I was not officially diagnosed with ADD until age 35, years after attending law school. The diagnosis came as a result of a miniature “slip” which can best be described by the image of a clown, riding a bike on a tightrope, juggling 13 balls. All was “fine” until I attempted to add the 14th ball which sent total chaos into the mix, causing all of my 13 balls to come crashing down. I was put on Adderall XR 25 mg capsules and was absolutely amazed at its specific effect on my brain, allowing me to exercise free will, and actually make choices, a phenomenon I had never known. My complaint is the Adderall exits my system somewhere around 3 pm, leaving me without coping skills for the final 4 productive hours of my day. In addition, it does not address any of my anxiety/depression like symptoms which apparently, are far more common in ADD'ers then I thought. I have been recently researching a perfect companion drug and I ran across some literature on a drug that was not made specifically for ADD but is demonstrating remarkable results in people with ADD. I would love to hear if others have heard of the drug or have tried it. The drug is Reboxetine and goes under the trade name of Edronax.

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I was first diagnosed with ADHD at age 6, by my teen years my schools insisted that if I wasn't put on medication I would not be allowed to attend school. I started on Ritalin, while we had positive results with Ritalin there were many side effects in the Early stages. My doctors put me on Anafranil as well to combat some of the side effects of Ritalin, I complained of a tingly feeling once, it was no big deal, in fact it was just like having the shivers, it lasted only a second. But my mother reacted and took me to the doctor who sent me for a blood test over a few seconds of tingling I felt in one part of my skin once, I thought they were all nuts.

But my blood test came back showing that I had developed toxic granuloses in my blood. Basically my body had decided that my blood was now poisoned because of the medications in it and it was now attacking itself to get rid of the poison. If I had continued on the medication I would have developed leukemia.

Over the years I have been on all the following medications Ritalin Anafranil Tofranil Dexamphetamine Clonidine Aurorix Respriridone Valium Concerta Zydol Zoloft Avanza and I can't even remember what else

But I am now on Ritalin again and have been for many, many years. It has always been the safest and most effective and I experience no real side effects.

Another scary experience was when I was having the usual ADHD difficulties sleeping so I was put on Stilnox to help me sleep. I was in the physio one day and picked up a magazine and began reading an article about a medication that people had taken and the horrific problems they had, they did not mention what the medication was early on in the article. I was amazed as I read of these people who would take the medication then get up and do all these things during the night like go for a drive, or cook meals or visit friends and be aware of none of it as they were fast asleep. The medication had been suspected in causing several deaths as people fell from bridges and buildings during their sleep. At the end of the article they finally named the medication and it was stilnox, which I was on. I stopped taking it right away and went to the doctor, who first prescribed it a few months before. He said they hadn't known of the side effects at the time and this was new stuff that had just come to light, scary stuff.

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As an adult (49) Australian beneficiary of ADHD we can't get long acting forms of the two main drugs used to treat ADHD. In Australia the choice is either Dexamphetamine or Methylphenidate both in their short acting forms - which as you know is a pain as you forget to take them. I do like the irony of it though. Sadly the irony is lost on the Australian government.

I've tried both when I was initially diagnosed four years ago and get on far better with Dexamphetamine. It is more brutal especially to begin with and it's best to ease yourself on to the full dose half a tablet at a time until your system is used to it. The other downside is that your body does get used to it and it become less effective. To get round this problem I fiddle around with the dosing regime within my daily allowance. Sometimes I'll take 15mg first thing and only 5mg in the evening, miss a dose out or combine doses. If I know I'm not doing much over a weekend I'll stop altogether but it does mean that the weekend will be pretty well useless for getting things done and I'll be unbearable to be with (not that I notice).

For me, Methylphenidate was about as much use as a poke in the eye with a blunt stick particularly as far as attention was concerned. Even on the full dose it just sent me to sleep and made only a negligible difference to my ability to concentrate. The sleep was a big plus mind you! Throughout my life sleep has been a real problem and finding something that helped me sleep was fantastic!

Robert Williams Aka CanThisBeReal - well yes it can hahaha I chose this name when I was first diagnosed as I couldn't beleive what was happening to me. Now I've really come to terms with being fully and wonderfully ADHD-ish! It's pretty awesome. :D I'm at the severe end of ADHD (according to my doctor) yeah! - I'm serious! I love being quirky and having a good excuse!

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Darn it....Knowing how I feel with the crash of Adderall [even the XR!], those options you have really stink! Have you ever looked into Neurofeedback or using supplementation? [Of course, with "severe ADHD", I imagine supp's aren't going to help nearly enough....though maybe supp's are better regulated there in Australia [?]

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