Productivity symptoms and conditions

I have had my Mirena for 23 months - placed 6 weeks postpartum. Like most, I too experienced the usual breakthrough and almost consistent bleeding/spotting for the first 6 months with cramping, headaches, and weight gain. What I have also experienced is an overwhelming sense of exhaustion that has not improved but gradually worsened.

Around 4 months PP I realized that something was off in my body. I did not have any energy, didn’t feel like myself, super emotional and no matter what I would try I could not gain motivation to accomplish the task of maintaining my house. I was struggling with a feeling of fogginess and cloudy thinking. I've experienced hair loss, increase in breakouts, dry and splotching skin.

During the first year I would have 1-2 good days in a week where I felt energized and I would be fooled into thinking that I was on my way back to the old me. I could accomplish things, rationalize clearly and deal with life. The rest of the week though would slowly slip back into a drained, over emotional foggy state. At 15 months into having my IUD in place, my days of productivity were dwindling further and further apart.

I have been blessed to have a husband that truly loves me. However, even still he has had a hard time comprehending what I have been dealing with and it has taken a toll on us. He will often say you are just not a happy person no matter what. I know that I am not unhappy with my life in general, my husband or kid and yet he is right. This thing robs you of your happiness and sense of self.

For the past 2 years I have said over and over again that I know something is wrong. I simply don’t feel right. I have been very aware of the changes within myself. I have struggled to be an active parent to my child and I have struggled with the most basic tasks. Things that use to take me 1-2 hours could stretch into days now. I was once this extremely productive individual that now barely is able to get the simplest of things done. I literally put all my effort into trying to accomplish things yet it barely makes a dent.

Until I started doing some reading, and I have found there thousands of women going through the same stuff I am, I really felt like I was going crazy. These symptoms are so subtle and similar that they most often get passed off as PPD, or dealing with the pains of motherhood and stress of life. Up until 2 weeks ago I couldn’t even verbalize the fact that no matter how much I slept, took vitamins, or exercised that I still felt tired all the time and was experiencing an inability to be productive.

My 12 year old son has been on 60 mg of Prednisone for two weeks now. His side effects have not been bad at all up to this point. He's gained about 6 pounds. His brain is unusually active right after taking the drug, and this effects lasts a few hours. He's always been a wildly creative kid but prednisone seems to intensify is creativity and the productivity of his brain. He has Tourette Syndrome and his tics waned overnight after beginning the meds so that is a big bonus if prednisone is responsible for that. He has always been an insomniac since he was a baby but prednisone makes him sleepy, so sleepy he takes naps during the day and goes to bed early, sleeping soundly all night, so soundly he had an accident and wet his bed last night. His head sweats when he sleeps. He has infrequent periods of mild irritability. His appetite has increased but not unnaturally so. Seems like he finally has a sustained healthy appetite. He goes to 45 mg for two weeks tomorrow so I'm interested to see what new side effects this brings on. No stomach problems despite taking this along with very high doses of antibiotic. Maybe the prevacid he takes with Lactobacillus is helping with that and the fact that he takes his meds with small meals or lots of fluid.

I am taking Adderall for the first time today, for ADD-like (inattentive rather than hyperactive) executive function symptoms resulting from a brain injury (frontal, especial left frontal, and temporal lobes) I sustained 8 years ago. I have had extremely bad problems with productivity ever since. I am a twentysomething female, 5'8" and 135lb and I took 10 MG an hour ago. I would say I am feeling unusually alert for this time in the morning, senses feeling more "awake," my heart rate a little elevated but not too abnormal, and also in a particular sense feeling calmer/less anxious than ordinary. I feel less compulsion to websurf, which is something I have a serious problem with. I'd say I am also finding it easier and smoother to compose this writing than I would ordinarily, I am hyper-literate and have a strong desire to write, but writing is usually like pulling teeth--very slow and very hard to organize my thoughts. I am starting to feel a buzz; I find a caffeine buzz very unpleasant and distracting, and caffeine doesn't seem to help my attentiveness and productivity all that much. But I am more alert and focused, and that part feels good. It is so tiresome and frustrating feeling "lazy," unfocused, foggy, and restless like I normally do. The buzz I am feeling is getting a little more intense and my heart rate also up a little more, I feel kind of tingly. I kind of don't like it and time will tell how much it bothers me after I am more used to it. I suspect that I may find it a reasonable trade-off to feeling focused. And again, in a particular sense I feel more peaceful than normal because I'm not having the stray thoughts and spacyness I normally do. That feels like a relief. I think I can see why people eat less on this drug, because of the heightened physiological state and the reduced feelings of boredom or restlessness that often drive people to eat. If I can use it to eat less sweets that could be good, but I will try to be careful to keep eating regular healthy meals. It's now an hour and a half since I took the pill and I think the effect is perhaps plateauing. My sinuses feel very clear and my mouth is perhaps a little dry. I was a little afraid to take this thing but the buzz feeling is probably not quite as bad as I feel after a 12 oz cup of black coffee and much less bad than a bad dose of nighttime cold medicine I had once, and with more benefit. I'm going to leave this posting at that and see what more I can get done today. Hopefully these observations help someone.

To the 15 year old wondering whether he/she should take Adderall, this is something you can/should ONLY decide together with a doctor. The doctor will be able to give you much better advice than anyone on the internet. Seriously. But if it puts your mind at ease any, you should know that underweight, unless it is extreme, is not in itself a serious health risk. If being underweight makes you self-conscious that is also a consideration, but a doctor can probably help you somewhat to manage your weight whether or not you take a stimulant.

I couldn't sleep for more than 3 hours but when I woke up, I still felt rested. My productivity at work increased by 200%