u/human-cake

My psychiatrist has something against stimulant meds, and even Wellbutrin. So he put me on a combination of sertraline 150mg and strattera 60mg (he slowly increased the dose for sertraline but I started both meds together.)

I have lots of anxiety, and it got basically cured on these medications, and my mood improved a lot, but my task initiation (which is my main ADHD symptom) did not improve at all.

Once I told him that, he took me off of Strattera and increased my Zoloft dosage to 200mg... I really don't know what to feel about this. My issue is that the only stimulant available in my country (methylphenidate) also didn't work when I tried it before with another psychiatrist, so now I genuinely feel so confused. Everything he says goes completely against the research, and he even admits it and starts talking about big pharma conspiracies... Has anyone else tried Zoloft for ADHD? Is this approach effective in any way?

I have so much fatigue and daytime sleepiness that I can't function well even when my sleep is even pretty good. I'm currently on summer break from uni so I let my body wake-up whenever it wants to without alarms, and my body doesn't let me sleep more than 8 hours a night no matter what, so I don't think I need any more than that.

I can get 7 or 8+ hours of uninterrupted sleep but still wake up like a zombie and it lasts for the whole day. I've ruled out sleep apnea, vitamin deficiencies, thyroid issues, sleep hygiene issues. I also don't believe it's narcolepsy as it doesn't happen everyday, as there are some days where I actually feel refreshed and great without needing a nap. I haven't been able to pinpoint any patterns that cause that, though. I have ADHD, but stimulant medications don't really do anything to counter this issue for me.

The odd thing is that naps are like a magical fix most of the time. A single nap can give me more restoration than I get throughout a whole night, whether it's 2 hours long or just 30 minutes. That's the only reoccurring pattern. The issue is that I physically can't nap until it's been around 6 hours since waking up. So half my day gets wasted in bed if I try. (Yoga nidra and similar practices don't have any effect on me, unlike naps.)

Melatonin, magnesium, no screens before bed, sleeping early at 11pm, sleeping late ar 4am, everything in between, as well as many other tips that haven't really fixed anything. My smartwatch says my sleep is perfectly healthy, doctors say the same thing.

I really need advice on this because most of my days are ruined by it.

I have so much fatigue and daytime sleepiness that I can't function well even when my sleep is even pretty good. I'm currently on summer break from uni so I let my body wake-up whenever it wants to without alarms, and my body doesn't let me sleep more than 8 hours a night no matter what, so I don't think I need any more than that.

I can get 7 or 8+ hours of uninterrupted sleep but still wake up like a zombie and it lasts for the whole day. I've ruled out sleep apnea, vitamin deficiencies, thyroid issues, sleep hygiene issues. I also don't believe it's narcolepsy as it doesn't happen everyday, as there are some days where I actually feel refreshed and great without needing a nap. I haven't been able to pinpoint any patterns that cause that, though. I have ADHD, but stimulant medications don't really do anything to counter this issue for me.

The odd thing is that naps are like a magical fix most of the time. A single nap can give me more restoration than I get throughout a whole night, whether it's 2 hours long or just 30 minutes. That's the only reoccurring pattern. The issue is that I physically can't nap until it's been around 6 hours since waking up. So half my day gets wasted in bed if I try. (Yoga nidra and similar practices haven't really worked on me at all, only naps help.)

Melatonin, magnesium, no screens before bed, sleeping early at 11pm, sleeping late at 4am, everything in between, cutting caffeine, as well as many other tips that haven't really fixed anything. My smartwatch says my sleep is perfectly healthy, doctors say the same thing.

I really need advice on this because most of my days are ruined by it.

I used to mistype as an ENFP for a long time because of this, but then once I learned about cognitive functions, I realised I most definitely used lots of Ti, and I don't really have Fi-Te at all. I'm also extremely certain I'm an Ne dom for many many reasons.

I just have very high agreeableness, I often people please, and I always find myself being very careful with sharing controversial opinions. I have many many of them, but I always find myself sugarcoating them or trying my best to indirectly guide the other person to seeing them rather than being argumentative.

I also don't like hurting people's feelings, even when their ideas are really dumb, so I usually find myself navigating the discussions very carefully to find a common ground.

I think this skill is useful sometimes, but it's also really inauthentic and sometimes borderline manipulative because it's like I'm trying to lead people to certain conclusions rather than directly presenting them. So I've been trying to work on this issue.

Maybe it's a trauma response or an Fe loop, idk, anyone else does this?

I mean on one hand I have this rebellious side which is always telling me "just be yourself, and if people hate you for it, that's THEIR issue."

On the other hand I realise that expressing controversial opinions regarding religion and societal norms could cost me a lot, and make me lose many relationships.

I just hate the fake feeling of wearing masks to fit in with others, so recently I've been trying to tell people what I really think more and more. So I've started to be more authentic by sharing my honest opinions such as my support for the LGBTQ+ community, feminism, my many stances against religious teachings, and more. A bunch of people distanced themselves from me, a bunch of them actually changed their views after many debates, and some are indifferent.

It's honestly interesting, I haven't faced any severe consequences from this.... So far, at least... People are sometimes very receptive when you share your thoughts with high empathy, agreeableness, and a bit of fence sitting.

I updated a while ago, I've charged it for a few hours so the optimization happens, and I optimized apps and cleared cache. It's still horrible.

I've been on both atomoxetine and sertraline for 50 days now.

My psychiatrist put me on 60mg atomoxetine and 50mg sertraline after the first visit for ADHD and anxiety. Then he upped my sertraline dose to 100mg after a month.

I had some side effects especially for the first few days but they got much better aside from my disrupted sleep. However, I am not noticing any improvements in task initiation, which was my main issue I had.

I'm also struggling to tell if my improvements in anxiety and mood come from sertraline or atomoxetine.

Any advice?