Haha, same. Maybe it's an ADHD thing
How's that going, BTW? Have things settled down? (Feel free to not answer that here if you don't want, but at least a PM would be nice
)
The ability to find the humourous side of something, no matter how inane.
I'm completely up front about my ADHD now, actually mentioned it to the guys at Polymorph yesterday. I brought it up as we were discussing what piercings I wanted in the future and which of them Dave could do as he's learning.
I mentioned that one piercing I wanted would be a reward for when I lose the extra weight I'm carrying around and that I had already lost enough weight that I'm at least looking at a new pair of jeans. They congratulated me and we talked some more about it and I mentioned that I had ADHD and was diagnosed at age 4, stopped my meds partway through high school and recently saw someone about it and was put on Dexamphetamine. I was saying how it reduced my appetite so I'm just not very hungry, I don't often eat big meals and even if I do, the weight seems to still continue coming off.
They had a laugh and were like "that's cheating!" and "there you are Dave, ADHD is how you'll lose some weight" or something to that effect. It was pretty much "good on you man, whatever works is great!" Really great people, they are.
So that's one thing. My weight isn't peeling off unnaturally, I did speak to my new GP (who is excellent) about trying to drop my weight because my blood pressure is a concern, it's amplified a little by the dex, but it's not at a level where meds are required and we're hoping to bring it down by losing the spare tyre I'm carrying. He's told me what to eat and how much and what to avoid altogether as well as a dead simple exercise routine. The dex tablets make it easier to follow the smaller meals as I get full really easily and if I eat a smidge too much, I feel a little ill. I think my stomach has shrunk to what I assume is a normal size as on the odd day when I don't take dex, my appetite is much more 'normal' is how I can best describe it. I had to tighten the straps on my motorcycle jacket today, so that means my stomach has gotten slimmer, yay!
Aside from that aspect, my mood has gotten much better, my ability to focus and react and dismiss distractions appropriately is much better. I find that my ability to converse with people is vastly improved; I now fully understand what you meant when you described this, there's less noise in your head and it's much easier to think of something to say or react to what's happening at the time, rather than trying to think too far ahead and getting stumped when something unexpected occurs.
It's much easier to motivate myself to do stuff and once I get going the inertia just carries me through to complete whatever task/s I have set out for myself. I've organised myself a lot better and I can carry out my plans much more easily. Sometimes I'll miss something, but it's usually not a big deal and is just down to a missed step in the plan or an omitted line in my notes, rather than poor execution or giving up due to being easily frustrated.
On the frustration front, I find I have a much higher tolerance than I did previously. I can still get annoyed and upset, but I'm more conscious of what I'm doing and have a little more control over my emotions and they're less intense. It's far from perfect, but at least I'm more aware and can be a bit more proactive about tuning my behaviour appropriately. The chances of me flying off the handle (as has been witnessed in these forums) are greatly diminished. I'm thinking some CBT might help me more in this area and I'll definitely be bringing it up at my next appointment. Some of this may be attributable to the Zoloft, but either way I'm happy with how it's going.
Oh, my sleep is much better and I have a great sleeping pattern going. It seems to be interrupted a little after a day off the dex and is then fine the day after, not a big deal and it's something I can experiment with in the future if need be. I'd rather have the meds each day though, I much prefer the feeling of normality it gives me.
*TMI warning* As for the piercings I have planned and discussed with Rob and Dave, if anyone is interested, the next one will be nipples (arguably one of the most painful). The reward I'm giving myself for reaching a reasonable weight is an
-
do not google that one at work, you've been warned. It was recommended that instead of that piercing in one go, I get a
(everyone should know this one), which is actually the bottom half and let it heal (about 8 weeks), then follow through to the top half and make it a full
which is another 8 weeks healing time. Doing it in one go can make the healing time around 6 months, so it's definitely a better idea.
* End of TMI warning*
This post was way longer than I planned, but I've got everything done that I need to do besides dinner and I'm not pinging around different tabs doing random shit like I would if I was unmedicated. I've probably shared a bit too much, but I'm just glad to be feeling much better and feel like I have made considerable improvement. I definitely couldn't have gotten this far without the support of the many great people of AusGAF.
