What to Expect When You Take ADHD Medication

what's up suckas before we get into it i just wanted to get a couple things out the way first off just wanted to let you know that adh done is now a podcast so if you prefer to listen rather than watch basically what i say here is a podcast now and you might hear me mentioning videos in there once or twice but otherwise i try to cut it so it doesn't and you can hear it on spotify apple podcasts stitcher and more directories are to come soon so if that's your kind of thing the links to subscribe to that show so you can listen to it are in the description second off if you have been looking for some tools that are adhd friendly we're talking digital planners goal workbooks and more things to come i've actually started a shop on my website and on etsy both places you are able to get the things that i make to help people like us so if those are also things you've been looking into the links for those are also in the description and now that i've gotten into that let's go ahead and get into the rest of it hey y'all i just wanted to go ahead and get right into it before we get into the main portion though i do want to make sure that i mention that obviously not a doctor please don't use me to diagnose yourself to decide whether or not you should be medicated to decide whether or not you should stop your medication or to decide whether or not your dosage is at the right amount make sure that whatever you learn from this you take to your medical professional let's go [Music] alrighty then obviously if this is your kind of channel if you are looking for more information about adhd productivity mindset changes things like that this is the perfect place for you so please make sure that you like and subscribe it helps me find new people it helps new people find me and uh yeah what's better than making new friends other than not having to go anywhere at all or talk to anyone at all anyway hi if you're new my name is ariana i am an adhd coach who has a productivity centered approach basically that means that i help my clients get used to working on things uh and getting things done and that automatically kind of leads them down the path of redefining what productivity is redefining the way that they look at themselves and basically just feeling better about having adhd and if you're not new here and you're coming back hi always awesome to see you again even though you can see me and i can't see you which is sort of creepy when you think about it any hosels one of the biggest things that i know people wonder about because i know i did was what to expect if you start medicating your adhd and there are things out there but i kind of felt that there were a few things that i wish others had brought up and so i'm going to bring those up for you now so that you can have a better idea of what it is that you might need to be expecting if you choose to uh to medicate so thing number one is uh that if you become medicated if you get medication you have a very high chance there that you are going to wind up taking a stimulant the most popular stimulant is methylphenidate is what i am on that's what a lot of people tend to know of if you bring up ritalin um adderall is not methylphenidate but it is also still a stimulant so really you just kind of want to keep that in mind because you are on a stimulant you are essentially on what would be considered legal speed uh it is very hard to get more than 30 days of it at least anywhere i've been i know people say that they can but i sure as hell never have so you guys need to like hook me up or something um but at least in my experience trying to get more than 30 days at a time is damn near impossible and you are going to find that it is very expensive now there are some companies i know that the medication that i am on concerta is one of those companies some companies do have programs in place to make it so that you do not have to pay quite as much for the medication up front um medical insurances can also help of course also getting the generic version can help just keep in mind that they actually have found in some studies that certain medications do not have generics that work quite as well as the original but that is also an option by the way if you're wondering why we have to go through so much to get our medication you can thank the people who take this medication to party thank you dicks thing number two is that when you start that medication if it's the right medication for you you within the first day or two first week are going to have an incredible time because you are going to suddenly feel normal and i use normal in quotes because what the is normal but you know what i mean you're going to feel your brain is going to be quieter you're going to suddenly feel like when you think of something you're able to get up and do it instead of sitting around thinking about it forever and never getting to it um you're gonna have energy there are a number of things that are gonna happen and it's gonna be a magical time and you're just going to be like oh my god this is the best version of me i love this and i am not trying to reign in anyone's parade not trying to be a debbie downer here but just to let you know after that first week the chances are very high that you are going to go back to feeling your version of normal um you are going to have days where the medication doesn't work as well but you don't focus as well where you feel uh tired again where you feel scattered you know things like that and you're going to start to wonder whether or not your medication's not working for you you're going to wonder whether or not you made it up and you actually don't have adhd uh you are going to actually get a little scared that you are sliding back into who you used to be none of that is true it's just that your brain adjusts for the medication and once it adjusts to the medication it's going to still be affected by other things so you're not necessarily going to just get this amazing response across the board um another another thing and i actually didn't bring this up in the article i wrote about this but i'm bringing it up now uh in the mornings a lot of us are a lot of us tend to go for things that are acidic orange juice vitamin c supplements coffee and the problem is acidic things do tend to interfere with the efficacy of adhd medication so if you ha if you are already medicated or if you are about to become medicated and you like to drink orange juice and pineapple juice and all that in the morning don't do it avoid it that doesn't mean that you can't ever have these things it just means that you are going to want to have it probably closer to bedtime or later on in the day when you don't really care quite as much about your medication working and you know it doesn't mean that you have to give up juices um i suddenly want to go all like bubba from forrest gump and be like there's apple juice and grape juice and cranberry juice but i'll stop but the point is there are all these other options it doesn't really change your life that much uh compared to how much the medication changes your life so not saying that you can't ever have coffee not saying that you can't ever have those things but you are going to have to really really watch uh how much you take and you are going to have to pay attention to how you feel afterwards because that could mean that you're going to have to make some dietary changes which actually brings me to point number three uh and this may not just be medication uh but i know the iron into this issue and i don't remember it being a problem until after i started taking medication but some stimulants are going to make you sleepy um coffee i know for a fact if i drink extremely strong coffee it actually makes me want to take a nap like i just get so tired and i i not awake in any shapewear form um or you will have the opposite where you'll take it and then you'll get like heart palpitations and you'll feel kind of nauseous and sick either way once you become medicated you are really gonna have to watch your intake of other stimulants because that can cause issues uh and i can hear like a bunch of people wailing uh from starbucks around the world like what but listen it it's worth it it's worth it like i i really was gonna like add more to that but it's worth it okay that brings me to the next thing here you are not necessarily going to be on the right dosage right off the bat you're not necessarily going to be on the right medication right off the bat generally your prescriber is going to start you on something at a very low dose and you might not feel anything right away this is called titrating and this is essentially a making sure that your body can stand the medication and b you know trying to see if maybe that lower amount is actually going to work for you right off the jump so um don't get discouraged if you start out not really feeling anything if the medication doesn't really make a difference that's something that you take to your prescriber and ask them about because more than likely they're going to be able to increase you to the next step or this is the other side of that if you wind up getting some really nasty side effects um it's very common to get things like nausea upset stomach headache in the very beginning and those are easy enough to combat and they generally go away pretty quickly if you have it but if you start noticing that your blood pressure is spiking you're more prone to anxiety attacks you are noticing that you get things like cold sweats that is the time that you immediately stop that medication let your prescriber know and they need to put you on a different medication uh also you will know that you are on too high of a dosage if you find that you are hyper focusing to the point where anybody interrupting you automatically leads to irritability or agitation i made that mistake i am now on a much better dosage but i kept going up and up and up because as a lot of us would i was in love with the feeling of not feeling uh lazy and every time that i didn't feel like super focused or super awake i was like that just means i need more medication we're not really meant to be that zeroed in and i don't think anybody is not even you know people who don't have adhd so try to find a nice balance but don't try to turn yourself into like a laser focused robot because that's going to be too high of a dosage for you the other thing that i really wish people had said this is this thing like what five uh i haven't really been counting but uh you also want to pay attention to what medication you take and you want to do some research because i will say the medication that i am on does lead to crashing and some of them do crashing is essentially where your medication starts to wear off and you start getting less focused more tired you really start feeling not well sometimes um generally i don't necessarily feel sick but i feel very tired i feel very out of it i feel exhausted and that tends to come from the crash of my medication wearing off um it's even got a cute little name it's called concerta crash so you know that's special but you definitely want to make sure that your medication doesn't have that problem and if it does you definitely want to make sure that you do something to help you through it um whether that's just planning on it and lying down or you know some medications if they're not extended release can be taken a couple times throughout the day so you can always take what's called a bump dose which makes it so that you know you kind of pushes you through but uh that is also a problem so that very high energy can come with a price at the end of the day you just want to be careful of that and uh i've brought this next thing up a few times but i want to bring it up again your medication will not work as well if your hormones are fluctuating and everybody has fluctuating hormones fluctuating i'm smart i'm my word good hormones fluctuate for everyone so i don't care what you identify as it's probably best for you to take the time to mark down when you feel tired after what in what connection in connection to you know what thing you really want to try to pay very close attention to your energy when you're on your medication so that you can accurately plan for when things tend to go sideways because otherwise you're just going to kind of be caught out there on days where none of none of your usual methods work i know that for me if i'm tired or if my hormones are fluctuating or if uh if i overwork myself my medication won't work at all nothing will work i'll just be exhausted all day long so you do want to make sure that you are paying attention to your energy however you choose to do that whether that's in a tracker whether that's just marking it on a calendar make sure that you are keeping some sort of track of that to make sure that there is a pattern that you can figure out so that you can make sure that you can also plan accordingly and the final thing this isn't so much a bodily response but it's something that i don't think many think about i know i didn't have this problem but i didn't because i was already medicated for anxiety and ocd so i kind of had life prove this to me but medication is not going to fix all of the problems that you're having with your adhd um i think that a lot of people kind of hope that they're going to take this magical pill and suddenly they're going to just be getting everything done but the fact is that firstly even if your medication is working if you don't know what to do with that newfound focus and energy you're still going to be getting the wrong done and you're still going to be dissatisfied with your day and now you're just going to be dissatisfied with your day and kind of hyped up on adhd meds so you kind of need to know how to direct that new focus and that new energy and there's also the fact that as i've already mentioned there are things that are going to get in the way of your medication working sometimes and if that happens you need to be able to call upon the tools that you know to still continue to exist instead of suddenly being out of pocket because your medication is just choosing not to work that day so make sure that you get extra help with those tools and i'm not particularly pushing myself if you want to use me obviously i'm here uh but whoever it is that you trust just make sure that you are not only absorbing that medication but that you're also absorbing the tools that you will need for when that medication doesn't carry its 50 of the weight okay so that's basically it uh i hope that this was helpful for you i hope that this helped you kind of figure out what your next move is i am not going to push anyone ever to get medicated i think that that is a very personal decision but i hope that whatever decision you make is the best one for you and uh obviously like i said if this helped you if you feel good about this like and subscribe to the channel like and subscribe the podcast if that is what you prefer and uh drink some water take care of yourself and i'll catch you in the next video

Channel: AdhDONE.

Views: 9,403

Keywords: adhd, adhd medication, what to expect from adhd medication, adhd coach

Id: Q8s6hipMhyA

Length: 17min 50sec (1070 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 17 2022