I only recently was able to work at a place that got good enough health insurance to afford vyvanse. It was still something that I needed to try the generic, and insurance-preferred drugs first like Adderall XR but once I tried it and mentioned that it didn’t work so well, I could get the Vyvnase Rx filled. $30 copay instead of $10 but well worth it. Generally, the only reason for this is because there’s no generic. So hopefully with the generic coming soon more adhd folks could try this.

I too wish I didn’t have to take meds. I wish my brain just worked the way it should. The thing about ADHD is though you’re already likely finding your own stimulants or stimuli. Kids with ADHD unknowningly self-medicate with sugar. Actually, Dr. Russell Barkley also mentions that if you have ADHD and you aren’t medicated and you want to have your brain work a little better for a short duration, you can sip (he emphases slowly sip) on a sugary beverage such as a soda. Liquified sugar passes the blood-brain barrier faster than solid sugars would in the stomach. Sugar itself lights up similar pathways in the brain as cocaine.

There are other forms of stimulation besides drugs but the intention of the drugs is to provide a baseline level of stimulation so that you don’t need to seek out your own stimulation (or, not as much of it). It’s such a strange thing to explain to people, but in order for me to concentrate on what someone is saying, I need to be doing something else at the same time.