How ADHD Medication Changed My Life: 2 Years on Vyvanse (Elvanse)

I've been on ADHD medication for 2 years this month and I think it's time for another update I've previously shared how I felt on my first day 2 months in 10 months in a year in and recently when I started to worry whether or not the effects might be wearing off so we'll talk about that and everything else that has changed over the last two years like my focus motivation self-control eating habits emotions and by the end you'll know both what to expect from long-term medication usage and what my best devices to enhance the effects and duration of it but first let's talk about the dose I've been on the 50 mgram version of viance every day for the past year and a half started with 30 it stopped being effective like a month or two later they up my dose I was in between for a while and now I've been worried whether this one would stop working ever since the goal of taking the meds daily was just to create this Baseline level of functioning that I could rely on consistently and viance has been my life boat so far with great benefits in fact which we will talk about in a moment but I just want to address some of the side effects and concerns I have first cuz those are real too and I had quite a few to begin with like a week or so of heart Publications and forgetting to eat until my stomach started to hurt a month or two of sleeping bad and having insomnia a month or two of afternoon energy crashes likely because of the sleep thing and 8 to 10 months of emotional episodes around around the time that the meds would start to wear off like I just get a sudden surge of energy that I'd have to consume in a healthy way like for a jog or something otherwise I'd probably unleash it on my husband let's be honest it's just that the body needs to adjust and feel better physiologically and while my side effects weren't too bad some people can't deal with the side effects that they get and that is completely understandable because there are things I've read about like acute hair loss and headaches and very bad teeth grinding and that's a possibility too so just be aware of that if something's not right speak to your doctor hopefully they'll know what to do but that was all in the first year the past year really has been great for me nothing has resurfaced and the only side effects I've had were from not taking my medication like going on massive binges or having 10 times the thoughts and ideas that I usually have but that's only because I accidentally forgot my medication because if you plan for it you can take precautions and things can go much smoother but if you don't anyway let's talk about the actual effects now how they felt in the beginning versus how they feel now cuz as I said I have noticed some changes in the effectiveness and that got me worried no that is an understatement it got me panicked I talk a lot more about it in this video here I look at some of the science too you can watch it later I will remind you at the end of this let's just look at some of the changes for now starting with sleep cuz initially that was really bad and then two months and the side effects were off and it was really good again I had this surge of energy that woke me up in the morning and helped me start the day so I felt sleepy on time because I had spent the day in a productive way and that really helped me create a routine that I'm still maintaining today so 6:00 a.m. I get up and around 10:00 p.m. I go to bed 95% of the time for probably a year and a half now and that has helped me organize the rest of my life so much better as well except I don't feel the energy surge anymore so I drink coffee I take longer to wake up I'm really really careful to keep up my routine I mean so much so that I made a whole course about it cuz that's how invested I am and how much of a difference the morning routine makes it's just a much more intentional process these days in general and same thing with falling asleep so next energy levels I wanted to mention this separately CU it's not just the mornings that felt easier initially it was the whole day you get this surge of motivation and energy and in the beginning it lasts around 6 7 hours in the afternoon you can still feel it but then it becomes less and less and now it's mostly just focus so to activate and tap into that feeling you have to change things up a bit like take a walk do a workout perform some kind of focusing ritual and that way you can tap into it still at least it's not completely gone so exercise like I said it doesn't come naturally anymore but it's okay cuz while the motivation and energy were great to begin with the crucial thing for me really was the establishing of that Baseline that reliable level of executive functioning that I could always fall back on and that is what actually helped me stay active for the past few years to lose weight to keep it off to build muscle to improve my cardio my sleep my breathing with the right strategy and a baseline just you can do so much and I talk all about it like how to start exercising how to stick to it how to develop a healthy mindset around it everything as well as my experience over the last few years with exercising and this video here but I will also remind you to watch it at the end so don't go yet let's talk about [Music] diet so initially this was the best I stopped snacking and feeling hungry between meals I stopped overeating I lost weight and I loved it especially because snacking and overeating have always been a huge struggle for me and I tried a million things to no success in the past had basically resorted to just never ever buying snacks or not having them in my house or around me and suffering or creating very small portions to begin with because in the moment I could never control myself so it was nice to just not have to deal with it all by myself for once to just have it happen naturally and not constantly have to think about it but after a while my Hunger returned to normal not ADHD normal but what I believe is probably neurotypical normal normal I still don't snack or overeat as much and even though I get hungry regularly and eat regularly I can stop eating before I overeat so there's still a huge difference like if you put a cookie on the table I won't eat it unless I want to and that was Unthinkable for me before so I'd still rate this effect a 10 out of 10 because the alternative was excruciating moving on to social skills and relationships cuz those are super difficult like there's a 100 billion ways to up social interactions unintentionally and be misunderstood the meds changed that for me at least at first they gave me this second thing before acting on my emotions without even trying like with eating just it happened automatically which is how I imagine neurotypical people do it like the think before you act kind of thing I didn't react instantly I could use all of my therapy skills and logic to analyze things and I saw a lot of improvement people took things better and understood me they weren't as confused or mad about things I could express myself so much better and now sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't it really depends on how much energy and focus I have in me but I do have more awareness in general cuz I was finally able to see how my thinking I'm my reactions affect other people for once with actual clarity as if from third person and that left a mark on me I realized that even though things felt a certain way from my perspective it is completely understandable to react the way that people did sometimes and that still helps me to this day so when I have the energy I use all that knowledge and I do well when I don't I try to recharge or at least give a disclaimer that I might react a little bit different that day in advance next mood and mental health I wanted to touch on this because stimulants are obviously mood boosters as well and people expect to feel a bit better from taking them it didn't happen for me it does happen for others for sure but might just be a woman thing with all the hormones and the PMS that gets in the weight I don't know it's just hard for me to establish a Baseline in terms of mood specifically like I still PMS I still hate everything sometimes I get angry I get sad I get frustrated but at least that's where the ADHD coaching and therapy really shines understanding your struggles and emotions helps you reframe them unmask and be kind to yourself so I don't blame myself for it I don't make decisions or trust my emotions when things feel really bad and I just notice that I'm distraught I mostly kind of take a step back and let things pass naturally and that has been amazing as well and now let's talk about productivity so Focus organization time management performance decision making work things which is probably what you were waiting to hear about from the beginning It's usually the first problem that people think about when you say ADHD and it's the first thing that most of us think that will fix when we have medication but I intentionally wanted to talk about it a bit later in the video because everything else that we've mentioned so far has a massive effect on how these work things play out like if you've been stuck on the couch for two weeks and not sleeping well cuz you had a falling out with a loved one you're not going to plan your day you're not going to time block but maybe a gump point or if your boss was standing right there or something but you know what I mean you can first and then comes to work everything else is impossibly hard so like the other positive effects this one came almost naturally in the beginning around the first year now it's not like that so much now I rely on all the self-awareness strategy coping mechanisms and support that I can gather to keep doing what I do regularly in a healthy way and without burning out for like 3 months and then burning outfit is what is actually different now cuz I knew what to do before the meds but I needed this Baseline to keep doing it without falling into extreme sometimes the difference is the Baseline cuz if your days are more compartible it's easier to see what's different on a given day and what tool or strategy will best help you fix that it's easier to rely on your routine your calendar your timer and to say I will stop working now I will go to bed on time I will take a shame free rest day off because you know that you will come back tomorrow you've done it already multiple times and that is freedom that's where I'm at 2 years in I feel really good so reminder to watch the does adg medication stop working video right here or to learn about how to exercise consistently when you have ADHD right here both both of these topics super important and you'll get tons of value from them so go have a look

Channel: Antonia's Universe

Views: 19,011

Keywords: adhd medication, adhd medication side effects, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, add, adhd treatment, adult adhd, vyvanse, stimulants, adhd medication reviews, adhd medication side effects adults, what is adhd medication like, adhd medication rebound, side effects of adhd medication, should i take adhd medication, how to adhd, methylphenidate, ritalin, adderall, concerta, strattera, focus, add medication, stimulant medication, how to manage adhd, elvanse, vyvanse experience, sleep

Id: r4QRWtxCSAM

Length: 12min 6sec (726 seconds)

Published: Wed May 08 2024