Gentlethem

  • 4 Posts
  • 29 Comments
Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: July 13th, 2023

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  • This july I finally realized that I have no choice but consciously change the ways I think and react to things. There has been plenty of difficult things in my life the last couple of years and after experiencing a burnout (again, I understood afterwards it’s not the first time but hasn’t been this bad before) this summer I had to look myself in the mirror and decide to start making changes, things can’t go on like this anymore, I can’t keep on living like this anymore. It’s sad that it seems often these realizations only come when one hits the bottom in a way or another.

    I’ve been to a 3-year therapy and tried meds and so on, I’m sure they “paved the path” but didn’t help me comprehend why I have these troubles that I have and didn’t give me the understanding/empathy towards myself and others that is needed to actually change the thought and reaction models that are problematic, especially anger and shame issues.

    Anyways I’ve been looking at videos on youtube about CPTSD and they have helped me a lot. Especially I find Tim Fletcher’s videos useful as he thoroughly looks into the underlying issues and different ways CPTSD shows up in people, just the facts as they are. He’s kind of an old school lecturer type guy, nothing fancy and shiny (needs to be taken with a grain of salt though as he doesn’t seem to have understanding on ADHD/autism and has religious aspects in some of his videos).

    Of course being recently diagnosed with ADHD gives more light to why I’m the way I am. But now I’ve been able to start to work on my stuff from a different angle and it seems to take an effect! A difficult and rocky path but I suppose the first steps are the hardest.








  • My mom and her husband were checking out a flat and the real estate agent had their fly open. After that they’d refer to her as “the fly-open” and remind each other of that person every now and then. I wasn’t there yet I remember the case. So I give you second generation memory of an awkward person!




  • You can definitely split the Elvanse capsule for a smaller dose, it’s safe and doesn’t affect the drug itself. Where I live Elvanse is so expensive it would make sense to try and get as high dose as possible and just split it to smaller doses to save money. The price is like 95-135€ for 30 capsules… Also a good-to-know that doctors don’t tell but should: 2 grams of vitamin C should get rid of most of the drug in your system in about an hour or so, take with plenty of water and prepare to piss a lot. For example if you have problems falling asleep or feel like it’s lasting too long you could try if vitamin C helps. Also if you accidentally take too much. I wonder why the doctors don’t often mention about this because taking vit-C supplements will lessen the effect of Elvanse.

    And like the others said, it will take a while to get used to the drug. There’s also the “wow-factor” in the beginning that might make the effect of the drug feel stronger. But it’s a good idea to start with a smaller dose first. No need to force yourself and feel uncomfortable with too big a dose.




  • Same here, used to happen when I’d have a big firght with my SO or parent who wouldn’t understand what’s going on and tried to push me into solving the situation rather than give space. But definitely difficulty speaking is an indicator of emotional distress/overwhelm for me and dissociation / freezing follows when the distress worsens. I find writing an easier way of communicating difficult emotions and thoughts and i’ve even thought about learning sign language to help with these situations.


  • Well I did self-medicate a bit while waiting for the actual diagnosis and I think that would be valuable information for the doctor as well, only if I could tell about it honestly. The meds can be used to validate the diagnosis after all. But it also gave me insight on what works and what doesn’t and how. Where I live one has to try 2 different meds (usually both are methylphenidate) before lisdexamphetamine and for me at least the mf’s cause quite awful side-effects (like dissociation) which elvanse doesn’t so at least now I know not to force myself to the bad ones and go through the process to get to the ones that actually do the trick.

    Substance abuse is pretty common among ADHD people but you can’t get the diagnosis if you admit that or get caught in the screening (drug tests are also required here for the meds). Probably many drug users too have ADHD but they never got proper diagnosis and treatment and never will.