Posted by utopizen on July 6, 2005, at 14:51:50
In reply to Re: Strattera question?????????? » woolav, posted by Jazzed on July 5, 2005, at 9:24:57
Anxiety, as well as depression, can mimic ADD, but unless you had ADD prior to the age of 7, you don't meet the DSM-IV criteria.
And since when did ADD have ANYTHING to do with racing thoughts? Can't people accept ADD is often combined with other mental illnesses, like anxiety, the only thing that would cover that symptom?
There's no "racing thoughts" symptom in the DSM-IV for ADD. That's a confusion about people mixing up the physical hyperactivity symptom you might have with it and equating that to how your brain moves, which is not rational to say the least.
I don't ever have "racing thoughts" since taking Klonopin for my anxiety, but that doesn't mean my severe ADD is still with me, or that Klonopin is even close to being an ADD drug.
Also, your husband has alcoholism, not from ADD, or from anxiety, but because he has alcoholism. Treating the anxiety MIGHT help, but keep in mind, it might not. You need to confront both issues, and no doc would ever give a stimulant to someone with substance abuse problems (if they feel like keeping their DEA audit, anyway, anecdotes about your docs aside people).
Stimulants, trust me, in someone with anxiety, speed up racing thoughts, and do not calm them down. I am sick and tired of people in the media claiming that it calms people down because it has some "paradoxial effect" or that you can sleep better because you took a STIMULANT.
Anyone who says this is getting a placebo effect, and needs to notice their heart is higher after taking it, and that ain't going to help your CNS reduce its stimulation in your body, and your sleep will be much less deep, regardless of whether you sleep or not. If you don't believe me, take a sleep test in a lab after taking a stimulant, and they'll show you how your sleep is not entering deeper stages. You can't actually determine this objectively without lab equipment attached to your head. Trust me, I've had 3 sleep studies, so I know what they find.
poster:utopizen
thread:523646
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050702/msgs/524310.html