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In the spirit of trying more things re: my problem with wandering attention and all that, I got my hands on something labelled "Concerta 18 mg".
Doesn't seem to do much for the problem with attention, however it does make me feel slightly more energetic as I've just drunk a liter of energy drink, but way 'smoother'. Also somewhat nervous and as If I had a constant weight pressing on my chest from outside. The nervousness ramps up, reaches a peak cca 6 hours after taking it and then passes.
Still not sure what to do with my tendency to delay doing things I don't like doing -bills that aren't on auto pay, cleaning that's not agreed upon, home improvement I need to do.
I keep putting it off and only do it right before the deadline, or even slightly after it.
The primary treatment for ADHD is stimulants (and Concerta is one). Most people get some form of benefit from stimulants, if this wasn't the case Coffee wouldn't be as popular (or uhhh Meth, which is what Adderall basically is).
It is however, very common for people to think they have ADHD (and even get diagnosed with it) when that is not the case. Other things can cause problems with attention, focus, and so on - depression, anxiety, medical illness, personality disorders. Most notably perhaps is simple modernity. Sitting in an office focusing on boring shit all day is not what our bodies and brains are designed to do.
If you don't have ADHD, taking a stimulant will likely give some form of performance boost but how helpful it is, is going to be deeply variable and may pass diminishing returns very quickly.
People with "real" ADHD are going to have a very different experience with stimulants most of the time.
That's not to say the above is 100% guaranteed, but it's good short hand. Plenty of people will pop a Vyvanse while studying for a tough exam and get some benefit out of it, but the way the medication is meant to address ADHD symptoms does not apply to people with "normal" brains, which may not be intuitive.
Yep. I got prescribed vyvanse (the slow release stuff) and that too a small-ish? dose (20mg)..... and the difference was life changing.
The first day, I cried simply because I could stop speaking, an elementary school level skill that I'd never developed.
My working memory didnt get flooded with surrounding distractions. Instead I could listen, and maintain a response in my head for the right moment.
I can do work now !! Thats instead of sitting at the table hoping 'attention comes', which inevitably didnt happen till 11pm at night.
Every person close to me has noticed a difference.
1 year in, I havent noticed any side effects. I am careful enough not to take it on meeting days or holidays. So vacation serves as a good refresh.
To be fair, i lived most my life without the meds, and have managed to be moderately successful by abusing sleep and and being in a cycle of constant exploit-burnout-vacation. So maybe my lack of dependence is a result of knowing how to be normal when not on it.
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I just got prescribed Adderall for the first time-- my wife and I long suspected I had some form of mild inattentive ADHD, but I'm a successful software engineer so it wasn't incredibly apparent.
I was always able to focus on things interesting to me, and often get into extreme tunnel vision hyperfocused states where I can quite literally not hear anything around me except what I'm focused on. My impression after 2 weeks of ~10mg Adderall in the mornings is something like:
I've also cut down my coffee consumption from around 4-6 cups per day to 1, which is significant. Ultimately, I think Adderall has been effective in ways I didn't expect, I anticipated that it would just increase hyperfocus and ultimately not really help, but it has had some surprising effects. I think the only negative side effect is that I have noticed more headaches at night, but I figure that'll slowly go away as I develop some tolerance to the acute effects.
Could the headaches be caffeine withdrawal?
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I'm pretty sure the coffee was a factor too. JBP has said he cured several of his patients from anxiety purely by convincing them to stop drinking that much coffee.
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Perfect description of ADHD medication. I havent had the headaches, but the positives effects are very similar.
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My experience with Adderall was that it didn't help me get started on doing things, but it did help me continue doing things I started. If you can tell yourself "I'll just spend a minimum of 5 minutes working on [whatever]", then maybe the Concerta can take you the rest of the way?
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