Starting ADHD meds

[ajb1029 33]

Hi friends!

So I am starting Strattera, have yet to take a first dose(will be on 1 capsule 1x a day)...a bit apprehensive to take the first one and then go to work. Is anyone on it? Did you have side effects? If you did were you able to get past them okay? I know Strattera doesn't work for everyone, can take a while to "kick in" and is a second line drug for ADHD treatment but I really didn't want to try a stimulant first thing(concern for addiction is my big worry).

I would love to hear how you do on it and any tips/tricks you have if you are either formally diagnosed or self-diagnosed ADHD. I am more the Inattentive type. I am hoping to find some help with focusing...especially with online school and writing my novel.

Thanks for any input! 😊

[LilaNicole20 252]

Hi! Good luck with this journey! I have ADHD (diagnosed by a provider) and have actually been off any meds for a couple years now just simply due to pregnancy and a continued effort to get pregnant, again. I have never tried Strattera but was on Concerta for years. I hope it gives you the focus and direction that you are looking for!

What is your novel about?!

[LouLouM 70]

Hi AJB. I have no advice for you, rather a question. I have suspected that I am the inattentive type ADHD for a long time. How did you get diagnosed? Any suggestions?

Best of luck with online school and your novel!

[ajb1029 33]

On 5/9/2022 at 10:44 AM, LilaNicole20 said:

Hi! Good luck with this journey! I have ADHD (diagnosed by a provider) and have actually been off any meds for a couple years now just simply due to pregnancy and a continued effort to get pregnant, again. I have never tried Strattera but was on Concerta for years. I hope it gives you the focus and direction that you are looking for!

What is your novel about?!

Thank you!

It is a sci-fi story centering on family, betrayal and redemption. It's only been bouncing around in my brain for years, started as a simple remembered fragment of a dream that kinda blew up into a multi planet saga that lately I feel incredibly out of my league. My biggest issue is I can SEE the story in movie form in my head in scenes and it is amazing but writing that down and in order is, in a word...difficult. Why the little creative Amandas running my brain decided on coming up with new alien civilizations with societal rules, looks, religions etc is beyond me because it is freaking hard! LOL

[ajb1029 33]

6 hours ago, LouLouM said:

Hi AJB. I have no advice for you, rather a question. I have suspected that I am the inattentive type ADHD for a long time. How did you get diagnosed? Any suggestions?

Best of luck with online school and your novel!

So my plan WAS to get in with my normal medical system (Baylor Scott and White) and had a referral and an appointment with the psych appointment with a provider for the ADHD consult. I had called for pricing so I could budget several weeks before the appointment, they called me back and refused to leave a voicemail. I forgot about it until a few days before my appointment so I call again. They tell me they will get back to me but it's only a few days before my appointment(why not just tell me how much the stupid appointment will be with my insurance?), they don't get back to me but call several times to reschedule my appointment the day of because the provider won't be in the office. I get it. I call a couple of days later to reschedule, the lady who can schedule this type of appointment will call me because she isn't available (why all receptionists can't schedule this type of appointment is beyond me--I ama vet receptionist and human medicine boggles my mind). They finally call me back almost a week later-I work and can't answer my phone, they ask me to call back. I'm frustrated and over it. At this point several weeks past the initial appointment time has lapsed and that appointment had been about 2 months out.

The great internet gods have been listening to my conversations because I get an ad for Cerebral. They have a sale, $30 the first month, $85/mo thereafter. Includes 1 session per month and the meeting (telehealth) with a provider to go over concerns and see if medication is an option. So I said, screw it and joined Cerebral to try it out. The telehealth visit with the prescriber wasn't terrible, not great either--don't go into it looking for the same thing you would get with an in person visit/testing etc.

All of that said (sorry for being long winded) here is my take on Cerebral. I have not had my monthly meeting with the "Care Counselor" for the once a month check in but I can see why they are being looked into by the DEA-the provider basically went over a list of questions and asked about my symptoms. If you are specifically looking for stimulants you could easily guide the conversation to those. I specifically asked for non-stims as I was incredibly worried about addiction, especially after surgery. I do know as of May 9th they would not submit any new stim prescriptions. It wasn't terrible, as someone that after many online quizzes, joining adhd Facebook groups, research through all the interwebz and finding myself relieved that I was not a lazy piece of crap and that I was not alone...there were many times I was crying or almost crying in relief finding out things I did were part of adhd symptoms(job hopping was a huge one).

I will check in with my provider in a month to do a status check and see how things are going. I plan on only using Cerebral for a few months and if things are going really well I am planning on reaching out to my PCP to see if she is comfortable taking over my care and prescription since I very much love my PCP. If she isn't, then I still plan on getting in with an in person psych--just probably not BS&W.

Lemme know if you have any questions! So far the Strattera has not given me a lot bad of side effects, no nausea I can speak of but I do get very sleepy later in the day and I do find my appetite has waned a bit as well. Focus seems better but I am unsure of that being a placebo effect vs actual effect-there is some talk on the forums/groups that some people get some early on benefits that fade until it starts to build up in the system 4-8 weeks later.

Sorry if that got super long, let me know if you have anymore questions!