Amphetamines....

Okay - I only used this title to get your attention! It is still relavent but maybe not to you all, but if you know of anyone you can relate info on I would appreciate that too. And all you nurses let me know what you think! I take Adderall (an amphetamine) for Adult ADD. I was on the time released before surgery and now am on the short acting post. I went off them for over a month while I healed and just started back on them today. My question is do any of you think there might be a reason why I shouldn't take these post surgery? I didn't do bad at all, but I wonder about things such as absorption, intensity, too intense of appetite suppression, and long term effects like high blood pressure. I had a little hbp going on prior to leaving for Mexico, but not horrible. I did have pre-eclampsia when I was pregnant as well. I was reading in a PDR about long term effects of amphetamines and didn't really like what I saw - about how they can affect your long term health with your circulatory system and such. Do any of you have insight on this at all - either personal, family or work related? Dina

There are new ADD medications that are non-stimulants. I would suggest talking to your Dr. and trying to switch off the amphetamines. Here is one that is supposed to be non-stimulant http://www.strattera.com/index.jsp Good luck Kiki ;)~

Thanks Kiki! I had heard of Strattera but for some reason my doctor didn't want me on that one right now. Can't remember why exactly. I know I told him I could not cope with something that made me gain weight, so if that was a side effect, that would be why. Also if it works in any way like a seratonin uptake inhibitor like Redux, Prozac, Luvox, etc, they DO NOT work for me at all and in fact make me worse with the ADD. They not only exacerbate the symptoms but also make me not give a crap about it! I will bring it up to him again though. I keep forgetting to call and make an appointment! ::sigh:: Can you tell I've not been taking my meds? Dina

Strattera can be a good medication for some people. Like Dina's physician, my too did not want to place me on Strattera as well. However I do have a son on it and he does fair. I am one of those Mom's that think there are too many kids in the world on Ritalin and didn't want Ritalin or Adderall to be his first medication of choice, so were doing Strattera for him.

Dina I can give you insight only from my own personal encounters, I also just so happen to be a LVN and a soon to be RN ..smiles I am prescribed Adderal XR 30mg three times a day, for my Adult A.D.D. as well. I am nearly 2 years post op. My main problem I have is that if I were to take the medication as prescribed I would NEVER eat!! It does affect my appetite severely. I do need the medication though as it affects my concentration with my studies and my "everyday life" ( I can't sit still and watch movies, as an example and NO, its not cuz I'm wired from the Rx!). It does not affect my work performance because I hyperfocus and do well in the work enviroment either way. I generally am able to take the Adderall 1 cap every other day at the minimum or every day. Occassionally twice a day if on the weekend. NEVER 3 times as prescribed. You may wonder why it is then prescribed as such?? Well, prior to bypass I was taking Concerta and was on a fairly high dose 36mg twice a day. I was told that with the absorption of the medication and my smaller pouch, I was not requiring such higher doses now. As stated I am 22 months post op and of course my pouch is larger than before but no where near the size of an original stomach. As for the side effects to the medications listed in the PDR, every pill you take has adverse effects. I have never felt any adverse symptoms aside from anorexia while taking my Adderall. If I ever wanted to have a skeleton figure yeah...then I would take it 3 times, but no thank you! Good luck Allison Redding, California

Allison - Howdy neighbor! I am on a much lower dosage of the Adderall at 10 mg 2 times a day right now, but will likely bump up to 3x a day once I go back to work (10-12 hour shifts). I've never felt the bells and whistles go off when I've taken either Concerta, Ritalin or Adderall, but I have to say I notice when I don't take it. I too hyperfocus quite intensely when something engages me, but I am somewhat scattered as well. This is good for my job as I am a dispatcher and I frequently have to change gears. I like that stimulation, but if it's not stimulating enough for me, I will start to make stupid mistakes and miss obivous things. That's why I was so troubled and had to go in and find out what the problem was. I've only been diagnosed since last fall. I forget a LOT of things and I get very overwhelmed in my mind when I think about starting a new project. A good example is these message boards. I will read and read and avoid posting for the longest time. It feels like it's too much for me to do, so I avoid it. I know once I start I have a hard time quitting. I focus too much on it and I'm on the computer all day long. It's like once I start answering posts I feel I have to answer every single one or else. Or else what I don't know, but I feel undone. I think there is a little ocd involved here too, but not on a huge level....just enough to keep me properly neurotic! So when I take the Adderall (which I haven't be consistent on...I keep forgetting! Ha!) I am better able to disconnect. I still focus on things, but at least I can pry myself away when I have to. As for the lack of appetite, I'm finding that right now even without taking the Adderall, so when I do take it, it does get worse. I've been weak lately so I'm trying to work through that and remind myself to eat and drink my protein drinks. Dina

My pysch doc told me that there is a "little triangle of OCD, A.D.D.and Manic Depression/Bipolar" that are all associated. I at one time thought I was possibly Bipolar but not willing to admit it and certainly not about to seek a diagnosis of it!! I totally agree about a tad bit of the OCD though with the A.D.D.. People with the Attention Deficit don't get the over stimulation from the amphetamines that "normal" people do that is why we won't get the bells nor whistles feelings. It helps keep our bodies in sync and function, mellow and on task. It is nice to be able to accomplish things and not be so scatter brained when you know your intellegent enough to do so much but your brain just isnt letting you isn't it? I am glad that I finally sought treatment although it was very hard for me to accept that I had the disease and even though I was just diagnosis with it about 4 years ago, probably have suffered with it since childhood?? now that I look back.. You may have to adjust your meds, that is what I do. I try to take the lowest effective dose so that I can still eat and still function. This is why I stated that "I am prescribed".....but "I take".. Good luck... Alley PS Your right, your not that far from me... My surgeon is not far from you either, I am a Mirande patient

Alley - I figured there had to be a connection between those 3. I don't remember if I got the connection between bipolar and ADD elsewhere or not, but it was logical to me because my dad is bipolar and they thought I was also at first. The ADD and OCD I read about being linked after I suspected that was the case when I was reading Driven to Distraction. I actually think I lucked out in a way. I mean, here I had taken one of the good online tests for ADD and scored super high on it. I went into the neuropsychologist for more testing (5 hours later) and came out with a psychologist telling me I was bipolar...ONLY after she found out my dad has it. I was devastated. I know what he is like and he is so far gone by now that I don't think any medication can bring him back from the brink. He is truly insane now. So this threw me into a tailspin and I got very depressed...which shored up her theory that I was bipolar. But I just instinctively knew this wasn't me. I had been tried on lithium and Prozac about 15 years ago and they both were horrible for me. So during our time talking, I told her that I would accept the diagnosis but that in my heart I felt it was not me. I knew bipolar. I didn't feel that was me. Anyway, I then was sent to the psychiatrist for meds. She thought he would put me on lithium or another bipolar med, but after talking to him, he concluded I definitely had ADD and saw the merit in my argument that I didn't believe I was bipolar. We waited until I went on vacation and then did the experiment of ritalin. Had I been bipolar, it would have thrown me into a manic. Well, nothing happened. So there was my answer....I was not bipolar. So by the time I finally got the dx of ADD (and I suspect a tad of OCD also, as I think the psychiatrist suspects but doesn't mention), I was RELIEVED to have that diagnosis. Here I was suspecting I was going to turn into an unstable person but come to find out I'm fine. It's *just* ADD! As for the bells and whistles I mentioned, I didn't really mean a "high" which I don't get either, but I meant that it doesn't feel like I notice any difference most of the time. Most of the time I feel the same, so I have to make a mental note to take more notes on how I'm doing with certain things. I will sometimes go over my day to evaluate how I did. I have to do that in order to know if it's working for me, because I can't tell at the time. The only way I can tell usually is when I go off meds and then find myself struggling again. That is when I realize that I was doing better on meds. I too am certain I had this in school, and I think it affected many areas of my education. I was great at certain things, but scattered and lacked follow-through. I am still forever starting projects that I don't finish. Or I will do one of something and then I will be done. I've mastered it (I can keep focused on something until I've done the best I can do) and now it's boring to me. That's frustrating to me because I love being creative, but it only lasts for a certain amount of time. It was funny because the reasoning the psychologist gave me for not thinking I had ADD was because I aced all the tests. She said in fact that she was surprised by the test scores that I wasn't a professional (doctor, lawyer, etc) because I did so well. The thing that she missed however was that I was wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy hyperfocused during that 5 hour test. I ALWAYS aced tests at school. I just could never get to schoolwork in. After finally getting my ADD diagnosis from the psychiatrist, I went and got Driven to Distraction and started to understand that the fact that I aced the test should have been a clue with all my complaints that I have ADD. Some people don't hyperfocus, while others do too much. I do too much. I can have people look me in the eye at work and if I am thinking of something else, I will not even realize they are talking to me. Ugh! Anwyay, can you tell my Adderall has worn off? I'm jabbering up a storm here! Aaaaaaaaaaaah! Hey - by the way - how come you popped up over here on the Mexico board if you were a Mirande patient? Were you checking for a friend or did you do a search on the subject line? I met Mirande in a seminar but turned out my insurance was for crap so I cha-cha'd myself down to Mexico (which I am now very thankful for). If you ever make it back up to the Medford area we'll have to go out for coffee or something. Give me a pot of coffee and I'll be sleeping inside of an hour though! Sound familiar? Dina