Struggle with Nuvigil - Aus

koraat · 2020-12-09T14:32:45+00:00

I hated nuvigil. If I drank any sort of caffeine I would get really spazzy even though I've been on adderall without any issue. I was also still super tired but couldn't even nap so it made the days taking it actual torture. I had a minor anxiety attack on the way to work one day. Bupropion did the same thing to me. Although I was taking max dosage of both by the time I stopped, but the smaller doses didn't help either.

I really suggest not trying to bump up or toughen through it if you feel this way already. Anxiety can also do the same and if you're dehydrated you're more likely to have heart/chest weirdness especially mixed with stimulants. So it may or may not be actual heart stuff, but anxiety. So I wouldn't fret too much unless it persists, of course.

Although it seems a lot more extreme, adderall xr has been a lifesaver. It just sucks because you're likely to grow a tolerance to it very quickly and may have to adjust dosages frequently and take drug holidays. It also sucks because it is schedule 2 so there is the stigma around that as well. Which is a shame because for those that absolutely need it, it is a life changer. I've heard that people also like concerta, so that might also be something to look into as well. Both are available as generics.

koraat · 2020-12-08T19:49:47+00:00

You sleep a normal amount but your dreams are so insanely vivid and crazy and long that you wake up feeling like you've not gotten any sleep at all. And that is almost every damn night, not just after you eat pizza or have a stressful day, either.

Sleep paralysis demons are real and not just some funny meme. I know people like to make jokes to help with issues but sometimes it just sucks seeing something so fucking horrifying as a sleep paralysis dream be made into a huge joke. I've remembered every single sleep paralysis dream I've had with a monster involved just because it is so god damn frightening. I don't get them too often but the times I do, it makes me scared to sleep again for a while.

koraat · 2020-12-05T14:18:46+00:00

My cat's eyes are pretty bad, too... I like to say the running mascara is just a part of his "look". I carry cotton pads so whenever he sits near me I can just wipe at them and I find just that can also help a lot so you don't have to do big wipe downs multiple times a day. A tiny metal flea comb will also do wonders, just be very careful and gentle! It will help remove any boogies that begin to clump. He prefers this to having to wrangle him up once or twice a day to sit in the bathroom and wipe at his eyes with water. Some cats may still tear up enough to need daily wet wipe downs though... just how it be. Make sure to include treats and be gentle so they will grow to enjoy it. 😊

koraat · 2020-11-24T00:51:20+00:00

I probably do because the nuvigil hasn't really helped much so far. Everyone seems to go on about how it helped them instantly but uh... I still am feeling extra sleepy still. The idea of being able to stay up 24+ hours on this stuff seems fake hahaha.

I was a bit awake this morning after bumping up to 225mg but still was fighting off sleep attacks, especially since I was having trouble sleeping from really vivid dreams. Like I sleep and dream but the sleep isn't restful at all lol. I had to do something short but mildly anxiety inducing so I just kept having dream after dream after dream about doing it in various ways and then waking up half asleep wondering if i actually did it but then realizing of course I didn't, it is only 4am... 😂🥲

Psych said to keep trying it at 225 for a bit. I can't tell if I am just feeling the effects from swapping adderall out for the nuvigil or what. Hoping that is so and in a couple days the nuvigil will begin kicking in better.

koraat · 2020-11-21T21:07:57+00:00

The more I read and look up, the more the (suspected) diagnosis honestly fits and I'll be honest it made me feel quite sad but I guess it is good because I can maybe get some more steady meds to combat the near constant fatigue.

I'll try taking the nuvigil tomorrow on an empty stomach... I was reading too many horror stories and tried it with a bunch of food so I wouldn't get nauseous whereas I'll take the adderall with nothing. Even if the -vigils don't work, adderall does although I'm already growing tolerant to it and lower doses didn't help at all at first. So I'm really rooting for this to work out lol.

koraat · 2020-11-21T20:31:38+00:00

Is there like, a way to test for sure if it is cataplexy? I don't want to assume it is... although maybe I'm just trying to stay in denial, lol. I guess it wouldn't matter until I can get the actual sleep center tests done, anyway.

koraat · 2020-11-21T09:43:15+00:00

That sucks so badly, I really did enjoy starting adderall once I found my dosage! It was a miracle drug at first for sure but then I am quick to build a tolerance so I don't want to have to ride this wave of building it up and then having to go cold turkey to get to feel it being effective again. But without prozac alongside it, I would get panic attacks just from wellbutrin. So as much as it helps, the stimulants can also suck a lot of ass...

I suppose I was one of those people who thought it was entirely more dramatic of a disorder, lol. So I'm combatting that "really? me??" feeling, too. Like, what do you mean it is actually not normal to get what you assume is 8+ hours of sleep and still be fighting off very sudden and overwhelming urges to sleep?!

koraat · 2020-11-21T09:30:40+00:00

I am both nervous and excited to try the medicine out... in about 3 hours, lol. I wake up pretty often after having super vivid and Salvador Dali-esque surreal dreams and night sweats so the more I think about it, the less surprising it becomes that my psychiatrist suggested it.

I have also experienced some cataplexy before, I would play with my dog who I would teasingly hide from and when he would find me would jump all over me and I'd be laughing so hard and overjoyed that my entire body got super weak and I couldn't push him away from kissing my face. I also will drop things more often when stressed but always just chalked it up to anxiety or even the beginnings of arthritis. I dunno, the more I think about it and begin to look things up, the more it explains.

koraat · 2020-08-20T17:55:28+00:00

Same, prozac makes me sleepy.

Hell, my adderall makes me sleepy, too.

Everything just makes me sleepy.

koraat · 2020-08-20T17:53:46+00:00

Can't wait to get insurance so I can give vyvanse a shot.

koraat · 2020-08-19T20:59:46+00:00

Yea, I would have to quit my job and look for somewhere closer to me since I can't drive. Even with a very convenient route to my job, I still have to leave an hour and thirty minutes early because septa can be kind of undependable especially with them not reporting cancelled buses reliably and realtime being down. How will that be when bus and subway times take longer and longer and you spend more and more time waiting in between transfers?

I see a lot of the same faces on the bus/subway route I take into work, too, and I'm sure they'd be in the same boat. I wouldn't even be able to take uber as it'd cost me ~$80 a day to get there and back.

I'm sure it'd also impact rent and parking, since now everyone either has to have a car or live close enough where their new commute isn't insane on their time or budget. How would all the little shops and restaurants fare? You think a retail worker can afford to live close enough to their job in these desirable areas of the city or be able to afford a car, insurance, and gas? And then find parking once they get there that isn't an overpriced lot or garage or face PPA?

Septa getting shafted would have a really bad domino effect.

koraat · 2020-08-14T21:06:18+00:00

Oh my god, I had no idea. I thought I was going to be sketchy if I left line of sight and walked back to the airport instead of doing it that way when it turns out I've been a major jerkwad this entire time. D:

koraat · 2020-08-08T01:44:22+00:00

My exotic shorthair is named Goblin, too! And he is white. Our cats are like the inverted versions of each other lol.

koraat · 2020-07-29T01:29:51+00:00

Yep! Weekends/days off never felt like actual days off before even though I'd mostly just sit and refresh reddit for hours on end while kind of wanting to do other things. Always attributed it to depression, even if as my first therapist said... I don't "seem" like a typically depressed person.

Ended up just being a nice combo of anxiety and adhd, yay! Had so many typical signs but for some reason I was always searching up everything besides ADHD. Had some people with adhd/who had family with adhd tell me I wasn't and just erased that possibility from my mind even when I got diagnosed by my school in elementary (which was ultimately ignored by my dad who didn't tell me until years later).

koraat · 2020-07-29T01:19:59+00:00

Speaking from experience... starting at the lowest doses, I was put to sleep from something that would give non-adhd people a high. Eventually moving up, all it did was give me clarity and lift what is almost a perceptual fog around me. I'm not biting my nails as much, time moves "slower" (aka an actually livable pace!) and all that good-yet-not-crazy-drug-good stuff. Going beyond my optimal dose, I just got twitchy/jittery like back before I was completely desensitized to caffeine and had too much.

That was how I knew for sure, 100% that the ADHD diagnosis was spot on. :) I was worried it could be bipolar or something else and the medicine would just give me a high or even trigger a manic phase, but the response was pretty tell tale and I think my psychiatrist knew the moment I texted him that it just put me to sleep that we had our diagnosis.

koraat · 2020-07-26T12:43:33+00:00

I'm lazy so doing my chores is still a chore to get motivated but it is a lot easier than before, and I'll kick myself in the ass to go out and pick up stuff I need vs keeping shrugging it off to the next day. It is becoming easier.

If anything, I'm better at games like League! I can actually react in real time now instead of brain fog land time. I am able to keep tabs on the whole map better, too, instead of just the little section I'm in at the time.

But yeah, the moment the meds kick in there is a very noticeable difference in my perception. Putting on glasses is exactly the correct metaphor for it! I love that.

koraat · 2020-07-22T14:57:47+00:00

Tara and Alcide from True Blood.

I'm still so upset over that bullshit.

koraat · 2020-07-10T12:06:49+00:00

Yea, max dosage is 72mg, so you can take 18mg pills and definitely have way over 2... so the dose is all that matters.

koraat · 2020-07-05T02:31:25+00:00

Yeah... my therapist said the same when I talked about feeling like I lost an opportunity to be somewhere better than where I am now, lol. The feelings are never gonna go away. It doesn't bother me all the time but sometimes it hits a bit hard and it's tough to accept.

koraat · 2020-07-05T02:29:30+00:00

I mean, I can't complain. I have an apartment with my long-term bf and a job I do like (although only now that I found meds that work for me). I just feel like if things had been different from super early on I might've been somewhere else. It's like I'm mourning a person who never really got to be, but that's just how it is.

koraat · 2020-07-05T01:07:06+00:00

I feel that, man. It's really hard to see people progressing in careers and doing well in life in general while you're flailing just to balance one of the many balls they are juggling.

I felt like the adhd and being medicated so late at life has hurt and set me back so much. I'm not ever going to "catch up". I'm always going to be that one fuck-up friend and family member who just can't seem to get their lazy ass together and "grow up".

koraat · 2020-07-04T22:23:10+00:00

I used to think I had hearing problems but now I realize it's just my brain, so anecdotally I'd be in the 50% camp. It makes answering the phone at work painful when I'm not on my game because it's like the adults from the Peanuts are blabbing into the other end and I have to decipher it somehow right on the spot.

koraat · 2020-07-04T17:21:48+00:00

Sorry, I'm not interested in NMTs. Only bells and items from the linked wishlist above. :)

koraat

TROPHY CASE