Joe White's Blog Life, .NET, and cats

Approaching withdrawal #Life #ooo pretty

It's been a little over a month since I was diagnosed with ADD. Today was my first appointment with a psychiatrist to talk about treatment options.

I picked a doctor who specializes in adult ADD, and it showed — he walked me through a fairly extensive set of questions, never once referring to any notes. We covered a lot of ground, and when were done, he agreed with the existing, informal diagnosis: yes, I definitely have ADD, and no, there's nothing else seriously wrong with me psychiatrically (though he was intrigued by my participation in NaNoWriMo).

Today I picked up the first of two drugs he's going to try me on, both stimulant-based. (There's a class of non-stimulant drugs, and he asked me which type I'd like to try; but he said that the non-stimulants take around six weeks to kick in, and he doesn't usually use them on new patients.) For the next two weeks, I'll be taking Ritalin, starting with a lower dose and gradually working my way up, trying to see what works.

The downside is, since it's a stimulant, I need to avoid mixing it with other stimulants. Meaning, I need to stop drinking caffeine. Ouch.