I've been diagnosed with ADHD since I was 7 years old (currently mid 20s) and have been on and off stimulant medications ever since, I currently take Adderall IR 20mg. In the past few years I have come to experience the following:
WHILE ON STIMULANT: I feel speedy, anxious, very focused, somewhat euphoric, apprehensive, and generally lost in my own head / almost 100% detached from the outside world and at best see it in tunnel-vision.
WHILE NOT-MEDICATED (BASELINE): brain-fog, no focus, lethargic/lazy, somewhat anxious, however generally feel healthy, more 'comfortable', eat a lot, and more stable. (but I'm unable to be productive, literally IMPOSSIBLE to focus)
The day after I use a stimulant, or the first day I don't take any meds after a period of chronic use I always feel fantastic. I'm able to focus on things and do mental tasks with great clarity, I am spontaneous, confident, social, happy, and generally feel 'on-point', my anxiety is close to 100% gone. I'm able to manage my time effectively, I can follow a schedule, and have exceptional self-discipline / will-power. I generally do not experience these types of feelings when at my unmedicated baseline or when under the effect of stims. Oh and I am also unimaginably, ravenously hungry on this day.... I like to think of this day as my 'limitless' days, and I frequently will take stims on the days before an important event or day when I want to leverage this effect.
I would like to add that this is the only time in which my executive function seems to work properly, in that, I'm able to effectively decide what I should do and do it immediately, without hesitation, rather than my normal lost in thought/detached/apprehensive/too impulsive. I am therefore much more responsive to the environment and am able to be 'in the moment' - which is a very rare feeling for me.
I am 100% positive this is not placebo, the feelings are very real and strong....
On the subsequent days after this day I feel completely out of it, and clearly suffer from dopamine receptor downregulation. I continue in this state of lethargy for a few days to 2 weeks depending on how long I was taking stims for (2
weeks was the longest period after stopping ritalin cold turkey after taking it for 11 years straight back in 2011) before returning to my general ADHD-ful baseline.
Also will point out that I feel the commonly experienced 'comedown' immediately following the initial effect of adderall, I feel like my focus falls into a horrible 'cracked out' - zombie like state where I'm 'stuck' but still kind-of focused but cant do anything useful, this stage sucks and always gives me a massive headache and lasts for many hours.
So I'm wondering if anybody has any idea as to what might be causing this and how it could be explained from a neuroscience perspective...
I currently have 2 theories of my own:
- Somehow the positive effects of the stimulants are leeching over into the next day while the side effects have already dissipated. (seems unlikely)
- there is some other neurotransmitter or chemical pathway playing out behind the scenes that I'm unaware of. I feel like orexins might be the culprit?
This after effect happens after taking any of the tradition stimulants, not just the Adderall I am currently on, I have experienced it on Concerta but it felt slightly different, more intense.
WHILE ON STIMULANT: I feel speedy, anxious, very focused, somewhat euphoric, apprehensive, and generally lost in my own head / almost 100% detached from the outside world and at best see it in tunnel-vision.
WHILE NOT-MEDICATED (BASELINE): brain-fog, no focus, lethargic/lazy, somewhat anxious, however generally feel healthy, more 'comfortable', eat a lot, and more stable. (but I'm unable to be productive, literally IMPOSSIBLE to focus)
The day after I use a stimulant, or the first day I don't take any meds after a period of chronic use I always feel fantastic. I'm able to focus on things and do mental tasks with great clarity, I am spontaneous, confident, social, happy, and generally feel 'on-point', my anxiety is close to 100% gone. I'm able to manage my time effectively, I can follow a schedule, and have exceptional self-discipline / will-power. I generally do not experience these types of feelings when at my unmedicated baseline or when under the effect of stims. Oh and I am also unimaginably, ravenously hungry on this day.... I like to think of this day as my 'limitless' days, and I frequently will take stims on the days before an important event or day when I want to leverage this effect.
I would like to add that this is the only time in which my executive function seems to work properly, in that, I'm able to effectively decide what I should do and do it immediately, without hesitation, rather than my normal lost in thought/detached/apprehensive/too impulsive. I am therefore much more responsive to the environment and am able to be 'in the moment' - which is a very rare feeling for me.
I am 100% positive this is not placebo, the feelings are very real and strong....
On the subsequent days after this day I feel completely out of it, and clearly suffer from dopamine receptor downregulation. I continue in this state of lethargy for a few days to 2 weeks depending on how long I was taking stims for (2
weeks was the longest period after stopping ritalin cold turkey after taking it for 11 years straight back in 2011) before returning to my general ADHD-ful baseline.
Also will point out that I feel the commonly experienced 'comedown' immediately following the initial effect of adderall, I feel like my focus falls into a horrible 'cracked out' - zombie like state where I'm 'stuck' but still kind-of focused but cant do anything useful, this stage sucks and always gives me a massive headache and lasts for many hours.
So I'm wondering if anybody has any idea as to what might be causing this and how it could be explained from a neuroscience perspective...
I currently have 2 theories of my own:
- Somehow the positive effects of the stimulants are leeching over into the next day while the side effects have already dissipated. (seems unlikely)
- there is some other neurotransmitter or chemical pathway playing out behind the scenes that I'm unaware of. I feel like orexins might be the culprit?
This after effect happens after taking any of the tradition stimulants, not just the Adderall I am currently on, I have experienced it on Concerta but it felt slightly different, more intense.
