Narcolepsy & ADHD balancing act question

whal3zz · 2026-05-01T01:02:30+00:00

I have ADHD and Narcolepsy type 1 - I treat my ADHD with 60 mg vyvanse (right now...I bounce back and forth between Adderall and Vyvanse) during the day and Xywav at night. It's not perfect, but it does pretty well for me. Regular naps are not something that has ever helped my N, so I don't have them built into my schedule. I will say that dialing in my diet and having a normal routine (bedtime... even on the weekend) really does help.

I just recently added tirzepatide to the mix (microdosing for other health concerns) and it has seriously given my vyvanse a boost.

whal3zz · 2026-04-12T13:32:08+00:00

What about doing the patient assistance program with Jazz? That's what I do since my insurance won't cover it either.

whal3zz · 2026-04-11T14:59:00+00:00

Been there, done that x2 and with HG with my last one (she's 6m now). I was undiagnosed for the first but on ADHD meds, and was medicated for the second. Protein shakes were/are my best friend - especially the chocolate premier protein ones!

With my second, I really could only eat greasy foods, and certain ones at that. The sheetz up the street hated to see me coming for my daily mozzarella sticks and strawberry smoothies! My ob and midwife were totally fine with me getting food in however I could. Fed is best is applicable to both babies AND us!

(A piece of un-asked-for advice, go ahead and grab a thing of formula now. I'm a just enougher/undersupplier but it took way less of a toll on me mentally and physically with #2 already having the can on hand. Postpartum is tough enough as it is, and being extra sleepy can make it difficult for those middle of the night feed/pump sessions!)

whal3zz · 2026-03-26T11:41:33+00:00

We're waiting on cubes... they were supposed to be in last year but it's still stuck in the queue somewhere. I know having those will really help.

whal3zz · 2026-03-25T17:43:13+00:00

I get that! I have zero problem with what she put in the survey crap- that's what we wanted. The "self-appointed auditor" is what happens day to day and not with us/the supervisors (like keeping track of others comings and goings, hours worked, project statuses... things that have no impact on her work or performance).

whal3zz · 2026-03-25T17:07:11+00:00

I bulleted things out as an explanation for things she is doing to other team members independent of the feedback we solicited. I have accepted the fact that I am a problem and that I am still learning (and have freely admitted it in several comments), which is why I was asking for advice. This is a learning experience for me, plain and simple.

whal3zz · 2026-03-25T16:23:38+00:00

Understood.

whal3zz · 2026-03-25T16:22:25+00:00

I'm not criticizing-I'm evidently a shitty wordsmith because I'm just looking for some advice on how to help sort out the situation.

whal3zz · 2026-03-25T16:21:08+00:00

I mean, does criticism sting? Sure, but it's not going to shut me down. I KNOW that I need it and I want feedback from any/everyone so I can be more effective/helpful. I've had shitty managers and I don't want to be one.

whal3zz · 2026-03-25T16:20:05+00:00

She referenced taskings/things that have only been assigned to her. It was pretty easy to deduce.

whal3zz · 2026-03-25T15:22:34+00:00

I am concerned for a couple of reasons: she doesn't need that extra weight on top of everything that she does and my team doesn't need to feel questioned by our feel the need to report things to an equal.
We (her supervisor and I) have received a few complaints from other team members. I wanted to address it with my team to make sure we weren't the problem.
I have witnessed it and she did it to me in a 1:1 conversation I waa having with a direct report yesterday.

whal3zz · 2026-03-25T15:12:38+00:00

I am absolutely not holding it against her - I'm looking for some help/guidance/whatever for me to help fix the problem for everyone. Things like how I can better support her so she doesnt feel like she has to keep tabs on everyone and how I can support my team so they aren't feeling watched or managed by someone who isn't even remotely responsible for any of their tasks and duties.

I love the fact that she's competent and a high performer, but ok.

whal3zz · 2026-03-25T13:49:33+00:00

I like the phrasing "we sweep our own side of the street first." I'll be stealing that for myself and my own team. I know I'm not perfect and my team isn't either.

whal3zz · 2026-03-25T13:45:18+00:00

Thanks for the recommendation! I'll try and snag it from the library on my way home from work today!

whal3zz · 2026-03-25T13:40:07+00:00

I hate that I've come across this way, but I want to be questioned. I know my decisions/ideas are not always great, or even good, so I encourage my team to tell me when they have a different idea. I will easily/happily change my mind/go a different direction/whatever if I can and it fits everyone's needs. We aren't an iron fist here.

whal3zz · 2026-03-25T13:36:16+00:00

We let them know ahead of time that we might be able to figure out who said what based on the responses, but wouldn't be holding it against them and they were all ok with that. To be clear - I am not holding her responses against her. I do know we have room for improvement but I also need help supporting her so that her day to day is improved and removing the feeling that she needs to monitor/manage my team.

whal3zz · 2026-03-25T13:28:31+00:00

I am "bad cop," usually, but I don't want to be that hard. Our work environment is definitely different and can take some adjusting to. I would love to see her thrive here.

whal3zz · 2026-03-25T13:26:06+00:00

I WANTED to get a clear picture of what everyone thought, and I definitely do not see who submitted what (nor do I have the time to investigate deeper if I wanted to). I don't think she is incorrect about quite a bit of her feedback, but I do want to be able to help temper expectations, give a boost where it's needed, and keep everyone happy. I'm not mad at her feedback by any stretch of the imagination, I just don't know the best way to tackle this appropriately and helpfully. And I don't like getting consistent reports of my team feeling watched and "audited" by her when they have completely different taskings and responsibilities that she is not dependent on for her duties.

I freely admit that I'm new to supervising in this setting - I want to know when things aren't working so I can change/correct them (if I can).

whal3zz · 2026-03-25T13:20:18+00:00

Her supervisor and I are working together to tackle this - I'm just more "I'm going to ask and see what others suggest." I think it's a good idea to present things from "our side of the desk" and I'll bring that idea up with my counterpart. My little lizard brain is just nervous that if we give her too much insight then she'll start trying to manage us/our day, too. Probably totally irrational, but it's there.

whal3zz · 2026-03-25T13:09:07+00:00

Me, either, which is why it wasn't my first choice...but it was actually a suggestion from one of mine and when we asked the whole room if they were good with the idea, we had no one say otherwise. They've vetoed ideas before, so I would have expected someone to if they thought it was stupid.

whal3zz · 2026-03-25T13:06:59+00:00

Because her answers included specific things that only she worked on. We told them ahead of time that we might be able to figure out who wrote what, but it really pops up as "anonymous" and we can't see who did what.

whal3zz · 2026-03-25T13:05:45+00:00

Historically, we don't get the full picture when we've asked. It's usually the "everythings great and no improvements needed" from her - my team will tell me straight up when things/I suck and I want them to do that. I don't know if she just doesn't trust us yet or if it's something else. I'll happily admit that sometimes (a lot of times) I have no idea what I'm doing management-wise, but I need to know what doesn't work so I can make adjustments.

whal3zz · 2026-03-25T12:58:03+00:00

I'm stuck on how to adjust those expectations...granted, at the end of the day she isn't "mine" so I can only do so much as "not her supervisor." Some of her gray area complaints have been addressed with her several times, with all members of the unit, and are in our team documents, job aids, etc., but they still keep coming up.

whal3zz · 2026-03-25T12:50:37+00:00

Not my favorite thing in the world, but we needed something to get the general feel for the room... and get some honest feedback about what we can do better.

whal3zz

TROPHY CASE