I switched to Dvorak years ago. Did it while working a programming job, it took me 3 days to type at the speed where I could keep up on IRC without the slowness

I switched to Dvorak years ago. Did it while working a programming job, it took me 3 days to type at the speed where I could keep up on IRC without the slowness being insufferable, 3 weeks for "this is ok but slow", and 3 months to fully transition. So you might have abandoned it too soon.