I am on inspiral 20mg IR but it’s unpredictable sometimes. I heard that Addwize IR is better but can’t find 20mg IR anywhere. Only found 10mg IR but it costs more and it would be annoying taking 2 pills instead of 1.
Does anyone know where to get addwize 20mg IR?
I have high-functioning Autism. I feel out of place when people cry in front of me, I don’t feel an inherent urge to hug them. I started hugging friends/family while they were crying after I became an adult (figured it out from books and movies) because I felt like that would help them. Personally, I don’t really like physical touch but I do it so that the other person may feel better. I also ask people questions when they are sad, not because I feel it but because I want to know what happened and if there’s something that can be changed or fixed. I think this is something people mistake for being compassionate in me.
I do love petting and comforting animals though, it comes to me a bit easily.
I recently started therapy for Alexithymia and realised some things.
I feel very very uncomfortable when loved ones are upset about something and I want them to feel better even if I fully don’t understand why they would feel that way. I rarely experience feelings of sadness from watching someone be sad, I just feel sort of weird and want the situation to be better for them. I don’t feel “sad” usually in these situations (in very rare situations, I do but it has happened a handful of times in years). I just know that this shouldn’t be happening and try to see how we can change it.
Since I was a kid, I would go out of my way to try and make everyone feel “not bad” if they were suffering in front of me. I do the same with animals. I can’t tolerate seeing animals suffer, I just want things to be okay. I also hate hurting anyone, even if they hurt me badly. I got bullied my entire childhood and I never retaliated because “it’s not right to behave that way, I don’t like them doing it to me so I shouldn’t do anything to them.”. Even as an adult I cannot act in ways that other people do when wronged (justified crash outs).
I realised that I don’t feel “good” when someone I care about is in pain, but I also don’t feel “sad”. I just feel uncomfortable and want things to be different. I think about what could be making them feel that way, what things can I say to fix it, etc. But I don’t share what they feel, usually. Even if I do feel it, I don’t understand what I am feeling until I feel myself crying and THEN I understand that I am sad.
It’s really frustrating. I felt very bad growing up because I would feel something “heavy” instead of feeling sadness/sympathy. Others can see a sick dog and feel bad for a minute before brushing it aside but I keep thinking about it and feeling uncomfortable and guilty, even after I tried to help the dog (this is an example).
Weird example: I was a baby and had learned how to crawl. My mom got bit by some ants and I saw it. She told me that it hurt so I (allegedly) went on an ant kill spree until she stopped me and explained that ant bites didn’t kill her so I shouldn’t kill them as it’s disproportionate. I never hurt anything out of anger after that.
I keep doubting all my “good” actions because I don’t understand what I feel and why I do certain things, I just have a strict moral code and I stick to what I think should be done. I don’t understand what I feel in the moment, other than being uncomfortable that things are not “right”. I don’t know if I feel sad.
What confuses me is the feeling of heaviness and guilt even after I’ve done something objectively good in a situation which yields me zero benefit. I
I don’t understand how I feel, so how can I truly do anything good for anyone? There’s probably no inherent desire in me to do something “good”, maybe I just do things mechanically out of a moral code. Everything I do feels hollow to me. I keep thinking that since there is no visible emotional motivation behind an action, how can I say that the action is truly me? Is the action even authentic?
It’s strange. I feel deeply uncomfortable with things that are sad for others but I don’t feel “connected” with their feelings either. I just do what I think should be right. And I end up feeling guilty either way for some reason.
People who know me say that I am empathetic, I go out of my way to help others when most would just brush it off but I don’t think that’s accurate. I am just doing what I think anyone should have. It feels like a natural progression of things, not a specific action.
I feel guilty or heavy when something bad happens to someone I care about. Like it is wrong. But I don’t feel sad or connected.
I also feel guilty about things which I don’t have anything to do with. I keep thinking what I could’ve done to prevent someone from getting sad or hurt, even if I had zero involvement. Or what I can do to fix it. But I feel deeply uncomfortable about the situation being the way it is and no connection to the person’s actual feelings. I can understand “why” but I don’t relate to it.
Has anyone else struggled with this? Any insight would be great.
I am on inspiral 20mg IR and idk what to expect. Might switch to something else because on some days inspiral lasts 2.5 hrs and on some days its 4
I have high-functioning Autism. I feel out of place when people cry in front of me, I don’t feel an inherent urge to hug them, I started hugging friends/family while they were crying after I became an adult because I felt like that would help them. Personally, I don’t really like physical touch but I do it so that the other person may feel better.
I recently started therapy for Alexithymia and realised some things.
I feel very very uncomfortable when loved ones are upset about something and I want them to feel better even if I fully don’t understand why they would feel that way. I rarely experience feelings of sadness from watching someone be sad, I just feel sort of weird and want the situation to be better for them.
Since I was a kid, I would go out of my way to try and make everyone feel “not bad” if they were suffering in front of me. I do the same with animals. I can’t tolerate seeing animals suffer, I just want things to be okay.
I realised that I don’t feel “good” when someone I care about is in pain, but I also don’t feel “sad”. I just feel uncomfortable and want things to be different. I think about what could be making them feel that way, what things can I say to fix it, etc. But I don’t share what they feel, usually. Even if I do feel it, I don’t understand what I am feeling until I feel myself crying and THEN I understand that I am sad.
It’s really frustrating. I felt very bad growing up because I would feel something “heavy” instead of feeling sadness/sympathy. Others would see a sick dog and feel bad for a minute before brushing it aside but I keep thinking about it and feeling uncomfortable and guilty, even if I try to help the dog.
I keep doubting all my “good” actions because I don’t understand what I feel and why I do certain things, I just have a strict moral code and I stick to what I think should be done. I don’t understand what I feel in the moment, other than being uncomfortable that things are not “right”. I don’t know if I feel sad.
What confuses me is the feeling of heaviness and guilt even after I’ve done something objectively good in a situation which yields me zero benefit. I
I don’t understand how I feel, so how can I truly do anything good for anyone? There’s probably no inherent desire in me to do something “good”, maybe I just do things mechanically out of a moral code. Everything I do feels hollow to me. I keep thinking that since there is no visible emotional motivation behind an action, how can I say that the action is truly me? Is the action even authentic?
It’s strange. I feel deeply uncomfortable with things that are sad for others but I don’t feel “connected” with their feelings either. I just do what I think should be right. And I end up feeling guilty either way for some reason.
Has anyone else struggled with this? Any insight would be great.
Idk I may be imagining it but somedays my inspiral IR seems to barely work. I sleep and eat well and try to maintain everything but still. Inspiral is not bad but feels a little unpredictable sometimes.
Has anyone tried both inspiral and Addwize IR? Is there a difference?
Inspiral helps a lot with not getting distracted every 10 seconds but now I tend to fixate on whatever topic I am studying ONLY. (Did this before too, I don’t like switching between topics).
I HATE doing multiple topics at the same time, it feels WRONG to me :(
I get into the flow, learn something and ONLY feel like focusing on it daily. Which is bad for my overall progress because it’s not humanly possible to remember everything without regular revision.
Has anyone else dealt with this
I am 23. Started birth control (a substitute brand of yasmin) around 2 weeks back. Since then I’ve noticed:
Really bad mood swings at times (I wasn’t depressed before but now I have dark thoughts sometimes). And my overall mood feels low. I’ve started feeling somewhat apathetic about things I care about a LOT. And sometimes I feel incredibly emotional over things out of nowhere.
Acne increased.
Libido shot through the roof. I have autism and alexithymia makes it difficult for me to detect if I am aroused. I did enjoy sex before but I rarely felt the urge to masturbate (did it maybe once every 6 months out of boredom). Now I feel weird as fuck all the time and it’s very strange to deal with. I feel super aroused every day and it’s very difficult to ignore and I don’t know what to do about it because it’s the first time in my life that the arousal feel is so strong that it keeps overriding my alexithymia. I don’t like it. I feel stupidly aroused a lot of the time over NOTHING.
Adhd medication feels less effective now. Or I may be imagining it. I am on methylphenidate. Maybe my low mood is making me feel that way.
I also feel conflicted about my partner and other people. I can’t really understand what it is (alexithymia lol) but I’m trying to figure it out. I feel slightly different about everyone in my life.
Is this normal? I feel like I’m struggling more due to my alexithymia.
Has anyone else dealt with this? I feel weird, especially about feeling aroused because I am not used to it. It distracts me from doing my work. The low mood doesn’t help either.
What could this be? Is there a way to manage it? Thanks for reading!!!
My energy levels are not the greatest and I wanted to start creatine (3g/day). Saw somewhere that people with endometriosis or adenomyosis should stay away from it as it may cause a flare up.
However, it seems that opinions are pretty divided on that and many people seem to refute the claim that study made.
I wanted to know if you guys have tried/are on creatine daily. If so, how has it affected you? Does it actually make endo/adeno worse?
My ferritin was below 16 (amongst other off putting blood values) for years and it was never taken seriously or even noticed by doctors. I believe the deficiency was due to my adeno/endometriosis (which was also mostly ignored for years lol).
A while ago I decided to visit a haematologist and basically demand an iron infusion. And FINALLY, my iron deficiency anemia was acknowledged. She prescribed an iron infusion (FCM, 500mg) that very same day and I was elated.
The weird part: I don’t know if I experienced an allergic reaction or just got sick.
I ate a sandwich from a food truck 1.5 hours before the infusion as I hadn’t eaten all day and the doctor told me that I should eat something. They gave me a shot of Avil before the infusion as a preventative measure and I was also under observation for 15 minutes after a little bit of iron was injected.
I had zero reaction to it and since it was my first time, they were very slow and careful with it. The whole thing took around 3 hours. Everything was great and I felt nothing the whole time except in the last 10 minutes.
My feet started feeling weird? Not itchy but it felt like something had stung my skin. I could feel my pulse in my feet suddenly and the skin till my socks felt dry and raw. I chalked it up to dry skin initially. And then it stopped and felt normal.
Ten minutes later, I felt EXTREMELY SICK out of nowhere. My heart rate (which was normal the whole time) spiked to 130 (my rhr is 85-95). My vision started to fade and I felt terrible. And then I threw up everywhere(approx 4-4.5 hours after the sandwich) and the puke had chunks of sandwich in it. My heart rate kept spiking until it hit 155-160 and then it stayed there while I puked 3-4 times more until there was nothing left to puke up. Even then I kept gagging uncontrollably. My abdominal area was in PAIN and I didn’t have the strength to even hold myself up or wipe the puke from my face. They administered anti-emetics and something for acid reflux immediately.
My heart rate stayed 145+ for the next hour and I actually felt like I was going to die. I couldn’t even sit up without help in 10 minutes after the puking had started. The pain was worse. I kept gagging even after the anti emetics and I was just throwing up extremely bitter yellowish/brownish gel-like liquid. They had to hold me up and half carry me on the way to the bathroom before I threw up again. They didn’t give me any fluids.
Even the doctor was confused. They gave me painkillers. After another hour the pain finally subsided enough for me to walk with support. My family brought me home (half carried me). I almost passed out on the toilet. It was horrible. I don’t know how I made it to bed without dying.
The next day I was still sick but a lot better. Didn’t vomit but spent a lot of time on the toilet. Mostly drank electrolytes and slept. My abdomen hurt.
After that I developed a fever for another two days before I started antibiotics and got better on the third day. Now I’m doing great.
My adhd meds work amazingly again now and I no longer see stars when I stand up. My head also doesn’t feel weak. My appetite also seems to have gotten better (compared to pre-infusion). I feel really good right now.
I just don’t understand if this was an allergic response or if it was just food poisoning. I’m hoping that it’s the second one because if it’s a reaction, that would be pretty sad.
Another reason I think that it was food poisoning: I was dehydrated on the day of the infusion and barely had any water in me. I promptly threw up most of it once I started puking and they didn’t administer any fluids either. It probably doesn’t explain much but could make sense of how I almost passed out several times.
Thoughts?
I’m 24f. I’ve had chronic fatigue, weakness, low energy for several years now. I feel winded out from talking. I have heavy menstrual cycles (suspected endo/adeno) which may be the cause.
In the past few years, my ferritin was around 9 at one point and the doctors at that time didn’t even flag it or talk about iron. Haemoglobin was 11.4 at that time.
My current psychiatrist (I’m so thankful for her) was the first doctor to suggest an iron panel after I complained of chronic fatigue and feeling weak and exhausted 24/7.
I checked my levels recently after she asked me to test. They are:
Ferritin is 15
Haemoglobin 11.5
Transferrin saturation % is 17.4%
UIBC, TIBC within range (towards mid-upper limit)
Iron in blood 50.
My adhd meds (Ritalin, which was perfect for me) stopped working. I tried oral iron supplements but it just made me feel sick and they don’t work. I have some GI issues but I cannot afford a complete GI investigation at the moment.
I visited an obgyn after this with the results and initially she was considering an iron infusion. However she told me that my values were only “slightly lower than the range” and then sent me back home with birth control which would make my bleeding less severe. She also said that an infusion might “overload” my body.
My TSH is also rising now (went from 2.5 to 4.4 in 3 months) and I believe that it may be related. Testosterone is 2.5 (which is apparently low for an adult woman).
I read up stuff online and apparently your body needs iron for dopamine, TPO (without TPO, TSH rises), and testosterone. My lab values and markers seem to co-relate perfectly with all these but I feel like I’m going insane because my doctors so far have just brushed it off and I can’t even bring up these things because I’m scared of getting labelled as a hypochondriac.
I feel like I’m going crazy now. At least 6 doctors (highly recommended GPs, obgyns, one hemato oncologist, a surgeon) have completely dismissed my concerns and values. Everything suggests that I have anemia and need an iron infusion but I keep getting ignored because the values could be worse.
One doctor (informally) remarked that I might be suffering from a psychosomatic condition because I said that I was incredibly frustrated and confused that my ferritin of ~9 was ignored by several doctors for years. He said that I would benefit from psychological therapy. Which is insane because I am in therapy for ADHD management and even my therapist was appalled by the iron values when I told her.
I feel like maybe I am a hypochondriac and I’m making stuff up and all the fatigue, weakness, dizziness I feel on a daily basis isn’t real. My vitamin B12 levels are great too (760) and folic acid was a bit low a month back but I’ve supplemented it a lot since.
However, haemoglobin has dropped more (from 11.8 to 11.4) since then and TSH rose from 3.3 to 4.4 in a short time.
Are these things even real? Has anyone gone through the same? How did you convince your doctor?
I honestly WISH I was making up my chronic fatigue symptoms because my labs are “technically in range” but I feel terrible every day. I barely have energy for waking up or staying awake despite being on a relatively high dose of ritalin. My brain feels like wet cement. This is ruining my life and work. I’ve been functioning at a deficit for around 5 years now and I don’t have energy for ANYTHING.
I sleep 10 hours and still feel like shit. My heart rate jumps from 100 (I have a feeling that my normal heart rate being this high is also due to iron deficiency) to 130 if I TALK for 10 minutes. My eyesight dies for several seconds whenever I stand up and this happens every day, at least twice. I’ve been like this for years now.
I am also very underweight and despite overeating, I can’t seem to gain weight. (Probably some GI issue but that’s not important now)
Tldr: i might be anaemic for several years now but keep getting dismissed by doctors and idk what to do now.
Someone PLEASE tell me I’m just overthinking this and seeing things. At this point I’m either going insane or have had bad luck with highly rated and qualified doctors.
I am just sad and frustrated now and I don’t see WHY doctors keep rejecting an iron infusion because of possible ferrotoxicity or complications. I don’t have any energy for basic functions even. Is ferrotoxicity even possible at a ferritin of 15???
Not to mention, I have some low grade chronic inflammation in my body (ESR -22) which automatically inflates Ferritin values. So my ferritin of 15 might be even worse. Even then, I keep getting ignored. I don’t know what to think anymore. I don’t know what doctor to approach at this point. Obgyns don’t care, GPs don’t care, idk.
Thanks for reading, have a nice day.
I’m 24, have suspected adenomyosis/endo. Also a confirmed bicornuate uterus. I’m around 5ft7 and 43kg now. Uterus size was (83*47*35)mm on a usg two years back which is apparently big for my age, especially since I’ve never given birth before or gotten pregnant.
When I was 15-17, gaining weight wasn’t an issue for me. I’ve always been skinny but I stayed in a healthy range with no issues. I wasn’t losing weight from breathing.
Since then, I have suffered from chronic weight loss and fatigue. No matter how hard I try to eat food, I barely gain weight. If I miraculously manage to hit 48 kg somehow after months of stuffing my face to the point of exhaustion, I will immediately lose 3 kgs if I get sick for 2 days. It’s a never ending cycle of coming close to 50kgs and then losing more than I have gained in so long.
My ferritin is also at rock bottom (8-15) and doctor in my area have mostly ignored it. Haemoglobin is at 11.5. Oral iron makes me sick. I’m trying to find someone who will take my concerns seriously and prescribe me an infusion.
I started birth control (combined) this week. I don’t know what to expect. My hormones are within range (LH, FSH, AMH, E2) but my testosterone is very low. TSH levels have been shooting past 4 for a while now and doctors don’t care because its typically “not that bad”.
I have a feeling that the root cause of all this is my iron deficiency (which hasn’t been taken seriously in 4 years now). I’m just worried that starting birth control was probably not a good idea when my testosterone levels are already very low.
I am so upset and frustrated at this point. I feel like shit every day and feel winded from just talking. I don’t have any energy for anything. I can’t gain weight now matter how hard I try and no one seems to believe it. Doctors tell me to just exercise (My vision goes blurry from standing) and eat food(can’t gain weight even if I eat a ton).
Do you struggle with gaining weight too? How has birth control affected it?
Have a nice day, thanks for reading this far.
I finally gathered the courage to visit an obgyn today after two years of avoiding them (bad experiences in the past). I’ve a bicornuate uterus and USGs show that it’s sized too big for my age and history.
A few years back, a really good doctor said that I am highly likely to have endo or adeno according to the unnatural dimensions but I couldn’t continue the investigation at that time as I had to move to another city. Since then, my experience with GPs and Obgyns has been not fun, to say the least.
In the last 4 years, my ferritin has fluctuated between 8 and 15.
Iron is 50 (range is 60-180),
transferrin saturation is 18%.
Haemoglobin stays between 11.5 to 12.5 no matter what, even if vitamin levels are optimal. (I was prescribed aggressive doses and for the first time, my haemoglobin hit 12.5 lol. It declined again.)
Other cbc values highly suggest that I have chronic mild anaemia. Which is not surprising because my periods are bad. In these 4 years, all these values were ignored by GPs, a highly qualified haemato-oncologist(funny I know), and obgyns.
I was expecting to get prescribed an ultrasound or pelvic mri at the very least to assess it better and rule out endometriosis. My last usg was over a year ago and my symptoms have only worsened since then. My fatigue, weakness, low energy has gotten so much worse.
I told the obgyn today that oral iron supplements give me GI issues. Initially he considered iron infusion (I was so happy for a second). Then he checked my labs again (ferritin 15, iron 50, transferrin saturation 18%, haemoglobin 11.8 and other cbc values which suggest a very obvious iron deficiency) and because according to the reference range, I was “borderline deficient only”, he cancelled it because “it’s fine, it will fix itself in time with exercise and food.” He didn’t prescribe any tests or imaging and sent me back home with birth control.
I CAN’T CLIMB A FLIGHT OF STAIRS WITHOUT FEELING DIZZY. I HAVE NO ENERGY TO DO ANYTHING ON MOST DAYS. I am so tired.
I mentioned the previous history of suspected adenomyosis twice and that I was supposed to get tests done but I couldn’t at that time. He didn’t prescribe tests even after that :(
According to my older reports, my usgs say that my uterus “grew” more bulky in a year. First usg said 81*35*47 mm, second one (1 year later) says 83*35*52mm. One obgyn dismissed both as lab artifacts and said that its very common for usgs to record wrong sizes. I don’t know what to think about that.
I dont know what kind of doctor to go to at this point. How do I even know that they will take me seriously? I just want to not feel exhausted 20 hours a day. I just want my energy back so that I can function like a regular person.
This has drained me more and more in the last few years, my health never improves significantly and I struggle a lot to gain weight. When I was a teenager, gaining or losing weight wasn’t an issue for me. I have always been skinny but I was never severely underweight. Nor did I struggle so much to gain weight. For the last 4 years, I have literally lost around 13kgs. I have tried A LOT to gain weight but it doesn’t help much. I can stuff myself to the point of feeling sick for 3 months straight and gain 3kgs and then I lose it immediately in 3 days if I get sick once. I haven’t been able to hit 50kgs in years now in spite of proper supplements. Every doctor just tells me to eat more to fix the fatigue (they assume that I am anorexic) and dismiss everything else. It’s useless. I lose weight faster than I can gain it. And no one believes me when I say that my body wasn’t like this before.
At this point I feel like maybe I am crazy and lying about everything because today I got told that my chronic fatigue is definitely unrelated to my ferritin of 15.
Thanks for reading. I dont know what kind of specialist to go to for further testing. My gut doesn’t like oral iron and the new obgyn is fully against an infusion for some reason.
I am 24.
My periods used to last 8 days (before starting ADHD medication) and the blood clots are massive. I also get pinkish chunks of flesh (?) sometimes. Really bad digestive issues for several days too. And hormonal acne, all that. I always have chronic fatigue but the week before my period starts and the first 5 days of my period involve EXTRA fatigue and pain. I hate losing 10-12 days every month to suffering with zero reason.
The back, leg, body pain is really bad. It starts 3 days before day 1 and lasts till day 5. I hate getting off the bed even on day 3.
I complained of chronic fatigue, low grade chronic body pain, brain fog, cramps, heavy bleeding and clots for YEARS to at least a dozen different doctors. And it genuinely felt like my complaints were never taken seriously or investigated properly.
I did find a good obgyn doctor who told me that it could be a suspected case of endo/adeno due to the size of my uterus on a USG. Unfortunately I couldn’t continue with her as I had to move. The next obgyn was dismissive and I ultimately got too tired to keep up.
My health declined in the last few years due to stressors. I went in for a very thorough medical examination (under specialist GPs, haematologists, etc) two years back. My ferritin was ~9. And they gave me everything OTHER THAN IRON. Best part, they didn’t even ADRESS MY FERRITIN ONCE. It wasn’t even brought up. And this was after I had complained of heavy bleeding again.
OBVIOUSLY, my fatigue and other issues never went away afterwards. I went in for another checkup last year at a different hospital and even then, they somehow ignored my low iron.
I was just frustrated with these experiences because my health kept cycling between periods of medium energy to periods of constant fatigue, low stamina, hypersomnia. I thought that the issue was me being underweight (I struggle to gain weight) and I had never gone through my medical history so I hadn’t noticed the ferritin. I kind of gave up and avoided any further hospital visits since then.
Anyway, I came across a very amazing doctor recently and I was told to get a recent ferritin test. I assumed that the values were probably normal. God no. It was 15. I was put on iron supplements for the first time in two years for my terrible ferritin values. And the worst part of all this was : I went through my old records and found out that it was terrible years back and no one had even MENTIONED it to me. I don’t understand why. Is this even normal?
How have I been living with this sort of ferritin for years? And how did a dozen doctors completely manage to overlook it for years? It simply doesn’t add up in my head. It would still make sense if they had mentioned my iron deficiency even once but they didn’t. They just ignored it. The GPs just told me to get rid of my anxiety and try to gain more weight.
EDIT: forgot to mention that I have a bicornuate uterus. So far, doctors have also ignored it.
I am on 20mg Instant release mph (twice a day, with a 4-5 hr gap in between doses). I titrated up to it from 10 mg sustained release over a few months.
My first dose (10mg, SR), worked for around 2 weeks before it started to feel like nothing. Hence, the titration.
Current dose, 20mg IR, was working great for quite some time! It was very predictable and smooth for almost 2 months straight.
For the last week, I was going through a lot of ups and downs and it ruined my sleep schedule. I ended up sleeping at odd times for several days straight and not getting enough sleep. I was also severely stressed and really sad due to some stuff. I also started drinking more coffee (while medicated) than I usually do. Also went through digestive problems for a few days and was sick. Overall, it was a shitty week.
For the last two days, my meds don’t seem to work. I can usually feel it work very well when it starts to work but now I can’t. I feel “barely awake” now. It’s like I didn’t even take my meds.
I am terrified that this may be tolerance because my country doesn’t have any other adhd medication and it’s already a struggle to get methylphenidate refills. And since I am on 20mg IR, I don’t even know if a higher dose is a good thing or if I’m even allowed to get it.
Is this normal? Is it my fault because I kind of messed up my sleep and nutrition for a week? Is this permanent? Has anyone else dealt with this? Please help :( I used to be HORRIBLE at life before adhd meds and I don’t want to go back to being like that.
If it matters, I also have ASD 1.
ADHD medicines have improved my sleep significantly but,
If I don’t sleep during the crash, it becomes very difficult to sleep. Takes 2 hours now at least. Took 3-4 hrs before medication. If I sleep during crash, perfect sleep. Unfortunately its not always possible to sleep in that time.
My brain doesn’t shut up and it is very tiring. I can hear random thoughts even while asleep. Totally random stupid thoughts. It definitely makes my sleep quality bad.
Has anyone fixed this?
I take melatonin and mg glycinate.
I got diagnosed with ASD-1 as a teenager. Didn’t really care much about the diagnosis for most of my life. Honestly, my caregivers and I didn’t have a lot of time or resources to do much about it in my formative years. I grew up thinking that it was probably an evaluation gone wrong or something.
At 23, I started picking up my behaviors which were very different from a lot of my friends. So I decided to finally take my autism seriously lol. Anyways, I stumbled upon Alexithymia and it kind of seemed to hit the nail on the head or whatever they say.
I definitely FEEL things. People around would describe me as an understanding and empathetic person. But I recently realised that I don’t really know what I feel most of the time unless its severe. I love listening to friends. If they are going through something, I think about what is happening to them and is that good or bad. Would I like it if it happened to me? Or whatever’s happening to this other person, is it “right”? and I go off from there.
I also have ADHD and I can’t “tell” if my meds are wearing off unless I am literally fighting to stay awake through a crash and can’t do simple math. That’s my cue to understand that ok the worst of the crash has hit. Basically, I can mentally pick up on extremes only I guess? And I don’t understand the slow progression of physical or emotional things. I also don’t really understand hunger unless my stomach is cramping from missing several meals. I don’t “get” the idea to eat food unless its physically painful or I am starving.
I thought it was all mostly normal? Apparently its not.
I tried CBT a long time ago but mostly it was kind of annoying. They would ask me things like “and how did that make you feel?” And I would say “bad I guess?” And then it would feel awkward because the therapist clearly expected something more. I definitely felt BAD like I could feel my throat feeling tight but I couldn’t identify with my feelings beyond knowing that “ok I guess I feel bad?”. I was aware that bad things can make a person feel bad. I just don’t understand why that seemed to be a priority in therapy. This is obviously a subjective experience and personally, it didn’t seem to add anything to my life, it just seemed redundant and like going around in circles.
I know that Alexithymia is common in ASD. How have you managed your issues with it? What has personally helped you deal with it? Are there any good resources for it? I would love to know more.
Thanks for reading, have a nice day.
Hello. I have Asperger’s and ADHD. Got started on methylphenidate this year and it has changed my life for the better in so many ways. However, I ran into a lot of issues and I don’t really know if there’s a reliable way to fix it.
In the first two weeks, the crash was very prominent. I could feel it very well. After that, it became less obvious which was actually a bad thing for me. My dosage also got upped to 20mg instant release twice a day in the next few months.
The crash was longer and obvious in the initial days. It mellowed out over time. This makes it incredibly frustrating and difficult for me to actually understand if my meds are working effectively or if I am approaching a crash. I am guessing that this is due to my ASD related alexithymia. I generally struggle a lot with identifying physical, emotional, mental signals.
It feels like I cannot be “sure” about what I am feeling unless its super obvious or extreme. I regularly confuse a lot of things I feel due to this. I can definitely “feel” stuff a lot but I cannot reliably understand the intensity or the progression of whatever it is that I am feeling. Unless its TOO MUCH.
Which is why (I am guessing) I can only sense the “peak” of my meds once they kick in and the super crash once they completely run out. I don’t understand or pick up on a slow build up or a slow crash.
And this sucks. There’s NO reliable way for me to actually understand and effectively put to work the only thing that has helped me so far. I have trouble understanding if my crash has started. I keep struggling to do tasks when it starts and then I don’t understand why or I don’t even notice it. And it messes up so many things.
I am supposed to understand how long the dose lasts for me in order to find a good schedule for meds but I can’t. I don’t know what I am supposed to be tracking. I know what a crash is but I can’t even detect it until its very very obvious. I cannot reliably tell if my meds work 2 hours or 5. All I know is that I feel sort of energised for the first 2- 2.5 hours before I feel kind of sleepy and tired but I can’t tell if that’s the crash happening or not.
I don’t even know if this is due to alexithymia or if its something else.
I don’t know what to tell my doctor. I am supposed to gauge the duration of the meds so that we can fix a good routine for me which works but I don’t even understand. For a while after my dose got upped, I was trying to understand the duration by tracking my heart rate but that was not very helpful either. Also my heart got used to the new dose in a few days so it became totally useless.
Previously, I would also use the obvious crash as a signal to go to bed.
If I sleep in the crash window, I have the best sleep ever. But if I stay awake past it, my brain seems to start going haywire again and it ends up taking me 2 hours at least to fall asleep, no matter what I do. (Before meds it took me about 4 hours lol so its honestly an improvement). But now my crash feels very subtle to me and I end up missing the window and my sleep gets ruined.
I don’t know how to work with this. I have zero reliable ways of understanding things I feel coherently. It’s so frustrating. I don’t understand how most others I have talked to know exactly when their crash starts to hit or if their meds are working well, etc.
I have tried tracking it via hours of productivity per day because I don’t want to focus on the feeling of the meds working or not. Even then, it hasn’t helped me much. Sometimes, my crash would hit and I would continue doing my tasks and struggle and get frustrated and not understand what was happening and still try to continue. Its like I don’t get a proper signal from myself about whatever is happening in my brain or body. Idek if that makes sense.
Is this because of alexithymia? Has anyone else ever dealt with the same? If so, how did you figure a way out around this? Also in general, I’d love to know if there’s anything that helps with alexithymia.
Thank you for reading, have a good day.
This was a LOT worse before meds. It’s more manageable now.
When I am trying to sleep, I keep having thoughts without wanting to. Its like my brain wont shut up and just let me SLEEP. Random thoughts…not even anxiety. Just absolutely random stuff.
Sometimes, while asleep, I can “hear” random thoughts in my brain. This happens randomly throughout the night while I an still asleep and its very annoying to deal with.
Before meds, it took me 3-4 hours to fall asleep. Now it usually just takes me 1 hr max. On bad days its 2 hours.
I take a 0.5 mg melatonin a few hours before bed and magnesium glycinate. I also limit stimulation before bedtime.
I’ve noticed that I get the BEST sleep ever if I sleep during the crash window. I can fall asleep within 20 minutes if I try to sleep. And I feel so good when I wake up. I also automatically sleep like 8 hrs and don’t need an alarm to get up. Usually I need like 10 alarms.
Unfortunately, my crash window lasts only 30 mins to 1 hr max. And I usually just miss it because I have things that need to get done. After its over, my brain is awake again and my sleep quality isn’t that good ig. My tracker says that I do get enough REM and deep sleep but I don’t feel very energetic (as compared to when I sleep during the crash). I have noticed that I tend to oversleep as well when this happens. I can sleep 12 hours straight. But I feel tired when I wake up. Also the thing about random thoughts while asleep…its very annoying.
Has anyone else faced this? Like you get perfect sleep if you sleep during the crash but otherwise your sleep isnt very good? How did you fix this?
Morning dose. Do you:
- on an empty stomach or after food?
- how long if after food? Or, how long before food?
- how long does it take to work? What is your dosage?
-how long does it last?
-how do you know that your crash is coming up soon?
I got sick recently and after that, my mph IR isn’t working the same anymore.
I used to take it straight up in the morning with no issues before but now, if I wait for an hour after taking it, I start feeling acid reflux. I have thrown up (no breakfast) for two days now, around 1 hour after taking my dose. The vomit is just acidic and watery. Idk if I threw up my medicine too.
Idk why this started happening since I got sick. I am scared of taking it again tomorrow.
Main reason I tend to take it on an empty stomach is because I don’t get much time to eat breakfast first.
Got my dose upped recently to 20mg instant release methylphenidate.
Noticed that I feel very sleepy after taking it. Today is day 2. When I first started adhd meds at a lower starting dose, I felt the same effect. Calm and sleepy.
What could it mean? Is the dose too low? Does it not suit me? I saw that 20mg instant release is pretty high so idk why I get sleepy. My follow-up is in another month.
Has anyone else experienced this?