The question came up during therapy.

Reasons:

  • The lisdexamfetamine is completely out-of-pocket, while the methylphenidate could be paid for by insurance. Even tried, failed and documented, future lisdexamfetamine would be paid for by insurance.
  • There might be a co-occuring autism spectrum disorder, and methylphenidate sometimes does a better job / less side effects, then.
  • While the Elvanse/Vyvanse completely fixed two symptoms, ability to focus and getting started with a task, more would be nice.

But, I’d like to stay functional, so is this attempt worth it?

  • d0ntpan1c@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    4·
    4 days ago

    I switched from Adderall to Ritalin recently and its been interesting. Also in the possible AuDHD camp, but ive never had vyvanse.

    Generally speaking, Ritalin has been better at clearing out the “background noise” but not as good at the motivating to do a task. Tbh, I’m OK with that because I often found myself hyperfixating on the wrong things on Adderall. Worth noting that I’m also on am SNRI (venlafaxine) for anxiety/depression and migraines, so that likely has some bearing on how each works for me. It wasn’t as drastic a change as I thought it’d be tbh. Just different. I hesitated trying it out for a while but I was ovrrthinking it. At least for now I think Ritalin is better for me, but I don’t think Adderall is out of the question in the future.

    While I never found coffee and adderall throughout the day to be that weird, i did need to watch it or I’d be jittery. I don’t think I’ve ever felt like I overdid it with coffee and Ritalin. I’m a coffee fiend so that’s been a positive for me.

    I also have felt like adderall may have been masking how depressed I was for a while. I often felt like it’d just nuke the things that were bothering me until it wore off. Ritalin doesn’t seem to do that. Don’t get me wrong, that’s a good thing since its forced me to actually internalize and start processing it while Adderall may have been kicking the can down the road more than I thought, and it is known more for the emotional changes than Ritalin is. I suspect this also has something to do with the alexythymia component of ASD, which adds some points to the notion Ritalin may be better for AuDHD.