I suffer from ADD, since childhood. I have no idea how I get things done, really.

Also slightly manic and bi polar. I haven't killed myself yet, so I figure I'll stay off the drugs.

But man, self medicating was fun.

Just throwing in a .....Ya know....


When I was at school/college (I'm 44) no one I knew suffered from allergies

At my childrens school , you cannot wear any fragrance nor bring nuts into the school.

There are a least 6 kids I know of with the allergies...

Additionally no child was being treated for depression , anxiety , or ADD ADHD etc...

they were classed as "little shits" :)


I raised this with a Shrink I know...

The comments were...

1.) No one had time to consider these problems , they worked and slept.
2.) They self medicated.He did in fact say that my Irish background is in part responsible for drinking to excess it is partly genetic and societal.

Combined with your current avatar, mebbe 2 ? :rolleyes:


Can I nominate the entire thread for a :pearl: ?

Have dealt with the same things both in my online business, and offline since
by my choice, I have always preferred either 2nd or 3rd shift. I bounce back
and forth at times (worked the last six weeks of 2004 doing 10 hour shifts
9PM to 7AM).

Am I depressed ? probably, but I've never been willing to check out "herbal"
for exactly what Grimmy and others have posted...


Anyone that knows me, knows I'd be in the "why be normal?" t-shirt anyways... :)

I think all creative people have some sort of issues with despression, bi-polar, ADD, etc.

I think that "edge" is what gives us the creativity...

yeah, I think people are more aware of these issues

I can't go into one of those Bed and Bath stores without my allergies going nuts...my wife can't wear certain types of perfumes and I have to have special shampoos, soaps and even shaving cream as I can't handle any sort of perfumes, colognes, etc. (btw, Aveeno products rock for people with frangrance allergies ;-))

Also, it used to be if a child was way way out of line, they were referred to as "shits" or just beaten...if someone had mental issues, they were locked up in an instituition or the family closet...

While I think there are way too many parents who simply give in and medicate their difficult children, it is important that we stay aware of these issues

Some of you know, my oldest son has selective mutism. At 9 years of age, he's never spoken a single word in school, he almost never talks when we are out in public and he won't even talk to some of our relatives. Years ago, he would have been classified as shy and put into a special ed program, when in reality he has this anxiety disorder than renders him unable to speak. He communicates to his teacher with sign language and for his reading assignments, he reads to me at home into a tape recorder, then takes the tape back to the school the next day to play for his class. He made a breakthrough by ordering from the ice cream truck driver himself and I lamost broke down in tears...him doing that is the equivelent of one of us walking on hot coals...most kids who have it, grow out of it but often get left behind in their studies because teachers just dismiss them as shy.

It is amazing the way these things are now publicly known and we have communications tools we didn't have several decades or even years ago

I fear us becoming too medicated of a society though as people will start to demand a medical solution to every problem (and degrading recogniztion for real problems).

fucking movie theatres get me every time, for some reason

Grimm, my only point with acid reflux....is there are WAY too many people being diagnosed with it....

"The esophagus is separated from the stomach by a valve or sphincter. The lower esophageal sphincter is normally closed . Heartburn is caused by the reflux, or movement, of stomach acid into the esophagus.except during swallowing. The sphincter keeps the stomach contents from refluxing or returning into the esophagus. Heartburn occurs when the pressure in the stomach overcomes this valve and forces the stomach acid into the esophagus. This can occur when the valve or sphincter is too weak to prevent the reflux or when the amount of stomach acid is too great to be kept in the stomach."

Thing is...it's a one way door....usually. What goes down doesn't usually come back up.

It is rare that it mal functions. When it does, it's pretty serious and can cause esophageal varices and other conditions.

Most people have heartburn, which is not acid reflux. If I were to believe the commercials, everyone has it, just like everyone has ADD.

Nick. This thing with allergies. I was working with a child whose behaviour was psychotic. So psychotic, that, at the age of five, he was being considered for permanent residence within an institutional setting.

Unfortunately, in this kid's history, there was mention of allergy testing, which by all indications....he had none.

Finally, as a last ditch effort, the team came up with a plan to with hold all foods and give this kid a drug holiday, in a controlled environment.

Within 24 hours, the psychotic episodes had lessened. Within a week, the episodes had stopped.

We began adding foods back and wham! This kid tried to murder his mother.

It was orange juice.

Sigh.

No one had tested for orange juice.

Peaches. I've seen people react pretty violently and in bizarre ways to certain foods. There are, especially for headache sufferers, http://www.drkoop.com/encyclopedia/43/282.html -- that's just one of the sources....not saying that's the cause; but, it could be a contributing factor....
Isn't there another drug that just came out...that is supposed to be the wonder drug for migraines?

Anthony....Being slightly manic and bi polar is like being a little bit pregnant.....You either have it or you don't. You can have some personality traits that lead you to some manic behaviours; but, you're not bi polar unless you are.

I think the pendulum has swung too far the other way. Back when I was a child, behavioural problems were dealt with behind closed doors and not tolerated, regardless of the cause. It wasn't until recently that we even dealt with physical, emotional or sexual abuse....or allergies......

Sorry for the book, folks...but we live in an over medicated, over analysed society who throws pills at problems without proper diagnosis..and the lack of common sense overwhelms me.

Until people get educated; and, I mean the kind of education that forces them to 'learn' their bodies....unique and special and not text book....and, until doctors learn to listen and ask the right questions.....until people take some accountability and stop looking for that magic cure.....

Until insurance companies stop fucking around with our health and the pharmaceutical companies start producing ethical information commercials....well, we're pretty much fucked.

Been there, done that :( We did that years ago where I ate nothing but rice and water for 24 hours (or so) then slowly added foods to see if there was something I was eating causing the migraines. Nothing.

If you're talking about the recent ads, well, it's new to the public :awinky: I tried it over a year ago. It was one of the anti-seizure medications I tried.

Jesus, y'all are a mess. I never figured I was the normal one.

I don't get depressed, I get even.

Yes it works almost exactly like a ventricular valve, one way in, any backwash and thats a problem..

physician, heal thyself!

not necessarily true, Raven.. you can be manic, or depressive, or both, to varying degrees... Bi-Polar disorder can come in varying degrees.. from the slow to fast cycling bipolars.. depending on how fast you switch from highs to lows.. also, the length of your mani and depression are factors too.. are you so depressed you dont get out of bed and have suicidal thoughts, or so manic you have homicidal or irrational thoughts.. sever manic episodes can even trigger schizophrenic breaks.. leading to much more dangerous disorders..


heres a good definition of bipolar disorder from wikopedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bipolar_disorder

also, there is a definite link between high/low blood sugar and mania..

yeah, I think people are more aware of these issues

I can't go into one of those Bed and Bath stores without my allergies going nuts...my wife can't wear certain types of perfumes and I have to have special shampoos, soaps and even shaving cream as I can't handle any sort of perfumes, colognes, etc. (btw, Aveeno products rock for people with frangrance allergies ;-))

Also, it used to be if a child was way way out of line, they were referred to as "shits" or just beaten...if someone had mental issues, they were locked up in an instituition or the family closet...

While I think there are way too many parents who simply give in and medicate their difficult children, it is important that we stay aware of these issues

Some of you know, my oldest son has selective mutism. At 9 years of age, he's never spoken a single word in school, he almost never talks when we are out in public and he won't even talk to some of our relatives. Years ago, he would have been classified as shy and put into a special ed program, when in reality he has this anxiety disorder than renders him unable to speak. He communicates to his teacher with sign language and for his reading assignments, he reads to me at home into a tape recorder, then takes the tape back to the school the next day to play for his class. He made a breakthrough by ordering from the ice cream truck driver himself and I lamost broke down in tears...him doing that is the equivelent of one of us walking on hot coals...most kids who have it, grow out of it but often get left behind in their studies because teachers just dismiss them as shy.

It is amazing the way these things are now publicly known and we have communications tools we didn't have several decades or even years ago

I fear us becoming too medicated of a society though as people will start to demand a medical solution to every problem (and degrading recogniztion for real problems). [/b][/quote]
Little bastard has a mean right hook though!

Try sports with him Lance. His face just lit up when I told him to kick and punch at my hands.

Him actually hitting and kicking surprised even me. :)

The thing I've noticed is tha I don't notice when I get manic. I always thought I get excited alot.

The Bi Polar I think I've got kicked. I don't have problems with it when I stay healthy and excercise. I'm just too fucking tired to have highs and lows.

Generally I'm a happy go lucky kinda guy.

Peaches, what happens if you take birth control pills and just skip your periods?

many people skip their periods i am skipping my periods right now what happens when yhou skip your periods run on sentances is what happens my english teachers warned against skipping periods and commas.

Tried that too - my period is stronger than the pill - I had one every month even when I took the pills nonstop.

I wanted to take the Depo-provera shot but the Dr. said I'd have the same results. That was a year or so ago and IMHO, he wasn't very agressive (then again, he's not a neurologist, it was my OB/GYN). I have an appointment soon with my regular internist (who is also a good friend from before he was a Dr. and he's good about letting me "try" stuff) and I'm going to talk to him about it.

I had the same thought you did - if the periods make me sick, let's get rid of them :)

many people skip their periods i am skipping my periods right now what happens when yhou skip your periods run on sentances is what happens my english teachers warned against skipping periods and commas. [/b][/quote]
Butthead :lol:

Tried that too - my period is stronger than the pill - I had one every month even when I took the pills nonstop.

I wanted to take the Depo-provera shot but the Dr. said I'd have the same results. That was a year or so ago and IMHO, he wasn't very agressive (then again, he's not a neurologist, it was my OB/GYN). I have an appointment soon with my regular internist (who is also a good friend from before he was a Dr. and he's good about letting me "try" stuff) and I'm going to talk to him about it.

I had the same thought you did - if the periods make me sick, let's get rid of them :) [/b][/quote]
you got Georgia Breeding Hormones in you. Stronger than Louisiana breeding hormones, but nothing compared to Mexican Breeding Hormones.

not necessarily true, Raven.. you can be manic, or depressive, or both, to varying degrees... Bi-Polar disorder can come in varying degrees.. from the slow to fast cycling bipolars.. depending on how fast you switch from highs to lows.. also, the length of your mani and depression are factors too.. are you so depressed you dont get out of bed and have suicidal thoughts, or so manic you have homicidal or irrational thoughts.. sever manic episodes can even trigger schizophrenic breaks.. leading to much more dangerous disorders..


heres a good definition of bipolar disorder from wikopedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bipolar_disorder[/b][/quote]
I had major agoraphobia after 2 1/2 years in this business. So severe I was afraid to go out to Dinner with my girlfriend, walk to the mailbox to get my mail, or even answer my door when the fed-ex guy dropped off the checks. I switched to bank wires and sent the authorization forms by fax from a Brother fax machine I had at home my ole lady bought for me and brought home. I was a complete mess.

What made it worse? I went to see three different psychiatrists who all told me "We are sorry we can't help you, you should call the pyschological institute for a referral and explain to them what your problem is". The problem was, that is how I got there numbers. Talk about scary shit, I thought I was going to die literally from going insane, yet I could really work my ass off was the upside and I made myself FILTHY FUCKING RICH :)

Anyways I find a psychologist and at first I have social anxiety disorder.. so I take a multitude of drugs and ALL of them had horracious side effects. AS recently as a year ago I tried kicking back to Paxil from Wellbutrin, I also tried the 10 mg and oh my god that stuff really made a mess out of me. To boot for 3 solid days after I quit taking it I had the worst depression of my LIFE.

The next psychiatrist really got into my mind, and hit alot of spots and things I never even noticed before.. Highs and Lows fluctuating in my life. Of course the highs didn't bother me, I worked for 36 hours straight and felt I had accomplished a great deal of work. The lows however were win I got frustrated. I also have a VERY rapid cycling of the two. I can literally go through the two cycles of the Bipolar syndrome multiple times per day, that's how out of whack my system is (proably because I quite taking depakote eventually). This guy gives me depakote, wellbutrin, and Xanax.

To this day I take 2-3 mg Xanax a day, people ask me how I do it when they get high as hell off of one, I just tell them I have such a tolerance after 4-5 years of use I could probably take 20 and it wouldn't affect me. I take 2 150 mg Wellbutrin a day. And I quit taking Serzone/Depakote because that stuff pushed my cycles to a consistent level below the average (in other words I was always more depresed, fateigued, etc). I am fine without the Depakote/Serzone (not to mention I don't miss the liver blood tests every 6 months) but I did have to learn to deal with the cycles and try to remedy them myself using the Well Butrin to keep me away from the negatives.

The mania I can control, the depression can REALLY get to me. It hit me hard a couple days ago and I slept for 13 hours... Wasn't a thing I could do, but those bouts don't hit often at all any more.

I am social and outgoing for the most part now, I may feel akward if someone I don't know introduces themselves to me for a few but I adjust. What really gets me is I am NOT on any SSRI's and the half life of xanax being what it is the xanax is NOT what is doing it by itself, the more I get out the less social anxiety I have - I think if I had a real Job the social anxiety would dissapear altogether w/o any Xanax (although weaning off that would be a bitch!) So overall I am much better. But I am living proof that you aren't a total psychotic just because you have Bi-Polar despite the way T.V. potrays the disease.

Agoraphobia is very common.. its an adaptive disorder.. you spend so much time indoors, that you develope an attachment to one place. A sense of security that becomes an axiety disorder. Like all anxieties, there is a trigger, and a barrier where the anxiety becomes intolerable. the trigger in this case would be the need to go to the mailbox.. the barrier being the front door. This manifests in a physiological reaction.. blood pressure and heart rate goes up, breathing shortens and shallows, muscles cramp and twich. It is not a true phobia as it isnt a fear by definition. There are quite a few medications that can treat Agoraphobia.. Xanax or Colonopin work, they are short term anti anxiety medications..they can get you out the door. The problem with true agoraphobia is that the next secure location you are in when the drugs wear off becomes your prison... the cycle repeats. It is not social anxiety disorder at all. Paxil is used to treat Social Anxiety disorder, which is defined as, duh.. Anxiety caused by the trigger of a social or busy setting.. the response being the same flight mechanism that keeps Agoraphobics inside, but in reverse. Often misdiagnosed and treated wrongly, Agoraphobia has genetic links, can be tied to drug use, especially stimulants, or other drugs which consistantly cause a severe paranoid reaction.

anyway.. i digress;) your severe depression was probably caused by yanking yourself off of an SSRI that had already ramped up to the plateud dosage levels. its a sudden reuptake of Seratonin that can floor you. in other words you crash hard.

your body will try to jerk itself, at all costs, into a natural rhythm.. a wake or sleep pattern, a work pattern, a play pattern, an eating/drinking pattern.. the body is adeptly tuned to adapt to whatever you throw at it. Alchoholism, Eating Disorders, "Addictive personalities" are all examples of how the body copes with unnatural patterns being fed through it. When we rail against the adapted patterns, anxiety can be a symptom. when we completely rewire ourselves to a normal rhythm, we go through another adaptive process (withdrawal) where one set of norms is replaced by another.. from 24/7 to 9-5 or from coffee to heroin, not a nice process. In the end though, the body fully adapts if you let it.


The need for medication is hand in hand with the outside social stressors that force people into certain patterns. Banks are only open certain hours. You have to be at work by 9, school starts early, the post office closes early, etc... you are expected to squeeze your life into this, because that is the only way to function in a "normal" society.. the well adjusted can handle it, the not so well adjusted need a little help.

Ive yet to meet a well adjusted adult;) never mind a webmaster:) but who am i kidding, im nuts:)

One can have obsessive/compulsive traits and not have OCD, Grimm.
It's the same thing with bi polar disorder...one can have manic episodes without actually having the disorder....


And, at the end of the day, we call it the practise of medicine because we haven't perfected it yet.

agreed on all points, i wasnt disagreeing:) whod have thought that a post about st johns wart would have 60 something responses..lol..


Ryan.. just reread your post.. Xanax has the same effect on me.. i do not get high at all, i calm down. its body chemisty dude, and an order/disorder sort of paradox:)

If you think or even suspect that you are insane its highly probable you aren't.

:)

I know you weren't disagreeing, Grimm.....it's been an interesting discussion....considering it started about st. john's wort.....don't even get me started on vitamins and that little blindfold over people's eyes....oh yeah, and milk...and wheat......oy vey!

Damn, Nick. I've been using the insanity defense for years. Now you're telling me I'm most likely not?

:awinky:

yeah you want to try explaining to every american who was raised on 3 glasses of milk a day how bad the shit is for you:) you thought the carb/fat myth took a few years to get some credit.... hahahaha

hahah, yeah he does

we've had problems getting him signed up for sports because of his lack of communication, but I've tried music and that's helped a lot

he wouldn't play for you, but he played at a recent school pageant....he played "Iron Man" and got me in trouble (I'm the VP of the PTO board and ok'd the song for the pageant ;-)) but the music has definitely helped during his higher stress times...

I'm also thinking of taking him down to the local karate school and enrolling with him and do it as a father-son thing and see if that helps as well

Why be insane when you can be eccentric ?:)

Insane is so...I don't know..... lower class ;-))))

Don't even THINK of trying to get me to give up my milk!! :grrr:

I wouldn't dare, Peaches....:) Even though milk has been associated with so many ailments....and we are the only mammals who do not wean....

Nick. You are so right. From now on, I shall be eccentric. It suits my classiness.

Excellent! I'm as eccentric as a motherfucker myself. :)

We are the only mammals who cook their food, wear clothes and drive cars too. :awinky:

There are a LOT of things I do that are bad for me - drinking milk is probably the very least of my worries. :okthumb:

Excellent! I'm as eccentric as a motherfucker myself. :) [/b][/quote]
We really must arrange a dinner....and exchange eccentricities, Nick. :)

I love you, Peaches, and I always want to be your friend.

You drink milk.....with my blessing....:)