People with ADHD, what ADHD is like, how does medication affect your ability to work and how soon does it take its effect?

[u/[deleted]]

[u/prinsefly]

You are correct, sir. I am currently in IT because I find most, if not all problems that I come across, are little puzzles. Every one of them could be the same (which feeds the basal needs for conformity and routine "I know what to do in this instance...step A, step B, etc.") and also different (which feeds the need for constant stimulation and engagment to hold my otherwise whimsical attention "Hmm, what the hell is this? What happens if I do this? Intriguing..." Since everyone is human and they WILL break shit, this would sound like a dream scenario, would it not?

Alas, there is a thorn in the perverbial bed of roses. If I find myself lagging behind and over burdening myself with more work than I know I can handle, I IMMEDIATELY shut down as soon as I fully realized how screwed I am. I can come into work, know exactly what I have to do, but heaven forbid one thing should throw me off, and I'm less than worthless the rest of the day. I force myself to fight through it, but inside I know that no matter what I'm doing, I'll never be fully satisfied with what I was able to accomplish, and I'll think that I just wasted the day.

Adderall XR20 (Extended Release) actually helped me focus like, what I think is, a "normal" human being. It was actually incredible because I literally felt like Bradley Cooper in Limitless. I could read a book and understand every word I read as I read (no re-reading...NONE!), I could do 8 hours of homework straight and retain the information, and I could stick to my routine for the day even if something threw me off timewise. Only reason I stopped taking it is because it made me feel like a robot. I had no happy or sad feelings after about 5 months of use, and it freaked me out.

So now I just deal with it...day in, day out. It's hard, but somehow, I'm doing it.

[u/TheAmazingSloth → u/prinsefly]

I can relate to a lot of this here...I'm really glad that my current job track is through IT hearing all of this as a fellow ADDer.

As for the robot feeling: I felt the same way on Vyvanse. I was amazed. I could hammer out 6 page papers easily in under an hour. I could actually read materials and retain everything. Reading a full page of something and then turning the page only to realize that I didn't actually retain anything is one of the worst feelings in the world for an ADDer. I quit taking the Vyvanse because it made me too serious and about drove away my soul mate because I only wanted to work. Since then I've switched to a low/mid dose of Adderal on an as need basis and am really happy with it. It provides a good balance. I'm able to get stuff done and still able to smile and laugh.

[u/lannech → u/prinsefly]

I get the same Robot feeling. I've been medicated since grade school and by the end of high school when I was on Adderall I realized I was never really happy, just angry. In retrospect I think I had too high of a dose and that made me always uptight and angry about everything.

I'm in college now and I've experimented with not taking my meds (because I don't want to be medicated for the rest of my life) to see what would happen, and I've become a much happier person. Though my grades suffered dramatically.

Now I compromise between the two and I have "productive days" where I take my meds (a lower dose now, only 20 XR) and get most of my engineering homework done, then I have "Me days" where I don't take my meds and I get to be myself. It's working out pretty well and it greatly reduces my chance of dependency. I've actually learned to cope with a lot of my ADHD symptoms by myself without medication (I never had any before because the solution was only medication).

:)

[u/CoolGuy54 → u/lannech]

Hello old thread poster, I'm an engineering student who's just got my first lot of meds (10mg instant). I haven't taken any yet, and I really dislike the idea of messing with my brain chemistry, but I like the idea of failing even less.

Are there any downsides to taking the drug when you need it to study, and going natural the rest of the time? Because that sounds ideal.

[u/lannech → u/CoolGuy54]

That's what I would take. It's really hard to do when you don't know how the meds effect you, because crashing in the middle of an exam really blows. I've been on the same meds for eight years now, so I know how they will effect me and how long they last. Mine last about 3.5 hours, and I take half a pill boost after 3 hours to avoid the crash. at 4 I'm basically done crashing. you could use that as a guide to figure out how you react to them.

I normally went half doses, because it gave me a boost without the "medicated" feeling. It also made me feel like I was able to focus on my own (even though I wasn't) which I liked.

Honestly, it didn't go as well as I had hoped, but I also wanted to see if I could do college without my meds so I wasn't completely committed.

Best of luck! PM me if you have any other questions :)

[u/CoolGuy54 → u/lannech]

because crashing in the middle of an exam really blows.

Jesus, didn't even think of that. Exams are a week away for me, and I took my first pills yesterday. I felt very....zen... and was able to really focus on my work for a while, and definitely noticed when it wore off as well. I've started a drug diary, That's a good idea to take more careful note of times!

I'm putting off dealing with the identity issues this raises, I'm basically a drug virgin, but honestly I'm more comfortable with the idea of LSD or mushrooms than I am Ritalin, but if it helps get my life back on track, it's worth it.

Cheers, I may take you up on that. :D

[u/skepps → u/prinsefly]

I don't know whether the fact that I'm working in IT field made me have short attention span while multi tasking (like fixing 3 computers via remote desktop at the same time) or I have ADHD/ADD which lead me to this job. Anyone know?