Posted by Sulpicia on April 2, 2001, at 20:19:44
In reply to Re: Depression, ADHD (Inattentive), and stimulants » Sulpicia, posted by MarkG on April 2, 2001, at 1:39:53
> Hi S.,
>
> Thanks for your story. Yes, yes, I too can relate to the "pleasure" of struggling while in a doctoral program. I've always said that I love a challenge!
>
> So what exactly is Tofranil, an AD? I haven't heard of that before. Also, you mentioned that adding the stim was a real pain- did you have to try a lot of different things before finding the right med/dose?
>
> Mark
> (P.S.- I'll check out the ABout.com site).
>
> Tofranil is a tricyclic AD. We don't hear about them because they've been around for a while. They are also not the recipient of the all advertising the SSRIs now have.
The tricyclics [IMHO] work quite well if you meet the criteria -- like no heart problems inter alia.
The adderall was added to the paxil that I was on. Over several weeks the two drugs potentiated each other
AND made me depressed at the same time. Don't ask. My pdoc said it's all individual.
I had taken tofranil in the past with good results and so went back to it.
The adderall was my first ADD/HD prescription so there wasn't a great deal of fooling around.
This is probably totally subjective but I found paxil to be energizing, so with the adderall I was
sort of energized to the limits of my sanity. Tofranil is slightly sedating [to me] so it's a good mix
with the adderall.
What can be a pain is figuring out the adderall dose. The manufacturer says 8 hours. Experience says closer
to 4to 6. Some need 5mgs 3x a day, others need 20mgs 3x a day. Just to confuse the issue even more, I need
4 10mg doses because I need those 4 hours of reading after dinner. This can be a pain with some docs because
they get fussy about increasing the dosage -- despite the fact that they know this is necessary.
The other important thing is to take the meds to bolster your own daily cycles of alertness. Don't try to fight
them. If I tried to interfere with my post-lunch coma, I could take a whole bottle of adderall and still be
sleepy.
Happy to answer any other questions.
S.
>
> > >Hi Mark
> > Depression is ADD/HD's favorite comorbid! To think of it, I've never met or corresponded
> > with an ADDult who didn't have depression either once or twice, or chronically.
> > I've suffered from depression for a dog's age -- OK at times, on meds, off meds yada yada.
> > I also had what I thought were some weird learning disability things, difficulty in concentrating,
> > reading, retention etc. A real *pleasure* to have while doing a doctorate, let me tell you.
> > Any way, my son was tested for ADD [inattentive, no hyper stuff], he flunked, but I passed.
> > I wish I could say I lived happily ever after but it's true only to a certain extent.
> > Yes it was fabulous to realize what was wrong, yes adderall relieved the symptoms extremely well
> > but when I started the pstim it disagreed with the AD I was on. Hence a very ugly speedy switch to tofranil
> > which is working quite well.
> > Suggestions: go to the ADD site at About.com and read up.
> > Not many pdocs have experience with adults. Under ideal circumstances it's a pain in the a$$ to get
> > the pstim dose right, or the med. You'll have to educate yourself.
> > My depression is relieved, but it was also relieved by the AD meds. I still need therapy -- but that's
> > just me. :):)
> > Questions?
> > good luck.
> > S.
poster:Sulpicia
thread:57968
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010327/msgs/58496.html