4 ms·

Drug holidays! One day a week or every 2 weeks for me. Make sure to get lots of vitamins and food during that time.

by heyoni 3y ago

Baeocystin 3y ago
Do you feel that they make a difference, in terms of tolerance resets? I've tried going no/low-dose on the weekends in the past, but I found it made me feel kind of resentful that I was saving my 'good' time for work.
- bratbag 3y ago
  That sounds like you have an unbalanced view of leisure time. Do what no-med you wants to do?
  - LoganDark 3y ago
    > Do what no-med you wants to do? One of the big problems with ADHD is usually that you can't complete personal goals and tasks because it's too much effort to switch to it. For example, hobby projects and such. ADHD sort of... disagrees with you over what it finds worth doing versus what you want to do. It can make you feel like you're not in control of your own body, and that can lead to dysphoria and depression, or at the very least intrusive thoughts that you're not doing something that you should be. For example, I've been working on an image upscaler for the past three weeks or so. Would I have been able to do that without my meds? Probably not. I will probably even end up finishing it soon. While I'm writing this comment (and indeed, while I hung out on HN all day today) I've been thinking of the work I'm not doing and then just... being okay with it, because I'm on my meds and I know I'll be able to get to it. I've even been making little steps throughout the day whenever I felt like a moment, but I'm not afraid to take breaks or do what I enjoy at the moment, because I know I have a choice. If I weren't on my meds... it'd be a different story. I'd be at the mercy of whatever my ADHD felt was worth doing, and it'd feel a lot less reassuring. Being medicated during leisure time is important, too.
    - Baeocystin 3y ago
      Thank you for saying it better than I would have. To folks reading this who don't have ADHD- none of this is hyperbole or exaggeration. It can be a maddening condition to live with.
- heyoni 3y ago
  Yea it really does. I personally only need like 1 day every 2 weeks to reset to a good level…mind you, it never goes back to that euphoric beginning but that’s also ok. To be totally transparent however, there are a lot of other things I do because I’ve learned that they contribute essentially to my medication working and I waited to respond to give you a full response. Exercise is one. I don’t need a lot of it, I always try to get it done before taking medication that day and it’s a mix of long distance running and personal training. I know the latter is very expensive so if I had to recommend an alternative, I would say something like p90x is good. Great even. It’s almost a full hour of working out, full body, cardio mixed with weights, never very heavy either…you really feel like you did something afterwards. Make sure to follow that up with a day at a lower dosage or no dosage if the medication is murdering your appetite. I think part of the rest medications don’t always work is honestly lack of glycogen from reduced appetite. Or the inability to use it? We’re entering bro science here for sure. Besides breaks and exercise I find that some supplements work really well and become necessary to balance the whole experience out. A lot of people will recommend magnesium (glycinate for better absorption). I take it in the form of ZMA (with zinc), alongside it tyrosine seems to really help, fish oil, b complex (to make up for bad appetite) and recently added this other mixture of citrulline, arginine and dipotassium phosphate (6% dv/serving). That last one is supposed to improve circulation and the potassium I find helps me relax. Takes the edge off of the medication. Besides that, pay close attention to the side effects. Eating a big meal almost always has a positive effect on me. If I’m not thermoregulating well I look at circulation and exercise. I’ve been monitoring my blood glucose levels too and they seem ok throughout the day but sometimes I wake up at I get readings of 100 (forget the unit here, ng/dl?) so I’ll talk to my doctor about that. Let me know if you have any questions about anything here. I’m more than happy to answer them. I know how hard it can be to take such an effective yet punishing medication.
  - Baeocystin 3y ago
    I appreciate your response, and it's interesting to me that we've come to many of the same conclusions. Exercise has always felt good for me, but it became an absolutely necessity once I started taking ritalin. I took up rowing (it's a great full-body workout) and it's been a boon for my general health. I also take magnesium (threonate, in my case), although I did that initially to help prevent migraines, along with fish oil, zinc & B vitamins. I have not tried citrulline, arginine, or dipotassium phosphate. What benefits would you say those provide?

Drug holidays! One day a week or every 2 weeks for me. Make sure to get lots of vitamins and food during that time.

by heyoni 3y ago

Drug holidays! One day a week or every 2 weeks for me. Make sure to get lots of vitamins and food during that time.

Do you feel that they make a difference, in terms of tolerance resets? I've tried going no/low-dose on the weekends in the past, but I found it made me feel kind of resentful that I was saving my 'good' time for work.

bratbag 3y ago
That sounds like you have an unbalanced view of leisure time. Do what no-med you wants to do?
- LoganDark 3y ago
  > Do what no-med you wants to do? One of the big problems with ADHD is usually that you can't complete personal goals and tasks because it's too much effort to switch to it. For example, hobby projects and such. ADHD sort of... disagrees with you over what it finds worth doing versus what you want to do. It can make you feel like you're not in control of your own body, and that can lead to dysphoria and depression, or at the very least intrusive thoughts that you're not doing something that you should be. For example, I've been working on an image upscaler for the past three weeks or so. Would I have been able to do that without my meds? Probably not. I will probably even end up finishing it soon. While I'm writing this comment (and indeed, while I hung out on HN all day today) I've been thinking of the work I'm not doing and then just... being okay with it, because I'm on my meds and I know I'll be able to get to it. I've even been making little steps throughout the day whenever I felt like a moment, but I'm not afraid to take breaks or do what I enjoy at the moment, because I know I have a choice. If I weren't on my meds... it'd be a different story. I'd be at the mercy of whatever my ADHD felt was worth doing, and it'd feel a lot less reassuring. Being medicated during leisure time is important, too.
  - Baeocystin 3y ago
    Thank you for saying it better than I would have. To folks reading this who don't have ADHD- none of this is hyperbole or exaggeration. It can be a maddening condition to live with.
heyoni 3y ago
Yea it really does. I personally only need like 1 day every 2 weeks to reset to a good level…mind you, it never goes back to that euphoric beginning but that’s also ok. To be totally transparent however, there are a lot of other things I do because I’ve learned that they contribute essentially to my medication working and I waited to respond to give you a full response. Exercise is one. I don’t need a lot of it, I always try to get it done before taking medication that day and it’s a mix of long distance running and personal training. I know the latter is very expensive so if I had to recommend an alternative, I would say something like p90x is good. Great even. It’s almost a full hour of working out, full body, cardio mixed with weights, never very heavy either…you really feel like you did something afterwards. Make sure to follow that up with a day at a lower dosage or no dosage if the medication is murdering your appetite. I think part of the rest medications don’t always work is honestly lack of glycogen from reduced appetite. Or the inability to use it? We’re entering bro science here for sure. Besides breaks and exercise I find that some supplements work really well and become necessary to balance the whole experience out. A lot of people will recommend magnesium (glycinate for better absorption). I take it in the form of ZMA (with zinc), alongside it tyrosine seems to really help, fish oil, b complex (to make up for bad appetite) and recently added this other mixture of citrulline, arginine and dipotassium phosphate (6% dv/serving). That last one is supposed to improve circulation and the potassium I find helps me relax. Takes the edge off of the medication. Besides that, pay close attention to the side effects. Eating a big meal almost always has a positive effect on me. If I’m not thermoregulating well I look at circulation and exercise. I’ve been monitoring my blood glucose levels too and they seem ok throughout the day but sometimes I wake up at I get readings of 100 (forget the unit here, ng/dl?) so I’ll talk to my doctor about that. Let me know if you have any questions about anything here. I’m more than happy to answer them. I know how hard it can be to take such an effective yet punishing medication.
- Baeocystin 3y ago
  I appreciate your response, and it's interesting to me that we've come to many of the same conclusions. Exercise has always felt good for me, but it became an absolutely necessity once I started taking ritalin. I took up rowing (it's a great full-body workout) and it's been a boon for my general health. I also take magnesium (threonate, in my case), although I did that initially to help prevent migraines, along with fish oil, zinc & B vitamins. I have not tried citrulline, arginine, or dipotassium phosphate. What benefits would you say those provide?