ADDer – Page 4

Adderall and Weight Loss

Many people are interested in Adderall because it helps you lose weight. At least, that’s what everyone hears thanks to sensational journalism designed to grab headlines. But, does Adderall really help you lose weight? Should you be taking Adderall for anything other than an ADHD diagnosis?

Does Adderall burn more calories than Vyvanse?

How Many Calories Does Adderall Burn?

The truth about Adderall, and the other generic mixed amphetamine salts, is that it does not help you lose weight any more than drinking a bunch of coffee helps you lose weight. Sure, it revs up your system a little bit, but the amount of extra metabolism one gets from taking Adderall wouldn’t be enough to overcome a single Oreo cookie. Ephedrine burns off more fat by increasing your metabolism than Adderall does. The amount of calories Adderall burns is insignificant. Sorry.

Losing Weight With Adderall

For SOME PEOPLE, definitely not all people, Adderall suppresses your appetite. In other words, it makes it so you are less hungry. In fact, some days, when I forget to take my afternoon dose, I remember because all of the sudden I’m very hungry after having not eaten all day. Usually, I have to remind myself to eat lunch, so if I’m hungry in the afternoon I know something is up.

That means that if you have trouble losing weight because you find it hard to not eat too much when you are hungry, then Adderall can help you lose weight. Of course, that will only happen assuming you are one of the people who have their appetite suppressed by it.

But, if you have trouble losing weight because you eat things that you shouldn’t because they taste good, or because you go out with friends for lunch, or because you have a few beers each night, Adderall won’t help you lose weight at all. Another way to think about it is that if you are at a baseball game in the afternoon and you already ate lunch, so you really aren’t hungry, but you have a couple of hotdogs, some popcorn, and a few beers because you are at the ballpark and it’s part of the fun. Adderall isn’t going to help that at all. The same thing goes for eating because you are nervous, depressed, stressed, or because you drive past a Dairy Queen on your way home every night.

In other words, Adderall does not burn extra calories, stop your body from absorbing fat, or make a big enough difference in your metabolism to make you lose weight no matter how much you eat. It can only make you less hungry. So, if you only eat when you are hungry, the pounds will fall off, because you won’t be hungry while taking Adderall.

Otherwise, get the right meds for your ADD and find another way to lose weight.

Progressive Procrastination and ADD

Written by ADDer 2 Comments

ADD and procrastination go hand in hand. It isn’t hard to see why. Procrastination is the art of putting something off, often because there are more interesting things to do, or because the required task seems boring, long, or unwieldy. All of this plays right into the sweet spot of ADHD. How easy is it find something better to be doing when virtually everything is a stimulus to an alternate train of thought? And, before a long, boring, task even begins, the ADD mind is looking for something that will provide more promising stimulus.

Everyone gets distracted, but what makes ADD different than normal distraction is both the level and the frequency of the distraction. A person without ADHD may clean out the basement without ever even noticing what is on the boxes he is using for organizing a pile of clutter. A person with ADD might not only notice, but be reminded not only of whence the box came, and perhaps, other “important” tasks or thoughts that are related, however tangentially, to what is on that box.

If you’ve ever picked up an empty storage box, seen the old writing from your time in the college dorms on the side, remembered that the alumni association was having some sort of event that you were meaning to go to because an old classmate said they would be there the last time you talked on the phone, and then left before filling a single box because you remembered that your cell phone needed charging, and never came back because while you were upstairs, you noticed that crack in the wall you’d been meaning to fix, you know what I’m talking about.

Procrastination Getting Worse

The catch to procrastination is that it often grows upon itself. I call this progressive procrastination, although there may already be a scientific term for it that I am unaware of.

Progressive procrastination happens in two ways. First, with each task that is procrastinated, the list of projects that require attention grows. Life never stops and just because you didn’t finish cleaning out the basement doesn’t mean that your small business taxes won’t come due until you are done. Rather, your taxes and basement are now both on the list and procrastinating on either one simply moves it further down (or up, depending on how you think about things) an ever growing list.

At a certain point, the list becomes unmanageable. Shortly thereafter, it becomes a fantasy. A list with thirty long-term, do them now, tasks is simply not reasonable. At this point, the average ADDer takes one of three roads:

Keep adding to the list. — All of the tasks are real and need to be done, so there is no need to remove them from the list.
Start over — If a list isn’t realistic, then it makes sense to make one that is.
Try to “do better” — The list is a personal failure that can be fixed by self-improvement or improving how things are done. At this point, yours truly invents a new organizational system, or better yet, spends hours online researching all possible organizational methods including trying to find special ADD calendars, ADHD organizers, or other ADD management systems.

The problem with all three of these methods is that they set up the ADDer for more failure in the future.

Method one ensures that the list will never be done and that one will never feel the satisfaction of completing the list. Without the reward feedback of the feeling of accomplishment on a job well done, the mind not only fails to construct motivational pathways that may lead to success in the future, it lets those that sit unused wither away.

Method two may lead to the completion of the list, but it might be nothing more than a hollow victory. Most people with ADD are introspective from years of asking questions about why things seem to work differently in themselves than in others. They are not easily fooled into taking pride in accomplishing a “dumbed down” list of tasks. Furthermore, the tasks that were dropped from the list are further embedded in the psyche as “unimportant” or “delay-able”. After all, if they were dropped from the list in the first place, how important can they really be?

Method three is, of course, simply more procrastination. No organizational system in the world makes a list of necessary functions smaller. In fact, the time spent creating, developing, or finding the perfect ADD organizer may add to the growing list of procrastinated tasks because that time is not being used to complete other items before they fall onto the “to-do list”. In other words, if your list is long because you forgot you needed to do those things, then by all means, find a better organizational system to suit your ADD. On the other hand, if you can recite that list backwards and forwards because certain things have been on it for so long, you don’t need a new system, you need to do some of the things on the list.

I wish I had a great solution, but I suffer from progressive procrastination myself.

I’ll offer two tidbits in hopes that they may bring enough boost that we can make progress.

You always overestimate your willingness to do something later. — This is that “I don’t really feel up to it, so I’ll do it when I feel better about it,” excuse. It is a lie. If you have a killer headache and don’t want to do something noisy, that makes sense. To see if you are fooling yourself however, go do one of the quiet things on your list. If you won’t do that either, then the problem isn’t your headache. What can be helpful here is knowing, in advance, that you are lying to yourself. That way when you hear it in your head, you know it is a lie. Don’t let that pass. Be offended, just like you would be if someone else lied to you. That indignation may be just enough to keep yourself from believing that you will feel like doing it later, because you and I and your brain know that you won’t.
Procrastination is a pretty girl (or boy) lying because they can get away with it. — Have you ever noticed how sweet the little voice in your head is when it wants to procrastinate? “Oh, don’t worry. You work fast. You can get it done later. You always do.” Now see that pretty little voice batting its eyes at you with its bald faced flattery. Picture that smug little smile that says, “it worked before and it will work again. You are nothing but putty in my hands.” Procrastination always gets its way by being sweet and manipulative. “I know you have that big project due, but it won’t take long to help me with this video game. Come on. You know you want to.” — Trust me. If you picture that pretty girl or pretty boy who always got away with everything just because they were pretty and always sweetly lying their way into getting what they wanted, you’ll despise that little procrastination voice in your head and do the opposite just to spite it. The trick is making yourself see it, because when you don’t want to, the voice will sound a lot more like the truth. Good flattery always does.

What are your tricks for avoiding progressive procrastination? How long do they usually work for you before you have to regroup?

Why People With ADHD Are Messy

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Or, why people with ADD ignore messes and organize by pile.

If you have ADHD, or you know someone with ADHD, you may have noticed that people with ADD have a tendency to be messy. On the same hand, many people with ADHD cannot deal with other people’s messes and are obsessively clean about certain things.

I, for one, have an office that others would consider messy. My kitchen counters on the other hand are typically very clean. The key in both cases is the main working area is clean, the “messes” are around the edge, where the ADHD mind will ignore them as background clutter, even as it finds distractions in other areas.

ADHD Workspace

As someone with ADHD, I can’t have things in my main working area. Not only are they a distraction, they are constantly in the way in a way that frequently requires my attention leading to additional distraction.

If I’m going to get any writing done, my hand (or arm) can’t hit anything while I type. If I’m going to get any cooking done, my counters can’t have “other stuff” on them.

adhd organization desktop — Sure, it looks messy, but you see the area from notebook, to keyboard, to mouse is all free and clear of any clutter

ADHD Organization – The Sides

But, you see that area under the monitors?

Those are what I call the sides.

The sides are near the main workspace but not in it. As someone with ADHD, when I sit down, my attention is drawn to that clutter just outside of my main workspace. I use that to my advantage. That pile to the left is mail, notes, and other things that I still need to deal with.

While I will completely ignore that clutter once I start typing, since it is outside my focus zone, I do see it several times a day when I sit back down. In addition, if that pile starts to get too big, it will encroach on my main working space. That means I will eventually deal with what is there, either to reduce the pile size back out of my main workspace, or just out of annoyance.

The Need Pile

More difficult to see is that the clutter is also items that I need, and need quickly while working.

organized ADHD clutter — It looks messy, but I need some of that stuff.

As an adult with ADD, I can’t take the chance of having to go find something while I’m in the middle of work.

That multicolored bag has my colored pens in it. If I need to brainstorm, or journal something, I will want those pens. If I have to stop and go find those pens, or retrieve them from another area too far away to reach while still sitting, chances are I will get distracted and lose my focus. So, I keep them right there, even though it is clutter.

ADHD Organization Drawers

The ADHD organization solution that would really help is a desk with drawers, but that isn’t what I bought 15 years ago, and the list of other things that I want to spend my money on is very long. I could get some IKEA drawers for a small price, but they won’t fit under the short desk that I have.

Don’t worry. I love IKEA. I will find a solution sooner or later 🙂

NORDLI 6-drawer dresser, white, 47 1/4x21 1/4 " — Ooooh. This would make a great printer stand / organizational unit for my office….

People with ADHD don’t like being disorganized, and dream of the next device, furniture, planner, or organizer that will fix all of their ADHD problems. For this reason, people with ADD love IKEA.

ADHD Workspace – The Piles

Surrounding my desk are the piles.

The pile is a very important part of ADHD organization.

Piles created by the person with ADD do not register in their brain as clutter. Rather they are pseudo-organized stacks that blend as effortlessly into the background as if they were camouflaged by Rangers in the field.

That's not a mess, that's my ADHD pile — Pile? What pile? – *The ADD Mind*

That pile on top of my computer needs to be scanned. You can see my printer/scanner combo behind it, so of course it goes there. — The ADHD mind is precise in its own way. (I don’t know why I need to know that 250mg is 3 fl. oz like it says on that sticky note. Probably for one of my cancer meds, not an ADD med, but until I remember, I can’t throw away that note. Ironically, I haven’t noticed it in months until it showed up in this photograph.)

The stuff underneath the to-scan pile, is an old iPad and my daughter’s old laptop. Both of which I’ve been meaning to repurpose as treadmill screens for exercise routines like from Peleton or iFit training. Although those don’t technically belong up there, I don’t want to put them on the floor where they might accidentally get stepped on.– It’s only been six or seven weeks. I’ll get to it… eventually.

Below is the kind of pile that drives other non-ADD people (my wife) crazy, but that blends into the background noise of the ADHD adult that created them.

To the untrained, non-ADHD mind, this is a big mess. To my ADHD brain, this is actually five distinct piles. The main Disney World book pile is, obviously, Disney World books for planning our DisneyWorld vacation. There are a couple of cookbooks under there. — I recently got a new air fryer.

The pile directly to its left is actually my tax records pile (it’s 2021 tax season as I write this). That bigger book is there because it messes up the pile of smaller format books.

The pile behind the tax records pile is items that I need to sort. I actually need to throw most of that away. Most of it is for electronics we no longer own, or items that don’t work, but I feel like there is a use for them… or maybe I just don’t like throwing away electronics.

Behind that is my messenger bag, which is both the pile my messenger bag is stored in, and a pile of stuff that is inside the messenger bag as well.

Finally, behind that is my printer paper, on top of a dictionary. This isn’t where the dictionary goes, but out of sight…. actually, the dictoionary is bothering me now, because it goes in the bookcase, and…

Must resist urge to stop writing this article and go put away the dictionary…. because if I do… I’ll never come back to this article and will have wasted the effort I already put in… (the sunken cost fallacy looms large in the ADHD world.)

The ADHD Mind Eliminates Clutter As a Distraction

The irony is that the ADHD mind actually is less distracted by such clutter than others. Our hyper-focus (for lack of a better term) edits out possible distractions that it already knows are unimportant. This is in contrast to any novel elements in the environment that command an outsized amount of attention from the ADHD mind.

How To Use ADHD Clutter Piles To Your Advantage

There are many ways to use ADHD to your advantage once you understand and accept your ADD mind. Clutter piles are one area that can be leveraged as an ADHD advantage.

The key is to find a place that the piles do not bother your spouse. Then, let the piles flow.

The Right Number of Piles for ADHD Organization

Organized clutter piles only become a deficit when used improperly, usually by having too few piles. If you have a pile that contains both important paperwork that needs action, blended with a pile of important paperwork that just needs filed, you will correctly avoid throwing those items away.

That’s good.

But, you will likely not act on the papers that require action because your mind will consider the file according to its lowest priority in your mind, that is, “too be filed,” in this case.

If you had two separate piles, the needs action pile would draw your attention and occasionally, your focus and action, resulting in more things getting done appropriately. (The to be filed pile will languish until it is so big it causes an extra distraction.)

The Right Place for Piles for ADHD Organization

The other important thing to get right is where to put your ADHD piles.

A pile of papers than needs scanned should go near the scanner if possible. Thus, when the pile draws your attention, its corresponding action is close by.

A pile of papers to be scanned sitting in the kitchen requires you to disengage from whatever task you are in the kitchen for, to instead go scan some paper. This will likely be a distraction from what you need to be doing at the moment (cooking dinner).

In a larger house, it may be necessary to have piles whose sole function is to be moved to a different location.

Remember that to be scanned pile? Chances are some of that is mail — mail that you open in the kitchen after you come in through the garage. You know it needs scanned, but you have other mail… and maybe groceries… and maybe you’re thirsty and the water is right there…

Whatever the reason, chances are you will just put that to-be-scanned document into a pile there in the kitchen.

But, what if you put that mail into a specific pile which is nothing more than a pile to be moved to your office? Then, eventually, you will notice, and move that pile to the scanning pile, where you will end up scanning the documents you need to archive.

Avoid Mixed Piles

The worst piles for ADHD are mixed piles. Your mind will not process properly that there are things in there that need your focus. Instead, your mind will rank that pile by the lowest item in there.

The pile to be avoided at all costs is a general pile. General piles will be ignored as unnecessary clutter until you do some sort of whole room or area cleanup. Important things will fall through the cracks.

Specific, single-use piles, can have great benefit for ADHD distraction. Consider using bins, or drawers to contain such piles, but be sure they also follow the rules: single use, or single priority.

Otherwise, you’ll end up with just another junk drawer.

Vyvanse Side Effects in Plain English

Written by ADDer 53 Comments

As you know, I started taking Vyvanse a few days ago instead of my usual Adderall (generic) prescription for ADD/ADHD. I am already hitting some of the Vyvanse side effects.

The generic name of Vyvanse is lisdexamfetamine, but the company still has a few years left on its patent, so there is no Vyvanse generic yet. The most common dosages are Vyvanse 30 mg, and Vyvanse 40 mg, but there are 70 mg capsules for those who are prescribed more. Obviously, you can also take two pills to achieve higher-doses of Vyvanse.

Curiously, Vyvanse is also used to treat Binge Eating Disorder, or BED. This is a side-effect of Vyvanse where it reduces your appetite. The theory is that if you are not hungry, then you won’t binge eat. I suppose that depends a lot on what triggers your binge eating… whether it is just hunger, or another stimulus like stress.

Vyvanse Side Effects In Male Adults

As an adult male with ADD, I like to know exactly what I am putting in my body. I don’t just take the recommendation of a doctor or therapist who may, or may not, have the same beliefs and concerns as I do regarding things like medication and their effects on my body. Therefore, I have been reading up on Vyvanse, including all of the government sanctioned warnings, and the company’s legal disclaimers and comments. Buried in all of this legalize is a list of vyvanse side effects.

Fortunately, complex analysis and reading detailed technical documents is what I do for a living, so I am able to wade through this mumbo-jumbo.

Unfortunately, not everyone is able or willing to do this. To help out parents of kids with ADHD, and adults who have ADHD themselves, I have put together a non-scientific, non-technical jargon filled, summary of what the various parts of medical information sheets and side effect warnings typically mean. Note that in the official materials there are no separate notices for the vyvanse side effects in females versus the vyvanse side effects in males. There are some different vyvanse side effect in child though, mostly the warnings that it may increase suicide in kids under 18-years old.

One piece of good news is that you don’t have to take Vyvanse with food, so you can just pop it in your mouth when you first wake up.

You can also check out my review of how Vyvanse works for adult ADD here.

Understanding Prescription Information and Medical Jargon

See your Medication Guide or talk to your doctor or pharmacist about any warnings or drug interaction precautions.

Vyvanse Side Effects in Females

As is often the case with ADHD medication, there are no studies that separately account for how Vyvanse side effects in women will differ from those in men, other than referencing some women only issues regarding reproductive biology.

Vyvanse Side Effect Summary – Understandable Version

The information presented here is NOT medical advice.

This summary is intended to be used in conjunction with a doctor’s advice. Discuss all information with your doctor prior to making any changes in your medications or care.

Vyvanse is derived from some of the same components as Adderall. Just like Adderall, Vyvanse is a nervous system stimulant. As such, many of the Vyvanse side effects are similar to those of Adderall.

The most common side effects of Vyvanse are dry mouth, trouble sleeping, decreased appetite and nausea.

For some people Vyvanse causes weight loss, although like Adderall weight loss, Vyvanse weight loss isn’t really caused by the drug; it is caused by the decreased appetite side effect.

Vyvanse can make it so you don’t feel hungry, and therefore do not eat as often, or as much as you would normally.

Not eating so much is what makes you lose weight, not taking Vyvanse. In other words, if you eat just as much as you normally would while taking Vyvanse, you will not lose weight. Vyvanse does not speed up your metabolism.

The other common side effects listed on the medical information sheet are dizziness, diarrhea, irritability, and upper belly pain. These side effects are probably actually telling you something else, rather than being straight side effects.

Belly pain is probably a symptom that your stomach doesn’t handle medication well. Chances are you are also one of the unlucky people whose stomach is upset by aspirin or Tylenol. If that is the case, your only choice is to put up with it, or try something else.

Vyvanse makes you poop more for many people. Having to poop more often, or urgently, comes from stimulating the muscles that control your bowels.

For many people, the upset stomach comes from too much acid. You can try taking your medication with more water than usual, or perhaps with some milk, or with food, unless your doctor or pharmacist says otherwise.

Do not take your ADD-ADHD meds with orange juice. Orange juice speeds up the absorption of some medications including Vyvanse and Adderall making their distribution into your system uneven. You don’t want a sudden rush of Vyvanse pumped into yoru system.

Maybe You Don’t Have ADD ADHD

As always, consult with your doctor or other practitioner before making any decisions.

If your Vyvanse (or Adderall, or Ritalin) prescription makes you dizzy, lightheaded, buzzy, jumpy, agitated, or skittish, then perhaps your dosage is too high. Talk with your doctor, psychiatrist, or therapist about trying a lower dose.

If you are already taking a very lose dose, or even the minimum possible dose, there is another possibility you should consider. Maybe you don’t have ADD after all. Here is how to tell if you don’t have ADD ADHD.