Are Adult ADD Sufferers Really Helped by Medication?
Most of the studies that have been implemented over the last few years have seemed to indicate that most adults diagnosed with ADD are helped by one of several of the various medications prescribed to treat the condition. These medications include Adderall, Concerta , Ritalin and Vyvanase. These medications are most commonly prescribed alongside a course of behavioral therapy, also designed to help patients manage their symptoms.
There are those people, especially adults, who are resistant to the idea of taking medication for their ADD. Some are concerned about potential side effects. Some people experience a loss of appetite, others experience increased anxiety but everybody reacts in a different manner and the correct drug dosage and type prescribed is a decision for the patient and their doctors to make based upon their particular symptoms.
Other people are worried that taking medications for ADD will change who they are as a person. Some adults with ADD feel that it has had a positive, not a negative effect upon their lives. Take for instance the founder of the very successful low cost airline Jet Blue, David Neeleman, once told a medical publication “If someone told me you could be normal or you could continue to have your adult ADD, I would take ADD.” It is true that some of the most creative and intriguing individuals known to the world have been ADD sufferers including such popular figures today as comedian Woody Harrelson, TV personality and designer Ty Pennington and TV football commentator and former star quarterback Terry Bradshaw.
However for many adults being finally diagnosed with ADD, and being offered the possibility of getting help dealing with some of its less appealing consequences, the inability to focus and concentrate for long periods of time, or to be as productive as they might like to name just two common symptoms, is a relief. For some it explains difficulties they may have experienced during their childhood and adolescence that they failed to understand at the time.
Some people choose to manage their condition without medication at all. Basketball player Chris Kaman, of the LA Clippers, was diagnosed with ADD as a child and was on medication for the course of his teenage years but choose as an adult to stop taking them and manage his condition instead through behavioral therapy, although he recently told the media he felt he had been misdiagnosed from the beginning.
Whatever treatment an adult patient chooses, or does not choose to follow for their ADD is a very personal decision but the fact is that a great number of them are helped by medication.
November 22nd, 2009 at 4:57 am
I was diagnosed 3 years ago, at age 56, and it has been WONDERFUL to know what was going on all those years! My doctor (psychiatrist specializing in ADD/ADHD) and I spent months trying different meds and dosages till we found that Concerta worked well…but then my insurance decided that it wouldn’t pay for it, of course. Of the meds they WOULD cover, Vyvanse (not Vyvanase as in the article) works best for me. I’m very grateful to have my diagnosis, my meds, my CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy, and several great books (ADD-Friendly Ways to Organize Your Life by Judith Kolberg is my current favorite)!