Does anyone else experience variation in what the effect of their meds feels like?
I’ve gradually increased my dose to 2 x 30 mg of slow release methylphenidat and have had a couple of days where I felt fantastic. Very focused but also calm and balanced. I had this very strong feeling of “really being myself” as in being able to use my full potential as a person.
Then I have some days where I barely notice anything and today I’ve mostly just felt jittery and a bit anxious. I can feel the stimulating effect on my body (higher heart rate) but without the mentally calming effect.
So much can influence it. For me, on Elvanse though, what I found is lack of sleep and a starting viral infection.
Reducing caffeine also helps. It adds up with the prescription stims, and they help more.
My son once had a complete stop of any effect a while ago. Doc couldn’t figure it out for sure. My theory: He took it on mashed apples with no water. Water might be crucial. It does say so in the instructions, but hard to say what exactly happens when it’s too little.
So many possible reasons …
Try taking note of what you eat and when. It can really affect the meds. I know with vyvanse I have to eat at least a small amount with it for it to be effective, and no caffeine until later in the day.
Anyone that takes adderall looking here should know, high doses of vitamin c can inhibit the effects of your meds if consumed soon after taking them(like 90 minutes) so don’t drink orange juice or take a multivitamin in the morning. Shit fucking sucked to learn the hard way
Thanks for the tip! My wife and partner take vitamin c (and iron) with their meds, good to know about the interactions!
No problem! Accidentally putting myself through withdrawal was enough to make me never want anyone else to make that mistake!
Not sure of your situation, but hormones also have a pretty significant impact on med performance for women, so for me when I am like a week out from my period I am both way worse ADHD symptom-wise and my meds are less effective so that’s fun.
I came here to say this.
My doctor gives me a mixed script, 2 weeks 18mg, 2 weeks 27 mg, the higher dose being for the week before and the week of my period. I find on the first 2 days of my period I sometimes need even more (36 mg)
I’ve got some amfexa for my weeks, but to be totally honest I keep forgetting to take them so now I have like a weird stockpile of them 😅
I pack my meds in a weekly pill box with the days marked, so that I can see whether I’ve taken them (because who can remember what I did 5 minutes ago?). Anyway, that combines with a recurring task reminder every 2 weeks to change the dose, which I check before packing for the coming week. So far, it’s working for me 🤞
I have a weekly pillbox also, but I am not organised enough to set a reminder to take a booster in the afternoon on/before my period week.
Need someone that can do me an app or something that adds med changes to cycle tracking.
Yo, I’ve been on an antidepressant and (when I can get it filled, thanks America) a stimulant for 4+ years now. What you’re describing sounds to me like what I had when first getting on my stimulant. It was maybe three months of my doc telling it’ll balance out. And it did.
Nowadays I don’t feel any different but more stuff actually gets done. Projects get finished and I can avoid starting twelve new ones at once. I still feel different day to day because other things are different, amount of sleep, amount of caffeine, what I ate, etc. They all feed into the system that is your body.
If after a few months at the same dosage you’re still noticing swings like that and the rest of your life isn’t varying enough to change it, maybe a different med is the answer, not different dosage?
#notadoctor #don’tevenplayoneingames
Yeah I have this same issue. Just started meds for ADHD and so still trying to find the right med and dose. I havent tried a new med, just been slowly increasing the dose. More often than not it doesn’t help, but sometimes it does. They keep saying its a dose thing, but I’m beginning to think its the med itself. I’m on dexmethylphenidate (or however its spelt).
My wife has noticed that “Long acting” can build up in her system, leading to those jittery symptoms. Make sure you’re drinking enough water to flush things through. She’ll often change to short acting for a day or two once a fortnight to ensure she’s getting rid of it all.
Oh hell yes. I take Jornay, so I take it before bed. If I take it with food, it kicks in later and doesn’t seem as strong, so I take it on an empty stomach at 21:00 now.
I also notice differences between days, mostly based on if I’ve gotten enough sleep or not and if I’ve been eating well and staying hydrated. Doing both makes my ADHD symptoms noticeably better.
