Stigma symptoms and conditions

My side effects: Humiliation and Anger.
I take the generic form of Ritalin. I started taking it in 5th grade. Then decided that I was too embarrassed to have to go to the nurse to take my meds at school and stopped. I had a C average and teachers constantly complained of my lack of attention all through my elementary, middle and high school years. My parents allowed me to choose for myself whether I wanted to be medicated or not and I thank them for that. Wanting to ready myself for college and real life I again began taking Ritalin my senior year of High School and achieved my first ever straight A report card. At that time I had a conservative doctor who seemed convinced all I wanted Ritalin for was for recreational use, she was not an ADD specialist and only prescribed it to me after insisting I try various other drugs including Prozac! Eventually she gave in and prescribed it for me since I had been diagnosed by a specialist in the past. She was not happy to help me and I was always made to feel extremely untrustworthy and insignificant by her. Needless to say once I graduated college and got a job with my own health insurance I got my own doctor and haven't had a problem with any of my doctors since her. However, the stigma of taking this drug and the shame which comes with it is something I have never been able to escape. Regardless, I have been taking it ever since my senior year of high school at the same dose. 15mg in the am and 15mg at noon. I am 31 now and the only side effects I have had is a feeling of anger anytime people who don't know what it is like to have ADD voice their "expert" opinion or insinuate that it doesn't exist. I also get frustrated with people who like to say "Oh I am so ADD" after they do something dumb. I am humiliated by these types of people and afraid to let anyone know or see me take my medicine to this day. I understand that the same treatment for every person is never the correct treatment and some people may have negative physical side effects from this drug. For this reason everyone should be treated as an individual and a diagnoses of ADD should not be handed out by anyone but a specialist over a long period of study. My teachers and doctors began taking notice of my problems in Kindergarten and I was sent to many doctors and psychologists before they finally came to a diagnosis in 5th grade. It isn't easy to walk around with your head in the clouds only hearing the random insults tossed your way in moments of painful clarity when your inattention has drawn so much attention. It is equally painful to walk around knowing that in order to perform at the level at which you are expected to you must take a drug so stigmatized that you choke on the bitter pill every time you have to lie and tell some one it is just Claritin, when you would much rather tell the world that what you are really allergic to is their intolerance and insensitivity.

well Sunday afternoon here, and very very hot,everybody is napping in the air conditioning,As i watch my son nap on the couch,i cant help but wonder what these three years did,when i ask him how different he feels ,he explains it as not being trapped in his thoughts.He will be 15 by the time school is back in session,he is kinda nervous kinda scared about returning to school,he had been out of school and home tutored for 2 years due to his anxiety and panic,but that is getting better now although some days i see in his eyes that a touch may be hiding, but i push him and say ok to the mall we go or to putt putt, .I know i can push him now and he will be ok.That in its self is a wonderful thing,i knew before if i pushed he would break.I worry about his return to school and the stigma that might surround him, you know kids can be cruel, well he forever be known as the kid that was in the psych hospital.As i ponder i wonder when did it all go so wrong,when was it ever ok to murder and torture children in this way,and some how call it the cost of doing business.Somebody needs to man up,speak out and care what has happened .Merck is not knocking my door asking if they can help bring back some of the innocence lost.the doctors seem to want to ignore the fact it even happened,barly taking the time to even ask.Not surprising really as they properly don't even know his name.As the weeks go by and the healing continues,I ask can i ever forgive,the answer is no as it was not me victimized but my child ,your child,precious children,in the name of doing business.

I have a 15 yr old son, that has been on Singulair for 4 years. He used to complain to me about not being able to sleep through the night, he couldn't concentrate at school. He was an honor roll student. Then he became short tempered. He also isolated himself, and no motivation. He would not want to do anything. He was depressed. Does not want to shower or anything. He has absolutely no self worth. He would talk about having these problems and I would just say to him that maybe it was just the changes going on. New school, changes to his body, it's just those times where changes and expectations are harder. Some handle it better than others. Than everything just continued to go down hill. My son is very intelligent, so when mom did not listen, he decided to self medicate. Went online to try find out what was going on. Tried to find what would help him. He learned quite alot about pharmacology(spelling???) at any rate he then started experimenting with other drugs. Prescriptions drugs. He just wanted desperately to be happy. I found out about this. He was getting into trouble at school, grades fell. So we then sought counceling and then a psychiatrist. They put him on all kinds of meds. Prozac, Ridilin anti pshychotic drugs. You name it my son has probably done it. Now my son is an addict. I now hear all these things about Singulair don't know what to think.??????? I have had him a drug treatment program of which he was kicked out for overdosing. Then, the hospital of which just put him on more drugs. I don't know what to do. He has asthma, when he does not take his Singulair the asthma really kicks in. I know this we are going to look for something else to treat his asthma. I need input. My thoughts are simple. I believe that it is possible that the problems my have started with Singulair but then my son took a step further. I think to try to survive. But in the mean time he is now an addict and I'm scared of whatever permanent damage that may have occured over the years. Are there any other parents out there, that think their teenager might be going through the same problems? If so PLEASE reply to this message.

My fifteen year old son—all star athlete, good student, always following the rules has been through hell and back with this too, and is still feeling the stigma. After being on Singulair about 6 months, he started hearing and seeing things. He woke the whole house up one night with a blood-curdling scream. We immediately sought help and i started investigating the side-effects of Singulair. Every doctor we spoke too, Primary care, Allergy specialist, and 2 psychiatrists, discounted my theory that the Singulair might be causing all this. He did express having depressed emotions and thoughts of suicide. This kid had no previous pre-existing conditions that would account for these symptoms. Thank god the Psychs ruled out schizophrenia, which was what we were all afraid of, including my very intuitive son. I NOW FEEL LIKE I HAVE TO DO SOMETHING. This is so wrong. I tried to speak up about it and was swept under the rug many times. Please tell me if there are lucrative organizations i can report this too. My kids has been emotionally injured from this drug and it seems there are many more that have actually years from their childhood.

ANY BIRTH CONTROL (INCLUDING YASMIN) MAKES ME CRAZY!!! THANK GODDDD I had a friend who had the same thing happen to her, and she pretty much made me get off, b/c she knew how I started acting was b/c of my birth control. It almost ruined my new marriage...I would cry because of anything and it was SO NOT ME. I even started waking up with anxiety attacks. I was totally depressed all of a sudden, after a year of being on it. I got off of Yasmin and it was like some one turned ON the lights. I am totally back to normal,,now I cry b/c I am SO HAPPY! and looking back I really was crazy, and I couldn't have done anything about the way I was acting. I am SO happy now and my husband doesn't mind the "natural family planning" method b/c he has his normal confident wife back. I guess women do have a needy crybaby stigma.....they're all on birth control. If you're crying for no reason....EVERYDAY.....GET OFF BIRTH CONTROL!!!

Girls everywhere . I have one question and please you can reply in private or on here, whatever you like. Did any of the doctors that prescribed Yasmin to you ever give you a hormonal test? I have been going through really bad emotional mood swings for a white but did not have insurance so never really go myself checked out. So last month I went back to my home country and visited a gyno(where medicine is not so overpriced) who has been recommended to me by numerous people and he did a bunch of hormone tests on me concluded (by blood work) that I have a hormonal inbalance. Before the tests were done he obviously asked me a bunch of questions and I warned him that last time i had gone on a losely prescribed birth control(which is was suppose to be very low hormone dosage) I went practically nuts. After seeing my results and finding my inbalance he has prescribed Yasmin to me because apparently I have too much estrogen and other things I couldnt really understand because I am not a doctor but I think one of the things it does is to block some of these hormone from going to your brain. So My point after all this rambling is that ALL of our bodies are different and all birth controls are different and have different hormones which could drive a normal person insane with or without taking the pills SO my suggestion if you are having trouble with Yasmin is to get your hormone levels checked, Yasmin may be the devil to you but its probably because you dot need certain components that are in it or lack some. Get real tests done!

I have been taking 300 mg lithium for a few months. For some reason I never even considered it to be the reason that i feel terrible and throw up a few nights a week.

As for my weight, I lost 10 lbs when I started wellbutrin last december. So when i started the lithium i may or may not have lost a few more pounds. The scale has said about 111 the whole time, but everyone keeps telling me more and more how great I look as time goes by. Probably the lithium is causing me to lose water weight. Though I now carry a water bottle with me at all times!! Actually, I started to doing that with the wellbutrin and my cottonmouth has improved since the lithium. I use to wake up in the middle of the night over a nightmare about dying of dehydration because I was so thirsty.

I guess I am very lucky with regards to side effects of drugs. There are other bummers, like I dont drink anymore, and there is definitely a STIGMA attached to lithium. Even thought I technically have not been diagnosed as bi-polar. In all of 2005 I was extremely depressed and even jumped off a second story window and shattered my sholder. Then I went bankrupt. All I ever did was think about dead all the time.

I was so happy (and shocked) when Wellbutrin allowed me to stop thinking about death. Then we added lithium to keep me from crying all the time. Well my point is

1. Wellbutrin can counter the weight gaining effect of lithium (Or at least it did for me)

2. Does anyone else get sick at night all the time? How about HICCUPS?

3. I agree with the previous posting... I dont care if my family and friends think I am crazy or if I start to gain a lot of weight when I get a little older, I never, EVER want to be that sad ever again.

Best wishes to everyone reading this. I understand your pain. If anyone ever gives you a hard time such as because "others have it hard too", or "it's all in your head" tell them that I said for them to shove off. This is our only life, no one should have to be unhappy.

I know I wrote a lot. But hopefully at least one person finds this helpful. I use to spend hours on the computer trying to find answers. (The depression was so bad I couldn't leave the house to work.) I check ******weekly if anyone has any additional questions.