1. Get off your high horse of weed being healthier than prescription medication.

2. I’m not a doctor (but clearly neither are you) but I doubt you actually have ADHD… Weed exacerbates my ADHD symptoms. Attempting to treat my disability with weed would NOT work for me.

3. Let’s say you’re correct and you do have ADHD and vaping a sativa strain really does help you. Well everyone is different and not every medication or treatment program is going to be a solution for everyone (for any condition, not just ADHD.) So either way, gtfo of here with the attitude that weed is the only solution anyone could possibly need and all of us are just victims for thinking otherwise.

I think state regulations might vary. Where I am, every three months I HAVE to have an appointment to get a refill prescription for my Adderall. But fortunately my psych is still doing virtual appointments, which is a lot less disruptive to my workday.

Your use of “chemist” makes me think you’re out of the US.

Most ADHD meds in the US are “controlled substances” and that means our doctors can only prescribe up to three months at a time. After three months we have to have a follow-up appointment, then they can prescribe three more months of meds.

Plus the federal government decided that too many people were taking medications like Adderall. So their “solution” was to instate a cap on how much Adderall manufacturers can make. Which means there’s now a national shortage of Adderall. And that shortage means folks with ADHD are frequently going without their meds entirely or are forced to call multiple pharmacies in the area to ask who has their meds in stock. (My health insurance through work requires me to use a mail-order pharmacy because it means cost savings for them. But that means I don’t have the luxury of shopping around different stores to see who has my meds in stock - at least, not to fill the prescription through insurance and get the lower price. So if the mail order place is out, then I’m screwed.)

Our healthcare system is so fucked.

I like being a data nerd 🤓 Garmin’s help articles are pretty informative, this is the one about HRV if you’re curious for more: https://www.garmin.com/en-US/garmin-technology/health-science/hrv-status/

Okay yeah sounds like maybe Adderall isn’t the right med for you. When I have a period without Adderall and then resume taking it, I’ll have a few days/week where I’m headachey and barely hungry. But if I power through, those side effects will go away.

My psych has said that some people just don’t do well with Adderall and other ADHD meds are better for them. My best friend also has ADHD and she recently started Adzenys, which is a very recent med (no generics yet.) What I’m trying to say is there’s other types of meds out there and maybe something else will work better for you (side effects and maybe less impact on your HRV score.)

Fellow Garmin user with ADHD.

The HRV status feature on your Garmin is meant to track physiological stress. Not necessarily mental stress (although that can affect physiological things.) Unfortunately yes, when I’m on my ADHD meds (currently unable to source my Adderall XR) my HRV status is lower.

But functionally, I’m better when I’m on my ADHD meds. Yes my body has a heightened stress response (i.e. higher HR during the day when I’m on my meds) from the meds, but in my opinion that’s a necessary side effect of the ADHD meds. I’d rather be functional and capable and have a worse HRV than spend hours laying on the floor feeling like I can’t function because of my ADHD.

Your HRV status covers a rolling 4-week average. Given enough time on the meds, it will learn your new HRV trends and stop reporting you as “unbalanced.” It looks worse than it is right now because the initial period of getting on meds is making it look like your system is out of whack. Which honestly it kind of is, as it’s adjusting. Once you figure out the med combo for you, not only will your HRV settle down from getting used to the meds, but the score on your Garmin will also settle down as you spend more time in your “new normal” range.

Basically what I’m saying is: HRV on your Garmin is more intended to track the impact of training and exercise on your body, and not necessarily intended to track how medication changes affect the score. Personally I would take the Garmin readings with that grain of salt: the changes to your score are due to meds rather than exercise, so it’s sort of outside the intended use of the feature. Keep up with the meds and keep up with your normal training, but your Daily Suggested Workouts will probably be a bit easier while it recovers from thinking your status is Unbalanced.

Thank you for sharing this! I didn’t know this was an option - I was planning to bring it up with my psych at our next appointment. I’ll look into reporting my experience.

WOAAAHHH.

After being unable to source my Adderall for months I finally got it refilled. The same dose I’ve been taking for 20+ years. For some reason my body could not handle it, I was getting headaches and my pulse was racing and I was anxious. Which didn’t make sense because I’ve previously had years without taking it and did not see these issues ever before (but I’m older now? Idk)

Anyway I asked for a dose change and we decreased by 5mg. Been better since.

Just looked at my bottle and the stuff I couldn’t handle is made by Granules. 😮

I have only heard good things about Vyvanse. But I don’t know as many people who have tried it because it’s been expensive for many people. I’m hoping these approved generics get to market fast! I’ve been struggling without my Adderall XR - the shortage finally caught up to me.