Alternatives to Ritalin, Adarol(spelling), Concerta?

[gigigrrrl]

My son... possibly myself might need to revisit the ADHD/ADD topic. I fought the school system on him being medicated during the battlefield of custody simply because anyone stressing, having a bad period in life can display those symptoms that comprise the LONG list of ADHD/ADD. I'm not sure... he's tried it as well as myself and we both feel like we are zippin'. But now he is a junior and is struggling with school and not able to focus... pressure is on about his future plans. I sense anxiety issues surrounding deadlines, testing and feelings of incompetence. The male "bravado" kicks in and will not be open to trying something. His father is an extreme alcoholic and in my "street" but well read opinion would probably be diagnosed with the personality disorder of narcissism.

My son has an arsenal of mental health and substance abuse histories that he is unfortunately predisposed to on both sides of his family... not unlike myself with my own family. I'm his rock... therefore I can't fall anymore when the pressure mounts. I need something for anxiety...bad. Pressure is mounting with some things in my life and I have to keep it together, mostly for him. Yet all I do for him is met with such negative response from him... I know he is a teenager, I'm taking that into consideration with everything. But... whew!

Any suggestions?    

[AlaskanWarrior]

I went through a very similar adolescence, at the moment I am completing my last semester of college and have been talking medication for ADD for the last 3 years. The first semester I took strattera and Adderall I earned a 3.87 gpa when I'd been at or below a 3.0. though I was in connection with one of the practitioners that worked on the clinical trials she was willing to use the combination which some others have express concern about the mix out of their lack of fimilarity with the drugs but what can you expect from Indian health services...


stimulant medications in my experience and opinion are good for helping with what could be call right brain activities or spot light focus such as predicate logic or math  I've also found it to help with editing my papers but not every helpful when floodlight attention is needed as in cleaning the house which is really bizarre since non add folks on stimulants seem to clean rather vigorously.

The strattera is a norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor so you can use more of what your body makes naturally, though there are some side effects of both and the stimulants can be hey can be abused. There simply is no silver bullet to all of the problems that life may include though in the halls of standardized education there the possibility of real gain in focused attention.  I believe that most young men are defensive when it comes to the areas in which draw attention in my experience I was lucky enough to find a psychologist that up until after I had taken some standardized reaction testing for ADD spoke of We whom have ADD as I was use to in AA meetings I knew that he wasn't finding flaw in myself but relating to a way in which we shared an experiential common ground.

I was reluctant to take stimulant medications since I joined the soberity movement through 12 step program however I do believe that much of the frustration that leads folks to drink are assisted with the beneficial effects which ought to be determined by the person taking them epically if they are going to become responsible for continuing their medication management something I have found to be  at times difficult in acquiring the appropriate medication for my self. There are differences in the ways that everyone will react, ritilian has somewhat more of a caffeinated effect and addarol is more of a decaf in my experience.

here is a link to a talk I gave http://www.xa-speakers.org/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=807