[flagged]
"Real human glow" is so nonspecific, as if you were inviting a flame war on purpose
Nonspecific, but I understood it.
Ask HN: Should I medicate my ADHD?
21–30 of 114 posts
Re: Ask HN: Should I medicate my ADHD?
#22Re: Ask HN: Should I medicate my ADHD?
#23Yes, OP. In fact you should try see a doctor for this as soon as you can. People with ADHD have spoken about how they lost years of their lives through unrealized potential. People that might have otherwise gotten degrees, had more successful careers, and easier lives. It adds up massively.
If you do go on meds make sure to be honest with yourself about how you perform. You'll want to pay close attention to your sleep because many people find they can't get healthy sleep on the meds. If that happens a doctor may be able to prescribe something to help or switch to shorter acting stimulants.
Re: Ask HN: Should I medicate my ADHD?
#24I’ve had ADHD my entire life, too, and never tried medication until my early 30s. After being unmedicated for so long and learning to adapt with it as a superpower as you say, I found meds to mostly be ineffective. They do remove the random side noise that can sometimes be detracting, which helps when you need single-minded focus without much deviation. Otherwise, it makes me feel jittery when it’s active and physica…
I have a similar experience. I got a prescription for adderall type medicine when I was around 18 years old. I think my ADHD is not a very severe one. Taking the medication was not worth it for me. I could focus better after taking the pills, but when the effect wore out I was pretty exhausted and way more unconcentrated than before.
Re: Ask HN: Should I medicate my ADHD?
#25> I’ve always thought of my ADHD as a superpower, as I have the ability to intensely hyperfocus and get incredible amounts of work done. This is the literal opposite of what AD(H)D is. You either don’t have ADHD or you have (arguably) ADHD primarily with hyperactivity. ADHD drugs are stimulants— they don’t treat hyperactivity, they treat the attention issue… and as a side effect they are likely to worsen hyperactivit…
> ADHD drugs are stimulants
SOME of them are.
> they don’t treat hyperactivity
Yeah, no. That's just really misleading. The first day on stimulants was the calmest I experienced in years. The whole idea of hyperactivity is (extremely simplified) that your brain fills the space of missing external stimulation. That's where self-stimulation comes from.
Re: Ask HN: Should I medicate my ADHD?
#26[dead]
Re: Ask HN: Should I medicate my ADHD?
#27[flagged]
Worth mentioning that e.g. Methylphenidate (Ritalin) is not an amphetamine, so there are eizher medication options.
Re: Ask HN: Should I medicate my ADHD?
#28Ive never been diagnosed for something like that, but I am inclined to say you should avoid that type of medication unless your condition is dibilitating. It could be the case that you are working harder than you need to, im going to make an assumption about how you approach problems, hopefully its pertinent. I would recommend thinking critically about any given task before getting into the work. When assigned a task…
> I would recommend thinking critically about any given task before getting into the work.
> think of this as reading the instructions and questions on a timed test before foolishly trying to solve the first equation you see
I realise that you’re trying to be helpful here but these comments show a significant misunderstanding of ADHD. For many people with ADHD plunging in without reading the instructions is the only way - or rather, reading the instructions first is nearly impossible, because of impulsivity and hyperactivity. Thinking critically about pieces of work is also difficult because one thought begets another and suddenly you are in a spiral of tangential interwoven thoughts and the whole thing becomes so overwhelming that you can’t see anything except a huge mess of thoughts and interdependencies and “what ifs” and the whole thing becomes paralysing.
What does debilitating really mean? I could always get the work done, and get it done well, but at significant cost to my mental energy. Medication has removed the sprawling overwhelm and allows me to focus and read the instructions first without that sending me into a spiral of overanalysis.
Re: Ask HN: Should I medicate my ADHD?
#29[flagged]
I had a similar experience and almost everyone likes the new me better, including me. The old me said hurtful, asinine things. The new me is the one I always wanted to be.
Re: Ask HN: Should I medicate my ADHD?
#30> I’ve always thought of my ADHD as a superpower, as I have the ability to intensely hyperfocus and get incredible amounts of work done. This is the literal opposite of what AD(H)D is. You either don’t have ADHD or you have (arguably) ADHD primarily with hyperactivity. ADHD drugs are stimulants— they don’t treat hyperactivity, they treat the attention issue… and as a side effect they are likely to worsen hyperactivit…
This is absolutely not true. I take prescribed stimulants for ADHD that has a significant hyperactive element. The stimulants significantly calm my hyperactivity.
I used to self medicate with large amounts of coffee. After my 11th espresso of the day at 7pm I’d cycle home and sleep soundly.