Interesting, actually. I've gotten conflicting info on this before.
I've been told by my doctor that he'll happily raise my dosage over time to meet tolerance, but been told by others that developing this tolerance is Bad(TM) because I'd reach neurotoxic levels, and the only way to use stimulants is to constantly take week- or month-long breaks, entirely defeating the purpose of trying to treat ADHD.
My entire problem is that I have periods of being able to do stuff but then long periods of not being able to do anything. The periods of not being able to do anything are the problem!
Do you have any opinion on this?
But that aside the urgency and focus that dexamphetamine provide is tiring over long periods I think, which is why I've not sought it out as a medication option and settled on slow-release methylphenidate - I get a tiny dopamine kick in the morning after taking them, which is enough to wake my mind up from hibernation in time for the stand-up, and it's otherwise... just better than when I'm not on it? It's been almost 15 years now and it still helps, tolerance is when your brain adapts to the medication and that's actually what I want, right?
Not sure if any of that was helpful or not, but that's roughly how I see things.
Haven't been able to get my new prescription yet (ran out yesterday) but other than that, I take 30mg/day dexedrine XR.
> ADHD makes us time blind and that robs us of motivation to do things.
That's one way to put it. I like to put it as "your own brain will stop listening to you", because it will. No matter how much you yell and plead at yourself to do something, it won't happen if your brain just won't let you.
> But that aside the urgency and focus that dexamphetamine provide is tiring over long periods I think, which is why I've not sought it out as a medication option and settled on slow-release methylphenidate
I've consistently been recommended ritalin/methylphenidate as something to try, I do plan on trying it at some point but dexedrine helps me so much I don't think I need to go to anything else. I still want to try methylphenidate though to see how it is.
> tolerance is when your brain adapts to the medication and that's actually what I want, right?
Probably~ I was somewhat high for 4-5 days at first but it was actually incredibly distracting because I would do crazy stuff like fall over in the shower because it felt too good for me to focus. That shower was just repaired, I nearly broke it again.
> Not sure if any of that was helpful or not, but that's roughly how I see things.
Always nice hearing someone else's viewpoint~
Heh, snap. I ran out of my medication yesterday and haven't got my new prescription either. What got me this month was that I only got 28 days worth of pills which is so petty - I don't get 31 days worth on the majority of months that have more than 30 days! But anyway, that aside I'm glad to be in the UK where I get my 108mg/day methylphenidate and 10mg/day Ramipril for a tenner a month.
> I've consistently been recommended ritalin/methylphenidate as something to try, I do plan on trying it at some point but dexedrine helps me so much I don't think I need to go to anything else. I still want to try methylphenidate though to see how it is.
Be aware that you might be underwhelmed when compared to dexedrine, the effects are way less obvious immediatetly - methylphenidate is closer to cocaine chemically than amphetamine in fact. There's an old (2006) book called "Speed, Ecstasy, Ritalin: The Science of Amphetamines" that's pretty interesting if you want more detail.
> Probably~ I was somewhat high for 4-5 days at first but it was actually incredibly distracting because I would do crazy stuff like fall over in the shower because it felt too good for me to focus. That shower was just repaired, I nearly broke it again.
Lol, I've managed to destroy a freezer and my own PC through amphetamine-induced over-zealous housecleaning sessions.
> Always nice hearing someone else's viewpoint~
Likewise! If you've never watched this lecture from a renowned ADHD expert to parents of ADHD children about how it affects them then I found it very illuminating about a lot of the effects of ADHD that aren't so obvious but can have a profound influence upon your life i.e. having aphantasia explains why being told to "imagine this" was always something that frustrated me because I couldn't do it in the way the other person would be able to do - but I didn't know that I couldn't, and neither did they.
...it costs $50 just to get 15 days of Dexedrine. But that's with the complimentary "I had no idea my insurance wouldn't cover this" discount, which is only valid the first time. Now it'll be something like $300. That's almost half of the monthly income that the government took from us because we're apparently not poor enough to need it! (The government is wrong, btw.)
> Be aware that you might be underwhelmed when compared to dexedrine, the effects are way less obvious immediatetly
For me, the main differences between being medicated and unmedicated are:
- I don't feel tired all fucking day, I can actually stay up until night time and then sleep for the night. As it should be.
- I can do creative things like art or story writing without getting bored and giving up somehow, which INVARIABLY happens with ADHD.
- I don't end up trapped in bed unable to get food when I'm hungry.
Anything that does those three things is good enough for me. As long as it doesn't have side effects (after 2 weeks dexedrine no longer has any side effects other than reduced hunger).
> having aphantasia explains why being told to "imagine this" was always something that frustrated me because I couldn't do it in the way the other person would be able to do - but I didn't know that I couldn't, and neither did they
Honestly, I've always been aware of every single ADHD symptom that I have. It's just that I didn't know where they came from, I thought they came from laziness.
I definitely don't have aphantasia to that degree or anywhere close. I can imagine entire scenes in my head, imagine being an Umbreon in a forest, walk around and feel the grass and the breeze and the sun and everything. It's just, you know, hard doing that for longer than 10 seconds before my brain gets bored.
But it makes me incredibly upset when someone assumes that I can't do something because I'm not trying hard enough. Even people who know what ADHD is, seemingly don't believe that cases can get as bad as mine. That only comes from understanding that my case of ADHD is a disability. I didn't do that before when I thought I was just lazy. Ugh.
Yeah, I had to recontextualise a lot of my life after getting my diagnosis, there's a real trick in not over- or under-blaming things on the condition, although I'm not sure if that would be as big a job if you already had lived with one condition - going by what you've said matching a close friend of mine who's also autistic and got an ADHD diagnosis a lot later in life.
Anyway, I can't say if methylphenidate would work better for you but it should help with the things you listed, in my very subjective opinion. Good luck with things :)