#ADHD Treatments

[walkawaytall]

I really wish there was more interest in how to handle ADHD other than just addressing the symptoms that affect the people around us.

Like, the best pharmaceutical treatment we have right now is stimulants, and I agree that being on stimulants 24 hours a day, 365 days a year is probably not good for your body. Hell, I’m on a less-than-ideal dose of my medication from a concentration perspective because the ideal dose had my resting heart rate sitting at a cool 115BPM. I know taking med holidays is important. I know all of this.

But because ADHD isn’t just an attention problem (or may not actually be an attention problem at all at its core), it sucks that the only time period medical professionals seem to be concerned about treating are the “important” times: the length of a school or workday. Forget the fact that ADHD affects executive function, forget the fact that people with ADHD often experience chronic and unending anxiety and/or depression as a result of the ADHD, forget that there are important times that have nothing to do with an 8-hour school or work day, forget the rejection sensitivity dysphoria, the sensory issues that make things like clothing, food, and group situations a nightmare to try to navigate, the household stuff that has to be taken care of outside of the 8-hour school or work day. It feels like none of that matters because it doesn’t affect a group of fifteen or more people.

On top of ADHD, I have been plagued with anxiety-related issues for the majority of my life. I likely have a form of OCD and I have a history with a restrictive eating disorder; both of those conditions are very closely associated with high levels of anxiety. I’ve been on anxiety medications before. I was first given an as-needed medication that took the edge off but also made everything feel a little fuzzy, like there was a pane of glass between me and the rest of the world; I was put on an SSRI that somehow made my OCD-related intrusive thoughts about 50x worse than usual and had me wondering at one point if I should be hospitalized; and I’m currently on buspirone, which is doing what it’s supposed to do without the side effects of the others thankfully. But nothing, and I mean nothing, has reduced my anxiety as much as my ADHD medication.

Two hours after my first stimulant dosage, I just suddenly didn’t feel on-edge any more. I estimate that being on ADHD medication has reduced my anxiety by about 70% (buspirone’s for the other 30%). I started taking it in the summer of 2020 and I remember, in 2021, when I saw my boss in person for the first time since lockdown, he remarked on how much more confident I seemed, how I was more likely to speak up in meetings, etc. And I was like…yeah, man, it’s a wonder what not feeling anxious every second of every day will do for someone.

ADHD affects so much more of my life than just attention and anxiety, too. I have sensory issues with mine, which is pretty common, and they make eating — an already sometimes-complicated task due to the ED history — difficult at times because, while I can eat foods that I don’t particularly like, if something is what I call “the bad texture”, I will gag no matter how hard I work to overcome it (believe me, I’ve tried). And my brain sometimes decides that foods that were previously fine are now “the bad texture” and they may or may not shift back to being okay eventually; I don’t know.

The sensory issues affect me socially. My therapist and I have recently come to the conclusion that I’m probably not actually an introvert, but if I’m around larger groups, that means noise and movement and probably being touched, and too much of that causes my brain to either freak out or shut down. I used to always say, “I love people, but when I’m done, I’m done.” And that was likely because the overstimulation was building and building in the background, and at a certain point, my brain would just be like, “We gotta get outta here.” I was Queen of Irish Goodbyes for a very long time because of this.

And the executive dysfunction affects…well..everything? Not just work, not just school (but also those because if my environment is chaotic, my brain feels chaotic, and it is difficult to maintain a non-chaotic environment if you keep getting stuck on order of operations when picking up a room).

I’m not saying that I want to be on longer-lasting stimulants or that I want to be on the higher dose that I know helps my concentration more, cardiovascular system by damned. What I’m saying is, I wish treatment research had been more holistic rather than just figuring out what would give teachers and managers an easier time despite what the person with ADHD might be dealing with as soon as their meds wear off.

Maybe current research is working on it; I don’t know. I just know that, the older I get, the more frustrated I am with my brain and the more apparent the deficiencies I used to be able to counteract with pre-chronic-illness energy and crushing perfectionism become, and I wish there was an answer to this that actually helped me most of the time rather than forcing me to pick which parts of my day/week is “important” and making sure I’m medicated for those parts.

[hyperfixationstation1]

Just read the Barriere Du Maine chapter

[butterfly-in-progress]

I cried over the dishes today

Happy tears, mind you

It's been about a month on this new ADHD medication. The stimulants weren't working out for me. One gave me heart palpitations, the other I couldn't remember to take reliably.

But I've been on a new medication for a little over a month now, one that I take every day like my antidepressant. It's supposed to increase the precursor to dopamine, which ADHD people struggle to regulate. Like an antidepressant is supposed to give me the ability to make my own serotonin, this is supposed to just give me the ability to make my own dopamine.

It's a rainy day, I've been productive and pushing myself all week, I was going to take a rest day. But I still did the dishes, because the dishes needed doing.

And as I almost finished, I realized I felt satisfied. I felt good about it. I did the dishes.

For so long I thought the "good" feeling you got when finishing something was relief. Relief that it wasn't hanging over your head, the loss of shame that you felt for Not Doing the Thing. It was a passive sort of thing, the removal of an ongoing internal punishment rather than a reward.

It wasn't a high, it wasn't like I felt elated doing the dishes. I was just... satisfied. I was glad I had gotten that out of the way. It felt nice.

And I went to my mom, and I asked her, "is this how it feels for everyone?"

She held me, and we cried together, cried that I had missed out for so long, cried that I was buried in shame for so long thinking I was lazy and broken, cried for joy that things are looking up.

To think I spent my life without this basic neurotransmitter doing its job properly. It's like putting on glasses for the first time.

I wasn't faking. I wasn't lazy.

I'm. Not. Broken.

[fiddlepickdouglas]

When you finally have access to things like healthcare, therapy, and medication that helps you function and have made a to-do list that includes doing taxes and calling your insurance company and somehow none of it makes you anxious at all. What the HEEEEELLLLLLLL, HOW IS THIS NORMAL????

Where are the very slow tigers that are chasing me??

I'm. I'm not excited about anything on that list but I'm not not excited???? It's just things to do, that I gotta do, and I'm gonna do them because I can? I can!!

I'm making this a good luck post. May you get one big step closer to healing/recovering/getting the proper treatment and diagnoses for whatever is ailing you. Whether that's mental illness, chronic illness, disability, or simply a hardship you have to endure, may good things be on their way to you swiftly ❤️💕

[actuallyadhd]

hi…i recently discovered that there is a very high chance i have ADHD. after doing lots of research, i brought this up to my therapist, who also has ADHD. she had me do a screening, told me she’d noticed the signs awhile back & believes i have it; however, she is not authorized to give an actual diagnosis. later, i talked to my doctor about it to see if it would be worth seeking one & what my options were. she told me that to get a diagnosis i’d have to see a psychiatrist, which would take at least a year because of wait times. but she asked if, for the time being, i’d like to be prescribed a 7-day supply of 15 mg adderall to see if it helped. ive done an okay job managing symptoms throughout my life, but some of them have really taken a toll on me, especially emotional dysregulation, so i thought it was worth a shot.

but im on day 3 of the pills and i don’t feel any different. ive looked all over reddit & see people saying that it kicks in instantly, but i haven’t felt that at all.

is this normal? should i be concerned that’s something’s not working right? could this be a sign that i dont have ADHD? and in that case am i harming myself by taking this medication?

sorry to dump this here. im just extremely new to this & i dont know what i should be expecting.

Sent August 5, 2024

Okay, first of all, a medication trial is not a reliable diagnostic strategy. Different meds work for different people, and it can take time to find the right dose. So don't worry about that.

Not feeling any different isn't a sign that the medication isn't working. It's possible that things are different but you aren't noticing because the changes are subtle. It's also possible that the dose is wrong and you need a higher one or even a lower one. Or you need a different medication. In particular, if your biggest issue is emotional dysregulation, guanfacine (brand name Intuniv) can be very helpful for that.

I think it's worth getting on the wait list for the full assessment, but also talk to your doctor about trying something else in the meantime.

Followers, what are your experiences with medication just after diagnosis? Can you offer any advice here?

-J

[rudjedet]

Sure didn't have "methylphenidate is going to partly solve my anosmia" on my 2024 bingo card YET HERE WE ARE

[forcebookish]

had to stop taking the new adhd medication but the good news is i can drink coffee and iced tea again

[ineedfairypee]

Fml 🙃

Trying to study without meds feels like trying to build a house without mortar. It can work on a day when the weather's really good but even then it can all fall apart so easily, let alone if there's wind and rain!

I've studied med free before and I'm sure I can do it again but whether I'll achieve all that im capable of is another thing entirely!

Time to stock up on good diet and exercise and other compensatory strategies, take cover and hope for the best! 😩

[baejax-the-great]

Inspired by a bizarre argument I had on reddit,

I think the question comes down to whether the word "treatment" encompasses strategic behaviors for lessening negative outcomes that result from ADHD symptoms or if treatments are meant to alleviate the symptoms themselves.

[naamahdarling]

.

[sapphicautistic]

Having high motivation/desire (and need) to clean and organize, and having to instead lie around being bored because your stupid mitochondria are gorked, is the most annoying thing.

I could so eagerly spend days on end cleaning from wake to sleep rn but this annoying body is like :( but I'm gonna collapse :(

[blujayonthewing]

people on the internet every single day: I got diagnosed with adhd and I'm on meds and holy shit I feel like I'm a functional person for the very first time in my entire life, this is incredible, I'm crying

me: god maybe I should look into treatment

also people on the internet every single day: my adhd meds are backlogged again my prescription got held up I've had to make 15 phonecalls to doctors and pharmacies while unmedicated and I'm suffering and I'm dying

me: ..... or. maybe not

[doomreed]

So after 7+ years of misdiagnoses and undertreated/untreated symptoms, I finally know what's going on with my brain and have a treatment plan for it.

🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳

[alulapop]

New ADHD meds just came in let’s hope they help!

[caseyscraftycorner]

man, chronic fatigue is such a fucking scam. like, what do you MEAN other people don't randomly lose entire days to being so exhausted they can't keep their eyes open? what do you MEAN others don't have to constantly manage and budget their energy levels in order to shower??? you're telling me that how i feel every day when i wake up after 8-9 hours of sleep is how my friends feel when they come home from work after a long day??? are you kidding me???