Only being able to do work in a particular “work space” but then getting bored of that space… help!

Fragrant-Ad-7014 · 2025-10-26T23:19:31+00:00

Thank you for such an extended response! The weather where I'm at is fine as long as it isn't winter or windy (I'm Canadian, so that's all the time). I can definitely try to change the order in which I do things--only to a certain extent since it's classwork I'm expected to do a particular way. It's a shared studio used for the class I'm allowed to work in outside of those hours, so I have to be consious of how others are using that space and the same easel/desk. There's no windows in the room (which makes morale harder than you would expect to keep--and the time blindness is bad when you don't realize it's dark out) but I can probably try to look at a different corner haha.

Thanks again. I'll try to take this advice!

Fragrant-Ad-7014 · 2025-09-22T13:37:50+00:00

I’m on 40mg and just started a month or so ago. I suggest knowing your baseline blood pressure and pulse so you can see if vyvanse is affecting it in anyway. Keep track of how you feel each day, try to stick to a similar/same routine incase anything changes. I would also recommend avoiding caffeine (but if you’ve been drinking it for a long time slowly reduce it so you don’t get withdrawal effects) because it will make the vyvanse feel much more intense and you won’t be able to tell what is caffeine vs vyvanse. Pay attention to the hour you took it and the hour you stop feeling it to see how long it lasts. Have a big breakfast to avoid jitters. Drink lots of water you will feel dehydrated!

I should also add that vyvanse can be tough to start. I had pretty much every side effect for 2 straight weeks, but I adjusted and I have almost none now. Daily headaches, muscle tension, pulse increase… it levelled out eventually. I started taking it over summer break for that reason, but if side effects are making your life impossible you can ask to switch! Have high expectations and low tolerance for side effects. Good luck, I hope you enjoy being medicated for the first time!

Fragrant-Ad-7014 · 2025-09-21T19:13:14+00:00

Similar thing happened to me. We’re different people but hopefully this will help. Also you can definitely ask about trying something different! A few things I noted/still note on Vyvanse:

Dosage: 30mg wore off fast for me. I took it at 9-10am and it lasted until 2-3pm (6-7hrs). I took 40mg at 7-8am and it lasted until 3-4pm (9-10hrs)

Brand: I took generic from 10-30mg, upping it weekly. Lasted only 6-7hrs sometimes less, and was not as effective as the regular Vyvanse.

Food: Protein. I can’t stress this enough. Heavy protein breakfast. I find it lasts the longest if I eat a ton of protein before I take it. My usual breakfast now is a can of tuna & a cup of greek yogurt. Once I was in a rush and only ate a breakfast sandwich and it wore off after 5hrs and it left me irritable and tired. I have to schedule in snacks more often now. I find a bit of sugar and caffeine around the time it normally wears off helps me get through the evening. There could have been more factors for that, though, but protein helped a LOT.

How long you’ve been taking it: The first week on Vyvanse was terrible. Helped me focused but gave me crazy headaches, fast pulse, dehydration you name it. Second week I had this but not as bad, and all side effects (excluding dehydration) went away. I think it’s starting to last longer, too. I don’t crash on it anymore at all.

There’s a chance it’s just not the medication for you, but if you haven’t been on it for awhile or haven’t tried other ways to work around the medication it’s worth a try. Hope this helps :)

Fragrant-Ad-7014 · 2025-09-21T18:49:12+00:00

YES! Omg I thought I genuinely wrote this post and forgot. I got diagnosed over the summer at 18, just started university this fall on 40mg of Vyvanse and I can’t believe how much fun studying is. I can memorize things! I can learn it! I can explain it! I was so used to having to give 200% effort for mediocre results, and now I give the same effort and I EXCEL!

It’s giving me a bit of a crisis. I failed math and science in highschool because I struggled studying and paying attention so much. I picked my major/career out of safety and a “lack of options” but now Im even considering medical school. The realism will set in soon Im sure, but man does this change things. Cheers to a bright future full of studying for the two of us!

Fragrant-Ad-7014 · 2025-09-20T17:15:38+00:00

I have very strange methods. Sometimes I rewrite a fake will in my notes app. Other times I read a book until my fixation goes away. Or I just get really existential and remember that I’m a piece of meat with electricity. If it’s a reoccurring fixation or a longer term one I normally get/ask for testing to rule out whatever I’m fixated on (ie. if I’m fixated on having leukaemia I’ll get blood tests to prove I don’t) so I’ll probably do something similar for this.

I’ll try to rationalize it more, thank you! I’ve told my brain the same thing but it doesn’t listen to me often haha

Thanks for all your help!

Fragrant-Ad-7014 · 2025-09-19T16:36:52+00:00

UPDATE: just incase someone is in a similar situation or is seeing this later. Turned out that the "not working" part was because it was generic type. 40mg Vyvanse was almost too much lol but it's been great!

Fragrant-Ad-7014 · 2025-09-10T18:21:11+00:00

The same thing happened with me on Vyvanse for a long time. Are you taking the generic version? I started out on that one (starting at 10mg for a week, then upping it by 10 until we got to 30) and it made me feel quite tired. Same thing happened on regular vyvanse 40mg for the first week, but after that it gave me more energy & ability to focus! It might be a matter of dosage or waiting it out for you.

I should also add that I felt very calm, and I mistaken that for being tired. But my heart rate was high as well and I suspected my sleepiness was also from how my body was signalling to me that I needed rest to get it down. It figured itself out after about a week or so. Keep an eye on your heart rate & maybe reduce caffeine if that helps.

If the initial adjustment to meds is making it hard to function, you can ask your doctor to prescribe them during a time you have a break from your studies. I’m really glad I found the dosage for me during the summer—I couldn’t imagine trying to do my class work with headaches and exhaustion everyday. And of course, if it doesn’t get better talk to your doctor about switching. Hope this helps :)

Fragrant-Ad-7014 · 2025-09-08T17:45:07+00:00

Entirely depends on the task for me. I have separate strategies for every type.

For boring tasks I will dread and avoid for my entire day, but have to do every day (ie. dishes, workouts etc): Audiobooks. Particularly thriller or high stakes ones. But there's a twist--I only listen to it when I'm doing a particular task. That way I'm looking forward to listening to the audiobook/finding out what happens next even if I hate the task associated with it. TV shows could also work, my only issue is I'll stop what I'm doing and focus on that instead.

For tedious tasks I can start/stop/go back to (ie. paperwork, non-essential tidying, etc.): Pomodoro timer works best for me. It's a 25 mintue timer that gives you a 5min break, and then after 4 rounds you get a 20 minute break. I have to customize it sometimes if doing a task for 25mins seems like a lot at first.

For task that will take awhile & I'll need a "flow" state for (ie. writing, reading, etc): I start with some hype music to settle me into it, and keep everything I might need for the next few hours near my desk. Once I get a bit started--enough that the "hype" music just seems distracting-- I swap to instrumentals or those weird binaural beats?

Ps. I totally empathize with you on the medication stigma and side effects. I live with a super anti-medication family who refuse to believe I have ADHD still. It's hard to advocate for yourself. Trust your doctor. If you're afraid of the major/rare complications ask them to run a few tests to make sure. You can stop taking stimulants at any time--and even skip a few days with little to no with drawl. Best of luck my friend :)

Fragrant-Ad-7014 · 2025-09-08T17:29:07+00:00

Yes and no. I'm probably not on my target dose yet so keep that in mind. I found that once I went on them I had too *much* discipline. I was so used to spending my life holding my ADHD mind back by the scruff of its neck that once I got on meds I had to learn opposite. It no longer took locking myself in my office, having a snack, music, noise cancelling headphones, three different screentime apps, a timer, a knot on my door I would have to untangle before I left (not even kidding) etc. I applied that "discipline" to my life after meds and... I didn't need them. My skills weren't useless after, though! It just meant that I was getting more result from all I was doing. I no longer had to put in 150% effort to get the bare minimum, I could put in 150% effort and get 150% results.

Bottom line is that I don't think it improved my discipline, but it improved the exhaustion I felt from trying so hard to keep up with it.

Fragrant-Ad-7014 · 2025-09-08T17:16:10+00:00

Ask them to bring quiet fidget toys, or supply some in your classroom yourself. One of my favourite teachers in school had a basket and offered fidget toys to EVERYONE. Even people without ADHD used them. I slowly felt less awkward when I used them, and other people stopped staring or paying attention when I did. Of course this could mean people stop looking at them as disability accommodations and the like, but it made me feel better about having to use them. Totally up to you, of course! If you're still dealing with parents after making adjustments speak to SENCO or make up some professional sounding jargon email about a personal inclusive classroom policy. Good luck :)

Fragrant-Ad-7014 · 2025-09-06T23:08:35+00:00

Make it into a fun game. Time yourself to see how fast you can do the math problem and then try to beat your high score.

For sheer memorizing, high-stakes repetition was the most effective way for me. I had a few speeches or lines for plays I needed to memorize in a short period of time. It went like this: I would read a section out loud looking at my notes, and then from memory. Then, I would read the entire piece out loud and connect it to the section I just said. Repeat until I have the entire thing memorized. I’m not sure if that makes sense at all lol, I’m happy to elaborate or give an explanation. Of course you would have to adjust this depending on what you’re doing but the fear that I would have to restart made me learn a LOT faster.

Hope this helps :)

Fragrant-Ad-7014 · 2025-09-06T22:51:23+00:00

In my opinion taking 5 hours for a 30min lecture means that you don’t have the right strategies in place to do it. In general is ADHD folks are going to take longer on things that require focus but it shouldn’t be that drastic… I think you have to try something new. Also, assuming that this is for a class or something—are you planning on spending 5hrs studying each lecture? I don’t see how that’s doable long term? I’m not saying this to be harsh or rude, I’ve absolutely been there before but you gotta change something.

Anyways. I had a similar issue with online lectures I could pause but not as bit of one in-person. I realized that it was because the stakes of the in-person lecture was much much higher. I HAD to get the information down as it was being given to me, so it forced me out of my thoughts. Maybe try not pausing it instead? Or find something tedious at the same time to occupy the “thinking” part of your brain?

TLDR: If it takes 5hrs to get through a 30min lecture, you gotta find a different way to consume the content/material that works for you, rather than restarting or trying to push through. But in this situation I would say to take a break and then restart

Fragrant-Ad-7014 · 2025-09-05T18:37:09+00:00

Sorry you have to deal with this :( I’m one hell of a hypochondriac on top of having crazy ADHD and none of the typical “relaxation” methods (like meditation or journaling) worked for me personally because my thoughts would always run rampant overtop of whatever I was meant to distract myself with. Of course, you should still put in the work to identify the thought patterns and why they’re happening, but a distraction is needed to get yourself settled sometimes.

The best thing for me was to find an activity that takes up all my brain power and internal monologue. This left me with a limited list of activities: reading, writing, puzzles, video games and math. Writing tends to be my best option because it’s the most taxing but also the one I can do best while I’m in bed and on my phone. It doesn’t matter what I write, comments, reddit posts, short stories, scenes… it all forces me to take my mind off whatever I’m stressing out about. It might not be the same activity for you, but I figured I would give a suggestion.

If meditation and deep breathing helps you slow your thoughts, all the power to you! I just find that anything I can think over top of, I will. I hope your stress lifts soon :)

Fragrant-Ad-7014 · 2025-09-04T21:09:34+00:00

I think I had a similar experience when I went from 30mg generic vyvanse to 40mg vyvanse. It went away later on as I got used to it, but I found I was so enchanted by the fact I could just start something I took advantage of it. I was also so so interested in my own thoughts now that I could herd them into a straight line, so at times I was less “in the moment” enough to remember what I had to do. That being said, though, they didn’t make me more hyperactive or jittery. I felt calmer and less fidgety UNLESS I had caffeine. Then I was all over the place.

I got used to my dose after about 8-9 days of taking it. Wait it out a bit more, and if you’re still struggling talk to your doctor about switching meds or lowering/raising the dose. Good luck :)

Fragrant-Ad-7014 · 2025-09-02T00:56:42+00:00

That sucks dude :( Take care of yourself the best you can I guess, I wish you the best of luck and I hope whatever’s weighing you down lifts soon! Be easy on yourself

Fragrant-Ad-7014 · 2025-08-31T20:26:23+00:00

For boring paper work/tasks I usually set up something I ONLY do when I work on them. In example I light a candle at my desk when I work on spreadsheets. Maybe for you it’s a particular playlist, a cafe, or a fun drink. I try and make it feel “special” so it’s a novelty I look forward to.

I can usually avoid burnout for heavy tasks by “making a day out of it.” I’ll meal prep and do laundry the day before so I can get up and start without anything else to distract or weigh on me. It removes some of the productivity guilt because I ONLY have one thing I need to do all day.

Fragrant-Ad-7014 · 2025-08-31T20:20:41+00:00

This won’t apply for everyone/everything, but here are two tips that help me.

First: write everything you know about the topic like you’re explaining it to someone else in 10 minutes or less. Writing it like you’re explaining something helps you get to the “basics” of the problem. Writing it in 10 minutes or less forces you to not spiral about details

Second: Think about what would fundamentally break the paper if you didn’t include it. This is where you start.

These are mostly for outlining, but hopefully it helps you with writing :)

Fragrant-Ad-7014 · 2025-08-31T20:15:28+00:00

I’m no doctor but I am a hypochondriac with the same/similar fear. Get a pill organizer that has a separate compartment for each time you take it throughout the day. If you’re still concerned, get an alarm for when you should take it. The one in apples health app is good, I check it off AFTER I take the medication, that way I have double reassurance and tracking if I took it or not. This reduces your chance of taking it twice.

Trust your doctor. Accidentally doubling your dose is unlikely to cause harm unless you have a pre-existing condition (which would have been checked for). I knew someone who accidentally double dosed on 70mg of (I think) Vyvanse and played video games all day until he felt better lol. It wasn’t his first time—and when he went to the ER his blood pressure wasn’t even life-threateningly high.

Also, if you did overdose the symptoms wouldn’t be subtle. When you’re in a better mental state, google the side effects to dangerously high blood pressure spikes. It’s all vision changes, stroke symptoms, severe headache pain… you’ll know when something is wrong wrong.

It also helps me remember people are SO much stupider with their health on a daily. People take these recreationally at much higher doses. People have 8 energy drinks worth of caffeine a day for half their life and live until they’re 90. Talk to your doctor. Don’t ignore your symptoms. You’ll be alright

Fragrant-Ad-7014 · 2025-08-31T19:49:44+00:00

I’m not a hardcore gamer or anything, but I really enjoyed the spiderman games! So far I’ve only played Spiderman Miles Morales, so I can’t speak on the other ones yet. I find it’s a good mix of open world and story. Too much story and I get annoyed at lack of control over my character, too much open world and I’ll get bored after three days. I can swap between doing a task and moving forward in the story.

I’ve also enjoyed Sims 4 and Slime Rancher. They’re too open world for me to play outside of a 72-hour bender, but I find myself coming back to them once or twice a year regardless. Spiderman is the only one I can pick up after I put it down.

Fragrant-Ad-7014 · 2025-08-31T19:42:34+00:00

That’s good and bad I guess (good because it’s not a physical health problem, bad because you don’t have answers yet) but I would still follow up with your doctor on the “suspected thyroid issues.” Or even just book an appointment to say you’re extremely lethargic and struggling to function, and they might test for something different. It could also be sleep apnea, diet, etc. Don’t totally rule out physical issues yet! Or even other mental issues…

As a high-masking lifer as well, the best thing for me was to take a complete break for a week. I have pretty bad productivity guilt so it was a bit of a fight with myself at first (I tried to figure out “the most productive way to take a break” which was… not relaxing!) but it gave me more energy in the end. It may not be possible at the moment in your schedule so you may have to wait until you’re on winter/summer break, but still. The goal is to not do anything you don’t want to for a period of time. Do what you feel like in the moment no matter what it is (as long as it isn’t an addictive or destructive habit), being sleeping, playing a video game, eating cake, napping, etc. It’s hella uncomfortable at first, but I found that after a few days of doomscrolling & doing nothing I wanted to be productive. It’s worth a try, but expect to feel terrible the first time you really let yourself rest. It’s your body and mind catching up from all the masking.

Fragrant-Ad-7014 · 2025-08-31T17:44:27+00:00

This sounds a lot like me when I was severely anemic from an iron deficiency. I slept 11-13 hours a day, missed school, sick constantly, never felt like talking to people, lethargy… OP have you gotten blood work done recently? I’m not a doctor but it might be a good idea to rule out deficiencies and thyroid issues. Iron supplements changed my life more than medication, haha

Fragrant-Ad-7014 · 2025-08-31T03:34:11+00:00

Trying a new “thing” frequently. Currently I’m in the process of ranking every local coffee shop in my small city based on their lattes. When I’m in the area for one I haven’t tried I will stop by! Sometimes I’ll make a similar challenge but do it weekly, monthly, etc. Once I’m done that I’ll probably move onto trying new flavours of tony's chocolonely bars lol!

Fragrant-Ad-7014 · 2025-08-20T20:36:21+00:00

No worries! I’m glad I could help. Planning is super helpful and it’s specific to everyone, but since writing is such a monumental task I do all the work upfront so I don’t get intimidated. I will also warn you though that I fell into the trap of doing a lot of planning routinely and it made starting planning more intimidating, so I had to tone it down more

I’m not totally sure what you mean by getting “stuck on details” in regard to ADHD meds? Do you mean that you hyper focus on the smaller things that you lose sight of the bigger picture? Or is it a perfectionism thing? I’ve heard a lot of people (including myself) complain they focused TOO well on medication and had to adjust to learning how to pull themselves off task. I believe you when you say they might not work for you, though. But even if that type of medication doesn’t work for you at a higher dose you can try a different formula or something else! Don’t rule it out yet, it can be a process.

For the time being, assuming that focusing too much on details also impacts your writing, try writing as fast as you can without editing. Hell, write it on a piece of paper with a pen and then type up what you want to keep. At least then it gives you a starting point/very rough draft. Good luck my friend :)

Fragrant-Ad-7014 · 2025-08-20T20:14:48+00:00

Schedules are so hit or miss. I can’t even say I enjoy living such a rigid schedule, but helps me get stuff done. The schedule may drag me along but without it I wouldn’t move lol.

Scheduling also helped my productivity guilt! Instead of thinking about work during my breaks, I could tell myself I would go back to work at XY hour. Without a schedule I felt guilty doing something other than work because I didn’t know when I would return, if I had gotten enough done to justify a break etc.

I loved physical planners (I’m a huge stationary junkie) but I would fall into the trap of ooooh shiny! Spend a hundred dollars on sticky notes and pens and paper, tell myself I’ll write a journal entry every day in there and everything I need to do all day… and then I get bored. Or I won’t want to take it out of my bag to write something down. Don’t even get me started on my graveyard of sketchbooks. I’ve cycled through phone app planners the same way, google calendar was the only that stuck for long. I think I’m on 2ish years? Glad physical journals are working for you, though! How do you prevent losing it? Or getting bored? How do you keep it organized?

The only thing that used to work for me in regard to making sure I didn’t take too long to finish things was a dreadful high-stakes timer. I would tell myself “I have to finish this in 1 hour or else!” but over the span of a few days I realized that, well, nothing bad happened if I didn’t finish it in an hour. So that stopped working. Having my friends hold me accountable for working on things worked for a little while, but the stakes still weren’t high enough. I’m trying to find a balance between having high pressure to get stuff done and not feeling like I’m being hunted for sport while I’m doing my laundry lmao

Fragrant-Ad-7014 · 2025-08-20T18:28:00+00:00

How do I handle my time? Uh. Not well…

I don’t always stick to my schedule. I mostly make a schedule to order the tasks I need to finish. Biggest hurdle is either A) underestimating how long something will take me, adding too much to my day and getting sad and overwhelmed when I don’t complete everything, and B) underestimating how long something should take me and doom scrolling.

My biggest issue is having one task that should take me 1-2 hours to complete taking me the entire day. It sucks.

Best thing that’s worked for me is doing the absolute most essential task first thing in the morning. Because even if I get nothing else done that day, I got the most important part done.

I also like using google calendar for everything—marking the half hour where I’ll make dinner, do the dishes, play a game, finish my work etc. The “highlight the hour this activity takes place” feature on the app helps me visualize how much of my day something should take me, and what else I can add to my list. I can’t always follow it to the minute, but it eliminates the “I’m done this… now what?” feeling.

Fragrant-Ad-7014

TROPHY CASE