I made a post on here a while ago saying how uncanny the posts were to describing me near perfectly. I struggled with this disorder for 30 years. Nerfing myself for 30 years. Not being the best husband to my wife for 6 years. Not the best father to my son for nearly 2 years. All without knowing it.
I have now been on 20mg XR Adderall for a little over 3 months - it has been absolutely life changing.
I’m more attentive. Things are much more easily committed to memory. Menial tasks no longer feel like a huge burden anymore. I can actually read a page in a book I’m interested in without completely forgetting what I’ve read by the end of the page. I’ve had a small, but annoying headache for years every single day - chalked it up to genetics as my mom has a disorder than can cause the same thing. The headaches are gone. I can only assume they were brought on by the stress.
Gang, if you’re at all considering you might have some form of ADD/ADHD, please go see your doctor. I had a thousand reasons why I didn’t want to/need to go beforehand, but I’m so very glad I finally did.
Sadly doesn’t help me. Works great for 2 days or so. My metabolism is too fast. Then I have to go off it on weekends and get headaches (never had headaches in my life otherwise)
Soo here’s to depression and drinking to manage it :D
…fuck I think I need to get diagnosed
The disease will literally do everything it can to convince you that it’s preferable not to make the effort. It’s extremely difficult to fight, but you can do it.
And simultaneously society doesn’t give two shits and does everything in it’s power to make getting help as hard as possible.
Definitely don’t tell Secretary Brainworm you’re neurodivergent
I think the issue is I’m high functioning. At least I’m able to get most of the things done that society requires of me. So I convince myself that I’m fine…. Maybe I’m falling for the disease lol
You literally just repeated back to me the challenges on your thought process that the disease is causing, that I described previously, using slightly different words. I get it. The struggle is real.
My comment: https://sh.itjust.works/comment/21232874
I had a friend who wasn’t sure whether to pursue a diagnosis, because he was already functioning well enough; he had tried some of my meds and found that they helped massively, but he felt weird about pursuing a diagnosis — he said it felt like it was like cheating.
I’ll tell you what I told him: if you have ADHD, it’s like you’re trying to run a race with a weight shackled to your ankle. It’s been there all your life, so it doesn’t particularly bother you as long as you’re able to compete well enough in the race. Winning isn’t necessary, as long as you can keep up well enough to be relevant.
The thing about races is that you’re not actually competing against other people, but against yourself. When we train, we compare our time to our previous times, and those affect which races we actually participate in. I’m not going to say that society’s expectations don’t matter, because they absolutely do (especially when we find ourselves struggling to keep up). However, if I saw someone with a weight shackled to them performing decently in a race, I would think “bloody hell, it’s impressive that they’re able to run with that weight holding them back. Imagine what they could do without it!”.
Training for a race isn’t about other people, and it’s not about our past times. It’s about striving for our potential, and pushing ourselves to find that. If you’re keeping up with what society requires of you now, then that just means that the extra capacity you might get by removing the weight is mostly for you. No matter what a person’s level of functioning is, everyone should have the ability to see what they are capable of when they are unhindered by circumstance. You deserve the opportunity to see what you’re capable of — not for society’s sake, but your own. If you’re the least bit curious about this, you should go for it, and see how it turns out. Even if you don’t end up taking medication, it can be a relief to be able to acknowledge the extra weight you’ve been dragging along.
That’s really helpful. That makes me think a few things
- I’m already behind on a bunch of things: eye doctor, dentist, and I think I might need PT. Adding another thing to the mix overwhelms me. On one hand, writing this sounds like ADHD. On the other hand, I know health insurance is designed to make you feel as overwhelmed as possible because of greed. So idk if I’m the problem
- I’m worried meds will affect my creativity. But I don’t really see any harm in trying, see how I feel, and reevaluating. So this isn’t a big deal to me
- To expand on point 1, it feels very frustrating to me that I need to be medicated to function in a society whose values are very backwards. There are things that I wanna do (e.g, read, be more present in conversation, etc) where I think meds would help. But there are many things where I feel society is squeezing me into a box. The meds just make me fit into the box nicely instead of questioning why the box is even necessary. Does that make sense?
Call your doctor asap and get your diagnosis. My experience was the same as OP’s.
My man! I try to spread this gospel to every person in here who expresses the sentiment of:
“This describes me perfectly. Maybe I have ADHD. I’m doing fine though, so the medication isn’t worth the effort of getting tested. How good could it really be? I’m doing fine after all.”
Your post is amazing, and I know exactly how you feel, and I’m thrilled at the positive change you have experienced!
What if it costs 1 grand to get tested? Still worth it?
If you have $1000, then ABSOLUTELY. If it means you go hungry, then of course not. Are you asking in regards to situations where someone doesn’t have insurance?
I am 19 and would rather save up for university but then again what’s the point of going to uni if I cant be productive? And no I won’t starve if I pay for it
I would say go for it if you’re able to. Productivity isn’t a binary, so you may well cope at university even if you don’t get assessed for ADHD. However, university is a path with many challenges for people with ADHD.
Many of my friends from university have ADHD, and amongst them are people who:
- bounced off of university completely and dropped out;
- went in with a diagnosis before they started;
- got through their degree with a diagnosis, but got one afterwards and wondered how different things could have been if they’d had it sooner
- did well at first, but burnt out, causing them to pause their degree and go back with a diagnosis and better support
- found their particular flavour of chaos meant they thrived in that environment in a way they didn’t at school, and they continued into postgraduate study
I know a couple people from that last category who didn’t have a diagnosis, so it certainly isn’t a necessary thing for being productive at university. It depends on the person, and it’s hard to predict in advance. Likewise, having a diagnosis doesn’t necessarily guarantee success. It can certainly help set you up as best as you can though.
In addition to things like medication, universities have loads of stuff they can do to support students with ADHD. I had extended library loans, without which I would have probably racked up loads of late fees. One friend was a productivity powerhouse, and didn’t feel it necessary to tell the university about her ADHD at first, but when bereavement caused her routines and structures to become more fragile, she found it useful to be able to use her ADHD to explain why the disruption had hit her especially hard, getting her more leniency with missed deadlines.
If you feel like you’re likely to get a diagnosis if you spring for the assessment, I think it’s worth going for if you’re able to, to help keep your options open and set you up better for success. Maybe you’d get by okay without a diagnosis, but if it were me, I’d always be wondering about whether I could have been better than okay.
The struggle is real. I described it as best I could. I think the overwhelming majority of sentiment in this thread support getting diagnosed and medicated. If you haven’t already, I would recommend reading all the comments. No one can make you do something you don’t want to do though.
Yeah I know, I’m just trying to decide for myself. It would be funny if I end up not having ADHD lol
I’m over 50 and have came to learn I have ADHD through Lemmy. Reading all the popular memes and stories I realized that is me.
If I was diagnosed earlier I’m sure my life would be much better. I’ve been procrastinating on being officially diagnosed (and medicated) due to… ADHD.
3 grand here (public health care refuses to cover it if you can keep a job)
Congrats. I had a similar experience, in that medication was life changing. It feels so great to find a medication that works, as well as validation about one’s experience. I am chronically depressed, but the medication helped so much that my mood was buoyed for months.
Apologies for the unsolicited advice, but I’m going to tell you what I wish someone had told me:
At some point in the future, your medicated experience will become your norm, and you’ll no longer feel the sharp contrast that you’re feeling now. You may find yourself sometimes struggling with tasks in a manner that reminds you of before you were medicated. When that happens, I want you to remember that although medication helps a ton, it’s not a cure. You will always have ADHD, and it’s not something that can be medicated away. It’s normal to experience “flare ups” of symptoms if you’re experiencing extenuating circumstances, like life stress. That can creep up on you because when we’re feeling capable, we tend to grow our lives to match our increased capacity. That’s a good thing, but it can cause us to feel like we’re doing worse than we are. It’s easier said than done, but be kind to yourself.
The point I’m making here isn’t “you might feel good now but you’re going to feel shit in the future”. Instead, I’m suggesting that whilst medication is necessary for many, we need more than that if we’re to thrive. I’ve learned so much by being in community with other ADHD folk — concrete strategies that have helped me to better understand myself and engage with a world that can be incompatible with how I work. Those steps don’t feel as life changing as medication was, but it’s incremental, so harder to notice.
Just try to remember how you’re feeling right now, and when you feel yourself struggling , use this to remind yourself that progress is always possible. Many ADHD folk have become used to thinking of themselves as broken, especially if they’re diagnosed as an adult. A diagnosis (and especially meds) can be so liberating because it challenges this idea. We do ourselves harm by trying to force ourselves into a mould that we can’t fit into, and I’ve seen a lot of people (including myself) slip into that pattern after getting medicated, because we feel like we’re fixed. You can’t be fixed, because you’re not broken.
I hope my comment doesn’t come across as too grim, because my intended sentiment is one of hope. Diagnosis can feel like an ending, with how it explains one’s past experiences, but in many ways, this is just the start of things. Medication can facilitate the kind of exploration and growth that would’ve been impossible before — opportunities to craft a life that fits you, and to be a part of the wider conversation where we ask “how the fuck do we reconcile ourselves with a world that often seems hostile to our existence?”. That’s an open question that will never have one neat answer, but we can work on it together.
TL;DR: I’m excited for you, and I’m glad to have you here with us. A diagnosis isn’t necessary to be valid or welcome here, but I know that it can feel hard to participate if you’re not sure whether you belong.
Oh I have no delusion that this is a permanent fix and I expect slip-ups, but the fact that I’ve even been given a glimpse of normalcy is just incredible.
Given that I dealt with it unmedicated for this long though, I’m not concerned about the bad days. Bring em on.
Awesome! I’m so glad you’re doing well!
CSB: I brought up ADHD when I was seeing my doctor. His response was, “Oh, here we go.” Fortunately got a referral to mental health services (where they told me I can’t take meds due to having a heart condition) but at least they listened and assured me that I’m not broken and useless. If your doc doesn’t want to listen, please keep trying, there’s someone out there who will.
I was upset I only got diagnosed as mild adhd. I know its worse but I automatically cover for it very well.
I have 110 unfinished projects to show for it.
It took me 40 years to realize that not all doctors are good at their jobs. In fact, many are terrible.
I have heard that there are non-amphetamine based ADHD meds from friends that weren’t allowed to take regular meds. Which might be easier to get a Dr to start with if brought up. They (the friends) said they didn’t like the non-stimulant ones as they felt weird. But you might be able to try to see if they work for you. My boss’s kids seem to have had luck with the non-stimulant versions. I might need to look into getting a small script for some whenever I finally am able to go to visit some friends in Japan. I have heard that it is hard to get approval to travel to a lot of countries with USA ADHD meds because amphetamines.
The only time I have traveled outside the USA after starting ADHD meds was Japan, but had the benefit of being in my early 20’s and more energy and not many years taking the meds. Now that I am in my late 30’s and been taking meds for so long, I already get a lot of anxiety if my refills might get delayed. I just feel so spaced out and no energy aside from small bursts. Kind of like just a permanent state of caffeine crash (even with energy/pre-workout drinks). Some of it might be due to my normal meds counteracting some of the effects of my anxiety/depression meds’ with regards to lower energy.
“Oh, here we go.”?! Fuck that wanker! Change doctor and file a complaint. I’m sorry you went through that and that you can’t take meds for it. There are natural things you can do. They’re not as effective, but they’re better than nothing in some cases. I can’t take them, as they exacerbated depression for me, but they’re out there.
Cheers mate! I was recently diagnosed and am currently figuring out an appropriate dosage with my therapist. Currently taking 27mg, it’s already a game changer. Might try 36mg and see how that goes, I’m a big dude. I’m not really sure what an appropriate amount of focus is since I’ve never really experienced about it.
I’m working and recently started going back to school. I have an A so far, which is rare for me. The therapist is out of network so it’s expensive (I’m in the US) but totally worth it.
Way to go, you deserve it, it’s hard to make a change like this. New meds are scary AF.
Off topic… But with today’s technology I don’t understand how people still have to take preset dosages. Like why can’t we titrate and find the perfect dose and the company sells that dose to us… The pill dose increments aren’t one size fits all…
That would mean each person gets a custom pill, right?
Also I’m not a psychologist but from a control theory perspective, there might not be an optimal dose? The optimum might be an interval of doses, and/or the optimum might change with time. And then the consequences of using a suboptimal, preset dose might be at least a good solution. We could probably quantify this mathematically…but stepping away from a control theory perspective: I live this experience so at least in my case, the preset dosages have worked fine.
This exists and is actually the way pharmacy used to work.
Long story short, economies of scale led to today’s system.
In the field of pharmacy, compounding (performed in compounding pharmacies) is preparation of custom medications to fit unique needs of patients that cannot be met with mass-produced formulations. This may be done, for example, to provide medication in a form easier for a given patient to ingest (e.g., liquid vs. tablet), or to avoid a non-active ingredient a patient is allergic to, or to provide an exact dose that isn’t otherwise available.
I immediately thought of compounding pharmacies.
We can’t be trusted with such responsibility for our own health. Every single one of us would immediately overdose.
/s
I would settle for it being seen as okay to vary your own dose. I’m on quite a high dose, and very much need it. But there are some situations (on holiday and just having a lazy poolside day) where I could take less. But despite being up with various doctors it doesn’t seem like an option to them.
Fortunately, I’ve ended up with some different doses because of the meds shortage (getting 2 packs of 20mg instead of 1 pack of 40mg) which let’s me do it myself, but seems crazy how little flexibility there is for a dose level that was entirely decided by me trying them and saying which one worked best.
Sadly, my blood pressure won’t allow me to take the XR anymore. I had the same benefits while I could though.
Definitely worth a try if you can.
I did start on non-XR but it was out of my system by 2:30ish if I took it first thing. My dad has high blood pressure so I’m hoping that won’t become an issue for me as well.
The ones without amphetamines might be a way to go? Evidently they’re more hit or miss.
Yeah… I’m starting on a non-stim now. I hope it works
I wish the meds worked for my wife. :-(
I’m a ADHD newbie but I know there’s a lot of different options for medications.
