I want to say upfront: This is not medical advice. You should talk to a trusted prescriber — don’t tinker with your meds like a little scientist, you are not a DIY medical experiment! You are a precious human with a body that deserves some support. (I do understand we don’t all have trusted prescribers though.) This is my personal experience, which I hope will empower other ADHDers in their relationship to meds and their approach to neurodivergence generally.

I'm doing this now and I love it! The fact is I NEED such a high dose for my 9-5 and can literally feel myself burning through it during my work week. I barely feel it in my body but my brain will stop cold without several afternoon doses. I CANNOT function with that amount on the weekends, it hurts my body from my stomach to my circulation. I had been leaning toward this method for a while but without supervision with it I had a hard time finding a pattern and felt like a drug addict.

Thank you, this is so interesting! I have noticed some similar things myself and am very open to making medication work for ME while allowing space for my own natural rhythms. I definitely benefit from help when I have to work within structures not designed for me but at times I have space to take things at my own pace and I enjoy working with my ebbs and flows. There must be a place of balance in there somewhere.

Love this. One cautionary complication tho - bipolar x ADHD is about 3x more common than bipolar in the general population. Taking ADHD stimulant meds inconsistently and therefore probably at higher dosages than would be sustainable every day is likely to be very destabilising for someone with bipolar. In such cases it's better to take smaller dosage consistently, mainly in order to try to keep one's sleep cycle as regular as possible, which is the second most important factor after taking meds.

Thank you for the well-thought out and erudite post! At least in my experience as an AuDHD, (self-reporting on the autism spectrum and looking for an official diag) if I take a hard honest look, rarely is divergent and creative thinking a major part of my life or work and the negative aspects of "dropping the mask" with an 'off-leash' day gives little benefits.

If ADHD is not inherently a disorder and just a mere difference, What do you say about the decades of studies that document ADHD causing people to be much more prone to addiction because of the “different” (malformed) brain regions? Smaller weight, dopamine receptor mutations etc ? Being more prone to alcoholism and drugs isn’t just a harmless difference. I think it is just as unhealthy to pretend that the disadvantages of ADHD are just differences. This is denial & toxic positivity

I love this awareness of what’s best for you & when to bring in tools/supports!

I’m sure this works for some. I find I do need to take it everyday, not only for the initiative to get up and do anything at all, but also for mood and confidence reasons. Aside from a focus and cognitive medication, it 100% functions as the right anti-anxiety/depression med for me. Where as ssri’s or anything else I took before sedated me beyond hope and destroyed any bit of motivation or critical thought.