Zook, again, I've been around all of that stuff... It's not too cool.
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| Joining the Ritalin Generation https://foreverdreaming.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3415 |
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| Author: | The Zookeepers Apprentice [ 10/21/02 11:04 ] |
| Post subject: | Joining the Ritalin Generation |
I saw the psychiatrist today (he comes very highly reccomended from my psychotherapist, who is excellent), and he's started me on 2.5mg of Ritalin once a day to help with my ADD. That is a very low dose. So we'll see what happens. He says it'll take a few weeks to see any effects, and I was bummed. I want relief from the ADD NOW! But, aftter 23 years and 8 months of suffering from it, what's two weeks in the scheme of things? So I shrugged and said, "Okay. Whatever." So I took the first dose tonight (the sooner this stuff gets into my system and working, the better, I say), and I was wondering how much of my personality and the unique nature is a direct offshoot of the ADD? I'll say here that the media hype about kids becoming zombies on this drug is a very slated portrayal of its effects, and...yeah. If you use the drug correctly, it doesn't turn you into a mindless zombie. But it will calm down AD/HD people (ask, and I'll explain how a stimulant does this). So I'm wondering what I'll be like when I'm calm. Other than more productive. Gotta wonder that if I've blown the shorts off people with my intelligence when I've been suffering from this, will I really blow people away when I can focus and stay on task? At least better than I can now; there is no cure, just control. And you use meds in conjuction with therapy and all that. So...yeah. Had to vent. |
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| Author: | AbsoluteAngel58 [ 10/21/02 12:28 ] |
| Post subject: | Joining the Ritalin Generation |
I got a friend who's got ADD, too. Except no matter what meds he takes he's still outta control. Sometimes he just doesn't take the medicines cuz he doesn't want to. Zooks, how does Ritalin calm down AD/HD people? |
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| Author: | The Zookeepers Apprentice [ 10/21/02 13:56 ] |
| Post subject: | Joining the Ritalin Generation |
Ritalin and speed are in the same family of drugs, to give you a frame of reference. Methamphetamines, if my tech school training serves me correctly. There's this part of the brain that is understimulated in AD/HD people, which causes our lack of impulse control, so we appear to be hyper and out of control. Ritalin stimulates this part of the brain, bringing us up to 'normal', so now we can control ourselves. In 'normal' people, it just overstimulates that center of the brain, so they're getting too much of whatever it is that's going on, so they ARE hyper and out of control. Kind of like driving on the expressway with the speed limit is 65mph. AD/HD people can only go about 40 or 45 naturally, and when you hype us up, we go 65. But feed that same stuff to someone who's going 65, and they're off and running at the speed of light. I could think up several theories on why your friend with ADD is still out of control, but foremost is the fact that unless you're regularly on your meds, NOTHING is going to work, and there's this thing called a rebound effect where if you suddenly stop with meds, your symptoms can come back worse than they were before. But even if he was taking the meds regular-like, not every medication is going to work the same in every person, so you often have to try several different meds and/or doses before you find something that works. |
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| Author: | destinyrebel [ 10/21/02 15:47 ] |
| Post subject: | Joining the Ritalin Generation |
Zook, again, I've been around all of that stuff... It's not too cool.
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| Author: | The Zookeepers Apprentice [ 10/21/02 15:53 ] |
| Post subject: | Joining the Ritalin Generation |
What stuff? Basically any drug has the potential for abuse in the wrong hands. One of my ADD listservs was discussing the addictive nature of Ritalin one night (which is an oxymoron; Ritalin is not physically adictive), and someone commented that they had no idea why anyone with ADD would actually give their Ritalin to someone else; she needed her meds too badly, a sentiment I wholeheartedly agree with. I'm on a totaly different med for a totally different condition, and the only way you'd EVER get that stuff out of my possession is to pry it out of my cold, dead hands, because without it, I'm in a world of hurt (literally). And, like I said, Ritalin is not physically addictive. You can stop taking the stuff and have no physical side effects. The mental addiction (where you think you gotta have it) is another story. |
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| Author: | AbsoluteAngel58 [ 10/21/02 18:31 ] |
| Post subject: | Joining the Ritalin Generation |
Don't get me started on mental addiction with drugs. A lot of my friends have gotten addicted to pain killers through that mental addiction crap. They can stop and everything. They just don't want too. Ooh and thanks for explaining the effects Ritalin Zooks. |
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| Author: | MeowthTRAM369 [ 10/21/02 23:41 ] |
| Post subject: | Joining the Ritalin Generation |
Ah, I hope the medicine helps with your ADD.. did you ever see A Beautiful Mind? In that movie, Russell Crowe had an interesting mental problem, I can't actually remember the name, but as a result of that he was incredibly clever and intelligent and even ended up winning the Nobel Prize.. but when he took medicine, his thoughts were clogged, so had to eventually learn to overcome his disability.. I don't know, I was based on a true story, and the person portrayed was real.. so if that doesn't work, there is hope I suppose.. although I believe it was a different condition =/ I also heard from my Math Teacher that if you eat a lot of chlorophyll (i.e. many green plants), it helps calm down ADD and disorders of similar effect.. not sure how true that is though. |
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| Author: | The Zookeepers Apprentice [ 10/22/02 00:56 ] |
| Post subject: | Joining the Ritalin Generation |
He has schitzophrenia. And that's a different category of condition entirely. He ignores the voices in his head, the phantom people that he sees (ie, the man in black from the movie). |
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| Author: | MeowthTRAM369 [ 10/22/02 07:20 ] |
| Post subject: | Joining the Ritalin Generation |
Yeah, that's what I thought.. it's still interesting though. I suppose you'll find out how it affects you mentally in a few weeks, maybe it's the same even though it's an entirely different type of disorder. Although I suppose it depends on each person and their biological make-up as well.. ah well, it's kind of facsinating if you think about it. |
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| Author: | bunniefuu [ 10/24/02 05:18 ] |
| Post subject: | Joining the Ritalin Generation |
You know the thing that really makes me the maddest about this whole thing is this... our society. The way it makes one feel that if they aren't in the "norm" then something is wrong with them. I mean jeeezzz why be normal? What is normal? I would HATE it if everyone were just the same. I really think that alot of these kids should be encouraged and complimented on their not normal ways. Maybe it's the fucking teachers who should not demand them (especially boys here) to be able to sit and read and write for 8 hours a day or there is something wrong with them. Bull shit! Boys for instance (along with most kids) are hyper active. It's in there nature. Maybe the teachers need to refocus and have fun learning physical activies as well instead of the whole sit in your freakin seat all day routine. Trust me, my son is spirited and I'll be damned the day a teacher tells me he's too jumpity. I'll tell her to shove it and put him in a different class where teachers plan lessons around accommodating all types of kids; not just the sterotypical "normal" ones. Sorry for the vent. |
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| Author: | The Zookeepers Apprentice [ 10/24/02 10:39 ] |
| Post subject: | Joining the Ritalin Generation |
Yeah, I hear ya. And the 'funny' thing is that girls with ADD tend to be the quiet, reserved ones who sit at the back of the room. And, yes, I have to wonder at a system that forces children to sit and be still for hours at a time. It's crazy! Some of those things aren't AD/HD, they're just BORED, and they want to MOVE, and there's nothing wrong with them. What's tragic (and I'm a victim of this) is when the kid is intelligent and does well in school, so when they exhibit the symptoms of the inattentive form of ADD (aka ADHD, minus the 'H'), they get told to buckle down, focus, work harder, concentrate, and stuff like that. Hey, they're smart, so nothing's wrong, right? Fact is, most people with AD/HD are intelligent, sometimes very much so (ie, Einstein, Mozart). We only appear stupid because we forget to bring in/complete work so often our grades suffer as a result. I got through grade school based on little more than my intelligence and ability to soak up stuff in class. Once you let me out of my seat, fuggedaboutit. Study/do homework? Oh, yeah, the thing you remember you needed to do for tomorrow right before you go to bed. I'm going in for psychological testing on the 6th of November b/c my college isn't satisfied with my psychotherapist listing how I meet the official diagnostic criteria. I'm so frustrated with it right now (I know I have ADD, I have two psychological professionals who have confirmed that, and this is a waste of my time), I'm tempted to engage in my old habit of 'Bait The Shrink'. The guy sent me paperwork to fill out, and one of the things is writing a story about a picture of a woman. I could whip off in half an hour (tops) a one page story filled with angst, abuse, and enough deep, dark secrets that I'd have that guy wondering what my parents did to me as a kid. But if I play dumb, like I have no idea what he's trying to do with this, then I'd write a story about how the woman is wondering what her husband is thinking about being maried to someone with ADD. Yes, I think I shall. I'm so SICK of this whole psychological testing thing I could SCREAM. I KNOW WHAT MY PROBLEM IS! CAN I JUST GET SOME HELP HERE? |
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