Hi comrades,

I am from germany and the healthcare here is disastrous. No matter how hard I try I can’t get a psychiatrist, even if I sit down with social workers for days on end calling every doctor in my surrounding area. However my adhd is very bad. Without medication I can’t get a job again, my flat looks like shit and I can’t cook proper meals. Without my wife I’d be on the streets due to my ADHD.

So I thought I’d apply the concept of diy-ing your medication for harm reduction from the trans community and apply it to my ADHD. Here is the beginning of my journey:

The only thing that ever worked for me back when I had a doctor was 70mg elvanse. This is a pretty strong stimmulant. This could only be matched by other street stimulants. This is a bad idea because they are expensive and WILL kill you. I tried to take bupropion which is an antidepressant the GP in Germany can perscribe. It can help with adhd and has pretty little side effects. This did nothing.

I often read that alot of adhd people (including me) drink alot of coffee. Caffeine is one of the few legal stimulants even though it is not strong. Because I don’t want to drink 4-8 cups of coffee every day I ordered caffeine pills. Yesterday I took 2 of them, which amounts to a dosage of 400mg, which is the maximum safe amount for an adult. Surprisingly I didn’t shake or sweat like I do when j drink way to much coffee. I just existed but felt human. I finally could do something so I wrote and finished a DND one-shot. I could have never done something before. Today I only took one pill (200mg) and have similar effects, so I won’t be taking 2 anymore.

Now the problem of tolerance will arise, which means I will have to take breaks for idk how long. I would love to hear tips on that.

I postet this to get tips on how I can improve my methodology and for other people to realize they can try other things if they can’t get medication from the state.

Solidarity <33

  • Cletus@lemmygrad.ml
    7·
    7 days ago

    For a long time I have been personally interested in trying Selegiline. Big pharma has cast it to the wayside despite its promise. There is a lot of bad information about it online from people who don’t know what they are talking about. I have gone quite deep into the matter so feel free to ask if you have any concerns. Anyways, its MAO-b used in Iran to treat ADHD. One study showed it was as effective as methylphenidate at treating ADHD, while increasing sleep and appetite.

    You can order it from India quite cheaply and will only get scammed 1/5 of the time lol.

    The effects are quite different to conventional CNS stimulants. The drug is very interesting because its effects persist well after it has been metabolized (~2.5hrs). It is a so called “suicide inhibitor” which permanently renders MAO-B (one of two enzymes that metabolize dopamine) non functional. Essentially the drug just causes dopamine to be metabolized slower.

    I would be surprised if there was an issue getting it shipped into Germany. Alternatively if you or someone you know has an old dog you can get it prescribed for the dog lol.

    • acute_kernel_panic@lemmygrad.mlOP
      6·
      7 days ago

      I found it on a gray market website shipping to Germany for roughly 12€ per month excluding shipping. This is not optimal, since I am currently living off the salary of my wonderful wife, but it is something to try. I’m gonna order a pack after I had a 1 or 2 months trial period. Then I’m posting an update.

      Increasing appetite is not optimal since I gained too much weight from too much weed to help me get through my neurodivergend burnout. But thats a good price to pay.

      A question I had is, does it work immediately when I take it and I take it when I need it or do I have to take it like I have to take antidepressants?

      If I have to take it with antidepressants, how does it mix with alcohol and weed?

      Ofc I am gonna verify that from other sources as well but I wanna be as safe as possible with as many sources as possible.

      • Cletus@lemmygrad.ml
        2·
        5 days ago

        I will get back to you when check fully about taking it with anti depressants or alcohol. At a low dose it would probably be fine with alcohol, probably depends on the anti depressant. But there is good reason to be cautious because MAO-(A) Inhibitors should not be taken with alcohol or antidepressants. Selegiline at a low dose is only a MAO-B inhibitor (dopamine) so in theory it would be ok. Unfortunately there isn’t a tone of literature though so most information is pretty cautious.

        The other (non) concern is hypertensive crisis. People on MAOis generally need to avoid eating tyramine rich foods (aged foods like cheese, dried fruits) otherwise it can cause a hypertensive crisis. But this is a non issue at a low dose. Because it is selective to MAO-b

        You can look through some of these for reassurance lol. https://www.drugs.com/comments/selegiline/for-attention-deficit-disorder.html

        You can also look through all the reviews. There are many more for depression which is actually works for as well.

      • Mao's Schnitzel@lemmygrad.ml
        2·
        6 days ago

        This is the first time I hear of Indiamart.

        On first look they seem to be targeting B2B. Can I just order something as an individual, no questions asked, no problem? Also how do they get stuff through customs when shipping meds?

        • Cletus@lemmygrad.ml
          3·
          5 days ago

          Ya pretty much. I haven’t used it yet. Although I came close one time. Essentially you’re just ordering from some random pharmacy in India. Depends on what country you’re in but customs won’t stop most stuff.

      • acute_kernel_panic@lemmygrad.mlOP
        3·
        7 days ago

        The study seems really cool. My two points of critique was that I think assessment of the parent and teacher which doesn’t take into account the childs assessment is not enough evidence the symptoms have decreased. Eg. Does the child feel more human or not, is it easier to absorb information instead of just reading stuff and it going out.

        Secondly, I am not a little bit over 5 years old. I am quite a little bit older.

        Nevertheless, it’s good to have read.

    • Cletus@lemmygrad.ml
      3·
      7 days ago

      You could of course also just order conventional stuff from the darknet. But its probably pretty expensive and not many people are comfortable doing that.

  • Sickos [they/them, it/its]@hexbear.netEnglish
    5·
    7 days ago

    L-theanine takes the edge off high-dose caffeine and smooths everything out a bit, in my experience (though it also seems to interrupt ADHD prescribed med function a bit)

  • MeowZedong@lemmygrad.mlEnglish
    17·
    7 days ago

    I want to preface this by saying that it sounds like you are already taking steps to do this as safely as possible, but I want to also warn you that the risks of caffeine increase with dose. A few coffees a day aren’t going to kill you, but you are in a whole new level when taking pills.

    Putting a hard upper limit on your intake and finding the most therapeutic level that is as far away from that as possible is a great idea. Caffeine becomes far more dangerous the more tired you are, so if you’ll be taking it as a pill regularly, please use it only for ADHD, not as a means to stay awake. You need to listen to your body and if you ever feel a flutter in your chest while taking these, you need to stop what you are doing immediately. Hydrate well with water and get plenty of sleep. Stay away from mixing stimulants.

    I generally think what you are doing is safe, but I’ve gone through periods in life where I’ve given myself heart palpitations and more from caffeine overdoses and not only does it suck, but that that shit will kill you.

    Good luck with your ADHD care, comrade. I’m sorry this world is so hostile towards neurodivergents like us and hope you find relief.

    • acute_kernel_panic@lemmygrad.mlOP
      7·
      7 days ago

      Thanks for the ponts to look out for. I was already aware of most things regarding caffein.

      Safety is defently a concert, but defenetly not my biggest one, since I see it as more harmfull to not do anything. But im carefull. :)

      • MeowZedong@lemmygrad.mlEnglish
        7·
        7 days ago

        since I see it as more harmfull to not do anything.

        For real. Lack of treatment is seriously detrimental to quality of life. It sounds like the situation where you live doesn’t even recognize this.

      • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
        13·
        7 days ago

        Twice a year I pick ten days where I’m just not going to be productive, sleep 9+ hours every day, and subsist on Tylenol to deal with the headaches.

          • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
            3·
            6 days ago

            The extra sleep helps get through it, and the headaches stop after a few days.

            I should say I don’t sleep all 9+ hours at once, I’ll nap immediately before I go to work for an hour or so. But, yeah, about 4-5 hours into my shift I’ll start to feel it. I’m factory labor so at least I’m not drowsy sitting at a desk or something!

    • acute_kernel_panic@lemmygrad.mlOP
      5·
      7 days ago

      Ive tried methylphenidate before when I had a psychiatrist. However both are RX medication, meaning I need a doctor to perscribe it for the pharmacy to be able to sell it. Long live germanys social democracy… Can’t get any care but not allowed to compound or buy it