Fuck that other medication man. Your doctor must be a fucking idiot. He obviously doesn't know what he is doing. If I were you, I would hurry up and switch doctors perminantly before he fucks you up forever.

I already cancelled my follow-up with him and I don't plan on ever seeing him again. I don't need him to prescribe, since the psychiatrist can both diagnose and prescribe. I don't know why I didn't just go to a psychiatrist to begin with, it would have simplified this whole thing.

No one that messages up with drugs really thinks they're at risk. There's a spotlight bias that makes us think that we're above that sort of thing.

Well I'm not taking an abnormal dose. There are children who take 4-5x what I'm taking right now. I'm simply following the criteria that a doctor would. If I don't have high blood pressure or any other possible heart problems, there's no problem with the dose I'm taking. I could probably safely take a lot more than I'm taking.

So how hard was this to really get prescribed?

I'm sure if someone did enough reading about ADHD and figured out the key symptoms and signs, they could fake their way into getting diagnosed. However, most good psychiatrists will ask for the imput of friends/family/co-workers/supervisers/teachers/etc as well.

Ya, although it seems like a very common over diagnosed illness. Much like Asthma.

Straterra was actually the first medicine I was prescribed for ADD.

I started with Concerta and have taken it ever since. My doc is an idiot too though. He only has a 100 lb kid on 1 36mg a day. I know a kid who is doing 2 36 mg a day. I want to know if that would work better but high dosages have led to side effects for me. Oh well.

Why is it that people read something a little here and there on the internet and think they know more than doctors?

Well thats a no brainer. 15 year olds know everything of course.

What does ADHD stand for?

Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

There seems to be confusion as to the difference between ADD and ADHD, though. I'm considered ADHD, even though I have no signs of hyperactivity. I've got the inattentiveness of ADD/ADHD.

They just throw that hyperactivity part in there to lump in the kids that are naturally more energetic, and the parents can't handle it.

When I talk to people it seems like they all have ADD or something similar.

Agreed, agreed, agreed. Hyperactivity is probably an evolutionary disadvantage. I'm surprised it's so prevalent ...although high energy levels would be good.