Well, its day 3 and 8:30am and I slept great, well slept great after finally falling asleep around 11pm. I woke up at 7am and took my 5mg. pill of Adderall along with my 2 other high blood pressure medicines. If you read yesterdays blog you will remember I had an episode of very low blood pressure after working hard on my property, if you didnt read then scroll down to Day 1, this blog may make more sense then. I took blood pressure at 8am and the reading was 123/70 which is very good and very normal. My best guess was dehydration that caused that dizzy, fainting feeling yesterday. I thought about it and since starting Adderall I have not drank much fluids at all besides coffee in the morning. From my point of view the Adderall does NOT cause thirst and definately does NOT make you hungry! I feel very calm right now and very focused on my spelling and how I am going to write my sentences, normally it does not matter much but Adderall makes me more concious to be at my best no matter what I am doing, enhanced performance is part of the benefits I believe. Today my intentions are only one 5mg. of Adderall and 2-3 cups (K-cups) of regular coffee. This should keep me more mentally energetic rather than mental AND physical because too much physical energy and my out of shape body and clear mind do not work as a team yet! I do plan on being more active and starting exercise but after yesterday every muscle in my entire body are sore. Again I must point out my attention to typos, not saying there will be none but since I am relaxed I am thinking at a reasonable pace and correcting as I go along. Since today is Sunday and no plans are made I plan on doing 2 blogs today, maybe more but at least an am and a pm blog. I am normally a pretty lazy guy but Adderall changes that and when I finally find the right dose and right dose of caffeine intake I believe its gonna be a very positive step in my life improvement goal.
As mentioned earlier I have not drank alcohol in over 3 months and gave up tobacco about 2 months but am not nicotine free as I use an electronic cigarette(E-cig) that contains a small amount of nicotine and made giving up real cigs no problem at all. I plan in the very near future of stopping the E-cigs but want to make it gradual as possible to avoid any temptation for a tobacco cigarette. I also started seeing a therapist about 3 months ago to find out why I have been self-medicating for so long with alcohol and tobacco. He observed ADD behaviors after the first few visits by my actions and throughout conversation. He had me take a couple different questionaires and my results are probably correct and results did come back with severe ADD/ADHD, even had my wife of 25 years do one with me so I was not fudging the quizzes. He then referred me to psychiatrist to begin ADD medicine to help ease my symptoms and I first tried Ritalin at 5mgs. twice daily and I did not make it past 3 days, it was way too stimulating and created very high anxiety level so I refused to keep taking it. Then he prescribed Strattera, a non-stimulant and after being on it for 16 days I had to stop because it made me so tired and no motivation at ALL. So this time we are going the low dose Adderall route, I must start very low as I do have panic attacks and high anxiety and take Zoloft 100mgs.and Klonopin 1-2mg at night and have been for about 10 years, yes I was drinking beer everyday and knew it was a risk and interfere with anxiety treatment but really did not give a chit because I was so numbed up from drinking so much that I really did not care about my health as most alcoholics live. Through AA meetings(did not work traditional steps though) and seeing therapist weekly I changed my way of thinking and no longer HAVE to drink to escape myself. This is where the Adderall is helping, having ADD for my whole life and not knowing it was probably the root cause of my anxiety/depression over the years which led to alcohol abuse. And yes I am very aware Adderall can be addictive and should be avoided in alcoholics but I feel I have complete control on my actions and honestly am a bit afraid of taking too much Adderall. Ok, I will talk more about that stuff every so often but for now I will stick to ADD and Adderall talk for the most part. There will be a part 2 to this days blog coming later tonight to go over how the day went on this smaller dose and less caffeine intake.
As mentioned earlier I have not drank alcohol in over 3 months and gave up tobacco about 2 months but am not nicotine free as I use an electronic cigarette(E-cig) that contains a small amount of nicotine and made giving up real cigs no problem at all. I plan in the very near future of stopping the E-cigs but want to make it gradual as possible to avoid any temptation for a tobacco cigarette. I also started seeing a therapist about 3 months ago to find out why I have been self-medicating for so long with alcohol and tobacco. He observed ADD behaviors after the first few visits by my actions and throughout conversation. He had me take a couple different questionaires and my results are probably correct and results did come back with severe ADD/ADHD, even had my wife of 25 years do one with me so I was not fudging the quizzes. He then referred me to psychiatrist to begin ADD medicine to help ease my symptoms and I first tried Ritalin at 5mgs. twice daily and I did not make it past 3 days, it was way too stimulating and created very high anxiety level so I refused to keep taking it. Then he prescribed Strattera, a non-stimulant and after being on it for 16 days I had to stop because it made me so tired and no motivation at ALL. So this time we are going the low dose Adderall route, I must start very low as I do have panic attacks and high anxiety and take Zoloft 100mgs.and Klonopin 1-2mg at night and have been for about 10 years, yes I was drinking beer everyday and knew it was a risk and interfere with anxiety treatment but really did not give a chit because I was so numbed up from drinking so much that I really did not care about my health as most alcoholics live. Through AA meetings(did not work traditional steps though) and seeing therapist weekly I changed my way of thinking and no longer HAVE to drink to escape myself. This is where the Adderall is helping, having ADD for my whole life and not knowing it was probably the root cause of my anxiety/depression over the years which led to alcohol abuse. And yes I am very aware Adderall can be addictive and should be avoided in alcoholics but I feel I have complete control on my actions and honestly am a bit afraid of taking too much Adderall. Ok, I will talk more about that stuff every so often but for now I will stick to ADD and Adderall talk for the most part. There will be a part 2 to this days blog coming later tonight to go over how the day went on this smaller dose and less caffeine intake.
I've made it to day 3 and a half and I'm already feeling that sense of hope for better days to come.
ReplyDeleteI just got diagnosed with ADHD and am trying to sort out my next steps. I've been prescribed adderral, but I was iffy about, and your shared experience really helps! Thank you .
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ReplyDeleteWow it's like I'm reading the story of my life! Thank you for sharing, it's so refreshing to know that I am not alone.
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