Is it 'worth it'? I.E is your life noticably beter for being medicated for it?
It's not a super drug that magically fixes everything, it just moves stuff closer into realm of possibility, I sometimes still procrastinate, now with lazer sharp focus into the thing I'm procrastinating with, so it still takes a lot of discipline to begin doing productive things, but once I do I no longer have to continously fight myself to keep at it.
As per side effects, I don't really have any, the only thing I have noticed is that I have to choose the dosage carefully, as it flactuates a lot, some days I can get by on 18mg, some days 36+18 feels as if I haven't taken anything, as I'm told it is very personal and you have to find your rhythm with it.
As a bonus, despite getting enough sleep, I also have been drowsy during the day for as long as I remember and it was always difficult to fight through it (excessive amounts of sugar and energy drinks in my case). Concerta has fixed that instantly.
* After eating I do not feel full. Never. There is a feeling of "my stomach starts to hurt, there is hardly any place left". * I am scared of the dark, I remember all the horror movie snippets I have seen in my life
The side effects still reside today
Benefit:
* After getting off Ritalin, my marks in school dropped by half a grade. Which is not that much, I still ranked best of class.
It was a good decision for my personal development to drop Ritalin.
I think it's of questionable legality here, but if you can get a doctor to prescribe it legally it's well worth looking into.
So it looks like theres an initial cost to get going but it takes the wait time down from ~3 years to around 6 weeks. Think I might need to call my GP and get started, I've been putting this off way too long.
and it's kind of a paradox, because I've learned far more from the Internet/educating myself online, to become more self-aware and change my lifestyle drastically, more to the Puritanical side as many mentioned above (but not all the way).
so it's that paradox I struggle with: disconnecting from the internet is healthy for ADD, but the knowledge/hacks/tweaks gained from it has helped far more than medication/therapy ever did.
The first type I tried happened to be right for me, so I didn't experience any negative effects. I did experiment with dose, though. Getting it right just feels like being more awake, which is how I describe the ability to choose where I hold my focus.
I think this varies highly from person to person. As someone who takes one to two days off a week, when possible, I must say I get some pretty brutal withdrawal side-effects.
None of the side-effects are really dangerous or life-threatening by any means, but they are still somewhat disabling. I've been taking my medication for about 8 years now, and I am starting to feel like the medication:
1. Has drastically diminished it positive returns
2. Is starting to take more away from me than it's giving back
Not sure, what other option I'll move to, but I do not have many of them left since I have tried almost all the various stimulant formulations multiple times minus Desoxyn.
Yes, absolutely.
From reading the ADHDUK subreddit it turns out it takes it down to under 6 weeks. Think I need to call my GP and have a conversation.