Me and ADHD

> Get diagnosed and get a low-dose of meds. It helps _a lot_. You will likely hate the feeling they give you for the first week (you will genuinely feel high even on 10mg Adderall XR), along with nightmares and night sweats but after a few weeks, you'll suddenly be productive at a very normal level.

I wonder if I could have persisted long enough with Adderall to find a theraputic effect if it had been during lockdown. 10mg of Adderall made me unsafe to drive to work (I would suddenly get the subjective sense that my car was completely still and instead all the parked cars on the side of the road were hurtling at me at 25 mph).

My doctor actually started me on a higher dose (15 or 20mg maybe?) because I needed such a high dose of Ritalin to get a theraputic effect (and at that high of a dose it greatly impacted my sleep). I took it exactly once and I didn't feel tired for 36 hours and was completely non-productive. For the first time I finally understood what all that clinical language describing the symptoms of a manic episode were all about.

Vyvanse did not feel nearly as bad subjectively, but my wife insisted I change meds because I was (in her words) "an asshole" while on it.

Finally settled in on 20-30mg of Focalin a day. The year of titrating the doses of each medication was hell. And then when we finally figured it out, my company switched insurers I had to change the pill sizes (not total quantity) to get it covered with the new insurance.

The one thing I'd like to add is that diet for me made a huge difference. I might as well not be taking the meds if I have a carb-heavy breakfast. Prior to taking the meds I had quit eating breakfast altogether because I felt like such crap around lunchtime if I ate breakfast. Obviously taking stimulants on an empty stomach is not a great idea, and my psychiatrist helped me out to go for a breakfast that doesn't provoke such a strong insulin response.

I got diagnosed with ADHD age 15. Methylphenidate gave me these zombie like spacing out symptoms. I later switched to Amphetamine and didn't feel the negative side effects of Methylphenidate.

Methylphenidate is the only authorized substance for ADHD treatment here in Germany. I had to pay for my Amphetamine treatment by myself. I had the impression that the pharmaceutical industry doesn't have an interest in getting an authorization for amphetamines as that substance can be produced by a local pharmacy on site. Even thou I can confirm that the side effects are much less with amphetamines.

Now age 35 I haven't taken any medications for ADHD for 8 or 9 years. It was good to help me with school and university but now I don't need to put myself into a position where medication could be helpful. Still wouldn't want to work in an open floor plan office. Not sure if that is an medical condition.

People who are sleep deprived will actually have many of the symptoms of ADHD; poor subjective sense of time, difficulty focusing, &c.

Yeah, without diving back into it myself right now, the health effects of caffeine are quite different depending on a single SNP. For fast metabolizers some doses of caffeine above 300mg/day can actually have net positive effects on cardiac health, while the opposite is true for slow metabolizers. I got into a habit of 400mg+ doses per day and the cumulative effect that had on sleep quality alone was a good reason to find an alternative.

I completely agree with your comments about looking for opportunities to use medication to bootstrap into better habits around exercise, mindfulness, and building better systems and habits.

> (swapping meds for a year)

Definitely feel you there. It's the worst part about psychiatric drugs and why I've bailed on almost everyone I've ever been on. It's that initial hump and having to struggle through ~two weeks of hell.

My partner has run the gamut so he constantly assured me it was normal and that I'd be fine.

>The one thing I'd like to add is that diet for me made a huge difference. I might as well not be taking the meds if I have a carb-heavy breakfast. Prior to taking the meds I had quit eating breakfast altogether because I felt like such crap around lunchtime if I ate breakfast. Obviously taking stimulants on an empty stomach is not a great idea, and my psychiatrist helped me out to go for a breakfast that doesn't provoke such a strong insulin response.

Diet is my next interest but haven't gotten tools perfected to track the variables that I think will be affected (productivity, happiness, energy and sleep).

I am vaguely on the train of diet affecting productivity but my daily lunch is a McDouble and large caffeine-free soda to sip on so... non-conclusive currently. I also skip breakfast because of the same reasons (too heavy + no good breakfast foods, even 30-in-30 always slows me down)

I have found that many 'healthy' foods make me feel sick or worsen productivity so I am tentatively sticking to my weird diet for now. I have suspicions I may have food allergies and that could be causing it.