For me it was serious black-outs and lots of migraines. The ones where you start seeing scintillating scotoma [0].

On top of that both anger and anxiety attacks, you know all the fun stuff.

Of course this is different for almost anyone but I’ve spoken with some folks who’ve had similar-ish symptoms.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scintillating_scotoma

Not everyone is equal. For what you say , talking everything at face value , you may have something that stimulates treat such as add/adhd and that may also mean more prone to depression or it’s slower burn dysthymia.

There are many confounders. To the extent the problem is caused by depression, the negative feedback loop of stimulants leading to poor sleep can actually have net positive effect (possibly only short to mid term, IANADoctor, this is not medical advice), because sleep deprivation seems to (in my experience, anecdotally confirmed from various sources) shut off depression symptoms faster than it shuts down your cognitive power.

Related: see also Ballmer Peak[0], which is particularly funny because the effect is, to a degree, real.

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[0] - https://xkcd.com/323/

I'd say though that not all stimulants necessarily mess with sleep. I've been mostly using methylphenidate and it only messes with ability to fall asleep for the few first days when I'm back after a break. I do not have ADHD however, at least according to diagnostic tests. I have had depression and anxiety diagnosis though.

I do, and I'm prescribed methylphenidate (though I'm currently on a break). I agree, they don't mess with ability to fall asleep except early on (for me, it was literally on the first day, but man I was losing it after trying and failing to fall asleep the whole night). But they do let you get away with sustained 3-4h/day of sleep. Which eventually comes back to bite you.

How do you decide on your breaks? I have prescription too, but I usually use everything up within 70% of the time period and then 30% I have a break, which was not intended, but this is what I've been doing anyway. In a way it's good to have these breaks at least to understand dependence and tolerance.

So each month I have a period of a little over a week of break.

I didn't say the break was intentional :). I run out, but I figured I'll just wait until the next appointment and see how I take a prolonged break, because it's been years since I did a break longer than a day. The problem is, as a father of two small kids, my family life and professional life are in fierce competition for my mental faculties, so I never feel like I can "afford" a break. I do recognize it's an irrational and self-defeating thought, but if that realization could impact my behavior, I wouldn't be on stimulants in the first place ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

RE my break, I maybe had only a day of "withdrawal" that was more of a little panic mode, that lasted until I realized I'm really managing just fine, only maybe slightly less so. Week later, I was still managing fine - though everything was noticeably harder, and I was only compensating with habits developed since starting the treatment (and perhaps novelty of such long break itself).