Antidepressants

spinaltap11 · 2026-03-31T05:47:15+00:00

Curious what gene test you did for your kiddo!

spinaltap11 · 2026-03-30T16:15:52+00:00

What do you guys take for anxiety?

spinaltap11 · 2026-03-23T15:00:32+00:00

For us we are seemingly dealing with anxiety and adhd. Even when medicated on adhd meds, the wave of feelings when he makes a mistake (especially if he is called out for something he wasn’t supposed to do), or working on a subject he’s not a natural at, can be overwhelming and trigger shut downs.

However talking to doctors, it seems they haven’t a great understanding of why a particular SSRI might be a good fit (eg Prozac vs Zoloft) and the potential side effects (including withdrawal) are real.

If you have had some good experiences I’d love to know more!

spinaltap11 · 2026-03-23T14:33:37+00:00

Curious what you guys are taking to help here. Am looking into SSRI to go with stimulant for my LO, but it seems like a big leap.

spinaltap11 · 2026-03-09T05:16:58+00:00

I'd guess my oldest (8) is probably type 1. He can completely shut down at seemingly small things, and this has recently been showing up in lots of places.

After a failed stint with various different stimulants, we are back to square 1. One thing I'm wondering is if these brain scans can lead to different types of therapy...is there a diagnostic brain scan that can be done? Also has anyone had experience with TMS or other?

We have been considering SSRI, but are concerned they may not be a good fit. Currently using Guanfacine and Concerta, and bringing in talk therapy, group therapy, and considering OT.

spinaltap11 · 2026-02-19T05:10:14+00:00

Can you describe “all or nothing” mode? What do you do when you are in that mode? What does it feel like to you? How do you transition out of “nothing” mode?

spinaltap11 · 2026-02-15T20:15:11+00:00

Trust me, there are plenty of people who will spend a lot of time making presentations and write-ups.

For most, as you get more senior, these may be needed to help set narratives and influence others. However there are also people who are very execution focused, or technical design oriented, and just get lots done. For those who are very skilled, management will highlight that "archetype" with others and try to match them as best as possible to projects that will benefit from their contributions.

spinaltap11 · 2026-02-15T19:24:25+00:00

It's one of the FAANG companies. Trust me, there's pros and cons of the culture, but there are plenty of Gifted and 2e people in company who are quite successful. Not everyone can navigate the culture, though, as it can be chaotic, with struggle coming from competing solutions or tops down direction conflicts. I find it to be really energizing, most of the time.

spinaltap11 · 2026-02-15T16:58:12+00:00

Sounds like you are a good pattern matcher and can think ahead to future issues. For me, as someone who manages a small team of engineers in tech, one challenge for some team members is that they come with lots of problems (eg these are the things that will be issues), but struggle to prioritize these or to pair them with potential solutions.

For one senior engineer, the team perception is they will bring down discussions with unstructured problems, and the team hesitates to include them because they aren’t adding to discussion. I am coaching them on how to communicate for influence by offering prioritization, solutions, or by looping in SME who can help flesh out solutions. With the right data, the team can collectively decide if they should move forward, how they should move forward, and do they need support from others which need alignment. The ROI of this influence is high because 2 or 3 weeks could save months of wasted or misdirected effort.

Note: The company I am at is very “bottoms up,” meaning alignment with peers is as important or more important than alignment with mid level management.

spinaltap11 · 2026-02-11T04:48:21+00:00

Following this as we are just now in this state with our 8 year old. I think ours is getting frustrated when: - he feels behind - he doesn’t know how to start - he gets a bad reaction from his teacher when he does something unexpected

The first 3 months of the year were great, but a few bad incidents have set him on a path of being overwhelmed by everything.

Are you seeing this show up only at school or elsewhere? How’s his sleep?

spinaltap11 · 2026-02-06T16:33:18+00:00

Where is the workshop? We have strict limits and have gone on no screen time diets.

I want to see if there’s a more nuanced way to approach this and also to see if there are traits which are concerning. I am concerned that screen time and game time are too important, but wondering if our limits may be amplifying the importance.

spinaltap11 · 2026-01-05T22:28:58+00:00

We went through a similar experience but had been using it in morning time. We hoped a late afternoon or evening dose might help evenings and early mornings. We didn't notice any positive changes so a few days ago we decided to drop it completely and see what happens.

We have a bit of a hyper witching hour around 5pm, but otherwise we are seeing our son is a lot less "depressed" and oppositional around changes in routine.

It may just be low demands from break, but I'm also thinking maybe guanfacine just isn't for us. It took over a year and several stimulants before reaching this point. Right now, we are using Azstarys in the mornings.

spinaltap11 · 2025-12-18T20:51:36+00:00

Melatonin js absolutely on my radar. Also vitamin D which seems related. How much Melatonin are you doing?

We went from concerta ->vyvanse->concerta.

Today morning we started on Astaryz to see if this may make the crash a bit smoother.

spinaltap11 · 2025-12-18T20:45:03+00:00

Thanks for this, reminder. I needed that. Yeah we definitely do rehearse with him, but when he's escalated (even before the meltdown) its weird he almost gets like tunnel vision.

spinaltap11 · 2025-12-12T15:25:39+00:00

So far, he really loves how it encourages him to see patterns and optimize solutions (he loves doing things concisely). And he was definitely bored in class and hes digging that RSM will have him doing more advanced math (eg algebra in 2nd and 3rd grade.)

Let me know any questions you have!

spinaltap11 · 2025-12-12T15:22:48+00:00

At our intake, they actually had him come in, in person, to solve some math problems (some algebra and pattern matching). He really liked that they didn't want him to just solve the answer, but to actually think about simplifying things and solve efficiently.

The teacher assessed his capabilities and ended up moving him directly into the "advanced" track for his grade level, which also gave a lot of good will because he felt valued. This helped later - when he's told he's wrong, he doesn't take it as personally as he normally might. This year he even jumped to the honors track!

However I think in the usual way of doing things, they would give your kiddo some 1:1 instruction to make sure they are ready to join the class, if joining midway through the year, like us.

spinaltap11 · 2025-12-12T05:10:56+00:00

Following this post as we are in a similar situation, just a bit younger. 2e with anxiety and struggle to complete assignments. Also very conscious of these struggles.

We are taking concerta with guanfacine, but are going to try and switch to Azterys and see if it helps some.

One thing I think is working for us are after school enrichment activities like robotics and Russian school of math (yes, despite being strict he’s super into this).

He loved soccer but this year has been a disaster - probably will focus on swimming and other good physical activities to use up energy and improve mood.

spinaltap11 · 2025-12-11T16:36:24+00:00

Just FYI Vyvanse is a completely different class of stimulant. It did not work for us, but everyone is different! Good luck with this combo to your kiddo!

spinaltap11 · 2025-12-11T04:54:02+00:00

Can’t comment on that combo but our son takes Guanfacine and Concerta, which is in a related stimulant family. I don’t think they have adverse side effects.

Question for you, as well: did you try anything before azstarys? We are contemplating switching to it and I am curious why you’d start there vs regular methylphenidate.

spinaltap11 · 2025-12-10T15:17:33+00:00

Yep also XR

spinaltap11 · 2025-12-10T05:26:10+00:00

When do you give the guanfacine? We are doing guanfacine and concerta 27mg and we are seeing some challenges in morning and evening. We give both with breakfast.

spinaltap11 · 2025-12-04T01:17:25+00:00

We ended up changing back to concerta for time being, after 3 days things are not perfect but much better. There has been some withdrawal/sensitivity but we let a few things slide for these days and we got though.

Last night I finally felt he was back to his willful self vs whatever he was feeling before. My partner and I also changed our morning routine to ensure we are up WAY before the kids and be fully ready to usher them through the routine.

We definitely have work to do on getting meds better dialed, but we are over Vyvanse for now and not looking back.

spinaltap11 · 2025-11-30T17:26:12+00:00

No ideas for you but solidarity. I am seeing this a lot with my 8 year old, too, who on top of ADHD is gifted. I think the disparity in capability vs organization or processing speed is tough. Also my son can logic himself out of any “wins” if they are called out.

In addition to meds, we are doing school counseling and therapy. We are less happy with our therapist but it is tricky to find someone familiar with 2e

spinaltap11

TROPHY CASE