The truth about "Just got meds & I feel amazing!" posts

I considered posting something similar to this earlier today. There are a lot of what I would call "damsel in distress" posts on here (medication being the "hero"). I can understand the excitement, as well as the disappointment, that can come with trying new medications. However, most ADHD medications are highly addictive and have can have some pretty bad side effects. Actually, I don't think I've been prescribed a single ADHD medication that did not have at least one consistent side effect. I still take my meds despite all of that, but I think of them as a tool to be used when necessary. My goal is to find something, whether it be a new routine or some sort of natural supplement, that will help me without the risk of hurting me.

Which reminds me, I want to mention something about this subreddit that disappoints me even more than those posts. Discussions regarding pharmaceutical drugs are very common on here, however, I once made a post asking if anyone had tried a particular herbal supplement that is supposedly beneficial to ADHDers. I was not endorsing it because I had no experience with it myself... I just wanted to know more about it before I started taking it (it was included in a vitapak that I purchased). Anyways, the post was removed before anyone could comment. I messaged the mod responsible and he told me that it had to be removed for "safety reasons." Now, to clarify, the herbal supplement I wished to discuss is a plant. Like almost anything, it has some potential side effects, but nothing like what we experience with the ADHD meds that have "substantial supporting evidence from scientific research," (the words in quotes are what the mod claimed to be the common characteristic of the treatments discussed on this subreddit). Anyways, like I said... The treatment in question was a plant in supplement form that can be purchased in almost any grocery, drug, or health store. Why discussing a plant that you can find beside fish oil on aisle two is forbidden, but the still largely illegal marijuana is not, is a mystery to me. And why this supplement that you can grab while simultaneously picking up Flinstone gummy vitamins is considered more of a safety risk than treatments (and I'm not just referring to marijuana) banned in several prominent countries is also beyond me.

So, the points I am trying to make are that we need to not just empathize with our fellow medicated ADHDers, but also try and help each other improve by sharing the healthy methods that we know of. To the mods, how about promoting better and more open discussions, or at least be consistent in what you consider to be worthy of censorship? Oh, and why the fuck do you say that users should not send mods private messages? I've clicked your profile, dude. I've seen your video game comments. You'rejustanothermember.

/r/ADHD Thread