I’m a bit late to the party here but i saw this thread and thought i’d offer my perspective as a large part of where I am today has been dictated by an adult ADHD diagnosis I recieved about 6 years ago.
I have struggled with many of the same classic symptoms many people have mentioned on this thread and ended up seeing a phyciatrist who did an extensive screening process including childhood history. The evidence was pretty conclusive.
I ended up on ritalin as a result at the reccomendation of my doctor at the time and at first it was absolutely great. Ritalin made me feel limitless and it opened up a whole new level of focus i never had before.
Unfortunately it worked a little too well and i ended up becoming severely addicted to the drug. To the point where i couldn’t function without it as all i could think about was getting more. From there my life basically fell apart.
Long story ahort ritalin turned me into a complete drug addict. I ended up dropping out of college and homeless in the space of 6 months. My family stopped talking to me and i would sleep at a university campus every night pretending i was doing assignments so i had somewhere to stay.
I eventually stopped the ritalin but then my drinkng spiraled out of control as a coping mechanism to stay off ritalin and i became a fully fledged alcoholic.
So a word of warning on ADHD meds…they are no fucking joke man. They are an anphetamine and can seriously alter your personality and your behaviour. Just wanted to put that out there because i wouldn’t wish what i went through on anyone else.
I also went from 85kg to dangerously underweight in the drug. I weighed about 60kg by the time i finished which was classified as anorexic. Like i said this was in the space of 6 months. Please be careful.
Sorry that you had to go through all of this. Thanks for pointing out the dangers of Ritalin, it is definitely not candy. I use a long working version in the morning (45 mg), that lasts most of the day. Sometimes I use a short one in the evening if necessary.
Still feels a bit surreal what it does, I notice resemblance of what alcohol did for me (especially wodka). But I will let the resemblance go and make my own story with Ritalin (in the beginning I read on Dr. Google but don’t do that anymore). Having therapy now to cope with it. The diagnoses puts whole my life in a different perspective.
Been obsessive on my weight the last 6 weeks since the medication started. I have a thyroid issue which affects it as well. Quit smoking 3 days ago, booze almost 19 months ago. Weight seems to balance out now, but is closely monitored. At least now I leave the crap I might now what leads to what.
How are you doing now? Hope you found your balance and some peace back….,
I am also on Ritalin and have been for 6 years, and I use it as prescribed (in my case, 30mg long acting with breakfast, then 10mg regular mid-afternoon, and that’s my day). For me it makes a significant positive difference, clearing the fog of my ADHD neurotransmitter deficits.
I’ve found as I’ve gotten to know my own ADHD and met other people with ADHD that everyone finds their own path. From my observation it very often includes coaching and/or support groups; it sometimes has medication, sometimes not; it sometimes has counselling, sometimes not. (Edit to add: it often includes exercise.)
Ritalin is a tool in the toolkit. For some people it’s a key tool. For others it isn’t. (And like any tool, it can be misused. Imagine someone mowing their lawn with a hammer.) Stick to what you have if it is working for you, and keep in regular contact with your medical and psychological team, and you’ll move forward.
I have currently one on one therapy, for about 12 weeks. I need to investigate what I need additionally. As I feel it now it needs continuous work like my addictions and compulsive behavior.
Need to monitor medication a bit closer upcoming weeks to get a better feeling when to take the short term medication. Yesterday I took it a bit late, went to a designer outlet centre nearby. It didn’t work yet when I was there . Don’t know how I managed 49 years with that level of sensitivity absorbing literally everything (emotions, tone of voice, tensions between members of family etc.) .
Yeah it sounds like you are taking it as prescribed which is great and if it works for you that’s great. I certainly found it was just too euphoric for me and it ended up making me manic at times.
Having an addictive personality, i just ended up leaning on it more than prescribed and it spiraled out of control. By the time I hit rock bottom i was a completely different person with none of the same inhibitions and extremely mentally ill.
Thankfully i worked my way back over the years to where i am not in sobriety and i live an active happy life. Great job and financially stable etc. But it was certainly extremely hard to bounce back. That 6 months probably did 4 years of damage to my life.
The thing with the ADHD diagnosis for adults is a tricky one for me now. I don’t really think about it anymore because i always ended up using it as an excuse or letting it allow me to convince myself i couldn’t do hard things.
Yeah maybe it takes me a lot longer to do certain things and maybe i am an ADHD person, but I ended up putting all that aside and just commiting myself to doing the best i could in life. That mindset honestly helped me more than the drug ever could if i took it properly i think.
Ultimately everyone responds to medication differently so this was just my experience.
Great to read you are doing well. If it is possible without medication that’s really fine. For the beginning I’m not focusing on that. And I doubt I will ever be, I stretched my back a couple of times and doing great in several business areas. But at some point I always hit a wall, and impulsively left.
A lot might also have to do with the subtype of ADHD, seems I have a relatively rare one only 5% of ADHD’ers have. Therapy is already helping a lot next to the medication, I see them as complementary.
What the heck k is going om with music , movies etc.
After starting medication treatment I don’t seem to find music enjoying listening to and no movie enjoying watching. Before I really identified which is also not always healthy.
I enjoyed my holiday which was quit physical, sported a lot until my mid twenties. Seems I really need this to feel better. Practice equals relaxation in my case.
Dropped all dating apps, stopped smoking (18 days), stopped drinking (600+), de-activated Facebook, instagram deleted from phone (don’t find how to kill the account). Last days going to my last resort; PMO. Added filters on phone, which I can circumvent of course.
And now?? Still not looking forward to go back
to my current job. Therapy after holiday starts again today and tomorrow. It’s on the agenda, but just impatient . Just like getting grip on the financials.
Planning, structure goes well, housekeeping gets better and better, cooking for myself on the agenda.
Does anyone in this thread know of a short acting med for ADD/ADHD? I’ll ask my son’s pediatrician too of course. He has a hard time completing school work. I’d like him to try a med to see if it helps him for the 2-4 hours (or more on weekends) that he is doing homework since he already has the ADD diagnosis. It’s so frustrating to me to see him with two D’s. He is super smart but not a great student. I’m still hoping those grades will go up before the end of the semester. My son is 15, so a sophomore in HS.
Hi Karen, there are for sure short term meds that last for 2-4 hours. I myself combine a relative low dose of a long term med with a low dose of a short term med which last 3,5-4 hours. This combination gives me some necessary flexibility. Just ask the doc I would say. All the best for your son and you.
I have never been formally diagnosed with adhd however, I strongly suspect it based off of what I know about how ADHD tends to present itself in women, along with reading numerous medical reports on how ADHD and alcoholism coorelate alongside eachother.
Since I am not “diagnosed”, and therefore not on medication, I can at least tell you what has helped me after my last relapse.
Music, Coffee, and Writing.
Replace those with whatever floats your boat. With ADHD the point for me is to have the correct balance of dopamine in the brain. All three of those are good for me, though you might replace writing with whatever your personal hobby is. Music keeps the chatter at bay, coffee is the replacement drink, and writing is the hobby.
. Don’t know how I managed 49 years with that level of sensitivity absorbing literally everything (emotions, tone of voice, tensions between members of family etc.) 
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