Nurses with ADD/ADHD?

[Metron]

Hey all! I was wondering if there are any nurses with ADD/ADHD out there who want to comiserate and support each other? I know I need the help/advice. It might also be a place for "regular" people (I hate the word normal) to come and read and understand what its like for us. Or ask us ?'s.

I'll start with an intro:p I'm 29, and I've had an official diagnosis for less than 2 years, but have been trying to find the answer (for what's up with me) for MUCH longer than that:uhoh21: :) I currently work night shift at a drug rehab and on call at a nursing home. I have a lot of trouble in staff meetings - sitting through them, being treated like a brat because I actually show some emotion. I had much difficulty in school, (I didn't know back then), not with grades but with social stuff. I almost got kicked out of school because of the problems I was having.

But its not all bad. I'm funny and creative and often am able to connect with my patients in unique ways.

So we'll see how many of us there are out there?:)

[bcglc5]

Re: Nurses with ADD/ADHD?HELLOto all you ADDers! My story is so much like so many of all yours. I have been in the Nursing field for 20+ starting as an LPN and graduating with my ASN (barely) but yea me. 2 of the instructors pegged me as the one they would try to fail out or get me to quit. Fortunately after many years of being emotionally beaten up by nurses in the field, it is nearly impossible to get me to quit anything. :). Its not the nursing that is defeating it is the details, paperwork, and the tornado in my head around hour 8 of a 12 hour shift. I do not have The "H" part, so finding the right mix of meds has been difficult ( I was diagnosed while in school a few years ago when I was almost failed out of a class) I fall into a very small catagory of ADDers, female, and never able to find coping skills through the years. multiple almost fatal car accidents, failed marriage, shy, due to always having the wrong thing fall out of my mouth at the wrong time!!! Many lost wallets, I even remember on several occasions leaving something in the oven an leaving,,, I gave my neighbor a key, she has saved my house a couple of time!! Its bad. When I started medication I was like the sun coming through rain clouds after years of raining. BEAUTIFUL. But it did not fix everthing. I found working as a case manager for a small home health company was a good fit, but alas it got to busy for my mind to keep up with and I was let go. It was devistating, the people were like family to me. A crushing blow. Now I am just starting a job On a VERY busy ortho-med surg floor. I can turn over discharge and admit all six patients in one shift. I am drowning. I feel so stupid, the charge nurse asked me on the fly if a patient in a paticular room had gone home, I said yes only to realize that it was the wrong room I told them, only after the removed this patient from the computer system, meds and all, aughhhhhhhh! they think I am more and more incapable as each day goes on. I am smart, I love being a nurse, my patients love me, but that is where the love ends, as new grad, (2008) I need to put in at least 2 years on the floor in order to reach my long term goals. I need help advice how to pace myself, I am methodical (if i thing slower I am very accurate, but at such a high pace I cant remember to PEE somtimes!!!! I made my own cheatsheet, but I cant seem to get a rhythm that gets me through a 12 hr shift. any advice from those of you who feel people see you as stupid, and incompitent. 45 single mom, frustrated and wihout a support system. i am at the point I would rather quit than deal with the humiliation, the tears are ready to flow. Can ANYONE give me advice?

[HCSN09]

THIS THREAD HAS BEEN A GODSEND!

I have loved reading the responses here, so comforting to know that it CAN be done! someone mentioned a while ago "feeling like I work 3x as hard to do 1/2 as well" and that is truly how I feel and it is that experience that caused me to swallow my pride, get evaluated, get medicated. Adderall XR is what I take.

so heres my ?.

I'm starting to build a tolerance, and have been feeling recently that my dose is not working. yesterday in clinical I screwed up with documentation big time. I found myself back in familiar the boat of just not being as present as I can be when I am on the right dose. Over the course of 2 years, I am still taking the adderall but I feel like I'm not experiencing the benefit that i once did. Part of me wants to try to taper down so I can start over again. I am taking 30mg/d and for the first time have been using my whole script. I dont want to keep increasing my dose and im hitting a brick wall. i also have a boyfriend that gets upset with me for taking it, saying i'm "not myself" and that the whole disorder is totally mental because everyone has ADD. he's a psych major which makes him think he can make these incorrect and hurtful assumptions. even my parents get upset about the cost, they think im addicted or selling it to my friends, etc.

I dont want to rely on medication, but feel its my only option right now, as the coursework is not getting easier. I do not think my NP will give me a higher dose, and I hate living with this guilt for being COMPLIANT! i thought this was a good thing and now its just making me resent the medication, which is not the problem, it is part of the answer! sorry this is becoming a rant.

any input on dosing or changes would be much appreciated!

best of luck to you all! :loveya:

[HCSN09]

bluelou,

all i can say is hang in there. i am so sorry you are experiencing this. i've had an instructor like this and I found peace in knowing that just because she was burnt out, she was not going to chase me away. the way she is treating you is not fair or ethical. it is so hard when these details get the best of you, and it sometimes feel like the small details make us forget al of the great work we do every day, how we apply ourselves in so many ways and have to self regulate in ways that most people simply cannot relate to. you recognize that your mistake could have been disastrous, but you did not harm your patient and I am confident that in the future you will be more careful. these things really do happen to everyone, though it may not feel like it now. the worst thing you can do at this point is continue to doubt yourself. I know too well that it is way easier said than done. get good sleep. exercise when you can to get out some of the negative energy and clear your head. eat good food, call an old friend, and remember to be peaceful at heart.

hope this all works out for you :heartbeat

[Brookenicole84]

I was diagnosed in March 09. I am 25 years old in LPN school and planning to go back for my RN. I only had realized that I might have it when I was surfing the web (which is one of my favorite things to do) and came across some other s/s of it that are not your basic adhd test type questions and it hit me! Maybe that is it. My problem I have been struggling with my whole life but could never quite figure out why i was so different from others. Why I hated school and could never sit through a whole class without excusing myself to the bathroom. I went to my doctor who seemed sort of weary (for lack of a better word.. struggling with word retreival right about now :) ) about the whole thing but he decided to try me on Strattera. I have been on it for not quiet a year yet and I have noticed some differences. I am better at word retreival now and my memory has definatly improved. As for motivation I'm still lacking in that aspect of my life. I plan on going to a psychiatrist when i'm finished with school in march to decide if I would benefit more from a stimulant med. My doctor doesnt seem to want to prescribe me one. I do well in nursing school.. sometimes i wonder if the teachers are being nice or if i am actually smart! Hopefully RN school wont be a rude awakening for me :) The only thing i'm dreading is the time management and organizational part of nursing. I think I might struggle with that for a little. Any tips???? GOOD LUCK GUYS YOU ARE NOT ALONE!

[blondegenes]

I am in the same boat as you. I have ADHD and dyslexia. I have learned how to deal with my ADHD, and since becomming an RN 1 year ago, I have a routine I made for my self everynight at the start of my shift at 1900 and end of shift at 0730. Routine is good for us ADHD people. But when I am over tired and over worked, the routine goes out the window and I am like one of those KONG Dog toys that you throw and it bounces all over the room in every different direction even if I took my ritalin, I am still all over the place. Although my pt's rave about what a great nurse I am, and I always greet them with a smile, and I have that enthuastic attitude that they need. And if I have had the same pt's 2 or 3 nights in a row, the pt's always say, "wow, when I asked how much hsleep you got b/t shifts and you said well 4 hours if that, I knew you had to be exhausted but I could never tell from how well you do your job." I wish I could say, " I am physically exhausted, my eyes hurt, my body hurts but can't slow down b/c I am a spaz, my mind is on overdrive and you don't know this but I ust had to read your MD's orders over 5 times or so to make sure I got them right. I do triple chart checks, I want to go home and go to bed." I wish i could say that.

Being dyslexic on top of being ADHD is awful. GOD, when I was in nursing school my ADPIE's were all over the place, but I had a great Nuring Clinical Instructor sit me down and say you can do this, just write it all out on another paper, and re-arrange it to fit your ADPIE, you have all the information in your ADPIE's it's just reorganizing it in the right order. I confided in her I was dyslexic and ADHD, she said she could tell I was ADHD but I used it to my advantage in the pt. care setting.But when it comes to paper work, she said well this is why I want you to write it out on a seperate paper and re-organize it untill it looks right.

I did what she said and 3 years later even as an RN I still do it from time to time. and it always helps. She even gave me an easy way to write my pt. reports at start of shift for when I became an RN. I have ben an Rn for 1 year and I still use her way of taking report every night I work and it always makes my life 100 times easier.

But I can say when I am on my 3rd 13 hour sift in a row, my dyslexia gets the best of me. My first night, I an on the ball and super nurse, the second night I am a little more likely to see mising words, have to read med orders and check and re-check if orders were entered, I always check my meds and txs I do 3-4 times before I do them, being tired makes my dyslexia worse.. That 3rd night in a row, I chck and recheck, go over meds in the MAR multiple times, and check if there are any pending labs or tx's and to make sure they are correct.

I don't really get med. names mixed up. But if it's my 3 13 hour shift in a row and I have to hang Primacore, Natrecore or any other inotrope drips I always have the colleague guardian on the IV pump set and I have another nurse just double check ith me what the dosae it ect....

I don't tell them I have dyslexia, I just double and triplr check verything I do.

I hate being dyslexic. 7's look like L's, 3 can be a B or an 8. R,K and E's forget about it. Every other sentence moves while reading a paragraph. I skip words. When I was in NS I had a hard time with my dyslexia.

My fiance's mom, who is a learning specialst, gave me a test with different color seethrough slides you can place over a page in a book. She used 13 diffrernt color slides. She said what do you see on a regular text book page while usingone of my nursing books and made me read a paragraph out loud. I said every other line of the paragrah either dissapears or moves, while I read it normally. She began to place these diffrent color slides over the text book page. They ranged from red, to yellow to blue to a dark grey. She said tell me when it gets better. After 11 slides of all differnt colors, she placed a meduim dark gray slide over my text book page and it was as clear as day. No movement of the words, no missing sentenances. I was able to read an entire paragraph with out any problems. She said do you usually read in a dim lit room, I said yes.

She began to tell me that people with Dyslexia, when reading a book with white pages and black print, in a well lit room have the problems. She told me that it had to do with the light refractory from the book to the eye, and that people with Dyslexia need the white to be toned way down, hence the reason I like to read in a dim light room. So we turned the lights way up, she placed the grey slide over my text book page, and said can you read this page with the same slide as before but with the lights turned up, and she even made me go to a different room that had those awful folorscent over head lights and said with the dark grey side over your nursing text book page. In both rooms, with the lights well lit, how do the sentences look. I was astonished that just putting a dark grey seethrough slide over my text book page made a dramatic difference, while reading in a well lit room. No more backwards letters, no more, phantom sentenances, no more paragrph movement.

So I know how much it sucks being ADHD and dyslexic. It's a double whammy. And as an RN I have to CYA all the time. Only my best friend at work knows I am dyslexic, and the 2 of us are ADHD. She can tell when I am overtired b/c we drive to wkr together and I will read something and it cpmes out wrong.

I heard about this color transparency therapy for ADHD about a decade ago.

I was very skeptical at first, having dyslexia and ADHD, but surprised when a pink filter worked wonders for me!

Some things work better for some people than others, but it worked for me.

[addiss]

it was very encouraging to read your post. I have the same combo and I am a new nurse. I am working in a Med-Surge unit and it's very challenging. I have to stay super focus so I don't forget things (I get distracted easily and my attention span is getting worst). It's even harder because English is my second language and I feel my cognitive processes are super slow

[MaroonTX]

Hello I am new to the forum, and as a 20 something who was diagnosed with ADD in college I have faced many of the same issues. In my early school days (elementary-high school) I always felt like something was wrong with me because I could never sit through class without becoming extremely agitated and annoyed. I felt that teachers always went too slow and I could never focus on/remember what was being said as my mind was constantly wandering and thinking about a million things at once. Teachers always got mad at me for being a "chatter box" or not paying attention, but I found it too difficult to sit quietly and listen. I always made good grades, but completing the simplest of tasks would take me forever because I would get side tracked and want to move on to something else. I had heard about ADD before, and although I thought I might have it I never wanted to admit that I had a "problem". My fear of seeking help was worsened when I brought the subject up to my parents. They told me that I was being ridiculous, accused me of wanting "legal speed" and that I was probably just bored because I was "too smart" to have to pay attention. Once I started college, things only got worse. My grades were still good, but I could not sit through a lecture and eventually found myself deciding not to go to class because it was just too painful to sit through. I eventually decided to seek help, especially since now I could do so without my parents approval. I was very nervous about discussing my issues, because it was not something I was ever very open about, but luckily the doctor was very understanding and told me I was not dumb or weird for feeling the way I did. He determined that I did in fact have ADD, and started me on adderall. I was a little apprehensive about taking the prescription because of the stigma of the diagnosis and being prescribed amphetamines, but he assured me that he had seen wonderful results with medication and if at any time I felt that it was not a good fit to let him know and we could try other things. Needless to say it worked miracles! I could sit in class, pay attention, and read for more than 20 minutes at a time. My grades remained the same, but achieving success was not the painstaking challenge that it had been in the past. I made the mistake of telling others about my diagnosis when I was completing my first degree (nursing is my second). This led to constant harassment from my friends and others to sell my prescription during finals and resulted in ridicule and hatred from those "friends" when I refused to do so. I also had to deal with my peers questioning my diagnosis because of my good grades, and jokes about being a "crack head" for being prescribed amphetamines. They also made me feel like I was somehow taking the easy way out because when they illegally used the drug it was like "studying on steroids". I tried to explain that when I take my prescription, I don't have super human study powers, but instead I can study normally and stay focused on the task at hand. Before, I always studied alone because when I would group study, I could tell I was annoying with my constant need to get up or talk and distract others. When I was accepted to nursing school, I decided to hide my diagnosis in order to prevent similar occurrences and have a fresh start, but it often has left me feeling lonely. So many people misunderstand ADD. They seem to think that you have to be stupid or make bad grades to really have ADD. This led me to question my diagnosis, and my doctor reassured me that many people who have ADD are very intelligent and are able to compensate for it during their early school years because they can get by without properly concentrating. Having ADD has not been easy, and it is something I feel like I have to hide from my friends, peers and family. Now that I am about to begin my career as a nurse, I wonder if it is something to discuss or hide from my future employers and coworkers. Also, I have been asked to take UDA and I am afraid of testing positive for amphetamines. I know that you can prove you are legally prescribed, but I have heard/read several horror stories about results being reported regardless of having a prescription and the consequences of such events. Anyone who has any advice to offer on the subject would be greatly appreciated!

[blondegenes]

I detest people when they choose to ignore ADD or ADHD, simply because it is not an obvious disability to their eyes.

Such people wouldn't think of depriving a quadriplegic of a wheelchair, but they would deny people with ADD/ADHD meds and/or reasonable accommodations.

Such people wouldn't think of depriving an amputee of a job/employment, while they would deny people diagnosed with ADD/ADHD of gainful employment.

Unfortunately, many of those types are also administrators or supervisors. Before you decide to reveal your diagnosis to your place of employment, go to see a knowledgeable EEOC http://www.eeoc.gov/

Know what your rights are concerning having your diagnosis protected under HIPAA. If you are considering formally notifying your employer of your diagnosis/meds, you may also want to inform them of your own HIPAA protections. The last thing you want to happen is to have the word of your diagnosis put out to your fellow employees and have some small minded person start treating like you're a dummy, because of their own uninformed bias.

There is a sample letter that you can present to your employer, putting them on notice and making it possible for them to link up with reasonable accommodations.

Having said that, however, also know that you definitely risk your job,,may not get even the most simple reasonable accommodations you request, and may be fired or let go from your job (for some other bogus reason) simply because that's the real world.

It is a little known fact that amphetamines DO NOT have the "speed" affect for those with ADD or ADHD. If they do, you probably DON'T have ADD or ADHD, because those drugs have the effect of "leveling out" someone who has ADD or ADHD.

Different meds and behavior management/accommodations work for different people.

Stratera made me throw up. Ritalin is very difficult to obtain even as an adult with confirmed diagnoses, due to the number of drug abusers who illegally obtain the drug(s). If you're using a prescribed med, check with your EEOC officer to see if it's a good idea to let your employer know before or after you're UA'd, and weigh your options.

Most people who have ADD or ADHD have higher than average IQs and are able to hyperfocus on tasks that average people cannot.

Most people who have ADD or ADHD are also gifted. If you stimulate the gifted end (art, music, etc) with activities it will bring up the deficient end (learning disability, etc).

Another good test is having the person suspected with ADD or ADHD to write a paragraph before taking the meds, and having them write the same paragraph a few hours after taking the meds. If the diagnosis is appropriate, while under the influence of the meds, the handwriting samples will appear as though two completely different people wrote them. This was discovered at John Hopkins University where research was done on the effects of various meds on ADD and ADHD.

If average nurses thought nursing school & clinicals were difficult, walk a mile in my shoe!

I did it with dyslexia and ADHD and was 3rd in my class. I burnt the candle at both ends getting through nursing school.

[CodyRN]

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[CrabbyPatty]

Feel like I'm going crazy!!!

I was diagnosed ADHD in my early 20's, although i had the classic symptoms as a child (I was so impulsive that in 2nd grade I went to the bathroom and my teacher came looking for me after awhile to find me climbing over the tops of the stalls because I wanted to see how tall they were!)

Anyhow, I didn't start meds til I was in my early 30's when I had no choice but to stay focused to perform a high stress job to supporty myself & my 8 year old son (who was also diagnosed). I got remarried, quit my job & went full-time to nursing school. I struggled even with my meds. I was smart enough to test out of 6 of my pre-requisistes thank God because I might not have passed if I had to sit through boring lecture after lecture and take notes on and read about things I wasn't interested in. During one of those tests, the professor put me in a classroom full of students during a lecture!!!!! I was taking a test so important that it would allow me to test out of a class and he actually thought I could focus (could ANYONE focus) in a classroom full of students during a lecture???

Anyway, despite the ridiculous "accommodations" made by my college, I graduated with a 3.0 GPA despite the hell I went through to graduate.

I started nursing in ICU on nightshift. Lots of good reasons for an ADHD'er to work nightshift, especially as a new nurse - so much less distraction than days, no families around to constantly interrupt you, no tests that you personally have to take your patient off the floor for (unless there's an emergent MRI or something) - and I worked with nurses who knew way more than any of the docs, so I learned so much from them! I was ALWAYS busy on night shift, and sometimes overwhelmed because I was a new RN, but I never left late past my shift because I had to catch up on documentatiuon.

My problem with Nights was that it REALLY screwed up my sleep-wake cycle. If I worked 3-12 hour shifts in a row, I would literally sleep for 3 straight days, I'd eat cereal and go back to bed. I felt like I was drugged. this wasn't making my new hubby or my teenage son very happy.

It took me a year to finally get to transition over to dayshift. However, the only opening on days was a Per Diem slot and I had to float between ICU and telemetry. My biggest problem was the fact that I was STILL exhausted all the time; my circadian rythm was totally out of whack! After almost a year as per diem, a permanent PT slot opened up in ICU., I felt like I was home again.

Except that the exhaustion didint get better. I was also recently placed on antideprssants that I later found out can prevent REM sleep. I was still sleeping for days at a time, but never felt rested. My stimulants would get me started in the morning, but by 5pm I was a zombie. So unfocused, in such a fog! Came close to making some serious med errors, caught myself before they were administered, but came toooo darn close!. My Vyvanse dose was maxed out at 100mg (as per the doc).

I just kept getting more and more unfocused at work and felt like I was always running in circles not knowing what to do next (no way for an ICU nurse to perform).

Finally, after mutiptle MD recomendations, I had a sleep study. I took an Ambien CR beforehand (or else I would not have been able to sleep). The results showed no Sleep Apnea, thank god, but did show that I get No REM sleep and that I have PLMD (periodic limb movement disorder) where my legs jerked 684 times!!

OK, now the sleep doctor wants me to go off my antidepressants since most of them can suppress REM. They also want my psych doc to prescribe Nuvigil to me for excessive daytime sleepiness. Oh, and they want me to take Mirapex (which is an anti-parkinsons' med) for the PLMD.

Ok, so great. I wean off Lexapro & Concerta. I start Nuvigil 100mg in addition to my Adderall XR 100mg, and I now have the Mirapex 0.125mg to take at night with my Ambien CR. How's that worked for me, you say?

It's been around a month for all the meds to become aquainted. Some are gone, some are new. Now, do I feel 100% better??? NOOOOO I have always on my ADD brain had difficulty keeping up with the charting & might stay 45 minutes or so late to catch up.

Now, I'm focusing on the damn new online computer charting system that is totally redudent and fulll or errors. So much so that my patient's safety is being compromised!! I had a pt who came to ICU and within 30 mins his SBP was 62, at the same time I've got my manager yelling at me that I should NOT be far behind on my charting!!!! I thought I was going to lose it...Let's think here...what's the priority??? The patient of the PAPER!!!! My whole day and the day after were just a blur. Me trying to keep the patient alive & being pulled aside constantly by management so they could train me on this new documentation system! Oh, & just when it is getting really bad, someone from the bloodbank shows up with a unit of PRBC's for my patient and she tells me that she has to audit me during the whole process; this is while the man's 85 year old girlfriend is at the bedside asking me every 5 minutes "is he going to get better", "why is he in the ICU", "what are the doctor's plans", I'm hanging blood in one line and a pressor in the other!!!

Needless to say I cried all way home from work. I felt totally incompetent as a nurse. I got home @ 10pm that night & had to get up @5:30 to start it all over again. 2nd day was very similar to the 1st because of the patient's ever changing condition and all the new charting we had to do, along with taking care of my other very sick patient!

Went home defeated. Got into a fight with my hubby. He announces at dinner that he wants a divorce (with my son sitting right across the table)!

I make an appointment to see the psychiatrist whos been treating my depression / ADHD and now part of my sleep disorder. He's 15 minutes late getting me in to see him, I tell him the latest news with me, he tells me that he can't do anything more for my depression and I need to check myself into a psychiatric facility to get it resolved!!!! As he's saying this, I'm about to fall on the floor!!!! I told him perhaps the circumstances in my life at this moment might be worsening my depression (he took my antidepressants away almost 2 monts ago!) I said the my lack of sleep is only exacerbating my ADHD symptoms and I'm having too many near-misses at work. I said I'd like to get a medical leave from work until I can get my sleep problems under control. He asked me what more was being done about that and I told him I had an appointment with a neurologist the next day. He stood up and was basically shooing me out of his office as he handed me a refill for my Vyvanse!! Same dose as always, what's this going to do to help??? He asked me to bring up Klonopin with the neurologist to help me sleep and deal with depression.

Well, went to the neurologist who informs me that although my sleep study was done at the sleep center she works for that my dianosis given by another doctor there is totally wrong. She says I don't have Lack of REM, nor do I have PLMD. She explained them away and said it was probably because I was uncomfortable during the sleep study; I took an Ambien CR before the study and I never left the prone position, it wasn't like I was tossing & turning! She wants me to stop ALL meds and retrain my circadian rhythm.

Ok, I would love to retrain my circadian rhythm and I would LOVE to get off all the meds, but I DO honestly believe the sleep study report that shows I get no REM sleep & showed that my legs DID twitch 684 times!

In the meantime, I feel like I can no longer provide care to my patients in a timely & safe manner! I feel like I'm in a fog most days @ work and just can NOT concentrate or stay focused with ANYTHING. And having been reprimanded for the 1st time ever by my boss, in front of the entire unit, makes me think I need a breakl. Not to mention that EVERY time I drive home from work for the past couple of months, I honestly feel myself dozing off!

Effective today I requested FMLA for myself, on the basis of my sleep study results & the fact that it is still not resolved and when coupled with my ADHD, my ability to perform my nursing responsibilities in such a highly critical environment is impaired. There is no room for error in ICU nursing. I just need to get a doc to back me up!!!

I've got to find the right doc who knows what they're doing! Any ADHD sleep disorder docs out there??????

[TheNurseIsIn]

Hello Everyone,

Does anyone know for sure the Florida BON view on nurses who are prescribed and take Adderall XR as well as Straterra? I have been trying to get a clear cut answer on this for about a week. The Nurse Practice Act here is confusing.

I have heard it is ok to take them while working if they are prescribed to you. On the other hand, I have also heard yes you can take them if they are prescribed to you, but not while you are working. Well, now that does not make any sense because it is my best interest, the pts best interest, etc to take them when I am working,etc. If there is anytime I should take them it is when I am working.

In my view, I should be allowed to take these meds on a regular schedule as long as I am not impaired. I do not get a high from the Adderall XR. I have to take my meds. It makes me nervous and concerns me to be working without my Adderall XR and Straterra.

I am looking for a new job and I know drug screening will be required. If I take a drug test I know it will show positive for amphetamines. Will this be reported to the board? If so, how will they react?

I hope someone knows the real deal on this issue.

Thank you.

:)

[CrabbyPatty]

Hello Everyone,

Does anyone know for sure the Florida BON view on nurses who are prescribed and take Adderall XR as well as Straterra? I have been trying to get a clear cut answer on this for about a week. The Nurse Practice Act here is confusing.

I have heard it is ok to take them while working if they are prescribed to you. On the other hand, I have also heard yes you can take them if they are prescribed to you, but not while you are working. Well, now that does not make any sense because it is my best interest, the pts best interest, etc to take them when I am working,etc. If there is anytime I should take them it is when I am working.

In my view, I should be allowed to take these meds on a regular schedule as long as I am not impaired. I do not get a high from the Adderall XR. I have to take my meds. It makes me nervous and concerns me to be working without my Adderall XR and Straterra.

I am looking for a new job and I know drug screening will be required. If I take a drug test I know it will show positive for amphetamines. Will this be reported to the board? If so, how will they react?

I hope someone knows the real deal on this issue.

Thank you.

:)

Did you get an answer to your question? I would think the doctor who prescribed these meds to you could answer this question.

My son couldn't go into the Air Force Academy unless he was stimulant-free for a year because pilots are not allowed to take stimulant meds for ADHD, which is absurd! I suppose it's ok if you crash a plane because you're distracted.

Good luck to you, it's hard enough having ADHD, but there's no way I could work without taking my meds!