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In your experience does the medication get more effective if you can find ways to work with it? I've been trying to make it work for a while now and it seems li

In your experience does the medication get more effective if you can find ways to work with it? I've been trying to make it work for a while now and it seems like it either does nothing or makes me lock on to some random tangential (usually useless) task I'm near when it kicks in. Really not getting a quieting like with caffeine, which has been disappointing.

xyzzy_plugh 5y ago
Have a plan before the start of each day, drink lots of water, exercise, eat, get plenty of rest. Maybe take a day or two off meds over the weekend, if it's burning you out. It's tough to get into a groove and don't last long enough but if your force yourself to do these things you can find a rhythm for a time and that's the best I've found.
gregoryl 5y ago
Its a tool. You need to be self aware enough to take the meds, and then consciously engage with tasks that you want to get done - this wont be a skill you have developed, as its likely never been possible/effective previously. You can, when medicated, actually consider what you need to get done, and then decide to act on those tasks. You can also set timers/alarms to timebox tasks, and reign in hyper focus - it should be relatively easy to change tasks with the alarm interruption (vs. unmediated, where I find it practically impossible to move to any new task).
TechBro8615 5y ago
I’ve gone multiple years on medication, followed by years off it and then back on again. In aggregate I’d say it’s a wash, but the benefits of each phase are different. In terms of raw productivity, it can definitely make things worse (like the comment I replied to). Or at least, it can replace one problem with another – suddenly your creativity is gone and your hyperfocus is completely misdirected. Personally I’ve sought out the (re-)diagnosis at times when I felt creativity was less of a priority than execution. If you know exactly what you need to do and can commit to it, the pills can help keep you on track. But they are not the original source of the commitment. I’m honestly not sure whether it’s worth it, but the dopamine it releases sure does its best to convince me that it is.
tikhonj 5y ago
When I first started working with my psychiatrist, she had me try several different stimulants and I found that the effect was surprisingly different for different formulations. My experience with a generic for Ritalin was a lot like what you described, but my experience with dextroamphetamine was totally different: it does quiet my mind down and I don't get pulled into hyperfocus nearly as much. The subjective feeling was different too; I'm not sure how to describe it, but the dextroamphetamine just felt softer. I've found that the effects change massively with sleep quality. When I'm short on sleep for a few nights, it almost feels like the medication stops working. It still has an effect—I am noticeably more clumsy and forgetful without it—but it feels different and the higher-order effect on focus or executive function is less pronounced. Another thing I've heard is that protein in the morning helps. I've tried drinking a protein shake for breakfast and it seems to make the day better in general, but with a much smaller effect than sleep quality. For all I know, it might just have been the case that I only remembered to have breakfast on days when I had slept well...
andi999 5y ago
This sounds like the meds dont work (for you). Try different ones, if they do not help much then depending on how clearcut the diagnosis was, consider that it might have been misdiagnosed.

xyzzy_plugh 5y ago

Have a plan before the start of each day, drink lots of water, exercise, eat, get plenty of rest. Maybe take a day or two off meds over the weekend, if it's burning you out. It's tough to get into a groove and don't last long enough but if your force yourself to do these things you can find a rhythm for a time and that's the best I've found.

gregoryl 5y ago

Its a tool. You need to be self aware enough to take the meds, and then consciously engage with tasks that you want to get done - this wont be a skill you have developed, as its likely never been possible/effective previously. You can, when medicated, actually consider what you need to get done, and then decide to act on those tasks. You can also set timers/alarms to timebox tasks, and reign in hyper focus - it should be relatively easy to change tasks with the alarm interruption (vs. unmediated, where I find it practically impossible to move to any new task).

TechBro8615 5y ago

I’ve gone multiple years on medication, followed by years off it and then back on again. In aggregate I’d say it’s a wash, but the benefits of each phase are different. In terms of raw productivity, it can definitely make things worse (like the comment I replied to). Or at least, it can replace one problem with another – suddenly your creativity is gone and your hyperfocus is completely misdirected. Personally I’ve sought out the (re-)diagnosis at times when I felt creativity was less of a priority than execution. If you know exactly what you need to do and can commit to it, the pills can help keep you on track. But they are not the original source of the commitment. I’m honestly not sure whether it’s worth it, but the dopamine it releases sure does its best to convince me that it is.

tikhonj 5y ago

When I first started working with my psychiatrist, she had me try several different stimulants and I found that the effect was surprisingly different for different formulations. My experience with a generic for Ritalin was a lot like what you described, but my experience with dextroamphetamine was totally different: it does quiet my mind down and I don't get pulled into hyperfocus nearly as much. The subjective feeling was different too; I'm not sure how to describe it, but the dextroamphetamine just felt softer. I've found that the effects change massively with sleep quality. When I'm short on sleep for a few nights, it almost feels like the medication stops working. It still has an effect—I am noticeably more clumsy and forgetful without it—but it feels different and the higher-order effect on focus or executive function is less pronounced. Another thing I've heard is that protein in the morning helps. I've tried drinking a protein shake for breakfast and it seems to make the day better in general, but with a much smaller effect than sleep quality. For all I know, it might just have been the case that I only remembered to have breakfast on days when I had slept well...

andi999 5y ago

This sounds like the meds dont work (for you). Try different ones, if they do not help much then depending on how clearcut the diagnosis was, consider that it might have been misdiagnosed.