Shooting strattera | | Broke 2 promises to myself and a promise to my best mate and still racked with guilt about it all, any advice would be amazing to help me get thru a really difficult time that I’m going thru.

Hi there, I’m reaching out for advice, so when I was in boarding school/private school when I was a teen I had a best friend at the ages of 13-14 years old, ended up going on a first date, had everything in common from hobbies and interests, music taste and clothes we wore. When we went on our first date I dared him to ride the farmers cow and he was shot dead in my arms. I cried and reality struck. The farmer had every right to shoot him with the shotgun as it was classed as messing with his cattle and produce onprivate land. I couldnt forgive myself, was in care since the age of 2 years old so had a massive emotional attachment disorder. I promised myself id never make another best friend again as I blamed myself for that. Fast forward 5-6 years, i made a new best friend, first promise broken. April, May and June are really bad months for my mental health due to some past trauma which feels entirely my fault, (just so no one gets confused me and my best friend (Matthew) are gay, we were used to seeing all our best mates in abusive relationship’s as we were all 19, 20, 21 and 28 and the guy we were visiting was about 50ish. so the guy who we were visiting just so theres no confusion, so what happened was me and my best friend went to one of our mates flats, he warned us about his toxic ex and made a promise that we would stay away from this guy, ngl I was a very sexually active lad, so I broke the promise & met this abusive ex of his… I slept with his ex when he wanted a relationship with me but he and I wanted to have sex first to text our sexual chemistry and i didnt feel like a relationship was a good option, but at the end of the sex he asked me about matthew (my best friend and admitted that he meant the world to me.
Matthew realised I broke the promise and wanted to be honest to him, so he asked me to introduce him to this abusive ex of our mate (Mark, our mate.) so I did despite thinking it was just a really bad idea, but overlooked it as I felt really bad for breaking the promise…
The abusive ex (Shane) got matt into a realtionship with him, at first I was happy for him and told matt that if he ever needs to talk or if anything happens plz talk to me and that id always be here for him. He didnt talk to me about being beaten senseless. I was being housed in doss houses by the city council and I got on the drugs really badly to deal with the guilt. The abuse was getting really bad & I ended up getting on almost every drug that is around including heroin, crack, weed, Pingerz, mandy, coke, weed, spice, Ketamin, Mandy, fags, vapesincluding thc oil, Acid paper sheets, Lean, Mushrooms, got really bad on them, I have Autism, ADHD, Anxiety, Depression, borderline Personality disorder, tourettes but not very noticable, global development delay, Trauma based PTSD, Trauma bad Psychosis, emotional attachment disorder etc.
My mental health got really bad and started self medicating with my own medication by breaking into the safe where my medication was and just downing the bottle of atomoxatine taking the pack of aripiprazole and strattera capsules like smarties cuz I thought they didnt work cuz the GP Wouldn’t change my medz i got bad with my mental health.
So When things got really bad and Shane was beating Matthew senseless black & blue and he convinced matthew that we wasnt good friends and described me as fools gold to him thinking I Couldn’t hear when I did, 3 years have passed and I’m now 25, but I’m still racked with guilt. I ended up choosing drugs over my best friend cuz I was nothing to do with shane and he knew that I wanted nothing to do with shane after running out of shane flat crying after he threatened me with a bottle in the corner of his room. Since then I made another promise to myself to never make another best friend and ive stuck to it like glue. I’m now 25 and my only friends in person that I see in person are my xbox one x, my projector, surround sound, Nintendo Wii, my iPhone/Samsung Galaxy & smartwatch which pairs with them.
I feel super lonely and don’t know how to socialise with people-due to shutting myself away in my room as much as physically possible. I don’t want to break another promise that I made to myself as I don’t wanna get another best friend due to worries about potential past trauma and history repeating itself in similar ways wether I might see it coming or not.
Any advice would be great to help me thru what I’m going thru as I often cry myself to sleep with often no sleep at all. I have a thinking place I always go to that no one goes by mount edgecombe and use it to get my thoughts and mental health better where I used to have a street dance crew as I was their leader but all split apart after I lost my first best friend.
I’m thankful that I’m not addicted to drugs and that I can brave it out to act happy and okay when I’m dying inside…
I still do drugs and drink malibu, vodka and captain morgans spiced goldas a coping mechanism but ngl I’m super lucky. By pure chance that I’m not addicted as I started crack at the age of 12 years old along with weed when i lived in a boarding school which was basicly a trap house for naughty/drugged up kids/teens.
Some of it I blame social services for cuz they put me in places like this but mostly myself.

I’m stuck between joining the army and marines. I am primarily interested in the combat engineer MOS. Both army and marines have the same type of job. The main reason army stands out is my recruiter says I can pick my job in office and not have to pick a general and then wish list with marines. Is this true and is there anything else I should know.
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I’ve selected an MOS, 25S. I’m 21 years old. I’m married with a kid and one on the way. Has anyone joined around my age and can tell me if they are treated differently? I leave on the 1st of April. I’m excited to begin a new career with the Army. I’m hoping I can do a minimum of 10 years. But I am aiming for 20 so I can get my full pension. I’ve always wanted to be a soldier as a career. If there’s someone here who enlisted with similar situation as mine, I’d love to talk!
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Hey all, i have a few charges as a juvenile. Robbery(not armed but i have 2) marijuana charges, paraphernalia charges, evading charges. I have a little book, but its all “off my record”. I couldn’t access any of it, but somehow my recruiter did.
I was transparent with them and told them what ive done as a juvenile. I havent had any charges since i was 16, im now 19. Im kinda worried about possible disqualification as my recruiter told me i should renew my lease (which ends April 29th). I was hoping to leave by may, but they are saying its gonna take alot longer than they thought.
She also mentioned it is possible i could be ineligible. Im looking for advice on how to get through this/if its possible to get through it. I have talked to another recruiter in another branch and they said it would be no problem getting me in and possibly even quick ship. I would just need waivers, possible written waivers from others saying ive changed (which is i definitely have). If that is the case, why couldn’t my recruiter do that?
I learned my lesson, i just wish it would have been sooner. Would these things make it harder to get in/ is my recruiter taking the long route?
Any advice/ personal experiences is appreciated. Would it be different if i went to another recruiter? The army is my choice of branch. At the end of the day though, id talk to others if necessary.
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Graduating uni soon. Split between enlisting or becoming an officer. What are the benefits and drawbacks of these paths? I actually would like to pursue a career in military intelligence and was wondering how to do this. Thanks everyone.
Better pay and benefits would be nice but it is not the main priority.
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I'm male 16, and live in the rural Midwest. I'm almost an Eagle Scout and want to go to college before joining the US Army NG. Is there a way I could do this and get a criminal justice degree and go into the national guard as like a Specialist? And since I'm kinda fat but strong, how would I go about loosing weight for what the army is looking for specifically?
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Used TRT for 1.5 before joining the ARMY got off of it to join, finished basic, now in BOLC.
Once I hit the real active-duty army can I use it?
Does the script have to come from a military doctor, or can it come from a clinic? I used a Men's clinic prior and my insurance paid for it.
Will this affect my ability to deploy or kill my career as a new 2nd LT? 1-2 self-injections and 3 times a week pill.
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Hey, I am looking to enlist in the army but I’m having trouble understanding when you get your contract is it before or after basic training, for context I want to go airborne infantry and be in the 82nd Airborne division
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Hey, what is the minimum time to be off meds and out of treatment for Bipolar to be waiverable? I’ve seen 24 months, 36 months, or never. Can anyone give me a clear answer?
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So I took the Picat today and I’ve studied my ass of, took my precious time and I am not happy with my score, But like any other tests I didn’t knew what to expect. Tomorrow I take verification, am I stuck with this score?
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Any recruiter ever hear of a cataract waiver getting approved?
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12B or 11B?
I began the process of enlisting not to long ago with the intention of going 12B, but reading about the restructuring has got me worried.
My main goal for the Army is to just do hooah shit with hooah friends 3 and out. I would really like to go to Ranger school, Sapper school, and Air Assault during my time. What is the possibility of me getting fucked spending 3 years pounding pickets and laying c-wire as a 12B instead of actually doing some fun shit?
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Any 25 series in Hohenfels, Germany? Just got orders.
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09M program question, I wanna do 5 years in the Army and that’s it. What’s the length amount of years I can serve when going for 09M. Active duty. Ive read a post someone has to do 6 years for their contract 09M cause it’s a must. I hope that’s not true.
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So I reenlisted about a month ago. At the time we didn’t have a clear cut answer about what was happening with him medically. Last week we finally got a concrete answer on his medical issue. (still waiting to get it added on paper) So we need to enroll him into EFMP bc he requires a very specific kind of specialist to receive the problem treatment and care. My question is, how can I go about getting my orders canceled so I can stabilize while we get his diagnosis on paper and still have time to enroll him in EFMP?
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I want to become a 17C
I haven't seen any recent post about someone taking the ICTL and I wanted to know if anyone can give me any insight on what I should study to be able to pass.
I also want to know if it's a good MOS or if I should choose another one better suited.
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I’m 17 and want to be an army ranger and have been committed to this since I was very little. Now that I’m going to be an adult in a year so I wanted to ask what would be the best route for me to take. Should I ask for an option 40 contract or should I ask to try it out later on in my service?
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Does anyone stationed at Humphreys know the number for the Flight Desk? Or have any contact info for the aviation medical staff? I called Brian Allgood Hospital and they didn't even have the number or form of contact. I'm in Area 4
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. Seeking help.
Hey guys, I know what I’m about to say, is probably a stretch, most likely the biggest stretch I’ve ever taken. I was wondering if there’s anybody in here who knows or works in the department that processes waivers. I’m trying to see if someone can look into my waiver for me and just tell me the status of it I’m not asking for anyone mess with it or do anything illegal. I’m sure I’ll be fine given that my charges were dismissed and I never paid any fines or was subjected to any kind of probation. If I’m being completely honest my recruiter, let me on to believe that I would have been gone way before this time, and because of that, I left my job. around that time he was talking about having me in meps within the next week or so. so I started getting my affairs in order and getting ready to leave now so I started getting my affairs in order and getting ready to leave. now I’m at a point where my savings are quickly depleting in my recruiter isn’t giving me very much information on how this process works or how long I have to wait. So if there’s anyone out there could just give me a status on my waiver or at least tell me how much longer I have to wait, I’d greatly appreciate it. Like I said, this is probably a stretch but at this point I’m getting desperate.
Thanks guys.
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I’m thinking about to join the army, i’m 33… I just moved to the states with my husband(I’m not American) my husband was in the army for a long time. For some reason I can’t get a job here because they don’t accept my degrees from my home country, I feel uncomfortable in our new home, the state we live in kinda sucks because without money you’re worthless I feel like. I’m so frustrated and have no motivation to start a new job or career and go back to school. I don’t have kids and it doesn’t look like that it’s ever happening so Anyone out there who joined at this age? Any do’s and don’t s are really appreciated.
Thanks guys
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What’s it like when you arrive to AIT? Do they just take you out of your car with all your bag as and throw you on the ground? I don’t know what to expect.
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would it be dumb to go 42a even though there’s a lot of jobs being cut? i don’t really understand all of that stuff going on, i just know that some 42a’s are being forced to reclass. my recruiter knows that’s the job i want but he hasn’t mentioned the job cut thing so i’m not sure if that’s something i should be worried about or not lol.
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Having trouble deciding between 35N and 17E. I'm looking to go out to the field more, and it seems like 35Ns only do that if they get lucky and are stationed with Group/SFAB/SMU/whatever. Then again we're in peacetime so maybe 35Ns have a more interesting life and actually get to do their jobs at the moment. Also, how much math is involved in each? Despite scoring >90 on the ASVAB I'm really not that great at math.
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I'm hoping to enlist as a 17C in a few years. Is it possible for me to request to have airborne in my contract? I definitely want to go to jump school, and I'd prefer to be placed with an airborne unit.
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I talked to my recruiter about retaking the ASVAB and told me I will need to make a request form MEPS to retake the ASVAB. I have 6 years prior service in the Navy. I took the ASVAB in 2006 (almost 20 years ago). I've been working on my OCS packet as I have a bachelors in CS with work experience and never even thought twice that I wouldn't be able to retake something like the ASVAB would be an issue of any sort. I had a GT score of 99 and need 110 to finish the packet before April. Has this happened to anyone before and/or do requests to retake an ASVAB commonly get denied?
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so i will be married by the time i go to basic, but my partner and i still live with my parents. will i get paid BAH while i’m in basic? i don’t pay rent to them or anything, but i’ve heard that BAH goes off of zip code. not sure how it works
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I just found out that it’s only been a little less than a year and a half since my prescription for strattera (atomoxetine, a non stimulant ADHD medication) was filled. I’ve already texted my recruiter about it, but will I need a waiver or does this completely DQ me?
edit: never mind he said since it hasn’t been within 6 months I’m in the clear
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I'm a prior service Marine who was not an infantryman in the Marine Corps. I recently went to MEPS to enlist in the army for an 11X contract because my recruiter could not confirm whether or not I would receive any incentives like a bonus or a choice of duty station. I passed the MEPS physical no problem. The ROC told the career planner that prior service never have received choice of duty station and bonus's meanwhile another applicant I spoke to in the MEPS waiting area who was enlisting for the first time with the same MOS, he received a 16k bonus and choice of duty station. My recruiter said, "since you'll be an NCO at AIT just ask the instructors to work with you and to give you the duty station you want but there's still no guarantee." Can I realistically expect to get a duty station like Fort Campbell, Fort Liberty, or Fort Benning.
This seems so backwards.
I did sign the contract, but I feel like I got the shit end of the stick.
Does anyone have any thoughts, recommendations, or anything on what I can do? Maybe someone can explain and help me understand why prior service members don't deserve incentives?
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Hey folks, quick question.
Will the Army help my dependant and I move before basic training?
We are pretty poor rn and live in a motel. I am waiting for some nessesary documents before I can enlist.
Will I need to somehow secure housing for my dependant before I leave? Will I just need to leave her stranded until we qualify for BAH?
Any and all help is appreciated.
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so i’m getting shipped in 3 weeks as 09M program i was just trying to get insights on the program
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How has the end of the war affected the optempo for specifically jumping? Not that I suppose the war mattered for it, but maybe funding has been reallocated or something? I don't really know much about airborne as far as how often the training jumps are done, so I'm just generally curious. Just enough to stay current? Was that what was being done before? I'd imagine RR probably does the most as far as static line goes, whatever that looks like
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Could i get BAH if i pay my mom rent, also i already signed and honestly i was gonna help her with my checks but if i can get BAH it would help so much. Also is there any way i can get it even after i signed
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I’ve been in the guard for 5 years as an 11b and want to switch my mos and go active. Would it be possible to either pick my mos (I want 15T)or duty station? Thank you for your time
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got orders to WAT3A0 OPS CO, JBLM as a 35N. where am i going lol? what unit am i going to?
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Basically I’m single and I live by myself at my own apartment. Obviously I need somewhere to keep my stuff at. The recruiter said the military could freeze my rent under SCRA while I’m on active deployment? How realistic is that my rent could easily be frozen while I’m away?
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Hi, I am wondering if I would be able to join as a ranger with a DUI on my record. I’ve completed everything and paid off all fines relating to the DUI, this was over 2 years ago.
Also, does anyone have any real info on how my life would be as a Cav Scout? Give it to me straight sarge.
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Does anybody know if you can wear a wig to basic training?
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Is it difficult to get a spot in an armor crewman MOS? In other words, Is it common for that position to be filled with people? I’d like to be an m1 armor crewman specifically but I’d be ok with something else as well.
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Hello,
I am currently stuck in an MOS where points are consistently high or maxed. I have been an E5 since 2018. I saw my retention guy and can reclass to 25H or 17E. There are other options, but those are the only two paths I would take.
But with 25H AIT being 19 weeks, I can't take my family unless there is a waiver I don't know about. I submitted a reclass packet for 17C, and they told me I needed to have a stronger packet and get some certifications. Still, my mindset is, why would I get certifications to join this MOS when I can get a six-figure job outside the military? I am almost done with my bachelor's degree in Cybersecurity.
Any opinions between 25H and 17E?
Second, the only duty stations I have are Fort Polk and Hawaii. I know that the majority will tell me to go to Hawaii, but my son is about to join, too, so I want to attend his basic training graduation and all that stuff.
Lastly, I am done with these dumb rotations that last nine months or more for nonsense. Which units/duty stations (I know duty stations don't deploy the units in there do) don't deploy often?
In summary, I am looking for insight into those two reclass options and duty stations, which rotations/deployments are low.
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I'm interested in becoming a 68w and saw that through the ACASP program if you are NREMT certified you can skip the emt phase in AIT and go in as an E-4. This sounds good to me due to going in making better money, but the main reason I'm interested in 68w is for the line units and actual combat medic stuff, I know that once you become an E-6 you no longer do any of that stuff. I'm worried that if I were to go in as an E4 that I won't be able to do the line medic stuff and actual combat medic things for long and then have to do boring staff sergeant work. Should I just go in without becoming NREMT certified or do I have nothing to worry about and should become certified? And if I should become certified are there any special operations or groups that I can still do combat medic things even as an E6? And are there any cool opportunities that come with going in with NREMT that you wouldn't really get going in without?
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22 year old male who is recently married, looking to join the Army and possibly the future soldier program. I want to be a 68W and I got a 81 on my asvab with scores qualifying me for that job. I have friends who serve in different branches telling me I would do well in a controlled and structured military environment and I agree with them. My recruiter is just waiting on my health forms to come back before proceeding and I didn't lie to him or hide anything. All of it is written down.
Here is my main issue: I have a list of things that are disqualifying on my health record. ADHD, PTSD, Depression, pretty much all the no-go's. I have gotten them ALL amended recently (21 Feb 2024) due to the fact they no longer apply to me or ever applied my entire adult life. They are counted as resolved under my health records but are still disqualifying non the less. I know each waiver is considered on a case by case basis, and I know you guys can't give me a definitive answer as you're not the doctors who will be seeing me. I am mostly asking for your opinions on what you guys think my chances of receiving waivers for these things given it was all resolved over 7 years ago, and all medication relating to it was resolved 7 years ago.
Tiny background on my stuff: I grew up in the foster care system and was abused as a child, I worked through all my shit before I turned 18 years of age. I had some behavioral problems expected from a child dealing with horrible shit, but have never been arrested or hurt myself or others. I am also receiving character statements from my social worker, my high school principal and even one of the therapists at the time essentially explaining that none of that trauma affects me as a person at all in hopes I can submit it to someone. Do I get a chance to talk to someone and plea my case or is it more of an automatic system where I'll be filtered out on principal? Thanks for taking the time to read this.
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I want to join the us army it has been a dream of mine. But I do have a history of depression, I was rd when I was 5 all the way from 5 grade. And when I was in 7th grade I was so depressed that I had to be hospitalized that same year I was hospitalized one more time when I was in my freshman year I got rd again and had to be hospitalized after that day I haven't seen no therapist/counselor or taken medication I was doing really well I was focused on my school working met my husband and I haven't had no bad thoughts or anything. When me and my husband were pregnant and after I gave birth I had postpartum depression and got prescribed Zoloft ( Setraline) I stopped taking them around November of 2022 and after I conceived and gave birth to my second child I was fine and did not get diagnosed of anything. I'm now 20 year old female and I have been talking to my recruiter and taking my finger prints and about to take the asvab but I asked my recruiter something and he said he has to put something in with genesis and I'm now scared since I didn't say anything about me getting hospitalized when I was younger and I hate the fact that my rapists is taking that chance away from me from my dream of me becoming a soldier. I just need someone that can tell me if I will be okay to in list still or get a waiver because I have been wanting to join and I even bought a book called asvab for dummies and been studying so freaking hard just for it to stumble all because of my rapist... I work I. The health care field as well I am a CNA and see patients all the time but I’m not sure if that will help my case even if I do work in the medical field
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At 16, how should I train/ prepare for when I'm 18?
I'm going to be joining the US army at 18 if I can. What should I do now to be ready, or rather more prepared for then? I would like to do infantry work and possibly achieve higher ranks within said category. If anyone knows what I should do, please reply.
Edit: However, I forgot to add that I will be changing my last name to my father's. Will that be an issue?
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I was born and raised in Canada and had asthma as an infant. However, I didn't require an inhaler past maybe preschool years, possibly grade 1-3, although my mom continued to get them prescribed for me. She did this for herself as she was not covered by insurance and was quite poor. This continued until age 18 when I went to college in the US. I recently completed my ADN and obtained a green card. (I am currently 23.)
I have not required any treatment or had any symptoms at all. I am concerned about whether or not I should notify MEPS or just lie. I am not sure if they will be able to see my Canadian health records. If they can't, I don't see a reason to shoot myself in the foot. (I'm not going to have an asthma attack in the middle of basic training. I have ran 2 half marathons and 1 full marathon without a problem. I also go to the gym daily and have never experienced anything remotely close to an attack.) Can they access my Canadian health records via Genesis?
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Anyone know what slots are open for 13F SSG for a PCS? Considering emailing branch but don’t want to screw myself over somehow
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I’m kinda lost right now in what I should do after high school. I’ve always wanted to be in the military and it’s something that people have always told me is a great way to find yourself. But I don’t want to commit to 4 years. I’ve heard from some people it’s the best years of their lives and from others that it was hell on earth. I still want to get a degree and one day be a lawyer. I saw that I can pretty easily become a Para-Legal after boot camp and specialized training. Anyone have any advice on how to approach this? Also is there any correlation between the SAT and the ASVAP (got a 90th percentile score without much studying). I don’t want to force myself into this but I’m seriously considering it. Turn 18 next month and I feel like I’ve done nothing. This way I can at least serve my country.
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Is 25H a transferable job and if so the pay good ? I would also love any other jobs in army that would pay really well put , barring ATC.
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I’m going to my second part of Meps this Wednesday the 13th, I’m just wondering since I have a law violation. I had my prescription medication on me when I was in high school I was 14, for a misdemeanor for it,-thats back in 2014, I’m now 24, is that going to bar me from joining any law-enforcement positions in the army? Will it be possible to get a waiver?
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Do 4 year 68w enlistments not include basic and AIT? (so it'd really be 4.5 years)
My recruiter originally told me I could do 68w with a 3 year contract, then later said he was wrong and it needs to be 4 years. But then I made him clarify that the 4 year contract does not include BCT/AIT so the contract would really be 4 1/2 years.
My friend who just got out as a 68w said her contract was 4 years total, like including BCT/AIT. She said that my recruiter seems shady and I should try to talk to someone else.
FWIW I was asking for option 4 as well, but they said that even without option 4 its the same story. Also this is all active duty btw
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Hi I went in to see an army recruiter today to see if I could join the cyber branch (17D in particular). However I didn't get the answer I was looking for. So I'm looking for some advice My background I am an Indian citizen who came here to study for my Master's program in 2021. I got married and have filed an application for a green card. I have around 3 years of IT experience so I thought it would be great to seek a career in the army (my childhood ambition, although it was the Indian Army). Currently 28 and I got a mock ASVAB score of 93. My dilemma As I will be a green card holder when I enter the army, all the secret jobs are out of my reach. Unfortunately so does being an officer. My recruiter advised me to enlist for a 2 year contract, so that I can re-enlist for an officer position either through the Green to Gold Program or by talking to a career counselor in the army so that they can get me my release to attend OCS. Another option for me is to apply to be a reserve while I continue having a civilian IT job and apply after my 3 years is up. So far my options for MOCs are 12B, 91B,92Y and 36B. To be honest, I was a bit disheartened that I could not apply for the MOCs that I'd like for reasons beyond my control. I was also advised by folks to check out other branches to see if they have MOCs with a short contract which might also make me eligible to be a cyber officer. Is it worth enlisting for two years at least to then become an officer? My fear is that the wrong MOC might kill my interest to be an officer, or even worse, lock me down saying that they are unable to release me because of shortage of labor. Out of the ones mentioned, 91B caught my eye (but I heard a lot of cons with the MOC about working long hours and being underappreciated.). I guess 36B and 92Y would be my next picks, but if I'm being completely honest, they are a far cry from what I envisioned to do to serve in the military. Is it possible to switch across branches? Or is it much harder than it looks? Any tips for what to do in this current predicament? I was planning on enlisting next year as that's when my green card should come in (hopefully). But is there anything else I can do so that I can become a cyber officer. It is kind of disheartening to not make the cut because of reasons beyond my control. Or do I just remain in the civilian side till I get my citizenship? But that will take 5+ years. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this!
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If I chose option 19 for my first base assignment, can I change what I chose before I ship out? I ship out in May and would like to reconsider what I originally picked.
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Does anybody know if you need to take a Polygraph,(and if so what kind) during the TS/SCI process for 35L?
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Does anyone know how often the direct commission board for AMEDD meets? I believe I saw once a year in September somewhere but not sure if that's accurate.
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hi! so i kinda joined this community because i could use some advice, help or just anything lol. i’m almost 18, and i’ve been really motivated to joining the army! im studying to pass my test with my recruiter. but honestly im very nervous, i really want to pass this test and finally get it done. i was wondering if you guys just had any advice with anything about the army. i could use all i could get! thank you! (edit: also any websites i could use to practice?)
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Debating Army and AF
Hey all! I’m a teen looking into joining the military after college (idk for how long but I think I eventually want a civilian job). I’m debating whether I want to be in the Army if Air Force. Above all, I’d love to be a PJ (or CRO if I go officer route), but I know that those pipelines are rough. If I fail, I’d end up being a mechanic or Security Forces, something I don’t want to do. In that case, I’d rather join the army and do basically any other MOS. I also appreciate the Army programs more (split option, SMP, etc).
1) Are there any Army MOS’ like PJs? Could he SOF or not.
2) Should I take the risk and go PJ or go the safe route and go to the army?
Thank you so much and I hope I don’t bother y’all.
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68WF2 Questions
Hello, I am wondering about Flight Medic 68WF2 as a career choice and have a few questions. What is the process of becoming a 68WF2? Can you enlist as one or will you have to apply to training after AIT? What is the minimum contract length for the F2 shred? What is the overall process, and what certifications do you end up with? Thank you.
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Anybody got some advice for not fainting when getting blood drawn at physical? My recruiter told me not to mention it and just look away, but the last time I got my blood drawn I started having trouble breathing and eventually fainted while laying down. I’m less concerned about how embarrassing it is and more concerned about how it would affect me. I don’t want to faint again.
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Probably a dumb question, can we wear our own underwear for BCT as long as they are black and non-flashy briefs? Also, is there any recommendations for shower shoes?
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TL;DR I want to be a high-tech high-speed coolguy for 3 years then go to college, 17E or 35N?
I'm just looking to do 3 years and go to college, so re-employment opportunities aren't exactly a priority for me. I currently work in tech and I'm an amateur radio enthusiast. I would like to work with technology in the Army but I also want to experience Army Stuff™ (combat training, being in the field, parachuting, etc) while I'm young. I hate sitting at a desk, I wanna go outside. My reasons for joining the Army is to get away from sitting at a desk all day. So if I do 35N, I really want to try to get to Group Support/SMU/SOT-A/SOT-B/SFAB, or any other tactical assignments. However, It's my understanding from browsing here that you are only eligible to do high speed SIGINT stuff after a few years and it's very hard to get it in your first enlistment. I spoke to 2 former Rangers and they said that the intel guys just sit in a SCIF all day even in Batt. That leads me to 17E: I get to work with electronics but also get to go out into the field and do (some) combat arms stuff. The only thing keeping me from going 17E right now is the fact that 35Ns still seem to have a better chance of doing some really interesting and cool stuff, even out in the field, especially during peacetime. Your thoughts?
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Question about the sub. Long time fan but I’m shitty at Reddit.
Did the wffa go away or am I just missing it in my feed?
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Hey guys,
I went to my recruiter's office and one sergeant said that my contract would be 5 or 6 years active duty but that that time wouldn't start until I finished training. For context, I will enlist as an E-4 35W so my training will probably take me a year (BCT+DLS+AIT). That would make my time 6 or 7 years of active duty. I went and asked my recruiter the same thing and he told me that my time started the day I went to boot camp. Could anyone please give me some clarity?
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Hi, I'm a veteran/PS trying to join again. My current recruiter told me I need to go get some clearance letter for past medical conditions that are very minor from my PCM, which I don't have because I just got back to the US. Is there anywhere I can get this close to free of charge as a vet? Also, this new recruiter of mine just got my application packet because the original one is PCS'ng somewhere, but I feel like I don't have a connection with this new one. If I switch to a different recruiter who's actually closer to my home, would my application packet just be passed around or would we have to re-do everything all over again?
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My MOS is 35W1 as an E3, can anyone tell me their best and worst experiences with basic training at Fort Leonard Wood?
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I'm trying to get an estimate of how long you have to wait for 37F (Psyop) job for enlisted active duty. For context I have taken the D-lab already and the ASVAB and MEPS. A recruiter told me it's when the training class schedules come out and it's 2-4 weeks max to wait for any job. In previous posts I've seen people do 37F as reservists but not active duty for whatever reason. Does anyone know when the yearly training classes usually are for Psyop or an estimate of when that job comes open?
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Enlistment
I am currently in the process of enlisting. I have made it as far as taking the ASVAB. Recruiter showed me the app with jobs and said with my score I should be able to pick whatever I want. I got an aptitude score of 88 and a GT of 127. My current wishlist for jobs is: 35M/W 17C 35L 35F 68X Friends and family really recommend 17C due to it having great options after. If anyone has comments on any of these jobs or recommendations that would be great.
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Tips for 15P
I’m shipping off on June 3rd and my MOS is 15P that was the only aviation job that I qualified for I want to become a pilot in the civilian world and hopefully a pilot in the military and I picked 15P in hopes that it could help me at least get my foot into the aviation world so does anyone have any tips about it or any experiences?
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Going to SFAS soon as an active duty officer. If selected, does anyone know if my selection would be retained if I resigned my commission and went guard as enlisted?
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I had a psychotic/manic episode brought on by taking Straterra for ADHD. I had no history of full-blown psychosis, but I did tell someone at intake I had a weird self-resolving delusional episode back when I was in college about being replaced by aliens that didn't do much functional harm in my life. I still went to class, did my homework, etc. They put me down as having a "history of psychosis" anyway.
I smoked weed wile taking Strattera regularly since I had chronic pain (resolved with Humeria) and NAFLD so I couldn't take classic pain meds, and I live in a legal state. I had some hypomania when I needed to stop smoking to get dental work. My episode happened when I had gone a whole week without it and I thought I would be good once I got more. I know now that I should have stopped taking it, but I had bad side effects going on it and I didn't want to experience that again and I really wanted to keep taking it. Once I was on it for a month it worked really well for me and I was finally able to make myself work on my art portfolio and try to get a real art job. I thought I was finally going to get my life together...
I got really worked up at the main hospital and I requested a benzodiazepine. It was too much for me, I had never had one in my life, and I signed papers when I was still out of it. I knew the local mental hospital was bad, I was just hoping "it wasn't that one." It is the only one in the area that takes my insurance, so I went there.
When I arrived and sobered up, I already didn't want to be there. Then I got the delusion that I had dreamed about the place because I was having psychosis deja-vu, and there was going to be a mass shooting by nazis, starting with me. I thought they would falsely accuse me of being a pedophile and execute me. I believe this is related to the political situation in the US and how queer and trans people are being talked about, my moral and harm OCD, and an interaction I had with a person online during this episode. I thought I was going to be killed because during my mania I took on a project of "trying to find the dark money controlling the supreme court", I thought something big was going to go down, the mental hospital was in on it. I straight up thought I was going to be assassinated, both in character and literally.
I was already experiencing the "crash" of a manic episode the next morning. I slept a lot. I slept so much they decided to skip my whole fucking evaluation. I had also been given a large white round pill, I don't know what it was and I was suspicious of it, I thought it made me sleep. Later, even though I hadn't been evaluated, the psychiatrist passed me in the hallway and handed me some Seroquel. I was like "What's this?" He said, "An antipsychotic." And I just shrugged and took it because I thought they would force me to take it.
That happened just after they overheard me talking to another patient who agreed there was a conspiracy about me and all of a sudden they fucking grabbed her and gave her a sedation shot. It was fucking confusing and scary, and it made me even more suspicious that something was going on and I was about to be a victim of a conspiracy. And I do, on some rational sober level, believe the government interferes with the lives of left-wing political radicals, sewn discord in today's political movements, and it has killed important people. But I know now I was never important enough to destroy, and I don't think they would go that far. I thought an algorithm put a red flag on me for "my potential". I'm just an unemployed artist with ADHD and autism, what was I really gonna do? lmao
But it was completely the wrong medication for me and my situation. The edge of my vision started to flicker, everything became more vivid. I was more anxious. I've done a small amount of shrooms before, and it felt like being on shrooms, but less fun and without the high feeling. I ended up retreating to my room. I thought I was being drugged so they could keep me there and kill me. Like I said before, I was coming down from mania before I was given antipsychotics and I think the antipsychotics just made me worse because I don't have schizophrenia and I probably don't even have bipolar disorder.
At some point, I learned the psychiatrist "Just got here", as in he was just hired. Once again, I grew more suspicious. I was still delusional and thinking the government/right wingers were trying to kill me. I tried to find him later to tell him he fucked me up, and it turns out he was just a temp.
I was talking to other patients too. Someone with similar political leanings to me was also there, also highly suspicious of the mental hospital. This guy had told me something like "I'm anti-fascist too, I've been fighting Russians through the internet." That was really bad, I think us interacting and sharing what was happening to us pushed both of us further into our delusions. He was very suspicious of the psychiatrist and tbh, the psychiatrist sounded like an asshole and I got bad vibes from him. The psychiatrist has bad reviews, I looked him up when I got home.
I didn't really tell anyone about the fear that I would be killed because I thought they would think I actually was a pedophile or something. The staff picked up that I was suspicious, but that's it. My outward behavior wasn't too strange or unheard of in a mental hospital. A lot of stuff lead up to this, I was scammed in the middle of my mania and that person drove me further into psychosis. They were highly manipulative, I think back on it and I think that person was evil or using a ChatGPT bot programmed to do what it did to me.
I didn't have a therapist to talk to about this. No confidential source I could trust. I didn't have the time to explain all that happened to the psychiatrist because he couldn't even spend 10 minutes with me. There was group therapy, but I wasn't allowed to attended because I was "too psychotic" (they had a woman who was talking about reading to aliens and shit in there and yet I wasn't allowed to go. I wasn't hearing voices or hallucinating, except when they gave me Seroquel.)
This place was horrifically understaffed. I don't think there were enough nurses either. I figured out you could sort of talk to nurses as therapists, but I learned that too late and I did not get the help I actually needed. Just pills and group activities. When I finally was allowed into group therapy, it was a joke and I couldn't share what I needed to share because it was private.
Because I was still afraid of being killed in the mental hospital, I told the guy I mentioned earlier. He said he was being given invega sustenna because he expressed that he wanted to go home so often. I decided to opt for that as well, I was just so scared. I knew the medication was dangerous when they had me sign papers for it, but I did it anyway because I wanted to live.
NEVER EVER TAKE THIS SHOT UNLESS NOTHING ELSE WORKS FOR YOUR SCHITZOPHERNIA OR SCHITZOAFFECTIVE DISORDER. It made me feel lobotomized and I'm still not sure if I'll ever get my personality back. It has been almost a year. I ended up taking Prozac to help cope with the OCD flare-up it caused because I was afraid of destroying a friendship (friendship is fine now). Prozac didn't work out, I ended up having another episode and had to quit cold turkey. Now I have PSSD and I have no idea when what I lost to antipsychotics and and SSRI will ever come back. I never had anhedonia in my life, but I sure do have it now. My emotions are like 10% of what they were and my sexuality and sensation overall is 25% of what it was. I get "windows and waves" of fluctuating symptoms, which is a sign of recovery. I think that if I had a therapist, I would just gotten through my hospital stay, and have been on risperdone for a few months and come off of it just fine with none of the weird brain chemical fuckery this all too heavy antipsychotic did. It was irresponsible to give it to me by request, I have no idea why they went through with it. I lost myself that day.
I'm wondering if anyone else had this sort of experience where they couldn't get a therapist in the sort of place that absolutely should have therapists and got seriously hurt by the experience. I can't be alone in this. I don't know how they can just expect people to get better on pills alone. I don't know how they can make good decisions without knowing enough about a person and their situation. I couldn't fit mine in within 10 minutes.
Have you ever been to an understaffed mental hospital? Did you ever need therapy there but couldn't get it?

Hi,
I took an edible ~4 weeks ago and it made me dissociate+panic really badly until it wore off. I then continued experiencing a higher level of dissociation than normal for a few weeks that slowly improved. I have experienced that before from an edible and it eventually went away. I do not consume any drugs, have only tried THC edibles a handful of times, and don't really drink.
I then got sick before I had fully recovered and it made the dissociation worse again. Near the end of being sick it got extremely bad, and then mostly went away. A week or so later, this last Tuesday, I wasn't thinking and drank an energy drink, and that caused my anxiety levels to shoot up and I had a few mind blanks + panic attacks throughout the day. This caused me to dissociate more. I am on the third day from that point (where it again got worse) and my dissociation issues feel really terrible. It feels like this feeling will never go away since it's been here for a month.
I have had a tension headache since Tuesday and I think it's feeding back into the anxiety/dissociation. It's also making my sensory issues worse and slightly blurring my vision, again both likely feeding back into the anxiety/dissociation.
I don't like the way anything feels and it's scaring me and I don't know if I can continue feeling like this I really don't know what to do. I am sleeping enough and drinking water and doing things to calm myself but the weird feeling is always there.
This feels similar to when I was on Wellbutrin and to when I was on Strattera and I deeply hated the feeling either of those gave me. I don't know how to feel better.
For reference, I have Autism, ADHD, OCD, and BPD; I also deal with anxiety & depression.

My psychiatrist wants to prescribe an SNRI, she suggested Effexor or Cymbalta, for obsessive/rigid thoughts related to my eating disorder and also my depression and generalized anxiety. I have had really bad reactions to 2 SSRIs in the past - suicidal and homicidal thoughts. I'm really scared that would happen again with the SNRI and I'd be stuck on it for months and months due to the discontinuation syndrome if it didn't work and/or had side effects.
Is there an SNRI that doesn't have the discontinuation syndrome? I have already tried Wellbutrin and it did nothing, won't do mirtazapine for obvious reasons, idk what's left. I can't afford drugs that aren't generics. I feel that my ADHD is more disabling then depression/anxiety but she refuses to prescribe any ADHD medications, including Strattera/clonidine. I think she thinks I'm trying to say the Strattera didn't work in order to get Adderall, but I fully understand that someone with a history of anorexia is never getting Adderall. I just want the tiniest chance I could ever focus well enough to finish college, get a real job, or even clean my apartment.
No other psychiatrists nor any therapists (mine gave me a scholarship) in my area take my insurance. From what I understand medications don't really do much for eating disorders, but my insurance does not cover any form of ED treatment besides inpatient hospitalization. My mom and therapist think I should try TMS or ketamine but I doubt my insurance covers that either. My psychiatrist said if I look on google and see a medication I want to try we can look into it but she shoots down all my suggestions because they are non-stimulant ADHD meds. She also said I can try the SNRI in a crisis unit (I've been there before and it's good) in case of a bad side effect. I won't take any meds that cause weight gain frequently (I feel like everything can in some people) and I also hate it when meds make me sleepy.
Meds that did NOT work: Lexapro, Zoloft, Prozac Risperdal, Abilify, Geodon (absolute hell, never again) Wellbutrin Buspar Ativan/Klonopin Propanolol Hydroxizine
Meds that work: Lamotrigine (love, been on it 12 years) Gabapentin (but made me worse over 300mg/day)

Hey guys. I've had sexual dysfunction from Rexulti since 2019. Prior drug history was Lexapro, Buspar, Zyprexa, Seroquel, Strattera, Guanfacine, and Xanax years prior to Rexulti, though I quit all of those at least several years prior to starting Rexulti, and had no long-term sexual dysfunction from any of them that I am aware of.
I've written about it at length here, but I wanted to write a recap, for the purpose of highlighting the importance of *detailed sexual dysfunction.* We all need to start thinking more specifically when it comes to symptoms -- the more specific, the easier it will be to research -- and more accurate. It helps if you have prior sexual function and experience to compare your PSSD symptoms to. Much like gauging physical injuries, we measure dysfunction against a standard of healthy function.
My main sexual dysfunction symptoms (not including emotions like romantic feelings, that's a topic for another post) are:
1) Extremely severe* PE (premature ejaculation), as in not even able to last 1 second
2) *Immediate* loss of erection upon ejaculation (I am soft before I'm even finished ejaculating). This also indirectly causes massively reduced orgasmic pleasure, as the loss of erection as soon as orgasm/ejaculation begins dramatically reduces the pleasurable sensations felt during orgasm/ejaculation.
3) Long refractory period (usually takes a couple weeks to a month after ejaculation to feel any ability to be sexually aroused again at all)
4) If I try to go for a "Round 2" after ejaculating once, even if I'm able to get somewhat of an erection, it is *completely numb,* and any subsequent ejaculation will be *100% numb, completely absent of any orgasmic sensation whatsoever.* I've only been able to go for a "Round 2" one time in the last 4 years. I also still had premature ejaculation, though not as severe -- I lasted about 2 minutes while completely numb, compared to 1 second.
5) A single ejaculation seems to have profoundly negative effects, resulting in suicidal thoughts, depression, brain fog, reduced erection quality, and completely obliterated libido, all of which seem to last at least a couple weeks, and up to a month and a half after an ejaculation.
Semen retention has been saving my life, although it's required me to adapt to a new way of living, and it is only restoring me to a small fraction of the overall function I had prior to PSSD. Semen retention is mandatory for me to have any degree of normal functioning, and a single ejaculation sends me into a death spiral of depression/suicidal thoughts for days/weeks and even over a month. It takes a very long time for me to recover, and even when I'm 'recovered' I'm barely at a small fraction of who I used to be on a sexual functioning level (I do have many, many cognitive and emotional symptoms, but that is not the topic of this post).
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The reason I'm giving an overview of my symptoms is because they are highly detailed, and I think it's important for the men here to consider their symptoms beyond just "erectile dysfunction" or "premature ejaculation."
A number of other men here have said they have the same symptoms, also including dribbling instead of shooting ejaculation, massively reduced seminal volume -- both of which I've also experienced -- and I think it's important to log these more detailed dysfunctions to give us more clues as to what's going on. "ED" and "PE" are simply not specific enough, and the subtle varieties in symptoms may give us more clues to research as to what's actually happening here.
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PRIOR SEXUAL FUNCTION (pre-PSSD): I could ejaculate, stay hard, and keep going until a second orgasm/ejaculation. The second would feel nearly as pleasurable as the first. No premature ejaculation either, had fairly good control and could sense myself getting close to ejaculating, then back off, even while continuing stimulation (excepting super rough sex, though I could simply slow down or stop for a bit and then get back into it).
Staying hard after ejaculating was normal for me, for at least a minute or two. It was a slow descent to lose my erection completely after an ejaculation. This also allowed for the hyper "over-stimulation," when you continue stimulation after ejaculating, and it feels super intense. I have not been able to experience this since developing PSSD in 2019, but I've been so distressed about the PE, I've ignored that symptom along with all the others.
Prior to PSSD, I would always get morning wood, and also be able to get sexually aroused and have a full erection in a very short period of time after ejaculating, even after ejaculating twice in a day. Having sex several times a day was common when I first got with my only ex-girlfriend. Orgasms were very powerful, like earth shaking, and I was just as excited the second and third time in a day as I was the first.
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I remember someone once posted something like "Seriously? People here can get erections and ejaculate and are claiming to have PSSD?"
I'll clarify that yes, you absolutely can have PSSD and still be able to get erections and ejaculate. There is a *lot* of room for *absolutely life destroying dysfunction* while still being able to get erections and ejaculate. Being "able" is highly variable -- being able to get an erection and ejaculate, say once a month, and it only feels maybe 10% as pleasurable as it used to, is absolutely dysfunction. We need to dispel these myths that PSSD is 100% total inability to feel or perform sexually *at all* -- or you don't have it. That is ridiculous and is going to hurt our cause by making PSSD seem much more rare than it is.
The percentage of people who have 100%, total impotence and numbness is much, much smaller than the percentage of people who have altered sexual function, and permanent sexual dysfunction to a less dramatic degree. I agree with the viewpoint that PSSD is underreported because most people will attribute their PSSD to depression/anxiety/stress, when in fact even subtle dysfunction is very likely the result of alterations in neurochemistry caused by these medications.
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Call to Action:
My "Call to Action" is nothing more than asking you to record as specific a log as you can of your symptoms, and a log of your pre-PSSD functioning, to the best of your ability.
This includes windows and any positive changes you've experienced, no matter how brief, as well as permanent symptoms that you have had zero improvement with since developing PSSD. For me, I've had very, very minor success with premature ejaculation on a small handful of occasions where I didn't ejaculate immediately. This may be a "window," for example.
However, I have not had a single time in over 4 years post-PSSD where I *didn't* lose my erection immediately upon ejaculating. Every single time, without fail, I will lose my erection before I'm finished ejaculating, resulting in severely diminished orgasmic pleasure, dribbling instead of shooting ejaculation, and a general feeling of complete sexual dissatisfaction and frustration. The inability to go for a "Round 2" has also been permanent, and the one time I was able to, I experienced the dreaded pleasureless orgasm that everyone talks about. My genitals were 100% numb despite having half an erection, and upon "ejaculating" a second time (absolutely nothing came out), I felt zero sensation whatsoever.
Those are my permanent symptoms. Erection quality has varied, premature ejaculation has been consistent but I have had exceedingly rare times where I could last more than 1 second -- windows, no matter how rare, exempt a symptom from being considered "permanent" in my opinion. Permanent symptoms are ones you've had without a single moment of relief since PSSD. Unfortunately, it seems most people's symptoms are in the 'permanent' category, though I've also seen many seemingly hopeless cases report windows over the years. With some reporting total resolution of their symptoms after many, many years, for no apparent reason at all.
Sorry for being so disjointed here. But I wanted to log some specific male sexual dysfunction symptoms and encourage others (women too, obviously) to log their symptoms in as much detail as possible. General symptoms are not going to help at this point.
We need to get more specific and that may even help in getting PSSD listed as its own separate condition. I believe PSSD is not merely a lack of resolution from symptoms we had while on a medication, but that it creates its own cluster of symptoms that are entirely unique. That's just a theory, a shot in the dark, and may or may not be helpful. But being more specific with our symptoms is only going to help. Put some thought into it and try to be as honest as possible, including even small windows and small 'successes' to the best of your recollection.

32F, 250lbs, current medications: strattera 10mg, hyrdoxyzine 10mg non-smoker Dx: PCOS, ADHD, ASD. Gallbladder removal in 2016 Right ovarian and pelvic pain since 3 days ago. Increasing in frequency and pain level.

Hi, so I have PCOS and I've had this large ovarian cyst (4.2cm at it's largest) bugging me for at least 3 years now where every few months I end up in the ER from very sharp pain (8-9 on the scale, using my gallbladder pain that resulted in emergency surgery and a week in the hospital as a reference for a 10) It always results in getting pain meds, discharged, and referred to an OBGYN that kind of gives me the "you have PCOS, what are you expecting me to do? Cysts are part of the package" and sends me home. Half of them don't even look at an ultrasound before doing so. I've been bleeding very suddenly, painfully, and very liquid over the past 3 days or so. Given the PCOS, I assumed a particularly painful period at first even though I'd just finished a week long period a couple of days prior to this starting. I went to the ER last night. Pain started at about 7.5 and was at 9 within the hour. I was discharged after "all my scans and bloodwork looked normal" I had to ask if anything at all was noted on my right ovary where I was feeling all the pain and was told about the cyst but that I should just follow up with my OBGYN as soon as possible. I made an appointment today but their soonest availability isn't for a couple of weeks. The meds last night at the hospital kept the pain down for about 2-3 hours but then I was up throughout the night with a lot of discomfort and some shooting pain (around a 3-4 on pain scale) I took some CBD for pain as soon as I woke up today around noon and then 2 Excedrin around 1:30 when I ate. Also for the pain and migraine I woke up with. It's now around 4:30pm and I'm having sudden pain again just like yesterdays where it's also hurting my pelvis bone to where I feel like something is tearing me from the inside. I started at about a 6.5 20min ago and am now at a 7. I want to explore a surgical option for the cyst when I go to the OBGYN but don't know if it's worth it to go to the ER again when I was just there yesterday. I don't want to come off as a pain med seeker or anything (my husband works in the ER and has mentioned their "frequent flyers" before) but also I remember after the first time my gallstones were diagnosed, I was holding off until my surgical consultation until I ended up in the ER two nights in a row right before said consultation, at which point the doctor scolded me a bit for not coming in sooner because I now had stones blocking my common bile duct and would need a procedure before the surgery and I was there for a week total for what should've originally been a relatively quick outpatient procedure. For extra reference, I have a high pain tolerance (runs in my family. It once took me 3 months to realize I had fractured my foot) as well as ASD so I'm not always sure when the right time to defy instrucctions from an ER of holding off to see a specialist is. If I'm just going to get pain meds and send me home again, I know I can manage my pain at home one way or another even if through tears. But if there's a chance a second visit so quickly is indicative that this needs a closer look sooner than later or I can at least get a OBGYN consultation while I'm there then it's worth the poking and prodding (I have tricky veins. Also runs in my family) The rules said to be as detailed as possible so I hope this wasn't somehow too detailed. It seems like a long post. TIA !

Hi! So i've had minimal POTS symptoms since young puberty, along with ADHD,depression, anxiety, the works blah blah blah. I've been taking lexapro for years and love it. However about 2 years back i added wellbutrin and slowly over a year shit started to really hit the fan. Wayyy increased fatigue, shakiness, muscle weakness, (unwanted) weight loss, and brain fog. I got off wellbutrin and a lot of this improved and most of the shakiness went away. I'm thinking that was dopamine triggered, so I started on strattera recently. No big downsides other than some sleepiness and a few finger tingling episode. However, I've been looking more into POTS and think that starting the wellbutrin triggered hyperandenergic POTS on top of my preexisting (most likely hypovolemic) POTS. Playing it by ear but really worried the strattera will prolong my issues. I have a fast heart rate that rapidly accelerated upon standing, but low blood pressure. Often my systolic blood pressure will shoot up when i go to stand up too. Since my muscle atrophy and weight loss has lightened up, my main concern is fatigue now. Anyone been in my situation? Anyone know what treatment combinations would work?

TL;DR: If you have POTS and ADHD, what has been your experience been with ADHD meds and your POTS symptoms?

I’ve been on Strattera since October. I gradually increased from 25 mg to 60 mg (started 60 mg in Feb). Around February, I started getting light headed upon standing up and/or reaching up for things (sometimes my vision gets spotty or hearing gets muffled).
In March, I got an EKG to see if I'd be able to handle switching to stimulants since I get palpitations/anxiety with too much caffeine. My EKG showed an abnormality and I have a family history of heart issues, so I started tracking my heart rate with a fitbit. I noticed my heart rate would shoot up (especially upon standing or with minimal activity) and had a lot of fluctuations, so I had a follow-up with my PCP and got another EKG showing sinus tachycardia. We reduced my Strattera dose to 40 mg (I never had issues on that dose) to minimize any medication induced symptoms, but my symptoms persisted after a month. It's looking like it might be POTS based on an orthostatic hypotension test (laying, sitting, standing), but I won't be able to confirm things until at least September when I have my cardio appointment.
Since I have sinus tachycardia listed on my chart, my psych nurse isn't going to be switching my meds to stimulants anytime soon. Buuut if this turns out to be POTS, there is a paper suggesting that Strattera can aggravate POTS symptoms (https://doi.org/10.1161/JAHA.113.000395). If you have POTS and ADHD and are on meds can you tell me what you take and if or how it affected your POTS symptoms? I'd like to use it as a starting point for a lit search of things I might need to bring it up at my cardio appointment. Thanks!

As it turns out, I have ADHD myself. What made me seek a diagnosis is that simply put my life had been pretty dysfunctional. I have tried 911 EMS 3 times(did 10 months of IFT before trying a 3rd time), and each time didn't pass probation and was let go(first company gave me option to resign). Reasons being failing to remember things(protocols, geography,etc) and slow to do certain procedures, or even moving too quickly. After the latest one in January, I was about ready to give up on a first responder career in general. The FTO had said I wasn't incapable, but I didn't know why I kept messing up.
My long term goal was law enforcement, standard patrol or possibly with positions where I could still use EMT skills(i.e. park ranger, hybrid fire-police, etc). But inconsistent work history and difficulty retaining info and procedures doesn't bode well for that. Plus my credit history could be better(impulsive spending, but not on alcohol or drugs), and my transcripts from junior college are pretty much mostly withdrawals, once being put on academic probation.
However, I had been back in touch with a classmate from 5th grade who has ADHD. After thinking about how she described the symptoms and reading a bit more about the condition, I scheduled an assessment with my healthcare provider. Hit damn near every mark, almost like being asked rhetorical questions about the story of my life(were you ever fired, put on academic probation,forgetful, habit of being late, feeling restless, etc). I was diagnosed with ADHD Combined type, moderate severity.
Not only that, but I was told that I actually was tested and met the criteria at age 8 for the same problems(am nearly 23) and my mom had declined any medication treatment. Like that is literally what it said in the assessment notes from 3rd grade. When confronting her about this, she was greatly opposed to me taking any medication claiming: ADHD meds would've made me addicted to street drugs, homeopathic/holistic medicine would work better, psych meds are only for bipolaschizophrenic people, etc.
Anyway, I have been on meds for a couple months now(Strattera, and just now trying Adderall). I feel some change like more clearheadedness and less impulsivity but there's ways to go. Also trying to find a therapist who is experienced with ADHD, as that also seems to explain my anxiety/MASSIVE overthinking as well.
The advice I got from another LEO on here was that when/if I applied ,you can explain the job instability/poor money management as being due to an untreated medical condition that I am now getting therapy/medication for but I should also have have at least one year(gonna shoot for closer to 2 years) of job/financial stability just to really show the ADHD isn't causing me to mess up things anymore.
Do any LEOs on here also have ADHD, or know any who do? Does it affect the job, and how do you manage things like going to court, paperwork, slow days, etc? Like I said, I would just give it up if I was just simply incompetent, but in this case we are talking about a genuine medical condition that while often debilitating, is very much treatable/manageable and that I didn't even know I had till just a few months ago.

Has anyone else experienced very vivid dreams since starting Strattera? I never really had dreams I could remember like this before but now nearly every morning I first have to go through a random cutscene before waking up lol
Like.. I was just having full on Mario cart style race with my friends... Complete with power ups and everything hahaha
It's almost a problem because sometimes I do things in my dreams and I have a hard time remembering if it actually happened the next day. (Today that wasn't too hard because it's pretty clear that I haven't been shooting rockets at my friend's or racing againt a giant penguin only for my friend to win the race after having a dance fight with tinker bell...)
I take 80mg in the morning and this is the only side effect I have left.

Hi everyone! I have been working on an iOS app called MedCoach to help people better understand the impacts that their ADHD medications have on their health. In my own experience as a busy college student, I struggle to diligently log my medications each day and answer questions from my doctor about medication side effects like impacts on heart rate and sleep. For example, sometimes it is difficult to know if a single bad night of sleep is just an anomaly or if there seems to be a pattern between my sleep quality and taking my medication. Being able to track my health data and communicate with my doctors when I think something is wrong has been a game changer for me and was especially helpful when trying to find the right medication + dosage.
MedCoach makes it easy to log your medications and visuzlize trends in your health data. It just takes a few seconds a day to log when you take your Strattera. As long as you have an Apple Watch or another wearable device that connects with Apple Health, the app will work without any other input required from you.
If anyone is interested in trying it, I would love to get feedback and suggestions for new features! Full disclosure: there is a subscription required to use the app, but there is also a 1 week free trial you can use to test it out. I am a full-time college student working on this in my free time, so I would really appreciate the support. If you shoot me an email at [medcoachapp@gmail.com](mailto:medcoachapp@gmail.com), I would also be happy to provide a longer free trial and/or schedule a call with you to chat about how to use the app and listen to any feedback + suggestions you might have.
Website: https://rachelnaidich.com/medcoach/
App Store Link: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/medcoach-medication-trackeid1661445027
Thank you all so much!

Hi everyone, first off I want to touch on the fact that I recognize it’s best not to seek medical advice on Reddit. I have just found a lot of helpful information and advice in this community and wanted to bring up something I’m struggling with.
I’ve had diagnoses of GAD as well as major depressive disorder since my teens. Over the summer I got diagnosed with ADHD-C as well. I was on Strattera for several months and while I found it helped somewhat, I was having panic attacks and also had constant nausea. I was then put on Concerta and hated it. I don’t even know how to describe it. It was like I was outside of my body and nothing was real. Feeling frustrated, I didn’t try anything else for about a month or so. My depression worsened to the point I started Sertraline 25, then 50 mg in combination with Vyvanse 10 mg. The side effects were not as bad as Concerta but the first few days especially were not great. I still felt out-of-body from time to time and pretty flat. Yesterday morning I started having auditory hallucinations and, according to the internet, this is a severe side effect of Vyvanse. That scared the shit out of me. I only took the Sertraline today and am feeling much more like myself.
My Dr said if the Vyvanse didn’t work we could try the Sertraline in combination with Wellbutrin, but I’d rather not do this because I believe the latter medication made me gain a lot of weight the last time I was on it. I don’t know what else I should do, and asking for medications feels like randomly shooting arrows in the dark. I’m afraid to ask for another stimulant as well. Is there another stimulant that isn’t as harsh as Concerta or Vyvanse? Thank you.

I was diagnosed ADHD as an adult at 21. I do not respond well to methlyphenidate drugs like ritalin; they are basically sleeping pills for me. Currently, I am on 40-60mg strattera, 50mg Vyvanse, and 0.2mg clonodine at night.
Now that that's out of the way, please help me. I was on 60mg strattera for a long time, but somehow it made me worse at college (significant life improvement everywhere else, however). My guess is that I used to rely on adrenaline-induced procrastination to crank out work before tests or due dates for assignments, but strattera takes away that "panic mode" I used to rely on to cope. My doctor titrated me on vyvanse up to 50mg. Vyvanse helps significantly more with actual "focus" whereas Strattera is better at handling less strenuous tasks.
My questions: I had side effects with erection problems, so I stopped taking strattera. I then realized that was incredibly stupid and started taking leftover 40mg capsules to ease myself back into it. I actually feel better on 40mg than 60mg. Is it possible since both medications alter dopamine and norepinephrine, combined the medications are making me have too much norepinephrine? When I tried 80mg strattera before settling on 60, it made me depressed-feeling and drowsy and irritable. I know strattera works primarily on slowing aborsption of norp. to increase base levels. But on 40mg with 50mg vyvanse, I feel slightly better than 60mg strattera and it's possible that 40mg was the max I can handle from the beginning but did not notice. Erection problems are improved also.
Is there any benefit to taking strattera at night vs in the morning? It lessens my sleep quality but I also wake up feeling way more ready to start the day. And mornings is what makes or breaks my day since traditionally I ALWAYS had problems getting out of bed. I still struggle tremendously in college with all of these medications. I know there is willpower and self-control, but if I did not have determination I would have dropped out of college a long time ago since it makes me suicidal with stress and self-esteem issues due to struggling. I know the medication will not make me perfect, but how much should I realistically struggle still? School work is and always will be my worst task because I absolutely abhor it since I was 5 years old. It sucks, because I will start school but get out of my chair 16 times to go to the bathroom, get a snack, anything, even with medication.
Any advice? Any insight? I have been failing college relentlessly despite being called smart since I was a kid from various peers and family. I know I am smart, I just *hate* doing schoolwork and sitting down and that is what the medication is supposed to treat, after all.

Edit to add a little insight: I am a mechanical engineering major, so it is not like I am taking an easy course-load. I also work part-time and can barely handle 2 classes a semester. I have the mind of an engineer; I like trouble-shooting, creating, fixing, and solving problems. I would love the job itself, but the schooling is too abstract to find joy. I failed calc 2 three times before passing, this semester I am going to fail calc 3. When I had computer-aided drafting, I got an easy 95% because I enjoyed it. I am also doing remote learning, which is not helping focus but the alternative is driving one hour one-way three times a week.

I have a family photo shoot scheduled for this week and I'm so unprepared that I could cry. It's our first ever pro photos bc our daughter was born at the height of the pandemic, so added pressure.
We have no clothes, and no time to shop for them at this point. I pictured a fall-themed, coordinated family set. Instead, all I have are the casual, pilled, and faded maternity clothes I've been wearing for two years straight, all my husband has is graphic t-shirts, and most of what my daughter has is super casual stuff for running around in. Last week, I thought of a backup plan -- the matching t-shirts I got us all for LO's birthday party -- but it's going to be much colder on the day of the shoot. I bought LO a plain, long-sleeve white t-shirt she could wear underneath, but I don't think I have one that fits me.
I'm late for this because up until this weekend I was planning LO's birthday party, which itself was a month late. I can't push out the shoot, but even if I could, then it would just conflict with something else. I just need events to line up and come at me one at a time, please, instead of ganging up like this. Which reminds me that the holiday season is right around the corner.
I (finally) opened the photographer's style guide and it includes gems like "there's no such thing as too dressed up", going pro for hair and makeup, and wearing softer colors to keep the focus on our faces (ugh, even our backup t-shirts are bold colors).
I could pretend to be glass-half-full and convince myself that casual clothes are a truer representation of our day-to-day life, but sometimes I just want to feel pretty, ya know? I have enough cell phone pics of me looking frumpy, I would've loved to dress up for these professional photos. But in the grand scheme of things, clothes shopping for me has always fallen way lower than, say, paying the mortgage and making sure we have clean dishes and clothes, so it never gets done.
Y'all I am so tired and fed up with myself.
I'm only recently diagnosed (in my mid-30s), still figuring out the medication situation (so far Strattera has just been meh), and therapy is such a slow process. I just want to curl up under the covers and avoid everything for like a week, but instead I need to figure out this clothes/haietc problem now.

(TL;DR:
- tinkered with dex and strattera for over a year with no issues from caffeine.
- took a bit of dex and strattera for a couple weeks again, and now if I have a few cups of even decaf tea or coffee I can get tachycardia episodes where my pulse suddenly shoots up to 140+
- still happens even though I haven't had either med for a week or more.
- I advise switching to decaf if you're about to start an adhd medication/s). note: decaf tea and coffee still have caffeine in them. switch to herbal tea if you want no caffeine. rooibos tea is a good no-caf substitute for black tea.
Even though I tapered off the dex and strattera over the course of a week this still happens, after over a week without taking any of either. I was only back on them for less than 2 weeks.
I'd been fiddling with combinations of the two for over a year. Stopped because my weight got really low (down to 50kg, now back up to 55 [I'm just under 180cm]). Went back on them because I got desperate, and suddenly my HR can go up to 140 for about 10 minutes, before slowly dropping over the next hour, if I have even a quite mild amount of caffeine.
I feel like I used to be able to have caffeine just fine during that year of usually being on something like 40mg of strattera + 5/10mg of dex per day.
It's so weird 'cause I'm not even drinking a reckless amount of caffeine. Once it happened after only having one cup of regular tea; that was a few days after not taking either med. Not long after that, it happened one day when I had 3 cups of decaf coffee over like 8 hours.
I know decaf still has caffeine in it, but that's like, less than a regular coffee's worth of caffeine spaced out over 8 hours, when I used to be able to get away with drinking that much in 8 minutes with no problem.
I thought I was playing it safe, yet the universe still punishes me, so I feel frustrated and scared. I thought I'd turn to you guys to hear any of your similar experiences, and to share my experience as a warning.
My advice to any of you about to start taking stimulants or strattera is to consider switching to decaf if you can. I think it's good general health advice anyway (*shrug*).

Hello. I recently moved to Prague and went to psychiatrist where I got diagnosed with ADHD at 32 years old.
My doctor prescribed me Strattera I took it for several days and it was the worst thing imaginable - nausea, sickness, erectile dysfunction, troubles peeing etc. I stopped consuming it after 3 days because these side effects were unbearable.
After that I visited doctor again and he prescribed me Concerta 18mg. I took my first dose last Friday and it was absolutely awesome - my mood was mid-positive, I was focused and very productive at work. I also was able to hold big conversations with people and overall my experience was 10/10.
I skipped Concerta on Saturday and Sunday because I didn’t need to be focused and today I decided to take a new dose to be productive.
Everything went fine for the first 3 hours but then during zoom meeting I felt like my kidneys just produced a big amount of adrenaline. You know that adrenaline spike that you feel during bad situations? Yeah that feeling. Short after that my heart rate shoot up to 140 bmp(my normal hr is 79) and I felt like my heart is going to explode. It dropped after a while but then shot up again.
For the rest of the day my heart rate was around 90-100 when I was resting and 120 when I was standing. My blood pressure shoot up to 150/90 and I almost fainted a couple of times. Right now I’m mostly ok because it’s almost 12 hours but this experience was terrifying. I doubt I will try to use Concerta again but I have to ask if that happens often? Did it ever happen to you?

Nikolas looked clean, dressed neatly with a white button-down shirt and black vest. His hair was messy which was a difference from when the trial first started. He seemed to be gaining weight as well. He does have a very odd quality to him. Quite like how some of those who knew him personally have testified, he does act in a rather strange manner, even in court. On this day in court, as they were standing to await the entrance of the jury, he turned and asked his attorney a question, she looked at him to answer but he didn’t look at her, but more off to her shoulder. The jury entered, everyone sat, and Cruz took a sip of his drink but then bit down on the lip of the cup, shuddered his arms down, then suddenly turned his attention over to the computer screen next to him with a puzzled look. His motions still seemed to be all over the place at times in court. At first, I thought this might be a play to the jury, but it’s been every day for hours on end that his eyes zip around the room, his motions seem impulsive and his behavior very odd.
The first witness to testify was Doctor Laurie Karpf, a child and adult psychiatrist. Karpf testified that she treated Nikolas starting in July 2008 until December 2011 on a reference from his pediatrician and a diagnosis of ADHD. Karpf explained that Cruz was already on Focalin XR 20 – a stimulant medication used for ADHD & 21mg of Strattera – a 24 hour working nonstimulant medication. She described Lynda as a good woman but with her hands full from two boys with special needs. She described Nikolas as being a bit immature for his age. Karpf said she lowered the Focalin medication amount to 10mg and increased the Strattera medication amount – Lynda reported this as helpful. On the next session, Lynda reported that Nikolas had trashed his desk at school, cursed at his teacher, threw his homework into the pool, repeating himself, and took apart the mailbox and threw it into the street. Karpf then upped the Strattera to 50mg.
Karpf testified that in October 2008, she decreased the Strattera and added a low dose of a mood stabilizer called Risperdal because of an incident at school in which Cruz threatened to stabbed the teacher and an aide. A few weeks later, Karpf discontinued the Strattera on the chance it was agitating him when Lynda reported Nikolas hit a student with a lunch box. After this, there were several more incidents reported by Lynda to Karpf and the Focalin dosage was upped. She explained that in 2010, Intuniv was added to his treatment – described as another nonstimulant, in March 2011 the Focalin dosage was lowered, and the Risperdal was stopped at night. Lynda terminated Karpf’s help in December 2011 due to medical insurance changes.
The next witness to testify was Dr. Brett Negin, a psychiatrist who treated Nikolas from January 2012 to August 2017. Negin testified that at the first visit, Lynda indicated he had ADHD, had a speech and a social delay, but did not tell him about the birth mothers drug abuse. Negin diagnosed Cruz with ADHD, Disruptive Behavior Disorder (DBD), and a rule out of Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD). He kept the level of Focalin medication and raised the Risperdal dose due to his defiant behavior. Negin testified that he never believed Cruz was delusional, seeing things, or hearing voices during his treatment.
Negin explained that in April 2012, Lynda stopped giving him the Risperdal, because she felt it was not effective. He added a medication called Clonidine – used for ADHA symptoms. Nikolas himself reported he was better able to focus on the Clonidine medication.
In April 2014, Cruz was attending Cross Creek School, was continuing to take Clonidine and Focalin medication. Later in the year, Cruz expressed interested in wanting to return to Marjory Stoneman Douglas Highschool.
In February 2016, Cruz was enrolled at MSD high school. Cruz expressed concern with difficulty focusing. Lynda switched to a generic version of the Focalin for cost purposes. Negin said he then increased the Focalin medication.
In November 2016, Lynda reported a physical altercation with peers at MSD high school. Dr. Negin described that Cruz appeared remorseful of the incident at school and that both Lynda and Nikolas did not want him to have to return to Cross Creek school.
During the last visit, Negin explained that in August 2017, Lynda indicated he was not taking any of his medication, he was no longer attending MSD high school and was instead at a learning center. He was working at a dollar store. Negin documented the importance of needing to attend sessions, attend behavioral services, and that Lynda did not make any follow up appointments.
The state prosecutor cross examined Dr. Negin, asking him questions about his expertise on mental health disorders and treatment. Negin was asked if Cruz ever had a history of drug or alcohol use during his treatment, to which he replied no. Additionally, he described Cruz’s mood as good, and his affect as normal. Negin explained that Cruz’s thought process was linear, which meant he had the ability to think clearly and express his thoughts clearly. Negin was asked if was unusual for him to write a letter of recommendation for him to attend therapy to which he replied no it was not. He was asked about the last appointment he had with Cruz, which was 6 months before the shooting and reported there were no delusions or hallucinations, good eye contact, thought process was linear, affect was good, and was not aware of him already considering being a mass shooter.
The defense redirected with Dr. Negin and asked him about a letter that was sent to him in June 2014 from officials at Cross Creek school. Negin testified that he did not receive the letter. The letter was introduced as evidence, parts of which contained the quote, “Cruz shared in school he dreams of killing others and is covered in blood.”

Hey, I’ve been on 40mg Strattera since April 12th so about 3.5 months now, and about 1-2 times a day, 2-4 hours after taking my Strattera (along with Vyvanse 20mg, Zoloft 150mg, and inderal 20mg) when I urinate I get a very sharp pain in my testicles, similar to testicular torsion. It lasts 20-30 minutes roughly, sometimes I have to take ibuprofen or smoke weed to help the pain.
I see my psychiatrist Aug 3rd, going to tell him about this. Only started experiencing this since taking Strattera. Also, I don’t eat much, I try to have a protein shake with my meds and I aim for 900-1200 calories a day (I’m 5’8” 122lbs). My appetite is non existent since starting Vyvanse. Even at 20mg I have no appetite until 8-12hrs after taking my vyvanse and other meds.)
Anyone else experiencing similar issues? I also find that I randomly will leak out urine or semen, usually when taking a shit. Sex drive is also odd, but could be the zoloft too. I’ll go from no sex drive to extremely horny like I’ve never experienced sober, feels like the horniness from smoking or shooting a lot of meth.

TLDR at bottom. For context, I'm in the US.
So I'm in late 20s and have struggled with ADHD symptoms my entire life without realizing it until I did some research about ADHD that recontextualized basically all of my life experiences. I got diagnosed a few months ago and was prescribed Strattera. I was so relieved to finally be able to get my life where I wanted it to be and realize my potential.
The problem? I cannot swallow pills. I have always had a huge, irrational fear of gagging and throwing up that translates to panic when attempting to take pills. Even the thought of taking pills makes my hands start to involuntarily shake after a few short minutes, I can feel my heartrate shoot up and my breathing get shallow, and I start to sweat. This is just from the acknowledgement that I have to take a pill, before I even have the bottle in my hand. It's so bad that even when eating normal foods I'll occasionally have to stop and spit out a mouthful right before getting ready to swallow. I chew pudding and applesauce because I can't swallow anything that isn't a pure liquid without doing so or I'll gag. I automatically over-chew actual food to prevent this issue as well. I maintain a healthy lifestyle and diet so I have never needed to take medication as an adult, partly because I know that if I allow myself to get sick I won't be able to take the medication. No drugs or alcohol, only drink water, no caffeine, healthy meals 100% of the time, almost no processed sugar, no junk food, the whole nine yards. Because it generally doesn't bother me outside of the context of taking medication (which I have never had to do before), I live my life mostly free of the extreme terror that this causes me.
I tried so hard to take the Strattera over weeks, but the capsules were huge. My doctor said that I could open them and eat them in applesauce if I had to (which is against everything that the internet and manufacturer says), but it burned so bad going down that it chewed up my mouth and throat.
I went back to my doctor and explained my issue in detail and communicated the seriousness with which I can't take pills. I suggested chewable Vyvanse so that I could actually get treated. My ADHD symptoms have become untenable, and I need help. She prescribed it, but after five days of waiting my insurance denied it. The denial cited three alternatives that they specifically said could be crushed or chewed and put in something like applesauce. I'm desperate at this point (by now, I have been untreated for over a month since my diagnosis and have been unable to make any headway in my life for much longer), so I have my doctor prescribe the one she thinks would be most helpful for me. It's generic Concerta ER. Those who have taken it will know where this is going. I wait multiple days for my insurance to approve that, finally get the call that it was, and practically skip down to the pharmacy yesterday to pick it up. Finally, I'll be able to actually do things.
Go to take it this morning for the first time and discover that the formulation relies on the delivery mechanism engineered into the structure of the pill itself and it can't be crushed or chewed. Make multiple attempts over an hour and a half to take it like a normal person and start gagging, which of course sends me into a panic. Put it in a pill crusher anyway and it's impossible to crush. It's essentially a hard capsule surrounded by a faux tablet coating.
I don't know what to do about this. My insurance company thinks it knows better than my doctor and myself about what I need and what I can take. Some suits in a boardroom decided the formulary for this plan and are denying me my medication. Now I will be untreated for who knows how many more weeks while I wait for even more prior authorizations only to find that the other alternatives they suggested either can't be chewed or crushed or don't work for me. Meanwhile, my life continues to deteriorate because I can't do anything. My ADHD feels like I'm sitting in the middle of a black hole and the gravity of it makes it so that any path I try to take out leads me right back into the singularity where the weight of it holds me back from getting anything done. I get up desperate to do things and only end up spinning my wheels all day. I can't even get myself to do the things that I actually enjoy doing and am excited about.
Does anyone have any suggestions other than, "just swallow the pills?" Has anyone navigated this with an insurance company before? I'm totally stagnant in my life and feel like I can't afford multiple more weeks to figure this out. I'm also taking a trip to Europe for a wedding at the end of the month (which was also like pulling teeth to get myself to actually get that together) so will have a two week window where I will be unable to deal with the insurance company or try more medication until I get back.
TLDR: I have a documented issue that prevents me from swallowing pills. My insurance company has dicked me around for weeks, won't pay for chewables, and is now suggesting alternatives to the chewables that they say can be crushed or chewed but in reality cannot and must be swallowed whole. It has been over a month since my diagnosis, I have been untreated this entire time, have been unable to make headway on my life for much longer than that, and am growing increasingly desperate. Suggestions for dealing with the insurance company and getting the chewable Vyvanse that I asked for?

I am currently prescribed 60mg strattera in the morning and 40mg at night, as well as 1mg of klonopin per am & pm, and finally 30mg adderall xr twice a day (plan on tapering off)
I am 23m 205lb, severe ADHD mild anxiety, (unknown) disorder, addict, motivated towards health, and 2 years clesn from harder drugs such as opiates, cocaine, mdma, probably crack, meth and research chems (city I live in full of scum cutting killers) and benzodiazepines (til a month ago, shit happened)
I am tapering off of phenibut and am currently taking 1.3g per am & pm.I am tapering off kratom aswell and I am down fo 2.5gs x4 a day
My stack so far is
magnesium 250mg 2xpd Vitamin b-100 x1 (possibly too much? Pls suggest best b complex’s) Ginseng extract 200mgpd NAC 500mg x2pd Agmatine (spelling) 200mg x4pd Valerian root 800mg+220mg extract x2pd Ginkgo Biloba 120mg extract x1pd
Magnesium is overall amazing for anxiety, tolerance resistance, general health. Vitamin b Is well, important as most people on this sub should know
NAC and agmetine (spelling I know) is for phenibut withdrawal. Helps regulate glutamate and is good for the ol nervous system who has been victim to years of gaba-inhibitor abuse.
Honestly just found ginkgo and ginseng in the cabinet, read some reviews, some experiences and slapped em on but am not married to em.
Valerian root is my preference for sleep insomnia, as I’ve heard kava doesn’t mix with other herbs and I was under the impression too much melatonin would inhibit my brains ability to crest it naturally (I’ve learned of some other handy things it does do such as act as a dopamine antagonist)
I have blackseed extract, ALCAR, R-ALA, and NALT in my cart right now. Gonna keep doing research because the goal is to get off phenibut, get off klonopin, then to leave adderall behind, and eventually kick kratom into the dirt.
I don’t smoke weed, or do any other typical drugs aside from alcohol, and nicotine. Which in their respective order will be taken off the menu eventually.
Any recommendations to this crap shoot I’ve compiled, or resources I can check out to get the best possible stack (no interactions, no toxicity, pain free, anxiety free, non addictive, healing even?)
Like I said I am incredibly motivated to move past this stuf, aswell as repair my brain and make it better than ever cuz If u ask me I’m pretty well off in life in general despite the bullshit. Better off than people who never used and went to college, but my brain itself is not a reflection of where I’m at in life
That’s a lot to ask, but anything you can contribute is super appreciated