Ritalin issues

This is my first Reddit post - I’ve been following this community since I started Ritalin about 5 months ago because I have hard time articulating how I’m feeling so I’ve used this forum as a sort of guide for comparison. I was diagnosed as having a deficit disorder rather than hyperactivity (I’m not a hyperactive or impulsive person at all). Right now I’m taking 20mg ER once daily and a 10mg SR once daily, sometimes just one or the other depending on the day. Sometimes I don’t take it but most days I do.

Overall I’m happy with the results it’s given me on a professional level. And it’s helped with my anxiety a lot as well which I suspect is the biggest attribute to my attention deficit issues.

My biggest problem is once it wears off and I have to socialize. I have dinner with my family after work several nights a week and I feel like on those days I have to change the timing of my doses so it’s not completely worn off by the time I see them. Because once it wears off I’m just ready to lay down and do something mind numbing like scrolling my phone. I get kind of irritable and just don’t have any thoughts in my head. It feels like a chore to spend time with my family at that point. I’m still working on things I can do to make my doses last longer/get the “best” results. Recently I’ve found that taking the first doseabout 30 minutes after a snack/meal works better. And I have to force myself to eat which helps with irritability. I can’t take the 10mg short release too long after the 20mg ER because then it makes things worse. I take the short release about 4-5 hours after the 20mg. So on days where I have plans after work I’m taking the 20mg around noon and short release about 4pm which is annoying. I still sleep fine but I wish it was something that I could take at like 9am and last until 7 or so.

I’ve heard vyvanse can be a smoother drop off vs the Ritalin crash and one dose lasts longer? I’m nervous to start on something closer to adderall because addiction does run in my family and I have some of those tendencies too (and I vape).

Idk. If anyone has any input/similar issues to share I’d really appreciated it.