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!
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 have a stash because I tend to take on weekends or vacations unless I absolutely need it. I do this because I built up a tolerance at one point, and increasing the dose often left me gorked out.
For me, adderal just affects my focus, I don’t have any ntocible mood issues that adderal improved. CBT was a bigger help for mood and impulsiveness.
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. 🤷♂️
I finally asked my wife to find someone to discuss it with. Scheduling appointments is so difficult for me, let alone finding who I’m supposed to see, whether that’s a vet, a doctor, or a mechanic. I imagine you can Google (or duckduckgo) “Adhd doctor near me” or something
Anyway, I only take meds on the days that I need to be productive, but same story. On those days it feels like I snuck a cheat sheet into a test. The same kind of “this is just how most people live? You can just get shit done?”
My hobbies used to be collecting hobbies. CBT helped me realize that, and now I know when to pull back before I jump 10000% into a flavor of the month. I still get interested in things, but I give myself a 72-hour cooldown before purchasing anything new for a hobby. If I’m still interested after that, I dip my toes in. I more often than not realize it’s just a fixation and save myself a ton of time and money that I can put towards my long-term goals.
If you feel you might have adhd you would want to start with getting a diagnosis. Usually, through a psychiatrist. From there, they can work on a treatment plan.
So can I start with something a little milder or do I need to jump straight in to CBT? I guess I was expecting to ease into things with maybe some light spanking or candle wax.
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?
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.
I had negative side effects from the first few I tried, only the ER version of generic ritalin had no side effects. The non-extended version made me jittery and wore off too fast and some of the other newer meds had some really bad side effects.
All of mine were tried as an adult, but I heard that some medications have different effects for the same people in their youth and adulthood or even just over time so changing the prescription might be an option if you go back to an “in” period.
I might. I’ve tried a few of the extended release versions, but the primary effects would only last the normal 4-6 hrs, and then I’d experience solely the negative side-effects for the rest of the day. I prefer the quick acting ones because I like it clearing my system faster, even if it’s less convenient.
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 was off meds from 13-35, and… I don’t personally find them to be worth the hassle at this point.
They work, sort of, they help, sort of, but the side effects are rough at a dose that works, a dose without side effects does nothing, and I’m so used to making myself function without them that it’s not really worth it to me. They don’t give me motivation they just help me execute tasks, which… means a lot of times when I take them I’m just that much more focused on nonsense.
I have a back-stock of about 6 months (I stopped getting them filled about a year ago) and just take them when I have a specific thing I need to do for a specific day. With that use they work great.
I’d say it’s worth a shot, but also worth having realistic expectations. It might be life changing for you, or you might have an experience more like mine. Still useful, but not really a crutch.
I don’t find them to be worth the hassle
I feel the need to keep 6 months of back-stock “just in case.”
Edit: I legitimately don’t understand why this is being downvoted when I literally said in my first comment that it’s helpful in some situations, but not worth the hassle for daily use for me specifically. This is elaboration on that as the person I replied to misquoted me in a way that is fundamentally incorrect, and said “pick one” indicating I was being inconsistent, which they have since edited out.
I don’t “feel the need to keep them just in case”, I just have them from when I was getting the prescription filled but not taking them regularly, which was literally last year… I was taking them sporadically enough, because I didn’t find them particularly helpful for daily use, that I just stopped getting them filled due to having plenty for the way I use them, because again from 13-35 I wasn’t on anything. I do use them for when I want to get something specific done maybe once a month, they are prescribed for a reason, but only because I have them because I don’t feel the need to use them regularly…? Sort of circular, but that’s adhd for ya.
The hassle is going to the doc every month, getting a new prescription written, getting drug tested, remembering to take them, dealing with the sleep disruptions, etc. that’s not worth it for me for regular use, when I don’t find them to be all that helpful in everyday situations.
I don’t strictly need it because I’ve figured out ways to work with, rather than against, myself (I graduated with honors from university without meds, it just took longer), and certainly don’t want to take them daily, but for a one-off thing when I already have them? sure. Idk why you think that’s inconsistent…?
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.
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.
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.
Damnit I forgot to take my meds this am, gonna be a rough day
Must be nice. The only one that works for me is Vyvanse which is literally just cocaine, and the max dose of 70mg causes my heart rate to hit 120 while sitting down and doing nothing but watching YouTube for two hours.
My experience is the opposite. I used to take Adderall, and I fell that is too close to coke. I switched to Vyvanse about 6 months ago and I’ve been really liking it. It’s much more soft, less of a comedown.
I take 60mg.
Because I’ve been told by my pharmacy tech wife and my doctor that it is. Or close enough, anyway.
EDIT: It turns out my ignorance of chemistry is enough to get me downvoted. In any case, thank you to the kind souls that have educated me on the matter.
…tell them both to visit erowid or wikipedia, and look up cocaine and amphetamine separately. Then, look at vyvanse’s wikipedia page. That type of description is part of the reason why it’s tough for us ADHD folks to get access to our meds.
Well, as a pharmacist whose been stable on 50mg of vyvanse for more than 3 years, your wife and Doc are both incorrect…
Both are stimulants, yes, but
Vyvanse is an amphetamine and works to produce more neurotransmitters you don’t already have.
Cocaine is a reuptake inhibitor… thus preventing the breakdown of neurotransmitters you do already have.
While fundamentally they may look like they’re doing the same thing, they are in fact 2 totally different mechanisms. Furthermore, in neurotransmitter depletion the effects of cocaine will severely diminish, where as amphetamines will thrive.
But that’s a completely different molecule
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisdexamfetamine
Adderall is practically pharmaceutical street speed. That’s why I got interested that they found a new application for coke again, besides as a numbing agent.
