Hazel-Quercus 🟡⚪🟣⚫Aug 27, 2025

#ADHD ers: please help with an open-ended question regarding medication. Looking for advice based on people's own personal experience, not 'studies have shown'. I would love for a few people to share their personal experience of being on a stimulant for the first time, especially as an adult. For some reason I'm really nervous about taking it for the first time, I think because I have so many other chronic health issues, particularly chronic pain, and I'm really really really hoping this helps me. All of my other health problems have resisted treatment for 15 years so I have a lot of trepidation around having tried dozens and dozens of ineffective treatments.

I don't know exactly what my question is, besides 'what should I expect?' A big part of my problem is that I always attributed my functional difficulties to how poorly I felt, but I'm feeling a little hopeful that maybe the reverse might be true, that my difficulty functioning has caused me extreme stress that has led to my feeling so poorly. Has anyone had a similar experience? I would love to hear about (hopefully success, but be honest) stories of how treating ADHD with medication has intersected with other health conditions. Do you have any advice about navigating these early stages, particularly dealing with side-effects, navigating with practictioners, sleep interactions, and finding the right medication/ dose?

I'm looking for advice based on personal experience, not on 'studies have shown'. Thank you!

#disability #chronicPain #AskFedi #AuDHD #ActuallyAutistic #Boost4Reach #fibromyalgia

Show threadAydanAug 28, 2025

@coppercrush I don't know anything about chronic pain, but maybe this will address something anyway.

Personally I've found that long and short acting dex' lowers/removes feelings of anxiety for me about things in general. At first I thought it was just for task-related stress, but I've also found myself less scared of spiders and the dark.

Before I started, I was worried that it would "change" me in some way, but what I found was I felt able to go and do things I was thinking about, removing barriers to action, but also I could still choose to "waste time" and "procrastinate" if i want, it's just an actual choice now.

Show threadHazel-Quercus 🟡⚪🟣⚫Aug 28, 2025
@cxxvii thats facinating about how it interacted with other fears. my big wonder, that a couple people alluded to, is whether it could help me sleep because I just can't get my thoughts to stop going at night and last night, after first day on them, my mind was quieter. i like how you framed it as a choice <3
Show threadAydanAug 29, 2025

@coppercrush Thanx  My main problems with sleep tend to be that I just do something other than sleeping, so meds are neutral for that, but I've defintely heard that if racing thoughts are the problem, they can help.

Also, on the topic of racing thoughts, I think the biggest negative I had early in starting meds was sometimes being overwhelmed by the lack of racing thoughts. When the anti-anxiety effects were wearing off, I could feel slightly disconnected bc I wasn't used to not having them. But that absolutely could just be a me thing.

Brain is wierd. :P

Good luck with your meds!

Show threadHazel-Quercus 🟡⚪🟣⚫
@cxxvii brain is weird :)
Aug 29, 2025 at 10:57pmWeb