The lighter side of ADHD
ADHD is different for everyone so results will vary from person to person.
For me, it was a couple days before I had enough of a "base"
I didn't know how much of an effect it was having on me until I stopped for a couple weeks. It was more my wife that noticed...
I have noticed that my hyper fixation on ruminating has disappeared almost entirely and my sleep is better.
I'm not better at staying on task necessarily, but I'm better at getting back on task, starting tasks, prioritizing tasks, etc.
Oh yeah the sleep, not spending HOURS ruminating before falling asleep every damn night
Bear in mind it's sometimes difficult to know how we feel. 30mg is a good starter dose but most people take more than that. I settled on 40mg but 50 is also okay. I decided to take the lowest dose that would alleviate the symptoms and avoid most of the side effects. There are many different drugs - methylphenidate, amphetamine, methamphetamine, dexamphetamine, dextroamphetamine, etc. Give yourself time to get used to lisdexamfetamine but try something else if it's not effective.
Though starting with 30 mg of lisdexamfetamine is kinda intense. Unless you’re a properly massive individual, I’m amazed the doctor just went there straight away. You could’ve had really unpleasant cardiac side effects. Glad it doesn’t seem like you did.
I weight about 78kg (should stop eating when I'm bored fr) and thankfully I've yet to encounter any side effects.
I'm lowkey surprised because this drug only comes in 30, 50 and 17mg here.
it’s not like cocaine. The effect is supposed to be relatively subtle if it’s right for you.
Never experienced that but still useful information. I'll be watchful. Thanks for your reply. :)
My doctor did 10, 20, 30, 40, and I ended up going back to 30 to reduce the tachycardia. I weigh 74 kg.
Maybe we're just really different people. Or maybe my doctor is just really really careful
My wife was undiagnosed until she was 26. When she started on medication there was no immediate difference that she noticed. She had always been very good academically and did well in high school, uni and work so she was torn about whether she really even needed the meds given how well she got by. It became pretty clear over time as she started though that it really helped with preventing her becoming overwhelmed and helped her stay on task much better. Now she wonders just how well she could have done in high school and uni had she been diagnosed earlier.
All that said, ADHD is different for everyone so your mileage may vary. Give it a little time and follow the doctor's orders and see what works for you. We went through a few different medications before finding one that really hit the spot!
How were your first moments/days/weeks with medication? (I you don’t mind sharing).
I am twice your age so my life looks a lot different that yours does right now, but I was only diagnosed a year ago, so I will share anyways!
I was diagnosed by my GP, after discussions with my therapist so my titration on to drugs was not ideal. I am waiting on a referral for a psych, who I am hoping will help dial the meds in better. They are not doing as much as I think they could, but they are honestly a lifesaver.
Initially, I was given 5 mg dexamphetamine to try out. This drug behaves a lot differently than Lisdex, and I could feel it kicking in on my drive into work because I could feel the road rage melt away in real time, lol. It also wore off very quickly, and I started with lisdex shortly thereafter. The biggest change I noticed was that I wasn't crying every day. I don't think I was depressed, just distressed and it really helped with the emotional regulation. I still have my bad days, but they are far less frequent.
Other than that, I'm not sure I could really tell you what changed, because like many with ADHD I have awful metacognition. I sometimes forget to take them and I think I notice because I become unable to complete a task, I just jump between one thing to another and completely forget what I was doing. I think I also notice them wearing off in the evenings because I feel the same way there too.
ETA: I also lose my appetite, and it comes roaring back in the evenings so this is another way I can tell if I've forgotten to take them!
I am taking 40 mg right now. I feel extremely high strung but I feel that way if I take them or not so I no longer think it might be on the edge of too high a dose, which I did initially. In fact, I feel like it might not be working so well any more right now.
I would encourage you to try and take notes if at all possible. There are templates out there to make it a guided exercise. You could also ask those close to you if they notice a difference.
Good luck and it's amazing you are getting diagnosed in university! I think my biggest struggle with adult ADHD is that I don't know how to exist in the adult world in a healthy way, so learning and accepting my limitations (My whole body tenses when I write that) is extremely hard. I hope this helps your transition into the adult world as smooth as possible 💖
Good luck and it’s amazing you are getting diagnosed in university! I think my biggest struggle with adult ADHD is that I don’t know how to exist in the adult world in a healthy way, so learning and accepting my limitations (My whole body tenses when I write that) is extremely hard. I hope this helps your transition into the adult world as smooth as possible 💖
I hope to arrive in time to save my first semester of uni but it has at least give me more hope and will to continue trying. (Not just the medication but the whole diagnose and the posibility of things getting better).
I'm also worried about adult life, I don't feel anything near the definition of an adult... Idk, I just want to be a silly little goose a bit more, you know? I guess it's something I have to learn eventually.
But thank you for the post, I'm learning a ton and I can't say thanks enough. Let's all learn to live a healthy live. <3
I would encourage you to try and take notes if at all possible. There are templates out there to make it a guided exercise. You could also ask those close to you if they notice a difference.
I just started a journal with timestamps to record and keep track of things that might be interesting to tell to my psychiatrist. I also asked all my close family and half my friends to keep and eye on me. (The other half haven't been notified because they are my control group).
I don't know what you are studying so I can't promise this is true for you, but I did my first 2 years of uni "on time", took 2 years off to do internships, a semester off for a wee mental break down and then did my last 2 years over a 3 year period. I got the equivalent of a B- average. Overall pretty mediocre.
But I'm very externally successful despite the non linear path through school. Don't fret if you need to take some time off, it's not the end of the world 💖 I think what would have helped me a lot was understanding that I'm not actually bad at engineering, just very good at a very specific subset lol.
P.S. You can remain silly!
The thing is that I'm not feeling a single thing different in any way and I don't even what should I be expecting.
Well, expectation setting should have been a conversation with your doctor. But what I would recommend is to go over the diagnostic criteria and make a list of the ADHD symptoms that you struggle with the most. And then keep an eye out in the days to weeks ahead and figure out if and how those behaviors are different with the medication. Depending on the effects, you might work with your provider to tweak dosage, or to see whether other compounds work better in your specific case.
When it's a good fit, you won't really feel any different in the moment, you'll just notice after the fact that certain things were a lot easier, or you didn't struggle in the ways you usually do.
And please remember that medication is one piece of the puzzle, not a silver bullet. You still have to make good choices and build good habits, but medication should help you get out of your own way when trying to do those things.
How were your first moments/days/weeks with medication?
In my experience, since it's a prodrug, lisdexamfetamine is the least physically noticeable of the stimulants. I could not tell when it was kicking in or wearing off, compared to dextroamphetamine where it was only obvious when it was kicking in, and methylphenidate (MPH) where it was obvious on both sides. For me, task switching is a big challenge, and the "invisible wall" in front of "just doing" necessary things that aren't fun, is a lot easier to get past when I'm medicated. While lisdex and dextro gave me the executive function to do things without chaos, they also made it harder to break away from interesting things, which was counterproductive. I also found myself forgetting to eat to an unhealthy degree. I ended up settling on MPH because it gives me mental clarity without those downsides, and when it's obvious that the medication has worn off, it's much easier for me to avoid staying up late.
Another huge benefit for me personally is that I was self-medicating with extremely heavy caffeine use (300-400mg per day to be able to function, every day for years) and had physical anxiety symptoms (that I didn't recognize were because of the caffeine) that came along with that. After I was medicated I quit caffeine cold turkey. Now, instead of taking like four hours to fully wake up after my morning energy shot, I feel awake and alert at a normal level within like 45 minutes of taking my meds, I stay alert all day, and I physically feel so much better. For example, driving is way less stressful now, both because I feel more attentive to my surroundings and because I do not have that baseline anxiety that driving would ratchet up even more. (It was really fun to go out to breakfast with my family and realize I had a good reason to drink decaf!)
In general it is much more difficult to notice the absence of obstacles compared to noticing the presence of new ones. An eye-opening experience for me was about a month into being medicated, when I forgot to take it in the morning for the first time, and I got to experience the symptoms that had been missing coming back in full force that day. Brain fog and feeling like I couldn't think straight all day. Getting up and trying to do like four things at once and barely getting one of them done because I was going back and forth too much. Deciding I need to go run an errand and not being able to actually get up and do it until like 4 hours later. I've been unmedicated once or twice for a therapy session by now and my therapist has said it's VERY OBVIOUS due to how scatterbrained I am, lol.
Not on the same meds. But Vivance and to a a degree Ritalin give me the energy to do things.
Instead of walking past the thing and taking on yeah I'll do that later. I can just do it.
And I'm able to complete one task before starting another one. I find myself turning to a task and think nope, finish this one first.
Or Ive noticed I can even have for Sight to think do I really have time/need to do whatever my brain wants to do right now. No. Ive got to leave in 5mins.
Wow, that souns incredibly alien for me. You are able to restrain yourself instead of arriving late? Sounds like superpowers to me.
I'm happy to know it works for you. It also serves as a reminder that things can indeed get better with help.
Thanks for the reply. :)
My wife reacts really well to medication - however, it took some time until she found the proper dosage. If she takes 20mg, it's too little, and she just feels droopy. If she takes 30mg, it's too much and she feels anxious. So one 25mg pill in the morning and another pill after lunch works really well for her (Ritalin). There are other variables, like when she is really tired or she's on her period, too. What I want to say is that maybe 30mg is not right for you, try it out for a few days and discuss with your doctor, so if it didn't work, adjust the dosage or change to something else.
Yeah, I think the despair got the best of me this morning after seeing that nothing changed, but you're right, expecting things to just work out at first try is a bit delusional. Things might be not finished yet, but it's a step in the right direction. I'll see how things develop in the following weeks and then meet again with my psychiatrist.
Thanks for your response!
First time felt like euphoria, I was really dopamine starved and barely aware about anything in comparison to my present life. It took some time to find the right dosage where I felt a difference but still myself. Now im switching since there is a shortage in what I usually take and so im on a new medication, and I can really feel a difference in how its reacting with my body.
Any brand new type of input should be examined over time. Everyone reacts differently.
Trust your practitioner, and ask him to try different meds if you feel like its not working for you. It makes sense that it takes time to adapt to type and dosage.
You are supplementing a what would be normal function in your body with an exterior one, so take the time to understand what you need.
And I get the stress about uni. But I feel like taking the time to appreciate the right medication precedes it, as you need one thing working to pass: yourself!
Thanks for your reply!
Yeah... I should give it more time before jumping to conclusions or doing stupid stuff. I decided to keep a journal with timestamps to bring to my next meeting with my psychiatrist and for the time being I'm going to just be patient and observant.
And you're right. Uni is important but it's not the end of the world if I need to retake a bunch subjects. If anything I'm hopeful because now I might be eventually able to take on uni and get stuff done.
I don't always feel anything, but if I try to do work after taking the meds I can ...just work.
The only exception is when I'm already hyper focused on something other than work.
That's a downside I have not considered until now... Makes sense. I will try to be more observant with myself.
I started Adderall XR several months ago. My experience during the first week was that I was superhuman and could actually get things done. The first day I think I experienced the euphoria that I presume recreational users go for, but never since. After about a month it wasn’t doing much for me, psychiatrist adjusted the dosage, and it’s been decent ever since. Some days I can really feel it working, other days not so much. I mostly work from home (software dev) so I have a pretty strong control over my environment, but despite that I haven’t been able to figure out what might cause (or even influence) good days and bad days with stimulants. I would encourage you to keep meeting with your psychiatrist, there are like a dozen different medications and maybe this one just isn’t yours. Besides, you’ve arguably the hardest part by getting that first appointment. Best of luck!
Thanks for the response!
Yeah, my action plan is to give it time until I meet with my psychiatrist again. It is a bit anti-climatic, but I guess better to go from light to hard in terms of drugs… You're right, there are a ton of different options, and maybe I was a bit delusional expecting things to work at first try. While this might not be the end, at least is a step further and that makes me happy.
Btw: I'm studying CS from home too, and sometimes it's a titanic effort to get anything done; nonetheless, I also appreciate having the ability to control my environment as much as I like.
It can take time to find the right dose.
I even started with 5 mg only, and it felt great. Crashed after just 3 - 4 hours, and within the first week figured that 12 mg is right for now.
The individual differences can be enormous.
This guide to understand dosage finding is pretty good, but doctor's orders first: https://www.adxs.org/en/page/232/dosing-of-medication-for-adhd