5 ms·

I mean if they want to try and medicate me I'm not going to say no at this point, regardless of my personal views on the diagnosis. I've reached a point where I

by ThrowAway1922A 4y ago

I mean if they want to try and medicate me I'm not going to say no at this point, regardless of my personal views on the diagnosis. I've reached a point where I don't think any additional harm would be caused by doing so. I'm going to find out in ~2 weeks at my next meeting whether they want to try medicine or not and I will just do whatever they tell me to do. I mean I'm not a psychologist, I'm paying them for their expertise on this and it would be foolish for me not to take their advice.

type-r 4y ago
www.donefirst.com will give you a script within a 20 minute phone call. Careful with the medication approach, it has serious side effects and can be really difficult to get off of. Speaking from my own as well as friends' experiences.
omginternets 4y ago
>I've reached a point where I don't think any additional harm would be caused by doing so. My friend, I truly feel your pain. I have been there, and I promise you it gets better. >I'm going to find out in ~2 weeks at my next meeting whether they want to try medicine or not. They're going to ask you if you want to try medication. I would encourage you to be actively engaged in your therapy. You can start by thinking about how you would answer the question, "would you like to try medication?" I suspect you have conflicting feelings about it; being able to articulate them clearly is a good way to start.
- afarrell 4y ago
  One thing that can help you articulate that part of you wants to say yes because X and part of you wants to say no because Y and part of you wants to still say yes because Z. Writing out things into a journal is good because you can write things that wouldn’t make sense to someone else and therefore you can see reality more clearly.
jokethrowaway 4y ago
I'd think hard and long before taking medications (personally, I already have, and decided not to). Psychologists have a tendency to overprescribe drugs and you have no idea how that will screw up who you are and what you think. Even if you don't have to pay for those drugs thanks to some healtcare insurance (whether public or private), some money will still flow towards the maker of drugs and that means they have an interest in doctors overprescribing medicines. Instead of drugs, why not try to change something else in your life? Change job, increase your autonomy, find another way to live?
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- omginternets 4y ago
  Psychologists don't prescribe drugs.
  - mikeyouse 4y ago
    Not necessarily true - several states allow clinical psychologists to prescribe now.
- thomastjeffery 4y ago
  That may have worked will for you, jokethrowaway, but for many of us, it's medication that makes us able to change the other things in our life. The reality is that the effects of medication have been thoroughly studied, and prescriptions are obsessively managed. Meds don't work for everyone, but they work reality well for most of us. --- No lifestyle choice is going to help me manage the chemical imbalance of my brain as effectively as medication does. Even deeper than that, making an active lifestyle choice, or even any choice at all, is literally the thing my brain is bad at. It's called executive dysfunction, and it's the main symptom of ADHD. If I have to overcome my ADHD in order to treat my ADHD, then I will never satisfy the circular dependency. Just like I literally cannot pick myself up by my own bootstraps.
elil17 4y ago
If you're up for learning a bit more about ADHD and associated meds, I would recommend these two podcast episodes: https://www.alieward.com/ologies/adhd https://www.alieward.com/ologies/adhd They cover what it is that ADHD meds actually do and why certain meds work for some people but not for others.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
simonswords82 4y ago
I agree that it would be foolish not to take their advice, however... One data point from me - ADHD medication (Elvanse specifically) has some gnarly side effects which meant my wife had a very rough time with it. I won't go in to detail other than to say we nearly ended up in the A&E a couple of times. By all means try medication but be prepared to switch to another or abandon it altogether if the side effects are overwhelming. Listen to your body.
- GameOfFrowns 4y ago
  This is not to be underestimated. It can have quite a detrimental negative psychological effect to realize that the last hope, the only thing that could potentially help you to have the semblance of a normal life makes you extremely nauseous and dull. I went through a 1.5 year long process to ADHD diagnosis and being prescribed first methylphenidate and later LDX (Elvanse) in the lowest available doses. It did what it was supposed to do and helped me focus better but the side-effects were to unpleasant for me, so much that I preferred to not take the medication at all. Seeing how my life spirals toward rock-bottom, every once in a while I give it another try but it always ends up in me regretting that I've taken the meds, as it ruins that day and worsens my insomnia. The doctor has no advice on what to do about it except for toughing it out.
thomastjeffery 4y ago
My experience is that despite everyone involved in the process -including myself - being totally convinced I have ADHD, I have still had to advocate for myself every step of the way. And that really sucked. But it was worth it. --- Whether or not you do have ADHD, the most important thing to know about is executive dysfunction. ADHD isn't people who can't pay attention: it's people who can't choose where their attention goes. ADHD isn't hyperactivity, it's a vacuum of understimulation that - for some - is most easily filled with activity. For others, that void is filled with mental/introverted activity.
iamdbtoo 4y ago
For what it's worth, I had a situation similar to yours about a year ago. I was diagnosed with ADHD about 2.5 years ago. The problems I was having were not all specific to my ADHD, but all my problems at work were because the environment didn't allow me to have my condition and trying to mask it just lead to an insane amount of stress. On top of that, anything I did to try and correct the situation was met with complete resistence, leading to more stress and eventually my break down.

type-r 4y ago

www.donefirst.com will give you a script within a 20 minute phone call. Careful with the medication approach, it has serious side effects and can be really difficult to get off of. Speaking from my own as well as friends' experiences.

omginternets 4y ago

>I've reached a point where I don't think any additional harm would be caused by doing so. My friend, I truly feel your pain. I have been there, and I promise you it gets better. >I'm going to find out in ~2 weeks at my next meeting whether they want to try medicine or not. They're going to ask you if you want to try medication. I would encourage you to be actively engaged in your therapy. You can start by thinking about how you would answer the question, "would you like to try medication?" I suspect you have conflicting feelings about it; being able to articulate them clearly is a good way to start.

afarrell 4y ago
One thing that can help you articulate that part of you wants to say yes because X and part of you wants to say no because Y and part of you wants to still say yes because Z. Writing out things into a journal is good because you can write things that wouldn’t make sense to someone else and therefore you can see reality more clearly.

jokethrowaway 4y ago

I'd think hard and long before taking medications (personally, I already have, and decided not to). Psychologists have a tendency to overprescribe drugs and you have no idea how that will screw up who you are and what you think. Even if you don't have to pay for those drugs thanks to some healtcare insurance (whether public or private), some money will still flow towards the maker of drugs and that means they have an interest in doctors overprescribing medicines. Instead of drugs, why not try to change something else in your life? Change job, increase your autonomy, find another way to live?

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
omginternets 4y ago
Psychologists don't prescribe drugs.
- mikeyouse 4y ago
  Not necessarily true - several states allow clinical psychologists to prescribe now.
thomastjeffery 4y ago
That may have worked will for you, jokethrowaway, but for many of us, it's medication that makes us able to change the other things in our life. The reality is that the effects of medication have been thoroughly studied, and prescriptions are obsessively managed. Meds don't work for everyone, but they work reality well for most of us. --- No lifestyle choice is going to help me manage the chemical imbalance of my brain as effectively as medication does. Even deeper than that, making an active lifestyle choice, or even any choice at all, is literally the thing my brain is bad at. It's called executive dysfunction, and it's the main symptom of ADHD. If I have to overcome my ADHD in order to treat my ADHD, then I will never satisfy the circular dependency. Just like I literally cannot pick myself up by my own bootstraps.

elil17 4y ago

If you're up for learning a bit more about ADHD and associated meds, I would recommend these two podcast episodes: https://www.alieward.com/ologies/adhd https://www.alieward.com/ologies/adhd They cover what it is that ADHD meds actually do and why certain meds work for some people but not for others.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

simonswords82 4y ago

I agree that it would be foolish not to take their advice, however... One data point from me - ADHD medication (Elvanse specifically) has some gnarly side effects which meant my wife had a very rough time with it. I won't go in to detail other than to say we nearly ended up in the A&E a couple of times. By all means try medication but be prepared to switch to another or abandon it altogether if the side effects are overwhelming. Listen to your body.

GameOfFrowns 4y ago
This is not to be underestimated. It can have quite a detrimental negative psychological effect to realize that the last hope, the only thing that could potentially help you to have the semblance of a normal life makes you extremely nauseous and dull. I went through a 1.5 year long process to ADHD diagnosis and being prescribed first methylphenidate and later LDX (Elvanse) in the lowest available doses. It did what it was supposed to do and helped me focus better but the side-effects were to unpleasant for me, so much that I preferred to not take the medication at all. Seeing how my life spirals toward rock-bottom, every once in a while I give it another try but it always ends up in me regretting that I've taken the meds, as it ruins that day and worsens my insomnia. The doctor has no advice on what to do about it except for toughing it out.

thomastjeffery 4y ago

My experience is that despite everyone involved in the process -including myself - being totally convinced I have ADHD, I have still had to advocate for myself every step of the way. And that really sucked. But it was worth it. --- Whether or not you do have ADHD, the most important thing to know about is executive dysfunction. ADHD isn't people who can't pay attention: it's people who can't choose where their attention goes. ADHD isn't hyperactivity, it's a vacuum of understimulation that - for some - is most easily filled with activity. For others, that void is filled with mental/introverted activity.

iamdbtoo 4y ago

For what it's worth, I had a situation similar to yours about a year ago. I was diagnosed with ADHD about 2.5 years ago. The problems I was having were not all specific to my ADHD, but all my problems at work were because the environment didn't allow me to have my condition and trying to mask it just lead to an insane amount of stress. On top of that, anything I did to try and correct the situation was met with complete resistence, leading to more stress and eventually my break down.