this post was submitted on 09 May 2025
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How does it help you?
My main problem always was energy. Not wanting to go out, not wanting to work, sometimes literally not wanting to do anything. I still had motivation and ambitions though. The feeling of being unable to do what I really wanted, to live up to who my idea of who I wanted to be, made me feel like wasting all my potential.
The medicine gives me that extra kick in the butt energy wise and also lowers the barrier of "just doing it". It makes everything you do just a little bit more rewarding, so that now my hobbies even have a chance to compete against the dopamine of video games and fast food.
All in all, now I feel like I actually use my potential. When I don’t do something I wanted to, mostly now it’s because of time, not energy. Also it really helped me in social situations by closing that sensory filter a bit, giving me some more runtime before I get exhausted.
What I don’t like: If I couldn’t live the life I wanted before the medicine, and now I can, what happens if I don’t take the medicine anymore? If it works as it’s supposed to, you build your life on top of that effect, so being dependent on it is kinda built in. I’ve already experienced times where the medicine wasn’t as effective, and suddenly my daily life seemed not stimulating enough anymore compared to my old habits.
I accept this trade off though, since it’s the first thing that ever let me live my life like I actually wanted to.
That's really interesting thanks 😊
It's exactly like this for me as well. The barrier to start tasks is lower, and the anxiety about all the "should do" tasks is not there, as well as the lack of anxiety when finishing something and thinking "but I have way more to do".
So combined the mental load is way less, so I have energy to do more.
Tl;dr I have energy to do more, the ability to do more, and the rewards of doing more.
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Stimulants in general. You kind of have to try what works best for you, but they were all pretty much doing what I described
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There’s many cool options if you don’t prefer stimulants. Guanfacine came pretty close to ritalin for me. Atomoxetine is another option I didn’t try, and a few more you’d have to look up. Stimulants are no joke, and I am not without any side effects. For me the trade-off is worth it though. If you ever try them I can only suggest to speak to your doctor about starting with half the regular starting dose. It can be way too high for some people already, and there is no real harm in starting low as far as I could find out.