Another bit of news...

I saw a psychiatrist yesterday and was diagnosed with ADD. I’ve had this all my life but since I wasn’t hyper it wasn’t caught. Girls usually get by better in school and have excess daydreaming instead of hyperactivity. It was finally starting to interfere with my plans for my career and with personal projects in my life. I had read an article about adult ADD a while back and thought, that kind of sounds like me. Then after my recent panic/anxiety issues, I thought more about it and set up an appointment for evaluation.

The psychiatrist was very nice and easy to talk to. It turns out that my motion sickness, anxiety, and extreme fatigue are less known side effects of untreated ADD. He gave me some CDs and books to read for more information which should be really interesting.

I now have a prescription for Adderal and have to experiment which dose works well for me. I’m supposed to take it in the morning, let it wear off mid day, then take another dose. Allowing the medication to wear off lets me learn how I feel when it’s working and when it has worn off. This helps with adjusting the dosage and giving me a sense of control over how I feel/perform.

I took my first pill yesterday afternoon to see how it affected me before I took it at work : ) The first thing I noticed was that all the objects in my apartment were a little more in focus. 2nd I realized that I wasn’t squinting. I’ve been squinting a lot the last couple of years but my eye prescription is correct. 3rd I wasn’t as tired and my muscles weren’t as tense as just an hour before. Tuesday is the first day I’ll take it at work. We’ll see how it helps me focus during the slow part of the consumer product cycle.

Here is a link to the Amen clinic’s online test for ADD.
http://www.amenclinics.com/ac/tests/add_test1.php
This link is for the online test to determine of which 6 ADD subtypes “you” possibly have. Very interesting.
http://www.amenclinics.com/ac/tests/subtype_test1.php

Side note: I went to two pharmacies with my prescription with no luck. They didn’t have it and couldn’t get it for at least a week. I then went home and started calling pharmacies until I found one that had it in stock then rushed over. I felt like a druggie needing a fix : ) And I have never taken it before! I was just really excited and anxious to try the medication to see some improvement.