[Kintsukuroi.]

Hey,

I've been taking Concerta for the last three years and it's the medication that works best for me. I tried other medications (Adderall, Vyvanse, Ritalin and Strattera) but none worked as well as Concerta. I had horrid side effects on some of the other medications and we couldn't get the correct dosage/combinations. Only downside with Concerta is that if I take it too late, I won't be able to sleep.

When I was in high school, my friends could tell if I forgot to take it (or if I took it late and it wasn't working yet) or if I was wearing off by the way I talked/moved my hands and/or feet.

I know when my medication wears off because I feel the "fog" come in and it's really hard to think straight/focus. Studying or doing homework after my medication has worn off is pretty pointless because I won't retain much and have to edit a great deal afterwards. I find that caffeine helps me focus as well so if I feel the medicine wearing off and know I still need to focus, I will either take a caffeine pill or have sometime with caffeine. That doesn't work with everyone but it seems to help (not as well as my medication but enough to focus a bit better than if I didn't.)

It's hard to explain what it's like for me but I guess my ADHD is like trying to watch multiple tv programs at the same time and being unable to tune all but one out. When I take my medication, it's like a remote that let's me turn off or "mute" all but one thing. When I was diagnosed it was like everything "clicked" for me. I mean, my struggles made more sense? I thought I was stupid because my head felt foggy and I couldn't focus for very long or I would hyperfocus on something or I would be writing and I would be writing down full sentences in my head but I would be skipping words on the actual paper. Words would fly around my head and move a million times a minute. I would struggle to sit still and constantly fidget/tap things, etc. I still do that when I'm medicated but I'm more "aware" per say and am better at controlling my fidgeting and such so it's not annoying/ distracting if that makes sense.

Feel free to message me if you have any questions!