I’m posting this simply because I didn’t have any other place to post it, and I’m hoping I’ll get some sort of cathartic relief by doing so.
I’m 41 years old, and I’ve been taking meds for ADHD for the better part of 10 years. I bounced around with a few different meds before finding that Vyvanse was by far the most effective for me. To say that it changed my life would be a huge understatement.
I’ve recently been diagnosed with high blood pressure. They’re still working on figuring out the cause (genetic, environmental, stress, etc…), but I found out on Tuesday that I’m no longer able to take my Vyvanse until they figure everything out. Even then, there’s a good chance I’ll never be able to go back on meds.
I’m, honestly, pretty devistated right now. I was upset enough when I started having to deal with the high blood pressure stuff (I’m a relatively in-shape person, and a very avid distance runner). Adding this on top of things almost feels like too much to handle at once. I’ve pretty much just sat on the couch these past two days throwing myself a little pity party.
In addition to just being a way to vent my feelings of frustration, I’m also hoping someone here might be able to offer some alternative ways to help manage ADHD symptoms. My biggest area of need has always been with my focus. When I’m not medicated, my motivation to do anything (especially things that need to get done) is near zero.
That’s really disheartening. My blood pressure bounces between prehypertension and stage 1 hypertension so I have to be mindful of how my choices affect it, otherwise I’ll just have another medication I need to take.
It sounds like your doctor is being careful but a quick search looks like there should be some options to take both Vyvanse and a beta blocker. It’s possible your doctor just wants a baseline BP off of Vyvanse first, before reintroducing it.
I also find motivation something that takes work. One strategy I use is to write down before bed one big thing I want to accomplish the next day and just a few small ones as well. By keeping the list very small I find it much more doable and everything I accomplish after is just icing on the cake if i’m feeling good about it.
For tasks I find difficult to start, first asking myself why I’m doing it and then using Chat GPT to help me break down the task into clear and manageable actions helps a lot. If I can get a first easy action done, the next comes much more smoothly. And the great thing is that if any action seems daunting, I just ask the AI to help make it more manageable. If I still feel like it’s not enough and the outcome is important to me, then I ask my partner (or an accountability buddy) for a little help and tell them the next action that’s holding me back. It ain’t perfect but i’ve found chatGPT or Bingchat a big help in organizing and defining unclear tasks. I am careful though of not using it with sensitive or personal info. I figure anything being prompted could end up as public info and is definitely will be data mined.