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Cake day: July 7th, 2023

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  • I’ve been on 70mg of Vyvanse (Elvanse) for a few years. It’s just enough to get me through a 10 hour work day. Everyone’s bodies react differently.

    You’ll get used to the medication, so a given dose will feel like it’s doing less over time. If I don’t take my meds for a few days, my pulse will be elevated when I start taking them again. After a few days of that, it’s about 10 BPM higher than my non-medicated heart rate. I’ve found the first day of a new stimulate medication to be not at all representative of what long term use is like. After being on a few stimulant medications for a while, it eventually feels like I’m my normal self, just more focused.

    Do not split the pills over food without talking to a pharmacist first. With stuff like Adderall XR, splitting the capsule can make the meds instant release. I’m not sure if Vyvanse is the same way or not. Either way, don’t rely on an idiot on the Internet (me). Ask a professional.

    Personally, I’ve found Adderall XR to work decently well for 6 to 8 hours. That’s not enough for me, but it might be for you. A smaller dose of Elvanse is also a good idea. Personally, I’d go with changing dosage before changing meds. If the smaller dose is still not going well, try a different med. I tend to give myself a couple of weeks on the med before I think about changing it unless I have an extreme reaction. I only did one day of Ritalin because it made me extremely aggressive, for example.

    Good luck.








  • My wife’s old 2004 Honda Civic. It was the worst piece of shit I’ve ever had the displeasure of driving. And it was super unreliable to boot!

    It was dangerously slow. Getting on the freeway always required full throttle to get up to speed in time, which was never enough. Some cars egg you on, “Go faster! Let me rev! I love revs! Speeeeeed! Power!” This thing was like Eeyore on Adavan, “Huh? Power? If I have to. Ththrhtbbt. That’s the best I can do.”

    The “top rated” Goodyear tires we put on it were fucking awful as well. The tire compound was super hard, so despite the pitiful power, you could always spin the front tires in the dry. Despite the hard tire compound, they wore out 20,000 miles before their warranty was up. One time while exiting the freeway, the shit box decided it wanted to oversteer (the tail slid out) as I went around a corner at a very reasonable speed. Luckily, I was able to hold the slide and correct it (which was pretty cool). I like to push cars and to go fast, but I’ve never ever had a front wheel drive car oversteer on me before, especially at super low speeds. This isn’t really the car’s fault, but the shit tires come with the shit territory.

    It had no safety features other than seatbelts and a couple airbags. No anti-lock brakes. No traction control. It had manual windows (fine, I guess), manual mirrors (eww), and manual door locks (gag me with a spoon!).

    Despite all these omissions, it had alloy wheels and a spoiler from the factory! Oh, but it’s ok, it’s the fucking “value package” so all my friends won’t know I cheaped out on a car until they have to wait for me to get in the car to unlock their doors!

    In the 4 years she had it, the following broke:

    • The thermostat got stuck closed, which caused it to overheat which required the head gasket to be replaced
    • The alternator failed catastrophically. Forget not charging the battery, try shorting out, discharging the battery and killing the engine in seconds.
    • The tie rod snapped, causing the front wheels to be pointed in opposite directions (luckily this was in a parking lot so we didn’t die)
    • The steering rack had to be replaced to fix the steering wheel that was 30 degrees off center to go straight.
    • Something was wrong with the brake booster, it hissed when you held the pedal down in a certain position, which really inspired confidence.

    What an awful car. Still, at least the previous owner left a new condom in the glove box when she bought it.


  • I’m on Vyvanse. The name brand stuff definitely reduces my anxiety and makes me less prone to depressive thoughts.

    I’m still experimenting, but the generic (when I can get it) might give me anxiety. I’m not totally sure because it’s pretty subtle.

    Try a lower dose. Try different meds. You’ll react to each med differently, and everyone reacts to meds differently. Don’t be like me and be afraid to experiment with different meds. (When I say experiment, I mean have your prescriber give you different meds.) Stimulants are easy to gauge effectiveness compared to other drugs like antidepressants. Stimulants either work, or they don’t, and their effects usually aren’t that subtle.

    Good luck.



  • Check out the FDA’s drug shortage website for Vyvanse. The only version that’s not in shortage is the name brand version. So forget about getting generic (I just spent $300 on name brand because my insurance doesn’t cover it!) Ask specifically for the name brand if they’re out of stock of the generic.

    As far as I’ve been able to figure out, there are only a few pharmacy suppliers out there. Different pharmacies can use the same suppliers, and will therefore have the same supply issues.




  • Tl;Dr:

    • Get an electronics organizer bin. Raise up your bed and put it under your bed
    • Clean with someone else (they don’t have to be cleaning your mess)
    • Have someone else tell you what to do
    • Take your meds if you have any

    More details:

    It’s hard to offer specific advice without seeing what we’re working with, but you could get something like this to store lots of little components. You can also buy little lifts for the feet of your bed which will allow you to fit lots of stuff under your bed (at the cost of a much taller bed). My roommates in college loved those things.

    As for actually doing the cleaning, body doubling works really well for me. My wife and I will do our separate cleaning chores, but the fact that she’s also cleaning keeps me focused on my task. I don’t want to be caught in a pig pen while she’s made her area pristine. If you don’t live with someone, you could do a video or voice call with a friend. My wife’s therapist has offered to supervise (via video call) her while she does chores too. Having someone to hold me accountable really works well.

    Having another person who doesn’t live with you come over to your place and give you directions or suggestions can also be helpful. I have a really hard time making decisions about where and how I should store some of my things. My brother occasionally comes over, accesses what needs to go where, and tells me what he thinks I should do. I follow his suggestion as if it were an order. Sometimes we switch: I’ll go over to his place and boss him around. This works for me because the wall preventing me from cleaning is decision fatigue from trying to find the perfect solution to an organizational problem. Not being able to identify where to start or what to do next also can stop me from organizing. Blindly following someone else’s decision, even if it’s not perfect, seriously helps. When I offer suggestions to my brother, it’s relatively easy for me to do. After all, it’s not my stuff. I’ve got no skin in the game.

    Of course, someone has to be willing to help you clean like this. Don’t force them into it. Make sure they know what they’re getting into.

    Finally: meds. If you have them, use them. I’ve found that my meds will keep me doing what I was doing before I took them. Don’t wait for your meds to kick in and then start cleaning. Take your meds, start cleaning something that’s easy and mindless (for me that’s doing the dishes), and by the time your meds are in your system, you’ll be more motivated to tackle something bigger.

    Everyone is different. Some of this advice might help. Some might be worse than useless. But my therapist always says, “If what you’re doing isn’t working, try something different. Just ‘trying harder’ to do the same thing over and over doesn’t work with an ADHD brain.”

    Sorry for the wall of text. Good luck!



  • I can’t offer a specific recommendation, other than to get a used laptop instead of new. Since price is an issue for you, buying used will help a lot.

    Late last year, I bought a low spec Dell XPS 13 from 2019 for $300 USD from a local used electronics shop. New, this laptop would have been about $1,000. The battery isn’t great, but I can get a replacement from iFixit for $100 if I feel like it. The screen is excellent. The CPU is… fine for my use case. RAM is subpar (8 gigs) and soldered (gross), but on Linux it hasn’t a problem. I upgraded the NVMe SSD from 256 gig to 1 Tb for $60.

    eBay likely has a lot of decent options for used laptops. You can look for enterprise grade hardware too. Enterprise grade stuff tends to have replacement part support more than consumer grade stuff.

    Good luck!

    Edit: You can also look at factory refurbished stuff too! Just check frequently since availability changes rapidly.