Can't live with ADD meds can't live without them...

I was originally prescribed ritalin for a year and a half which worked well while i was on suboxone. Once i got off suboxone i hated the ritalin, extreme side effects.
I was switched to vyvanse which has been a little bit better. But i still tend to get extreme social phobia about 2 and half to 3 hours after taking it, which typically lasts all day. This happens before the comedown even happens. Im typically a very outgoing and social person. Now anytime i have to face new people in college classes or social events I feel extremely awkward.

I plan on calling my doctors office tomorrow because my appt is not for another month and see what my options are. I love being able to focus but gaining these hard skills is opting to lose my people skills. I normally have too much to say and now I almost think to much about sparking a conversation too much , where i almost have a panic attack. Which is not normal for me at all.

I have manipulated my dose throughout the first month, starting with 25mg, 50mg, 60mg. And tried breaking up doses. No relief. higher doses help my add more but burden my anxiety more as well.

Do you think it is a bad route to try and see about supplementing my morning dose with the smallest dose of benzo and see if that helps. Or should I try to go more toward getting some st. johns wart, kava, or something of that nature to help curb the extreme social anxiety?

 

I think you should get off the ritalin, get off any other garbage you're on and start being yourself without these things. Suboxone, wild doses of ritalin, now you wanna throw in kava kava, st johns wort, these things are not a joke mang. your anxiety is gonna get worse and worse because you keep messing up your brain chemistry. get clean and get into being yourself alone and around others.

this is coming from someone who ~6 years ago had social anxiety so bad he dropped out of school and quit his job, couldn't even sit in a classroom without vision turning white, palms sweating, rapid heartbeat, strong panic attack. Now I am in college learning to be a therapist and being super involved with my peers and professors. one of the biggest set backs in my healing process was being prescribed pharmaceuticals for my problems. Today I am on nothing and i am on fire. so its all inside and when you're ready to get better you will.

I have no experience with ritalin/vyvanse/official ADD/ADHD diagnosis so if you really need these meds to "concentrate" then get clean and get slowly back on them, but it sounds like you have some deeper history here given your mention of suboxone. Usually if someone has trouble concentrating they are in a place that is not right for them, that's why their mind keeps going elsewhere. either physical place or mental place or both. think about other changes in your life than what new chems to throw at your receptors.

 

You said wild doses of ritalin? I was only taking 20mg of ritalin in a day, I believe you are referring to my vyvanse doses, which are not that high at all. Maybe i didn't make myself clear but i was having symptoms at tiny doses of ritalin without the suboxone so i switched to vyvanse.


I am clean from all other drugs for two years and i'm in no way abusing my medication. I have past experience of abuse with other drugs but i am past that in my life. i have three semesters of school left in college and my GPA is very important to me, i can't give up my ADD medication. You may fail to believe i actually fucking have it, unfortunately i do. With resumes, interviews, school, organizations, the last thing i need is for my grades to plummet from lack of concentration and then depression to set in. My opiate dependence stems from events which occurred in highschool and i've gotten help for those things. No longer a problem in the slightest. I consider your concern, but quitting my ADD medication is not an option. I know you may think it is garbage. But for those actually struggling it can be a life saver. There is set backs, but i need ways to deal with those maybe its just meditation, i'm not sure yet.

But even though i respect you very much and often agree with you. I will have to disagree this time, i don't think stopping my meds is the best route right now. And i don't take ritalin anymore, so your first sentence confused me.

thanks for your input regardless of our differences in views.

 

i say this in most threads about mental health, but i do really think it's important:

do you exercise regularly and eat well? because without those, you're going to have trouble improving your mental state.

 

sounds eerily familiar...

 

Yes im actually training for a triathlon happening here on campus in may. I go to the gym about 3-4 times a week, run 2-3 times a week. My eating habits are often poor because im always in a hurry at college and my sleep schedule is often fucked up. But I try to stay in decent shape.
But i think i finally found the right dose this week, while not having to aid myself with a benzo or anything of that sort.

This routine has worked well the past two days: Eat a big breakfast take half of my dose at in the morning (25mg vyvanse) then eat lunch and wait about an hour or so and take other half (25 mg vyanse) and that keeps me from the major ups and downs and eating issues. I hope it continues to work, then i just use melatonin at night to help aid sleep.