Back in high school when I was able to use my parent’s insurance, I was on Strattera. But the generic version is, like, six times more expensive than Ritalin, so I’m thinking about trying something new.
Ritalin, lowest dose.
I started with Ritalin in elementary school, went to Concerta during high school, and went back to Ritalin during and after college.
I thought I was supposed to feel the medication being active, so when my body would adjust to my current dosage after a few months and I stopped feeling it I thought I needed to have the dosage upped again a few times. At a certain point, when on Concerta, I noticed it was causing problems for me and dropped my dosage down and stopped entirely for a few years.
Taking low dose Ritalin with a meal in the morning is the way to go so it slowly activates through the day, this has been sufficient for a while now for me. As by doing it this way I was able to get through college and it now helps me excel in the workplace. I hope this helps!
Amphetamines all the way, for a good 25 years now. Started on dexedrine initially, now I’m on generic Adderall (amphetamine salts + dexedrine).
Time release messes with me so I just take the straight shit.
Anything else I’ve tried just makes me feel “medicated.” Amphetamines make me feel like a normal person.
In France we have methylphenidate, so we take that, I was taking Ritalin but they were out, so I tried medikinet and it works the same except it’s actually in stock 🤷 I wish I could try other stuff see if it works better :(
Doctor picked them, one by one until something worked.
Can’t believe I used to be afraid of “losing myself” or other shit like that and delayed getting help for 12 years after my initial self diagnosis.
I’m only just now starting the process and “losing myself” is my number one concern and also held me back. I haven’t started on any meds yet, but it’s the next step and I’m dreading it. Any advice?
Some meds may have side effects, many may not work at all. None will have any lasting effects so if you stop taking them, you’ll be right back where you are now. There’s really no reason not to try.
D-amphetamine salt combo. Stimulant.
Tried several meds beforehand, many just made me nauseated or straight-up didn’t work, so my doc prescribed me “generic adderall”.
Changed my entire life. No longer fucking stuff up (as much lol) or living in filth. I have a memory now. I have energy. I get out of bed now and don’t uncontrollably fall asleep sporadically throughout the day anymore. I have the courage to try new things. My anxiety is at all-time low.
I don’t have insurance and a months supply costs me around 35$ - 40$ with a goodRX coupon. I have a wonderful pharmacy that doesn’t treat me like a criminal, and I’m so thankful and happy.
Been on meds for 10+ years now!
Vyvanse, which now has a generic but can still be pricey, is a “pro-drug” that your body metabolizes and turns into dextroamphetamine.
I’ve found that dextroamphetamine worked much better for me than normal amphetamine salts. Adderall was very helpful for me and has a mix of the dextro and the normal, but 100% sec was better.
But furthermore, the vyvanse has a nice gradual onset and offset and allowed me to get a strong dose through the middle of the day without the crash of being super irritable that I’d get as adderall wore off.
I tried every damn one of them and then tried some of them again.
Adderall worked best of the meds I’d tried. Unfortunately it’s a massive pain in the ass to get
I tried Vyvanse for a while. It fixes my ADHD really good, but also I only sleep 2-5 hours a night. I did that for too long before moving to Adderall. It doesn’t work as well but my wife was about ready to stab me for keeping her up. Also that little sleep can’t be good for you.
On Vyvanse now (diagnosed recently in my late 30s), and I haven’t had any sleep issues.
Maybe they started you on too high a dose?
In any case, I’m glad you found something that works for you!
I think it’s just different body chemistry. I wish I could still take it because it’s way more effective than Adderall, but my body just doesn’t metabolize it out of my system fast enough.
Ah yeah, that’s certainly a real possibility. We just gotta do our best out here. Best of luck!
How much do you take?
I was prescribed 30mg and got moderate-strong constant headache after taking it for only two days.
Do you have similar experiences? Does the headache fade away with every “cycle”?
(I have the German equivalent “Elvanse”)
30mg for me. I never had any sort of headache or anything. The worst side effect I had was sweaty hands, which were really sweaty the first week. Even that has lessened significantly over the last couple of months.
You can give input but ultimately you don’t get to pick them…your prescriber picks them
Husband with a wife and three children. They are all on different medications. Two have the same doctor. They all started on something else. One went up on dosage. One burned through dosages until they hit a limit and we had to change. One takes one type of medicine. the other takes 3 in the morning, one in the afternoon, and one in the evening. Two of them we had to get genetic testing to understand what would work best.
I guess I say all that to say your prescriber and you have to work together and you need to listen to your body and your mind on what’s working. What is different when you take something? We had one drug that ended up making one of them have short term memory issues, another one had strange joint pain, all rare side effects.
Know that there are a lot of options but you do have to sometimes work through them.
Genetic testing? Never heard of that one before
It was to understand which medication might have lingering effects and which ones might metabolize too quickly. It was specifically focused on ADHD medication.
Genesight?
I had this done too, went through a company called Genesight, though mine covered all different categories of meds, not just ADHD. I got on a good medicine for anxiety, it works wonders. I highly recommend getting tested, it cuts down on the testing
Went through 5 different meds before finding one that worked, that’s how. Not a fun experience.
Mostly just talk to your doc, tell them your concerns about your current meds, all that jazz. They’ll generally set you on the right path.
Took the one stimulant that was approved for adults (there’s 2 now).
I’ll stop being unhelpful now.
I grow it, marijuana is the ultimate medicine
I also grow cannabis and it is sure as fuck not an effective treatment for ADHD.
That’s fucking ridiculous.
Where do you people get this shit?
Works for me
Dude, thats not even a stimulant. You’d be better of self-medicating with mountain dew.
Sounds like youve never tried
I didn’t. Was prescribed Concerta as a kid, but because I’m also autistic, it overstimulated me and made me whack, so I stopped. Honestly should have just had coffee, idk why there’s a stigma against giving caffeine to kids but not a drug that’s extremely similar to amphetamine or cocaine
Coffee can cause health problems in kids, specifically under the age of 12. There was a study a while back that suggested that giving caffeine to children can stunt their physical growth, but I think there were some issues with the study since ive never seen it cited anywhere.
It’s also a concern with methylphenidate and is actually checked when it’s given to children.
Apparently they didn’t check very well in the 2000’s when I was first given it as a kid
Tried whichever ones the head doctor prescribed, changed until I found one that didn’t have massive side effects. The first 2 completely eliminated my appetite.
Doctor picked it. Vyvanse.
I did adderall for a few years, then straterra but had a real bad time on that one, so I switched to vyvanse.
