I am 'middle aged' (oh, God...) and have a wife and two young kids. I first had someone mention to me that I might be ADD this past April/May. After a bunch of research, I convinced myself that it might be true. Iwas officially diagnosed in August and have been on drugs since then. So it is early days for me...
The plan for me is to use the drugs long enough to cement behaviors that help me manage the condition within my current situation. For most of my life, I haven't had a 'straight-job', a marriage and two kids to raise. I structured everything so that I could basically do anything that I wanted, whenever I wanted. Now that I have to manage having family and a job (at least job in the short term), I need to have some way of maintaining consistent behavior. Right now the drugs are working for my situation.
I know the thinking-difference that this condition brings is a comparative advantage to others. I am way more creative, and much better at solving problems than others are. I just kind of suck at being reliable right now.
Personally, I have no side effects that I notice (none at all) with correct dosing and control of my behavior.
Within the first few days of being on Concerta, I had a stressful rush-job on one of my files at work and slipped into my 'work-zone' behavior (my main symptom is overfocus). The combination of the new drugs, and the adrenaline / anxiety was a strange sensation, probably what most experience when being on amphetamines. I just don't put myself in that situation anymore.
Other than that, I've nothing to report.
You might consider that it was not the drugs alone that were keeping you awake. You may have a great deal of latent anxiety that only becomes a problem once you 'wake your frontal lobe up'. That anxiety is what I used to stay sharp before drugs. Maybe massage or meditation would help you get to sleep when you start on the drugs.
I do not claim to be an authority on the research, but I believe that the statistics are that more people die from using Asprin every year than medical stimulants (not that death should be the only measure).
There is evidence supporting good outcomes for the medical use of stimulants dating as far back as the 1930's - longer than any other class of drugs. The medical consensus is that they are safe.
The plan for me is to use the drugs long enough to cement behaviors that help me manage the condition within my current situation. For most of my life, I haven't had a 'straight-job', a marriage and two kids to raise. I structured everything so that I could basically do anything that I wanted, whenever I wanted. Now that I have to manage having family and a job (at least job in the short term), I need to have some way of maintaining consistent behavior. Right now the drugs are working for my situation.
I know the thinking-difference that this condition brings is a comparative advantage to others. I am way more creative, and much better at solving problems than others are. I just kind of suck at being reliable right now.
Personally, I have no side effects that I notice (none at all) with correct dosing and control of my behavior.
Within the first few days of being on Concerta, I had a stressful rush-job on one of my files at work and slipped into my 'work-zone' behavior (my main symptom is overfocus). The combination of the new drugs, and the adrenaline / anxiety was a strange sensation, probably what most experience when being on amphetamines. I just don't put myself in that situation anymore.
Other than that, I've nothing to report.
You might consider that it was not the drugs alone that were keeping you awake. You may have a great deal of latent anxiety that only becomes a problem once you 'wake your frontal lobe up'. That anxiety is what I used to stay sharp before drugs. Maybe massage or meditation would help you get to sleep when you start on the drugs.
I do not claim to be an authority on the research, but I believe that the statistics are that more people die from using Asprin every year than medical stimulants (not that death should be the only measure).
There is evidence supporting good outcomes for the medical use of stimulants dating as far back as the 1930's - longer than any other class of drugs. The medical consensus is that they are safe.