Hi- I Have Been Diagnosed With A Mild ADHD And

Posted on Sun, 22 Dec 2019

Question: Hi- I have been diagnosed with a mild ADHD and anxiety. I also have a neuromuscular disease, CIDP, esophagitis, and hashimotos (early stage, only antibodies, hormone levels ok). I am in perimenopause. I am getting evaluated for sleep. I sleep all night but have been snoring lately. I suspect this has to do with increased weight over last 4 years (40 lbs). All these things are contributing to brain fog, memory, energy (CIDP will do this) and focus. I take multi-vitamins and am on a plant-based diet, albeit I still eat carbs and dairy. In the past, I tried Adderall, but found myself very jittery and had sleep disturbance from it and irritability later in the day. I took at the beginning of the day and in small dose 15 mg. I found my eyes to be very dry (almost like they were bugged out) and tried to drink more water to counter.>.

This Fall, I tried 10 mg of Straterra for 1 month and increased to 40mg recently. Five (5) days in the higher dose (with the plans to ramp up to 100mg), I am feeling very jittery (heart-rate ok and checked by nurse) and similar symptoms as Adderral- irritable later in the day, can't sleep, dry eyes/socket feeling. This was tauted as being better to maintain the calm because non-stimulant. Taking anything at all, I feel like I am putting a band-aid on my symptoms. although the bandaid is not working. I need a little help; these symptoms can be dehabilitating. However, the side effects of the prescriptions tried thus far are worse than the original issue. Should I look at something more suited for anxiety (vs focus angle) instead, like Zoloft? Could that do anything to improve focus and lifting fog?

Answered by Dr. Dr. Soujanya (47 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Yes, you can try better medicine to combat irritability and anxiety.

Detailed Answer:
Hi mam,
Welcome to ask a doctor service,

I have gone through your query in detail and can certainly understand your concern towards your symptoms.

As you were on drug amphetamine which is a cerebral stimulant which could cause sleep disturbances.

This could be the reason for sleep problems, so I can advise only one drug for ADHD, as you were already on strattera, which could be titrated to the adequate dose .

You can taper adderall gradually and stop to reduce jitteriness and sleep disturbances.

You can start anti anxiety drugs like benzodiazepines, preferably clonazepam.

Hope this information would help you.

Looking back for any other concerns.
Thank you.

Note: For further guidance on mental health, Click here.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Prasad