I experienced a bunch of side-effects that pretty much all disappeared after the first ten days. I read online that they cleared up for most people, sometimes taking a month. The only side effect I have now is an increased heart rate approximately 15bpm but it’s still considered in the normal range and exercising helps. I feel slightly less able to focus after a couple of months of taking it, but I’m definitely a lot more productive than I was before so it might just be my perception of the effectiveness. Emotional regulation was my biggest ADHD issue and atomoxetine helped a lot in this area and it’s effective all day long so that was a big plus for me.

I’ve been extremely lucky and get virtually no side effects after the initial first few weeks, which weren’t fun but still better than a lot of people. I can take atomoxetine on an empty stomache but I’ve heard many people like OP who can’t. Since I didn’t get any nausea in the initial period, I chanced it on an empty stomach and that’s the way I take it now.

I also had never experienced runner’s high until I added extremely light runs. My regular runs would usually leave me tired so I thought that I didn’t experience them like other people. I don’t remember exactly why, I think it was I need to hit a higher mileage threshold, so I started trying to get any extra miles in anytime I could, including a light jog anywhere I needed to go. That’s when I finally experienced it. For me, key to the runner’s high was the runs that got my heart rate into zone 2-3 (approx. 60-75% max HR) but importantly weren’t long runs which would tire me out. Tiredness is a big trigger for me to feel shitty so I think that’s why I never had the feel goods after the runs.

Reading the picture from right to left makes it so satisfying.

Shoes are my biggest cost. I only buy when they are on deep discount but I’m always on the lookout. I always end up paying the most if I wait too long to buy when I don’t have the luxury to wait. The biggest sales are usually on the older models and I embrace the ugly colors.

That's really disheartening. My blood pressure bounces between prehypertension and stage 1 hypertension so I have to be mindful of how my choices affect it, otherwise I'll just have another medication I need to take.

It sounds like your doctor is being careful but a quick search looks like there should be some options to take both Vyvanse and a beta blocker. It's possible your doctor just wants a baseline BP off of Vyvanse first, before reintroducing it.

I also find motivation something that takes work. One strategy I use is to write down before bed one big thing I want to accomplish the next day and just a few small ones as well. By keeping the list very small I find it much more doable and everything I accomplish after is just icing on the cake if i'm feeling good about it.

For tasks I find difficult to start, first asking myself why I'm doing it and then using Chat GPT to help me break down the task into clear and manageable actions helps a lot. If I can get a first easy action done, the next comes much more smoothly. And the great thing is that if any action seems daunting, I just ask the AI to help make it more manageable. If I still feel like it's not enough and the outcome is important to me, then I ask my partner (or an accountability buddy) for a little help and tell them the next action that's holding me back. It ain't perfect but i've found chatGPT or Bingchat a big help in organizing and defining unclear tasks. I am careful though of not using it with sensitive or personal info. I figure anything being prompted could end up as public info and is definitely will be data mined.

I made an effort every year or so to cull any subreddits with a lot of negativity. All the supportive communities that were important to me also have doppelganger communities here on Lemmy that i'm now subscribed to. I like the positivity on this platform better anyway so getting rid of reddit will just make my life better.

So true about the hallucinations. I'll use bing chat if i'm looking for accuracy and I use chatgpt for most things that i'm brainstorming, can't get started, or if I want to save time.

How does 3.5 compare? From the times i've remembered to use it, it's a huge help. My problem is I just often don't get started unless there's imminent consequences.