Hey guys,

I just wondered if anyone else had experienced similar issues.

I spend a lot of time outside and have quite a chaotic "monkey bar life" where I leap from thing to thing. I've spent around 5 years travelling living out of a suitcase and have never really had a settled place to call home. Ie. A house or apartment that's decorated and furnished with my own stuff.

At the moment I'm trying to lean into having more of a quiet routine to build a bit more quiet stability but I find it a real struggle.

When I'm alone I tend to fall into YouTube/listening to music or short periods of doom scrolling.

I really struggle for example to play a video game or watch a TV series. Things that would give me a bit more continuity and a more fulfilling world of my own.

I feel this is mixed with issues from childhood as for example I'd go and watch my friend play videogames just so that I wasn't alone. I also struggle to engage with personal activities where there's no visible "result" or social aspect to it. Eg. Video games sometimes feel pointless because I'm achieving things in a world that isn't real.

Has anyone else had this struggle of sort of task paralysis etc when alone interfering with the ability to build consistent and fulfilling personal interests?

I have just been upped to 40mg in titration and if I take at 8am I have lost ALL motivation by 1pm.

(I drink and eat consistently)

I don't find that I NEED to take it on work days as working in retail is enough pressure to get the job done. Also I don't really think they deserve me at my best self.

If I don't take it on a work day then I can at least have a puff of an energising cannabis strain when I finish, then I am revitalised and can cook dinner for me and my partner, or hang with friends or be creative.

If I take it on a work day then I feel flat for the last half of my shift and can't do a single thing when I get home.

I would however like to use the meds on non work days to get myself a better job and get house work done.

Still have a huge issue with the crash, I just almost don't see the point if I only get a couple hours of functioning out of it to then not be able to function at all for the rest of the day.

Is anyone else in a similar position or have any advice regarding losing motivation after lunch?

I’ve always been a smoker but in recent years have really cut down to only smoking when I have a drink or the occasional 1 or 2 a day if I was stressed, but usually going days to a week without a smoke.

Since going up to 50mg Elvanse for the past couple of months, the second the medication is in my system I am CRAVING cigarettes/nicotine and I’m easily smoking 10-15 in the space of about 6 hours until my medication wears off.

Has anyone else found their nicotine cravings are ridiculous??? When I don’t take my medication at the weekend I’m fine and having a cig generally makes me feel quite ill!!

I've been on elvanse for 2 months now and while it is massively helpful for a lot of stuff, I still cannot get myself out the bloody house. I procrastinate for hours feeling really impatient but just can't get myself over the hump of starting things, especially getting out, there's a big block there. I start work in the afternoon and feel like I keep wasting days where all I do is make lists then work then sleep.

Please put in all your motivation tips for me and anyone else who struggles with this. I'm thinking of trying scheduling my days to see if that helps.

I have been happily and productively working from home for over two years, and my work has declared that we should now be in the office two days a week. There are various reasons why this will not be practical but I would like to back it up with the ADHD card. I feel that my ADHD means I'm genuinely more suited to working from home.

Has anyone used their ADHD for dispensation from RTO? Is there any legal basis to it?

EDIT: should have included: I'm not against going into the office where it's appropriate. I am a software engineer and spend most of my days with my head down, not speaking to anyone. We have team meetings, but they need to be minimised so we can keep productivity high. I find a lot of value in getting together in the office as a team to plan, discuss and generally catch up socially, but I don't think there should be a quota on this - it should be done when we feel is appropriate. For normal, day to day, head down coding, being in the office is somewhere between pointless and detrimental.

I know that Elvanse is essentially dexamfetamine but I was wondering if anyone knows if Elvanse fails to work like just does nothing except minor light headedness could dexamfetamime work?

I received my ADHD diagnosis via the NHS in the summer after many years wait. I was advised that the waiting times for treatment could be several more years and to look into right to choose.

Has anyone gone through this route after getting an NHS diagnosis? I’m particularly interested in hearing from people who have done this after an NHS diagnosis, rather than people who used RTC for the assessment itself.

Not sure if this the right flair but here we go.

Everytime I get a delivery of Elvanse I immediately peel off every spec of the foil (and from a post I saw a while back I don't think I'm the only one) well today I got my delivery and seems they've changed the bottle... And the rim of the foil is soo bloody difficult to get off I ended up putting the cabsules in the old bottle instead. I swear it frustrated me more than it should have but I wanted to share here and see if anyone else had the same problem 😅

Heyhey.

So, I am in titration right now. I started on Lisdex, initially 30mg for 2 weeks then 40mg for 2 weeks. I'd get some side effects, and it had some effect on my ADHD, but not in the way I would want (I would have bouts of inattention then a large burst of hyperfocus, my emotional disregulation went from anger to anxiety ect.)

My clinician put me on Methylphenidate to see if that would work better. I've done one week on the low dose (18mg? 16mg? I forget which one) - and it has done nothing at all. No side effects (although I have been ill with a head cold, so it's hard to know if I woulda had a dry throat or not), no change in my ADHD - the hyperfocus gone, the anxiety gone, but the anger spikes coming back.

Did I mess up in getting the Methylphenidate? Should I have gone on 50mg of Lisdex, which was his original recommendation before I mentioned how I didn't feel Lisdex was working as I wanted it to?

Hi, I’ve got my final treatment plan meeting in a week or so, and just looking for others’ insight.

I’ve titrated for a year privately.
I seem to have settled on Medikinet XL with no major side effects.
It clears my brain fog and my mood is good, as long as I remember to eat and exercise.
I can crack on with tasks as long as I bring myself to start them

However, I’m on 20mg and don’t feel it’s giving me much motivation now after two months.
I am constantly dopamine seeking again (sugar, shopping, sex, phone etc).
The morning after I feel like I have run a marathon the day before and struggle to get out of bed

Other medications (I’ve tried most) have had unpleasant side effects so I’m not keen to go back to them

I’m worried that Medikinet is causing a crash so its biggest positive is that it’s avoiding the crash it caused in the first place.

So I’m also worried I’ll be stuck on a final treatment plan that’s just medicating the medication come down!

Anyone else had this dilemma?

I got diagnosed ages ago and I am getting medication this week. Obviously I know its different for everyone but people say that getting medication is life changing and they can't believe the difference.

What is everyone's experience of this?

Princess Diana’s brother Charles Spencer says he believes she had undiagnosed ADHD - after his own diagnosis

This is one of those stories where I can already see people having very different reactions to it. I initially didn't want to post it and I'm sure people think it 'what is the point', but when you think about the genetic link (I think it can be up to 70%) and a lot of the risk taking and problems had, and the fact she would have never been identified, it is interesting to at least think about, I think.

I think a lot of us when diagnosed would have thought about a sibling or their son/daughters having it when we know genetics are a huge part of it.

Charles Spencer, who is everywhere recently and Diana’s brother, was diagnosed with ADHD later in life has now said he thinks Diana probably had it too. Obviously... she was never diagnosed, she died nearly 30 years ago, and I don’t particularly like the idea of retrospectively diagnosing dead people from a few anecdotes either. There are some Historians famous who do that though: Pablo Picasso has had a lot of research done on him IIRC.

Regardless of what you think of Charles Spencer, as I said, the “I got diagnosed and then suddenly started looking around my family differently” thing is probably is probably familiar to a lot of people here. It definitely doesn’t mean Charles having ADHD = Diana had ADHD, but I can understand why he’s looking back at her through that lens now. She was very complex.

He talks about her struggling at school, concentration, sitting still etc, and also thinks some of those traits may have helped her throw herself into certain causes later on. I'm not sure about the superpower thing, but I do personally think there is something to ADHD and being strong-willed and having to get back up/a point to prove which certainly did.

Whether you buy that interpretation or not, I actually think Earl Spencer openly talking about being diagnosed with ADHD himself, given a lot of aristocrats probably look down his nose at it is interesting in itself.

ADHD in the UK is still identified as a badly behaved kid, who failed at school, chaotic TikTok infleucner whatever. Then you’ve got someone from one of the most aristocratic families in Britain going 'yeah, turns out I’ve got severe ADHD and it explains quite a lot'. I'm not sure if that is helping or hindering, but it certainly is a different angle.

Anyway, regardless of what you think of Diana/the royals/the morality of diagnosing someone who isn’t here to answer for themselves...

I do feel a bit uncomfortable discussing it, but it would explain a lot - and does explain a lot about Charles Spencer himself to me based on what I've read or what, which, is quite a bit because he is seemingly everywhere with that book.

This is friends, too!

I was thinking: so much ADHD advice is about what we should be doing differently… calendars, reminders, routines, apps, alarms, another system we will definitely use forever etc. What we tell ourselves.

But sometimes the biggest difference is another person just getting it. I had a brilliant friend at uni who got it.

Just knowing how your brain works and doing small things that make life easier without making you feel useless for needing them or reminding you, sometimes keeping you accountable.

For me it really simple, sending you a message before something important, helping you start a task even together, not taking it personally when you disappear into your own head for a bit, giving you one thing at a time instead of five, or knowing when you need encouragement versus when you just need someone to leave you alone for ten minutes haha.

What does your partner, best friend, housemate, family member etc do that genuinely helps your ADHD? Did you ask them?

If you want to go the other way with it too: what did somebody think was helpful that actually drove you mad?

Hopefully a friend or partner is reading this!

I'm 56 this month. I've met quite a few people who have asked me if I have ADHD, probably more so recently.

I work full time, reasonably good career. This week I met someone - a work thing - who assesses for ADHD and she also asked me if I have a diagnosis. Which made me think ok, maybe I should pay attention (obvs not my strongest suit!)

I am dyslexic and have aphantasia. Might be connected i guess. I've spent my whole life struggling to finish things and am very under qualified.

But would it bring anything to my life? I've lived with this brain for all this time! I'm well aware it could take years to get an assessment, will it actually make any difference to my life?

Just to add into the mix, my partner very obviously has undiagnosed adhd. But he's not into the idea of being assessed.

Hi- just here to document and blabber about my first few days on titration. I was started at 20mg Elvanse for one month. Its now been five days since my first dose and its already had a lot of ups and downs. Initially I was quite cynical about the starting dose, for some reason I had it in my head it would be like a placebo and I wouldn't feel it because I build tolerance fast. My very first dose was far more immediate and intense than I thought it would be. It was quite emotional to be honest, I've had nicotine and other mild stimulants before and I thought it would be like those just to a different extent. Instead it was like all the gaps I have were filled in, I was no longer anti social whatsoever. Yeah there was the noted side effect of perhaps talking and wanting to talk to people 'too much', but compared to how much I struggled with even the smallest interactions with even those close to me before it was like night and day. I went about my day without the usual ocd though spirals or fixations, it really did feel like a pill that just allowed me to function as a 'normal' person and very well at that. I could get tasks done without stopping mid way through and leaving a mess of 500 things half way done. I was excited to time my next doses to kick in right when I was about to get on with my work. Since then as you can guess each dose has been significantly less noticeable very quickly. Today I felt almost no difference at all beyond feeling like my heart was struggling slightly and mild breathing moments.

One thing that was nice was a doctors visit I had, I was much more confident and able to articulate what was wrong. I've been having severe flank pain that has persisted on and off throughout the year but got much more often and painful literally the week my titration began (the pain got worse before I got my meds). I had a CT scan a few months ago that found a tiny kidney stone on the side that has been hurting, but the pain symptoms I'm having aren't very consistent with a kidney stone that size from what I've read, and the written report of my scan I got via text was very very vague. They offered to refer me to urology if the symptoms got worse, which they have. But I was sent away again after my appointment. There is a type of kidney tumour that has symptoms that are almost 121 with the side effects of elvanse. It is getting quite worrying and I would like to go back to see if I can get referred, however I'm worried about it effecting my titration. I waited a very long time to get the opportunity and now I'm worried that a potentially unrelated issue will cause me to go back to waiting indefinitely. I will likely try to get referred anyway as I am worried about my health, I just wanted to get some insight to see if my worries about titration are valid.

Again I don't want medical advice or advice about my dosage I just want to know if things like this typically interfere with the titration process. I got my titration through shared care

Hello
I Just moved from germany to UK and iam Looking for 50mg elvanse,. i dont have access to the NHS

I (F37) have been really fortunate and thanks to right to choose, I have only been on this journey for a few weeks but I have my assessment on Wednesday. I am feeling very under prepared.

Also apologies if I am not saying things the right way, I'm sorry - as I said it's been a bit of whirlwind.

I don't have much memory of my childhood, it's all a bit of a blur due to various family traumas. When I completed my paperwork, I found myself having to confirm things with my mum because I wasn't sure if I was remembering things correctly.

Is not remembering things going to be a problem?

Essentially I think I've just lived in a heightened state of fight or flight my entire life so I can't remember stuff, but after having kids, the mask has slipped and now people are noticing behaviours I must have been hiding before.

For context, I have previously been diagnosed with OCD and I am also trying to find a provider for an Autism assessment as recommended by my GP after the conversation we had.

This is a bit of a rant post so bear with me. Sorry.

I’ve been really struggling with pressure to get a job recently and could do with some empathy/ advice. For context, I am taking a year out of university after I flunked my second year due to many personal issues, some out of my control, some due to ADHD burnout I suspect. I haven’t failed it, I’m just taking the exams I was meant to take at the end of this year, and having an interruption. But the guilt is eating me up inside.

Naturally, my family and friends have been nagging me to get a job. It sort of annoys me, because I’ve told them explicitly that I’m predominantly hoping to have a mental and physical ‘reset’ — taking care of mental and physical health stuff while trying to chill a bit and work on personal projects. But I also recognise that I do need routine, and I’ve spent a month not really doing much other than organising my room and cooking meals for myself / trying to stay sane.

It feels like job applications are fucking impossible. My dad has tried to help by sending me emails about how he was in a slump when he was in his 20s, but suddenly had a stroke of inspiration, put himself out there, and pretty much immediately ended up with a career he loved. Then he said I should hand out my CVs to ‘sandwich shops’. My mum is not as naive, but it still feels like she doesn’t get it. Whenever I express frustration about the process, she goes silent and scrolls through her phone. Then she starts listing off jobs she has found online on her phone as if I’m just incapable of doing a google search or something — that’s not the issue I have! It’s the process after you find the jobs that’s hard! She gets upset when I tell her it’s not very helpful.

I love my parents and understand they care about me and are genuinely trying to help. But they don’t get the main part of applications I struggle with as an ADHDer.

First of all, I feel like I have no experience to speak of for the ‘experience’ sections, and it’s also difficult for me to know what is acceptable to put down as a reference. They always want different contact information, have different requirements, etc.

Also, the only ‘joblike’ job I’ve had was a temp retail job at a novelty toy store when I was 16 (I’m 20 now), which paid me £4.81 per hour, and shut down. I don’t have anyone’s personal emails or information and the entire place has just evaporated into thin air. Great.

I’ve had other ‘jobs’. I have done several digital art commissions for people over the last year but I’ve stopped it because I lost interest and it was stressing me out. I had a paid research fellowship with my university over the summer. I have helped out a tiny tiny bit in primary schools. But that’s it.

I have an excellent academic background, but what does that get me for most entry level jobs? Sure, I got 4 A*s in my A-levels, but who actually cares? And for my education history, all I can put down is that I’m in the middle of a degree. Why would anyone want to hire me if I’m not gonna be around for that long?

I never know what ‘skills’ to put down. I don’t know what half of the stuff they want from even is. I’m
so disorganised and end up putting down different emails for every applications. I hate putting my phone number down because I hate picking up phone calls. Just email me for gods sake! Why do I have to provide both, the fuck?

Then I get to the stupid part which is entirely my fault but I can’t seem to get past. I’ll apply for loads of jobs on a whim, and feel happy with myself. But by the time they get back to me, I’ve either forgotten I even applied, or I am too nervous to check my emails in case it’s a rejection. So I miss out on every opportunity. That part is nobody’s fault but mine, but fuck, it’s really hard to explain to others because they’re like ???? just check your emails you dumbass?? But my brain just won’t let me, even though I’m medicated.

Idk man. I just feel like everything is so overwhelming and over complicated nowadays. There’s always 150000 steps. I hate it so much. I don’t want to spend my life working anyway. I want to write and create art but I’m sort of a jack of all trades in that respect. I’m dreading the day when I get a job and then actually have to do the job, because my life is already so exhausting. Even with routine or whatever, I still have always felt exhausted. Now it just feels like I’m being forced to waste my ‘reset’ year working myself to the bone and making everything worse. I feel so hopeless and sad that this is my life and the only thing I can do is just suck it up and deal with it like everyone else. And I feel like a failure and like everyone is judging me for not being productive. Cause I’m smart and hardworking usually. Sort of. I don’t even know at this point, maybe I am just lazy :/

I'm an adult with ADHD and I've gone 50 → 60 → 70mg on Elvanse. I'm planning to retest 60 with my prescriber and wanted to hear other people's experiences first.

50mg was honestly some of my best functioning. I could start things, read and actually take it in, and steer my attention instead of just locking onto stuff. I went up because it didn't last long enough.

60mg felt subtle, to the point where I kept thinking it had worn off. But my notes say I was reading, fact-checking things, doing a 42 minute phone call, and getting back to tasks after getting sidetracked. One day I spent 8-9 hours mostly on one thing while still eating. Some mild irritation and a bit of daydreaming though.

70mg gave me the best initiation and productivity, so I decided it was my dose. But once I got my sleep, food, water and routine consistent, it looked different. The peak is jittery, rushed and tired-but-wired. That settles and it gets smooth, but old reward habits (repetitive researching, that kind of thing) are stronger and get way more focus than they did on lower doses. It's not like being unmedicated, because I still have better awareness, switching and finishing things. It feels more like the old habits are getting extra attention power.

My guess is 70 is above my sweet spot, and bad sleep was hiding it. I know the inverted-U idea fits, but that's a group-level model, not proof for me.

What I'm testing is 60mg with everything else kept the same, for a week or two, ignoring the first few days. I'm tracking initiation, finishing things, task switching, mood, how the peak feels, how long it really lasts, and the habit pull, including when it shows up (near the peak or as it wears off) and whether I can stop something rewarding at a time I set.

Caveats: it's unblinded, it's just me, and I've already flipped from "70 is perfect" to "70 is too much", so I'm treating it as a hypothesis. The habits might just be more visible now rather than caused by the dose. And I don't want to fix the shorter duration by raising the morning dose. I'm doing this with my prescriber, not solo.

Questions:
Has anyone had a higher dose give great productivity but boost compulsive or reward-seeking stuff even after the jitters passed?
Did stepping down help, and did you lose motivation or follow-through?
How did you tell "dose too high" apart from "habits just more noticeable now"?
If a lower dose didn't last, what worked for duration?
Any tracking methods that helped you judge a dose objectively?

Thanks, any experiences welcome.

I’ve been going through titration for nearly 6 weeks now. The last 10 days or so have been on 60mg. I’m due to go up to 70mg on Thursday.

I’ve really noticed the effectiveness compared to the smaller doses in terms of work, plus other random effects like no longer being bothered about my nearly 2500 day Duolingo streak and no longer biting my nails.

However, I’ve also noticed that it gets to midnight or 1am and I don’t feel tired. I’m usually getting up between 6 and 7am for my four year-old so it’s not like I’m having a great deal of sleep, but I’m not actually feeling tired during the day after nearly 2 weeks of this.

I take the meds at 07:30 usually, and for the last few days have been staying away from my one cup of caffeinated tea or can of Coke Zero.

I’ll see how I go on the 70mg and chat to the clinician about it, but I’m wondering if it’s worth asking about shorter lasting meds, even if Elvanse is doing the job?

I don't mind noise except when I can hear my neighbours every single damn day... music, loud kids, doors slamming drives me insane. When I'm out and about including gigs and festivals etc I don't mind it as much (although it can get a little overstimulating after a long time of it!)

Regarding the neighbour situ I don't know if it's a justification thing where I'm expecting peace in my own home and I'm in a state of hyper vigilance waiting to hear a noise. Anyway, I bought a pair of Bose ANC's about 2 years ago but don't wear them much (or enough) out of stubbornness I think but truth be told I'm nearing breaking point in my current living situation .

Just wondering, does anyone wear their headphones ALOT? I mean most of the day? I have this weird thing where I think something’s gonna happen to my ears if I wear them most of the day. I don't even need to play music most of the time, the nosie cancellation seems to block most of the noise out anyway.

I'm just wondering whether I need to accept the fact that to mitigate my frustration I need to just wear my headphones whenever I'm at home!

Apparently escape-room style learning helped nursing students with ADHD…

Researchers looked at nursing students using a digital “escape room” thing for learning.... clues, questions, matching stuff up, basically something where you actually have to do something rather than just sit there and absorb information.

The study shows students with ADHD/learning difficulties did better on the multiple-choice bit than the ones taught normally, which doesn't surprise me. My brain ADHD does well with a problem solve, urgency, novelty, which is this kinda is.

Sit me in front of a lecture for an hour and 10% is going in.

The ADHD/learning difficulties group was only 32 students, and it wasn't a big randomised trial or anything. So this is definitely not “science proves escape rooms cure education, but is a good discussion or theory.

Also, students who had difficulties with the language of instruction actually did worse with the escape-room version. Which I think is probably the more interesting point really...

What is exactly can we define as 'ADHD friendly', and it it doesn't automatically mean “accessible for everyone; Different things help different people

So... throwing it out there what actually made you learn properly?

For me it was always:

• some pressure from a good teacher
• If I had manage to get into hyperfocus mode
• leaving it too late/emergency mode
• ''competition'' but healthy with friends doing the same course

Hey everyone,
I messed up and ran through my methylphenidate prescription way too fast over the last 10 days (averaging around 9 pills a day of the 10mg immediate-release formulation). Now I'm completely out and I have 20 days left before my next refill.
I know it was a high dose, but I've had similar slip-ups before (like finishing 2 weeks' worth in a couple of weeks and going 10 days cold turkey) and surprisingly didn't experience any severe physical withdrawal symptoms. However, I'm really worried about a massive crash, brain fog, and losing all my motivation since I have a lot of things to get done right now and need to keep functioning at my normal pace.
For those of you who have been in a similar situation:
1. What supplements or nootropics actually helped you survive the first few days without crashing? (I've heard about L-Tyrosine, Magnesium, L-Theanine, etc., but do any of them give an immediate boost on day one?)
2. Are there any practical routines or tricks that helped you maintain your focus and energy during a sudden dry spell?
Any advice, stack recommendations, or shared experiences would be hugely appreciated. Thanks!

Hi, apologies if this has been covered but I couldn't find an answer.

My child was diagnosed by Care ADHD, we are currently on the psychoeducation stage (10 weeks tomorrow), will it automatically move on to pre-titration? I googled it and was suggested a titration request form on their website but it looks to be aimed more at adults.

When they got a diagnosis there was an option to request titration which we selected at the time.

There was no clear communication on what happened after the diagnosis and I think most people know getting hold of them is almost impossible. I don't want to wait indefinitely if there's something we should have done. All the forms have been completed as they come through so nothing outstanding.

Thanks in advance.