Hello everyone! I am new to this forum and have a few questions about ADD medications.

I was diagnosed with adult ADD three months ago. I began to suspect I had ADD after my daughter was diagnosed last July. Her diagnosis was quite a shock to me because I never even imagined that she could have ADD. I believed it was something kids grew out of after they got to a certain age. I have a degree in Psychology and thought I knew everything about it.....HA!!! was I ever wrong! I knew absolutely nothing,zero,zilch nada, and what I did know about it was based on outdated information. I remember questioning her initial diagnosis I could not understand how a straight A Honors student could have it. Fortunately, after doing my homework and reading everything I could find about ADD I, realized my daughter had only managed to succeed in school because she could hyper-focus. She was also an excellent basketball player on the varsity team.. that is until she quit in her Junior year. It was an impulsive move that really upset her dad. it was shortly after she quit the regimen of everyday practice ...etc that we began to notice problems. She was depressed, angry, had temper tantrums(just like she did as a small child)...she got in two car accidents and was basically impossible to live with. I finally was able to get her to agree to see a Psyghiatrist who immediately put her on anti-depressants and anti-anxiety meds....still no improvement. Then just by chance my daughters school counselor called. He told me Laura had come to him about her difficulties she was experiencing since she quit basketball. He told me he thought my daughter should be evaluated for ADD. He explained to me that "Hyper-focus" ADD is very common and often over looked....He also advised me that it would be a good idea to take her to her pediatrician for a physical exam. To this day I credit this young Psychologist at my daughters school for setting us on the right path.....at the time I thought he was wrong. My husband and I both believed ADD was over-diagnosed and something that people used as an excuse to get special privileges.....Again how wrong and uninformed we were. My daughters pediatrician is excellent and has known her since she was an infant. I told Dr. what was going on with my daughter and she spent two hours! evaluating her for ADD. She concluded that my daughterhad ADD,.....BUT she did not want to stop there. She sent me to a neurologist who specializes in ADD diagnosisIn a few (very long) weeks the diagnosis was confirmed....ADD/ innattentive type ( hyper-focus). My poor little girl basically spent her whole life teaching herself everything from History to Physics. ....Her inability to pay attention in class did not harm her grades because she was able to take her text-books home "Hyper-Focus" and teach herself. Thank God dad had an Engineering degree because he was able to help her with the calculus and physics when she couldn't teach herself. I never thought her inordinately LONG and FOCUSED study hours were strange......because that is exactly how I was when I was in HS and College. The blind were leading the blind all along. Here I was an adult with, as yet undiagnosed ADD, I never saw anything in my daughters behavior that I hadn't been doing myself all of my life, I thought it was NORMAL! Anyway, now that you have a brief history of how i was diagnosed I have a meds question.

My daughter started out with 27mgs of Concerta per day. Since Concerta seemed to work well for her my Psych put me on it too, only I take 36mgs. I have been taking it since mid-January and it y worked quite well, that is until about 2 weeks ago. In fact i noticed its effects were somewhat diminished when I was on Vacation with the family, 3 weeks ago.....Then JUST yesterday my daughter called from school (she's in her 1st year and lives on campus) ..She informed me her doctor recently switched her to Adderal XR. I forgot to ask her what does she is on, but she said it works so much better than the Concerta. Apparently she had been experiencing the same things I have encountered with the Concerta. She fessed up that her Concerta had been raised to 72mgs in Sept.....she forgot to tell me.....I am going to see my Dr. this Thursday, but I am afraid to ask him about upping my Concerta dose or switching to Adderal. I don't know why I feel this way, I guess its because my Concerta is not working so well. These silly fears about EVERYTHING are a sure sign my ADD is in charge again.....irrational fears and impulsive behavior are back. I feel foggy again,like the shade has been pulled back down. SO.....to make a long question short. I would appreciate any feedback about any of your experiences with meds.....and maybe someone can throw in a little pep talk about how my Dr. wants to HELP me.....and how i should not be afraid. THANKS SO MUCH>>>>>GLAD I JOINED THE GROUP TODAY! Millie :)

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