Neurotoxicity and meds
CogMed Day Two
This CogMed computer stuff is so hard. I get so anxious that I am not “doing well” that I want to throw in the towel.
Huh? I am not the kind of person who gives up easily. Or am I? In the past, I have hung on far too long to lost causes, but give me two days of excruciating mental ping pong and I want to quit. It doesn’t make sense.
Except that CogMed pushes my weaknesses front and center so I have to notice them. Hmmm. The very same weaknesses I have been hiding from the world (and perhaps myself) are now “public.” The CogMed computers now know how nuanced my attention can be – here, not here. There, not there.
CogMed – Take 2
A few weeks ago, I plunked down more money (not quite as much, thankfully) and decided to give CogMed another try, especially in light of the buzz at CHADD this year that working memory is the key to ADHD problems and perhaps treatment.
I’ve always said that most of the advice given to ADHD folks is just the same old advice given to linear people. The only problem is that linear people can IMPLEMENT that advice. I actually heard a noted psychologist tell someone to “just DO it” – like we haven’t tried that already! But if CogMed can help my brain actually conform to those linear standards a little better, then it might be worth a shot.
Acupuncture for ADHD?
So I made an appointment for acupuncture. Just curious if
you have heard anything about that procedure…for ADD or for depression. I’m
not setting my hopes/expectations high…but I would be delighted if it helped.
YOUR truth about stimulants
Depression delights
It was actually a miracle/stroke of genius/blessing that I stopped taking my Adderall because it peeled back the covers to reveal a more basic issue that I probably wouldn’t have noticed otherwise. When Dr. Ware told me that depression actually causes cell death in the brain (which is repairable, thank goodness) I suddenly understood why I’ve been struggling with even basic tasks (but embarrassed to admit it).
Three weeks without Adderall
The truth about stimulants?
Does Ritalin make you smarter?
Stimulating everybody’s brain?
When I first tried stimulants they put me to sleep! It was the first thing that convinced me that I really had ADHD. I’d heard that people with ADHD have a “paradoxical response” to medication, so if I was sleepy after I took Dextrostat, I must have an ADD brain.