Medications, spefically Adderall?

I have only been seeing my doctor for a few months. He seemed pretty open at first. My previous doctor was apaprently a quack. He lost his medical license and the office shut with absolutely no notice, and I didn't find out until I tried to refill my meds. He was the one that officially dx'd the Fibro, but he ran minimal tests and it was mostly on symptoms and the fact that my father, grandfather, and two aunts have it.

I went to the doctor today because I can no longer handle the fog/fatigue/lack of concentration. I have never had ADD, and he was hesitant to prescribe anything because I still manage to make really good grades in school. I dropped out once because of this problem, and I am close to doing so again. I had trouble at my last job because I could never focus and complete things, and while I am ok not working now, I will eventually have to go back to work. He didn't seem to understand that I don't feel like I can handle all these symptoms along with the pain, etc. I realize it might take a while to find something that really helps control them, but to think that there is nothing and that I will have to live the rest of my life like this is too depressing. I'm 24, I want to go out with my friends again. I want to be able to get out of bed in the morning and not feel aggravated by my son because I don't feel good. I want to be able to do daily tasks like cleaning and grocery shopping again without it being such a major ordeal. He agreed to give me adderall, but insisted I can no longer take Vicodin or xanax. I do understand that I am on a lot of medications, and that some of them do have the potential of addiction. I understand that that many medications can really start to take a toll on my body. I rarely take the Vicodin or xanax anyways because I can usually manage without them. It just seemed that he was really condescending today, like nobody can possibly have that many problems.
Well, I went with the adderall, and he started me at 20 mg 2x daily. I took one at noon, and still feel speedy from it. I'm wondering, for anybody else that has taken adderall, does this feeling eventually lessen? I don't think it is going to help me much if I feel like this every day. Are there any other non-stimulant drugs that help with the concentration/brain fog that I could suggest to him?
Thanks for any responses,
Christina

Hi Christina!

And welcome to the family!! I'm sorry you got stuck with a miserable doctor. You may want to think about looking around some more. One thing to always keep in mind is that YOU are the one hiring the doctor, not the other way around. Always make the first apointment at interview and YOU be in charge.

First thing to do is read the Fibro 101 thread at the top of the main page. In there is good information of addiction vs. dependence. For people taking addicting medications for chronic pain the addiction rate is less than 1%!! Yep, you saw that number right..less that one percent. The pain receptors fill up and we just don't get the 'high' that junkies most other people do.

Also, in Fibro 101 is a part on teaching/university hospitals. If I were you I'd call the closest one near me and get a referral to a good doctor who treats fibro and chronic pain. You will more likely get awesome treatment.

You are so young to have to bear this burden and it's not right that a doctor is robbing you of some quality of life when it's available. One thing about fibro is that there is no cure..not yet anyway. And no matter what you take for pain you will still have some. But the hope with treatment is that the pain is reduced to a tolerable level.

May I ask a question? Don't feel like you have ti answer if you'd prefer not to. Are you a single mom? You may have posted this somewhere already but I haven't seen it. It does make this all so much harder sometimes.

Try to work on relaxing...the body and the mind. Stress is our worse enemy! Use warmth on the muscles that are hurting and long hot soaks in the tub when you can. Fill up the tub with lots of silky bubbles, light a few candles, some nice music and a good book. Lock the door and put on some ear plugs and say until the hot water runs out...lol We do have to be good to ourselves and it's hard to remember that at times.

Please keep in touch...OK?
Chutzie

Thanks everybody for your suggestions. I actually went ahead and cut the pills in half for now. They still make me a little bit speedy, but they do help with the lack of concentration. I will discuss with the doctor at my next appointment whether or not I should be on as high of a dose as he prescribed. Unfortunately, it seems I always seem to have miserable side effects at first with any medication.

I'm going to see how my next appointment goes, and if I still feel that he is unwilling to help, I will have to look for another doctor. The problem is that I no longer have health insurance. It seems many doctors want to run and rerun tests, which I am unwilling to do because of the cost. My doctor right now at least understood that unless he has a specific illness or problem that he believes may a problem, I'm not doing anymore testing. I think it is hard for a healthy young man, even a doctor, to understand how dibilitating these health problems can be. I know his concern is the future health problems so many medications can cause. And I realize that is a risk. But I am 24. I would rather enjoy whatever life I may have than have a longer miserable one. I cannot imagine live another 50 years feeling the way I do sometimes. Thankfully, I seem to have pretty short lived flare-ups. A few days tops. So when he is making me choose between pain medication and medication for cognitive thinking, I have to choose whether to deal with something that occurs a few days a month and something that occurs on an almost daily basis. I'm not sure he understands that when I say I'm feeling ok it means I only have a few isolated sore spots and aches instead of hurting so badly I can't walk from one room to another, or pick up my son.  That I want to be able to make plans with friends, and I can't because I have abolutely no idea how I'm going to feel a few weeks from now, let alone tomorrow.

Chutz, I'm not a single mom, I have been with my son's father for five years. Unfortunately since I'm not working, he has to work alot. He's pretty good for the most part about helping, but I know it sometimes gets frusterating for him that he is trying to rearrange stuff at the last minute based on how I'm feeling. And I love the earplugs idea. I have actually thought about it because I have such a hard time getting good sleep, and it seems everytime I try, my son wakes up in the middle of the night. My boyfriend normally will get up with him if I'm not up to it, but I can't go back to sleep until my son's calm (which can sometimes take a while). I think I might go ahead and get some for those nights that I just really need to sleep!

And now, since I have done so much complaining, I should add that I bought some rediculously expensive skin care stuff last weekend, and it is working wonders! It has totally cheered me up when I have been feeling down lately!

 

hi eve ryone i am new to forum but have lived with fibro 25 years. i would like to know if anyone has tried provigil for fatique and alertness instead of adderall. i have read what the drug is suppossed to be for and it sounds like it would be beneficial for us fibromites. i am hesitant to try new drug i am on so many but if anyone if getting good results i would try it. desert rat