Takes me 16 hours of trying to wake up, then I go to bed and try again the next day.

Non-24h sleep disorder is a common comorbidity with ADHD. If you are always tired when you wake up this is likely the cause.

It takes all of the spiders a while to leave your head

So very much yes. I'm not on any meds like strattera or stimulants like Adderall, and I definitely take the entire morning to get going.

Unless there's an emergency at work that requires adrenaline and attention, I don't produce much of anything until the afternoon.

You're not alone!

You're not alone. I wake at 7am, sit for about an hour for my brain to spool up, shower and get ready, and leave by 9:30am

I find my brain isn't fully online for probably about that. This is after taking vyvanse and my iced latte (about 1.5 - 2 oz espresso).

I feel I'm awake but not fully with it. At least that is my perception based on attempting to do the times crossword. :) When I first wake up I feel like an idiot trying to think of the answers and about 2-3 hours in I come back to it and it is much easier. No this isn't scientific at all lol. And I've only just started noticing this in the last week or two.

I am not usually particularly groggy after about 10 minutes.

I should mention that about 30-60 min after taking vyvanse I get a mood lift and feel especially motivated to accomplish things.

Anyway no I don't feel like it takes that long to reach peak operation.

Off the medicine I'm similarly awake but don't get the mood lift and cotton-headed and less self-motivated all day instead of clear.

Sleep apnea can also cause fatigue for hours when waking up and it often goes undiagnosed for people living/sleeping alone.

Basically the body refuses to breathe correctly while sleeping, which leads to oxygen deprivation in the brain, causing a huge strain on the heart and cardiovascular systems.

Some side effects are difficulty waking up in the morning, general fatigue or tiredness during the day, gasping for air while sleeping (you wouldn't notice this yourself), and sometimes especially vivid or weird dreams.

Definitely check with your physician as it can cause early heart failure.

Do you exercise? What is your diet like?

I know you've probably heard all of this before, but once I started running like 1 hour a week (20 minutes at a time was super manageable for me) and paying a bit more attention to what I ate my sleep schedule and morning alertness became way more consistent.

Since I stopped drinking and doing drugs I don't have that issue anymore.

Maybe inversion of sleep schedule? Apparently, that's common with ADHD. But, in doubt, seek professional assistance.

I'm quite useless for at least the first one and a half hours after waking up. My strategy is ritualization. In this time I do the same things in the same order every working day: I get up, make breakfast for our cat, take my meds, switch on the coffee machine so it can heat up, shower, shave, brush my teeth, dress, emty the dish washer, make coffee for my self and (if she is already awake) one for my wife. Then pack my lunch, grab my headphones and go to the bus stop. All those things I can do with minimal brain capacity since I have done them the same way thousands of times. And when I arrive at work I'm at least 80% awake.

Yep. This is partly why I work US PST/PDT hours despite living three time zones eastward. If I couldn’t get to sleep until 2:00 am my time, I can still get eight hours of sleep and be up an hour before work. And because West Coast folks tend to be less anal about such things (they just care that work is getting done and communication is happening), if necessary I can start an hour or two late on days when there are no morning meetings.

I also only take my first Dexedrine dose unless it’s a very bad day for focusing and I don’t have any morning obligations the following day.

I'm literally exhausted all the time. I know some of it is my (poor excuse for a) diet. I just never have any energy. I really have to push to do anything.

Yes. Getting up is so exhausting