How do you find the meds? Anyone tried non-stimulants?
2026-06-24 21:47 UTC
Replies (11)
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@DrakeAlbrecht@lemmy.world 2026-06-24 21:54
I’m also on Vyvanse 50mg. I’ve been much more fortunate with the side effects. Did you happen to start any other medication at the same time as Vyvanse? Also, adhd@lemmy.world might be a better place to post this, as it’s a serious non-meme community.
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@cheers_queers@lemmy.zip 2026-06-24 22:15
i had to lower my vyvanse dose and felt a lot better. have you asked your dr about that?
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@superduperpirate@lemmy.world 2026-06-24 22:37
I’ve tried atomoxetine and welbutrin to no effect. Your results may vary.
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@SubArcticTundra@lemmy.ml 2026-06-25 00:43
Iirc Strattera is about 25 pct points behind stimulants in terms of how many people it works for. I wasnt among them, I couldnt feel any change from it so i switched to methylphenedate
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@LynneOfFlowers@midwest.social 2026-06-25 04:09
I was on Strattera (atomoxetine) some years ago. It worked very well for me for about five years then kind of stopped making much difference. However even after I went off of it the symptoms seemed noticeably easier to deal with than they were before (and still do to this day), so I still count it as a win. Now I will say though that Strattera is a bit harder to judge than the stimulants, as its action is longer term; you take it daily but it has to build up over weeks, so you don’t get that immediate feedback like with the stimulants. I found that for me, Strattera made it hard to sleep if I took it at night, and caused stomach upset if I took it too close to caffeine in the morning, but mid-day proved the sweet spot for me.
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@Auster@thebrainbin.org 2026-06-25 08:03
If meds aren't working, maybe tackling discipline would be worth trying? I'd imagine there are psychiatrists that focus on that instead of meds exclusively.
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@pineapple@lemmy.ml 2026-06-25 13:34
For me I felt like the meds never really did much, I started this year and gradually increased the dose. Now I realise how effective they are when I forget to take them.
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@some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 2026-06-25 13:50
Not ADHD but very much diagnosed and under the care of a doctor. You just have to keep trying stuff to see what works. There’s science behind it, but it’s broad. Getting specific (what works for you) takes a lot of trial and error. Don’t lose hope.
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@Arcanepotato@crazypeople.online 2026-06-25 16:26
Maybe the key is that you feel the crash. I don’t feel the crash and I thought the drugs were making me anxious but that happened even when I forgot to take them 😐 turns out it was burnout lol. Others have mentioned eating with the vyvanse and I did find that helped, as well as taking it later in the day (before I leave for work vs as soon as I wake up). I understand that some people cannot tolerate stimulants because they do cause anxiety in some people. I’m not trying to suggest this can’t be what’s happening for you but rather sharing that I thought it was the case for me and it wasn’t. I wish the drugs could fix me but they can’t and that sucks pretty bad. Apparently that’s expected. I’m not discouraging you from trying other meds but caution you against thinking there will be a med that will take away all your challenges. Stimulants were lifesaving for me, but they didn’t fix me. While it’s not personal experience maybe this counts as actually answering your question a bit. Some discussion and evidence about the effecicacy of non stimulant meds: additudemag.com/non-stimulant-adhd-medication/?sr… Non-stimulant ADHD medications are considered second-line or third-line treatments because the level of benefits and response rates are significantly lower. Meaning, stimulant medications are more effective at relieving symptoms for a larger percentage of people. This means they aren’t the go to because when you are scatter shotting the stimulants are a better bet. It doesn’t mean they work less for the people they work for! pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3000197/ This one talks about the different types, how they work and their effectiveness. Today, the clinicians have a wide variety of non-stimulants for the treatment of ADHD. A large amount of research and data support the use of non-stimulants in ADHD. Although stimulants still remain the primary treatment, there is a growing trend in using non-stimulants, especially if the stimulants do not adequately treat the symptoms, are not tolerated, or are in the presence of contraindications for the use of stimulants adhdevidence.org/…/rethinking-first-line-adhd-med… Stimulants have earned their reputation as the go-to drug of choice for ADHD. They are among the most effective medications in psychiatry, reliably reducing core ADHD symptoms and improving daily functioning when properly titrated and monitored. However, when stimulant and non-stimulant medications are compared more closely, the gap between them appears smaller than commonly assumed. Hope you find something that helps you!
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@David_Eight@lemmy.world 2026-06-24 22:32
Do you eat before you took your meds? I had a similar problem and I just started drinking a protein shake in the morning. It might digest slower and last longer too?
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@C8r9VwDUTeY3ZufQRYvq@sopuli.xyz 2026-06-25 21:25
My kids and I are on guanfacine as well as stimulants. It’s harder to see the effects in myself, but for my kids it really helps smooth out the ups and downs of the stimulants.