Question:
I've been having a depression problem with years and I've taken quite
a few pills but I've never been able to find a cure for my short
attention span. So I was wondering if an ADD medication can help me
out with this problem?
Answer:
Wellbutrin, which is sometimes effective in the treatment of ADHD, is
primarily prescribed as an antidepressant (also helps people quit
smoking--rather versatile). All of the stimulants have some degree of
antidepressant effect as well. None of them will, unless you are very lucky, completely control your
ADHD symptoms, and there is no known "cure", but they can help quite a
lot.
Have you considered getting ADD/ADHD testing?
Remember, many ADD/ADHD sufferers can suffer from depression and low
self-esteem due to social problems and under-achievement, despite
sometimes being frightfully bright.
Psychologists know this.
If you think it might apply to you, consider getting the testing. Are you currently taking an anti-depressant which you would like to augment with a second med to improve attention?
If so, which anti-depressant are you taking?
Or, are you interested in which medications are known to alleviate symptoms of depression and symptoms of ADD?
Stimulants are prescribed to augment AD's.
Reading the posts to severalwebsites's for several years, it seems to me Concerta and Dexedrine are stimulantswebsites posters are being prescribed to augment anti-depressant medications more than the other stimulants.
The SSRI's are AD's which are stimulating to some people, so are prescribed where depression and attention deficit coexist.
Wellbutrin is stimulating to a lot of people so it is also RX'd where depression and ADD coexist.
When depressed people have paradoxical effects from SSRI's and WB, a TCA called Desipramine is sometimes tried for symptoms of both depression and ADD.
A new medication called Strattera, which isn't a stimulant, but does improve attention in some people is another one prescribed for both ADD and mild depression.
Of Course, potent stimulants like Adderal and Focalin are prescribed in the circumstance you describe, and not always just for ADD....but sometimes OFF LABEL to allow people with ADD and mild depression to improve attention and feel better.
for some reason, your messeges never "word wrap" like other messages on this
group. Some of your message are two feet wide and i have scroll sideways a
lot and get a tad giddy..
MM said something similiar the other day, but I didn't know what he was refering to.
What is even weirder is my posts wrap on my newsreaders.
I checked my options and it's supposed to wrap
naturally, I am not savvy when it comes to any of the formatting features.
so I don't know what could be wrong or how to fix it.
Some ADHD meds help depression, though they aren't primarily used for
depression. e.g., Ritalin is sometimes used to help depression in
people whose liver problems prevent the use of other ADs, IIRC. (I do
know it is occasionally used; I believe one of the indicators for its
use is "liver problems", but there are other indications, as well.)
An ADHD med should help your attention span, especially if your short
attention span is the result of undiagnosed ADHD.
See, there's a problem here. ADHD and a Major Depressive Episode (or,
Dysthymia) can easily resemble each other, and ADHD seems to make at
least some folks more vulnerable to depression.
If you can't trace ADHD-like problems back to early childhood, you
probably don't have ADHD, and the good news about that is, if you get
depression under control, you will probably notice your attention go
back to normal. If you *can* trace ADHD symptoms back that far, you
probably want to talk to your doctor... you might have ADHD.
Anyway: the short answer is, there are ADHD meds that can help, but
they're most appropriate if you really have ADHD instead of, or on top
of, your depression.
