i understand the sentiment and I appreciate the irony but medication is only as much a ‘cure’ for ADHD as ‘having no legs’ can be ‘cured’ by a wheelchair.
Reading the comments here makes me overly conscious about choosing my word carefully. Say “cure” instead of “medication” and there goes the point you wanted to make!
Lemmy is reddit 3.0. Early on, Reddit was basically only a website for tech nerds and misfits; atheism and jailbait were some of the most visited subreddits, idpol and divpol weren’t a make-or-break-your-family issue back then but there were still a ton of terminally online furries (yes if you’re a furry you’re weird, but weird is fine, let that freak flag fly.) I’m including myself in the group of outcasts and misfits, and my freak flag flies in weird ways too. I’ve been on Reddit since the default UI was like this, although it hadn’t changed much over the years before the redesign. Notice the quality of submissions though - it was a place for the intellectually curious.
But you have a large subset of users who use pedantry and grammar nazi`ism as a way to feel powerful when they’re powerless. It’s like picking on those lower than you, when you’re in the bottom of the pecking order.
Those people saw reddit go from their bastion of freedom to the corporate ad-haven it is today and all came here. You also have a lot of younger people with the time to kill and are just trying something new.
Huh? You don’t need to take it at the same time. It’ll just impact your sleep if you take it too late. If you have extended release you just have a smaller window of time. Having a structured routine is an important part of tx anyway
I’ve been on Adderall XR for over a year and I feel the effects within an hour or two and I’ve missed days and it only seems to make that day and maybe the next a bit worse, but not 2 weeks at all.
Which one are you on that does that? Ritalin? Vyvanse?
Strattera gave me stomach issues for 3 months straight and didn’t do shit for my ADHD symptoms. Finally went back to stims afterwards. At least with stims I either forget to eat or am disgusted by the thought of eating, but if I do eat, my stomach doesn’t feel terrible.
Yeah unfortunately it’s not right for everyone but for me personally it is like night and day with giving me back some executive function, working memory, and impulse control. Stims just made me hyperfocus on everything, including vices like social media, without any real motivation to devote that energy to whatever I was putting off. Especially if it wasn’t already right in front of me. I also had to be careful about tolerance cause I didn’t want to just chase a high but I wasn’t feeling productive at all once my body started to adjust to it. I tried to take weekends off but that just meant I wasn’t getting any chores done at home.
Theres only a couple bad side effects for me with strattera on the end of my second month in. The fatigue, which is honestly just a really intensely calm feeling that makes it hard to want to stay upright and awake, and I think that is actually getting better the longer I take it. The nausea when I take it on an empty stomach, though, really messes with my routine and eating habits since I really don’t like to eat first thing in the morning and that seems to be the most effective time to take it.
I’m just kicking myself for not giving non-stims a shot while I was still in college.
But I’m also doing so much better now and a 15mg Adderall xr does has been working great for 2 years now. I also found a job that follows my passions and I’ve been able to channel the hyper focus and drive to build and keep a schedule for work. The last step is to reintegrate my fitness hobby (cycling) back into my life and I’ll be back to where I was before some asshole manager from my previous job caused a mild panic attack in me and things broke down.
Stimulant medication isn’t a cure, you don’t have to take it every day, and it doesn’t matter when you take it as long as its far enough away from when you sleep.
I was medicated with an Adderall-like pills back in my college years and it was AWFUL. My peepee was flaccid for more than a year. Had to stop taking the medication for my well-being.
The limpness is one of the problems with those medications. First you lack libido. If you feel like rubbing one out, though, you won’t be able to get it hard. And IF you manage to get hard, at least a bit hard, you won’t be able to ejaculate.
It doesn’t make sense to take a pill that neuters you, and then go and take another pill to counter the effect. It’s like if you’re obese and have high blood pressure, and instead of exercising you take pills against it - you’re only fighting symptoms, not the root cause
Yeah…. But like, you get to choose to a degree what the root cause is, because there is always something more /root/.
Like all your health problems would be resolved by you not being alive anymore. Your DNA trying to be the basis of a living organisms just isn’t working out. Boom, solved. Oh, but you want to live… well I guess we could try a solution for a less root cause…
For me, adderall helps my adhd, but worsens my anxiety. I decided with my doc that I’d take anxiety meds with my adderall. But when we tried to add in a supplemental adhd med, Istarted getting recurring nightmares and having poor sleep. I could have taken a couple more pills to help w the nightmares and the general sleep… but that seemed like it was taking things too far, pills for pills for pills.
I will say, there are plenty of drugs and in plenty of dosages, you have to spend the time to find the right drug and amount, and timing.
And if you haven’t titrated before, you’dbe surprised how different a drug like Adderall can feel and work with as little as a 15% increase or decrease.
Dr Russell Barkley is incessant about taking the time to try different drugs and dosages to find what works best for you.
I found by accident (pharmacy randomly giving me slight variations in my prescription) that I’m much more receptive to Dextroamphetamine than amphetamine. Which is a thing for some people, but not one you’re likely really have a doctor help you identify.
Nonstimulant medication is also not a cure. There is no cure for ADHD. It’s like saying there’s a cure for schizophrenia (not comparing the two as issues). Some things don’t get cured, they just get the severity lessened.
The thing that needs to be cured is the dizzying array of forces aimed at crushing ADHD people to pieces, at least in the US (can’t speak for other places).
You ever look at the number of people in jail with ADHD? Society is trying to kill us off I don’t really think there is another sober read of the statistics.
In other words there is a cure for ADHD to a large extent but it doesn’t involve curing the person with ADHD.
It's tribalism. “If it looks like a person, but it behaves differently from me, then it's an outsider or a defect. Either way, it's bad for the tribe, so get rid of it.” Definitely one of humanity's darkest traits.
I think it goes beyond tribalism. It’s about a baseline of normality society has come up with in recent times. People with ADHD and autism weren’t treated as complete others before those diagnoses existed. They were considered eccentric, but not considered “different from the in-group.”
Stimulates are not as addictive for people suffering from ADHD because it physically effects us differently. If you have ADHD then you have issues with negatively skewed dopamine responses and stimulates help by inhibiting the reuptake of dopamine causing the dopamaturgic response to seem more powerful than what it is (because again I can’t stress this enough the dopamine response does not function correctly) (source)
Risking to repeat myself, but this is exactly why medical cannabis is a valid option.
The dopamine/reward processes in your brain are controlled by the inherint endocannabinoid-system. More and more evidence exist that many neurodivergent people (including adhd, autism and even schizophrenia) suffer a lack or imbalance to native endocannabinoids. I firmly believe the right mix (which should be the personalized for each person) can do almost Miracles to our well being, focus and ability to function.
While it is possible to find consistent weed of a certain cannabinoid profile, a real medicine would be a custom personalized mix after having your own endocannabinoid profile measured.
If your buying random strains from a friend i need to disappointed you, while it can alleviate some systems long term its probable not helping all that much and reinforcing a bad habit.
As a general rule, “medical” requires consistency, in both product and dose…. Which is also what the original post here is kinda about. We came full circle.
I mean I have my medical card on top of living in a place that it’s legal. There is plenty of anecdotal information that I hope one day matches the research. Because as much as I believe in the qualities of weed I also understand we don’t have the hard data yet. Is there some positive outcomes from research sure and some bad as well. All come to inconclusive. Unless you have data saying otherwise?
I’ve smoked for years and am mostly fine , my aunt smoked and it triggered her psychosis. Do we know it was the weed, not 100% but we don’t know otherwise as well.
Though the original comment was a flippant comment about me so, It’s still what I tell MYSELF.
If only I could use medical cannabis as an adjunct therapy. It helps me tremendously, but my license board won’t get on the same page as medical science. If I got prescribed, it would still put my license at risk :(
Maybe? A higher thc ratio helps me more and I’m not quite sure if mixing delta 8 and cbd would help me in my daily life. It’d probably be good to help me sleep, but that’s not really an issue of mine.
But I’m not sure, I just keep holding out for a time when it’s legal and I can try different blends/ratios that would actually help, without fear of trace amounts of thc popping up in a test. It becomes an anxiety issue because it’s tied to my career/livelihood, and kinda defeats a key aspect of how it helps. It’s all dumbshit in the end
1to1 thc/cbd is amazing for reducing the angst and pain.
Agreed 100%. That the concerns over federal legality is still an issue with employment. Thanks , in part, to the race war and the pharmaceutical lobby. (My opinion)
I enjoy a little higher thc to cbd ratio (personally) if I’m going to be up and about, but it entirely depends on what’s going on with me that day. Sometimes I need something more chill; and having the option is what I would absolutely love.
My current option is: whatever I can find, plus the underlying anxiety I get if I choose to indulge (because of job fear). And we are very much of the same opinion about why it’s still federally illegal
I’ve taken Adderall for over a decade now and am still able to stop taking it on a dime. I recently took a 3 month break (because I wasn’t working) and was able to instead, lean on my “trusty coping skills” that I learned as a kid.
I have a bit of an addictive personality (still need to quit smoking (again)), but Adderall isn’t an issue of addiction for me… just an issue of how much easier it is to function. But I’m ADHD, so I guess it checks out.
Appreciate the source! I never did fully look into it.
I really really wish I could… I can try as much as I want, but I really wish I had words for it. It’s complicated, and I truly wish there were a silver bullet, but I got lucky
I think “breathing” has become one of the most important things I’ve learned. Didn’t honestly realize “breathing” was such a big part of me dealing with things until I was already an adult (realized in my 30’s)
When I was little, I was prone to “tantrum throwing”; but I wasn’t “allowed” to do that (not just by fear of consequences, but it hurt my feelings afterward). While I was in a tantrum and wanted to break the world, people whom I loved were calm with me; trying to make me realize that it didn’t make a difference, no matter how much I raged… and it kinda broke me
I had to learn how to control my “rage” and my emotions. And I kinda think (now) that I learned how to do that by breathing through it; cause it didn’t matter if I threw a fit or not, the outcome was ultimately the same. The only person hurting was me, because of me… regardless of what set me off. My headaches, face-red, violent thought, shaking mad at the unfairness; it was all dependent on me and whether I chose to let it take over me or not.
And it turned out that (to me) “love” didn’t care how physically strong I wanted to be… how angry I could be. “Love” was patient with me and waited for me. “It” didn’t care how big I acted… it just waited. It pretty much broke me and my childhood tantrums/rage, and I started fostering patience… not easily, but steadily.
Instead of wanting to punch down a brick wall… I breathed through it. If you pissed me off… I paused, and breathed before responding. Breathing is about the best I got, but I try to choose that over losing control and hurting my own head.
Fast-forward to being an adult: I had learned a lot of emotional control. I still have that rage and I wish I didn’t; but I do my best to breathe through it. And spoiler alert: I don’t always win. I would LIKE to break that brick wall (cause I’m strong/mad/worthwhile/something to prove), but I’ll only hurt myself in the end and help no one else. It’s a lose-lose for me to lose control. So I breathe and try not to engage with my racing thoughts
But I did learn triggers. I hate looking for shit… I can’t stand it. I don’t want to waste 2 seconds of my life looking for my keys or wallet. I only have so much patience and my brain is already against me trying to focus. So my wallet and keys are in the same place EVERY time without fail. It they aren’t… I better start breathing while I search. I have to remember “patience” and “breathing” while I try to focus
I use earplugs when I’m overwhelmed by sounds and stimulus. Just 5 minutes of silence and (once again) breathing; and then I can usually resume my thoughts.
I finally allowed myself to ask my doctor for an anti-anxiety medication (klonopin for me) when I was 33. I didn’t want to be addicted or crutched, and wanted to be able to deal with it like I always did… but I really wish I would have asked for help sooner. I felt silly when I realized how much it helped. I felt silly when i realized how much Adderall helped. I didn’t want to “rely on a crutch”, because I had learned (over many years) how to rely on me. And I felt silly… dumb… ignorant… stupid for wasting so much energy fighting against my own damn head
I need my things (like my wallet, keys, toothbrush, hairtie, etc) to be in the same place EVERY TIME, so I don’t have to waste focus on finding them. If they get moved; I try to breath through it while I find them
If things get “noisy” and overwhelming, I pop in some earplugs for a few minutes; and I sit in silence and breath.
When I want to just POP!, because my brain doesn’t let me move forward and adjust… more breathing.
I lose things, as I’m finding/gathering other things; I get frustrated because I can’t hear or because I hear too much; I forget faces, names, thoughts, ideas, or sometimes blank completely; I get frustrated. I get angry because I’m frustrated. And it ain’t nobody’s fault how I feel or why I feel… it’s something I have to deal with as best I can. So I breathe through it the best I can
It sucks. It really fucking sucks sometimes. But it’s also ok. Sometimes it’s beautiful, and sometimes it’s awful; the way my brain works. But it’s mostly ok.
And I’m ok with that. I like me (enough). I just have to really remember and remind myself to breathe sometimes. It’s ok. I’m ok. Look at all these little good things happening all around me, all of the time. Let me try and be a part of that little bit of good. Inhale. Exhale. I’m ok
TL;DR - I use breathing exercises, routine, and mental gymnastics. It’ll all end up the same in the end, so I might as well try and enjoy the “good things” that feel more than superficial… for as long as I can. Cause fuck it; the only person it matters to is me, in the end. I guess it is what I make it
I say “addictive personality”, but it’s absolutely genetics (or highly genetically linked). It’s like being aware that your family has a history of cardiac issues… mine has a history of addiction. I should try and retrain my brain to say, “I have a family history of addiction”. But I appreciate the read!
Russell Barkley is a top researcher in the field (well, was, recently retired) who now makes videos on state of the art research on ADHD. He definitely has a few videos on stimulants.
Also, Adderall or other adhd meds may help your self control to stop smoking.
I appreciate the info, I’ma have to look him up and his research. I would like to try Vyvanse now that they have a generic version; see if it planes me out a little better. I did quit smoking for 2 years once, so I know I can do it again. It’s kind of a mental gymnastics thing lol
Not sure why your being downvoted because besides addiction that was 100% my experience. They ruined so much of my formative years.
I do acknowledge that they can work great for some people, but so does cannabis which improved my quality of life and emotional regulation directly rather then turning me into a docile mindless drone.
Maybe its just me but i see no conflict on how both cant be true. “Less likely” == “not”
I’ve known more then a few people with adhd who snorted their prescription ritalin and abused multiple other drugs on top of it.
I hated what it did to me to much to get addicted, my experience was definitely that they made me go insane, quit cold turkey the day after my last exam, it took a long time and alot of therapy to feel somewhat like myself again.
That doesn’t take away that some people are absolutely helped by such medicine and do not experience the same side effects.
Everyone is different and the same counts for how we respond to any given drug.
Oh yeah, to be clear not everyone with ADHD responds well to every stimulant, or stimulants in general. It’s even more complicated if you have a co-morbid condition such as bipolar type II. They can make bipolar symptoms worse, and trigger a manic episodes.
Maybe its just me but i see no conflict on how both cant be true. “Less likely” == “not”
Something that is important to keep in mind for such statements is that scientific research rarely speaks in absolute terms. It takes a lot for something to get to the point of scientific law. Gravity, for example, is still in scientific theory territory. In order for the scientific community to make the statement “people with ADHD cannot become addicted to stimulants”, neurobiology and neurochemistry would need to be better understood than the force that has been officially described in scientific literature for 350 years. If any possible avenue exists to cause addiction, the absolute statement would not be scientifically accurate.
Idk bro I have adhd and have taken stimulants for over 5 years now. These days I take less than when I started, and I sometimes take weeks off by accident. I’m more addicted to caffeine than dexedrine lol.
If you have ADHD and you drink coffee, there’s a good chance you are inadvertently doing the same thing as the medication. I don’t take medication for my ADHD anymore, I just drink a cup of coffee in the morning and then one in the evening, the caffeine calms me down and acts the same as if I took the medication. It’s weird that stimulants work that way but it’s cheaper then concerta
Idk if it’s definitive, but research actually suggests that caffeine does not (generally) having mitigating effects on ADHD symptoms. (Edit: after reviewing my source, this was only true for children, not for adults. Adults did show some correlation between caffeine intake and reduced symptoms)
Additionally, people with adhd aren’t more likely to drink coffee either…. But interestingly, those with ADHD who do drink coffee are more likely to “misuse” it.
Not saying it doesn’t work for you, everyone is different, but it’s just not generally supported by the science.
I’ve never actually looked into it, I’m just going off of my personal experience and most other people that I know with ADHD.
Maybe we are all outliers, I’ve never looked into actual research studies for it, but I definitely have a similar effect drinking coffee or anything with caffeine versus taking medication, and most of the time when I ask someone else about it they will say that they’ve experienced similar cases. It’s weird if science studies don’t show the same though
I believe the study used caffeine pills, so maybe there’s something special about coffee itself. Or, another possibility is that you feel like your symptoms are improved, but they aren’t actually. Or the study simply got it wrong for some reason.
Actually, just went back and reviewed the video talking about the study (youtu.be/-SLUyGlrfI0) and I misremembered. It shows some evidence that caffeine can help adults, though not children. And generally there isn’t enough research to say definitely that it does help adults.
Sure that works for me but last time I tried medicating w caffeine I ended downing monsters basically constantly I even js fell asleep a few times so its def not like I’m being sped up if u think the issue is js w nonster and not caffeine whenever I used coffee well shit idk how much I drank but atleast a few litres sized bottles a day with js good ole stimulants 1 pill thats me set for the day.
Sure that works for me, but last time I tried medicating with caffeine I ended downing monsters basically constantly. I even just fell asleep a few times so its definitely not like I’m being sped up. If u think the issue is just with monster and not caffeine, whenever I used coffee, well shit idk how much I drank but atleast a few litres sized bottles a day. With just good ole stimulants 1 pill has me set for the day.
Weird. It’s almost like they have value to society, but need to be responsibly prescribed by licensed physicians. No? You think they’re just always bad for all people…? Okay then…
I am addicted to my brain functioning normally and being able to accomplish things
It is terrible for me that I didn’t get diagnosed sooner.
It made me go crazy with how big of a difference it has made in my life. I went from sluggish trash goblin hissing at the light to a productive wood elf singing and creating great crafts.
And non-stimulants are so subtle that they’re not even worth the cost of a visit to the psychiatrist. I don’t understand why they exist when they do nothing for the forgetfulness nor the depression, the two biggest ailments I have that are caused by ADHD.
Ever tried psychedelic therapy? I’ve heard of good results with that for people resistant to all other options, when taken under direct supervision and guidance of an experienced therapist. Not a clue how much something like that would cost though.
I could never remember if I took my pills, so I bought one of those weekly pill organizers. I used it for a few weeks…But now I don’t feel like filling it up each week, so I just take them in the morning when I go to the bathroom… Then later on in the afternoon I wonder if I have taken my pills because I was on autopilot in the morning.
I am currently sitting on the edge of my bed, scrolling, and most definitely not starting the ritual of opening a half dozen pill bottles, divvying them up for the week, and then opening one more bottle and going through the hassle of cutting some in half to get the right/current dose.
One of these hours that will change. Probably when the bladder starts screaming.
Not really! because even if you’re on autopilot the next morning you’ll go into the bathroom and you’ll see all of the lids open, there’s no reason that you would have left those Lids open if you took your medication prior which means you haven’t taken your medication yet
So you just close the lids and only open that day then you take your med
I don’t! I also have a task reminder, and I sometimes still forget. I finally got every day one week in December. Then, 5 weeks later, I missed every day. It sucks!
Mate I’ve forgotten the concept of eating food, I’ve misplaced my phone that I was holding 30 seconds ago, I’ve not been able to recall every card in any of my magic the gathering decks from memory ever since I started playing about 10 years ago.
I’ve forgotten what I was talking about mid sentence because I had to get a sip of water. You can forget about anything with ADHD, just different people remember things differently. I can recall my partner’s favorite colors and hobbies, I can barely recall my own favorite media I saw.
Something that worked for me was to fill it when I think about it rather than at the end of the week when it’s empty, now I never seem to forget it outside of some bad weeks.
When I go to bed I put my pill bottle in one place. When I take the pill in the morning, I put it in a different place. I've considered buying one of those timer bottle caps. They fit generic pill bottles and have timer built into the top. You can look at the timer and see how long it's been since you opened the bottle last.
I bought a replacement pill bottle with a digital timer in the lid that resets when you open it so you can always see how long it’s been since you last took it- it’s been a huge help and managing my medication. It’s called the BudCapTimer or TimerCap. Here’s a link - a.co/d/iZJilMh
I can deal with calling to get a new prescription every month but all the other bullshit that comes with my medication being a controlled substance is what I fucking hate. Oh we are sorry but your prescription is out of stock because the DEA is worried about diversion… Oh and don’t call other pharmacies because you are shopping pharmacies and now we are going to flag you…
Also god forbid you might need to refill early if you’re going out of town or something. I knew they’d get weird about that so I just refilled it late when I got back and they made me piss in a cup for two months in a row. For refilling late because that could indicate I was selling it apparently??? I still get so upset remembering it. I can’t believe how they’re allowed to treat us sometimes.
I think that’s a sign you are selling because if you aren’t taking your medicine to sell it then it becomes a touch harder to remember when you are supposed to actually be out (which completely ignores how ADHD effects people)
Oh my God dude it’s such a pain! Also I can’t refill on day 30. I have to be completely out, but the pharmacies don’t open until 9. So if you need to be a work at 9, you get to pick between being late for work or nit taking medication. 🙃
I have to renew mine every 28 days… Because it’s so incredibly dangerous that they don’t trust the public with any longer prescriptions. I hate it but ahhh, the things I do for that juicy methylphenidate…
Fortunately they can write up 3 Rx and then send to the pharmacy every month until my next appt.
Of course my pharmacy can’t get the stuff due to the shortage so I have been without for 2wks now. It’s a process to have the Rx sent over to a different pharmacy. Easy for someone normal. But ADHD without meds? Yeah.
But with CVS at least, they won’t schedule out the fill, only place the second and third on hold on your profile. So you have to call and ask them to fill it 2/3 months , can’t do that part on the app either. So to have a continuous supply, you’ve got to do go doctors appointment, then pick up meds on first month (assuming no complications, there are always complications)… then the next two months you have to call like 28 days after your last pickup, ask them to fill, and pickup within 2/3 days.
What’s that? You can message through the app to refill all the other ones easily but not the magic one requires calls and in-person visits to remember and juggle? Cool cool cool.
Stratera actually isn’t a controlled substance since it’s not a stimulant (it’s an NRI), but my Ambien is, so I know the pain. It’s literally easier for me to get legal weed in multiple states around me than it is to get Ambien, which I’ve been taking for like 20 years.
Ritalin is the only medication I’ve taken for the last 15 years and I stg someone still fucking hassles me at least once every few months. Either it’s insurance, the doctor, or the pharmacy. Someone ALWAYS makes it a pain in the ass. It’s beyond absurd how many hoops I still jump through after over a decade of the same dose of the same medication.
Adderall here, and yeah it’s nuts how much I have to fight to get the shit I have been taking since I was 10? 12?, I dunno when it’s been a few decades
Pre-authorization gang! Doesn’t matter that I’m regularly prescribed by the same doctor for over 10 years… my insurance wants to double check once a year to make sure it’s still “medically necessary”. Like yeah, my ADHD might just fucking go away one day. I fucking wish it would ya assholes, but could we not hold my script for 3 extra days, every year, just to “make sure” I’m not cured‽
Aaaaand if your doctor gets a stick up their ass they can humiliate you with piss tests all they want and you can either endure it or go back into the unmedicated TV static 🥳
That’s terrible! Thankfully I’ve never had a Dr give me a hard time for ADHD meds. Is there any chance you could see a different Dr in your area? You don’t deserve to be treated like that.
Where? I get my prescription renewed every 90 days, but it has to be sent as 3 separate prescriptions, and you have to wait at least 28 days in between filling each one.
I’m in Idaho. I started on Adderall last year and it gets called in for a 90 day supply each time. My doctor told me that 90 was the max he could do for a controlled substances. The restriction on refilling mine is basically 2 - 3 days before the 90 days is up.
I do have to pick up every month in Texas. They send 3 separate prescriptions, and I pick up once per month and then see the Dr for a new script 3 months later. You can pick up 2 days early, but some pharmacies allow up to 4 days early iirc.
Haha. Pretty much. It’s not perfect though. For me it definitely helps with focusing, staying on task and getting things done but if I take it for too long in a row, I get quicker to anger and more anxious. But a lower dose doesn’t have any positive effects, so I’m stuck choosing which week I want to be efficient and which eeek I want to lean off and chill out more.
My problem isn’t really that it’s too low, but that I forget to prepare water and the 5 mg at my bed before sleep. So I should probably do it in the morning, with Medikinet in my system. Because once I take it, it does work very well, and I notice once it goes back down (as long as I actually do something requiring my concentration). Driving without and with is like night and day. And after noon, especially noticeable in exams, everything drops down.
Add comment