Teens / Young Adults / Adults with ADHD or ADD

I need more people like me on my FL. Diagnosed at age 7 and stopped taking meds at about 17 / 18 (went through HELL from withdrawal). Now 23 taking them again, but at a lower dosage.

Replies

  • GymAnJuice
    GymAnJuice Posts: 512 Member
    Hey, I'm at the beginning of being diagnosed. Found out i had it years ago but no one would diagnose me (went to 2 different doctor surgery's too). It's taken years for things to change. I'm 44, when i was younger it was unheard off - or at least i hadn't hear of it so i went undiagnosed :(

    What made you stop taking them? (if you don't mind sharing?). Not sure if I'm the support your looking for as I'm on the first step of my journey, if i am though feel free to add me x
  • palmerdanielle
    palmerdanielle Posts: 341 Member
    Hey,
    I was diagnosed a couple of years ago with ADHD. I never knew I had it until I started learning about it and was like wow, literally all those symptoms are me. I struggled in school for years with organization and concentration, sitting still etc. and in college I did a preliminary test and got sent to be tested. Glad they sent me and payed for it because I certainly couldn't have afforded to be tested, it's crazy...
    I'm personally not interested much in the medication side of things, more into learning how to deal with it on my own plus ADHD has some super awesome positives too! So I tried medication just to see what the difference was, and I didn't use it for too long on a very low dose as it didn't do much, didn't want to take a higher dose and occasionally felt a bit off on it so I decided it wasn't for me.

    A lot of people do take the meds which is fine too, though I feel bad for kids who are diagnosed early on and don't get a say, and are forced onto them...honestly I think a lot of kids are diagnosed when they may not have ADD/ADHD but that's a whole other can of worms haha.
  • donyellemoniquex3
    donyellemoniquex3 Posts: 2,384 Member
    Hey, I'm at the beginning of being diagnosed. Found out i had it years ago but no one would diagnose me (went to 2 different doctor surgery's too). It's taken years for things to change. I'm 44, when i was younger it was unheard off - or at least i hadn't hear of it so i went undiagnosed :(

    What made you stop taking them? (if you don't mind sharing?). Not sure if I'm the support your looking for as I'm on the first step of my journey, if i am though feel free to add me x

    Doctor thought it would be a good idea because I've been on them for many number of years. Also, he told me about how once I hit a certain age, I would start to have adverse effects. Infact I weaned myself off of them without his consent and he was quite happy. But like I said, withdrawal was hell and I had to print off the side effects and put them on the fridge so that my dad wouldn't freak out if I had an outburst.
  • GymAnJuice
    GymAnJuice Posts: 512 Member
    Thanks for the reply. I've only tried one tablet of my friends son who has it. For the first time in my life I could concentrate on one thought at a time and I cleaned my whole home in one go, again something that i find impossible to do. so naturally straight away i wanted to be diagnosed and start taking the tablets, i had no idea there were any side effects.

    when my son was in primary school a couple of the boys had it in his class, as i was friends with their mothers i became curious one day and looked it up. couldn't believe what i read, i wasn't unique, i had ADHD, the symptoms were me to a tee
  • donyellemoniquex3
    donyellemoniquex3 Posts: 2,384 Member
    Thanks for the reply. I've only tried one tablet of my friends son who has it. For the first time in my life I could concentrate on one thought at a time and I cleaned my whole home in one go, again something that i find impossible to do. so naturally straight away i wanted to be diagnosed and start taking the tablets, i had no idea there were any side effects.

    when my son was in primary school a couple of the boys had it in his class, as i was friends with their mothers i became curious one day and looked it up. couldn't believe what i read, i wasn't unique, i had ADHD, the symptoms were me to a tee

    I've actually "diagnosed" kids before. Just told the parents "hey you might wanna get them tested for ADHD". They were surprised until I explain that I live with it too, so I know what it looks like.
  • nomeejerome
    nomeejerome Posts: 2,616 Member
    While I think it is fantastic that people are reaching out for help, I do want to point out that it is not a good idea to go off of medication without medical supervision. It is also not a good idea to self-diagnose and take medication prescribed to other people.
  • pdobrien
    pdobrien Posts: 6 Member
    Just stumbled across this thread. I've had it my whole life, but wasn't diagnosed until last year. It took about nine months, but I've finally found a medication/therapy regimen that works for me. All those years of brain fog, inability to grasp time and planning, and fulfillment possible only through overstimulation (alcohol, drugs, risky behavior, and unhealthy food) of neurological pleasure centers made it impossible to adhere to a healthy lifestyle for long. It's truly astounding how drastically one's life can change once proper treatment of this disorder is undertaken.