When starting these meds, Euphoria is a common side effect.
It can still make a huge difference in your life, but the euphoria isn't permanent.
I felt like the euphoria was from being able to focus and retain details about uninterrsting things for more tha a few minutes, and after a few weeks the novelty wore off.
That's why it's not prescribed willy nilly. If you can improve sustainably with coping mechanism, that's always healthier in the long term. It's always preferable to depend as least as possible on the meds.
Good to know.
There's also usually a ramp up period with a lot of medication. It takes time before it really starts working so there's a very real chance this is more of a placebo effect
Not with stimulants, one of the major benefits of them is that they work immediately.
It's funny to think that previous generations were medicating themselves too without admitting it. 1930s-70s amphetamines are all the rage until it's declared an epidemic from the incredible amount of usage.
Then hard pivot to cocaine use to replace the amphetamines, which ends up not being better (and maybe destroying some countries in the process)
And now here we are back to amphetamine usage and far surpassing the levels of the epidemic of the late 60s-70s.
So remember if your grandparents say they never had to medicate themselves back in the day just ask them how much powder they sniffed up their noses. Apparently everyone feels good with a bit of stimulation.
And I feel like some people lean on energy drinks to fill a similar function as well.
Oh absolutely. Humans love stimulants.
It's funny to the degree that our society runs on being amped up by one drug or another.
Also wild when it doesn't work on you and you feel left out of some drugged up rave that everyone else seems to be participating in but I really don't want it.
Grandma had coke in her soda.
Great grandma did. They changed the formula before my grandmothers were born, and I know I'm older than a fair portion of you, being 43
man your bones must be turning into dust. shouldn't you be chatting with your friends at the retirement home by now instead of being on lemmy, grandpa? smh geezers
They don't mean the Coke recipe, their grandma put cocaine in her Sprite
It's never too late for the people that had parents that said "my kid isn't crazy" and grew up unmedicated and without support. I was a giant fuckup until 35 when I went and got a diagnosis and support. Graduated top of my class at 38, bought a house, got married, and now working on my masters degree.
Although... my meds have been on back order for the past two months...
I waited until the last minute to get a refill (work has been hell, and the entire having to call in for renewals is so anti ADHD it's not even funny) and was off them for the weekend and today, not even funny how much more anxious and cranky I am right now, I do not have any energy to deal with peoples stuff today.
The first 5-7 days off meds are the worst. It gets better after a little bit, but I'm pretty worthless for the entire time and definitely irritable. Ride it out, it'll get better!
How... do you go about getting diagnoses as an adult? I am 38 years old and relatively well adjusted, I think?. Career, home, family, degrees. But I always just thought I was just, idk, wierd, but I have learned to occasionally point my hyperfixation in a constructive direction. It is always fixated somewhere, getting through school, my job, but whatever I am fixated on, it is the only thing that matters in the whole world. I graduated at the top of my class with a 4.0 and all the awards and accolades possible. I am a high level supervisor at my work, etc. Like, I am doing OK, but other times I will get distracted, and for a month my fixation will be a video game, or my fish tank and my work will suffer. Once I lose interest I would rather put my head through a fucking wall than deal with the details of something I no longer care about. Even if other people depend on me to finish something it is pulling teeth for me to finish it. All it gets is a superficial level of attention. None of the passion. My life is a series of rabbit holes and half finished projects. For me I am fine, but the people around me that get neglected when I am on to something else.... if I am focused on my job, it consumes me, every waking second I am either at work, talking about work, working on stuff for work, getting another certification for work, and I am terrified if I try to refocus to try to maintain some sort of work life balance I will lose any reasonable interest in work and everything I have done will be for nothing.
Writing it out I feel far less "adjusted" than I thought... my wife has pointed it out for years how it actually affects me, (and her, and the kids) more than I realize. Sometimes I get in the threads in this sub and I have a "Oh, shit..." moment where I realize so many of my own patters relate to the comments in here and wonder what life would be like if I actually took care of it. I was diagnosed when I was like 7 but it was never followed through with or treated. IDK. 🤷♂️
Although… my meds have been on back order for the past two months…
How does going off them affect you? I've always been hesitant to start medications for my issues because I worry what will happen if I lose my insurance or supply issues happen. It's getting to a point where I'm running out of coping strats that actually work though...
I'm finally taking meds for my ADHD and while I don't feel like I can control what I focus on, it does seem to help in my ability to suppress distracting thoughts, especially when around others. I still have to put myself in situations where distractions are less likely to happen in order to get stuff done, but it does feel easier.
So like everything else, not a silver bullet but it does help. However I skipped a day and felt like shit; is withdrawal a thing?
I used to stay up half the night during college so I wouldn't get distracted. To this day, I kond of prefer being up late when nobody else is around bcz it means I won't get distracted easily.
What meds, instant/extended release, and what dosage?
I'm on Adderall XR 15mg and after an initial "holy fuck" phase for a couple weeks it's tapered off into a nice rhythm. Shit isn't perfect, but I'm able to get up and get shit done. However, I also have the "I'm not hungry because of Adderall thing. And the thought of eating right now disgusts me.". Which helps with the ADHD snack binges I've struggled with. So I'll take that over the upset/queasy stomach feeling I had with a non-stimulant med I took for a few months a couple years back
If I wind up skipping a day I'm usually fine and don't feel any negative impacts. However, I also drink a shit ton of coffee (typically black) so that could be helping curb any withdraw sysmtpoms.
They help but the side effects sometimes suck. Sweats/chills, lower blood pressure, etc. Worth it for the clarity I get though.
My problem now is that I’m burnt out, which no drug is going to fix.
Edit: it raises blood pressure and lowers your urination pressure. I mixed them up.
ADHD meds are lowering your blood pressure?
Oops, no, it raises it. It lowers your pressure when peeing lol. I crossed the wires.
It’s Atomoxetine for context.
I have tried 4 or 5 meds for ADHD and nothing seems to work, or help at all :(
I've just been raw dogging it for my whole life
Let's see if Vyvanse is the magic bullet.
I ran out of Vyvanse three weeks back. It’s been months my rather low dose didn’t do its full effect anymore, I just didn’t go back to see my doc to get it adjusted. However, looking at how much of a disorganized mess I am these last couple of weeks, I guess it was still doing something - holy shit am I not getting much done, like, at all 😬
I used to be on ADHD stimulant meds up until I just tried living without them. Was on them as far back as I can remember, and then one day, I had no appetite, so I stopped and realized that the anxiety they gave me was hurting me more than I thought. Now, I'm on anxiety medication that sometimes makes it hard to focus, and I'm not entirely sure how to find that balance of being productive and not having panic attacks daily. Has anyone else experienced this?
Yes which is why I was switched over to the Strattera generic which isnt a stimulant. It helps but honestly therapy and exercise did most of the work.
That's kind of how I felt getting on some anti anxiety meds in my 40s. I have had "butterflies in my stomach" everyday since I was a kid, now they're pretty much gone.
I was 33 when I finally asked about a prescription; and I felt kinda dumb that I had been "just dealing with it" my whole life, when suddenly breathing had become much easier with ant-anxiety meds.
I guess I was worried about becoming addicted or would lose coping skills and become dependent on it in order to function. But nope. I was wasting so much mental energy before, just trying to wake up and feeling like the sun was screaming at me. I can taper down my dose when my anxiety is more controlled, sometimes I forget that I didn't take it. Sometimes I wake up and pretty much immediately take it.
It helped me to begin understanding my anxiety on a much different level than simply, "I'm just having a bad day". It was a game changer
I gotta get back on the dose again. Lost insurance when I aged out of my folk's. Took closer to a decade to get a proper job & earn it back. Of course, now I've had proper job over a year -- yet to make a single appointment because, well, still raw-dogging reality without meds.
Tomorrow's a dayyy awayyyyy 🎶
Been off them since childhood since back then I never felt a difference between me taking them and not. Been considering trying them nowadays tho, you all reccon its worth a shot?
It's worth finding a doctor that treats adult ADHD and see the effect that meds have on you.
I somehow had untreated ADHD, but still managed to get good grades. It was amazing when I started taking meds for ADHD. There have been advances in some of the meds that help lessen the side effects. Also as an adult, you may be able to better perceive the difference between unmedicated and medicated states.
The biggest hassle is finding someone that treats adult ADHD and is on your insurance. Tons of people around me treat child ADHD, but there's only a handful of people around that treat adult ADHD.
I did fine through high school because it was easy enough. Studying was hard so I never learned how, just did a good job of winging most things without thinking them through, and being good at eliminating obvious wrong answers meant multiple choice tests were a breeze.
College was.a massive struggle because it required making my own schedule and studying, which I could not do. Ended up being diagnosed in my 30s and medication is so helpful that I am miserable whenever it gets on backorder. It did take trying a few different meds before finding the one that worked without negative side effects.
If you feel like you have a handle on remembering important things and have behaviors that keep your kife running smoothly then medication may not improve anything. But if you feel, or someone you trust feels that medication might help it would be worth seeing a doctor to discuss.
I talked myself out of meds in 7th-8th grade. My grades weren't great after that. I'm on atomoxetine now and it's got me pretty well focused. I feel much more productive when I'm on it.
I frequently talk myself in and out of them. I'm currently in an "out" period for the past couple of years. I miss the clarity, but not the side effects.
Eli5. Isn't it just microdosing amphetamine?
Yeah, more or less. Stimulants tend to have a contradictory calming and/or focusing effect on the ADHD brain. I don’t remember why exactly but it probably has to do with dopamine regulation, which our brains crave like a zombie does brains.
My diagnosis kind of explained why I can drink inordinate amounts of coffee or energy drinks (don’t do this) and sleep like a log 30min later lol
my first dose of adhd meds was atomoxetine and instead of gaining clarity of mind all that happened was 56 hours of insomnia with gut wrenching nausea
The lighter side of ADHD
