2d ago

ADHD medication question for my Neurotypical homies

What does it feel like for you when you've used any ADHD medications? I have looked at a bunch of

posts but I feel like there are never good answers for this. I have heard that they can help NT people with focus and such, or that y'all build up a tolerance after a bit. And then I hear for people with ADHD, that the first couple of times you take the meds, or if the dose is too high, that you'll feel speedy/high.

I've been trialing meds with my psychiatrist for a while and I feel like I don't even know if I have ADHD because of all this conflicting info and how I feel on them. I know it can take a lot of trying different types and doses but I just doubt my diagnosis I guess.

TL;DR: What do stimulants feel like for you've taken them semi-regularly?

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I’m thinking maybe you got it backwards? I know that my NT friends who’ve tried stimulants (controlled substances or illegal drugs) before say that it gives them a high, like they’re very energetic and have euphoria. I’ve got ADHD and OCD and adderall makes me feel just kinda more normal. Normal+ if you will. Like I can fold laundry and text someone at the same time without feeling mentally exhausted.
Shout out to my therapist from long ago who told me, “You know, typically when people take cocaine they don’t want to sit down and read a book.”
- Shout out to my therapist from long ago who told me, “You know, typically when people take cocaine they don’t want to sit down and read a book.”
  lmaooooo they are real for that.
  I mean I know that stimulants are supposed to help with motivation/focus/mindfulness if you have ADHD, but I feel like I have read that once NT people get "used" to taking it or something that they can focus really well. Maybe it's more like they hyperfocus to the detriment of everything else while ND people can focus but shift when needed when on medication? Maybe that's where I've gotten confused. Because why else would a college kid want to take Adderall to study if it just makes them all gacked out and speedy?
  
  From my experience, taking high doses of ADHD meds (or taking them in the line format) will still make a person with ADHD “speedy.” However that speediness I still helpful for getting things done (maybe not done well though). I would never recommend getting to that state to study (retention likely very low) but I definitely got a handful of college lab reports done in that state.
  But also don’t forget lots of people are just looking for an easy fix for lacking understanding or work ethic. The difference for someone with ADHD is their work ethic isn’t a simple matter of discipline and the line between undisciplined and ADHD is often hard to spot.
  
  yeah, I really do NOT like the feeling of uppers so I try to avoid that. But that's the thing, I think it's super difficult for me to tell if the medication is working and is actually improving my motivation/focus/etc., I can tell when I'm overstimulated by it, but that feeling of clarity and all of that good stuff....I'm like, okay, is this actually working or am I just having a "good day", because my capacity for things oscillates so wildly it's hard to tell the difference
  
  Depending on your situation try a week or two off the meds just to see what it’s like. Personally when I was prescribed medication in high school it was because I was consistently falling asleep in class. As such I really thought that was the only value I got out of the meds ( I.e. I didn’t do homework because I thought it was dumb but I needed the meds to stay awake through classes).
  Once I got out of school I assumed I didn’t need the meds anymore and for the most part that was fine. I could just stand up during long meetings and I got my work done. It didn’t hurt that I was at a pretty small company and they never confronted me about reading lots of manga during the day (got through one piece that year).
  However, though the troubles of my relationship at the time, struggling at a new job, and trying to lead a more fulfilling life doing more than watching tv and playing overwatch most days, I realized that I was constantly fighting myself to do anything more than the basest recreation and life necessities.
  I only take 7.5mg of non-XR adderall a day but it makes a huge difference in being able to complete tasks at work and at home.
  It’s easy to skirt by with ADHD even in our capitalist-hellscape (I’ve rarely missed major deadlines through stress alone) but to survive the dystopia AND enjoy your life and excel, the medication has proved necessary.
  Idk about your psychiatrist but mine is basically a pill vending machine and if it was purely up to him I’d probably had a script for 30mg xr with a 5mg “booster.” My advice is try low doses if you want to avoid the amphetamine feels and once you’ve been on it for a couple months, take a few weeks off and see if you can notice a difference in your executive function.
  
  I did take quite a while off of the vyvanse and I just started it up again yesterday to see how it goes; I think I metabolize meds super quickly though because it feels like almost every time I take it at 7-8am I start to crash at around 1pm and it's supposed to last like 12-14 hours.
  I also feel you on the difficulties with recreation and relationships. I can work full time, barely, but that means I only see friends maybe once a month, I have no hobbies, and I will just fall asleep instead of feeding myself when I'm starving because I can't be bothered to cook because it's too overwhelming. I quit my job, and I kinda feel like this entire time I've been off any meds I've just been recovering from burnout so I still don't know what my average, non-burnt-out baseline is. I wish my psych was a vending machine, she will not prescribe Adderall to me and I would bet that 7.5 would be all I would need (I tried that dose once before as an XR). I definitely think I need to try to give it all a lot more time to work, though. After a couple weeks to a month I've gotten impatient with the stimulants and have switched up doses or types
  
  Hope you figure it out! Idk how old you are but I’m almost 30 and just now started feeling comfortable with cooking a few staple meals (plus a handful of minimal effort microwave/toaster oven/air fryer/rice cooker meals).
  I had a similar experience with XR pills which is why I don’t take them anymore. Now I have some form of caffeine in the afternoon and that seems to do a good job maintaining the adderall for a few more hours. Caffeine alone barely does anything for me.
  
  Thank you
  It's seriously such an accomplishment to be able to cook! I'm nearing my 40s which is horrifying, and it's just kinda been downhill for me in terms of executive function and motivation for a lonnnng time.

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