From an 8 to a 1

If you have ADHD, I highly recommend checking out a drug called Guanfacine.

It's not a primary treatment, but something that you add on.

Vyvanse was a revelation for me. It gave me incredible focus and flow states, but it also revved up my anxiety in the evenings and sometimes made it difficult to sleep.

For the past six months or so, I've added Guanfacine XR (brand name Intuiniv) at night and my anxiety is almost non-existent (day or night).

It has given me this crazy, persistent zen-like calm that I've never felt. (I assume this is how people who don't have ADHD feel?)

My anxiety before I started an SSRI was an 8/10.

The SSRI (Vortioxetine) took it to 4/10.

Guanfacine has dropped it to 1/10.

No matter what is going on in my life right now, I don't feel particularly anxious.

Yes, I get stressed, but I don't have anxious looping thoughts, sweaty palms, and all the typical symptoms I used to have 24/7.

I can't identify any other reason why my anxiety would be this low other than that it perfectly lines up with adding this drug.

Not medical advice! Ask your doctor about it and do your own research. I also highly recommend this HubermanLab episode with Dr. John Kruse. It's by far the best deep dive on treating ADHD and it inspired me to investigate Guanfacine.

Note: The Guanfacine doses for ADHD are much higher than dosing for other conditions, so make sure your doctor gives you the right prescription based on your body weight and also make sure you slowly increase your dose. I started at 1mg and increased by 1mg every 1-2 weeks until I reached my target dose and experienced zero side effects. ChatGPT helped me identify the correct dose.

Originally published in the Divorce is awesome... issue of Never Enough.