u/ilove-christinayang

i've tried adderall but switched to ritalin -- i find that while both increase my focus, they have a tendency to cause excess noep in my brain and activate my fight or flight too much. i don't want to take guanfacine (bone loss/weight gain studies) or any sedating meds due to my co-occuring sleep disorder, but am interested in a low-dose beta blocker that can only moderately cross the blood brain barrier. does anyone have experience w/ this combo?

I find this sub tends to know more than the ADHD subreddit, so I was wondering if anyone knows why if I use ritalin IR to stay awake (rarely do this btw) throughout the night, taking it the next day makes me even MORE tired than I would be if I stayed up all night and just abstained from my meds the entire next day.

also -- recently saw a study that modafinil can cause significant bone loss & heard my doctor say many patients he prescribed moda to reported fractures/bone pain, so i'm wondering if anyone has any general wakefulness alternatives (WELL STUDIED) that have a similar mechanism of action to modafinil. i have idiopathic hypersomnia and take low-dose ritalin for my ADHD but find that increasing the dose makes me feel less tired but can activate my fight or flight too much - alr tried adderall and it activates my sympathetic nervous system even more. the noep is just too much but idk if orexin/histamine is causing the sleepiness that i've had the past few years (even b4 i started stims)

I just graduated high school and will be taking a gap year to receive cancer treatment. Throughout high school I also had a severe chronic illness (including taking 3 months straight off for a surgery junior year and 120 excused absences senior year), which resulted in me needing to take half of my classes online and not forging a lot of in-school connections. This year (12th grade), I took 6 classes in person and 3 online.

I was able to finish all 4 years with As with the exception of a B+ or two (and some A-s), have a 1560 SAT and took 13 APs (11 offered at my HS, took some online or self study) and got all 4s/5s (pretty sure, only know 8 scores right now but waiting on 5 from this year).

I got 3 school level awards from teachers (mainly character-based) and my class rank was 6/300.

--> Unfortunately, my teacher LORs aren't going to be very strong when I apply next cycle but my personal one is. I also did not have stellar ECs due to the issues I faced throughout high school, aside from a hospital internship, congressional internship, student council rep position, tutoring 17 students who also missed extended periods of school due to chronic illness, and an upcoming internship in my city's public health department. I didn't receive any national awards or do sci oly or anything super impressive. I also did not do any reseharjch. I am FGLI, which may slightly boost my chances/provide context to my application. I am a female and go to a noncompetitive public school (around 1 T20 admission every 3 years)

I was wondering if anyone could provide guidance for getting accepted into T50 schools with unique circumstances and slightly below average ECs. My dream school is Brown, so if anyone has any accepted student stats from those with similar situations, I would really appreciate you sending them! I do feel like I'm relatively self-motivated and would thrive with their open curriculum but am worried about my AO not truly considering my circumstances, especially if I do not mention them in my essay and do not want to be overly elaborate in the additional information section.

TDLI --> Student w/ chronic illness & unique circumstances wanting to hear from students w/ similar situations accepted into T20s.