Take the ADHD Medicine: Unpopular Opinions #288

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What if I don’t feel like myself? What if it makes things worse? What if I make the wrong choice for my kid?

If you’ve been afraid to try ADHD medication, I get it. The unknown is scary, and the horror stories don’t help.

The next bold, unfiltered opinion of mine is this: Take the ADHD medicine. Talk to your doctor, ask your questions, and give yourself permission to explore a tool that could help.

In this episode, I share my own experience finding the generic medication that works best for me, why one disappointing experience doesn’t mean every option will be a poor fit, and why I’d rather explore support before life becomes a dumpster fire.

Medicine isn’t a magic fairy wand that takes your ADHD away. It is one great tool available to you. Finding a good fit can be frustrating. But fear doesn’t have to make the decision for you.

Need help explaining your experiences to your doctor? My free ADHD symptoms checklist can help you put real-life examples into words. You can also find my book and preorder information at patriciasung.com/book.

Come listen, mama. You deserve support and room to ask questions while you figure out what works for you and your family.

Patricia Sung [00:00:02]:

Are you overwhelmed by motherhood and barely keeping your head above water? Are you confused and frustrated by how all the other moms make it look so easy? You can't figure out how to manage the chaos in your mind, your home, or your family. I get you, Mama. Parenting with ADHD is hard. Here is your permission slip to let go of the Pinterest-worthy visions of organization and structure fit For everyone else. Let's do life like our brains do life: creatively, lovingly, and with all our might. When we embrace who we are and how our brains work, we can figure out how to live our lives successfully and, in turn, lead our families well. At the end of the day, we just want to be good moms. But spoiler alert, you are already a great mom.

Patricia Sung [00:00:52]:

ADHD does not mean you're doomed to be a hot mess mama. You can rewrite your story from shame spiral to success story, and I'll be right here beside you to cheer you on. Welcome to Motherhood in ADHD. It is time to pre-order your copy of Motherhood in ADHD, the book. I am finished with the book. It is turned in, it is getting printed, and it comes out in February. So fill in the pre-order form on my website, patriciasung.com/book. I cannot wait.

Patricia Sung [00:01:27]:

I'm so excited for you to have this book in your hands. But for now, tell your friends, go preorder your book. Okay, go team! Hey there, Successful Mama. It's your friend Patricia Sung. I am trying something new for the next couple episodes here, and I'm hoping that it'll become a regular appearance, but I am sharing my bold and unfiltered unpopular opinions on certain topics. Which as a recovering people pleaser and a perfectionist and all, you know, just training myself to keep my opinions to myself for most of my life is quite the step outside my normal. But this is something that I'm really working on for myself this year is speaking truth and speaking boldly. And I feel like I did that really well with the book because there was nobody there to argue with me.

Patricia Sung [00:02:13]:

And so I'm putting myself out there and speaking boldly and practicing that here with you. And so this should be interesting. And keep in mind, you don't have to agree with everything I say. As I always tell my kids, if everybody in the world was the same, it'd be really boring. So it's okay if you don't agree with me, and I'm still going to practice speaking boldly my opinions. So let's jump in and see how it goes. My unpopular opinion for this week is take the ADHD medicine. Take the medicine.

Patricia Sung [00:02:43]:

There are so many people who ask me like, when should I medicate? How should I medicate? What about— I don't know about— and most of this comes down to being afraid. You don't know what's going to happen and you're afraid that something terrible is going to happen. Well, you know what? Sometimes terrible things happen, but most of the time the worst case scenario is not the actual result. So take the ADHD medicine, whether it's for you, whether it's for your kid, try it out. You can always stop taking the medicine. Now I have a whole series on medicine that I will link in the show notes, but like the bottom line is medicine is a tool and you could use all the tools you can get, but it's not a magic fairy wand. It doesn't take your ADHD away, but it is another tool that you have available for you. But you can change your mind anytime.

Patricia Sung [00:03:25]:

If you realize that this medicine is not a good fit, stop taking it. Talk to your doctor, pick a different one. There are so many horror stories that people are like, well, I took this medicine and I didn't feel like myself. And I'm like, friend, then that was not the right medicine for you. And yes, there are some people that medicine's never going to work for. But especially now, like, there's so many choices. There's literally like 30-some medicines that you can take for ADHD. Stimulants are usually out of your system within a few hours, maybe 24 hours max.

Patricia Sung [00:03:54]:

Like, this is not a decision forever. Just try it. If that one doesn't work, try a different one. Even like when it comes down to like, there's like 30 different kinds of medicines, but like even the generics for a particular medicine act differently. Like when I get my Concerta, I take the generic, but I request a specific manufacturer because that one works the best. And I've tried probably 3 or 4 generics from different companies. This one's my favorite. It works best for me.

Patricia Sung [00:04:22]:

I don't want the other generics, even though they're literally the same medicine, same generic, just from a different maker. It doesn't feel the same. You have a bazillion different choices here. Maybe not that many, but like maybe like at least 100 different choices. And I know it's a pain in the butt to have to find the right one, Cinderella with the shoe. I get it. But just because 1 or 2 or 3 didn't work doesn't mean that medicine is not a good tool for you. Yes, it is hard to keep trying.

Patricia Sung [00:04:46]:

It is frustrating. There's gonna be some that make you feel weird or make your kid feel weird, but this is a tool that can be extremely helpful. And if you go through and you're like, this did not work out, okay, great, but now you know that. You're not leaving a really great tool behind. You can be like, that tool's not for me. Are you curious if you have ADHD? Like you're still just not quite sure, is this me or not? Maybe you're getting ready for your diagnosis appointment, or maybe you wanna bring it up with your GP, but you're not Quite sure how to talk about it. I've put together a checklist of symptoms that's not your average boring list of symptoms. It's the Patricia take on, from what I've seen of working with thousands of women, ways that I see these symptoms actually showing up in real life.

Patricia Sung [00:05:31]:

I put it all together in a downloadable checklist, and I want you to go get it. Download the checklist, go through and check off, here are the things that show up in my life, and there's space in there for you to write in where you see these things showing up in your life. And then you can take that list. To your doctor's appointment and show them, like, when I say I'm being forgetful, here's what I mean. When you ask me, like, are you hyperactive? This is how hyperactivity shows up in my life, in my brain. So that you have concrete examples and you don't freeze up when it comes time to talk about it. You have your preparation there and you feel confident and capable in talking about you because you know yourself best. So head over to my website And you can download the free checklist at patriciasung.com/adhd-symptoms, and that'll go right to your email, and you can take that with you and be prepared for that tough conversation.

Patricia Sung [00:06:26]:

Again, that's patriciasung.com/adhd-symptoms. But try the medicine. It's not a forever decision. You know, you can try it out and figure out the one you like the best. So far. I mean, obviously, like I said, there's so many different choices out there and it depends on what your insurance is going to cover. And sometimes the cash pay is actually not that bad. Sometimes it's ridiculous.

Patricia Sung [00:06:49]:

So ask the questions. And I know, more effort. I know, I know. But figure out if there's a tool there that works for you and then you don't have to take it forever. Now, caveat here. I always tell people like ADHD does not go on vacation. ADHD does not take weekends off. If you're gonna take the medicine and it's a good fit, just take the medicine.

Patricia Sung [00:07:07]:

But if you realize there's some point where you're like, I don't want to take this anymore, fine, don't take it. But don't leave the tool sitting there because you're afraid of it. One of the things that is so hard, like for example, your kid's really struggling and then you're trying to put out the dumpster fire and figure out all this stuff and it's like, and now you're trying the medicine or thing and like things are hard. Why are you gonna do it when it's real hard? Figure it out when it's not hard. Like, I equate this to like right now my 6th grader, I'm trying to teach him how to use a planner. But you know what? It's the beginning of 6th grade and there's not that much stuff going on. He can keep track of it all in his head and he's like, why do I need a planner? I'm just gonna remember the stuff. And I get it.

Patricia Sung [00:07:44]:

You can keep track of all of the stuff right now because there's not much going on. But that's why we're learning the skill when it's easy. We're not going to try to learn the skill junior year when you've got whatever number of AP classes and you're trying to juggle this and that. And no, we're gonna learn the skill now when it's easy. We're gonna figure out what medicine Works when it's not a doo-doo show, and then you can decide when and how you're going to use the medicine later. But at least you know which medicine works before you're in the dumpster fire trying to figure out which medicine works. Just try the medicine. You can always change your mind, but talk to your doctor.

Patricia Sung [00:08:20]:

Ask questions. I know it's hard to trial and error. I know it's frustrating to watch your kids struggle or have yourself struggle. I get it. And for most people that I've seen, the medicine is really helpful. And most people don't talk about the medicine when it's going well because it's going well. Like, the medicine's doing its job, you don't really talk about it because you're like, great, everything's fine. You hear all the horror stories because they're talking about it when things go wrong.

Patricia Sung [00:08:46]:

That's when people complain about things. Please just try it, and you can always change your mind later. You can figure out how to use this tool best for you or your child. But don't leave a really great tool on the table because you're scared. Ask questions, figure it out, and give yourself and your child the best tool options that you can. You deserve that. I'll talk to you soon, Successful Mama. For more resources, classes, and community, head over to my website, motherhoodinadhd.com.

Podcast EpisodePatricia SungADHD Medication, ADHD Treatment