I was diagnosed a few years back as ADHD inattentive type.
I have gone through good dozen different ADHD meds over the years and found nothing that has worked for me, I tried different families of med types, Stimulant and non stimulant, different doses, extended release, fast release and nothing seemed to work.
Are there others out there in same situation as me? How are you coping with your adult ADHD without use of meds?? Would love to no how you do it.
My main problems are mental focus/attention, time blindness, and organization (poor on getting tasks started or staying with them).
thanks
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Raggy01
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Hello Raggy01,Meds don't work for everyone and there are some natural alternatives.
High cadrio most days of the week is the number one natural remedy that has been shown to be as effective as the meds.
What I have found that works is not looking at the cardio as a chore, or a "have to" but thinking of it as taking your meds because that's exactly what you are doing.
When you participate in high cardio your body is making all the meds you need - dopamine, Serotonin, Norepinephrine, etc.
We used to move all the time - working on the family farm, walking 5 miles uphill both ways to school, etc. - our bodies could regulate SO much better.
Now that many of us don't move much ADHD symptoms are exasperated.
The other natural remedy is mindfulness/meditation. Any activity you choose that allows you to think about your focus and bringing it back to a focal point, strengthens your focus muscle.
You can start with guided meditation, moving meditation (Tai chi or walking) and short periods like 5 minutes and then build up to 15, 20 or 30 min (don't need much that that to achieve the results you want).
Those are the first two that are backed by a lot of science and have a positive impact on symptoms.
There are some that get relief - mild to pretty good - by changing their diet. A more whole foods approach. Eat what you could find in the wild - nuts, fruits, meat, fish, foliage (lettuces).
Some also find relief cutting out dairy, soy, sugar, and food dyes. It takes some experimenting to get the right combo.
That's what I've seen work for clients and what works for me personally.
I hope this gives your a few ideas.
Good luck, and keep us posted on what works for you,
Yes the cardio is great. My daughter ran out of meds last week and that’s what she does. Running on the treadmill for an hour! Looks exhausting to me but it does work. I LOVE what you said about moving meditation. What a wonderful idea, she finds meditation impossible but if it were moving I think it would work!!!
Does daily cardio work if it happens in the late afternoon/evening? My son does cardio daily with soccer practice and it’s amazing for his adhd but he doesn’t have any morning cardio other than recess and PE at school. I’m concerned as he gets older that there is no more recess or PE until after school- will the daily afternoon/evening cardio have lasting benefits into the next day or do we need to find a way for him to get some cardio before school?
I think doing daily, even later in the day, is impactful.When recess goes away (that's tough!) Having him understand that getting his heart rate up is his friend would be a great gift to give him.
Even doing something for a couple of minutes helps with focus. He can run to class (take the long way, get the school on board) jumping jacks for two minutes before class or a test helps a lot. The short bursts are like quick tune ups and the longer after school cardio is the main thing keeping things moving smoothly.
Talk to him about his different wiring as much as you can so he understands he is not broken. He thinks differently and is in a system that doesn't necessarily support his different thinking. It is not him, it is the system - that needs to be reinforced otherwise they create the belief they are the problem. I promise they are not the problem.
Keep him moving, keep learning what works for him, reinforce that he is great just the way he is, he is nor broken.
Meds didn't work for me or my daughter either. They actually made me much worse and they gave my daughter a coughing tick which was very concerning but fortunately went away when we stopped the meds.I was diagnosed at 46 so my life had already been ruined tbh! I've never managed to have a career and I have a lot of health problems caused by prolonged insomnia and stress. I want to be able to stop this happening to my daughter, she was 9 when she was diagnosed.
I completely agree with what BLC89 has written, exercise is my saviour. I do a lot, I go to the gym 4/5 days a week, I do intense cardio 3 x a week, weights/resistance training 4 x a week, I swim and do kung fu in the evenings 2-3 x a week. It helps me sleep, it helps me get the nervous tension out of my muscles, its helps my fibromyalgia enormously. It makes me feel like I'm not a complete loser. I've made good friends too, active places tend to be good environments for people with ADHD, I find our traits are better received.
I tried meditation for years, eventually could sit for 2 hours, but I always hated it and did it badly, now I know why at least. I do my kung fu forms slowly, this is my moving meditation and is the only form I can tolerate.
I hope you researched and tried other meds for your daughter, though. It could make life much easier for her if she had meds along with exercise. She may adopt your attitude, because you're the adult in her life, and then not be willing to try other meds or treatment that might work for her. Some meds cause me tics, but after changing doses and timing, I work around side effects pretty well. I don't think I'd survive if I didn't have meds to lean on at least partially. I'm not trying to sound like I'm judging. ADHD is a tough thing to deal with.
Dont worry i know what you mean, we havent stopped meds on principle. We both tried 3 drugs on multiple doses, stimulants and a non-stimulants. The Psychiatrist said there was only one other drug she would let us try but by then we were getting really concerned with my daughters tic because it was affecting everything, it was a coughing tick and hurting her throat and causing problems at school. We haven't ruled out meds, but apart from running out of money we needed a break from how ill they were making us. Plus in the UK we don't have that much choice, there are not that many meds available. I have very bad RSD and would like to try Clonidine but I already have many health conditions such as chronic migraines and IBS which clash with likely sideeffects. The chances are we'll try meds for daughter in the future, adolescence was very hard for me, I would like her to have anything to help her through it.
You may not have the choice, but did you look at Guanfacine long acting for both of you? It doesn't cause the BP drop that Clonidine does and it has different side effects, even though it's the same class of drug. It was meant for kids, but since the newer trials showed it helps adults too, some adults take it. I hear it helps with anger or even just irritability mostly in adults. Causes drowsiness, but if you titrate very slow, I hear it goes away in a few weeks. **Something tells me you know all about this, and didn't mention it for a good reason.😅 Adolescence is definitely hard, even without adhd! I'd like to have a higher dose of stimulant, but the tic I developed just gets out of control, so I'm asking to add guanfacine long acting to take before bed. [My stupid tic will cause a sore on gums behind my front teeth and grooves on my tongue from me pushing my tongue into the back of my front teeth constantly.] And here I was just happy that no one could see or hear it. But, no, I can't have it getting that bad. Jeez, if someone would've told 10 yr old me that one day I'd be openly chatting about my tics, I'd have fainted dead away. My parents told me everyone will think I'm "ret@rded" if I don't stop with the blinking and eye rolling. Your daughter is fortunate to have an educated mom. 🥹 If I may say.
Yes we tried Guanfacine, it helped me sleep but I got intolerable side effects from it. My daughter didn't really have any ticks until she took Guanfacine, or at least none that stuck around for very long. Then with Guanfacine she started with this little cough, like she was clearing her throat. After a week she was doing it every couple of minutes. I was so worried she was going to damage her throat coughing continuously, that and obviously having to deal with how hard it is to fit in at school even without a tick. She's going to high school next year.
Sometimes I feel like maybe it's because we're female we don't respond to meds? The stimulants made me extremely emotionally volatile and they didn't seem to have a positive side for either of us.
I was lucky though I have a close friends with a severely autistic son and he has many ticks so I was educated about them a long time ago, which is good because the doctors weren't at helpful!
Unbelievable! You'd think doctors would know about tics. They probably do, but they don't want to deal with it because it's obviously not an easy fix. I've heard of lots of females doing well with stimulants. I respond to them, but I believe I could do much better if I had a different one. It's really a pain to deal with. Guanfacine is 'supposed' to help with things like anger outburts. Maybe I won't have the same reaction as you did. We'll see. I hope you get somewhere with a med before she starts high school. I agree about school being difficult enough. 😒
I'm following this because I can't take meds. Years ago, I did well with Vyvanse and Adderall, but after chemo I was unable to physically tolerate any type of about 10 different ADHD meds. So I know stimulants help me. I do drink coffee to get going in the mornings, and in the afternoon if I need to be mentally sharp for something. I'm retired so have the luxury of being able to adjust as needed. Other than that, I haven't found anything that makes a noticeable difference. We eat reasonably healthy diets, but I'm handicapped so most cardio is out of reach for me. Hope to hear some good hints from others who answer you!
Something tells me that getting on a doses spread out 2x daily of long-acting niacin(inositol) to help with any deficiencies your body is struggling with. Magnesium deficiency is also huge for nervous system. Take plenty. Magnesium deficiency has been tied to panic-attacks.
Magnesium glycinate in capsule form is the only one that works for me. Helps with anxiety, Restless legs syndrome, and sleep. The cheaper forms just cause stomach issues and don't help with neurological stuff.
Lots of people with neurodivergence of any kind have low ferritin, which is the iron in your brain. Doctors usually only check hemoglobin and hematocrit, and that can be totally normal. A sleep neurologist finally checked mine and it was so low that I had to have 2 infusions of iron, then 2 more a few years later. It causes damage in the brain if you're born with this problem, so I don't know why it's not routinely checked while they're checking regular iron to look for anemia. Other replies already said other stuff, so this is all I got. 😀Good luck.
My husband is on the Inattentive end of adhd also, he claims his meds are up and down, he will feel more focused at times but when he really needs it maybe not so I dont now how effective his meds are either.
He was recently confronted by people who filled his head with what BS this adhd thing is, its all in peoples heads, all being lazy etc etc and NOW it feels like a major back slide, hes not sure if he believes any of this anymore and wants to stop the meds all together. I didnt think people were still that doubtful about it but apparently I was wrong
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