Ask HN: What’s the unspoken situation with substance abuse by tech workers?

I don’t suspect any of my colleagues take stimulants.

I personally do. I find coding to be incredibly boring and the only reason I do it is for money. Stimulants help make it almost interesting.

A old coworker boasted about abuse of stimulants and actively conversed with folks publicly about strategies to get your doctor to prescribe an increased dosage.

He was also very arrogant, pumped out features like no tomorrow but the code was always just barely functioning. Product loved him because he delivered but he left a wake of destruction for the security team to clean up.

Another person I worked with said he would never hire or work with someone who uses nicotine. It was even suggested that nicotine users "deserve" to be sabotaged and should not be employed.

I work in Manhattan, and have for about 15 years at various startups and software companies. Personally, I've never seen it normalized. Sure, marijuana casually for some people. But it was generally not discussed and frowned upon. The same with Adderall, which is more of "did you hear people at X company are all on Adderall and working 16 hour days?" There is definitely rampant semi-abuse of energy drinks and coffee though. Personally, I could drink a red bull and take a nap if I wanted to.

I’m the same, in fact in all my years reading hn I seem to comment when ADHD comes up more than anything else.

Meds (stimulants) changed my life in such a profoundly positive way, that I can’t accept anyone’s stigma for this condition. I know people still misunderstand it, I held off diagnosis for a decade because I didn’t.

Meds help me get my brain closer to an operating baseline you’d find in neurotypical brains. I’ve heard it described that ADHD is like having 70-80% packet loss on information moving around the brain (from the cerebellum to the cortexes and back). You have to work extra hard (in you head) to compensate for that, it’s like wading through the most complex coding problem—but your just trying to do the dishes.

If you don’t need stimulants (for example if they get you high, or you don’t have adhd/a prescription), please think twice before abusing ADHD meds. There an artificial shortage in the US that’s forcing people to skip days/months of medication.

Imagine after wearing glasses for 1/5/10 years only to have them taken away because the maximum number of glasses wearers has been reached. People who abuse stimulants tend to (in my experience) be the ones most active in discrediting ADHD as a disorder—they seem to have a really hard time understanding that a drug that gets them high to the point of bouncing off the walls, generally has a calming effect on an adhd brain and enables focus.

Talking openly is important not only to help the people you work with understand how to support you to get the most out of you, when you have to hide it you expend lots of energy masking your symptoms.

Meds help, but they’re only a piece of the puzzle. They’re outrageously effectively relative to all other drugs used in psychology. But they’re serious drugs which sometimes come with initial side effects that are rough af. Meds help get the quantity of available neurotransmitters to similar levels as a neurotypical brain.

In addition to them, accomodations are needed. Working from home (fewer distractions), listening to music (to help focus when your under-stimulated), time shifting your day (I’m a night owl, and don’t start my day before 10am). These are just some ideas, everyone’s different.

Some employers understand the benefits ADHD/Autistic/neurodivergent people can bring to an organisation—our brains think through problems differently, they connect different ideas. But, you need to accommodate. If the ND people at your work are masking, it means not only are they not feeling safe, you’ve effectively added an additional handicap to them.

I regret waiting a decade. I was misled by the name, and the assumption that ADHD is loud, hyperactive troublemakers. I loathe the name ADHD, it does a disservice to everyone by describing a condition by how it affects everyone else at the expense of those who suffer from it.

My own talking about it has led to at least 5 people I know personally seeking a diagnosis. I wish someone suggested looking into it to me, it would have saved me a decade. Better late than never though. Everyone who got a diagnosis has been incredibly grateful, it really makes it worth it. It feels like being given your life back.

To the GP, don’t start talking publicly if you don’t feel safe to. Culturally in different parts of the world it’s not treated the same yet.

If you can talk about your experience with it, please do it helps everyone, but don’t put yourself or your job at risk—it’s hard enough without that extra burden.

There’s a variety of different medications available, it seems common that one or more will give you persistently bad side effects. But usually you can find at least one that’s good. Stimulants seem to have initial side effects that pass after about 2 weeks, as well as side effects from dosages too high.

If you can, try a different medication.

Long term, if the opportunity comes to work somewhere where your employer understands adhd take it. There’s often untapped power in our brains that you get access to when your properly supported.