On January 19th, 2024, I started treatment for ADHD. If you want to read more about how I got my diagnosis, you can read my previous post about getting Diagnosed with ADHD.
Over time, I acquired a few technologies and developed a few strategies to cope with ADHD.
The first week (Jan 12 - Jan 19)
Switching from a diagnosis to a treatment was harder than I expected. After I finished the diagnosis, my results were immediately sent the results to my primary care provider (PCP). A few days went by and nothing happened. I emailed my PCP’s care coordinator, and she asked me to send a copy of the diagnosis to her. I did, and again nothing else happened for a few days. Then I found an opening in my primary care provider’s calendar and booked it for next day. My PCP had not yet received the results from her own coordinator, so I printed a copy and brought to her.
Medicine
The PCP and I had a 20-minute meeting about the results and the treatment options. She suggested a stimulant from three options: Adderall (amphetamine), Ritalin (methylphenidate), and Strattera (Atomoxetine). For no specific reason, I was worried about habit-forming, which I had read that could be a problem with Ritalin and Adderall. I asked about Strattera first, but she told me that it only work for about 50% of the people, whereas Ritalin and Adderall tend to work for 70-80%, and that the risk of addiction is very low at the low dosages used in ADHD treatment. She also told me that the most common side effects are loss of appetite and insomnia, but that they usually go away after a few weeks.
She suggested I try Ritalin first, and prescribed me 10mg of the extended release version. She told me to take them in the morning, becase it is a stimulant and it could cause me to lose sleep if I took it too late in the day.
I got my prescription filled that same day and took my first dose at about 11 AM. The day seemed to progress as usual, with me getting distracted at about the usual amount and using all of my coping strategies to manage. According to my primary care provider, the initial dosage of 10mg is probably not even therapeutic and used more to see if I will have any side effects, but we’ll meet again in 2-3 weeks to review.
Therapy
In addition to Ritalin, I also started therapy with a provider that specializes in ADHD. I was actually supposed to start it a week before the medicine, but the therapist had to reschedule because she was sick. I had my first session with her today, and it was mostly an introduction to the process of therapy.
She asked me if I had therapy before, and I told her that I was switching therapists, as the therapist I used until November last year retired. She asked about my family history (dad left my life early, mom probably neurodivergent), whether I had a difficult childhood, and about my social life. Apparently, social media doesn’t count as much for a social life, but it’s better than nothing. She also screened me for anxiety and depression (negative for both). Then, she asked about my goals.
I told her that my main goal is to get better tools to manage being overwhelmed, which happens occasionally. The feeling of being overwhelmed happens when I have too many things to do and I don’t know where to start, so I end up doing nothing. This usually results in some things being late, which leads to me being more overwhelmed. Another common problem is being distracted by something and forgetting to do something important. I told her that I have a lot of coping strategies, but I’m not sure if they are the best ones, and I would like to learn more.
We decided on a bi-weekly rythm, and I will have my next session in two weeks.
How are things going so far?
Getting diagnosed is helpful, because now I understand many of the things that happen, even though I still have trouble controlling them. As of now, the dosage of the medicine is probably too low to make a difference, but I noticed that I am getting more tired than usual at night and sleeping better. My level of distraction and being overwhelmed don’t seem to have improved substantially.
The post above is about my first week of treatment. I also documented the first four weeks of treatment.