ADHD Where can one discuss the struggle of having ADHD and being affected by SUD(Substance Use Disorder)?

[RepeatedIgnorance2c-74]

Hello all, will keep this short, we wanted to see or discuss how others have learned to navigate, the intertwine of ADHD and SUD. What are some things you learned, what are some things you discovered in regards to it, how did you learn to adapt and manage them. Lastly how do you learn to identify when something is ADHD or a result of SUD?

If this is the wrong area, we apologize, we wish everyone well, always practice harm reduction please.

 

[Sixx_Psychonaut]

SUD is a very commonly experienced in people who are late diagnosed ADHD where the person can make up for their dopamine that is lacking. I was definiantl;y drawn to methamphetamine as my main drug of choise for a while and it was not something that i have found to be somthing that would be good used long term although early days siince finding out how it reacted psychoactivly with me personally i was starting of at least 300mg and anything less felt like a waste although over time instead of my methamphetamine use increasing in the amount it has like some other people I have spoken to that are like myself our tolerance to it has decreased and unable to tolerate anywhere near that dose.it also lost one of the things that the drug is known for how it causes the need for redosing a aqlot more than other amphetamines

 

[awrt]

I had undiagnosed ADHD for years but nobody picked it up until 3 years ago for me (I am now 37). instead I was told I just have depression and substance abuse issues.

I started drinking around 15-16 - pretty heavily until I was about 30 really. but them from 21 I regularly used every stimulant under the sun until I got diagnosed. I struggled the most with speed and cocaine but tried meth several times (I could tell straight away meth was toooo good and would ruin my life).

but 3 years ago I got diagnosed with ADHD and started dexamphetamine..I have stopped all other drugs and my cravings for them literally vanished. my drinking has almost stopped totally too. I now drink 1 night a week and have 2 light beers.

so there is an example of how undiagnosed ADHD can cause substance issues

 

[neversickanymore]

I had undiagnosed ADHD for years but nobody picked it up until 3 years ago for me (I am now 37). instead I was told I just have depression and substance abuse issues.

I started drinking around 15-16 - pretty heavily until I was about 30 really. but them from 21 I regularly used every stimulant under the sun until I got diagnosed. I struggled the most with speed and cocaine but tried meth several times (I could tell straight away meth was toooo good and would ruin my life).

but 3 years ago I got diagnosed with ADHD and started dexamphetamine..I have stopped all other drugs and my cravings for them literally vanished. my drinking has almost stopped totally too. I now drink 1 night a week and have 2 light beers.

so there is an example of how undiagnosed ADHD can cause substance issues

Interesting.. i have a long standing hypothesis that dexamphetamine can be used to treat substance use disorders.. how long were you on it before your struggles with other substances went away?

 

[awrt]

instantly.

the dexamphetamine wasn't treating my substance abuse disorder..it was treating my adhd.

the undiagnosed ADHD lead to me seeking substances.

 

[SinfulbyNature]

The title of this thread is like the story of my life.

It doesn’t matter how pretty you are, how smart you are or how rich you are….if you can’t maintain self discipline you’re screwed. To me life is like I’m on a speeding bus walking down the aisle trying to decide where I need or want to sit. But the bus is flying and I can barely maintain any kind of balance. The first time I took an adderall it was like it made that bus slow down and I became able to actually decide which seat that I wanted to sit in instead of just being slung in it. This gave me more input in my life and helped with a lot of things. But I still had problems with my bladder, bowels and uti’s. Especially when I was younger I had a hard time sitting still long enough when I used the bathroom to completely empty so there was always residual and I stayed constipated. I was always having to retrain my bladder and bowels because of this. Time is also a problem for me. In school I always had to use the bathroom twice every class period just to break up the monotony. I made straight A’s but my attendance was always a huge problem. I have the best ideas but just as soon as I think of them I’m automatically met with overwhelming hopelessness because I know I’d never finish implementing the tasks required to make the idea a reality. I self sabotage a lot. I procrastinate. I get stuck in waiting mode. If I know I have an appt tomorrow at 5 pm I won’t be able to do anything else at all until then cause I guess mentally I’m preparing for that appt. But I’ll still miss it anyways. I’m a mess lol

I found out I was an opiate addict at 19 years old when I heard a man on TV talking about OxyContin being addictive. My very next thought was about how alarmed it made me feel the night before when I realized I only had two pills left. I didn’t even understand the full concept of addiction. Definitely didn’t realize the risk I was taking just by taking the meds a dr had been prescribing me. But they gave them to me because of the pain caused from the surgeries I’d been having since I was 12 years old. By the time I was 19 I had been thru over 30 surgeries. Basically what this meant was that my entire adolescent development occurred while I was under the influence of opiates. But I didn’t put all of this together until after I’d heard this man on TV say this when I was 19. I had just been so troubled by my reaction to only have two pills left. I didn’t understand why it had affected me like it did. But after hearing what that man said…now I knew. It was because now I was also a drug addict.

So for me this comes down to something similar like the question which came first the chicken or the egg? Lol

I can’t get any of the medications for what I’m diagnosed with because now I’m a known drug addict. Oh the irony…

 

[Sixx_Psychonaut]

I used to experience problematic drug use for a number of years that was very difficult for me to manage and for some time very risky use when it came to overdose and was lacking a lot of harm reduction education that even at times due to the pain from some of the trauma from not being diagnosed and managed for my adhd as yet i might not of chose to practice the safest use reducing the harms towards myself. later on in life down the track after many detox admissions and also a detox in prison after my last heroin overdose and more harm reduction education which i used to love researching whilst on methamphetamine that was something that seemed to work well for me although just needed to settle into what dose worked for me and later on in life find i cant do doses anywhere near to what i was as i found the comedown from a 300mg shot would take to much for me to recover from if doing multiple a day which is about where i started of when it came to average amount used over 24 hours. these days if i am going to it would be around 135mg on average and i know some prefer big shots like i used to love and less wholes in their veins although once i was finallly diadgnosed with adhd and prescribed the amphetamine medication it really dialed down my use over time in many areas, and even with methamphetamine i found it had really lost ist sparkle like it can with some drugs as it has shown when their is a more available supply according to the research and also as it did when i was also prescribed cannabis too. i definantly think if there is a doctor that has denied you a assesment or stimulnt medication due to history of problematic substance use then it would be worth getting a second oppinion if finances and availability allow it as i know how these things can be hurdles for people getting the correct health care that they need.