Are you curious about how ADHD medication might work for you? Maybe you’ve already tried it? Or you’re happy with your prescription and it’s changed your life for the better? I’d love to hear from you.
My journey with ADHD medication (and ADHD and AuDHD) is still very much unfolding but here’s Part 2 of my evolving journey and some of the ways in which I’ve been using self-care practices as medication on days I can’t take it.
Both AND.
If you can take it daily, brilliant. If you’re not taking it at all, brilliant. We’re all different and this is purely my experience now (likely different to if I’d tried it decades ago).
I hope you’ll find it helpful and connect with (if you haven’t already) others to learn from their experiences too.
le grá (with love),
Eve
CHAPTERS
0:00 Considering ADHD medication and sharing personal experience
0:30 Podcast introduction and Eve’s background
4:47 Why it was time for an ADHD medication update
5:28 Starting medication and adjusting the dosage
6:05 Side effects and why I don’t take it every day
7:20 What medication changed about my daily life
8:59 Using the Feel. Love. Heal. framework
9:11 Movement, exercise and regulating ADHD symptoms
12:45 Accepting medication and letting go of shame
14:01 Community, neurodivergence and shared experiences
15:37 Reflecting on whether medication is right for you
17:01 Reflection and closing thoughts
LINKS
Will ADHD Medication Work for Me?
HASHTAGS
#adhdmedication
#adhdsupport
#selfcareforadhd
FULL TRANSCRIPT
Are you curious about whether ADHD medication might work for you? I’m not a pharmacist, I’m not a psychiatrist, but I shared my initial eight days diary of medication last year (Episode 69: Will ADHD Medication Work for Me?), and there’ll be a link to that episode in the show notes, and that was the very early days, and I realised that it was probably due an update.
If you’re a trauma survivor and AuDHDer like me, or you simply find self-care more of a “should” than a joy, this podcast is for you.
I’m Eve Menezes Cunningham, a trauma therapist, AuDHD and self-care coach, senior accredited supervisor, columnist and author of 365 Ways to Feel Better: Self-Care Ideas for Embodied Wellbeing.
Each Tuesday I share a mix of solo episodes and conversations with other self-care professionals. From other therapists, coaches, yoga teachers and authors to neuroscientists and medical professionals, many of them neurodivergent themselves and all honest enough to share the gap between their own ideal and their ACTUAL self-care.
Find Soles to Soul Care for Trauma and AuDHD with Eve Menezes Cunningham every Tuesday on Spotify, Apple, YouTube, Substack, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Learn to love and care for all your parts, from the soles of your feet to your soul.
And for bonus content, polyvagal-informed journal prompts and more, sign up for my free newsletter, Míle Buíochas Mondays, at solestosoul.ie
Are you curious about whether ADHD medication might work for you?
I’m not a pharmacist, I’m not a psychiatrist, but I shared my initial eight days diary of medication last year, and there’ll be a link to that episode in the show notes, and that was the very early days, and I realised that it was probably due an update, because I’m recording this in February 2026, so it’s been a good while, and my relationship to medication has changed.
I was put on Tyvense, it’s a stimulant medication, aka Vyvanse, and initially I felt like I was cheating at life, it felt amazing, and it was, it still is, but especially at that time, there was an enormous amount of stress behind the scenes that I had no control over, so I wasn’t put up to the full dose, because I didn’t want to go up.
And I actually then, with side effects, went back down to a lower dose, so my current dose is 30mg, and I don’t take it every day, because as much as I love it, it doesn’t agree with me, so it agrees with me in the ways in which it really helps, but it doesn’t agree in terms of, I’ve developed skin conditions, it impacted my digestion, and I had worse hot flushes than I’d had when I was perimenopausal and so there were other things as well, a lot of dry mouth, but I think it was really the skin conditions that really scared me a bit and I was lucky I didn’t have heart issues around it, because that had been a delay initially with beginning it, because an abnormality had shown up, but I was told that was fine after having additional tests.
And my journey is going to be different to yours or anyone else’s, but my hope is that by me sharing some of what has helped me and what continues to help me, it will give you ideas, and also the more we all share, the more we learn from each other, it’s really reassuring to hear other people’s experiences.
And I miss it, like I now take it once or twice a week and I arrange my workload around it where possible, because it is amazing being able to focus and concentrate and not be kind of having to double check a four-digit number several times in order to type it in.
Today I didn’t take it, and I don’t know if you can see, I managed to kind of bruise myself taking a top off in yoga, one of my layers, I tripped over a sofa on my way to the swimming pool, I went back out to the car because I wasn’t sure if I’d locked it or not, before that I had to take a swimsuit out of my emergency swim kit, because I had packed up my fins, my goggles, my snorkel, my swim hat, my toiletries, my towel and not a swimsuit, so luckily I had a spare.
But this used to be me every day, like returning to the house several times, had I locked it, what had I forgotten, going back, the whole like chaos, and just thinking that was life.
And then when I got to try the medication it was like, oh my god, this is amazing, I get to leave the house and go! So I do find the contrast, especially the day after one of my days ON the medication. But at the same time I have compassion for myself and I know that there are things I can do to help.
Moving into the Feel part of the Feel. Love. Heal. framework, so the Feel part is the regulatory, the self-care, the things we can actually do when we have the bandwidth to help us feel better. For me, swimming is huge, and since learning that balance is really helpful for the cerebellum in terms of treating ADHD symptoms, I do even more underwater handstands and I walk on my hands, I don’t know what it looks like from above, but in my imagination it’s very Simone Biles, very elegant, it’s probably not, but just feeling, walking, I pretend to be an underwater dinosaur, it makes me very happy.
And I realise that I’m working with my brain, I’m going to four yoga classes a week most weeks, I’m swimming in the pool three times a week most weeks, time in the steam room to completely relax, still doing my practically almost every day yoga nidra, I facilitated one of my Westport Lunar Circles last night (at time of recording) and created a lovely yoga nidra for the group there.
I just adore yoga nidra because it helps with dopamine, it helps with deep rest and relaxation, it gives our wandering brain something to focus on, to dip in and out of, the balancing poses in yoga can be really helpful, the following the instructions, the listening to someone else, and taking that moment, any kind of exercise, really, really wonderful for us.
I’m not cycling as much as I’d like to be, the weather, unfortunately, since I learned to drive, I’m less keen to get out on my bike in the rain, and I’m not walking as much as I was. I am, but not up and down the lane as much, which I miss and I will get back to, but it’s a real privilege being able to attend so many yoga classes and swim a lot, so think about movement that works for you, think about movement that helps you.
I really see it as insurance, I see it as medicine, both for my mental health, for my brain, for the ADHD traits, for my mood and also for my joints, for my muscles. So many neurodivergent people have chronic pain conditions, also with trauma and inflammation, the body attacks itself so much, like going on, I want to do what I can to heal as much as possible.
And I also want, when I tell people in my imagination 97 is going to be my peak, I am joking, I know that there are things that I can do to make 97 hopefully as healthy and fun as possible and I want to do them, it’s not just enjoyable now, but thinking about my future, wanting to be independent, wanting to enjoy life for as long as possible, think about what makes you feel good, think about the kind of movement, the kind of exercise, the kind of activities, the kind of behaviours, the things that are easy to do and the things that take more effort.
I used to have to cycle a few miles to get to the pool but I knew that it made me feel better and it was worth doing, the cycling feels good as well, you might have something in your home that you can do quite easily, you might have things where you don’t have the energy to do the bigger things, you can do something that moves you in that direction, just get to know yourself, get to know what works.
Moving to the Love part, I’m accepting it, I’m accepting how lucky I was to be able to try the medication, I’m lucky to still be able to take it once, maybe twice a week and I’m lucky that I thankfully don’t need it when I’m hyper-focused on some writing or in sessions, it’s all the admin-y type stuff around it that it’s really helpful for. And kind of lifing, so it’s accepting my brain as it is, rather than arguing with reality, accepting the side effects rather than wishing things were different and reminding myself that even though there’s still that part of me that feels like I’m cheating on the days I take it, I would not be taking my glasses away or anyone else’s glasses away, telling them that they were cheating, trying to navigate life, being able to see better, anything that can help us, it’s prescribed. Why deny yourself something that might make a positive difference? You get to know yourself, you get to discern for yourself whether it’s working or not.
And the Heal part is that community again, the co-regulation, the collective care, and the connecting with others in the neurodivergence community, it’s been so healing for me. There are so many groups I’m a part of and most of my connections are online, but also being able to talk to in real life friends and community and so many of us are learning at much later stages in our lives, but I think even if I were only finding this out in my late 90s, I’d still want to know, because the better we know ourselves, the more we can set up our lives to support ourselves and each other better.
Notice the communities that feel welcoming, noticing the people that you can be yourself with, who you like, trust, who you feel comfortable, who you feel safe, welcome and loved with and notice ways in which you can be that for others as well.
Not at your expense, like you don’t want to be overly considerate of others, contorting yourself, making others needs more important than your own, but it can feel wonderful to help when it’s coming from that wholehearted place and when that help is wanted. Unsolicited advice is always criticism, I love that expression, so whether you’re taking medication, or you’re thinking about medication, or you’re thinking about having a formal diagnosis, because you would like to try the medication, because you’re struggling, let me know, let me know how it’s going for you and think for yourself, like give yourself a review right now.
You don’t have to wait till your next psychiatry appointment to just check in with yourself, how is your medication working for you? If you had a magic wand, what would be different? what would be better, what do you love? Let me know, email eve@solestosoul.ie, or let me know in the comments and I hope that you found this episode helpful, really looking forward to sharing that with you and I hope you have a gorgeous week, thank you for listening.
As you think about this episode, I want you to imagine scanning your whole body, your whole energy field from the soles of your feet to your souls. Notice what has come up for you as you’ve listened and as you think about it now.
How might you show yourself some extra love, some extra care today, this week?
Make some notes, doodle, whatever feels good. And if it feels comfortable and you want to, email eve@solestosoul.ie or comment in any of the comment areas. Feel free to subscribe, rate, review, all the things. And thank you for listening. I’m your host and producer, Eve Menezes Cunningham. Find full links in the show notes and full transcript and let me know if you have any questions. Really looking forward to joining you again next week. Have a brilliant week.