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Adults with ADHD show decreased function in brain dopamine reward pathway (2010)

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

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Re: Adults with ADHD show decreased function in brain dopamine reward pathway (2010)

#151

Post by skissane »

burtonator wrote: post #52
_dibly wrote: post #7

This was an interesting read but, as an adult with ADHD, all I get out of this is that medication is even more of a benefit to those with real difficulties coping with their ADHD. I've always been one to 'just deal with it' but after a few years of working through school and seeing my younger brothers go through the same thing with medication, I realized that I was essentially just handicapping myself. Now I take med…

I've been on Adderall for 5 years ... I'm 43 right now. It really HAS changed my life. What I've found is that over the long term you're able to perform much much better. By the time I was in my 30s I had developed coping skills which worked for the most part but I would find myself getting demotivated and defocused sometimes on long term priorities and sometimes unable to recommit to them. Adderall totally changed t…

> Some people have problems with off brands of XR (extended release) that has a different formulation. There's no standardization on the XR process and I think it's vendor specific.

“Aderall” is a mixture of dextroamphetamine and levoamphetamine, in a 3:1 ratio. Unlike some other drugs, both enantiomers have a therapeutic effect, but slightly different effects on the brain.

If one takes pure dextroamphetamine (“Dexedrine”) instead, that is also available as an inactive prodrug lisdexamfetamine (“Vyvanse”). This is different from an XR formulation, in that the drug is absorbed immediately, but lisdexamfetamine itself has no effect on the brain. However, enzymes in your red blood cells gradually convert the lisdexamfetamine to dexamphetamine. The advantage of this, is unlike an XR formulation, there should be no difference between different manufacturers.

Re: Adults with ADHD show decreased function in brain dopamine reward pathway (2010)

#152

Post by paufernandez »

_dibly wrote: post #7

This was an interesting read but, as an adult with ADHD, all I get out of this is that medication is even more of a benefit to those with real difficulties coping with their ADHD. I've always been one to 'just deal with it' but after a few years of working through school and seeing my younger brothers go through the same thing with medication, I realized that I was essentially just handicapping myself. Now I take med…

What do you take now? My kid is still doing mostly fine 'just dealing with it' (10yo) but I want to be ready.

Re: Adults with ADHD show decreased function in brain dopamine reward pathway (2010)

#153

Post by GABeech »

stevefan1999 wrote: post #136

I'm an ADD adult and this especially hits me when I'm participating competitions, be it leetcode coding competition or examination. I just hate to do it and every other bits of attention source will got me seeked on, like a notification from my phone, or someone dropped a pen to the ground. That's how fast I lost focus. But on the other hand sometimes I can be extra-focused, with a prerequisite it's something I enjoy…

> The only thing I had to deal with it slightly is my Ritalin...only so slightly I can "normally" focus for an hour. I just hope things go right in the rest of my life.

Talk to your doctor, there have been many advances in ADHD meds and they all work differently on different people. Some people respond well to Ritalin, Some respond well to the generic. Some respond well the Adderal, or Vyvanse. For some people only the name brand formulation works. Some people any formulation works. Also, make sure you are at the right dosage. You can and do build up a tolerance over time. I try to take weekends off when I don't have anything in particular I need to do, and at least one or two weeks a year (normally when I go on vacation).

Re: Adults with ADHD show decreased function in brain dopamine reward pathway (2010)

#154

Post by hoot »

acituan wrote: post #98
dr_dshiv wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know what's totally nuts? Taking Amphetamine daily for years in reasonable doses essentially has no long term negative effects. In that way, similar to coffee. When I think about that, it's kind of mind blowing. For that matter, it is also crazy that we don't start giving children coffee at younger ages to help focus — since there are no known negative effects. It's just a cultural trope that it stunts growth, et…

> we don't start giving children coffee at younger ages to help focus > we are inhibiting our full potential because of misplaced fears? I'll argue with the assumption that there is zero long term psychobiological consequences to exogenous psychostimulants (I personally don't buy this, but let's assume it was true). Increasing focus and task salience is only one of the many factors constitutive of human potential. Th…

Thank you for writing this. As someone who has recently been weighing the pros/cons of seeking treatment for ADHD, this has been one of the best points I've read on the potential downsides to it. Currently, in my career (software dev) I've been feeling increasingly burnt out and like it's impossible to focus on anything. I have to sit back and ask myself, is the problem that I can't focus, or is the problem that I'm doing something that I feel is meaningless?

If I got treatment for ADHD, maybe then I would be able to finally churn through all of my tasks and be a top performer in terms of closing stories. If I didn't pursue treatment, then maybe I continue to be unable to focus and completely burn out, resulting in the loss of my job. Maybe after that I pivot my career to where I'm doing something that I find to be more fulfilling. What's the better outcome?

Re: Adults with ADHD show decreased function in brain dopamine reward pathway (2010)

#155

Post by emit_time »

Biggest issue for me is palpitations on adderall. Withdrawal gives me annoying palpitations and I get them sometimes while taking it.

It’s very annoying when I want to take the weekend off and have to suffer through massive withdrawal.

Honestly has changed my life for the better overall, but if anyone has any suggestions for trying to get rid of palpitations, it would be very much appreciated.

Re: Adults with ADHD show decreased function in brain dopamine reward pathway (2010)

#156

Post by aantix »

costcopizza wrote: post #134
aantix wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Curious if you've ever done a hair follicle mineral test to check for mineral deficiencies? We've been working through the book, "Finally Focused", to help our son. Magnesium supplementation is recommendation #1, Iron supplementation (if deficient as demonstrated by the test) and then the over-the-counter, lithium orotate. We haven't gotten further than chapter 3, yet.

I like this idea. Do you have a source for a company that will do this? Or does it require a doctors office visit?

This is the one we ordered. We haven’t administered it yet. https://arltma.com/hairanalysis/

The lab doesn’t sell directly so you have to order it through a wellness center.

Re: Adults with ADHD show decreased function in brain dopamine reward pathway (2010)

#157

Post by aidenn0 »

emptysongglass wrote: post #145
aidenn0 wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My psychiatrist was disinclined to try that one with me seeing that both Methylphenidate (Ritalin) and Adderal caused sleep issues for me.

You just have to get over the curve of about a week of regular dosage then you can sleep at a normal hour. But it should be the first thing you do in the morning. Modafinil was The Answer for me after trying everything else. I don't know why psychiatrists always insist on a battery of other drugs first, which can cause everything from aggression to obvious personality shifts to mania to damage to the dopaminergic axo…

1. There is a strong slant against off-label uses of drugs in general

2. Insurance companies require extra paperwork for anything other than the 2 or 3 most common drugs. I ended up on Dexmethylphenidate after trying a few others; I rate it as "okay" but still so much better than unmedicated that I paid a few hundred dollars out-of-pocket for it while I was convincing the insurance company to approve it. I ended up on ER, which doesn't work as well because they wouldn't approve 2x 10mg of non ER but would approve 1x 20mg of the ER. sigh

Re: Adults with ADHD show decreased function in brain dopamine reward pathway (2010)

#158

Post by shajznnckfke »

winter_blue wrote: post #105
dr_dshiv wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know what's totally nuts? Taking Amphetamine daily for years in reasonable doses essentially has no long term negative effects. In that way, similar to coffee. When I think about that, it's kind of mind blowing. For that matter, it is also crazy that we don't start giving children coffee at younger ages to help focus — since there are no known negative effects. It's just a cultural trope that it stunts growth, et…

> You know what's totally nuts? Taking Amphetamine daily for years in reasonable doses essentially has no long term negative effects. In that way, similar to coffee. Wow, that is truly amazing. I'm glad to learn about that. I notice a slight depression if I stop taking my ADHD meds for a few days (perhaps up to a week), but after that I'm back to my old (ADHD-driven) self. So in a sense, it's not addictive at all. Th…

> One side effect of Adderall though is ED, and it's pretty bad. I guess it depends on the person, but for me, the ED was quite bad. The ED does go away after getting off of it.

The drugs for that are very easy to get these days - you can get a prescription online by taking a survey and the pills will be mailed to you without ever talking to a human.

Re: Adults with ADHD show decreased function in brain dopamine reward pathway (2010)

#159

Post by WarOnPrivacy »

robinreekers wrote: post #141
bg4 wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I started taking it in my late 30s for ADD and it was life changing. Over time though it was making me super angry so I stopped taking it. I now focus on sleep and exercise but my career really accelerated while I was taking it.

Same here. Super angry about some random guy wearing a blue sweater that I didn’t like for example. It made no sense to me why I was that angry, but it went away after quitting... I was seriously afraid to kill somebody if I would continue taking it.

I got like that on Ritalin & quit stims for 10 years.

After that 10, I tried amphetamine which blew holes in my persistent brain fog. I went on Adderall and (as we've often heard) it changed my life.

I'm not advocating you change a regimen that is obviously working for you. I'm just adding another possible plotline to that same story.

Re: Adults with ADHD show decreased function in brain dopamine reward pathway (2010)

#160

Post by emit_time »

ergwwrt wrote: post #135

Michael Phelps. ADHD. 28 Olympic Medals. That is all you have to know about ADHA..

Bill Gates. Random condition. $100 billion dollars. That’s all you need to know about random condition.

Terrible analogy.

If you can design your life to be benefited by ADHD, that’s awesome.

If you’re stuck working a 9-5 like a large portion of the population ADHD sucks.

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