Up front: I'm absurdly sensitive to meds (I usually respond, at least to a degree, to 1/8 of the smallest dose of a given psychotropic medicine). I'm big into trying different nootropics (e.g., Baikal scullcap), experimental meds (e.g., Vanoxerine), etc. because I don't respond to the typical ADHD meds.
The problem:
I took low-dose guanfacine (~0.25mg a day) and clonidine (~0.05mg a day) for about six weeks. At first, all was pretty well. More motivated, more focused, could actually exercise more. But a couple of weeks in, I started to get super fatigued and demotivated. Given that's a common issue with these meds that many people just work through (i.e., fatigue goes away), I powered through. After six weeks of only taking one or the other, lowering dose, etc., I decided that the side effects would never get better and stopped taking both.
Fast forward two months. Still fatigued, especially in the afternoon. Dopaminergic medicines that I usually respond well to, like benztropine, just make me super tired. I'm prone to depression, something I haven't dealt with in a while. Yikes!
Anyone have experience here? This response seems totally bizarre. Trying to figure out:
- If my brain will just take a while to get over guanfacine and/or clonidine just takes forever; or
- Something weird happened and my brain is forever changed (i.e., I will now just respond to meds differently than I did before).
And also:
- Anything I can do to mitigate these side effects until something changes? Can't do typical stimulants like methylphenidate unfortunately.
Thanks for everyone's thoughts.
