Hi all. First time poster, although I've read these boards often. Please be nice!

I am 24 years old. I was (officially) diagnosed with ADHD about two years ago, midway through my master's program. I had originally went to a psychiatrist for issues with depression (it turns out that I *may* have bipolar). Adderall helped me tremendously when getting through my last year of college. I was very busy, and it was a lifesaver. I took 20 mg 3 X a day. I also lost about 10 lbs; I went from about 130 lbs. to 120 lbs. No biggie. I still ate fairly normally; I would simply eat meals every four hours when the medication wore off. I just snacked less. I decided to discontinue the medication when I got out of college. I was less busy, so I started taking 2 pills per day instead of 3, and this led to being very irritable and depressed in the evenings.

In the past year, I have gained 30 lbs. I have never been close to this heavy in my life. I would have been fine with going back to my normal weight of 130, but 150 is ridiculous.

I suffered from an eating disorder in high school, so I am very hesitant about attempting to diet to lose the weight. Diets tend to be all-or-nothing for me, so I am very wary of drastically changing my eating habits. And I have tried to make small changes to my diet, to no avail.

I have tried to find information on this and Google is not helping. Do you think it's possible that going off the medication dramatically reduced my metabolism? If I would have went back to my normal metabolism, then I should have went back to my normal weight as well. Is it possible that my metabolism is permanently damaged?

Also, if I were to consider going back on an ADHD medication, does anyone have any experience with the irritability issue? I do feel like my work is suffering because of my lack of focus, so I would like to treat my ADHD, but I do not like the crash in the evenings. Both Vyvanse and Adderall XR also cause this effect. I'm also tempted to go back on the medication to lose some of this excess weight. I realize that's not the healthiest viewpoint, but it's the truth, so please don't blame me for my honesty.

I am not currently on any medications, only supplements. I was on several medications and had trouble weaning myself of all of them, so I am also hesitant about again becoming dependent on a medication.

Thanks in advance for any replies.