Diagnosed and starting Meds at 26 - What should I look for?

[lyssforprez]

Hi there,

This past Friday I went to a psychiatrist for fear I may have clinical anxiety or bipolar disorder. I was diagnosed with ADHD and my whole life suddenly made sense! I have been in therapy for 2 years and felt very hopeful to combine it with medication for treatment.

I was prescribed Concerta and have been taking a low dose for 4 days now. The biggest thing I am hoping the medication will help me with is emotional dysregulation and feelings of anxiety/depression.

Have meds helped anyone else in this domain?

I am also wondering if any of you have advice on ways I can tell it is working or if it is not working for me. I have felt a bit more anxious than usual and have had some trouble sleeping. I am hoping these side effects subside and that I find the medication helps me in the long run.

- How long do you think I should take the medication without it helping before switching to something else?

- Did you experience trouble sleeping? Did it go away?

- How did you know your meds WERE working? How did you know they were not?

Thanks everyone! Its been a whirlwind of a couple days processing all of this but I'm excited that there is support out there.

[Cappy11]

1) As far as all psychiatric disorders go, ADHD is the one that, by far, benefits the most from medication. So yes.

2) For most people, these side effects will improve over the course of several weeks. Stay the course and stay busy. My anxiety got a lot better, sleep kinda improved, appetite was almost back to normal.

3) Tricky question. If the side effects are really bad, you should stop. Otherwise, it can take weeks/months to know if a medication is right for you. There's a sweet spot with any medication and your doc will likely ask you to slowly increase the dose until you find it, if the medication is right for you.

4) Yeah, that only somewhat improved for me over time. But for others it gets a lot better.

5) To know if the meds are good for you, don't judge them by how they make you 'feel'. Because they often 'feel' amazing the first few days/weeks. Are you able to focus on the things you need to, are you getting the things you need to get done, are your emotions/mood in check? If the side effects are not improving and too much to handle, then the meds are not right for you. If there's too much anxiety/depression on the meds or when they wear off, not right for you...

Also, all of these meds help the same kind of issues (focus, working memory, emotional regulation, etc). But the amount that they help with each area varies based on the medication and the person. So if you feel like it's affecting things too much or too little, at any dose, it might be a good idea to try something else.