This is a frame that I casually share with friends, not medical advice. I’m not a doctor of any kind.

The frame shades negative because that’s what I think is more useful for friends to hear.

The frame

ADHD meds give you another option for how to work, with some significant upsides and some significant downsides. It’s annoying but possible to transition between periods of using to not using, and it’s annoying but possible in a different way to be half-way between using and not using within same period.

If you look at this frame and think “ah yes, more options are good, therefore I will go ahead with this option knowing that it is far from silver bullet/has downsides” then I predict it will be good for you. If you look at this frame and think “ah, having significant periods of very low energy would be really bad, losing creativity would be really bad, losing focus in evenings or losing sleep would be really bad, even if I had an expensive option to undo these things at later date” then I predict it will be bad for you.

Some more color

1. For me, occasional ADHD meds usage leads to tolerance (lower energy highs, lower lows) more quickly than coffee.
2. “Evenings off” = feeling discombobulated, unable to think clearly, can feel embarrassed going to social event where thinking clearly would be helpful would be helpful, feels harder to relax intentionally because harder to do anything intentionally.
3. “Creativity” = anything that’s not doing grindy, e.g. studying, some programming; anything where you actually need to step back from problem.