> For folks without ADHD, you should know that stimulants, like Ritalin and Adderall, do not usually cause the same response as in non-ADHD people.

I can confirm; I have ADHD and this even applies to stronger stimulants like cocaine. Cocaine doesn't do much for me, so I never understood why my friends were always bouncing off the walls while I was just chilling, like "what's the big deal with this drug". I didn't get it until I was diagnosed with ADHD and understood how our brains are wired differently.

Same here. In fact, when the psychiatrist was taking history in my initial screening, when I mentioned I'd taken cocaine but been disappointed with its lack of euphoric effect despite my friends enjoying it (it just made my face numb), she said that sort of previous reaction to stimulants was common in her ADHD diagnosed patients.

When I started on Vyvanse after diagnosis, the biggest effect I noticed at first was that my mind just felt quite calm compared to usual. No high or anything like that, just .. not as many uncontrollable thoughts rushing around my mind like they usually do.

Yes, I have a good friend who stopped taking prescription medicine for his severe ADHD long ago. In school he self-medicated with lots of drugs, and the drugs never affected him the same way as others.

Now he just smokes a ton of weed everyday, but you would never know it, he's very normal, stable. Off weed? He's a mess, bouncing off the walls.