Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

How I Run a Company with ADHD

andrewaskins.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

121–130 of 515 posts

Re: How I Run a Company with ADHD

#121

Post by jwr »

Andrew, you need to read the book "Driven" by Douglas Brackmann and Randy Kelley. You will quite likely find out that the book describes you well. If I'm guessing right, you are one of the "driven", people with certain genes expressed differently from 90% of the population. ADHD is just one of the possible visible symptoms, there are certain other markers that are important (some of which you exhibit: you are a founder/entrepreneur for example).

Give the book a try. It changed my life (and I don't say that lightly). If I'm right, it might change yours.

Re: How I Run a Company with ADHD

#122

Post by Sophistifunk »

ScottFree wrote: post #36

My reaction to this article has been... complex. ----- Bah! Another article about ADHD. ADHD's over diagnosed and not not as big a problem as people make it out to be. But, I'm curious all of a sudden, so I might as well read it. > For the first 19 years of my life I knew I was lazy. Yeah, I'm pretty lazy too. That's just who I am, though. I don't have ADHD... > So what, you can't stop bouncing your leg at the restau…

I'm long-diagnosed (and medicated) ADHD, but this article still went straight to the wife as a great way for her to see a little more into my head.

Re: How I Run a Company with ADHD

#123

Post by atiredturte »

AD(H)D is a complicated and commonly misunderstood condition. Despite its name, it does not mean people with it have a deficit of attention. It involves (amongst other things): atypical dopamine production/regulation, and issues in the Prefrontal Cortex (where executive functions are handled).

Because of this, it's not unusual for other conditions to cause people to experience similar symptoms to those with AD(H)D. The main difference, is that for people with AD(H)D, the symptoms are chronic and disruptive.

Many symptoms caused by the executive function component can also be experienced by those who have theirs inhibited. This can be because they are: tired, stressed, drunk etc.

When reading this or other articles on AD(H)D, if you resonate with the symptoms I urge you to read up and potentially get diagnosed.

Just please don't assume that "everyone has some kind of ADHD" or that "ADHD is't real" because some symptoms are shared by other conditions, and can often seem like regular parts of the human condition.

Re: How I Run a Company with ADHD

#124

Post by Sophistifunk »

akarma wrote: post #10
blakesterz wrote: post #2

ADHD sucks. I mean, it ain't cancer, but it sucks. I was never officially diagnosed, but when my son was at 7 is when I realized what ADHD really is, and that I'm an ADHD guy. Some how I made it through 40+ years with it and never knew it. I struggled though college, took me 9 years to get my BA. Somehow got a masters. Somehow managed to get a series of better jobs after my degrees. And I've somehow succeeded in life…

As someone who also has it: have you tried medicine like Adderall? I’m so torn on it. On one hand, it makes me so productive, but on the other, it makes me so unemotional and cold and abrasive. It also makes me sweat, increases my heart rate, and has a terrible comedown when taken often. I was diagnosed at 16 and was on it for years, eventually moving up to 4x the dosage as my body grew resistance. I’ve stopped it fo…

I've never had Adderall because it's not for sale in .au for some reason. I've tried Ritalin and Modafinil and Dexamphetamines. Ritalin didn't help much and gave me headaches, but Modafinil is much better. It doesn't help with the ADHD quite as well as Dex does, but all the annoying side effects are far less pronounced as well. Unfortunately in .au you can't get it subsidised for ADHD, only narcolepsy, so I've stuck with Dex just because it's so much cheaper, despite it being way worse for you.

Re: How I Run a Company with ADHD

#125

Post by nsilvestri »

fouc wrote: post #109
ScottFree wrote: post #36

My reaction to this article has been... complex. ----- Bah! Another article about ADHD. ADHD's over diagnosed and not not as big a problem as people make it out to be. But, I'm curious all of a sudden, so I might as well read it. > For the first 19 years of my life I knew I was lazy. Yeah, I'm pretty lazy too. That's just who I am, though. I don't have ADHD... > So what, you can't stop bouncing your leg at the restau…

I think the best description of ADHD I heard was that it has more to do with an "attention-switching" deficit. People with ADHD are capable of intense focus on highly stimulating things like a good book. The intensity of focus drowns out everything else, making it hard to deal with other important tasks until the book is finished. It's also much more difficult to maintain their attention on things that are no longer…

The attention switching idea seems consistent with my own experiences. I dated a girl with pretty severe ADHD; whenever she watched Arrested Development (a very fast paced sitcom with a lot happening) she would turn into a zombie and be almost entirely oblivious to any outside stimuli.

Re: How I Run a Company with ADHD

#126

Post by stefanfisk »

philliphaydon wrote: post #75
ScottFree wrote: post #36

My reaction to this article has been... complex. ----- Bah! Another article about ADHD. ADHD's over diagnosed and not not as big a problem as people make it out to be. But, I'm curious all of a sudden, so I might as well read it. > For the first 19 years of my life I knew I was lazy. Yeah, I'm pretty lazy too. That's just who I am, though. I don't have ADHD... > So what, you can't stop bouncing your leg at the restau…

> > I was happiest with my nose in the book > I'm seeing a disturbing pattern take shape. I fall into alot of the list but I will say I do not suffer from ADHD. When I was at school I was told I had ADHD and put on Ritalin. But I couldn't tell the difference between taking ritalin and not taking it, I didn't focus any better, didn't get in trouble any less. I always figured I wasn't challenged enough in school, or wa…

My partner went to a Waldorf school grade 1 through 12, and whenever we discuss what school was like it blows my mind that she has no idea about just how horribly "regular" schools are at fostering creativity and interest. She has been diagnosed with ADHD as an adult because she has a REALLY hard time with handling everyday life, but for her school was never a problem because of the "fluid" philosophy of Waldorf.

While I like Sir Robinson's talk, for me The Seven-Lesson Schoolteacher is what really struck a cord: http://www.swaraj.org/multiversity/gatto_7lesson.htm. I always felt like the school system (in Sweden at least) mainly wanted to students to fit into it, rather than the other way around. So as someone who is gifted according to WISC and WAIS, but who lacks the executive functioning and skill to do anything except whatever happens to be the most interesting at the moment, it was just hell. Even now at age 36 my body goes stiff whenever someone mentions homework O_O

Re: How I Run a Company with ADHD

#127

Post by blotter_paper »

stefanfisk wrote: post #110
blotter_paper wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm certainly not arguing that anybody else should avoid diagnosis. I don't expect this to be a popular opinion, but I tend to stay away from medical practitioners in general. The last time I broke a bone I did some googling and treated it at home; I generally feel like the time and money needed to access professional medical advice isn't worth the knowledge which is already available at my fingertips faster and chea…

it sound like your argument is essentially that medical professionals cost too much money and have too low availability to make it worth your effort, is that correct? if so, may I ask where in the world you live?

Midwest US. If I felt like they were good at what they're for, I would probably use them more. My experiences have been bad. We're veering quite a bit off-topic here, but the last time I went to a doctor it was because I was shitting blood. I figured it was probably hemorrhoids based on googling, but was worried of an off-chance of cancer and decided to get it checked out. They had me collect a stool sample and come back two weeks later. I did, and the first thing they did was throw the sample away without examining it -- they said they shouldn't have even asked for me to collect a stool sample to begin with and apologized. Cool doc, thanks for having me scoop my shit into a cup for no reason. Then they charged me ~$300, had me get naked, and the doctor asked why I wasn't circumcised without me bringing it up and encouraged me to get circumcised multiple times (in my 20s) while I repeatedly said I wasn't interested and that it's supposed to harm sensitivity, and then he finally proceeded to stick a camera up my ass. The results were ultimately inconclusive, he said it was probably hemorrhoids but that he couldn't see them with the camera and verify that. So I'm out ~$300, my collecting-my-own-shit-in-a-little-cup virginity, my arguing-with-a-doctor-about-circumcision virginity, and my having-a-camera-shoved-up-my-ass virginity, and I don't know anything more than my free google searches told me two weeks earlier. 0/10, would not visit again. YMMV.

No, it's not lost on me that I admitted to previously consuming 3/4 of a gallon of Monster a day two comments ago and now I'm posting about shitting blood, but I think there were other contributing factors (notably bad lifting technique).

Edit: More on topic, if I don't care about the yes/no checkbox of whether they think I have "ADHD," and I don't want to get on the medication (which I've tried, informally researched, and made a fairly informed decision about), what can professional advice provide me that internet research about symptoms and ways of coping with them can't?

Re: How I Run a Company with ADHD

#129

Post by bepvte »

firecall wrote: post #57
ScottFree wrote: post #36

My reaction to this article has been... complex. ----- Bah! Another article about ADHD. ADHD's over diagnosed and not not as big a problem as people make it out to be. But, I'm curious all of a sudden, so I might as well read it. > For the first 19 years of my life I knew I was lazy. Yeah, I'm pretty lazy too. That's just who I am, though. I don't have ADHD... > So what, you can't stop bouncing your leg at the restau…

I have ADHD. There are other serious neurological issues connected to ADHD. It's a very misunderstood disorder with a broad spectrum of identifiable symptoms that could indicate ADHD. If you are heavily medicating with caffeine, then that can be a signal. I was using Pseudoephedrine and caffeine to self medicate and stabilise my moods and behaviours. That was before I got prescribed Ritalin. But as the article says,…

The "bit like bipolar part" might be a thing called emotional hyperarousal thats common with adhd, if you ever need its name to google

Re: How I Run a Company with ADHD

#130

Post by all2 »

bg4 wrote: post #56
akarma wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who also has it: have you tried medicine like Adderall? I’m so torn on it. On one hand, it makes me so productive, but on the other, it makes me so unemotional and cold and abrasive. It also makes me sweat, increases my heart rate, and has a terrible comedown when taken often. I was diagnosed at 16 and was on it for years, eventually moving up to 4x the dosage as my body grew resistance. I’ve stopped it fo…

I have ADD and sleep apnea, a double whammy of conditions that society likes to mislabel as 'character flaws'. I took ADD for a few years; it helped at first but after a year or so I had to stop because I was becoming very angry when on it. I believe the exhaustion/constant jet lag of the apnea (even with CPAP treatment) and work/kids entirely depleted my patience and self-control and the adderall then exacerbated my…

I was diagnosed with sleep apnea. I no longer need my machine Here are some of the things I tried: cut out wheat, cut out refined sugars, lift heavy things 3 to 5 times a week, do an elimination diet (whole 30 is a good one), get a good supplement stack (Standard Process has good stuff)...

I'm not sure what else I tried. I think the changes in my diet made the biggest difference.

Post reply on HN