It was a 6month rollercoaster of a journey tbh.
At first.. amaaaazing. There was brain quiet, and ability to focus, and stuff got done. I was less random and chaotic, slept better, ate better.
Then the side effects started to make themselves known.
My Autism suddenly came into sharp focus and i lost the ability to regulate my emotions... every self taught method of keeping them in check just... failed.
I'd not eat much (yay... impulsive eating is one of my dopamine seeking habits), then they'd wear off, and i'd be ravenous.. and end up binge eating crap.
I had to stop drinking coffee which i love. Tea just didnt feel the same, and decaf is awful stuff.
My friends said it was like i'd lost some of my spark/joy and i didn't seem myself on them.
My body lost the ability to cope with the temperature in hot weather and i was badly overheating in 26C, like to heat exhaustion point. (this is an actual thing on some adhd meds unfortunately.. my drs advice was to stop them over summer and go back on them once the temp cooled??)
The overheating thing was the last straw.. i sat there one day with heat exhaustion, a wet tea towel on my head, neck fan, ice lolly in hand, necking ice water, and wondered if the good effects really outweighed all the negatives in that moment.
I stopped taking them.
I decided, on balance, i'd rather drink my coffee every morning, be able to have the odd drink with friends, have control of my emotions, not boil, sleep less, and be the silly, random, chaotic, forgetful me that lets my ADHD drive.
On the flip side, my brother (Same diagnosis and meds interestingly enough) stayed on them and is thriving.