ADHD medication Part one: Lisdexamfetamine (Elvanse)

What it felt like when I first went onto medication.

For me, going on ADHD medications sucks big time! But it doesn’t suck as much as having ADHD. There is this belief in society that ADHD is not real; everyone has ADHD symptoms, ADHD medication is given out like sweets and any kid who has a tantrum is on ADHD medication. This may be the case in some parts of the world, but in the UK, getting onto ADHD medication is much more of a challenge than most might believe, and the truth is finding the correct medication isn’t as easy as it sounds.

I was first diagnosed on the 25th of April, 2022 and went onto ADHD medication after having 2 ECGs, one in June and one in September, after moving house. The first set of medications I went on was Lisdexamfetamine (Brand name Elvanse in the UK) Elvanse is probably the most successful treatment for ADHD; it is a stimulant medication and a type of amphetamine. When I started Elvanse I had big hopes. I had started university a few weeks before, and I hoped that the medication would help with my memory and focus.

Unfortunately, things went wrong very quickly. Within a couple of hours, I was having quite extreme side effects. My body felt incredibly antsy and wired. My teeth were glued together, and my jaw muscles were on edge. I could hear my heart and had palpitations, and the first three nights, I barely slept. The experience was one of the most horrible I have experienced, and I so wished I could come off of the medication.

Slowly, the symptoms started to improve. By day seven, I was starting to feel better. I had discovered after the first couple of days, that if I took a long walk (between six and eight miles), I was able to get the medication into my system, and the side effects would be greatly reduced. My sleep was still bad, and I did still have the symptoms, but they were manageable.

Unfortunately, things didn’t go to plan. When I started the medication, I was told that I would be unable to drive until I got the all-clear. So, I made an appointment with the doctor to get clearance, but I had a bit of a shock. Instead of being told that I could drive, I was told that I had had a heart attack, and after a few minutes of conversation, it was decided that I should come off the medication and I should and would be referred to the cardiology department.

Going onto the medication sucked, and coming off sucked just as badly. I don’t know if I had caught something or if it was withdrawal symptoms but it wasn’t much fun.

So did the medication work? I don’t know, that would be the honest answer. I was so caught up on the side effects I really didn’t concentrate on the benefits. I think there was an improvement but it was very early and hard to tell. Certainly, there wasn’t a major change, but I was on the minimum dose for adults, which is quite scary.

Fortunately, I did pass the course with a distinction, but my ADHD certainly did affect my final grade and, even more so, my final project, which was not at the level I had originally hoped for. you can find the story of that in my University blog.

As for my heart attack, that turned out to be a misdiagnosis, which took thirteen months to be diagnosed. So after that, I was given the all-clear to go back onto medication again, which I will talk about in the next post.