Socializing when you have ADHD can be really challenging. Is anyone here having a good experience after medication? Have you noticed changes in your personality, tastes, preferences, reactions, abilities?

28 comments

  1. I have adhd and autism, I find that it helps my distractability in conversations and lowers my adhd symptoms but it makes very apparent my social deficits due to autism and make it more difficult to mask my autism

  2. Ultimately they didn’t work for me and seemed to stimulate my anxiety and bouts of frantic overthinking. Short term I saw benefits but long term no, take care.

  3. I feel more confident on what i say cuz I remember what I want to say for once and not get distracted

  5. stimulants really helped me socially. before i tried them, people accused me of being high all the time, because that was my natural personality. i have a flat, monotone voice and find it hard to show emotions. i’m also very slow to respond. i can act “normal”, but it takes a lot of effort and usually results in burnout.

    stimulants helped me feel like a normal person. it sped up my brain just enough to where i can socialize with ease. i think of responses faster, i smile, i emote… and it doesn’t take an exorbitant amount of energy. it was like a fucking godsend.

    unfortunately, i only used them for a month because of insurance issues and the price, but i’m trying to get back on them. my quality of life improved immediately and significantly during that time.

  6. I have a shorter tolerance for annoying things when I’m on it, so I am a lot more likely to stand up for myself or let someone know they are bothering me. It is usually a good thing, but sometimes I can get pretty pissed off (at things that are indeed not pleasant) and feel embarrassed about it later.

  7. Personally I’ve had multiple people tell me it makes me less fun, vyvanse works better but is worse for socializing. It depends on the environment. I’m less likely to dominate the conversation at a dinner (which is something I really struggle with) when I’m on my meds.

  8. Meds increase my BP and I get slight pain in shoulder and hand. Iam taking methylphenidate

  9. Helped a ton at first, felt sharper and more able to listen. Now it’s hit or miss, sometimes makes me sooo impatient when people are talking and I’m focused elsewhere

  10. Smoking nicotine makes my head race fast and detaches me from people even more.

  11. Was on Ritalin but was like taking a placebo. I actually thought my doctor gave me a placebo. No effect. Same with other stimulants.

  12. Really depends on the day sometines im more conscious of myself and notice if im yappin or emotional sometimes im hyperactive sometimes anxiety

  13. Stimulants make me twice as anxious. I actually avoid them now. But when the stimulants first kick in, like within the first hour then it makes me more sociable and cheerful. When I used to be on vyvanse my friends said it made me lose my razzle dazzle and I was too serious.

  14. Ask genuine and engaging questions with the ability to focus on their response.

  15. If I take amphetamine salts, I kind of tend to be more in my world. But I started taking Wellbutrin, and feeling amazing, overall calm, less reactive, gives me time to think and respond.

  16. It generally made me worse. I was fine when someone else initiated conversation or whatever, but it dulled the impulse to actually initiate or add to a conversation.

  17. i no longer feel like leaving all of the meetings early or trying to end hangouts with my friends even though i had a lot of fun simply because i was bored. i can just normally hang out right now. feels great lol

  18. Good question. Overall, I think I’m better socially. The Adderall made me realize I have several issues that interfere with my social skills, all which go away when on a stimulant: 1. My emotions are running too high and I can’t turn them down very well. This leads to  

     A. Lots of random thoughts based on those emotions 

    B. Choice of background music in my head 

    C. Inability to read people and respond appropriately. 

    D. Masking. I’ll say, “Wow, that sucks,” as a response but only spent like a couple seconds feeling empathy for whomever is talking to me before my own thoughts and emotions are much louder and drag my focus away from my friend so that I cannot articulate very well that I am sympathizing/empathizing with them other than what feels like some generic “Wow, that sucks” response.  

    E. Too many times I want to put my foot in my mouth because of what just came out of it and it’s all due to emotions running so high that I can’t be rational, read the room/person, and figure out the appropriate thing to say. Something stupid comes out instead.  

    F. Rejection sensitivity and mild social anxiety. Didn’t even realize I had it until I took Adderall (was diagnosed in my 40s). When this has always been your normal, you don’t realize it’s not normal. Again, all driven by my poor emotional regulation. I used to walk into social situations and automatically start worrying what others thought of me, why someone didn’t want to talk to me, what if I say something stupid, how’s it gonna be for me today socially? Another disaster, I make myself look awkward, or will I actually do a good job this time? On Adderall, I can actually read people so, I base my reactions off what I’m reading from them instead. 

    G. Lastly, due to poor emotional regulation, I’ll literally be in a super social mood one day, want to talk to ‘Brittney’, see Brittney across the room, briefly notice she’s in a bad mood or doesn’t look like she wants to talk today, but I want to talk to her so bad that I’ll completely ignore what I saw and just start talking my a$$ off at her. She is clearly annoyed/disappointed and eventually leaves the conversation and then I feel rejected and wonder if she doesn’t like me. You see how messed up my thinking is because of my poor emotional regulation? All that goes away on stimulants too as I will literally read people before I approach them, but because I no longer have emotion ‘overload’, I can calmly make a rational decision on to approach or not based on what I’m reading from them

  19. Not at all, I’m AuDHD diagonsed early, and socializing is hell regardless of if I take meds or not, but people around me claimed that meds make me more stable

  20. I don’t get overwhelmed in social situations and shut down. Nor do I get stuck in them because I am able to guide them comfortably. I’m able to have more fluid conversations, adapting in the moment, and keep up with more talkative people. And don’t feel the need to sit in a vegetative state zoning out to music, TV, or just in a dark room taking into a nap in order to recover from heavily stimulating situations.

    I also feel more confident in general.

  21. this is a tough one because it’s truly a mixed bag for me. they dull my personality A LOT, but… sometimes that’s kind of a good thing, because my personality is also… a lot. haha overall i’d say it’s worth it to be able to function like a normal human, but i give myself breaks to let my strange brain shine in all its glory now and then when i don’t need to be focused and on point.

    if i’m interacting with friends i would much rather be unmedicated, but with employers or at work or any other “boring” conversation i don’t want to be having, definitely, definitely rather be medicated, otherwise i’ll just disengage entirely.

  23. I turn into an unfiltered argumentative chatter box when I take my meds. I don’t love it, but the people around me seem to embrace it as a developed personality with a perspective so I just roll with it.

  24. Reduces my anxiety, increased my confidence and mental acuity

  25. My conversations tend to stay on track now, but I have noticed that I tend to talk way too fast and/or mumble much more than I did before.

  28. I don’t have as bad of “verbal diarrhea” when I get excited. I can actually stop myself and check in periodically and make sure the person’s actually interested before I just dump all of my knowledge for the next 45 minutes on them …

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