u/ThePoliticalGuru2036

Super stoked for this tour! I bought VIP2 for the Detroit show in April. My first time seeing APC was at Louder Than Life in 2025, my first time seeing Tool was at Louder Than Life 2026, and this will be my first time seeing Puscifer!

At Louder Than Life 2026 I managed to score the signed kitty variant poster which was great! I’m hoping I can manage to snag a venue specific signed Puscifer poster at the show as well as a signed venue specific APC poster as well but at least I’ll have the signed tour poster!

Is there anything I should know about seeing these two bands or anything I should know about Fox Theater Detroit?

A couple other questions I have are is there a different line for VIP from general admission? How early should I arrived to get in line to enter before doors open if I want a good chance at snagging my desired merch items?

Currently looking at traveling into Canada in the next year or so, visiting Toronto and Niagara Falls with my partner.

Unfortunately, I have a DUI from 2021 (6-months probation and 6-months restricted license. More specifically, a Michigan OWVI charge (Operating While Visibly Impaired is less than Operating While Impaired in Michigan). My OWVI and my completion of sentence will be 5 years old come November of this year (2026).

Currently I’m looking at hiring an attorney in Michigan to help me get this expunged and I’m really hoping to visit Canada in the summer of 2027 but understand I may need to wait until Summer of 2028 depending on how long the legal process takes.

Once I get my Michigan DUI expunged, I’d like to look for a Canadian immigration/admissibility attorney to help me with the rehabilitation paperwork I may need to enter the country. I have had no other offenses since then.

Do you have any recommendations on who to go through? Maybe in the Detroit-Windsor area as this is where I’d be crossing (if it matters)?

I(26M), recently started going to the gym and looking for advice on tracking cardio intensity while taking stimulants.

Other factors:
• Previously drank 4–6 Dr Peppers/day + 2–3 energy drinks/week; quit caffeine completely 10 days ago.
• Had headaches for 1–2 days but no cravings since.
• Sleep: ~5–7 hours on workdays, 7–10 hours weekends.
•Medication includes Vyvanse 40mg in the morning and Adderall IR 10mg afternoon.
•Started Vyvanse ~8 weeks ago, Started booster Adderall IR ~2 weeks ago.

I recently started focusing on cardio for cardiovascular benefits like lowering resting HR/BP. I don’t know my baseline HR/BP before medication because I only started tracking after my psychiatrist asked me to. Since then, resting HR has generally been 75–85 BPM, with average BP around 120–130/75–85.

My treadmill routine is 2.5–3 MPH at 7% incline for 60 minutes, usually putting my HR around 150–165 BPM.

Using an age-based max HR of ~190, that puts me roughly at:
• Zone 1: 138–148
• Zone 2: 148–159
• Zone 3: 159–169
• Zone 4: 169–180
• Zone 5: 180–190

I’m wondering how reliable HR zones are while taking stimulants.

I previously did 60 minutes on the StairMaster with my HR reaching 185–190, but I wasn’t particularly short of breath and could hold a full conversation. I was definitely exerting myself physically, though. This made me wonder whether the medication was elevating my HR without my actual exercise intensity being equivalent to Zone 5.

I’ve stopped using the StairMaster for now out of caution and am sticking to the treadmill.

For those taking stimulants:
• How do you gauge cardio intensity—HR zones, RPE, talk test, pace, etc.?

• Has stimulant medication made HR less useful for judging intensity?

• Is 60 min of moderate cardio 5–6 days/week reasonable while taking Vyvanse + Adderall?

• Should I consider an ECG, ambulatory BP monitoring, or other cardiac evaluation?

• Should HR targets be adjusted while taking stimulants?

I plan to discuss this with my prescriber. I’m mainly looking for perspective on whether numbers like these have warranted further evaluation.

Disclaimer: I’m not looking for medical advice or asking anyone to determine whether my routine is medically appropriate. I’m mainly interested in others’ experiences with tracking cardio intensity while taking stimulants.

1)

1. Life Is But A Dream…

I rank this as number one because it’s probably their least conventional album: jazz, classical, prog, electronic, orchestral, extreme metal, and very bizarre song structures all coexisting together. The musical creativity and experimentation are what really pull me in. Being interested in Avenged Sevenfold for their musical composition skills is what places this at the top for me.

2) City Of Evil

Being a guitarist, this is easily number 2 for me and ranked high for the harmonized leads, huge melodic solos, fast alternate picking and complex rhythm work, multiple guitar layers, and the very ambitious song structure.

Unlike LIBAD, the experimentation is much more contained in the metal-core framework with LIBAD being “holy shit, what are they doing?” And CoE being “Holy shit, the guitars are insane.”

3) The Stage

The Stage is a clear and obvious middle-ground between my top 2 rankings. It holds the progressive experimentation of LIBAD while still retaining the technical guitar focus of City Of Evil.

The Stage offers progressive structure, philosophical and scientific themes, instrumental passages with unusual arrangements and complex guitar work… and then it offers Exist which is practically a progressive metal epic.

4) Waking The Fallen

It’s the defining early moment of Avenged Sevenfold and their metal-core sound. I love the aggressiveness of the album and the guitar work, the melodies and harmonization. While most other Avenged Sevenfold fans would rank this higher, I ultimately prefer what Avenged Sevenfold became when they expanded past metal-core and started to push boundaries.

5) Nightmare

This is probably where I most clearly diverge from the average fans rankings. Nightmare is most arguably the most accessible combination of melody, heaviness, technicality, and emotional songwriting. I don’t dislike the album in anyway, but I’m less motivated by radio-ready choruses and emotional accessibility (So Far Away is super S-tier though).

Give me the aggression of Waking The Fallen or the experimentation of The Stage before you give me the polished accessibility of Nightmare.

6) Diamonds In The Rough

I’m not concerned about whether or not something is considered a “main album”. I’m judging the music itself and collection as a whole.

Diamonds In The Rough had some real bangers -Demons, Crossroads, Until The End, Tension…

The rawness and weirdness of some of the material is what I find interesting over some of the other polished materials. I also enjoy seeing the bands creative leftovers and experiments (even if Matt Shadows believes it should’ve never see the light of day), rather than the carefully curated studio work.

7) STATICA

I very much appreciate the highly unconventional aspects of STATICA more than the straightforward material. I felt it appropriate to rank this below their B-side material for this reason. I don’t need an album to sound like classic Avenged Sevenfold for me to enjoy it, especially given that LIBAD… is ranked number 1 on my list.

8) Self-Titled

For a lot of fans, this easily ranks among the top 3 I would assume. The easy bangers I think everyone agrees that are on this are- Critical Acclaim, Afterlife, ALPOH, Gunslinger, Afterlife.

The album is highly inconsistent in its sound. And ironically that may appeal to someone who enjoys LIBAD, but LIBAD feels much more deliberately constructed around the experimentation that takes place.

Self-Titled has some incredible work and banger songs, but it’s all over the place.

9) Sounding The Seventh Trumpet

This album is Avenged Sevenfold before they developed their musical sophistication that became their trademark. It’s raw, aggressive, screaming-heavy, much less polished, less technically developed, and rooted in the early 2000’s scene.

This album is the early and less-matured version of Waking The Fallen that fully-cemented their sound early on, which makes sense as their debut album. STST is a weaker version of WtF.

10) Hail To The King

This ranking was the easiest to make and probably the most understandable one amongst my controversial list. Hail To The King is comparatively straight-forward. It’s intentionally rooted in classic heavy-metal with influences such as- Black Sabbath, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Megadeath, etc…

The songwriting is simple, the solos are much less technically outrageous than City Of Evil, and much less progressive than The Stage, the aggression isn’t even comparable to Waking The Fallen, and the emotional songwriting comes nowhere near Nightmare.

Almost everything that appeals to me in my favorite albums is dialed way back on HttK and the exact opposite of my musical preferences.

I understand this was a tribute album, and for that it was absolutely excellent and 10/10 execution. They did exactly what they were planning on and they could not have possibly done a better job. This album just simply doesn’t draw me in on nearly the same scale as the other albums.

Honorable mentions on this album are Shepherd Of Fire, Requiem, Planets, Acid Rain.

Entire ranking

I believe my rankings remain consistent. I’m prioritizing:
•Musical experimentation (LIBAD, The Stage)
•Interesting/complex guitar work (City Of Evil, Waking The Fallen)
•Unusual song writing (LIBAD, The Stage, DitR)
•Artistic Ambition (LIBAD, The Stage, City Of Evil)

I feel it’s more of an innovation vs. conventionality for me. It’s not based on chronological order, or pure heaviness. It’s more “fuck it. Let’s see what we can do.”

1) Life Is But A Dream…

I rank this as number one because it’s probably their least conventional album: jazz, classical, prog, electronic, orchestral, extreme metal, and very bizarre song structures all coexisting together. The musical creativity and experimentation are what really pull me in. Being interested in Avenged Sevenfold for their musical composition skills is what places this at the top for me.

2) City Of Evil

Being a guitarist, this is easily number 2 for me and ranked high for the harmonized leads, huge melodic solos, fast alternate picking and complex rhythm work, multiple guitar layers, and the very ambitious song structure.

Unlike LIBAD, the experimentation is much more contained in the metal-core framework with LIBAD being “holy shit, what are they doing?” And CoE being “Holy shit, the guitars are insane.”

3) The Stage

The Stage is a clear and obvious middle-ground between my top 2 rankings. It holds the progressive experimentation of LIBAD while still retaining the technical guitar focus of City Of Evil.

The Stage offers progressive structure, philosophical and scientific themes, instrumental passages with unusual arrangements and complex guitar work… and then it offers Exist which is practically a progressive metal epic.

4) Waking The Fallen

It’s the defining early moment of Avenged Sevenfold and their metal-core sound. I love the aggressiveness of the album and the guitar work, the melodies and harmonization. While most other Avenged Sevenfold fans would rank this higher, I ultimately prefer what Avenged Sevenfold became when they expanded past metal-core and started to push boundaries.

5) Nightmare

This is probably where I most clearly diverge from the average fans rankings. Nightmare is most arguably the most accessible combination of melody, heaviness, technicality, and emotional songwriting. I don’t dislike the album in anyway, but I’m less motivated by radio-ready choruses and emotional accessibility (So Far Away is super S-tier though).

Give me the aggression of Waking The Fallen or the experimentation of The Stage before you give me the polished accessibility of Nightmare.

6) Diamonds In The Rough

I’m not concerned about whether or not something is considered a “main album”. I’m judging the music itself and collection as a whole.

Diamonds In The Rough had some real bangers -Demons, Crossroads, Until The End, Tension…

The rawness and weirdness of some of the material is what I find interesting over some of the other polished materials. I also enjoy seeing the bands creative leftovers and experiments (even if Matt Shadows believes it should’ve never see the light of day), rather than the carefully curated studio work.

7) STATICA

I very much appreciate the highly unconventional aspects of STATICA more than the straightforward material. I felt it appropriate to rank this below their B-side material for this reason. I don’t need an album to sound like classic Avenged Sevenfold for me to enjoy it, especially given that LIBAD… is ranked number 1 on my list.

8) Self-Titled

For a lot of fans, this easily ranks among the top 3 I would assume. The easy bangers I think everyone agrees that are on this are- Critical Acclaim, Afterlife, ALPOH, Gunslinger, Afterlife.

The album is highly inconsistent in its sound. And ironically that may appeal to someone who enjoys LIBAD, but LIBAD feels much more deliberately constructed around the experimentation that takes place.

Self-Titled has some incredible work and banger songs, but it’s all over the place.

9) Sounding The Seventh Trumpet

This album is Avenged Sevenfold before they developed their musical sophistication that became their trademark. It’s raw, aggressive, screaming-heavy, much less polished, less technically developed, and rooted in the early 2000’s scene.

This album is the early and less-matured version of Waking The Fallen that fully-cemented their sound early on, which makes sense as their debut album. STST is a weaker version of WtF.

10) Hail To The King

This ranking was the easiest to make and probably the most understandable one amongst my controversial list. Hail To The King is comparatively straight-forward. It’s intentionally rooted in classic heavy-metal with influences such as- Black Sabbath, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Megadeath, etc…

The songwriting is simple, the solos are much less technically outrageous than City Of Evil, and much less progressive than The Stage, the aggression isn’t even comparable to Waking The Fallen, and the emotional songwriting comes nowhere near Nightmare.

Almost everything that appeals to me in my favorite albums is dialed way back on HttK and the exact opposite of my musical preferences.

I understand this was a tribute album, and for that it was absolutely excellent and 10/10 execution. They did exactly what they were planning on and they could not have possibly done a better job. This album just simply doesn’t draw me in on nearly the same scale as the albums.

Honorable mentions on this album are Shepherd Of Fire, Requiem, Planets, Acid Rain.

Entire ranking

I believe my rankings remain consistent. I’m prioritizing:
•Musical experimentation (LIBAD, The Stage)
•Interesting/complex guitar work (City Of Evil, Waking The Fallen)
•Unusual song writing (LIBAD, The Stage, DitR)
•Artistic Ambition (LIBAD, The Stage, City Of Evil)

I feel it’s more of an innovation vs. conventionality for me. It’s not based on chronological order, or pure heaviness. It’s more “fuck it. Let’s see what we can do.”

Back in the winter I had a lot of issues with the “Service AdvancTrac” message and my ABS and Traction Control lights on the dash, it was an intermittent problem. I brought it to a few different mechanics for diagnoses and they all had zero idea what it could be, but were also getting the message intermittently but couldn’t recreate it themselves; it was entirely random. I noticed this happens mostly when it rains or snows and ices.

After consulting Reddit in the past I brought up that maybe it was the wheel sensors, they all said no, and one suggested I pay up $2k to replace the whole electric power steering system; I quickly left that mechanic. I noticed this really only happens after a rainstorm or snow/ice-storm in the winter. I left this issue on the back burner as it stopped popping up for a few months during our dry warm season.

Yesterday (which was a dry sunny day) I started my car up after work, it started just fine with no issues and I could shift into reverse and drive but I had absolutely zero power to anything electronic - no dash power, no RPM or speedometer power, no screens turned on, no radio or AC, no power steering, absolutely nothing worked on my car except for typical driving. I had to go to a dentist appointment so I used Google Maps as my speedometer on the way there.

After five minutes of driving down the road everything kicked on, I had 100% full function of my car except for the Service AdvanceTrac warning (loss of power steering, no abs, and no traction control), and the wrench light maintenance warning came on but my car functioned normally other than those few issues. I went into my dental appointment, and after that finished, I got in and restarted my car, and everything worked 100% as it should including no lights and no warnings on my dash. It was fully functional.

Any idea what’s going on? I’m seeing it could be sensors, fuses, maybe power steering system(?), or it could be an old battery (it has been a few years since it’s been changed.)

Good evening all. I have ADHD and am prescribed a CII medication in the United States (Michigan, specifically). I know the pharmacy I go to allows third parties to pick-up scripts (I.e. husbands picking up for wives, kids picking up for parents, domestic partners…), but at the same time it’s federally illegal to be in possession of a controlled substance that’s not prescribed to you.

If an overzealous cop wanted to give my live-in partner a hard time, for example speeding, on the way home from the pharmacy, is there anything protecting her from being in possession of my prescription she picked up for me if an Officer noticed the printed information on the bag containing a sealed CII script in plain-view?

Also this is a hypothetical. None of us have ever been in trouble for anything like this, just wondering if it’s possible. I 99% of the time pick up my scripts myself, but have had family in the past pick up my script for me, like after my wisdom teeth removal, I couldn’t safely drive (I was drugged in office) and given a script for opioid painkillers.

I forgot today that my guitar instructor cancelled lessons today… he told me last week and I put a reminder in my phone for it but forgot to set a date and time for it to notify me.

I drove 20 minutes through construction on a drive that normally takes me 5 minutes😭

When I got halfway to the the local music shop (where my lessons are) I semi-remembered but couldn’t remember if it was this week lessons were cancelled or if it was a false memory. I said screw it I’ll go the rest of the way anyways and ask the floor worker. The floor worker said lessons with my instructor were cancelled this week and decided I may as well buy some new strings and another pack of guitar picks (can never have too many). After checking out I went to McDonald’s and ate food in my car at the park for my normal 30 minutes of lesson time while watching reels.

My girlfriend(25F) and I(26M) were talking, I’m diagnosed and medicated, she’s currently going under evaluation for ADHD.

We were having a discussion on what medication is like and how it’s helped me personally. The analogy I came up with was: taking my medication is similar to having everything pop-up on your computer when you first start it up for the day and all the programs that open automatically… and when the medication kicks in… it’s like opening task manager and hitting close all programs.

Recently started Vyvanse 30mg after titrating up from 20mg Vyvanse and might possibly increase to 40mg next week. Vyvanse has caused me to suffer with the side effect of erectile dysfunction and also lowered libido.

Other times I had this side effect were with Concerta 27mg ER, as well as a couple years ago when my doctor was treating my depression/anxiety with Prozac combined with various dosages of Straterra.

To combat the ED I had an online consultation with another doctor last night who prescribed me 20mg of generic Cialis (tadaladil), I used to take 60mg of generic Viagara (sildenafil).

Does anyone else take stimulants and cialis? My doctor recently prescribed me Tadalafil 20mg after I stated I have the wonderful side effect of erectile dysfunction as well as lowered libido.

I’m on Vyvanse 30mg and possibly increasing it to 40mg next week due to effectiveness. I suffered the same side effect on Concerta as well. I used to be prescribed Straterra and ontop of that Prozac for depression/anxiety but the Prozac had also caused the same side effect as well as a miriad of others, I also couldn’t orgasm on Prozac either which was as awful as you can imagine. When I was on Prozac years ago I took 60mg Viagara (sildenafil).

Recently started Vyvanse 30mg after titrating up from 20mg Vyvanse and might possibly increase to 40mg next week. Vyvanse has caused me to suffer with the side effect of erectile dysfunction and also lowered libido.

Other times I had this side effect were with Concerta 27mg ER, as well as a couple years ago when my doctor was treating my depression/anxiety with Prozac combined with various dosages of Straterra.

To combat the ED I had an online consultation with another doctor last night who prescribed me 20mg of generic Cialis (tadaladil), I used to take 60mg of generic Viagara (sildenafil).

Does vyvanse make anybody else sleepy?

I’ve been on 20mg for the last 2 weeks and it’s caused me nothing but to be tired ALL DAY LONG. For maybe the first three hours I’ll be alright and more social (rather than withdrawn and quiet) and able to function but then I just get sleepy and feel like I need a nap for the rest of the day.

26M with ADHD - Concerta 27mg worked great, 18mg felt like nothing, now switching to Vyvanse and feeling discouraged
I was diagnosed with ADHD in 2020 but only started medication with a psychiatrist this year.

Strattera
The first medication I tried was Strattera. I took it for about 2 months on varying doses. The only thing it did was make me tired, groggy, and mentally sluggish 24/7. It didn’t improve my ADHD symptoms at all.

Concerta ER 27mg (2 weeks)
The first stimulant I tried was generic Concerta ER 27mg, and honestly it felt life-changing.
While taking it I:
Felt ready to go every day
Actively sought out new tasks at work
Had no problem doing chores at home
Enjoyed my hobbies again
Could transition between tasks without getting stuck
Rarely felt overwhelmed or unable to function
For the first time in a long time, I felt what I imagine “normal” feels like.
The downside was that it only seemed to last about 8 hours. I work 10-hour shifts, and when it wore off I would experience extreme sleepiness. I would often get home and immediately sleep until the next morning.

Concerta ER 18mg (3 weeks)
Because of the crash, my psychiatrist lowered me to 18mg.
Unfortunately, 18mg felt like taking nothing at all. It was as if I had returned completely to my baseline ADHD symptoms.
While on 18mg:
I did the bare minimum at work
Started burning through sick time because I felt overwhelmed
Struggled when transferred to new work areas that required learning new tasks
Fell behind on household chores
Spent a lot of time lying in bed
Lost interest in hobbies
Felt constantly distracted and restless
Shook my legs, paced around, and felt like I needed to do something but couldn’t start
Started multiple tasks and left them unfinished

Current situation
My psychiatrist is now switching me to generic Vyvanse 20mg, which I start tomorrow for the next 3 weeks until my follow-up appointment.
What has me feeling discouraged is that:
27mg Concerta clearly worked
The only major issue was that it seemed to wear off after about 8 hours and caused extreme sleepiness
18mg Concerta felt completely ineffective
I asked whether I could return to 27mg and possibly add a small immediate-release booster later in the day and My psychiatrist doesn’t want to do that and instead wants me to try Vyvanse.
He also didn’t discuss future dose increases and has stated that he wants to keep stimulant doses as low as possible.

My question is: has anyone had a similar experience where a higher dose of Concerta worked well, a lower dose felt ineffective, and then Vyvanse ended up working better?

Also, does it seem unusual that I was started on 27mg Concerta initially, but when I reported an 8-hour crash I was lowered to 18mg instead of trying additional coverage later in the day?

I’d love to hear other people’s experiences because right now I feel like I found something that worked and then immediately got moved away from it.

26M with ADHD - Concerta 27mg worked great, 18mg felt like nothing, now switching to Vyvanse and feeling discouraged
I was diagnosed with ADHD in 2020 but only started medication with a psychiatrist this year.

Strattera
The first medication I tried was Strattera. I took it for about 2 months on varying doses. The only thing it did was make me tired, groggy, and mentally sluggish 24/7. It didn’t improve my ADHD symptoms at all.

Concerta ER 27mg (2 weeks)
The first stimulant I tried was generic Concerta ER 27mg, and honestly it felt life-changing.
While taking it I:
Felt ready to go every day
Actively sought out new tasks at work
Had no problem doing chores at home
Enjoyed my hobbies again
Could transition between tasks without getting stuck
Rarely felt overwhelmed or unable to function
For the first time in a long time, I felt what I imagine “normal” feels like.
The downside was that it only seemed to last about 8 hours. I work 10-hour shifts, and when it wore off I would experience extreme sleepiness. I would often get home and immediately sleep until the next morning.

Concerta ER 18mg (3 weeks)
Because of the crash, my psychiatrist lowered me to 18mg.
Unfortunately, 18mg felt like taking nothing at all. It was as if I had returned completely to my baseline ADHD symptoms.
While on 18mg:
I did the bare minimum at work
Started burning through sick time because I felt overwhelmed
Struggled when transferred to new work areas that required learning new tasks
Fell behind on household chores
Spent a lot of time lying in bed
Lost interest in hobbies
Felt constantly distracted and restless
Shook my legs, paced around, and felt like I needed to do something but couldn’t start
Started multiple tasks and left them unfinished

Current situation
My psychiatrist is now switching me to generic Vyvanse 20mg, which I start tomorrow for the next 3 weeks until my follow-up appointment.
What has me feeling discouraged is that:
27mg Concerta clearly worked
The only major issue was that it seemed to wear off after about 8 hours and caused extreme sleepiness
18mg Concerta felt completely ineffective
I asked whether I could return to 27mg and possibly add a small immediate-release booster later in the day and My psychiatrist doesn’t want to do that and instead wants me to try Vyvanse.
He also didn’t discuss future dose increases and has stated that he wants to keep stimulant doses as low as possible.

My question is: has anyone had a similar experience where a higher dose of Concerta worked well, a lower dose felt ineffective, and then Vyvanse ended up working better?

Also, does it seem unusual that I was started on 27mg Concerta initially, but when I reported an 8-hour crash I was lowered to 18mg instead of trying additional coverage later in the day?

I’d love to hear other people’s experiences because right now I feel like I found something that worked and then immediately got moved away from it.

26M with ADHD - Concerta 27mg worked great, 18mg felt like nothing, now switching to Vyvanse and feeling discouraged
I was diagnosed with ADHD in 2020 but only started medication with a psychiatrist this year.

Strattera
The first medication I tried was Strattera. I took it for about 2 months on varying doses. The only thing it did was make me tired, groggy, and mentally sluggish 24/7. It didn’t improve my ADHD symptoms at all.

Concerta ER 27mg (2 weeks)
The first stimulant I tried was generic Concerta ER 27mg, and honestly it felt life-changing.
While taking it I:
Felt ready to go every day
Actively sought out new tasks at work
Had no problem doing chores at home
Enjoyed my hobbies again
Could transition between tasks without getting stuck
Rarely felt overwhelmed or unable to function
For the first time in a long time, I felt what I imagine “normal” feels like.
The downside was that it only seemed to last about 8 hours. I work 10-hour shifts, and when it wore off I would experience extreme sleepiness. I would often get home and immediately sleep until the next morning.

Concerta ER 18mg (3 weeks)
Because of the crash, my psychiatrist lowered me to 18mg.
Unfortunately, 18mg felt like taking nothing at all. It was as if I had returned completely to my baseline ADHD symptoms.
While on 18mg:
I did the bare minimum at work
Started burning through sick time because I felt overwhelmed
Struggled when transferred to new work areas that required learning new tasks
Fell behind on household chores
Spent a lot of time lying in bed
Lost interest in hobbies
Felt constantly distracted and restless
Shook my legs, paced around, and felt like I needed to do something but couldn’t start
Started multiple tasks and left them unfinished

Current situation
My psychiatrist is now switching me to generic Vyvanse 20mg, which I start tomorrow for the next 3 weeks until my follow-up appointment.
What has me feeling discouraged is that:
27mg Concerta clearly worked
The only major issue was that it seemed to wear off after about 8 hours and caused extreme sleepiness
18mg Concerta felt completely ineffective
I asked whether I could return to 27mg and possibly add a small immediate-release booster later in the day and My psychiatrist doesn’t want to do that and instead wants me to try Vyvanse.
He also didn’t discuss future dose increases and has stated that he wants to keep stimulant doses as low as possible.

My question is: has anyone had a similar experience where a higher dose of Concerta worked well, a lower dose felt ineffective, and then Vyvanse ended up working better?

Also, does it seem unusual that I was started on 27mg Concerta initially, but when I reported an 8-hour crash I was lowered to 18mg instead of trying additional coverage later in the day?

I’d love to hear other people’s experiences because right now I feel like I found something that worked and then immediately got moved away from it.

26M with ADHD - Concerta 27mg worked great, 18mg felt like nothing, now switching to Vyvanse and feeling discouraged
I was diagnosed with ADHD in 2020 but only started medication with a psychiatrist this year.

Strattera
The first medication I tried was Strattera. I took it for about 2 months on varying doses. The only thing it did was make me tired, groggy, and mentally sluggish 24/7. It didn’t improve my ADHD symptoms at all.

Concerta ER 27mg (2 weeks)
The first stimulant I tried was generic Concerta ER 27mg, and honestly it felt life-changing.
While taking it I:
Felt ready to go every day
Actively sought out new tasks at work
Had no problem doing chores at home
Enjoyed my hobbies again
Could transition between tasks without getting stuck
Rarely felt overwhelmed or unable to function
For the first time in a long time, I felt what I imagine “normal” feels like.
The downside was that it only seemed to last about 8 hours. I work 10-hour shifts, and when it wore off I would experience extreme sleepiness. I would often get home and immediately sleep until the next morning.

Concerta ER 18mg (3 weeks)
Because of the crash, my psychiatrist lowered me to 18mg.
Unfortunately, 18mg felt like taking nothing at all. It was as if I had returned completely to my baseline ADHD symptoms.
While on 18mg:
I did the bare minimum at work
Started burning through sick time because I felt overwhelmed
Struggled when transferred to new work areas that required learning new tasks
Fell behind on household chores
Spent a lot of time lying in bed
Lost interest in hobbies
Felt constantly distracted and restless
Shook my legs, paced around, and felt like I needed to do something but couldn’t start
Started multiple tasks and left them unfinished

Current situation
My psychiatrist is now switching me to generic Vyvanse 20mg, which I start tomorrow for the next 3 weeks until my follow-up appointment.
What has me feeling discouraged is that:
27mg Concerta clearly worked
The only major issue was that it seemed to wear off after about 8 hours and caused extreme sleepiness
18mg Concerta felt completely ineffective
I asked whether I could return to 27mg and possibly add a small immediate-release booster later in the day and My psychiatrist doesn’t want to do that and instead wants me to try Vyvanse.
He also didn’t discuss future dose increases and has stated that he wants to keep stimulant doses as low as possible.

My question is: has anyone had a similar experience where a higher dose of Concerta worked well, a lower dose felt ineffective, and then Vyvanse ended up working better?

Also, does it seem unusual that I was started on 27mg Concerta initially, but when I reported an 8-hour crash I was lowered to 18mg instead of trying additional coverage later in the day?

I’d love to hear other people’s experiences because right now I feel like I found something that worked and then immediately got moved away from it.