What Happened When I Stopped Taking My Medication

As much as my meds help me, it’s a battle to remember to do all the things I need to do to be able to take them: sign up for health insurance, pay my bill, make a doctor appointment, GO to that appointment, get my prescription, find a pharmacy that can fill it, remember to pick it up before it closes, remember to bring my ID so they’ll let me...

So when I miss a step and find myself without my meds, it’s easy to wonder...are they really necessary?

This is what happened when I forgot to pay my health insurance, stopped taking my medication for two weeks and tried to learn how to live without it.

Please share -- because the stigma is real, and no one should have to feel ashamed for getting the treatment they need just because their disorder is mental rather than physical, invisible rather than obvious.

Mental health is just as important as physical health, and it’s time we acknowledge that.

*NOTE* -- I do not recommend going off medication without a doctor's supervision. A medical professional should be accessible to troubleshoot problems. If you can't reach your doctor, talk to a pharmacist.

LINKS:

"The Show Must Be Go”, "Easy Lemon", "Life of Riley"
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

[NateJones]

It can't be emphasized enough that ADHD is on a spectrum and whether or not you need meds is highly dependant on your severity and degree of frontal lobe development. Kids are more likely to have ADHD symptoms because of brain development. it's when those symptoms continue to impact the individual or the individual doesn't grow out of it that you know it's something serious. Because ADHD severity varies between people, medication is going to affect each person differently and like glasses, some people need them just while the read or drive, while others are blind as a bat without them. It's worth noting, ADHD can trick you into thinking you don't need meds when hyper focus kicks in. If you are doing something that is engaging you, it boosts your dopamine and allows you to focus. But it's all those boring, routine things that fall through the cracks that our ADHD can neglect (like renewing insurance) and thus leads to bigger issues when they create fires. Medication helps manage task switching, controlling your emotions, keeping organized and making sure your aren't skipping over important details. It's also worth noting, untreated ADHD can cause severe issues as an adult. I went untreated most my life, did everything I hyper focused on, but then hit a mid life bump and due to lack of medication and coping skills, had a complete psychological collapse. I've been putting my life back together for over a year now and am still not at 100%. So, with ADHD, I would advise someone to find the top psychiatrists and doctors who understand it, get real help and avoid the snake oil alternatives. ADHD is real and it can be life threatening if not properly cared for. The good news, there are lots of good coping tips and tricks (many of them on this channel) and meds do work for most people once you get them dialed in.

[parkiepooh]

“I missed wanting to do something and being able to sit down and do it.”

That got me

[mckenna]

My kids' psychologist explained it as... when your mom finishes reading a long article she doesn't say, "my glasses did a great job reading that article." No. SHE read the article... she just used her glasses to correct and aid her eyesight so SHE could see better. The glasses didn't read and comprehend anything. ... In the same way, your A.D.H.D. meds are not the reason for your success. Like the glasses, they are an aid that you need and use.. but YOU are the one doing the great works! Congratulations on a job well done !!

[roberta]

The hardest part about being diagnosed as an adult is realizing how much better your life could have been had you known you had it sooner and trying to get those around you to understand that you don't choose to be this way and it's not something you can just make go away.

[meltedwing]

I've been off my ADD meds for 29 years now, and videos like this make me wonder how much better things might be if I worked with my doctor to explore taking medication again. Thank you for being here. You're awesome and I appreciate you.

[Mrmcwarpather]

I feel like I'm cheating sometimes when taking them, then I remember normal people feel that way 24/7 and I'm like "That's op af".

[dabi]

Talking to ADHD person: "Try harder! *Your just not trying!*"

Talking to kid with broken legs: "Just walk it off! Stop fakeing!"

*EXACTLY THE SAME THING*

[hollowman]

You’re so brave, I’m still ashamed that I have to take meds to function and I’m not sure of your age but ADHD wasn’t really acknowledged here in Australia when I was a kid, doctors just labelled it “he’s just an energetic kid, he’ll grow out of it” and it wasn’t until my second child was diagnosed as ADHD along with my third some 3yrs later and during an appointment that I had to take them to, which was generally my wife due to me working, that she looked up at me and said you’re ADHD too, in a much more sensitive way I might add. So yeah I was diagnosed properly at 38 years old and my life began to make sense.
It’s been difficult not gonna lie, going that long untreated( sorry ‘undiagnosed’ would be a better term) created a lot of bad habits bc we find our own coping mechanisms and strategies regardless of how effective they are. But I’m still coming to terms with the fact I have to take what some consider illicit drugs to function on a day to day basis. Very happy I found this channel as well.
P.s. Sorry for the huge wall of text, I was gonna delete it like I always do after spending time compiling walls of txt but this time I thought what the heck just hit post. So I did. Thanks for making me feel brave enough to.

[Sunshine]

* empathetic crying right now * because your face of relief when you finally took your meds again - I felt that relief soooo deeply after going decades undiagnosed and unmedicated. Thank you for your vulnerability and honesty!!! I appreciate it so much and your channel is AMAZING

[picashlio]

My husband doesn't think I need ADHD meds because: "you just need to control yourself, its all in your head there's nothing wrong with you." At the same time he complains about me forgetting and losing everything, procrastinating over everything, and being too sensitive. This past week I've been really productive, ive been able to get things done and he's noticed. What he doesn't know is that I bit the $200 bullet, saw a doctor, and went back on my meds. He'll figure it out someday lol.

[HowtoADHD]

Thank you all so much for your support on this video, I wasn't sure how it would be received and it's always scary to get raw like this. More than anything though I wanted people who needed to hear this, to be able to. Thank you for commenting and sharing!!! It makes such a difference!

[stuff]

I take psych meds for mental health (including ADHD) and I also face a ton of stigma.
Nothing makes me more upset than ppl telling me what I should be doing to “conquer” my mental health issues with “natural methods.”
AS IF I’ve never tried any alternatives to medicines. I tried EVERYTHING before I got on meds.

[dxcomic]

This episode choked me up. I’m 63 and this week finally got ADHD help with meds and I wonder what my life would have been had I started 50 years ago. THANK you so much for what you do. PS you even look like my daughter who last year was diagnosed and who convinced me to look into it.

One way I knew there was a difference? My butt hurt at the end of the work day - and I realized I’ve never sat so long without jumping up after each email distracted.

[ColourMeOriginal]

Your style of quick cut editing represents how someone with ADHD feels really well. I appreciate you.

[oliviachamorro]

this made me cry. this is how I feel everyday

[ganymakes]

watching this again got me thinking about how i was a "high functioning" adhder in my adolescence. i was a straight A student, i was involved in every extracurricular, i was into the arts - some might even say i peaked in high school. and i remember when i moved out and went to university, everything went downhill. i was fine, i was fine and then one day... i just wasn't. i was so mad at myself, so disappointed, and it felt like i was drowning in air. i barely scraped by university at this point and now that i've been medicated for almost a year now after fighting for literally years... i can say that you can only try so hard. you can only push yourself so far until you break. i was living in an abusive home and my survival instincts forced me to be a high performer, to have amazing memory where i can memorize every detail and now that i'm safe and away from that environment, i "lost" a lot of those skills. the point is : telling people to not seek treatment (whatever that means ... be it through meds, therapy, and/or both) is causing more detriment and harm to adhders because eventually we will break. eventually we will become catatonic and blame ourselves for every little failure whch can so easily snowball into this boulder that we keep trying to push but instead of pushing downhill or on flatland, we're pushing uphill.

[sabrinapinc]

I literally just started crying. This is the first video I’ve ever seen seen on the channel and I didn’t know I needed positivity and comfort from jet someone I just seen just saying but it’s OK that I am struggling to manage my own. I always feel so behind everybody else in my life and how they’re able to go about their day with little struggle at remembering simple things or finishing tasks but it’s good to know that i’m not alone. Just thank you. I didn’t know I needed that to be said to me.

[kittimcconnell]

I wish there was an ADHD simulator that would give normals just 2 minutes of my brain. I described it to a friend, once. I said, You know what it's like when you haven't had sleep, the lights are too bright, everything startles you, you know you are supposed to do something but all you can do is stare around you wondering what it was? Add a sugar and caffeine rush and a huge load of guilt about every single thing in your life. All of that, forever." All she could say was "Wow."

[ElenaKomleva]

I feel like a drug-addict for taking my meds. They make you believe that you're addicted to legal speed.

[SeanMono]

No meds? It’s a nightmare every time it happens to me. It’s almost impossible to get out of bed, let alone go to work and write code. Great video! People need to understand how difficult ADHD can be…