Did you kNoW?

Stimulants affect people with ADHD differently because our brains are not processing the naturally produced dopamine as effectively as a neurotypical brain would. The stimulant helps boost us to a 'normal' feeling level.

This is why when a neurotypical person takes ADHD medication they have extreme bursts of productivity and write their thesis in one night or I dunno remodel their house, while an ADHD person might just take them and be like 'Hooray I managed to wash my clothes and hang them up in the same day!'

Jokes on them though, because I can drink coffee at 11pm and sleep right after. Take that society.

Hello hi, my new adhd medication is definitely working and I don’t know what to do with myself because I’ve done multiple chores and have 15 minutes to kill before work but no tasks to do. This is an interesting dilemma

Medicated ADHDers, I need someone to relate to me. When I take my meds during the weekend I'm efficient and can do Weekend Tasks (Vacumming etc). BUT.

Once I'm done with my tasks my brain still wants me to be efficient. So I sit here and watch videos buy my brain is persuaded I need to Do Stuff (that isn't having fun) and it's so fucking exhausting.

So I either take the meds and Do the Tasks (which I must because I don't live alone) and then stress about Not Doing More Tasks,

Or I don't take the meds and I stress about Not Doing The Tasks.

In any way I don't actually rest. Uh maybe taking the meds at noon instead of in the morning would let me rest more ? But I'd have to remember to do that, and only during the weekends.

My favorite part about being someone who is medicated for ADHD is what I like to call the "Oh shit I'm over here now!" effect; wherein you realize that you need to do task x and proceed to, as usual, spend a few minutes thinking about how much you would like to get up and address task x, only to realize that you are no longer sittind and instead are now currently standing at the location of task x and are midway through its execution. Optionally, this realization can be followed by a silent or verbal exclamation of, as you may have guessed, "Oh Shit! I'm over here now!". Truly wizardry.

I was so scared that when I started taking Ritalin I’d lose my sense of self and become too different of a person, but in reality I’m still the same me I can just focus better. I’d even say I’m more me because now I can actually spend time functioning properly and doing things I enjoy.

The other day I told a friend of mine that I never forget to take my ADHD meds because I fucking love my ADHD meds. I'm in my late 30s, I didn't finally get a diagnosis and meds until less than two years ago, and they have changed my entire life.

And he raised his eyebrow at me. We'd been discussing addictive medications a few minutes before, like the Tramadol I finally got from the pain specialist to take once a week or so to give me a break from my chronic pain, so I reassured him that methylpenidate (Ritalin/Concerta) is not addictive (at least not in people with ADHD).

His response? To raise his eyebrow even harder and say "Well it sure SOUNDS like it's addictive!"

And I had to explain to this man - who works in a healthcare related job by the way - that just because medication makes you feel good and helps you, just because you look forward to taking it, that doesn't make it addictive or dangerous. And he wasn't convinced.

The simple fact that I was excited to take a daily pill that has literally changed my life, after decades of fighting to get that medication, made him think I shouldn't be taking it so often. That it must inherently be dangerous.

I'm not even in America, but I'm pretty sure this attitude began there and then spread over here to Europe. This Puritan idea of "if something feels good, you must beware of it. Pleasure is dangerous, it is sinful, it is addiction, it is evil."

I know too many people who subconsciously believe that pleasure = addictive = dangerous = bad. Joy is a slippery slope to hell.

So here is your reminder for today that you don't need to be afraid of feeling good. If something improves your life, use it. Even if it is addictive - learn what that addiction means, whether the addiction is inherently dangerous or not, and whether the benefits outweigh the drawbacks and risks.

My ADHD meds are, in fact, not addictive. But I will take them every day because they make my life orders of magnitude easier. I will enjoy them every time I take them.

My tramadol is addictive. I will still take it. I will keep it on a schedule to avoid becoming addicted, primarily because addiction in this case would mean reduced effectiveness. But I am not afraid of my painkillers. They are life changing.

Take your meds, everyone. Don't let anyone scare you away from doing something that improves your life.

because sometimes there are invisible tests and invisible rules and you're just supposed to ... know the rule. someone you thought of as a friend asks you for book recommendations, so you give her a list of like 30 books, each with a brief blurb and why you like it. later, you find out she screenshotted the list and send it out to a group chat with the note: what an absolute freak can you believe this. you saw the responses: emojis where people are rolling over laughing. too much and obsessive and actually kind of creepy in the comments. you thought you'd been doing the right thing. she'd asked, right? an invisible rule: this is what happens when you get too excited.

you aren't supposed to laugh at your own jokes, so you don't, but then you're too serious. you're not supposed to be too loud, but then people say you're too quiet. you aren't supposed to get passionate about things, but then you're shy, boring. you aren't supposed to talk too much, but then people are mad when you're not good at replying.

you fold yourself into a prettier paper crane. since you never know what is "selfish" and what is "charity," you give yourself over, fully. you'd rather be empty and over-generous - you'd rather eat your own boundaries than have even one person believe that you're mean. since you don't know what the thing is that will make them hate you, you simply scrub yourself clean of any form of roughness. if you are perfect and smiling and funny, they can love you. if you are always there for them and never admit what's happening and never mention your past and never make them uncomfortable - you can make up for it. you can earn it.

don't fuck up. they're all testing you, always. they're tolerating you. whatever secret club happened, over a summer somewhere - during some activity you didn't get to attend - everyone else just... figured it out. like they got some kind of award or examination that allowed them to know how-to-be-normal. how to fit. and for the rest of your life, you've been playing catch-up. you've been trying to prove that - haha! you get it! that the joke they're telling, the people they are, the manual they got- yeah, you've totally read it.

if you can just divide yourself in two - the lovable one, and the one that is you - you can do this. you can walk the line. they can laugh and accept you. if you are always-balanced, never burdensome, a delight to have in class, champagne and glittering and never gawky or florescent or god-forbid cringe: you can get away with it.

you stare at your therapist, whom you can make jokes with, and who laughs at your jokes, because you are so fucking good at people-pleasing. you smile at her, and she asks you how you're doing, and you automatically say i'm good, thanks, how are you? while the answer swims somewhere in your little lizard brain:

how long have you been doing this now? mastering the art of your body and mind like you're piloting a puppet. has it worked? what do you mean that all you feel is... just exhausted. pick yourself up, the tightrope has no net. after all, you're cheating, somehow, but nobody seems to know you actually flunked the test. it's working!

aren't you happy yet?

pls reblog for sample size etc

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That double edged sword of getting medicated and being less stressed but then realising that the stress hormone was what was running the show most of your life and having to relearn how to function on happy chemicals rather than anxiety and worry.

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is planning on changing their regulations for telehealth prescriptions of controlled substances. However, they have opened comments up for people to voice their opinions. You can submit a formal anonymous comment HERE. The comment period ends on March 31st, 2023.

This is an important issue for those who are prescribed controlled substances (e.g., testosterone or ADHD medication) through telehealth, which means it can and will impact trans people on testosterone and a ton of others if this goes through.

They don’t want us medicated (“do you want to be dependent on that for the rest of your life?”), they don’t want us unmedicated (“please stop doing xyz, why can’t you do abc?”), they just want us to stop being neurodivergent.

Getting some indoor winter sun! :0

More pics ♡