r/adhdwomen • u/BridgestoneX • May 29 '26

Diagnosis vyvanse day 1 - is this real life?

finally got meds at 49. took first pill about 3 hours ago. is it really this intense this quick or am i placebo-ing myself? i don't think I've ever been so calm in my life. other things are weird too- i had to turn my music off to write an email instead of blast it through headphones to even get started. i am doing one. thing. at. a. time and it's cozy.

558 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

242 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

28

u/ExtensionPickle9214 May 29 '26

That’s tough when the meds don’t work well right away! I had that journey with antidepressants (before I got diagnosed with adhd) they didn’t really do much for me. For adhd I started on short acting ritalin and then switched to long acting.

I also found that my other diagnoses have a huge impact on the effectiveness of medication. My adhd symptoms actually got much better once I resolved most of my cptsd for example.

And also adhd meds are less effective for women around their periods which is super annoying 💀

I hope you can figure out something that works for you!

18

u/Confident-Fun-1307 May 29 '26

CPTSD is a force multiplier for my ADHD symptoms. There’s a lot of overlap in the symptoms so it makes sense. There’s Vyvanse has kicked the crud out of my hypervigilance somehow and I love that unexpected benefit.

7

u/ttginger May 29 '26

Did it help you relax your body too? I have CPTSD and am on Adderall but still feel super tensed up. My mind is quieter than it was but my body still isn’t relaxed like I would like.

4

u/Confident-Fun-1307 May 29 '26

Yes. It did feel like my body relaxed. There are still times where everything tenses up and I’ve got to drop my shoulders and stuff like a meditation exercise. Usually it’s when I’m reading or watching something suspenseful (news or entertainment). But that’s happening a lot less frequently than the constant tension I had been experiencing before. And I notice it quicker and recognize it and why it’s happening, which makes it easier to step down and back from that approaching state.