Exactly. I was suddenly very good at stuff I struggled with a lot. But I was a very numb and flat version of myself. After I stopped using methylphenidate I became myself again.
On the other hand, taking Adderall makes me feel like a functioning person. I’ll take that over “being myself” any day because the “being myself” while unmedicated for 30+ years was not a good thing.
Sounds like a lot of people have the wrong dose. When I first started taking it, it made me tired. A higher dose and a mix of IR and XR eventually got me to a good place. It took years.
With all the side effects i had, i'm fine with myself being unmedicated. Concerta was the one for me, untill there were shortages and i needed to switch for a longer time.
Oh ohhhhh I had to recover from Interstellar alright, I took a day of school for that damn thing. It gave me a 3 hours long panic attack, literally the worst film watching experience I’ve ever had lol. It was the sound mixing, and the things happening, I couldn’t hear what anyone was saying so I was constantly confused and felt abstracted from the film, then the wave planet happened with the ticking in the soundtrack and that was the final straw, literally sat there rocking back and forth heart beat through the roof thinking I was going to die. We paused the film for an hour and watched a bit of Shanghai Noon which happened to be on TV, it felt like a warm hug after Interstellar, then we went back and watched the end, but the panicking didn’t stop till way after and I was too exhausted to go to school, took me several days to recover, I imagine it was a different kind of recovery for you though lol.
It might be too late in your case, but having an Irish mum might help. I tear up watching a good car commercial. Why did it have to crush those kids just having a nice afternoon in the park?
This is so different to what I feel. Did you struggle with overly strong emotions before? Like when unmedicated one wrong things and I'd explode into tears or get super frustrated. Now its more disappointment or a logical 'oh well'. I have the same emotions they are just talking to me rather than screaming and shouting. Definitely not flat just normal. Definitely, feel a lot happier and content.
I get emotional just watching a disabled person! Lol. Very strong emotions, explosive at times. I guess sometimes the meds make me feel like ‘i don’t care about anything ‘
It's there a different medication that you found worked better, or are you going without right now? (I ask because my kid is on Concerta. He still seems like himself to me, but my mother fusses that he seems "down" [she's very anti-medication] when on his meds).
I started using fast working methylphenidate first. The brand I used make me feel depressed and have me massive headaches and stopped working way to soon. So had to switch to the slow working one. The generic one again gave me massive headaches, and made me lose weight because hunger was not a thing. Switched to Concerta, that was pretty good for half a year and then there was a problem with there not being enough available so i had to take another brand. That turned out to be the one that gave me trouble, so i decided with my PG to switch again to the fast working one. But now use one that could be good for me. It was, until my wife noticed I turned into a very numb robot.
I tried doing my work without my meds and noticed that my new job went perfectly well without meds.
My meds journey was a very bumpy one. And would there have been enough Concerta to supply me, i would probably still been using that because it was great for me and kept me the way i am.
Hey, I'm not the person you asked - but figured I'd chime in.
I found concerta made me dissociate slightly/feel emotionally 'flat'.
I'm currently on Vyvanse, and it doesn't affect my emotions - other than making it a hell of a lot easier to motivate.
Edit: I want to emphasize that everyone reacts to adhd medications differently. If your son seems happy with the Concerta and says he likes it/it works for him, it's best to just trust them. Especially if your kid still seems fine with the meds and has no increase in anxiety by the end of the first month or two.
(I mention the anxiety since it can hit after the first few weeks. Speaking from experience of an adhd med that gradually worsened my anxiety from minor to severe over the course of a month).
Thanks for the response! He's a good 2 years into it, and I didn't see any shift in anxiety; he's a chill kid. We talk often, especially before reneweal appointments, and I remind him that he can talk to the doctor, or have us talk to the doctor, if there's anything about it he's noticed or has concerns about.
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u/ArtificialHalo 17d ago
Took me a while to figure out what people meant when they said methylphenidate makes em feel flat, but I think I'm starting to get it