I’m happy to chat by DM more. Look for the little envelope icon next to your name on the right hand side of the menu bar at the top of the page. But unless its really personal stuff you don’t want to share in public - it might be worth just continuing to chat here or in another public forum as the information / topic might be helpful to other people with similar issues. We probably need an Australian ADHD thread.
That's a solid point. Actually I saw a post today on my Facebook about how in Australia they're finally considering approving Ritalin XR for people diagnosed as adults. I haven't finished my diagnosis process for ADD like I mentioned - psych has checked my school reports and has agreed symptoms present between at least 12-18 from my middle school reports, but there wasn't much to see in the years earlier than that. I'm a trans man, so I don't fall into the 'hyperactive' type as in assigned female at birth people, the inattentive type is far more common. And my school reports were basically 'excellent student, would be better if he paid more attention' or 'there have been a frightening amount of times Matthew has been disinclined to work much at all this semester despite his excellent grades. If he hopes to not fall behind next year he will have to improve his attitude in class.' When I asked my parents for the reports they were pretty dubious - they said I wouldn't find anything 'ADHD' in there but tbh I think they only looked at my grades. Funnily enough after my mum googled adult ADHD in assigned female at birth people she recognised all the symptoms of the inattentive type in herself, and now wants to get diagnosed too to see if she can get some help and has actually agreed to be present for the family interview that is necessary for my diagnosis which is great, because my brother probably wouldn't have been that useful. He's getting assessed for Autism now that I got a diagnosis - the whole family reckons they're neurodivergent since the psychologist stuck a fancy 'level 3 autism' label on my forehead. My dad says 'he always identified as being autistic' and he probably is, but he's also just a massive jerk.
When I got to university I fucking fell apart. No one to chase me around for assignments, or homework, or give me stuff I lost. None of the lecturers cared about a random guy in their class who seemed a bit distracted. I tried my friends Ritalin in 2017 and it did nothing at all, which was when I started to first suspect ADHD, and brought it up with my (new at the time but current now) psychiatrist but obviously due to my then current meth addiction she was reluctant to dig into that. After being given the Dexamphetamine trial for Narcolepsy after trying modafinil and armodafinil at the highest doses, it was absolutely life changing. I finally felt like what I imagine feeling normal feels like. My psychiatrist asked how it was (because she did have her concerns) and I was like 'I feel amazing. I read a book this week - I haven't read a book in 5 years for leisure. I wasn't getting distracted every 5 seconds or feeling like I was about to fall asleep.' Then she asked me to described how it made me feel and I was like "surprisingly less anxious - I was worried it being a stimulant it would be worse, but my anxiety has decreased compared to on modafinil. And my brain doesn't feel cluttered anymore. I feel like when I wake up in the morning and take one, I can think of a list of 5-6 things I need to do that day, and start one immediately and not just feel overwhelmed by the list and not know where to start, then I can work through them sequentially. I was able to do chores, and keep my desks clean. I did laundry on time. I could do my dishes and remember when to pick up my medication. I wasn't losing things all the time, I even cleaned my car (which to me is an impossible task). It was mundane, but the difference was night and day. I could complete boring paperwork, and other distasteful tasks.' She was thoughtful for a bit then said what I described sounded exactly like what someone with ADHD would say when starting a stimulant, which like I said, I've sort of known for a while.
So when the other prescriber chucked a shit fit because he refused to urine test me and check me for IV drug use saying 'he isn't DASSA' (Drug and Alcohol Services SA who I get ORT from) despite the legislation being perfectly clear that someone on ORT needs to have urine testing done and be monitored both at the clinic they get ORT and at the clinic they are being prescribed stimulants, he thought they were just being dicks and put me in the too hard basket despite me having warned him of this. Thankfully my GP was super understanding, and thought that he was actually better positioned to monitor for me drug use as he treated me during the worst year of my addiction and would definitely pick up on me regularly using again by how I look. He submitted the reports, tested my urine, checked me for IV use, and sent everything off. He just phoned me today saying it's finally all been approved, and I need to do monthly ongoing urine testing as well as pick the prescription up twice a week, at least initially while they work their way up to trusting me.
I'm perfectly happy to play their games to get the medication I need. They actually thanked me for the email correspondence I had with them and explaining my drug addiction in extreme depth (like pointing out that the incident of IV heroin use that was flagged on their system was a once off in 3 years. I told them I'm also getting tested for ADHD and asked whether my psychiatrist could prescribe if we follow all those rules (secondary diagnosis etc for history of substance misuse) or whether my GP could with the correct paperwork. They said either and actually gave me all the forms necessary. I think they could tell I'm not trying to abuse it and just got screwed by the other doctor. I'm not misusing it by abusing it or diverting it, and I need it to keep my license (the Narcolepsy doctor at least agreed to say I was fit to drive for another year because I had 2 weeks worth of Dexamphetamine left when I went to see him when my initial application was refused because they needed more information, but he said if I'd come in two weeks later I would have been 'unmedicated' so he would have had to take my license. I needed to get this (or stimulants from my psychiatrist) sorted before September this year to keep my license and therefore my job. This is the last medication I can take for Narcolepsy - the only other medications that work are SSRI's, which are off limits because of Bipolar and my psychiatrist won't let me take any of them because all of them in particular are notorious for triggering mania, and my Bipolar was originally triggered by SSRI's so it's a no go. If the Dexamphetamine stops working, that's it for me with this diagnosis, I'm done. Ubers for the rest of my life, until the government approves Xyrem, but that doesn't look like it's happening anytime soon. So I'm absolutely desperate to keep this medication, and keep my tolerance as low as I can, even if that means getting the ADHD diagnosis, and switching between stimulants if necessary as I can still be ticked off to drive with Ritalin or Adderal, even if the sleep specailist isn't the prescriber.
I’ll try to keep this short, I used dex and found it very useful for ADHD/Narcolepsy symptoms but unfortunately, I found it too moreish and ended-up abusing it and suffering with amp induced psychosis.
A few months back I began adding 20mg of Memantine to my daily 300mg xl dose of Bupropion, I found the combination worked well - calming and mildly stimulating, with around 8 hrs. or so of effectiveness. (I wrote a short report on Memantine and Bupropion here, if you’d like to read
more ?)
However, I needed a longer active duration, so I added 25mg of Atomoxetine to the cocktail and now I have a 12 – 14 hour window of steady state effectiveness, I’m 1 week into trailing this but so far its good and allows me to up be and around, alert, calm and fully functioning with a smooth wind-down at bedtime. Just some food for thought since you enquired about alternatives.
Wow it's crazy how some people find it abusable and some don't. An ex friend of mine (who I recently fell out with because he kept pressuring me to sell my remaining Dexamphetamine and future supply to him by diverting it after he initially pressured me into giving him 6 pills and I stupidly agreed to 'test if he had ADHD' - he literally asked me the day I got my prescription. I told my GP (who put my Dexamphetamine authority in) that I'd diverted it, but that I wasn't friends with this guy anymore because he reacted so aggressively when I told him I just felt uncomfortable that he did it because I don't like being treated like a dealer, and I'm also already on incredibly thin ice with the DDU. If I get caught I'm toast. When I told him the initial application didn't go through he was like 'wow you really screwed me' (even though I was the one potentially losing his license) and when I told him I was being put on a staggered supply he was like 'damn now I have to find a real dealer?' And I just let it slide at the time, but then he kept asking about the modafinil too. It wasn't subtle at all. But he really liked Dex and the thing was, our agreement wasn't 'I'll give you some and if you get high I'll continue to give you some' it was 'You didn't respond to Ritalin so let's see if you respond to this and if not maybe you should get a referral to get checked for ADHD' but he I suppose thought it was the former and tried to push me into it.
Are the things you suggested supplements? I'm on some serious psychiatric medication (Lurasidone, Valproate) so I can't stick things in my body without being absolutely certain there won't be any interactions with what I currently take. I know that seems stupid when I still take illegal drugs, but supplements can really fuck with psychiatric medications and I don't wanna experience seratonin syndrome or something.
