After 28 years of living with undiagnosed adhd I finally got an appointment and started adderall last month. Immediate effects, I feel like every day is my most productive day from before. Drinking a lot less and able to get up in the morning. A big part in finally doing something about it was based on comments and posts on hexbear, so a huge thank you to everyone for that.
But after a few weeks of taking it I’m taking stock of the side effects. How do you guys remember to eat enough, make sure your tolerance doesn’t increase too much? I’m also getting headaches at the end of the day as it wears off, so wondering about any tips for that too. I’m gonna be talking to my doctor about this next visit of course, but thought some anecdotes might be good to hear about.
:heart-sickle:
So I would do some research on what symptoms are, what kind of things are typical, and how that relates to your experience. There’s a classic and somewhat dated book called Driven to Distraction my doctor recommended - great read if you keep in mind it was written by a middle aged white guy in the 90s. Also an audiobook because how can you expect any of us to have the attention to read lol.
But yeah if you think you fit the bill basically make a psychiatrist appointment which might require a referral from your/a regular doctor. The worst thing you can do is wait, especially since ADHD weaponizes procrastination against you. From there they’ll basically evaluate you asking questions about your life.
The two main things I think that are looked for include: are these symptoms present in more than two situations (home, work, etc) and were they present before the age of 12(?). That’s a big way to determine whether it’s ADHD or something else, a lot of other medical issues can have some similarities apparently, like hyperthyroidism.