Feeling defeated by side effects

[DandelionClock7]

While any advice is appreciated, my post is mostly to vent a little.

I've been diagnosed just before the pandemic and finally got to take medication in 2022 after weaning my child. At first, Adderall and then Vyvanse (switched due to shortage) unequivocally demonstrated how much of a handicap I had due to ADHD without even realizing it. However, a year into taking these medications I developed a sensation of numbness on the left side of my face (imagine if you slept on one side of your face for too long and now the blood is rushing back in) that went away after I went cold turkey on meds. Straterra didn't cause this but I developed other side effects so bad it was not worth continuing at all. Switching back to Vyvanse or Adderall IR immediately returned face numbness. I am now trying methylphenidate and it is milder, but my face numbness is still there. Multiple diagnostic procedures (and a lot of money) later there is no real explanation of this issue and the only advice I get is "if this bothers you, stop taking the medication". If I try asking what are the long term consequences of experiencing this numbness daily (ie am I repeatedly damaging nerve and/or muscle due to vasoconstriction or whatever else is the cause), nobody knows for sure. Uncertainty is bothering me a lot, but going back to a parade of intrusive thoughts, feelings of overwhelm and failure, already being a failure at work and life, impulsive decisions and general lack of peace is not great either. Thank you for reading my rants.

[Cat00]

My daughter and I have just gone through 6 months of various ADHD drugs, lots and lots of money. I tried 3, my daughter 2, all of them made both of us ill and none of them helped.Trying to come to terms with the fact we seem to be in the 20% that can't be helped by meds 😪. That was the one beacon of hope that a diagnosis, at 47 for me, brought. I guess we just go back to finding everything difficult again while the general population think we're just on the ADHD bandwagon...aaagh I feel your pain! Sorry to just add to your rant.

[DandelionClock7 in reply to Cat00]

I am so sorry medications are not working for you and our child, however, I am so glad you did get a diagnosis - I found that the clarity it brought me very comforting.

[Nick1913]

Hello D…7

I can empathize, having had nasty side effects from medications also. Mine were different but the results the same, meds can’t help me.

I try different herbs, foods and supplements to see if they make any difference, though usually not like the medication did, but at least no side effects. Keep trying sometimes I feel better and get more stuff done, sometimes not. I have cut sugar out helped my weight and glucose levels.

Exercise, and proper sleep also . Some days I get lucky and can sleep until I wake up on my own. Found I usually get 8.5 to 10 hours when I don’t use my alarm clock , so I try to gage my sleep toward 9. Makes me feel better.

Coaching and journaling also has helped me in my past.

Good luck

[DandelionClock7 in reply to Nick1913]

Thank you for this and I am sorry you also had a hard time with medication. I totally agree with sleep, exercise, and healthy eating. I fully credit my ability to turn in a very large PhD thesis on time because I had a privilege of only focusing on that, so I was very good about eating healthy, swimming daily, and getting good sleep. Sadly, such a monastic life is hard to combine with having a job and a family, but we all can do is try our best

[Nick1913]

someone said to me “Nothing good comes easily, you always have to work for it.”

[Mamamichl]

have you taken a genesight test yet? It takes your genetics like a paternity test and mixes it with all of the mental health medications. It will tell you if you will have adverse side effects and how extreme it would be (though it won’t tell you the effect you will get).

[DandelionClock7 in reply to Mamamichl]

I have not. While it is super interesting, I doubt it would be informative in my case as my side effects seem to be more anatomical/functional than mood related which would be tricky for a genetics test to provide an insight on.

[Mamamichl in reply to DandelionClock7]

My partners side effect was more aggression. I have more tension. My stepkid feinted and all of our side effects were seen later on our tests.