Episode 47 – What happens if you take ADHD medication without ADHD? [Solo Episode] with Jane McFadden

Jane McFadden:

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Hello and welcome back to ADHD Mums. In this podcast, we tackle the tough, often unspoken realities of motherhood, neurodiversity and mental health. Hey ADHDers, welcome back to another episode of ADHD Mums.

Today we are diving into a topic that comes up all the time and I find it really interesting because a lot of people use this around impostor syndrome and feeling like they don’t deserve the diagnosis, even feeling like they’ve got the prescription and then they don’t want to take the medication because they feel like they don’t really have it and maybe they were just having a bad day. And there’s all these things around ADHD medication working for everybody. People try and buy it illegally because it just makes everyone focus more.

And I think it really contributes to this idea that ADHD is not a real thing. ADHD stimulants work for everybody. If you like the medication, well everybody does, that’s why it’s addictive. And I’m just here to debunk that myth completely because that is 100% not true. ADHD is a neurodevelopment condition. It is not something in your head.

It is something to be taken seriously and it’s a difference in your brain. If we scanned your brain and scanned a neurotypical person’s brain, they would look different because they are different. So I really want today to take you through how ADHD meds affect a neurotypical brain and how they affect an ADHD brain.

So you have something to say when people say, well ADHD isn’t really a real thing. Of course you like it, everyone does. We’ve all heard the stories about students and professionals really under pressure and then taking these ADHD medications to get this result.

But people are using these so-called smart drugs, in air quotes, to power through all-nighters to get that quick productivity boost and to get that job done, get the test done, and they don’t have ADHD and they have a good result on these ADHD medications. But here is the big question. What do ADHD drugs do if you don’t have ADHD? And what are the real risks involved in taking the ADHD medication if you, in fact, don’t have it?

So if you don’t have ADHD, taking these medications will not turn you into some super-focused, ultra-productive version of yourself. I don’t even know how that’s become a thing. When we look at the research, it actually shows the complete opposite. So for people without ADHD, taking stimulants like Ritalin, dexamphetamine can actually slow you down, but not in a good way.

Instead of slowing you down like the ADHD brain slows down and can focus, the neurotypical brain actually slows down and it does not boost performance. You end up spending a lot more time on tasks, you get less done, and you actually obsess over things that don’t even matter. You may feel like you’ve gotten stuff done, but if you actually reflect on it, you haven’t actually completed anything or you’ve done it to quite a lesser level.

Sometimes with the ADHD brain, I’ve always felt before I took medication that I was really productive. But when I started taking medication, I realized that I felt productive, but I wasn’t actually achieving anything. So I do 20 jobs but get none complete, but I’d feel really busy and productive during the day, but I wouldn’t actually get anywhere.

That’s kind of what happens to a neurotypical brain if they take the ADHD medication. Maybe they feel like they got something done, maybe they felt something, but if you actually look at the results and the research, it shows that they actually have a reduction in performance.

So if we talk about the brain, ADHD medication works by balancing the dopamine and the numerate peripheral, the two key transmitters that help people with ADHD stay focused and motivated. But here’s the thing, if you don’t have ADHD, your brain chemistry is already in balance. Whilst the medication helps people with ADHD stay focused and motivated, you don’t have ADHD, so then your brain chemistry is already in that balance. So when you take the medication, you’re actually just overloading your system with way too much dopamine.

The result: obsessive thoughts, anxiety, difficulty sleeping and accelerated heart rate. The list goes on. Now those can also be side effects to the medication if you do have ADHD, so it can be confusing. So if you do get some of those side effects, that doesn’t mean that you don’t have ADHD or you do, it just means that I suppose one has an increase in productivity and one does not.

So these medications are absolute lifesavers for people that need them. I was one of those people that cried when I first took a dexamphetamine because I couldn’t believe how focused and my mind was so slow and relaxed and I felt so distressed and happy and just present. It was incredible to feel that.

There was nothing about that experience that made me think I was neurotypical, nothing at all. I know people who have spent five years attempting to do a passport application, take one dexamphetamine for the first time. They ring me, they tell me it didn’t work, but then they also tell me they got their passport application done from start to finish, which they hadn’t been able to do in five years.

So you really need to look at what you are achieving when you are actually taking it and it’s different for everybody. For people with ADHD, medication can really help to level the playing field, making it possible to function in a world that demands constant focus. If you’ve got neurotypical people that can focus all the time and you’ve constantly got this neurological condition that makes everything harder, it can mean that you just, I suppose, have less work prospects, you have less study, you’re less successful all around, when really you could keep up academically, but it’s the executive function that wears you down.

I like to talk about it as if you have ADHD, you might be driving around like a manual car. Every movement is, I suppose, you have to think through, you have to concentrate and then a lot of other people, the neurotypicals are just driving around on automatic. They are not fazed by all the little things and they’re also not tired when they arrive.

Whereas if you’re driving a manual car, you feel exhausted, your arm’s hurting, it’s been a long time, you’re navigating the clutch, the automatic person just drives through, no worries, talks on the phone, maybe does their podcast, but you’re there like grinding through the gears every step of the way. That’s how I feel like ADHD is if you’re driving a manual car, now you’re in an automatic and you can just do things easier.

When we’re talking about people without ADHD taking ADHD medication, we’re really talking about serious health issues, addiction, heart problems, mental health challenges, like anxiety. I don’t understand why someone without ADHD would even want to take ADHD medication unless they just feel like it works. I mean, I don’t understand it because there is no research to show that it helps at all.

If you’re thinking to yourself, well, how do I even know if I’m being productive? Maybe I do have a neurotypical brain, maybe those side effects you mentioned, I have those, maybe I don’t even have it. Well, let’s just talk about how you know if your ADHD medication is working. It can be really difficult to tell. A lot of people will ring me and say that they thought they were going to get all this stuff done and I’ll go, oh, so what did you do? And they’ll go, oh, I just weeded the garden. I haven’t been able to do that for 10 years. And then I suddenly just like got it all done. Like the medication was working.

So sometimes people aren’t sure what to look for, but I always like to keep a diary, keep some notes in your phone. And then you may look back and go, wow, I actually achieved a lot. A lot of the time, sometimes people say as well as the medication stopped working. And that sometimes happens when you forget what it was like before. So nothing’s perfect. You’re not going to be the superhero of every admin tile.

So if you’re thinking, oh, a few things are still slipping through, I’m still making mistakes, whatever, that still happens. So it can be less obvious as time goes on because you kind of forget where you were before. These following are signs for me that the medication would be effective. When I talk to people, these are the things that I kind of list and they go, oh, it worked or it didn’t.

You may notice that you can finish small or boring tasks. You might find waking up and leaving the house on time much more easy, or you might find that you’re not late as often. You may be able to more easily recall details of conversations. You might have a better working memory. You might remember details of meetings or work emails easier.

You may be able to think about things that you’ve learnt and recall them quicker. You also can find yourself finishing small tasks like cleaning up after yourself without even really thinking about it. You may walk back and be like, every morning, the kitchen seems to be really clean. I just didn’t really think about it. I just cleaned it up as I went.

A lot of neurotypical people don’t really think about cleaning up or doing things. They naturally have a clean house because they just do it as they go. Whereas I kind of delay, think about it, procrastinate, and then it builds up. Then I have to think about it more. Then I have to schedule the time. Then I still dread it. Then eventually, I clean up. By that time, it’s pretty messy.

Have a think about how much easier it is. For me, a really simple thing was I can remember to make my bed in the morning. I hadn’t made my bed in like, I don’t think I’d ever made my bed. My mum had stood over me a few times and told me to make it. But now in the mornings, I just kind of like get up and I just kind of pull the covers up and go, oh, I just made the bed.

It doesn’t occur to me now. I kind of just autopilot it. But that’s not a natural thing. That’s a medicated Jane thing to do. You may find that you can finish study assignments. You may be avoiding distractions like social media. You may not be watching TV while you’re working anymore because you have enough dopamine.

Some people that don’t work when they’re taking a stimulant, let’s say they do mum life, they do a weekend, they will generally, if they have ADHD, say they feel calmer. They will want to get more done. They will feel a little bit more relaxed. They are able to sit down, have a cup of tea, play a game with their child, possibly. They’re able to think about planning a time to their tax return.

So some of these things aren’t really obvious. And when you have imposter syndrome and you’re maybe looking for ways that it’s not helping you or you’re expecting it to be as magical cure within the first dexamphetamine dose, you knock off your entire to-do list. Let’s just be realistic about what it would be.

I always love to use a medication chart. I like to just jot out a few things about what I did get done when I’m taking a new medication. I really like the Apple Watch too, where it tracks how you’re feeling. So you may find that if you reflect back, you have more good days when you’re taking ADHD medication than bad. And if you start to track that more regularly, you might go, oh, I don’t feel that much better. But then when you reflect back on the tracking, you may go, oh, actually, I said that I had a really bad day twice that month, whereas before it was 12 times.

And again, even those little executive function tasks like tracking your mood can be just overwhelming to do if you weren’t medicated. It was for me. But now I can track my mood. I can track my period. I can track my school stuff. And it makes it more manageable because I’ve got more executive function to figure things out.

Whereas before, I wouldn’t have been able to even manage a medication chart. I might have thought about it, started one, stopped, lost it, started a new one, broke that, lost that, couldn’t find this, and it would all be chaos. So when you’re thinking about taking ADHD medication, if you have ADHD and you’ve got a script, you should absolutely take it because you don’t get scripts easily. That means you have ADHD.

So if you’re still going, I don’t know if I have this, I’ve got this script and this diagnosis, I don’t know if I should take this, double it. Yes, you should try it. Yes, you should track it. And just know every experience is valid and don’t get caught up in ADHD medication works for everybody. Of course, you’re noticing something, people take it to study and you’re just lazy and you need to try harder.

None of that is true. People that don’t have ADHD should not take ADHD medication. If they think it works for them, they are wrong. The research shows us that it doesn’t. So the reason it’s there is to help your brain work well, track it, and then take everything back to your practitioner and let them know how you’ve gone.

I hope this episode was really helpful for you. Check out my medication guide online in my shop if you want more information. I’ve gone through frequently asked questions and all of the different medications, all the things that I see people struggle with, the simple questions that people don’t get answered by the psychiatrist or the pediatrician and they have to go back and spend $600 to get that information. Or people ask the question online on a Facebook group and they get the wrong information and then they change a medication without properly knowing all of the information and checking with the practitioner.

So it’s all about being safe and just remember that if you have the medication, you should take it, give it a try and track it. Thank you so much for listening. The key message here is you are not alone.

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