Hello everyone,

This is my first post on these message boards, although I've been reading them for some time now. I was originally diagnosed with adult ADHD in August of 2007 and took Adderall for nearly 3 years trying to control it. After numerous health problems and negative side effects (which required further medication), my daily pill intake escalated to the following:

60 mg Adderall (30 XR morning, 30 IR afternoon) 100 mg Pristiq (for "depression" I experienced when adderall wore off, it only made me more depressed in my opinion) 3 mg Xanax (for panic disorder developed while taking Adderall) 10 mg/day Ambien (for insomnia brought on by Adderall)

The more medication I took, the worse I felt. I became a robot, dependent on pills to wake up, focus, be happy, calm down, relax, and sleep. I tried 3 different psychiatrists; each time, their solution to my concerns was "more medication." I tried therapists, but often times they'd refer me back to my psychiatrists. I had resigned myself to the fact that I was just going to have to live on this medication the rest of my life...until I started noticing ADHD symptoms in my 9 year old son. I had to ask myself some tough questions. Would I medicate him? Is this the life I want for him? Can I teach him how to cope with ADHD from an early age? What kind of example am I setting for him?

I thought about the initial side effects of Adderall...irritability, loss of appetite, insomnia, moments of hyperfocus, the ups and downs...and to me, the benefits didn't outweigh the risks anymore.

The answer to those questions made me decide to make some changes in my life. This isn't the kind of existence I'd wish on anyone, so I decided to ween myself off ALL of my medications. I've stopped taking Pristiq and Adderall altogether in the past couple months, and I've reduced Xanax to 2 mg/day. I only take Ambien when I need it, not every night.

I've started taking some really good vitamin supplements, and they've made a huge difference in my life. I always took a multivitamin, but educated myself on natural remedies and learned quite a bit. I am trying to start eating healthier and exercising, although it's hard to adapt to a new lifestyle at 29 years old. All I know is I'm tired of my psychiatrist seeing me for 5 minutes a month and billing $140 to my insurance company, while he simply increases my dosages or adds medications to curb side effects from existing medications.

I am wondering how many people out there have successfully controlled their ADHD without medication? How did you do it? I'm really hoping an overall health and wellness approach works long-term for me. So far, I've been very pleased with the results.

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