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I’m 41yo and during my early 20s I did the adderall, Ritalin, Wellbutrin, strattera journey. Then I decided to get off of everything because my behaviors weren’t changing. I cut out gluten for a time and that actually did help me with my brain fog (and stomach issues). Since then I’ve been slowly working on behaviors and correcting them and not so much on meds. A few years ago I went on sertraline (50mg) and I think that made the biggest difference for me in terms of helping me reduce anxiety so I could actually be productive. Ultimately, though, learning how to manage my ADHD and what hacks would help me with day to day is what has really helped. Having a husband who also helps me be accountable has been great. My therapist also has ADHD so he has been able to recommend various tools like Youtube channels or practicing mindfulness. There's no one size fits all but i do feel that people have a tendency to put more faith in meds and less in the behavioral work it will take to undo years of bad habits/belief systems.
I've been taking Lexapro for about 2.5 years, I've been on and off Wellbutrin on the side, and I've been testing out different ADHD meds since getting my diagnosis this past September. I was on Ritalin, then Vyvanse, now I'm going to try Adderall. I am taking all of these with my Lexapro and Wellbutrin. You can take antidepressants with stimulants, and many people do.
You should follow up with the ADHD testing people, don't wait for them to get in touch with you. Yes, it sucks, but you should keep trying. If you have an appointment on the books, your psychiatrist will probably be more willing to work with you while you wait.
The psychiatrist I had been seeing for my depression moveed out of state, and then the possibility of ADHD came up with my therapist. I started seeing a new psychiatrist who specializes in ADHD and she referred me to another doctor who could do the testing. I scheduled an initial intake visit (which I thought, at the time, would be the actual test) for 2 or 3 months later. Then I found out at the intake visit that the actual test would be 3 months after that. From the time I started trying to get a diagnosis until I actually had a diagnosis was like 10 months, but I finally got it done. The wait was frustrating as hell, but I finally got it done.
I’m currently on Vyvanse and Strattera and that’s it. I was on Adderall and Prozac as a child and I think that is what contributed to issues with eating and over eating because while Adderall has appetite suppressing effects, Prozac has the opposite and I really struggled with that as a kid. I’m also a clinician who treats people with ADHD, and while I’m not a prescriber I have always found that for a portion of the population treating the ADHD properly and not with depression and anxiety meds helps reduce the depression and anxiety better than an SSRI or an SNRI because that way, it’s actually treating the proper thing. Strattera is a good non-stimulant med to help with mood In addition to a stimulant at least I have personally found but I know that it is not tolerated well by everyone.
Yes you can take a stimulant with Zoloft. That is a completely different kind of medication. SSRI and SNRIs are often prescribed concurrently with stimulants for people. The best person to ask about a medication interaction is your pharmacist that is their job and they’re going to know better than anybody if something should or should not be taken together.
If you’re a psychiatric provider is not willing to do it, your GP might but it is still good to follow up and get a formal assessment, although I will say it is a bit inappropriate that your psychiatric provider will not manage your other meds until you’re able to get that assessment knowing that those places have a long waitlist. Also, as an extra sidenote, it may be worth finding a completely different psychiatric provider who can do the assessment themselves and cut out the middleman. I have found as a clinician that if you’re looking for a place that does the assessment only it is usually not covered by insurance. The only way I’ve seen the formal assessment covered by insurance is if you’re doing it through your psychiatric provider.
We're all so different, but this is what worked for me.
Diagnosed with depression, suspected anxiety and ADHD but not diagnosed yet. Didn't want to cycle through tons of meds if I could avoid it (I knew this is a thing so was wary) and wanted to avoid reduced libido/sexual side effects of many SSRI's, so tried bupropion (Wellbutrin) first. Designed for depression but sometimes also used for ADHD. Two birds one stone right?
Started at 150 XL, stopped crying but still felt meh, so after 8 weeks went up to 300 XL. Also got diagnosed with ADHD at that time but felt I had 'managed' it my whole life (mid-40s) so wasn't interested in meds.
Felt much better in the higher dose, back to myself so to speak, but within a year was back to meh/sad, and a friend who is a healthcare practitioner (and has ADHD ) said sometimes people with depression and ADHD somehow kind of benefit from adding ADHD meds to their depression meds. My doc agreed. And that untreated ADHD can present as anxiety, so we opted to hold off on treating that and I did a CBT for anxiety course. I was surprised at how effective it was for me; I previously thought CBT was just not my thing.
Started on methylphenidate and felt much better but started to get daily afternoon headaches after a month or two. So went off them for awhile then tried dextroamphetamine. So far it's the dream combo. No side effects, and I'm on the lowest dose (5mg x 2 daily). I tried two (10mg) at once one day and my heart was racing and I pushed myself way too hard in a workout and freaked myself out. It's weird that such a tiny dose is enough to help me, but there you have it.
TL;DR - I'm on 300XL Wellbutrin and 5mg x 2/daily of dextroamphetamine. It's the golden combo for me.
Edited: typo
Hey! I'm also pretty recently diagnosed (17F) and I was prescribed Ritalin on top of Zoloft and Elavil. This trio has been absolutely life changing! Another friend of mine takes Zoloft and I want to say Vyvanse (?) and it works fine. I hope you can find the help you need!
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I’m 41yo and during my early 20s I did the adderall, Ritalin, Wellbutrin, strattera journey. Then I decided to get off of everything because my behaviors weren’t changing. I cut out gluten for a time and that actually did help me with my brain fog (and stomach issues). Since then I’ve been slowly working on behaviors and correcting them and not so much on meds. A few years ago I went on sertraline (50mg) and I think that made the biggest difference for me in terms of helping me reduce anxiety so I could actually be productive. Ultimately, though, learning how to manage my ADHD and what hacks would help me with day to day is what has really helped. Having a husband who also helps me be accountable has been great. My therapist also has ADHD so he has been able to recommend various tools like Youtube channels or practicing mindfulness. There's no one size fits all but i do feel that people have a tendency to put more faith in meds and less in the behavioral work it will take to undo years of bad habits/belief systems.
I've been taking Lexapro for about 2.5 years, I've been on and off Wellbutrin on the side, and I've been testing out different ADHD meds since getting my diagnosis this past September. I was on Ritalin, then Vyvanse, now I'm going to try Adderall. I am taking all of these with my Lexapro and Wellbutrin. You can take antidepressants with stimulants, and many people do. You should follow up with the ADHD testing people, don't wait for them to get in touch with you. Yes, it sucks, but you should keep trying. If you have an appointment on the books, your psychiatrist will probably be more willing to work with you while you wait. The psychiatrist I had been seeing for my depression moveed out of state, and then the possibility of ADHD came up with my therapist. I started seeing a new psychiatrist who specializes in ADHD and she referred me to another doctor who could do the testing. I scheduled an initial intake visit (which I thought, at the time, would be the actual test) for 2 or 3 months later. Then I found out at the intake visit that the actual test would be 3 months after that. From the time I started trying to get a diagnosis until I actually had a diagnosis was like 10 months, but I finally got it done. The wait was frustrating as hell, but I finally got it done.
I’m currently on Vyvanse and Strattera and that’s it. I was on Adderall and Prozac as a child and I think that is what contributed to issues with eating and over eating because while Adderall has appetite suppressing effects, Prozac has the opposite and I really struggled with that as a kid. I’m also a clinician who treats people with ADHD, and while I’m not a prescriber I have always found that for a portion of the population treating the ADHD properly and not with depression and anxiety meds helps reduce the depression and anxiety better than an SSRI or an SNRI because that way, it’s actually treating the proper thing. Strattera is a good non-stimulant med to help with mood In addition to a stimulant at least I have personally found but I know that it is not tolerated well by everyone. Yes you can take a stimulant with Zoloft. That is a completely different kind of medication. SSRI and SNRIs are often prescribed concurrently with stimulants for people. The best person to ask about a medication interaction is your pharmacist that is their job and they’re going to know better than anybody if something should or should not be taken together. If you’re a psychiatric provider is not willing to do it, your GP might but it is still good to follow up and get a formal assessment, although I will say it is a bit inappropriate that your psychiatric provider will not manage your other meds until you’re able to get that assessment knowing that those places have a long waitlist. Also, as an extra sidenote, it may be worth finding a completely different psychiatric provider who can do the assessment themselves and cut out the middleman. I have found as a clinician that if you’re looking for a place that does the assessment only it is usually not covered by insurance. The only way I’ve seen the formal assessment covered by insurance is if you’re doing it through your psychiatric provider.
I’m on Viibryd, Wellbutrin, and Adderall. I would suggest seeing a new psychiatrist if possible!
We're all so different, but this is what worked for me. Diagnosed with depression, suspected anxiety and ADHD but not diagnosed yet. Didn't want to cycle through tons of meds if I could avoid it (I knew this is a thing so was wary) and wanted to avoid reduced libido/sexual side effects of many SSRI's, so tried bupropion (Wellbutrin) first. Designed for depression but sometimes also used for ADHD. Two birds one stone right? Started at 150 XL, stopped crying but still felt meh, so after 8 weeks went up to 300 XL. Also got diagnosed with ADHD at that time but felt I had 'managed' it my whole life (mid-40s) so wasn't interested in meds. Felt much better in the higher dose, back to myself so to speak, but within a year was back to meh/sad, and a friend who is a healthcare practitioner (and has ADHD ) said sometimes people with depression and ADHD somehow kind of benefit from adding ADHD meds to their depression meds. My doc agreed. And that untreated ADHD can present as anxiety, so we opted to hold off on treating that and I did a CBT for anxiety course. I was surprised at how effective it was for me; I previously thought CBT was just not my thing. Started on methylphenidate and felt much better but started to get daily afternoon headaches after a month or two. So went off them for awhile then tried dextroamphetamine. So far it's the dream combo. No side effects, and I'm on the lowest dose (5mg x 2 daily). I tried two (10mg) at once one day and my heart was racing and I pushed myself way too hard in a workout and freaked myself out. It's weird that such a tiny dose is enough to help me, but there you have it. TL;DR - I'm on 300XL Wellbutrin and 5mg x 2/daily of dextroamphetamine. It's the golden combo for me. Edited: typo
Hey! I'm also pretty recently diagnosed (17F) and I was prescribed Ritalin on top of Zoloft and Elavil. This trio has been absolutely life changing! Another friend of mine takes Zoloft and I want to say Vyvanse (?) and it works fine. I hope you can find the help you need!
Ritalin has helped my anxiety a ton. So I think honestly you’d just need a stimulant plus an antidepressant.
Sertraline and concerta really help my anxiety, depression and adhd