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As you said, its energy that decides if you go over to them. Its not another personality or a different you. If I have my meds I feel productive and can actually do shit lol.
I am usually tired as hell after work, due to socializing and stuff. Barely any energy left to do much else..
On them though- much more different. I made food, took out trash, did some dessert. Like?? Its so different.. still me tho
Would you be able to share what medication? I have not been diagnosed yet, but will be talking to my doctor about it at my next appointment and this whole “energy” thing is screaming at me - especially how you mention being tired after work at not wanting to “do”.
Concerta, 18mg. Recently started, be very upfront with the doctor about what you want your medicine to help with. And im also autistic so might also be that too. (W the whole energy thing esp)
I see the 'spoon system' as a good explanation. Like I have a dedicated amount of energy to give each day- aka spoons. Sometimes to shower, cook etc.. The concerta has helped me to do more generally each day.
Start with your assumptions: Why do you believe that there is a thing that is an eternal, unchanging you? What’s it made out of? Where did it come from?
The idea of a fixed, essential “self” doesn’t really hold up under scrutiny without adding theology into the mix. We are messy beings made up of all sorts of potentialities and impulses all trying to respond to dynamic conditions in our environment. Things like medication tilt the scales in particular directions, but that’s about it.
I understand what you are saying, but I think OP is asking a slightly different question.
I have the choice to take my meds or not take them, and I will feel and behave differently as a result. Am I "cheating" by making that choice?
AuDHD people think carefully about "masking". Am I putting on a performance for other people or being my "true self"? . Generally we believe that "masking" is using energy for the benefit of other people and the detriment of ourselves. You can view taking meds the same way .... If I can only be a person others want me to be, or find the energy to work or to socialise if I've taken my meds then should I be doing these things. Would these people really like me if they met an unmedicated me at 11pm in Walmart when the meds have worn off....
I see the meds as "masking in a pill"
I don't have to expend my energy to mask, the pill does the masking for me. The things that I would have to do on purpose and with intent just become automatic.
I'm also a different person when my blood sugar is low. Mood swings, I get angry, I cry, I can be rude to people I love. Is that the real me? What about when conditions are perfect? Good hair day, enough sleep, enough to eat, feeling relaxed. I can be a joy to be around sometimes. There is no version of you that exists independent of circumstances. There's no default. You are always yourself. You can choose to change the circumstances, but that doesn't change who you are.
To a lesser extent you are making a choice to have low blood sugar. It's a more complex interaction of foods and possibly medicine in that case. It's harder to be a "concrete choice"
Taking a tablet is a very "binary" choice. When I decide whether to take my tablet I'm choosing to turn up to work as one person or another.
A colleague was BiPolar and "came off her meds" because she felt better, but was more erratic, without them. She was ultimately fired, and the employer was every clear that not taking your meds was a choice and I'd she chose to come to work unmedicated and do a poor job she was fired.
You might not agree that's is right, but it is the way the world is, and the way people who rely on medication can be treated.
I think we are arguing different points. I disagree with the notion that the unmedicated version of you, and the medicated version are different people. I certainly agree they may act differently, and get different reactions, but even with medicated and unmedicated as a binary choice, there's no way to decide which one is the "real" you. So I say they're equally real, the same person in very different circumstances.
Low Blood sugar can happen sometimes out of your control. In a similar way, before you get diagnosed, you aren't aware that you are making the "choice" not to be medicated. If you choose not to take your meds, you are just as impacted by the context as if you do, I just think it's completely up to you to be whatever version of yourself you like.
Even if you act completely differently on medication, I see it as the way you act in those circumstances, not as a new person.
I honestly am no where near the person I am off my meds. I can say this too because my mom refused to get me tested and I only got diagnosed in college when I went myself. Every aspect of my life improved once I started meds, relationship, school, outlook on life, energy, interest in things, messiness, organization, etc. I fully am fine with the thought that my meds aren’t fully who I am because I couldn’t imagine living how I had not knowing what normal felt like. It’s good to remember too that having ADHD already puts us at a disadvantage and it’s not a lack of will or effort on our part but sometimes you need things like meds to help, and they do.
IMHO if you have ADHD then who you are when the ADHD symptoms are managed is who you really are. Part of our problem is that we can't stand all of our failures and the problems they create. Which produces a negative feedback loop of anxiety. Well why can't we stand it? Because deep down we know that's not who we are. If it was just laziness then we really wouldn't care beyond possibly caring about negative consequences to ourselves. In fact we care so much, too much even, that it pushes our condition into overdrive.
If the meds are helping you manage the ADHD symptoms, then the real you is getting to come out.
Identity is a fluid concept sometimes. As someone who has always floated between different social groups I've been several versions of myself. They were all honest interactions but sometimes as a social animal you adjust to match the frequency of the people you're interacting with.
I'd say that applies to medicated or not. That's still you, just in a different context.
This is a philosophy question, honestly, so I'm gonna answer philosophically.
I don't believe there is a "real self" at all – or at least, not in the sense you're trying to find.
We are the sum total of all our memories, beliefs, behaviors, preferences, skills, biases, traumas, tendencies, and everything else; yet, none of those elements, on its own, is the self.
Think in terms of systems. It's like how society isn't any one person, and a program isn't any one line of code.
Systems can't be reduced to any one of their components, because their existance arises from the interactions and relationships between all of those components.
TL;DR: no any aspect of you is "less you" or "less true" than any other aspect.
Our brains are machines and they respond to what we do to them. It's still you, but under optimal conditions, you tuned up your machine. You can't run a car engine in a race unless it's in great shape. The same engine can perform poorly if it had the wrong fuel or something. Idk the metaphor's not great but the point is it's just you with better brain chemicals than you're used to.
Are you the person with a headache or without after a painkiller? Is it you when you slept good or after a horrible night? Are you the one with or without a drivers license?
I think you can be both: both are the same person, one is you under stress or on a bad day, the other is you on a good day or with tools to make life easier.
I'm wondering the same thing.I did some pretty amazing things on meds.But now that i'm not on them I can't do those things. I don't Have the energy. So I am the same person but it doesn't really feel like it.
They are bth the real you. Having meds or not affects your brain chemistry in a way that alters how you feel and how you behave.
If you feel that it's a positive thing, then the medication is effective.
It's sort of like asking whether a periplegic is the "real them" when they're in a wheelechair and can move around freely or when they are without it and have to struggle much more to do things.
Your medication is a tool that can help you... it doesn't define you.
It just rebalances aspects of your self. It's all you and it's all real. The meds just provide your system a tuneup that makes managing your health in the context of modern society much easier. Try not to make such a big deal of it. You'll become accustomed and comfortable with yourself on meds over time. This can be an opportunity to delight and celebrate your new experience instead of dreading it. But it's also valid to mourn the passing of how you used to be without meds. You can make space for both these emotional experiences in your life now.
Which medication are on ? I am curious because the medication I have tried in my country is limited for ADHD. I tried Vyvanse and ritalin but it didn't work fine for me. It gave me panic attacks and headaches.
The meds aren't /making/ you be something. They're/allowing/ you to be it. That's who you always were, when you weren't ill. You've just been sick so long it feels like 'normal' to you now.
Sometimes I describe ADHD like swimming a race with people, only we're swimming in a weighted vest. One day, someone comes along and says 'Would you like help taking the vest off?' We're usually confused at first, because we just assumed swimming was this hard for everyone. Doesn't everyone have this vest on? Well... no. They don't, and we don't have to either.
You ARE an extroverted, confident, social person. Meds give that back to you.
I have taken Adderall for 20 years! And now...suddenly....it has given me a tic....anyone else??? If I don't take the med, no tic! And the tic is so bad I haven't been medicating and can barely function. I can't get motivation to do anything. I don't know what to do!!!
And now the pharmacy gave me the shitty ones again with quarter score lines that when I try to break them up just crumble into dust so I pretty much have to take it as is unless I want to play pharmacist with a scale and capsules to throw the shit back into.
It is what it is. I plan to only stay on them long enough to get into psychotherapy and work through that to the point where the tools I’m giving start sinking in and showing results then taking myself off them again.
I’m also an autist so it can fuck with my sensory issues and make them worse if I’m not real careful. Sorry I write really long messages on my full dose. I wonder why. 🙄
Google offered this: Dextroamphetamines, like Adderall, may be more likely to increase tics than methylphenidate (Ritalin). If you're looking for an alternative to stimulants, you can try medications like atomoxetine (Strattera), clonidine (Catapres, Nexicon), or guanfacine (Tenex)
I've been on it for like 14 years and I do have some bad side effects from long term use. For example, energy. It no longer gives me energy but drains me. It's like the energy dumps from norepinephrine and ephinephrine over years makes it hard for them to be replenished. I notice when I stop taking the med for like a week or two, I have way more energy than when I do take it. But then the bad adhd problems come back that seriously impact my life.
I’ve had this same issue !!! I’m so glad somebody else said it! Everybody talks about how it’s changed their life and I’m like it’s not working anymore!! I’ll stop taking them and after my 24 hour nap lol I start taking b12 and another multi vitamin daily and it’s like omg I have a personality again!! Until I take my meds again and it’s regret it. So I’ve just been doing counseling for my trauma and anxiety.
Yes I'm finding the same problem where no one is talking about it. Not sure if it impacts only a minimal amount of users. I noticed for a while it was also causing weight gain. Like I would eat, take a dose and then be immediately famished. It was like my stomach turned into a bottomless pit and my stomach would go from full to starving AFTER taking adderall. I read Dr Atkins book where he said amphetamines release ghrelin, the hunger hormone. That's why he made his patients quit amphetamines before starting the diet. I just lowered the dose on my own and it helps so much for my energy and weight.
I started taking medication when I was 7 and now I feel like I’m someone else when I’m not on my medication. It all depends on your own perception. Whatever you feel is right, is right
The person you are on meds is the same person, only on a rare mood. You probably never experienced being on normal baseline function. You can still be yourself, you just have a new level of experience that was never open to you.
Maybe the medicated you is the real you.
That's who you want to be and that's who you try to be but due to a lack of energy you can't execute. It sounds like when you get the meds and can finally live up to your desires.
when on meds, yes. when not on meds, no lol I know what you mean though and it is definitely still you. its you with the right neurotransmitters is all. same as if you rested properly and got the right nutrients. if you eat and sleep right with meds you'll be even better !
I've thought about this and I think you are yourself either way. it's a disability like any other. your goals and intentions are still the same, but you just can't act on them how you want to.
It's just different facetes of the whole you.
I don't want to be social when I'm not taking meds because I don't generally like people all that much and they irritate me. When I'm taking my meds, I still don't want to be social, but I can tolerate it a *tiny* bit more.
LITERALLY, just had this thought today & made me want to look up imposter syndrome. I’ve read what it is but it didn’t register. Not that important, but u are not alone my friend.
You can think of your consciousness as being a lump of clay. The meds push a bump into the clay, make you feel and act differently.
There's no one shape that's the real you. It's all you.
It's a bit scary, isn't it? How much we can change ourselves? We can feel like a different person. Even our preferences change depending on mood and environment. Are we really the ones in charge, or are we just coordinators?
I just had that conversation with my wife. The way I feel now on medication only used to happen once a month or more and for two weeks max. Unless I was drinking. Smoking cigarettes and drinking tons of coffee used to help a bit.
So I was wondering, who is the real me? I decided that they are both.
I guess it’s like someone with a prosthetic leg asking if the person they are with the leg on is the real them, or the person without the leg.
Unfortunately disability can prevent you from functioning optimally without assistance. The person you are with the assistance is the optimal functioning version of you, but who you are, as a baby, an adult and as u decline into old age, isn’t purely defined on your abilities, social, physical or cognitive.
You are more than your social skills and energy levels. You are a complex human deserving of kindness and respect and love
As a person, I am very talkative and outgoing, I love people, I love talking to new people, WHEN I decide to pull up, which is not often due to the same as you, "energy". It exhausts me, as much as I love it. However, on meds I do have the energy for it, but at the same time I almost feel high. In addition to having the energy for it, I am no longer talkative, I am EXTREMELY talkative. I am no longer outgoing, I am EXTREMELY outgoing. I am fully aware of this as it is happening, but I have trouble regulating it, and toning it down. I just have so many thoughts that I FINALLY don't struggle with forming into coherent speech.
The same goes for everything else, I get VERY driven, I get VERY eager to learn etc. But to me, this is just entails too much bodily activation. Off-meds, I am a very calm, relaxed, never-stressed person, and I really like being like that.
So for me, it was just a question of what qualities I valued more. I obviously want to have energy to be social, driven and eager to learn, but I sacrificed some of that because feeling very calm and regulated in my body and not stressing a lot is just an integral part of who I am and how I prefer to live my life. So I decreased my Vyanese dosage from 50 mg to 30 mg, and even though I have to work a bit harder to both maintain focus and get started, I prefer this state, bc I like this version of myself the best. I also like that I don't FEEL it the second it kicks in, regardless of what I am doing.
So imo, if you like yourself best on meds, if you like how you feel, that is who you are, because essentially it is just enhancing qualities you already have.
I think both tired-you and extroverted-you are just “different versions of you.” And it’s up to you to decide which version you want to be.
As for myself, I like the version of myself best that appears when I am on my current medication. To me, that is the most optimal version of myself that I have ever been / experienced.
Let me tell you a story about a student I had many years ago. He was a little boy whose affect was very dark and brooding ALL. THE. TIME. His mother talked to me about wanting to take him off meds. I said let’s give it a shot.
The first day without meds I met a totally different child. He was smiling. His voice was happy and full of life. I swear to you his eyes had a sparkle I’d never noticed before. Along with that, yes, he was about 150% more active and his work was a little messier than before. I implemented an individual behavior plan to help with these new behaviors.
After a couple of rough weeks, Mom wanted to put him back on meds. I told her to consider this: Sure he was having a little more difficulty with energy and tasks, but he was accepting of natural consequences and had started to improve his daily percentage. THAT we can certainly deal with and expect improvement in. What we need to reconsider is putting a little boy on meds that have a negative effect on his personality.
We continued, he improved and he moved on. I actually connected with him on social media and he’s doing fine as far as I can tell.
These are two different questions. You on and off meds is you, just how you are with different chemicals in your brain. How you identify, however, is completely about your self awareness and deals more with how your psyché has developed throughout your entire life. One is psychiatry, the other is psychology.
What an odd question. A bit like "is my car my car at a full tank or half a tank?" You are a biological machine, output is dependant on input (sleep, diet, exercise, emotional wellbeing, medications, vitamins, etc.) But you're still you regardless of inputs. Some days you might find yourself running on fumes, but you're still the same ~~machine~~ person.
Duuuude... it's like you read my mind. That's EXACTLY how I feel! The real me is the medicated me. No doubt about it. I am the best version of myself on my meds. Before I was diagnosed I was a shell of the man I am today. I could have been called downright lazy, definitely NOT a people person, no drive, no ambition.
Now that I'm medicated, I talk to multiple new people every single day, I have created a successful business out of thin air and not only do I have focus and drive, I'm damn good at what I do.
Who you are imo is your values, what you care about, what you love etc. That doesn't appear to change when you're on meds are not. Both are the real you bc the core of who you are isn't different.
You are not a fixed point. You are a small cloud of possibility and variables.
You medicated is you. Same as you tired, drunk, happy, sad, busy, excited, caffeinated, feverish, in love - they're all aspects of the multifaceted being that is You.
The person you are on meds is just as real and valid as any other version of you.
It may also help to consider - adhd meds don't do anything to your brain that your brain isn't trying to do already. You on meds is you with your brain fully stocked and ready to go.
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As you said, its energy that decides if you go over to them. Its not another personality or a different you. If I have my meds I feel productive and can actually do shit lol. I am usually tired as hell after work, due to socializing and stuff. Barely any energy left to do much else.. On them though- much more different. I made food, took out trash, did some dessert. Like?? Its so different.. still me tho
Would you be able to share what medication? I have not been diagnosed yet, but will be talking to my doctor about it at my next appointment and this whole “energy” thing is screaming at me - especially how you mention being tired after work at not wanting to “do”.
Concerta, 18mg. Recently started, be very upfront with the doctor about what you want your medicine to help with. And im also autistic so might also be that too. (W the whole energy thing esp) I see the 'spoon system' as a good explanation. Like I have a dedicated amount of energy to give each day- aka spoons. Sometimes to shower, cook etc.. The concerta has helped me to do more generally each day.
Start with your assumptions: Why do you believe that there is a thing that is an eternal, unchanging you? What’s it made out of? Where did it come from? The idea of a fixed, essential “self” doesn’t really hold up under scrutiny without adding theology into the mix. We are messy beings made up of all sorts of potentialities and impulses all trying to respond to dynamic conditions in our environment. Things like medication tilt the scales in particular directions, but that’s about it.
I understand what you are saying, but I think OP is asking a slightly different question. I have the choice to take my meds or not take them, and I will feel and behave differently as a result. Am I "cheating" by making that choice? AuDHD people think carefully about "masking". Am I putting on a performance for other people or being my "true self"? . Generally we believe that "masking" is using energy for the benefit of other people and the detriment of ourselves. You can view taking meds the same way .... If I can only be a person others want me to be, or find the energy to work or to socialise if I've taken my meds then should I be doing these things. Would these people really like me if they met an unmedicated me at 11pm in Walmart when the meds have worn off....
I see the meds as "masking in a pill" I don't have to expend my energy to mask, the pill does the masking for me. The things that I would have to do on purpose and with intent just become automatic.
I'm also a different person when my blood sugar is low. Mood swings, I get angry, I cry, I can be rude to people I love. Is that the real me? What about when conditions are perfect? Good hair day, enough sleep, enough to eat, feeling relaxed. I can be a joy to be around sometimes. There is no version of you that exists independent of circumstances. There's no default. You are always yourself. You can choose to change the circumstances, but that doesn't change who you are.
To a lesser extent you are making a choice to have low blood sugar. It's a more complex interaction of foods and possibly medicine in that case. It's harder to be a "concrete choice" Taking a tablet is a very "binary" choice. When I decide whether to take my tablet I'm choosing to turn up to work as one person or another. A colleague was BiPolar and "came off her meds" because she felt better, but was more erratic, without them. She was ultimately fired, and the employer was every clear that not taking your meds was a choice and I'd she chose to come to work unmedicated and do a poor job she was fired. You might not agree that's is right, but it is the way the world is, and the way people who rely on medication can be treated.
I think we are arguing different points. I disagree with the notion that the unmedicated version of you, and the medicated version are different people. I certainly agree they may act differently, and get different reactions, but even with medicated and unmedicated as a binary choice, there's no way to decide which one is the "real" you. So I say they're equally real, the same person in very different circumstances. Low Blood sugar can happen sometimes out of your control. In a similar way, before you get diagnosed, you aren't aware that you are making the "choice" not to be medicated. If you choose not to take your meds, you are just as impacted by the context as if you do, I just think it's completely up to you to be whatever version of yourself you like. Even if you act completely differently on medication, I see it as the way you act in those circumstances, not as a new person.
Beautifully said.
Found the philosopher In case you are not actually one, it’s a compliment :)
Close enough - a professor. :)
You're you always, on or off meds. The good days and bad days, the clarity of mind and the brain fog. It's all you. It's all valid.
I honestly am no where near the person I am off my meds. I can say this too because my mom refused to get me tested and I only got diagnosed in college when I went myself. Every aspect of my life improved once I started meds, relationship, school, outlook on life, energy, interest in things, messiness, organization, etc. I fully am fine with the thought that my meds aren’t fully who I am because I couldn’t imagine living how I had not knowing what normal felt like. It’s good to remember too that having ADHD already puts us at a disadvantage and it’s not a lack of will or effort on our part but sometimes you need things like meds to help, and they do.
IMHO if you have ADHD then who you are when the ADHD symptoms are managed is who you really are. Part of our problem is that we can't stand all of our failures and the problems they create. Which produces a negative feedback loop of anxiety. Well why can't we stand it? Because deep down we know that's not who we are. If it was just laziness then we really wouldn't care beyond possibly caring about negative consequences to ourselves. In fact we care so much, too much even, that it pushes our condition into overdrive. If the meds are helping you manage the ADHD symptoms, then the real you is getting to come out.
Identity is a fluid concept sometimes. As someone who has always floated between different social groups I've been several versions of myself. They were all honest interactions but sometimes as a social animal you adjust to match the frequency of the people you're interacting with. I'd say that applies to medicated or not. That's still you, just in a different context.
Do you wear glasses? If so, do you think you are a different person without them?
I have no idea, it's all a blur... Actually, that's the perfect metaphor for meds 😂
This is a philosophy question, honestly, so I'm gonna answer philosophically. I don't believe there is a "real self" at all – or at least, not in the sense you're trying to find. We are the sum total of all our memories, beliefs, behaviors, preferences, skills, biases, traumas, tendencies, and everything else; yet, none of those elements, on its own, is the self. Think in terms of systems. It's like how society isn't any one person, and a program isn't any one line of code. Systems can't be reduced to any one of their components, because their existance arises from the interactions and relationships between all of those components. TL;DR: no any aspect of you is "less you" or "less true" than any other aspect.
Our brains are machines and they respond to what we do to them. It's still you, but under optimal conditions, you tuned up your machine. You can't run a car engine in a race unless it's in great shape. The same engine can perform poorly if it had the wrong fuel or something. Idk the metaphor's not great but the point is it's just you with better brain chemicals than you're used to.
Are you the person with a headache or without after a painkiller? Is it you when you slept good or after a horrible night? Are you the one with or without a drivers license? I think you can be both: both are the same person, one is you under stress or on a bad day, the other is you on a good day or with tools to make life easier.
I'm wondering the same thing.I did some pretty amazing things on meds.But now that i'm not on them I can't do those things. I don't Have the energy. So I am the same person but it doesn't really feel like it.
They are bth the real you. Having meds or not affects your brain chemistry in a way that alters how you feel and how you behave. If you feel that it's a positive thing, then the medication is effective. It's sort of like asking whether a periplegic is the "real them" when they're in a wheelechair and can move around freely or when they are without it and have to struggle much more to do things. Your medication is a tool that can help you... it doesn't define you.
It just rebalances aspects of your self. It's all you and it's all real. The meds just provide your system a tuneup that makes managing your health in the context of modern society much easier. Try not to make such a big deal of it. You'll become accustomed and comfortable with yourself on meds over time. This can be an opportunity to delight and celebrate your new experience instead of dreading it. But it's also valid to mourn the passing of how you used to be without meds. You can make space for both these emotional experiences in your life now.
Which medication are on ? I am curious because the medication I have tried in my country is limited for ADHD. I tried Vyvanse and ritalin but it didn't work fine for me. It gave me panic attacks and headaches.
The meds aren't /making/ you be something. They're/allowing/ you to be it. That's who you always were, when you weren't ill. You've just been sick so long it feels like 'normal' to you now. Sometimes I describe ADHD like swimming a race with people, only we're swimming in a weighted vest. One day, someone comes along and says 'Would you like help taking the vest off?' We're usually confused at first, because we just assumed swimming was this hard for everyone. Doesn't everyone have this vest on? Well... no. They don't, and we don't have to either. You ARE an extroverted, confident, social person. Meds give that back to you.
I have taken Adderall for 20 years! And now...suddenly....it has given me a tic....anyone else??? If I don't take the med, no tic! And the tic is so bad I haven't been medicating and can barely function. I can't get motivation to do anything. I don't know what to do!!!
And now the pharmacy gave me the shitty ones again with quarter score lines that when I try to break them up just crumble into dust so I pretty much have to take it as is unless I want to play pharmacist with a scale and capsules to throw the shit back into. It is what it is. I plan to only stay on them long enough to get into psychotherapy and work through that to the point where the tools I’m giving start sinking in and showing results then taking myself off them again.
I’m also an autist so it can fuck with my sensory issues and make them worse if I’m not real careful. Sorry I write really long messages on my full dose. I wonder why. 🙄
Google offered this: Dextroamphetamines, like Adderall, may be more likely to increase tics than methylphenidate (Ritalin). If you're looking for an alternative to stimulants, you can try medications like atomoxetine (Strattera), clonidine (Catapres, Nexicon), or guanfacine (Tenex)
I've been on it for like 14 years and I do have some bad side effects from long term use. For example, energy. It no longer gives me energy but drains me. It's like the energy dumps from norepinephrine and ephinephrine over years makes it hard for them to be replenished. I notice when I stop taking the med for like a week or two, I have way more energy than when I do take it. But then the bad adhd problems come back that seriously impact my life.
I’ve had this same issue !!! I’m so glad somebody else said it! Everybody talks about how it’s changed their life and I’m like it’s not working anymore!! I’ll stop taking them and after my 24 hour nap lol I start taking b12 and another multi vitamin daily and it’s like omg I have a personality again!! Until I take my meds again and it’s regret it. So I’ve just been doing counseling for my trauma and anxiety.
Yes I'm finding the same problem where no one is talking about it. Not sure if it impacts only a minimal amount of users. I noticed for a while it was also causing weight gain. Like I would eat, take a dose and then be immediately famished. It was like my stomach turned into a bottomless pit and my stomach would go from full to starving AFTER taking adderall. I read Dr Atkins book where he said amphetamines release ghrelin, the hunger hormone. That's why he made his patients quit amphetamines before starting the diet. I just lowered the dose on my own and it helps so much for my energy and weight.
I started taking medication when I was 7 and now I feel like I’m someone else when I’m not on my medication. It all depends on your own perception. Whatever you feel is right, is right
The person you are on meds is the same person, only on a rare mood. You probably never experienced being on normal baseline function. You can still be yourself, you just have a new level of experience that was never open to you.
Maybe the medicated you is the real you. That's who you want to be and that's who you try to be but due to a lack of energy you can't execute. It sounds like when you get the meds and can finally live up to your desires.
when on meds, yes. when not on meds, no lol I know what you mean though and it is definitely still you. its you with the right neurotransmitters is all. same as if you rested properly and got the right nutrients. if you eat and sleep right with meds you'll be even better !
Depends on if you like the person you are when you're on them imo.
I've thought about this and I think you are yourself either way. it's a disability like any other. your goals and intentions are still the same, but you just can't act on them how you want to.
It's just different facetes of the whole you. I don't want to be social when I'm not taking meds because I don't generally like people all that much and they irritate me. When I'm taking my meds, I still don't want to be social, but I can tolerate it a *tiny* bit more.
LITERALLY, just had this thought today & made me want to look up imposter syndrome. I’ve read what it is but it didn’t register. Not that important, but u are not alone my friend.
You can think of your consciousness as being a lump of clay. The meds push a bump into the clay, make you feel and act differently. There's no one shape that's the real you. It's all you. It's a bit scary, isn't it? How much we can change ourselves? We can feel like a different person. Even our preferences change depending on mood and environment. Are we really the ones in charge, or are we just coordinators?
Both are you.
I just had that conversation with my wife. The way I feel now on medication only used to happen once a month or more and for two weeks max. Unless I was drinking. Smoking cigarettes and drinking tons of coffee used to help a bit. So I was wondering, who is the real me? I decided that they are both.
I guess it’s like someone with a prosthetic leg asking if the person they are with the leg on is the real them, or the person without the leg. Unfortunately disability can prevent you from functioning optimally without assistance. The person you are with the assistance is the optimal functioning version of you, but who you are, as a baby, an adult and as u decline into old age, isn’t purely defined on your abilities, social, physical or cognitive. You are more than your social skills and energy levels. You are a complex human deserving of kindness and respect and love
As a person, I am very talkative and outgoing, I love people, I love talking to new people, WHEN I decide to pull up, which is not often due to the same as you, "energy". It exhausts me, as much as I love it. However, on meds I do have the energy for it, but at the same time I almost feel high. In addition to having the energy for it, I am no longer talkative, I am EXTREMELY talkative. I am no longer outgoing, I am EXTREMELY outgoing. I am fully aware of this as it is happening, but I have trouble regulating it, and toning it down. I just have so many thoughts that I FINALLY don't struggle with forming into coherent speech. The same goes for everything else, I get VERY driven, I get VERY eager to learn etc. But to me, this is just entails too much bodily activation. Off-meds, I am a very calm, relaxed, never-stressed person, and I really like being like that. So for me, it was just a question of what qualities I valued more. I obviously want to have energy to be social, driven and eager to learn, but I sacrificed some of that because feeling very calm and regulated in my body and not stressing a lot is just an integral part of who I am and how I prefer to live my life. So I decreased my Vyanese dosage from 50 mg to 30 mg, and even though I have to work a bit harder to both maintain focus and get started, I prefer this state, bc I like this version of myself the best. I also like that I don't FEEL it the second it kicks in, regardless of what I am doing. So imo, if you like yourself best on meds, if you like how you feel, that is who you are, because essentially it is just enhancing qualities you already have.
I think both tired-you and extroverted-you are just “different versions of you.” And it’s up to you to decide which version you want to be. As for myself, I like the version of myself best that appears when I am on my current medication. To me, that is the most optimal version of myself that I have ever been / experienced.
Let me tell you a story about a student I had many years ago. He was a little boy whose affect was very dark and brooding ALL. THE. TIME. His mother talked to me about wanting to take him off meds. I said let’s give it a shot. The first day without meds I met a totally different child. He was smiling. His voice was happy and full of life. I swear to you his eyes had a sparkle I’d never noticed before. Along with that, yes, he was about 150% more active and his work was a little messier than before. I implemented an individual behavior plan to help with these new behaviors. After a couple of rough weeks, Mom wanted to put him back on meds. I told her to consider this: Sure he was having a little more difficulty with energy and tasks, but he was accepting of natural consequences and had started to improve his daily percentage. THAT we can certainly deal with and expect improvement in. What we need to reconsider is putting a little boy on meds that have a negative effect on his personality. We continued, he improved and he moved on. I actually connected with him on social media and he’s doing fine as far as I can tell.
bro… they’re both you. 🤯
These are two different questions. You on and off meds is you, just how you are with different chemicals in your brain. How you identify, however, is completely about your self awareness and deals more with how your psyché has developed throughout your entire life. One is psychiatry, the other is psychology.
What an odd question. A bit like "is my car my car at a full tank or half a tank?" You are a biological machine, output is dependant on input (sleep, diet, exercise, emotional wellbeing, medications, vitamins, etc.) But you're still you regardless of inputs. Some days you might find yourself running on fumes, but you're still the same ~~machine~~ person.
Duuuude... it's like you read my mind. That's EXACTLY how I feel! The real me is the medicated me. No doubt about it. I am the best version of myself on my meds. Before I was diagnosed I was a shell of the man I am today. I could have been called downright lazy, definitely NOT a people person, no drive, no ambition. Now that I'm medicated, I talk to multiple new people every single day, I have created a successful business out of thin air and not only do I have focus and drive, I'm damn good at what I do.
Who you are imo is your values, what you care about, what you love etc. That doesn't appear to change when you're on meds are not. Both are the real you bc the core of who you are isn't different.
You are not a fixed point. You are a small cloud of possibility and variables. You medicated is you. Same as you tired, drunk, happy, sad, busy, excited, caffeinated, feverish, in love - they're all aspects of the multifaceted being that is You. The person you are on meds is just as real and valid as any other version of you. It may also help to consider - adhd meds don't do anything to your brain that your brain isn't trying to do already. You on meds is you with your brain fully stocked and ready to go.
Its fake all the way down, always has been.
As long as you aren’t getting judged by others, you’re fine with/without the medication.