Choosing to be unmedicated

[FlimFlamFlomFlemFlum]

I am 40 and have known I have had AuDHD for a decade but don’t decide to do anything about it till last year. I ended up on the Right to Choose and I have tried four different medications so far, both stimulants and non-stimulants and they have all been horrible. I am at the point now where I think I want to pull out and just be unmedicated. Life unmedicated is horrible but medication is also horrible.

I don’t want to keep doing this dance. Is it possible, do you think, to go unmedicated but be stricter with diet and exercise and routine? Perimenopause has made things a lot worse but HRT also didn’t work for me (horrific insomnia which is saying something as I’ve had insomnia for 20 years) so I’m on the combined pill and after three weeks it has had no positive or negative affect on me whatsoever.

I don’t know what to do. I am drowning but the medication seems to set me on edge and does absolutely crazy stuff to me. Would I be ridiculous to choose to come off the pathway?

I was also diagnosed in my 50's and chose not to go onto medication. My ADHD is at the severe end and I have always struggled with sleep and anxiety. I've also come off of HRT and have had a big upsurge in mood and energy. I have heart disease, and so was worried about the effect ADHD meds might have for me.

I have recently got to grips with diet and exercise, I take a vitamin B complex, ashwagandha with magnesium and then zinc an hour before bedtime. I gave up alcohol three years ago and have recently cut way back on caffein and sugar. I am aiming for 40 mins of exercise 5 days a week.

Meditation and diaphragmatic breathing are helpful and also 8D or EMDR music. I am really starting to feel better and more healthier for the first time in years.

Thank you for this. I gave up alcohol years ago, don’t drink coffee or tea and try and walk kids but I have an awful issue with chocolate which I think is my dopamine fix but think it makes things a lot worse. It’s hard to get into the routines with these issues but also routines help calm things down! I think I’m going to go medication free and see what happens. I’m no worse off I suppose!!!

Chocolate was my nemesis too. It is completely all or nothing, so I have given it up completely. I think there is some research around casein and gluten and ADHD behaviours, I know it has been implicated in autism for a long time. I have sensitivities to both, so it might be worth seeing the effect of giving chocolate up for a while.

Can you get some advice around weaning off of medication and some support?

There is an awful irony with routines in that you it helps enormously but the adhd brain also carves novelty. I think I might have to have a physical list pinned up somewhere 😊