More About dspecht
I didn't realize I had ADHD until I was 42 -- until then doctors had told me that adults didn't get ADHD. I've been on Ritalin, then Concerta, since then, and it reduces the amount that I space out when I'm listening to someone. I still have to drink a lot of coffee before meetings, otherwise I fall asleep.
Since about April 2010 I've been exercising 20 minutes a day, and I feel a lot better. I exercised before -- a 40 minute run or workout or a 2 hour walk a couple times a week. Since I started exercising every day I'm almost never depressed. I'm still on Zoloft, Concerta and Wellbutrin.
Before I started Ritalin I did badly in school (I'm intelligent, so I managed to get an MS, but my grades were mediocre). I did OK at work -- my performance was roughly in the bottom quarter of employees -- until I got fired when I was 35 and then got fired from a series of jobs over 2 years. I still get in trouble for making lots of mistakes and acting impulsively. I'm good at abstract work like computer programming, but I suck at detail work. Atypically for ADHD, I never procrastinate and am very impatient with people who do.
I've had bouts of depression since I was 23 years old, but only recognized it as such when I was 45 and getting into shouting matches with my 13 year old son. I've been on SSRIs ever since and they work pretty well, although I've had to switch several times. Since I've been on SSRIs our sex life has gotten much more adventurous, although until I switched to Zoloft it took me a minimum of 40 minutes to reach orgasm and sometimes I couldn't orgasm.
Don't know if it's related, but I have sleep apnea. I also have episodes of fatigue, as if I have flu or a cold, but without any runny nose or cough. They last a few days to 2 weeks. I have one or 2 a year, but before I got a CPAP for the apnea I had about 10 episodes a year lasting about 2 days.
I've been happily married for 20 wonderful years (and six years that were OK) and have a 21 year old son living at home. My wife has depression and if I don't remind her she'll forget to take her medication.
We've got 2 dogs and a cat.