My story sounds very similar to Rory’s above, except I’m 43 and have suffered my whole life. I finally sought help last year for depression and started taking Pristiq. It helped a little, but definitely not enough. 3 weeks ago, I asked for ADD medication and was prescribed Vyvanse, just 20mg. OMG! Have you seen the movie “Limitless”? That’s what it felt like. 3 weeks later and I’m weening off of the Pristiq as I suspect much of my depression was caused by my ADD symptoms. I have finally found peace, clarity, and focus. I wish I had found this 30 years ago. I’m fairly “successful” by most definitions, but it has all been such a struggle: work, relationships, and an always present self-loathing for being “lazy” and unfocused. This pill has shown me the light. I still have the occasional day where I’m a little lazy or melancholy, but those days feel “normal” and I empathize with why. Before I’d just be down or apathetic for no reason.

Again, it’s only been 3 weeks, so my data points are limited, but these last 3 weeks are the first time I’ve truly felt comfortable in my own skin. That’s a message I felt worth sharing.

glad you got diagnosed, far too many men and women with adhd suffer needless by not being diagnosed and treated. Good that Vyvanse works for you but with adhd meds, like other meds, what works for person A may not work for person B, we’re biochemically unique. Congrats for getting out of the darkness into the light

but fyi if you’re just on anti depressants and not on stimulant meds it will boost your sereotonin but reduce your dopamine which will help your depression, but may make your adhd worse ie harder to concentrate and focus. so I’d suggest asking your doctor about meds to deal with the adhd meds as well as anti depressants.

would suggest talking to a crisis line in the short term and also getting therapy for yourself at minimum and maybe couples counselling to dealt with the depression and adhd. Ideally the counsellor should know adhd. to find one who knows adhd see my list of south african adhd support groups
http://www.addcoach4u.com/internationaladhdsupportgr.html#southafricanadhdsupportgroups

I have recently been feeling pretty depressed and have constantly had a sense of low self esteem (I’m pretty sure both of these issues have affected me for most of my life), despite the fact that I am a handsome/fit/healthy young guy who has no problem attracting females/girlfriends.

I have performed well in school until this point in time, cruising through with pure “natural ability”, and finished high school with high enough marks to study law and I am currently in my second year of study.

However, lately the depressed state has become a real problem for me, and I find myself not knowing what to do half of the time. This feeling led me to further research on the topic, and I have stumbled across the symptoms for ADD (I believe the inattentive type describes how I feel best). I constantly forget things (conversations mainly) and have a hard time concentrating on most things (I think that concentrating on anything that isn’t an attractive female as pointless) and procrastinate ALL THE TIME. My days seem to go by in a blur and I don’t really know what I’m doing with my life. I feel that studying law isn’t for me, which is strange because it is something I have wanted to do since I was young and I had such strong convictions about my future until recently, where it now seems to have been thrown to the wind. I am just so confused and lost, maybe it is just depression though.

My therapist says these are common symptoms of depression and from completing checklists, I would probably agree. The main thing that worries me though is the inability to get things done and organise my day-to-day tasks, which has been something I have struggled with all my life. I have spoken with my father and he says he has these issues too. My mother also has anxiety issues, and is very highly strung.

Sorry for the long post, I am just at a loss for what to do and I feel that the symptoms of ADD answer a lot of my un-answered questions (especially about hyper focus, and constantly having 10 different things running at any point in time, never finishing any of them, although I just assumed all my life this was human nature… Haha).

After all this, the questions I am constantly ruminating over are:
1. Am I depressed?
2. Do I have ADD?
3. Am I going crazy? I feel sometimes the world seems to get on top of me and I have an overwhelming feeling of imminent doom, although my therapist tells me this is a common symptom of anxiety, it is extremely frightening nonetheless.

This last question is of great concern to me, as I constantly suffer from bouts of “surrealism”, as I would describe it, where everything just seems fake and as if I’m living a waking dream. Weeks seem to pass without anything happening.

I need answers! I am a 19yr old Australian and it’s affecting my study, as I just can’t seem to get motivated to do anything!

The only plus side to this is that I have been a lot more creative than I had been previously; poems, film scripts and artwork. I feel this is where my future lies, but with great expectations placed on me by my parents to finish my degree and a fear of what is uncertain, I can’t see it eventuating.

Thanks, I know it has been a long post, but it has sure helped me get a few of my negative thoughts out there on my search for answers.

Rory.

That sounds alot like me. I went 28 years without being diagnosed and not taking mediation =) I didn’t know I had it until I was 28, but I’m glad cus I didn’t use it as a crutch or an excuse to fail in life. I graduated and got my bachelors. When I started my job I strugggled with my daily tasks and to sit down in a chair but after taking Vyvanse, it changed my life and now I’m able to sit down at 4 hours at a time and do my software engineer tasks. Before I took the medicine I wasn’t very productive and felt terrible about it.

I ready your story and I did the exact same thing! Vyvance really makes a difference in my life and totally increases my productivity at work! After taking it, I felt like a new person as it solved most of my adult ADHD issues. Please note that its not 100 percent fix but it helps with 90 percent of my adult adhd and my wife has notice how it helps alot as well.

Ashlon

I’m not a doctor so i can’t diagnose but you might want to do the 5 minute Harvard Adult ADHD screening test on my website.

If you have a certain score, than I would suggest you see a medical professional that knows about ADHD to find out, unfortunately not all do, try find some recommendations through your local ADHD support group