Finding it hard with no medication

[AngelB85]

I had cancer at age 26 in 8 places. I went through aggressive treatment that left me with pelvic radiation disease, meaning I suffer with incontinence. All Adhd medication suppresses the appetite so I can’t take it as the doctors and consultants said it’s too risky me losing weight. Is there anything that will help that won’t do this??

[El-Eektrified]

Hi, thanks for sharing. Difficult situation…

I’ll try to respond and share my experience with Guanfacine/intuniv - known to cause weight gain.

I’ve lost like 12pounds when I started with stimulants, and regained them on Intuniv.

Intuniv is a non-stimulant and also available in Europe. Officially registered for children, which probably causes hesitation with many specialists to prescribe this for adults. Another downside, it’s expensive (no generic) and it requires weekly follow-ups during titration. You can’t just quit, it affects/lowers your blood pressure.

In the US there is plenty of experience with this med, they also have its IR, which isn’t even available in Europe.

Personally, it really helped with my ADHD and hyperactivity. But looking back, I also realize it improved my asthma, allergies and eczema ever since I’ve started Intuniv.

Downside: tiredness, therefore I’m also on a low dose of elvanse, but this doesn’t affect my appetite, and also increases focus.

I also recently found out, that I might have a combination of ASD/ADHD which could be an indicator, why I haven’t responded that well to stimulants and why Intuniv was such a “positive” outcome for me.

Hopefully you will find something that might work, not all adhd meds suppress your appetite.

[STEM_Dad]

Like was already mentioned, Guanfacine might be a good non-stimulant medication.

I take a different non-stimulant, atomoxetine (aka Strattera). It can affect appetite in some people, but it's less likely to do so than stimulant medications do. It does not affect my appetite at all (but I found that I have to take it with food, or else I experience nausea about 20 minutes after taking it).

Atomoxetine is approved to treat two conditions: ADHD, or enuresis (a form of incontinence better known as bed-wetting). So, it might help with that, but I'm not a doctor, and I couldn't find any references to research on atomoxetine or Strattera to treat PRD.

But now you have a couple of medications to ask your doctor about.

Atomoxetine has to be taken every day, first to build up in the body, and then to maintain functional levels. It's an SNRI, selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor.

There are more non-stimulant medications now for treating ADHD, but I don't know the names of all of them. It's mainly the stimulants that are known to suppress appetite.