I recently had to stop taking my vyvanse due to some bad side effects and holy shit I forgot how bad this was. I can’t do anything. I have so much shit I need to do but I sit down to do it and it genuinely fills me with dread. I am just staring at my computer. Even getting to the webpage I needed took hours of convincing. This is horrible, even caffeine isn’t helping. What do y’all do? How do you manage?
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Before i even knew i had it, caffeine. One cup of coffee and maybe a soda per day. No more or otherwise it’d make me tired. Its no replacement for meds but other things helped too like keeping notes, getting enough sleep, excerising, and one of the things i still do today, taking the frustration out of daily tasks.
If something bugs you a lot or stops you from being productive, find a way to make it easier or at least less annoying. Problem solve. Its one of my biggest drivers for dopamine hits and making your life easier by just getting rid of little annoyances makes it easier to function overall.
All that said, like others mentioned, I didn’t function well before meds. Honestly i feel like i got off easy but its not really helpful to compare your situation to others.
I hope anything from this post helps you out man.
Caffeine and THC. Go away with your prescription drugs!
THC unfortunately does not help with studying for my physics exam 🥲
CBD+caffeine
Worth a shot, cbd has helped in the past
Pair that, coffee, and regular physical activity ftw
Also, lots of water.
Marijuana
Normally I would agree but I am in college and have to do math 😔
Side note: too much caffeine can weaken bones.
What’s too much?
Under fifty, maybe 800+ mg daily. Over 50, maybe 200, depending on other risk factors. Oddly, it seems to affect the femoral shaft, and not notably others. Everyone should do a refresher on Rush factors, but especially AFAB, and small framed people.
Over 400 mg is bad for your heart.
It’s not great for the kidneys either, but I’m not sure the meds are great, either. Probably the best way is the slowest and requires more willpower: cut out refined sugars (that includes in breads, mayo and other stuff), switch from refined grains to whole, watch seed oils, increase Omega 3s, regular exercise, good sleep habits, etc. These things can be incorporated incrementally, but the sooner the better. Also meditation and therapy, the latter being cost prohibitive, for many.
Well, fuck. My joints are shit to begin with.
How do you mean?
The most normal movements can be painful for no apparent reason, my knees sometimes try to bend the wrong direction while I walk, sneezing too hard can make everything ache painfully for a good 30 minutes or more, etc.
I can move my calves up and down and feel my knees “scrape” together as they move.
Lovely family history of degenerative bone and muscle issues, as well as just plain ol pain.
Oh jeez, so sorry! Do you have any working diagnoses where you can search up anything? Regular osteoarthritis is helped by actually using the joints, so they produce more synovial fluids, but I didn’t know if it can help your condition.
In a sane nation, universal health would be a no brainer.
That would require my family to not be extremely tight-lipped about their medical history for no apparent reason. I know nothing beyond general descriptions and a few common names of conditions to watch put for (diabetes, heart, blood pressure, “endocrine issues”) despite explicitly asking for purposes of testing with a doctor. That and I haven’t been to a PCP since I was in high school (maybe longer). I’ll get there… eventually.
Oh, and im fat; not like, mobility scooter stereotype, but i could stand to lose a good 40-50 pounds. Legs and arms are actually fairly muscular, its all torso.
I can’t tell you anything you haven’t already heard. Buy the most healthy food you can afford, walk a little bit each day. I lost about 20 pounds in a month simply by switching from sweetened beverages to water, but that’s also because I drank sugar all day.
I feel you. My hands and wrist are the worst. Pretty sure it’s arthritis.
I just pass the time by. Sometimes working, sometimes internet.
I suppose I cope by having almost 40 years of coping mechanisms that I use to keep me mostly okay. I let my mind fugue in the morning when I wake up. I have a routine that I try to stick to. I have a job that allows me to hyper focus on problems and get the dopamine hit from solving those problems. I don’t have to interact with others for the most part to do my job. I spend a lot of time at home, use ear plugs, or headphones etc. if I can’t make my mind focus I try to do something else. I take breaks. I set alarms for just about everything. And reminders. So many reminders. I also have a very supportive partner. I’m sure there’s other stuff I had to learn to do to mask that I’m forgetting. But for the most part things just work because I put a lot of work into making them work and even then I am not always successful.
Buddy, I’m like this medicated. I don’t cope, I don’t manage. I can’t get a proper job and I’m increasingly ready to plan my exit.
Get thee some therapy bro. Medication is a tool, not a magic fix. You still gotta do the work on yourself. The meds just make it easier to do
I have had a lot, but I didn’t find it very helpful for ADHD, and genuinely prohibitively expensive for someone like me who has no idea how to make money. It felt like I was spending all my money talking about my broken leg, if that makes sense.
Badly
I run on auto pilot most of the time. I can’t forget something I didn’t remember to do to begin with. Double, triple, and quadruple check. The double check to be sure and the tripe and quadruple check because I forgot I’ve already double-checked.
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I find that pre-workout mixes with caffeine and creatine tend to help me.
Just worth noting, creatine causes your muscles “soak up” more water so you’ll need to drink more to keep the rest of your body hydrated.
Unfortunately I have a kidney issue and creatine is not an option 😔
Only way to get through dread is to go through with it. If you want something to stop, finish it. I have pretty light adhd, but for me it was like steeling my mind before base jumping. Sometimes you don’t want to do something. You’re scared or tired but you must FORCE yourself to do it. I have a mantra that kind of helps me. I tell my self that I must do what must be done. And kind of make the action feel like it is inevitable like I will do it even if I don’t want too.
Chaining dozens of coping methods together helps a little bit, including:
- strictly working with lists. When I do it and it’s not on the list & checked off, it doesn’t count as done. What’s not on the list doesn’t get done
- implementation intention: Since my brain refuses “must do now” situations, use a trigger like: “If it’s not done by 8 p.m., work on it with a stopwatch for 15 minutes”
- for the list, turn everything into a module. Instead of “do the kitchen”, have subitems like “collect all garbage”, “sort by food / non-food”, “clean surface 1/2/3/floor”. For studying & work, a module is always 25 or 50 minutes of full focus, no distractions. When I have to get up to get water or pee, it counts as failed and is not checked off
Yay, life on hard mode.
Those are some top tier gamifications
Thanks! For my kid, I gamify it up a notch: His life works on “quests” such as 10 minute room cleaning, letter to a grandparent, 10 minute reading, homework etc., for which he gains loot boxes. Those are little physical boxes containing a made-up currency and other small rewards such as candy, 5 cents - $ 1 real money (his only way to get allowance!), stickers etc. The made-up currency can buy prices such as puzzles, books, toys. About 2 - 3 times per year, there is a legendary coin in it which can be traded for a huge price worth $ 50 - $ 100.
Not sure if saving him or messing up his reward system, but the stuff gets done and he’s doing great!
I used to use caffeine but i stopped a few years ago. During the pandemic i went on adderall because i was struggling to help my kids do online school. I stopped adderall because i moved and adhd’d away my therapist.
Mostly i cope with routine. I eat the same foods for breakfast and lunch most days. I work on unmasking and being radically honest about my struggles with adhd to people around me. I setup auto billpay as much as possible and i cycle through the same few hobbies so i dont waste too much money.
I’ve recently found that sleep is very important to my body’s needs. If my sleep cycle is fucked then my symptoms get wild.
