Adult Add

[merex]

I am 28 years old and have never been professionally diagnosed/screened/tested for ADD. After reading through this thread, http://www2.bluelight.ru/ubb/Forum19/HTML/010358.html?reload=72, and investigating some of the links referenced, I believe that I do have ADD.
I friend gave me a couple dexedrines which I took in the morning before work. Wow, is all I can say. I am a software developer, and I hate/cant/nitpick documentation tasks. I can bang code just fine, even better on the dexedrine, but what a huge difference it made.
Now I have the problem of trying to get a prescription from a 'Health Care Professional'. Are there any tips out there for 'old folks' with ADD? Is there a particular profile for an 'open minded doctor'?
Hats of to bluelight.ru, as this BBS is populated by some very bright people sharing quality information.

 

[Angie19]

I would also like to know about this. I am 20 years old and i think i may have ADD. I have always been too scared to go see a doctor. What kind of doctor would you have to go see?

 

[incubusted13]

If i were u i'd just go to a psychiatrist...just tell them that its hard for u to concentrate and that u think u have ADD...i think this usually works

 

[AbraMontague]

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And don't forget to tell them about that coke problem you had a few years ago either.

 

[PhreeX]

Good luck brotha man! As you get older, it gets harder and harder to get amphetamines - kinda fucked up, ain't it? When a young child is hyperactive (as young kids are) we like to put them on amounts of amphetamines greater then that taken by a tweaker at a rave party .. well, as you get older, doctors don't like to see you on amphetamines - ADD/ADHD is also considered a disorder seen more often in children then adults, so the course of medication is often differn't...
First off, I would be willing to be you don't actually have ADD ... you say you had a better, more productive day at work while on amphetamines? OF COURSE you did... 95% of people that take amphetamines find that it makes for a great work tool, and that jumps to 107% when you're talking about people that work in a computer profession (I realize it's technically impossible to get more then 100%, but the program that generated the statistics was coded by a 16 y/o with ADHD) ... but still, there is no reason that you shouldn't try to cop some goodies from a doc - if socioty is gunna make up all these disorders then we might as well take advantage of them!
Read STP1993's guide to faking ADHD, then search this forum for "ADHD" and read the countless other stories about peoples experiences trying to score amp's from their doc .. just replace "classroom" with "office" when talking to yer doc!
Now forthe answer youprobably didnt want to hear - you might strike out, in fact, you probably will... in adults they don't start out with something like Ritalin, but instead something like Wellbutrin - you might even get an SSRI ... now if you have a documented history of ADHD it will be a little easier... if you don't - well, say you do ... tell yer doctor youtook Dexedrine all through college and it helped you, say that you would like to get back on this medicine as you're having the same problems concentrating on your work ..
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"I am not one of those weak-spirited, sappy Americans who want to be liked by all the people around them. I don't care if people hate my guts; I assume most of them do. The important question is: 'What are they in a position to do about it?'" (William S. Burroughs)

 

[merex]

Oh BTW. I have smoked quite a bit of pot in the last 10 years, which might have something to do with my current state.
I have seen the acronym SSRI on bluelight, but I have yet to educate myself on what they are, or why I would not want them prescribed.
PhreeX, can you give me a reason doc's don't like to prescribe amphetemines.

 

[Diffidence]

Most docs don't like to prescribe anything that has recreational value. Amphetamines are easily abusable.

 

[N Train]

Hypothetically, what if I went to a new doctor and told them that I was prescribed dexedrine in high school, but stopped, and now the symptoms are coming back . . . would he/she automatically be able to tell that, in fact, I had never had a prescription?

 

[AbraMontague]

No doctors like to dole out CII drugs, they tend to get scrutinized by the DEA. You can say that you use to take <insert stimulant> and stopped taking it but he probably won't give you a script without some documentation of the disorder. More likely he will refer you to a list of psychiatrists.

 

[downDRU]

Phree is right, nobody will give you a damn thing when you're over 18. I was diagnosed w/ ADHD by a psychologist at age 17 and it was hard enough then. Lots of dough involved with diagnostic testing and head shrinking extrordinaire. The reason people think it's "so easy to be diagnosed with ADD," is that nowadays social workers pair up with shrinks in certain public education or public health offices. So that when a teacher tells a school councilor or a social worker that some child is "disruptive in class," he or she tells the shrink to prescribe ritalin. Teachers and Parents want responsibility for docile kids ONLY. If they aren't born docile, they must be medicated. Since nobody's responsible for adults, nobody cares when they have problems with focus or concentration.

 

[stp1993]

advice - dont see a psychiatrist, see a physician, preferably one you have been seeing for a long time, they trust you more. you can explain that youve always had the problem but never realized what it was.
ahh.

 

[themagicbean]

this is going to be a bit rough, it's been a few years since i've been over any neurochem, but here's a go:
SSRI stands for selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor. neurons fire off chemicals to communicate with other neurons. sometimes once a chemical is fired off and the receiving end has absorbed, there's leftovers of that chem left in the synapse (space between the two). the first actor in this little play then re-absorbs or re-uptakes the leftovers. SSRIs help w/ depression by helping the first ending (dammit i wish i remembered the terms for these) reuptake more serotonin ... which somehow helps switch the brain into a little less down mode (sorry, like i said it's been a while). likewise, they don't work for non-depressives because they're already reuptaking what they need. again, this is a horrible explanation but covers the basics.