Sorry for the lack of posting for the last 4 months. I was working at a wonderful job for a 90 day contract that was a mix of office and warehouse supervision. It was perfect for me in the fact that i could sit down and do office stuff but also get up often and do other stuff around the warehouse. Same routine each day in general but always something different to deal with. Perfect for someone with ADD.
At the time I decided to try Adderall XR for while I was at work to see if it helped me. I still used sticky notes for everything because my short term memory is still random and i didn't trust it. Anyway this trial went very well to start. The first month I was on it mornings were amazing. I got up at 5:30 and had to be at work half an hour drive away at 7am and on certain days at 6:30am. I actually survived the mornings. It helped me keep in general focused and my brain was much less noisy. At first if caused me to have trouble sleeping the first night or two and if definitely messed with my appetite for the first little bit but I just made myself eat and it was all good. It made me happier and less moody and grumpy at things.
I went a week in between my 30 day trial and my prescription renewal due to having to wait to get a doctor's appointment. The next set of meds was the same dosage by request of me for 60 days. This was fine through April but when I hit early may I my hubby and I started to notice more side effects. (Note all along this gave me more headaches and wicked migraines that made me nauseous and lasted 5 days through my period with nothing helping). The new side effects we noticed was me being really snippy and grumpy at really stupid little things. Even I was like why am I upset over this? It was truely frusterating to discover.
Meanwhile the headaches during my period were getting worse and even though the doctor told me to just keep track of it because if the Adderall was working for the ADD she didnt want to take me off it for just that reason just yet. I decided on the may long weekend enough was enough and that I was going to do an experiment. I went off the meds for a month enough to cover over my next period and guess what back to normal for me at the time moods and talking a lot, still survived work and somehow mornings, but the best thing no headaches or nausea during my period. I decided I needed to talk to her about changing meds but I would wait a bit first.
I then had a 4 day break from work before my last two weeks and that weekend I was taking motorcycle lessons for the first time with my hubby. We had to be there at 8 and i really wanted to make sure i could focus on learning how to ride a motorcycle safely and so i went back on the Adderall for 2 weeks. This really did help with the motorcycle lessons even though I was still terrified in general because traffic was scary and it was raining for 3 out of the 4 days. Not only did I have to learn to operate the bike but I had to learn standard at the same time this made the task quite difficult. I am slowly getting better as I practice.
I noticed with going back on it for the short time that while once again it helped me focus the side effects of my being really grumpy were back fairly fast. I am now completely off it and am back to job hunting casually through the summer. I failed my first attempt at my motorycle road test because I was so nervous and my brain was racing so fast (like a sports car in race with no breaks) that I literally could not catch it long enough for it to tell me to breath and calm down. My hubby passed with no problems like I knew he would.
I was meaning to go in to talk to my doctor about my experiment however she is away for over a month. She is not back in the office until monday and is already booked up. I have an appointment later this month but who knows if I will even get to discussing this with her as I have a few other things to discuss with her first.
In the mean time I have been reading up on a blog called
http://www.fattyacidtrip.com
about omega 3s and how they can help with ADD symptoms. I already knew they could help and that evening primrose oil could help (I have been taking this for as long as I can remember). I have added fish oils to my supplements and eat tuna once a week or every couple of weeks. I know there is mercury but I eat within the regulated limit. I dont like a lot of other fish.
This site lead me to a couple of books one of which I just got in the mail yesterday and have started reading.
http://www.amazon.com/Attention-Deficit-Hyperactivity-Disorder-natural-treat/dp/1905140010/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1312410634&sr=8-1
This book is all about how this person and another researcher have noticed that people with ADD have less omega 3s in their systems and how it can help relieve symptoms. I will update on the book when I have finished it. There is a review on the fattyacidtrip site as well. I also ordered a book called the Omega 3 connection again recommended by that website which has yet to arrive.
http://www.amazon.com/Omega-3-Connection-Groundbreaking-Antidepression-Program/dp/B001O9CFAE/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1312410753&sr=1-1
I am hoping to give this a try and see if I can get away with this to help me out as it is far safer then the meds and I definitely feel more comfortable with this then with putting strong meds in my body. Will update with more once I read the books and try it out.
Sorry for the long post. I hope to be back posting on here more often again.
