creative.

Try concerta...

[norikos-author.livejournal.com]

We put our son on it several years ago. It was a hard decision, but after seeing the results we've never even come _close_ to regretting it.

It's amazing. He still has all the energy he ever had, he can just _focus_ it. Not that expensive; a months supply of 54mg pills is $100 (though you'd probably need a higher dose, not being a small child...)

Hunter-Gatherers

[mothball-07.livejournal.com]

I'm AD(H)D too. I tried Ritalin, Adderall, and Wellbutrin a while back. I disliked the side effects of each, and while I know there are newer "better" drugs now, I chose to find other ways, even if sometimes I'm inefficient or annoy the folks around me. One thing that helped was the "Hunter" perspective (Google "ADHD Hunter.") This gave me a framework to see myself as different, rather than broken.

Here's a story that may amuse you... When I left school and started programming full time, I was not doing very well. Fourty hours a week of fixing bugs was draining my will to live, and I was getting very depressed about the rest of my life. My psychologist reminded me of my committment to work with my personality, rather than berate myself. She pointed out that programming, while supporting my family, was not exactly a Hunter career*, and suggested I needed to take concrete steps to incorporate more adrenaline in my life. At our next visit, I told her all about my first date with jenner. Heh. :)

I still get a smile remembering the look on her face...
YVadrenalineMV

* Actually, being a "Project Engineer" (programmer/project manager) turns out to be very Hunter. I have deadlines, lots of pressure, and then a break before the next project I'm responsible for. I like it quite a bit, actually. But at the time I was droning along fixing bugs and assumed that was all I'd ever do.

Anyhow, if you'd like to discuss how I handle my ADHD, I'd be happy to chat via email. I don't condemn medication, but for me the side effects made me too "not me."

- Shasta

[marketeer]

I started having serious concentration and focus problems about two years ago, which were eventually confirmed by neuropsych testing. In my case, the root cause was anxiety and stress. I was having stress in numerous areas of my life. I've been taking Xanax for anxiety and working on other ways to de-stress (i.e., changing jobs to get away from a toxic boss), and it does seem to have helped. You've mentioned life stress a fair amount lately.

Have you tried flax seed oil and B vitamins?

[danlyke.livejournal.com]

I'm going to sound like the Marin hippy I am, but have you tried flax seed oil (for Omega 3 fatty acids) and B vitamins? I get the flax seed oil in capsules, take the equivalent of a teaspoon twice a day, and slap a generic B complex tablet down every once in a while, and it has done wonders for me. My partner does the flax seed oil as a liquid: on salads, cold foods, that sort of thing, similar quantities. The only down-side is you've got to be fairly careful to store the oil cold, use it cool, and use it quickly.

It's done incredible wonders for both of us in terms of focus and clarity of thinking.