Diagnosed with severe adult ADHD… anyone in the same boat? How do you manage it? I’m scared of medication since it’s addictive.

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I was medicated for this as a child. On the whole ritalin/concerta not noticeable except to improve focus. It does mess with your BP and not sure it's great for you long term, often feel like if I'd had a choice I wouldn't have gone down that route but feel it was probably necessary at the time. Might be worth exploring whether yoga, organisational courses and straight up therapy might work better than dosing up like a zombie on speed. Not sure if this helps but that's my tuppence.

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Was diagnosed at 4, medicated until 16 before I quit the medication as felt it turned my into a zombie and suppressed who I was.

Rocky start being off meds having been so dependent on them to try and make me “normal”. However, I am almost 30 now, got my degree have a great job and I feel that me being my true self with my brain firing at what feels like a million mph has not hindered me.

I must admit that when I came off the meds I had a bad couple of years, until I naturally started to try and implement things into my life to try and suppress the outbursts etc.

For example, I can be in a meeting and I get the urge to blurt things out and cut people off impulsively, I now write it down and wait to an appropriate time (mostly because I’ll forget as I have terrible short term memory)

Medication does work for a lot of people, but it just wasn’t for me - got me through school but yeah.

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I will add that I used to keep my prescription valid for taking them during exams or really important meetings but not done so for 5 years since I had taken them for an exam and then my partner had me join her at ballroom dancing class that evening and she said I was too focused that it ruined her evening because it actually causes me to lose the joy I guess, goes back to being a zombie thing.

It may work for you, but it wasn’t for me.

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Medication for ADHD is not addictive. There are also non-stimulants if that worries you. Not saying you have to take anything if you don’t want to, but talk to a therapist and your doctor to get more informed about your options.

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I’m a psychologist. M1 is correct.

The fact that you were diagnosed with severe ADHD as an adult makes me wonder how you coped before the diagnosis. Listen to your treating provider, but also look back at what might have changed in your life.

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It's really not addictive unless you don't have ADHD lol the people who get addicted are usually people who don't have ADHD who were taking stimulants to study harder. People with ADHD forget to take their meds alllll the time. It's not until it's taking 15 minutes to write an email and I start organizing browser tabs that I realize, oh wait you forgot to take your meds. I have gone off of it for months at a time twice this year when I got covid. There are some side effects but I take 2 day breaks every week and a longer break every few weeks to keep my tolerance up. I take the lowest dose possible. I don't have severe ADHD, but trust me, any trade offs are worth being able to function properly in work, social and home life. Best of luck!

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I’m 27 and I’ve been diagnosed since elementary school. Super bad adhd, always kicked out of classrooms for disruptions lol. My parents were always super against medication, and didn’t give me any due to the fear of potential long term side effects.

I did speak with a doctor a few years back about potentially trying medication. He said he refuses to prescribe adderall due to its nature and how addictive it can be. The drug he recommended was Strattera, although I didn’t end up getting it. I don’t think i’ll ever want to get adhd medication either to be honest. However, I asked for a modafinil prescription during that doctor visit, just to experiment and see if it could help (since I’ve read that people use it off label to treat adhd and saw how it’s nicknamed the “viagra for the brain”).

I’ve also tried taking edibles(THC/CBD) too but that doesn’t help much either.

There are a lot of things that still negatively affect me nowadays, such as not hearing something from a conversation that was just said to me in my face because my mind auto wandered off, misplacing glasses/wallet/key due to impulsively placing them down randomly, forgetting deadlines, losing track of time, and of course the most common one of not being able to focus.

But I’m starting to learn to naturally overcome lot of these issues, like for example repeating what was just said in my mind so I can internalize it, assigning designated spots for my every day objects, setting alarms, and learning to take breaks inbetween working to come back feeling refreshed and ready to concentrate…..for another 5 minutes 😂

But this is just me, everyone’s different so what works for me might not work for you. You just have to try to find workarounds for all of the problems you encounter.

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Not sure if you find this helpful, but I have found alternative medical perspective through Dr Gabor Mate. His first book Scattered is about ADHD.
Good luck on your journey!

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Fiancé was diagnosed about a year ago, the medication was the best thing to happen to her and her mental health. She has worked to get the right meds amongst several options and it hasn’t been addictive in any measure for her at all.

As her spouse I can tell you that her quality of life is much better and I’m so happy with the progress she has made

uplifting

Do you mind sharing which medication she’s on?
I’ve tried adderall and Ritalin and have struggled with side effects.

I workout every morning to calm my body

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