ADHD

You should probably speak to your doctor/psychiatrist about this, but it sounds like it might be anxiety? Oddly enough Ritalin calms my anxiety as well as helps with my ADHD symptoms. When I was on short acting Ritalin I'd be on the anxiety roller coaster- gone when the meds were in effect, then heart racing as they tapered off. The calming down you describe might be because of the dose kicking in?

Brand or generic?

I can't relate to the hopped up feelings you describe BEFORE you take meds, but I used to get that caffeine jitters feeling when I took generic Adderall XR. I tried three different generics before my pDoc and I decided to try for brand. Better in every way for me.

Strange! Do you get the heart racing feeling when the meds are actually active, or only in that time before the meds kick in? The closest I've gotten to this is that I'll often wake up to take my first dose of medicine about an hour before I really need to get up. If I'm anxious about something happening that day (work, appointment, etc) then I'll stress myself out trying to get myself to fall asleep before my meds kick in, knowing I won't get a chance to fall back asleep again, and that anxiety sort of causes a faster heart rate. But not really related to the medicine, as it's the same anxious reaction I would get back in college when I'd stay up too late studying for a test and then desperately try to fall asleep only to stay awake the whole night before the test 😅 lol

Any chance it's something like that, anxiety/stress related?

I definitely don't have the part pre-medications, and I have the caffeine jitters only sometimes - less than once a week. I'm taking concerta for reference.

I'm very curious about the pre-medication jitters. It feels to me more like anxiety/anticipation than a symptom of medication. What happens if you delay taking medications after you start thinking about it? What do you associate with taking medications? Do you start working or "being in focused mode" right away? I tend to get more jitters if I "need" my meds to be effective soon vs having a bit more time for them to activate fully.

Dont do caffeine while meds, if meds alone are a deal, find new meds with different doctors

def sounds like anxiety. talk to doc, try taking it at diff times, maybe switch to a twice a day thing

Towards the end of me taking generic Adderall XR that would happen. I ultimately switched to Vyvanse and that side effect only happens when I don't sleep well enough and accidentally put too much on my plate that I can't clear off. Somewhat related: my generic Adderall XR was from Lannett. I had a different generic before that which worked okay, but I can't remember the manufacturer.

Do you find the meds are helping? Mine help me and I don't experience that. Tbh I usually wake up, take my meds, and fall back asleep until my second alarm. By that time they've kicked in and I'm ready to face the day.