People who found healthier ways to deal with their ADHD partners - can you share?

Sure but please take what I say with a HUGE grain of salt since we're still figuring things out. He is currently on Vyvanse, Wellbutrin, and a bunch of supplements (lion's mane, heart health complex, vitamin D, magnesium). He was also on Effexor at one point and that made him more emotionally attentive, but now he's off it due to other side effects from it. He literally cannot function like a human being without Vyvanse and Wellbutrin, but things improved even more when I added supplements to his medication box. He just takes whatever I give him at this point without even knowing what they are.

I know supplements are largely unregulated with dubious science behind them but I've been trying a bunch of different ones with him and things really changed for the better. It's like, if you say meds give 40% improvement in symptoms, supplements seem to each give +3-5% on top of that which is not very obvious but adds up on top of meds. I give him vitamin D because blood tests showed he's deficient in it. Magnesium because I read that ADHD meds deplete magnesium in the brain and it is crucial for cognitive health. Heart health complex because I made him take a genetic test and it said he had multiple markers for heart disease (also has family history of heart diseases). Lion's Mane was just a shot in the dark, but I noticed a stark difference in his behavior afterwards, so I just keep giving it to him lol.

His executive function is still not entirely normal but now I can just ask him stuff like "Can you put the baby(pet) to sleep and take out the recycling and run the dishwasher before you go to bed?" and then those things will be reliably completed before bed. He also apologizes for his behavior and thinks of things more from my perspective which is great, but I know he's been working hard on improving himself on top of being medicated. He's less whiney and mopey when I suggest things he doesn't like, like going to the gym and eating vegetables. I also pointed it out to him how discouraging it can be when he shots down the stuff I suggest, so he's been working on that, too. When I talk to him he started pausing whatever he's doing to listen to what I say. He still rarely does chores proactively but as long as I explicitly ask for them, he will do them and the household stays intact. He has great emotional restraint and does not blow up at me.

It is very much an improvement from where we were 5 years ago. It took both medication adjustments and huge effort from both of us. It went from "I really cannot deal with all this anymore, I need to leave this relationship" to "Omg this is so frustrating sometimes but at least he's trying and doing things". Now I just vent on this forum to keep myself sane instead.

/r/ADHD_partners Thread Parent