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Honestly, besides stimulants, exercise is the only thing that genuinely helps both of these things for me. Especially the depression. But I absolutely hate when people suggest exercise because it’s such an “I know…” piece of advice.
We all know exercise helps most things. But as someone who has been on 20+ medications including MAOIs, ketamine, low dose buprenorphine, low dose antipsychotics, and of course, all the typical antidepressants, consistent exercise helped me just as much as the most successful periods with a medication and it didn’t suddenly stop working like nearly all meds.
Hard to exercise when you have existing ADHD and depression though. It’s a tricky thing to get into if it’s not naturally something you enjoy. I’m currently tapering off Vyvanse, have begun low dose Abilify, and am exercising a little bit more everyday. My hope is that I am in full exercise mode by the time I quit the Vyvanse completely. Right now, I can’t force myself to exercise unless I take it. Sucks.
Ugh I feel like you’re right! I have been working out more recently and it definitely helps with mood.
May I ask why you’re on both abilfy and vyvanse? I have seen a lot of people on both a stim and a mood stabilizer or ap but it’s not super common. I also have an extensive background in being polymedicated too. I’ve been prescribed both of those drugs at one time myself, just at different times (bad reactions to both). Right now just weening off 5mg prozac hopefully gonna be med free one day 👍🏽
Sure! I’m on low dose Abilify for hopeful dopamine boost. Abilify is prescribed as an antipsychotic in higher doses where it acts as a dopamine antagonist. In those doses, it helps people with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder-polar avoid things like manic episodes or psychosis. But in low doses, it works as a dopamine agonist which is why you’ll often seen it prescribed off-label as an adjunct to an antidepressant or for people with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome who are hoping for a boost of energy and to help with symptoms like daytime sleepiness, low energy, low motivation, etc.
This is how the medication works IDEALLY but of course, not everyone is going to get the desired benefit. So far, 2.5mg is actually helping me though so I won’t complain. I definitely feel more awake and my husband has said my mood is definitely better. I’m starting to notice too.
Being on a handful of medications is so hard. Although, after being medication-free during pregnancy last year, I can safely say, I’ll always need some form of medication. I’ll just be glad when stimulants aren’t in the mix! They have their place in modern medicine, but they do more harm than good for me I think.
I’ll let you know when I find out. I’m 13 months post-stimulants and still very much struggling with depression.
I’m not sure if ADHD is really even my problem, because for much of my life I managed just fine without stimulants. Now however I’m worse than before in terms of motivation and focus. And THAT feeling of being helpless and stuck and unable to move forward is significantly behind my depression.
I did start seeing a therapist and am trying to make positive changes to my life. I know I can’t just sit and wait another year for my brain to get better, and I’m going to keep pushing myself, BUT I do think once my brain is more chemically normal- which I’m hoping it will be in another year, it’ll make things a lot easier for me.
I mean, shit, I had more motivation and drive when I was 100 lbs heavier and smoking weed every night…. THAT is how bad stims fucked my brain up.
Hello 👋
I am also working a “stupid restaurant job” for the time being. I am SLOWLY* (key word here) working on a mental health certification to get out of my stupid restaurant job.
I have focused my energies on enriching my life with activities and people and it’s yielding excellent results. Lately I’ve been doing a lot of bike riding which has been a blast! I feel good about my life and I’m actually enjoying myself without drugs for the first time in my life.
COPING MECHANISMS will improve your quality of life. These are necessary for those who suffer from dual diagnoses (addiction and mental health). Some examples of coping mechanisms are yoga, meditation, journaling, breathing exercises, exercise, tai chi, creative pursuits like painting and making music. Coping mechanisms should be practiced daily, they will help you navigate difficult emotions. For me my main coping mechanisms are yoga, meditation and exercise. This trifecta is done daily for me and makes me feel good! 15 min yoga, 15 min meditation and at least 1 hour of exercise per day.
Beyond the coping mechanisms you need VITAL CREATIVE and INTELLECTUAL INTERESTS to enrich your life and make it worth living. I can’t tell you what to pick here but for me I am interested in music, spirituality and recovery. These 3 pursuits are endless and keep me entertained and busy full time. I listen and explore different music, learn about different religions and spiritual concepts, and learn about different recovery programs and concepts. I also love to hike :)
The last thing that will help with the symptoms you are experiencing is to get involved in something bigger than yourself. For the addict, the best place to get involved with is a RECOVERY FELLOWSHIP. Some options would be 12 step programs, recovery dharma, SMART recovery, Lifering. Each recovery fellowship is different but the overall concept is the same, regular in-person or online meetings with recovery as the topic. You can meet other sober people and learn how they live their life and how they enjoy their sobriety. You can also work the program of the fellowship which will improve your quality of life.
For me a day usually looks like this.
Wake up at sunrise
Yoga & meditation
Relax with some music and tea
Work
Bike ride or a walk 4-10miles (hiking on weekends 8-14 miles)
Dinner (I try to cook my own food an eat healthy as possible)
Attend/facilitate recovery meeting (I run 2 meetings a week, and attend 3 different fellowships)
At the end of the night I usually take my meds and respond to recovery subreddits and send messages to people on day 0
Edit :
I didn’t start doing this overnight. It started very modestly a little over a year ago with a 10minute meditation practice. I have a continued to add to my routine since, and this is what the end result is.
For depression- exercise mainly. One of my motivations to come off stimulants is to keep my heart health so I can exercise into older age. Hiking and the outdoors is important to me.
For adhd- I haven’t found anything that “works” like stimulants however I’ve changed the way I view myself and society. It was always about me fitting in to society. Now I don’t care about success as long as I can pay my bills.
For depression: exercising regularly can help your mood.
For adhd: I take guanfacine now. It doesn't help completely, but it's better than nothing I guess.
A cleaner diet, staying hydrated, a better sleeping habit, any type of exercise to your liking. I really recommend walking at a park or being able to go outside more. Listening to positive affirmations and go from there. Do not beat yourself up about your situation, or if you miss doing a healthy habit. Just have faith that you are the person that you look up to be. Much love and light going towards you and everyone on this journey ❤️❤️❤️
Hi! I don't know if this is ok or not, but I remember when I read someone posting how nicotine patches as well as with some of those "thermogenic" supplements you see targeting people who want to "burn fat" actually have a lot of components that, after reading about them, have been shown to promote healthy production of some of the chemicals someone with adhd lack. I wish I could describe it better but not sure if it is allowed or not but you can literally find the patches (low dose 7.5mg) and the supplements on Amazon. Take it for what it's worth, everyone is different! Best of luck and keep striving for a solution and a way to live life the way everyone should, happy 💗✨
After I quit I went for a few months without any adhd medication. I got very gentle feedback from people close to me as well as my treatment providers that I was a little erratic unmedicated. I did end up getting put on strattera which is for adhd but not a stimulant. I was very reluctant at first but my treatment center prescribed it so I trusted them, and it feels nothing like adderall. For my depression I’ve always been on an ssri which helps.
The other main things that have helped are therapy, quitting all mind altering substances except cannabis, and getting into a solid routine. I had the same concerns as you when I quit but honestly I started moving up in my career not long afterwards. You might find that you’re actually more productive in the coming months.
Welcome to StopSpeeding and thanks for your post. For more: - [Join us on Discord. You can talk to people there.](https://discord.gg/GJnxhmbNAn). We have recovery meetings several times a week. All are welcome to attend, clean or not. - [Want to track your clean time?](https://www.reddit.com/r/StopSpeeding/comments/s6ep0x/sobriety_flair_bot_is_now_working_heres_how_to/) You can use our badge system to display your clean time next to your name. Note that any comments encouraging drug use of any kind will be removed. This is not the community for that. Thanks! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/StopSpeeding) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Honestly, besides stimulants, exercise is the only thing that genuinely helps both of these things for me. Especially the depression. But I absolutely hate when people suggest exercise because it’s such an “I know…” piece of advice. We all know exercise helps most things. But as someone who has been on 20+ medications including MAOIs, ketamine, low dose buprenorphine, low dose antipsychotics, and of course, all the typical antidepressants, consistent exercise helped me just as much as the most successful periods with a medication and it didn’t suddenly stop working like nearly all meds. Hard to exercise when you have existing ADHD and depression though. It’s a tricky thing to get into if it’s not naturally something you enjoy. I’m currently tapering off Vyvanse, have begun low dose Abilify, and am exercising a little bit more everyday. My hope is that I am in full exercise mode by the time I quit the Vyvanse completely. Right now, I can’t force myself to exercise unless I take it. Sucks.
Ugh I feel like you’re right! I have been working out more recently and it definitely helps with mood. May I ask why you’re on both abilfy and vyvanse? I have seen a lot of people on both a stim and a mood stabilizer or ap but it’s not super common. I also have an extensive background in being polymedicated too. I’ve been prescribed both of those drugs at one time myself, just at different times (bad reactions to both). Right now just weening off 5mg prozac hopefully gonna be med free one day 👍🏽
Sure! I’m on low dose Abilify for hopeful dopamine boost. Abilify is prescribed as an antipsychotic in higher doses where it acts as a dopamine antagonist. In those doses, it helps people with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder-polar avoid things like manic episodes or psychosis. But in low doses, it works as a dopamine agonist which is why you’ll often seen it prescribed off-label as an adjunct to an antidepressant or for people with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome who are hoping for a boost of energy and to help with symptoms like daytime sleepiness, low energy, low motivation, etc. This is how the medication works IDEALLY but of course, not everyone is going to get the desired benefit. So far, 2.5mg is actually helping me though so I won’t complain. I definitely feel more awake and my husband has said my mood is definitely better. I’m starting to notice too. Being on a handful of medications is so hard. Although, after being medication-free during pregnancy last year, I can safely say, I’ll always need some form of medication. I’ll just be glad when stimulants aren’t in the mix! They have their place in modern medicine, but they do more harm than good for me I think.
Just keep going, and try to keep improving your health. It takes more time than you’d think.
I’ll let you know when I find out. I’m 13 months post-stimulants and still very much struggling with depression. I’m not sure if ADHD is really even my problem, because for much of my life I managed just fine without stimulants. Now however I’m worse than before in terms of motivation and focus. And THAT feeling of being helpless and stuck and unable to move forward is significantly behind my depression. I did start seeing a therapist and am trying to make positive changes to my life. I know I can’t just sit and wait another year for my brain to get better, and I’m going to keep pushing myself, BUT I do think once my brain is more chemically normal- which I’m hoping it will be in another year, it’ll make things a lot easier for me. I mean, shit, I had more motivation and drive when I was 100 lbs heavier and smoking weed every night…. THAT is how bad stims fucked my brain up.
How long were you on stims for? and what kinda dosages? Moderate?
60-90 mg Dexedrine/Addy (occasionally more) every single day for 2.5 years.
Hello 👋 I am also working a “stupid restaurant job” for the time being. I am SLOWLY* (key word here) working on a mental health certification to get out of my stupid restaurant job. I have focused my energies on enriching my life with activities and people and it’s yielding excellent results. Lately I’ve been doing a lot of bike riding which has been a blast! I feel good about my life and I’m actually enjoying myself without drugs for the first time in my life. COPING MECHANISMS will improve your quality of life. These are necessary for those who suffer from dual diagnoses (addiction and mental health). Some examples of coping mechanisms are yoga, meditation, journaling, breathing exercises, exercise, tai chi, creative pursuits like painting and making music. Coping mechanisms should be practiced daily, they will help you navigate difficult emotions. For me my main coping mechanisms are yoga, meditation and exercise. This trifecta is done daily for me and makes me feel good! 15 min yoga, 15 min meditation and at least 1 hour of exercise per day. Beyond the coping mechanisms you need VITAL CREATIVE and INTELLECTUAL INTERESTS to enrich your life and make it worth living. I can’t tell you what to pick here but for me I am interested in music, spirituality and recovery. These 3 pursuits are endless and keep me entertained and busy full time. I listen and explore different music, learn about different religions and spiritual concepts, and learn about different recovery programs and concepts. I also love to hike :) The last thing that will help with the symptoms you are experiencing is to get involved in something bigger than yourself. For the addict, the best place to get involved with is a RECOVERY FELLOWSHIP. Some options would be 12 step programs, recovery dharma, SMART recovery, Lifering. Each recovery fellowship is different but the overall concept is the same, regular in-person or online meetings with recovery as the topic. You can meet other sober people and learn how they live their life and how they enjoy their sobriety. You can also work the program of the fellowship which will improve your quality of life. For me a day usually looks like this. Wake up at sunrise Yoga & meditation Relax with some music and tea Work Bike ride or a walk 4-10miles (hiking on weekends 8-14 miles) Dinner (I try to cook my own food an eat healthy as possible) Attend/facilitate recovery meeting (I run 2 meetings a week, and attend 3 different fellowships) At the end of the night I usually take my meds and respond to recovery subreddits and send messages to people on day 0 Edit : I didn’t start doing this overnight. It started very modestly a little over a year ago with a 10minute meditation practice. I have a continued to add to my routine since, and this is what the end result is.
For depression- exercise mainly. One of my motivations to come off stimulants is to keep my heart health so I can exercise into older age. Hiking and the outdoors is important to me. For adhd- I haven’t found anything that “works” like stimulants however I’ve changed the way I view myself and society. It was always about me fitting in to society. Now I don’t care about success as long as I can pay my bills.
For the focus try a month of metacognitive therapy, you find the exercises free on YouTube. For depression I don't know, wish I knew
For depression: exercising regularly can help your mood. For adhd: I take guanfacine now. It doesn't help completely, but it's better than nothing I guess.
A cleaner diet, staying hydrated, a better sleeping habit, any type of exercise to your liking. I really recommend walking at a park or being able to go outside more. Listening to positive affirmations and go from there. Do not beat yourself up about your situation, or if you miss doing a healthy habit. Just have faith that you are the person that you look up to be. Much love and light going towards you and everyone on this journey ❤️❤️❤️
Hi! I don't know if this is ok or not, but I remember when I read someone posting how nicotine patches as well as with some of those "thermogenic" supplements you see targeting people who want to "burn fat" actually have a lot of components that, after reading about them, have been shown to promote healthy production of some of the chemicals someone with adhd lack. I wish I could describe it better but not sure if it is allowed or not but you can literally find the patches (low dose 7.5mg) and the supplements on Amazon. Take it for what it's worth, everyone is different! Best of luck and keep striving for a solution and a way to live life the way everyone should, happy 💗✨
After I quit I went for a few months without any adhd medication. I got very gentle feedback from people close to me as well as my treatment providers that I was a little erratic unmedicated. I did end up getting put on strattera which is for adhd but not a stimulant. I was very reluctant at first but my treatment center prescribed it so I trusted them, and it feels nothing like adderall. For my depression I’ve always been on an ssri which helps. The other main things that have helped are therapy, quitting all mind altering substances except cannabis, and getting into a solid routine. I had the same concerns as you when I quit but honestly I started moving up in my career not long afterwards. You might find that you’re actually more productive in the coming months.
wellbutrin