This comic is cute, but I don’t want people to set the wrong expectations for adhd medication. For everyone across the board, it doesn’t work like a stimulant, as in make you faster, but quiets you down and allows you to focus. But you may still be tired or depressed. In short, it’s not a magic pill and you should reflect on the affect it has on you. Some people can take their meds and go to sleep, that’s one way to tell how it affects you.
That’s not necessarily true. Myself, and several other people I know, have definitely experienced a boost from stimulants, just not in the same wired way neurotypical people get. Sometimes it feels like a weight off your shoulders that in a way almost feels stimulating. At the very least more talkative.
Yeah that’s why I didn’t generalize my comment to all people
I think the problem is that people are talking about two different types of “stimulation” here.
I think when you say that it feels “stimulating,” it’s more of a side effect of being able to think clearly and behave like a normal person. As in, the symptoms of your ADHD are inherently related to your anxiety and stress levels (in that it is often the direct cause) and getting rid the ADHD symptoms removes that anxiety.
And as anyone who has ever had intense anxiety can tell you, it can literally feel like a weight lifted off of your shoulders.
Whereas, others are referring to it being “stimulating,” in a different sense. As in the medication, directly, gives them more energy or euphoria (which is why there is a potential for abuse for neuro-typical people). For them, the “lift” and euphoria are directly related to the actions of the chemical, not a side effect of actually addressing a root issue of the anxiety.
There’s a good number of ADHD meds that have side effects for anxiety and depression.
They’re not as good as actual anxiety or depression meds, but it’s not nothing.
To my Elvanse has been the best thing. I was in a horrible position mentally before getting my meds. They truly helped my excessive rambling thoughts that always made me feel worse about me, my situation, my history and everything I do and am. Then when I started on the meds they just kinda went away and my ability to kinda think critically and put an effort into feeling better came back.
It was truly a life saver back when I started taking them and even today if I forget to take them two or three days it all blows back on me again.
Yeah yeah, but do I get to be a dog?
Doesn’t work that way for me. I just look back at the day and realize I was less distracted than usual.
It does not let me like the work I mildly dislike, right?
It makes me go from “oh god i have to do this and aaaaah ok ok i will manage the next step and oh shit i did 3 clicks in a row go me. Ok now again… nah in 2 minutes i need a break <random thought> ok time to focus on random thing for a minute and ohhh godddddddd i don’t wanna go back to being productive” to “meh gotta do this i guess, click click click, ok again, click click click <random thought>, do random thing for a minute, ok continue being productive, click click click…”
Meds will turn me into a furry? Ok i’m in.
Meds made me go from “I had confusing feelings about Tails and We’re Back: a Dinosaur Story when I was six” to “my ass is chock full of Bad Dragon dildoes”
The plural is just dildos
i have changed the plural, pray i do not alter it further.
Is Dan Quayle available to weigh in?
Dildöes
Dildoeoeoes
Yep, depends on the length.
I’m gonna need some more “e”s and “o”s for a couple of mine
Dildoes seem right, dildoesn’t it?
It dildoes
Dildii
Dildopodes
That was my favourite character in the Iliad!
dilduses, but pronounced like it’s greek
Dildopodes dildii sounds very scientifically probable when you know there are things like Amorphophallus fornicatus.
What a weird thread to meet in :D
If anyone else told me that, I wouldn’t believe them…
in jan misali’s perfect spelling reform, dildoes is correct
A productive furry
Me too!
Tl;dr: ADHD meds made me a furry, a fast one, fast as heck.
The Fast and Furries
2Fast2Furry
(if you can believe it)
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My friends and I dropped ADHD meds at an outdoor concert. They were having fun and having a good time and I sat down in the grass and replied to some school emails and did a handful of tasks that I have been putting off.
It was the first time in my life that I wasn’t unintentionally listening to everyone’s conversations at the exact same time and solutioning their problems all at the same time.
I ended up going to Mexico and going into a reputable doctor and purchased ADHD meds. I later in life went to a doctor and got diagnosed.
Wait wait wait. Is the hearing all the conversations around you an ADHD thing? Are you serious? I just thought it was like, an ability.
Yes and no. It’s not exclusive to ADHD.
The ADHD part of this is being unable or very bad at “tuning it out” so you can focus on something. Like, you recognise there’s sound, but since it’s not relevant to what you’re focused on, you ignore it without thinking about the fact that you’re ignoring it… That’s what ADHD people are bad at.
It can be very helpful if you need to listen for specific sounds to survive. Like, if you were in the brush and you hear very specific crunching noises, the kind that you would hear if you were being stalked by a predator… Someone with ADHD would be able to pick up on that more readily, while doing something else (like, idk, gathering), than someone who doesn’t have ADHD.
IMO, a lot of ADHD traits provide advantages in specific scenarios, mainly related to crisis, conflict and survival, but those traits work against you for basically everything else.
My ADHD superpower is basically being situationally aware to the point at which it harms my ability to live. I almost always remember the most trivial details of places and situations that largely do not matter. I’ll get called into a meeting for some hyper important project from my manager for client x, and that I should be working with person y at the client site to push forward. I will remember every detail of the plant on the managers desk, whether it was real or fake, was it in dirt or mulch or that foam stuff that they sometimes use for plants, was it recently watered (was the substance it was in, wet?), any oddly colored stripes in the stem/branches/leaves. How big was it, were there any issues with it, did it have any neighbors (other plants, maybe a fish?), even pictures nearby, etc…
Then I have to email my manager later to ask who y is, because I’ve forgotten the name.
This is my life.
So my Sherlock powers of observation are also ADHD?
Am I maladapted to modern society, or is modern society inhospitable to people with innate survival abilities?
Yes.
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It’s a curse
It puts my brain to 150% processing and I just wanna listen to one conversation and aaaaaa
Even when I can’t listen to the dozens of voices due to them being nearly inaudible it still enables the part of my brain to try to decode them, so about 75% is used to try to listen to words that I don’t even wanna listen to
This is why ANC is heaven
Oh man. Mine actually is able to listen and understand each conversation. My brain will not only listen but mentally join that conversation. Lord help me if a few people in earshot are having technical problems with their phones or computers. I will literally pull my phone out in the middle of dinner with a friend and start finding the solution for multiple people’s problems while my friend is like WTF, you were just telling me about your day and abruptly stopped talking and went into your phone.
African National Congress is heaven?
Active noise cancelling
I can’t do noise cancelling because then I get in my head about not being aware of my surroundings, and what if I needed to hear something in order to not die? Hey, it’s possible.
Oh cool. those bose headphones saved my ass when was forced to work in open cafeteria style tech offices
It’s an ability if you’re a prehistoric hunter or in a dense jungle with predators. We have the ability to listen to everything and be able to process sounds, smell and visual changes.
Having dinner with a date and it’s less of an “ability” and more of “you’re being an unattentive asshole” because your date is just another conversation in a sea of conversations.
I just thought it was like, an ability.
For me, it’s more a dis-ability as it makes it hard to concentrate on the conversation that I’m in or task that I’m doing.
In a way, it is…
It’s both, ADHD people just have a much, much harder time learning to filter it. But neurotypical people can learn to do it too sometimes. I envy the ability to turn it off
Yeah the ‘H’ in the acronym is what always threw me off. I guess “ADD” without the ‘H’ isn’t a thing anymore? I’m pretty sure I have it, undiagnosed.
Was never a fan of uppers, and recently took some Adderall for the first time in like 20 years, and it was mind-blowing. I felt normal. I wasn’t tweaking out, I was just able to manage my life like a normal person for a day.
Unfortunately, as someone who is on Suboxone for treatment of opioid addiction, the chances of getting a doctor to write me a legitimate RX are pretty much zero.
Vyvanse ended up making the dog way bigger on some days, I’m on atomoxetine and that’s been way more manageable.
In case anyone has found themselves to be sensitive to stimulant medication, don’t be afraid to ask about trying non-stimulants 🙂
Non-stimulants? I am on extended release ritalin and it suuuuucks. Everything is the same as it used to be but now i feel like i am on speed for 5 minutes, an hour after i take it.
Everythings sucks 🥺
Try strattera. It’s not for everyone and it takes a bit of ramp-up but when it works it’s really awesome.
Atoxetmine gave me wicked mood swings on the come down. And also, sexually, when I came, it would feel muted. Like felt like a 1/2 cum.
This made my relationship with my wife waaaaay worse.
Ritalin is the only ADHD med that Taiwan has access to. The come down is less intense.
I hope my kid gets to feel this way someday
If my kid ever feels like this, I am going to be angry, and have a LOT of questions. Mostly in a very pissed off tone.
…I don’t have kids, and the last time someone COULD HAVE potentially gotten pregnant from me and kept it secret would have been 2006. But I’m 99.9% sure I don’t have kids.
So if I found out I have a kid, I would be confuuuuuuused.
Steady on there, Genghis.
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would you… lose your mind?
Yeah this is really hitting home. Looking forward to getting them evaluated
I’m at my third type of medication and still no difference. At least I’m not absolutely drained as on first one but yet to see a positive impact. Yes, I’m diagnosed.
Just started taking magnesium glycinate, and it’s only been a few days but I must’ve had a bad magnesium deficiency.
The last few months my meds have barely helped, I’ve been tired and unmotivated, and already I’m waking up earlier and focusing better - it was a night and day difference
It might be worth getting bloodwork done - certain deficiencies mirror many symptoms of ADHD. And if you have ADHD and a deficiency, meds alone aren’t going to help nearly as much
Or you could just try magnesium glycinate if you struggle to set up appointments (I know I do), apparently most Americans don’t get enough magnesium. The other forms of magnesium also work as laxatives, so I’d specifically go for that. Vitamin B is another one that can cause similar symptoms, I think zinc as well, but magnesium seems to have been my issue and wasn’t on my radar until my neighbor mentioned it
WHAT?!
I need the ADHD meds now. GIMME!!! I WANNA BE DOG!!!
But seriously: I saw someone posting videos of their handwriting and organization and shit before and after Adderall and it was like seeing someone in real life taking the drug from Limitless. I need to try that shit because it might actually help.
I had the exact same reaction and i don’t trust that sentiment, i think i’m just hoping for a singular miracle pill that i can take and it will solve all my issues.
Still thought it was worth a try but even getting an appointment with a psychologist of any kind was tough, so here i am still unmedicated even though i relate to a lot of ADD symptoms
I can add an unfortunate example in the opposite direction: I’ve been having trouble getting my prescription filled so I haven’t had my meds for more than a month
My handwriting has deteriorated observably (my phone is actually having trouble recognizing my swipe-typing gestures, too) and my living space is in shambles. Fuck the DEA.
The DEA needs to be dismantled and have all those tax dollars put to better use.
I take ADD drugs for a central nervous system disorder(they keep me awake) and my Dr is really worried about me not being able to get them since I can’t work without them. I know folks with ADD need them to function too(drs are prescribing my less used medication to replace adderall) so now everyone’s suffering because some douchbags in the DEA decided drs are the enemy.
My drs office just got audited by the DEA so all her patients on stimulants and painkillers had to do urine drug tests.
Sorry for the rant. But seriously, defund the DEA.
Ritalin made me feel miserable and paranoid
It was the opposite effect on me. Have you tried crescenta?
Lol, are you recommending it because it’s the opposite of what you were on?
Ritalin has been working well for me. But I have heard good things about concerta.
I tried equasym, which from what i understand is similar to concerta, but i didn’t feel any positive difference and sometimes it made me irritable
I feel irritated during the come down. It’s intense depending on the meds. The extended release pills helps with the intense come down.
I usually felt better after the come down, weirdly. It makes me think like my diagnosis was wrong or that maybe my issues lie elsewhere
Meds that I tried didn’t help me. Fuck me I guess 🙃
To be fair I have not tried any new meds in many years, so I’m sure there’s new ones I haven’t tried, but I couldn’t afford the appointments or medications anyway…
A lot of it is better delivery mechanisms for dextro-amphetamines.
I wish tbh, been diagnosed for 3 years and still haven’t found meds that work. I suppose that’s inevitably part of it, but it sucks to just not be able to do things because my brain doesn’t want to give me good chemicals.
Medication gives me a smaller dog, but makes me feel very tired.
if you don’t mind my asking, which meds? i had a friend on a stimulant who described a similar experience to yours, so she switched to a non-stimulant (stratterra) and vastly preferred the effects.
deffo not trying to tell you how to live your life btw! i’ve just run into a lot of folks who for some reason or another have only ever tried like, one or two meds and just figured that’s as good as it gets. our brains can be so whacky different, sometimes it feels like a wonder that any one drug has similar effects on anybody, especially when adhd is in the mix lol
Vyvanse. Strattera makes me feel sick (like, as if I have a cold) and extremely pissed off 24/7. Does absolutely nothing for the ADHD.
have you tried adderall? right now i’m on 15mg extended release.
tbh i took vyvanse recreationally as a teenager and i had an experience much closer to the one depicted in this meme, whereas right now on adderall i’m having something closer to what you described. i’ve been meaning to talk to my doctor about it but i keep putting it off lmao
Adderall works better for a while, then its effectiveness tapers over time. I think I wanna switch back to Adderall though, since I don’t take my medication very often anymore anyways
they generally like to prescribe a single dose of extended release per day, but if you think it might be a better option DO talk to your doctor about getting a split dosage of regular ass adderall twice daily. it’s kinda uncommon but i’ve heard a lot of good things!
that might honestly be the solution to my issues as well, i’m torn between that and vyvanse. going in on the 21st tho so i’m gonna be trying one of em! lmao
Meds don’t do shit for me, only clenching my jaw so hard that my teeth shift from their normal position and making me extremely paranoid.
Yupp, Amphetamines at work! FDA approved for 6 year olds!
I do have an ADHD diagnosis but the last time they tried to put me on meds I was a nervous wreck and always crying, but really i’m not sure if that was the meds or other problems i was having at that time
My partner got on meds and then it was like the floodgates of mental health opened, lots of other stuff surfaced but they got through it with therapy.
Ps. They also got some mood regulators ontop of the adhd meds and that helped too
A lot of us have spent our lives masking and suppressing other issues because we were told that all of these issues were due to some kind of inherent badness. “you’re so full of capability, if only you weren’t so fucking lazy” - on repeat, for years, from everyone you love and trust.
It fucks you up. And when you realize that if literally anyone in your life had taken a step back and helped you get the actual tools you needed (often medication, and occupational therapy) you get so sad and angry at all the waste and internalized self-hatred.
I wasn’t diagnosed until after I’d flamed out my first couple semesters at college. First time I took medication after being diagnosed I cried. It’s taken more than a decade of therapy to undo most of the damage.
You’re a plant, and capitalism is a great fire. By pulling yourself up by the roots, you’re exposing yourself to the great fire, instead of hiding in the dark underground.
Wow brilliant, this is one of the best explanation for ADHD ever
