Hi...I am a 38 yr old mom and wife...I am college educated, own a small business, and work a part time job (I'm a registered nurse). On the outside, people who don't know me assume I have a great life. What they don't know, is I deal with alot of anxiety and scatterbrain behavior, which makes getting things done the way I want them challenging. I started on Cymbalta several years ago to deal with depression, it seemed to help, although it was very expensive. Eventually, it stopped working. Someone that I work with prescribed me Paxil 20 mg and I have been on them about 3 months. They seem to help. Suddenly, we got a bunch of stress in our family...my brother in law died, a friend's mom died, we found out one of our friends is on meth, got in a fight with another friend, and now we have a new addition to our family...my son's best friend, who was in a shitty foster home, has moved in with us. We are also extremely busy at our business right now. To cope with the insanity in my life, I received a script for Xanax 1 mg, which does help immensely when I am wigging out. Occasionally I will use it to help sleep...I am on a kick right now where I have been up two days, so I have taken 1 1/2 Xanax, and though I am quite messed up, it hasn't had the desired effeect of making my brain tune out and calm down yet. And, I can already feel it wearing off, so I can probably kiss sleep goodbye tonight....by tomorrow night, I will have been awake about 70+ hours. This is fairly common. By two or three days on no sleep, I will start seeing shadow people and becoming quite paranoid. The other thing is, I am extremely scatterbrained. Peopel tell me stuff and I forget it immediately...I often have to get them to repeat what they have just said. I lose things constantly (like 10+ times a day) and spend at least an hour a day looking for stuff. While I was bright in school, and did well, it was a constant challenge to manage when stuff was due, where I had put this or that, etc. I do things to try and help myself like make lists, etc. Often, I lose the lists. People think I am book smart and common sense stupid, but it isn't that..I just CAN'T get my shit together. I very often forget to pay bills, forget meetings and the kids' games etc. I have been trying to get my shit together for years. Also, I am very hyper and can't sit still. It would be impossible for me to go to movies because I can't sit still. My husband states that I wiggle around constantly in my sleep. When I think back, it's been this way since I was a child. But I learned to cope with my symptoms and control them. Back when I had a lot less stress. I eat a healthy diet and get some exercise...it's nto perfect, but I do try to walk, etc. I avoid pop, sugar, etc. I eat a lot of meat, vegetables, and fruit, and cereal. I drink tremendous amounts of ice water and iced tea...tea helps me, as does any caffiene. I also smoke now, something I didn't regularly do until all this shit started going on. Our son had ADHD earlier and was on Ritalin a while, then Adderil, and finally something called Foculin. We finally got him weaned off of all of it. What I am wondering is if I ought to see a psychiatrist and see if Ritalin would help me. I WON'T go to anyone besides a psychiatrist, I would never ask the local doctors to put me on something like that. Do you think adults can have real ADHD? Thanks Michelle
hi. often we find out about our own add/adhd when our child is diagnosed.This happened with me. My question is about your 70 hour no sleep, how often. I ask because from all the testing , and questions i have gone through add/adhd in adults can be bi-polar and not add/adhd. Ritalin I hated , too many side effects ( jitters , not smooth at all) adderall gave a much better delivery, although tolerance seems to happen for many. dosage increase is normal , until adjusted, but that is an individual thing ( as you may know from nursing) I was also on xanax, but after a few years with an endless script and my weight going up as fast as i was taking the blue little pill, i had to stop.<<< my choice, only because i found i used it for every little stress and then some. Facts are , you're busy, your plate is full, with out a doubt adderall will allow your day to glide on very smoothly (with less forgetfulness) . Talk to a shrink, they will work with you. Good luck. D )
Yeah, absolutely should see a psychiatrist, and you're right to want to see a psychiatrist over a general physician. A psychiatrist, ideally, should always be able to do a better assessment than your regular physician. Particularly with what is going on, though, you need someone who can skillfully sort out a variety of issues. I agree that the 70+ hours without sleep is very concerning. That much lack of sleep is enough to cause a lot of problems in itself, and so getting at the root of it is very important. Definitely would encourage you to see someone as soon as they're available and hopefully they can help figure out what is going on and how best to address it.
Thanks for your responses, it does help to know others go through this type of thing. Like I said, yes, I think I should see a psychiatrist, as I am very hesitant to go to a local doctor (someone who knows me personally) seeking a script for a strong stimulant. I am afraid they will think I am trying to get high off of it or something....it's very bizarre....if you are a crackhead without a job, they will prescribe you anything, but if you are someone like me, they are very hesitant about it. (Which is absurd, as I've NEVER had a drug problem at all...I socially drink (1-2x a month maybe), RARELY will smoke weed (like a couple of times a year at parties, and no one except my friends know it), and in college I did socially use cocaine/speed (like maybe 5-10x), but the last time was over 15+ years ago. Oh, and I dropped acid twice. That's the extent of my drug use. Many people in our town use more than that a week. I'm not kidding.) When I had my hysterectomy (actually cut open from hipbone to hipbone), I was given 10 regular strength Vicodin (5/500) and told to use Ibuprofen when it ran out. A friend of mine sprained her ankle (badly) and was given 60 Vicodin 10/325 with a refill. So I don't know if it's because they know me, or I'm an RN, or what. The only reason I got the script for Xanax is because that doctor is a friend of mine, and he knew that with the death in the family and everything else, I was about to go through the roof. I try to only take them when I need them badly, and he told me, "If you need em, take em...that's what they're for." He is also the one who prescribed the Paxil, which has been a godsend. I seriously don't know where I'd be without it. But a schedule II stimulant....no way am I going to discuss that with anyone in this tiny, everyone-in-your-business town. When my son was on Adderal and Ritalin, I tried it a couple of times just to see what it would do...it did, at first, give me kind of a speedy, coke-ish feeling, but there was no euphoria with it...it was like all my thoughts, which are normally scattered everywhere, were lined out for me...I could think, "Ok, here's what I've got to do today....here's the order I have to do them in, these are the priority things, these things are less important...if I do this first, I can do this other thing while that is going, etc. Like everything was on a timeline...I could see EXACTLY what I needed to do. Just felt tremendous energy, focus, and in control rather than like a nut running all over the place. And I think a psychiatrist could maybe understand better than a general practioner what I mean. We took our son off the meds by utilizing counseling and a procedure called biofeedback...it was a lot of work, and it took time, but we gradually got him off of them, which was our goal....he's been off meds for 3 years now. And I realize these are powerful meds with side effects, but I am at the point where I feel the side effects are worth the trade off in getting rid of the way I feel now. I just feel disorganized, anxious, and not sure what to do about it. Like I want to fix things but don't know where to start. I do have a friend who is bipolar, but hers is more mood-swingy....I am generally happy (as long as I stay on my Paxil) but tend to have times when I am very tired verses times where I am very hyper and bouncing around all the time (manic??....dunno). Maybe I'm just a nut lol! Thanks for chatting with me about it...I do value your opinions!
