Adult ADD

[dmusic148]

Originally Posted by Winterpegbass

Interestingly enough, despite the terrible toll that meth takes on people, cigarettes are the most harmful stimulant.

That's a bit of a stretch. I've never had a too-skinny cigarette addict with an infant stop me in a hotel parking lot begging for "a few dollars" so she could "get enough gas to make it to her aunt's funeral."

[MatticusMania]

Originally Posted by dmusic148

That's a bit of a stretch. I've never had a too-skinny cigarette addict with an infant stop me in a hotel parking lot begging for "a few dollars" so she could "get enough gas to make it to her aunt's funeral."

No, but how many smokers have you seen asking another smoker if they can bum a smoke?

Answer: way more, Im certain.

[Jazz Ad]

Originally Posted by JakeF

Some days my mind explode.

I'm posting on a MUSICIANS forum that has members SCARED OF DRUGS.

Yeah.

Considering our death toll, as musicians we should really be scared of drugs.

[JakeF]

Originally Posted by Jazz Ad

Considering our death toll, as musicians we should really be scared of drugs.

Touche sir.

One of the best come backs I have seen on a forum.

[BogeyBass]

Dont get your panties all bundled up.

Me and my father his mother and her mother all had what they call now ADD.

After seeing many doctors and trying a whole cocktail of drugs.
Some helped for a few months some made me sick, some made me fat, some even made me want to kill myself. Dad had enough of this #### and said enough with the excuses and drug crutches. I agreed and said secretly I laugh at all these doctors because they dont do #### for me and they dont really care. They go straight into the list of drugs, all of them like a scripted joke.

Dad had the same problems as a kid, but yet he completed his degree and had a very successful life. He visited the same doctor as me, guess what how amazing he had ADD and "showed possible signs of being bipolar". But he didnt have a list of excuses like many, and didnt have a doctor to tell him he was sick. He simply had no plans of being a corn farmer like the rest of his family and wanted to get the #### out of the small town he grew up in. So he did.

[dmusic148]

Originally Posted by MatticusMania

No, but how many smokers have you seen asking another smoker if they can bum a smoke?

Answer: way more, Im certain.

How is that relevant? We're talking life destruction potential. If you get hooked on meth I can guarantee you your life will shortly be in ruins.

[Srirachaglo]

Stop fighting, kids! I'm gonna toss an idea on the table...

Bassists with ADD club!

OP gets #1
I'll take #2 for coming up with the idea
Who else is in?

We could even start our own club thr...

...saw something shiny... gtg!

[JakeF]

Originally Posted by Srirachaglo

Stop fighting, kids! I'm gonna toss an idea on the table...

Bassists with ADD club!

OP gets #1
I'll take #2 for coming up with the idea
Who else is in?

We could even start our own club thr...

...saw something shiny... gtg!

I agree with this. Just copied to my signature. Welcome to the club. Working on the member cards right now...

Need to change my strings now.

[hernameisrio]

I don't want to get too into my own history here. I will say that I battled depression in adolescence and anxiety since, well, I had an anxiety attack at age 7. I'm just wired that way and it does run in my family. Beyond that, for most of my life I have had trouble following directions, talking too much and interrupting, "daydreaming" in class, making impulsive decisions, and feeling like my brain is in perpetual overdrive. I also sometimes "hyperfocus" on things...can be useful for music!

I've been on meds. It can be a challenge because of the variables it introduces. Do they "work?" They change the chemistry in your brain...maybe that will work for you and maybe it won't.

The unfortunate thing about being on meds as a teenager is that I didn't get a decent sense of my "true feelings" until age 22 when I went off them. Suddenly it was like life hit me...I could think more clearly and it felt like it was easier to make decisions. But that might have also been natural brain development.

I occasionally use nootropics, ginseng, and 5-htp to manage what I feel is adult ADD. I would like to someday see if Adderall works for me but given my history, I'm reluctant to tamper with the natural ways of my brain too much. There is too much going on in my life right now for me to risk that.

I've also tried...well, I'll leave it at "other stimulants" as I am ultimately not a big drug user! Now THAT was interesting...I could think more clearly, my brain felt less "cluttered," and I played better.

It is amazing though, how things like vitamins and coffee can help a bit. I think meds can be useful, but I think they're better used as a sort of leg-up to HELP the person improve his/her quality of life...not to magically improve it for them.

Self awareness alone can go a long way too!

[JakeF]

Originally Posted by hernameisrio

I don't want to get too into my own history here. I will say that I battled depression in adolescence and anxiety since, well, I had an anxiety attack at age 7. I'm just wired that way and it does run in my family. Beyond that, for most of my life I have had trouble following directions, talking too much and interrupting, "daydreaming" in class, making impulsive decisions, and feeling like my brain is in perpetual overdrive. I also sometimes "hyperfocus" on things...can be useful for music!

I've been on meds. It can be a challenge because of the variables it introduces. Do they "work?" They change the chemistry in your brain...maybe that will work for you and maybe it won't.

The unfortunate thing about being on meds as a teenager is that I didn't get a decent sense of my "true feelings" until age 22 when I went off them. Suddenly it was like life hit me...I could think more clearly and it felt like it was easier to make decisions. But that might have also been natural brain development.

I occasionally use nootropics, ginseng, and 5-htp to manage what I feel is adult ADD. I would like to someday see if Adderall works for me but given my history, I'm reluctant to tamper with the natural ways of my brain too much. There is too much going on in my life right now for me to risk that.

I've also tried...well, I'll leave it at "other stimulants" as I am ultimately not a big drug user! Now THAT was interesting...I could think more clearly, my brain felt less "cluttered," and I played better.

It is amazing though, how things like vitamins and coffee can help a bit. I think meds can be useful, but I think they're better used as a sort of leg-up to HELP the person improve his/her quality of life...not to magically improve it for them.

Self awareness alone can go a long way too!

Thanks for sharing. I kinda know what you mean.

I was originally diagnosed in 2007 at 28 but didn't feel like I was ready for the drugs. Completed most of my master's in mental health counseling and have surrounded myself in an environment full of checks and balances. Now I'm 33 and realized I had taken care of everything I needed to, now its time to get myself ready to do the things I can not do without it. Life is never easy.

[RustyAxe]

A partner in one of my projects, an Americana duo, is ADD. He's 72 years old, and has held more than 75 jobs in his lifetime! Never diagnosed or treated (they didn't do that back then). Working with him in a studio is like trying to herd cats.

[tmdazed]

do they not use talwin to treat add, I always thought aderall was an old treatment for depression they dont use anymore

[VitalSigns]

People used to have "characteristics" now they have "disorders"

As a kid, my mother had me go through a bunch of tests for ADD. It would take me hours to do homework because I was constantly thinking about different things. I'm not gonna type out my life story here, but basically, she said I would "think too much." I'm not gonna sit here and pretend to know what it's like to have "ADD", but I like to think I can't relate. I think it's more of a case of thinking differently than everyone else and that being treated as a "disorder". I don't know, I'm kind of rambling here and probably not making much sense. Whatever.

Oh and the legal drugs are bad for you, mmmkay?

[Tmw2011]

I suffer from ADD (non-hyperactive typology). I was diagnosed about 3 years ago.. The diagnosis was among the best things to happen to me in life, simply because it answered a lot of questions about my behavior, impulsiveness, and inability to focus over the last 35 years. My doctor did a thorough screening and even went as far as to talk to my parents and get in contact with my gradeschool and highschool (not sure how well that turned out for her, since I graduated in '89). Prior to being put on adderall, I tried non-stimulant medication and CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy)... Neither did much. When the decision was made to put me on adderall, it wasn't made lightly, but I was getting desperate as the ADD was disrupting my life more and more.

Since being on adderall, my life improved immensely. I take 2 'drug holidays' each month where I do not touch my medication for those weekends. I use my prescription responsibly and in the last 3 years, neither myself nor my family have seen any ill effects, only a positive change.

And for those that say 'ADD/ADHD doesn't exist... It's all made up', take a look at this.

Just a quick snippet -

One study looked at children with and without ADHD over a 10-year period. At various ages, children's brains were scanned using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The researchers found that:

• The brains of boys and girls with ADHD were 3% to 4% smaller than the brains of children without ADHD.
• Children with more severe ADHD symptoms had smaller frontal lobes, temporal grey matter, caudate nucleus, and cerebellum. These brain regions are involved in concentration, impulse control, inhibition, and motor activity, which are all problem areas for children with ADHD.
• The course of brain development in children with and without ADHD was similar. This suggests that changes in the brain happen early in development.

Other studies have used functional MRI (fMRI) to measure brain activation while children are performing various tasks. These studies have shown that reductions in brain volume in children with ADHD are associated with poorer performance on:

• tests of attention and inhibition
• measures of behaviour

I also read another study where it talked that doctors had found (properly diagnosed) children with ADD/ADHD reduction in brain volume was due to having less white matter. They also found that over time that with proper medication, the volume would eventually increase, reaching a 'normal' level.

[Tmw2011]

Originally Posted by tmdazed

do they not use talwin to treat add, I always thought aderall was an old treatment for depression they dont use anymore

No, adderall was actually developed and marketed as a weight-loss drug until they started noticing positive effects involving focus.

[fdeck]

http://nyti.ms/WNm8MJ

VIRGINIA BEACH — Every morning on her way to work, Kathy Fee holds her breath as she drives past the squat brick building that houses Dominion Psychiatric Associates. Dominion Psychiatric Associates in Virginia Beach, where Richard Fee was treated by Dr. Waldo M. Ellison. After observing Richard and hearing his complaints about concentration, Dr. Ellison diagnosed attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and prescribed the stimulant Adderall.

It was there that her son, Richard, visited a doctor and received prescriptions for Adderall, an amphetamine-based medication for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. It was in the parking lot that she insisted to Richard that he did not have A.D.H.D., not as a child and not now as a 24-year-old college graduate, and that he was getting dangerously addicted to the medication. It was inside the building that her husband, Rick, implored Richard’s doctor to stop prescribing him Adderall, warning, “You’re going to kill him.”

It was where, after becoming violently delusional and spending a week in a psychiatric hospital in 2011, Richard met with his doctor and received prescriptions for 90 more days of Adderall. He hanged himself in his bedroom closet two weeks after they expired.

[stagebanter]

ADHD and related: real things! Yeah, believe it or not, people who have ADHD have brains that function differently from people who don't "have ADHD". Sadly, because the treatment for ADHD is a performance-enhancing drug, "pill mills" and overprescription are EVERYWHERE. Kinda like how chronic pain is a real thing, but OxyContin feels good and also happens to be a treatment for chronic pain. Result? 22-year-old kids in Florida on "disability" getting 180 oc's a month for "fibromyalgia" (which is also a real thing, by the way).

I have a mood disorder which I treat with psychotherapy and it works great. Other people in my boat are not so lucky and have to take medication. For some people, the medication works GREAT with few side-effects. Other people kill themselves because of it.

Someone mentioned Talwin, which is a very weird drug. It's an opioid, technically, but it's an agonist and an antagonist at the same time. It's used for pain.

[mikegug]

My diagnosis was a relief. It explained things for me too. I am going to try drugs again for the first time in 15 years. Doc says the drugs have gotten better since then. If not, I will continue my successful life I am leading.

Getting to this place took more effort than everyone else, but it was worth it. I also had to give myself a lot of grace along the way and I would NOT have been able to do that without that diagnosis.

We will see how it goes...

[Srirachaglo]

I've been taking the little blue pills in varying dosages (just got it perfectly balanced in the last year) for 10 years now. Adderall saved my academic and professional career. I feel for these sob stories (I REALLY do), but unfortunately they are just a classic example of a "straw man" fallacy. Nothing more. If a medication works well for someone under proper supervision, why is it so bad?

[fdeck]

Originally Posted by Srirachaglo

I've been taking the little blue pills in varying dosages (just got it perfectly balanced in the last year) for 10 years now. Adderall saved my academic and professional career. I feel for these sob stories (I REALLY do), but unfortunately they are just a classic example of a "straw man" fallacy. Nothing more. If a medication works well for someone under proper supervision, why is it so bad?

I agree. The "sob stories" are merely cautionary tales. Virtually all medical treatments help some people and harm some people.