STEPHEN FRY

Hello! I have depression, adhd(inattentive type)....wait. what are we talking about again? Just kidding! And also ptsd. Nothing I am about to tell you is from a professional stand point!! Personal experience only and everyone is different. My son is 14 with bipolar, diagnosed age 9. I will try to give a short summary of my own experience and then my experience in regards to my son.

I took adderall extended release for over a year and for quite some time I thought that was the missing piece to the puzzle. Prior to the adderall I was already taking Celexa, ambien and topomax (for migraine prevention). The short acting adderall dropped out of my system too fast and caused more migraine trouble so the ER seemed good as long as I took it by 8am. I had a sleep problem already, thus the ambien.

Turns out I also have sleep apnea. My blood oxygen level dropped to 74% and did not go beyond stage 2 sleep during the study. We all know how lack of quality sleep effects lots of things. I know have a cpap but I am not sure it is helping.

I stopped taking the adderall about 2 months ago (without talking to doc. Not smart of me.) but I felt like around 6pm I got agitated more easily so I wanted to see if not taking it would help.Since off the adderall I am just a flat line depressed so I am thinking about starting up again.

Regarding my son : Initially thought he was adhd and after trying non- stimulants and therapy he was not improving so I relented after almost 2 years. Within the first week of him being on Concerta I had to have him put in hospital. He went bat shit! Tried to stab my husband with a grill fork, talking about killing himself and rage so bad we had to restrain him (fortunatly I had been trained to do this safe from prior job) for over an hour in some cases.

The doc at hospital said stimulants and bipolar don't mix and his reaction sealed the diagnosis. Perhaps that is why people are getting diagnosed bipolar younger and younger. In my school days ritalin was not so quickly prescribed and adhd was just bad behavior or being lazy.

My son started off on a trio of depakote, risperdol and clonodine with minimal improvement. He has now been on JUST Seroquel for over a year and is doing soooo much better. This along with on going therapy. If you are not seeing a therapist I would (as a non-professional) advise doing so. As you mentioned, not wanting to just treat side effects, no drug is magic and therapy can help make you more self aware and learn ways to help get over the bumps easier.

I am sorry to be so lengthy. Since off the adderall it is harder to organize thoughts so I hope this made some sense and I dont sound like a blithering idiot.

Marz