Mental Health ADHD, hypothyroidism and methylphenidate

[chrysalis1]

My health has been deteriorating slowly since I was 14 and last year the depression took a turn for the worse. I was diagnosed with ADHD and prescribed instant-release methylphenidate 4 months ago (titrating from 5mg to now 20mg). Once I was upped to 10mg, I started feeling great - more energy, motivation and my previously ill health improved immensely. Most of the ADHD symptoms were still there and I got a variety of side effects, including palpitations, anxiety, losing almost 10kgs and experiencing brain fog every once in a while. But I do not remember having such a zest for life since I was a little kid.

Now very recently, I discovered I am very likely to have hypothyroidism (waiting for blood test results). From what I learnt researching, it appears the methylphenidate has been somewhat treating all of my symptoms. However, there must have been a rebound effect when the meds wore off as I got incredible drowsiness and fogginess at times.

So I'm slightly worried that methylphenidate could have affected my blood test results (didn't take it 3 days beforehand). However, it seems that even if I turn out to have hypothyroidism, which is treated, the symptoms could still not go away. So I'm wondering whether these medications could be taken together? Or if for whatever reason, it gets undiagnosed, is it bad to take methylphenidate on its own with a potentially underactive thyroid?

Another issue is that the doctor is probably going to take me off methylphenidate as it seems to elevate my blood pressure and give me palpitations. But I suspect this has something to do with the thyroid rapidly going from very sluggish to very active. Does anyone have any knowledge on this? I was thinking about asking the doctor to try out the slow-release version in the hope that it would rectify this issue...

Finally, I thought it might be of interest to mention that my responses to MDMA and canabbis (only tried on a few occasions) have been completely different to those of my peers. Which suggests to me that there is definitely something going on...

Any thoughts or suggestions would be highly appreciated.

 

[pasha]

homeless -> mental health

 

[ABetterWay]

Pm me if you like. I LOVE talking about this kind of stuff. It's fascinating to me. I too always note my reactions to anything I take, whether good or bad. I look up the mechanism, how a given drug supposedly works, and weigh in my reaction. Doing this, I have come to suspect, in my case for example, that I lack GABA activity, and my glutamate activity is out of control.

But yeah....with my myriad of health problems, and my nerd leanings lol, I enjoy trying to be a Detective of my own body chemistry ;-)

Pm me, let's talk!

Peace.

Edit: In the spirit of HR, I suppose I should say, your own medical detective work could be dangerous, and you shouldn't take foolish risks. A medical professional is your best bet. Peace.

 

[jammin83]

They are supposed to check your thyroid before they diagnose with you adhd. I took various medications for years for it. Adderall, ritalin, vyvanse, etc... In the end I realized that all they were doing was bringing me back to baseline so I got off. They were quite expensive as well.

They did help me for a time, the euphoria I got though was probably counter-productive and led to me becoming dependent on them. I still enjoy the stimulation from stimulants and adderall does something for my creativity that can't be denied but, IME, they are not good for daily use. Every now and then but eventually the effect wears off and you have to up your dose or manage without them. Now I get things done, go to work, etc without it and I do ok. Still have concentration issues and have been a major space cadet my whole life but do okay without them now. I don't miss it but they can be useful from time to time. They seem more effective with sporadic use as opposed to daily use. Long term stimulant use is probably not good for one's health and dependency on anything isn't fun or productive.

Also, I wouldn't put too much thought into your reactions to MDMA or cannabis. Everyone reacts to drugs differently, as we each have our own individual brain chemistry. Some people love it, some people hate it, some people have a 'meh' reaction. We are all different and react to substances differently. Listen to your mind and body when they disagree with substances, they are telling you something.

Cheers.