My doctor has been prescribing different meds to see which work for me. He's reluctant to prescribe Adderall because of the (artificial FDA-created) shortage. Here's what we've tried so far:
Wellbutrin: Awful, made me feel depressed and generally shitty, quit after a few days.
Strattera: Better reading comprehension, less scattered thoughts. But I was sometimes tired, confused, and unfocused after meals. Also I had a weird tingly sensation on my tongue like I was drinking soda.
Strattera plus Methylphenidate: My doctor had me take a lower dose of Strattera with 10 mg time-release Methylphenidate for a week as a transition between the two. The combo was effective in that it got me to focus, but it effectively killed my inner monologue and made it nearly impossible to have any creative thoughts. Made me feel like the aliens in Blindsight: intelligent but not sentient.
Methylphenidate: What I'm on right now. 10 mg time-release first thing in the morning, plus another 5 mg quick release in the afternoon if I'm feeling tired or unfocused (not sure if I should make that an everyday thing). Generally, it seems very similar to caffeine, but more mellow and consistent over time, and I've been able to cut my caffeine use in half. It seems to help with focus and energy, but not as much with procrastination (I should really be doing chores right now).
I've seen people on here and elsewhere say that Vyvanse helped them, should I ask my doctor if I should try that next? Or does it have the same problems with shortages that Adderall does? Would Strattera plus Vyvanse have the same effects as it did with Methylphenidate?
Focalin made me stutter and fell off hard after elementary school. Vyvanse did actually nothing for me at all. Concerta had very diminishing effectiveness around high school. literally only Adderall (in conjunction with Strattera) somewhat works for me nowadays and it's a high dose of it as well
Did you ever take Strattera by itself or with another medication? Any weird side effects?
I took strattera alone and also with concerta. Don’t remember concerta vs concerta/strattera but dropping off adderall to take it solely made me super impulsive and unproductive, killed a semester for me. I’m a bit of a case in which I have always needed a higher dosage of stimulants to function best, so YMMV.