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Me and ADHD

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Re: Me and ADHD

#11

Post by athorax »

Spivak wrote: post #6

Getting tested & treated for my ADHD was genuinely life-changing for me. It's one of those insidious disorders that doesn't let you know how bad you actually have it until you experience what it's like without it for the first time. The inattentive type is nothing like the stereotypes. One of my favorite signs you might have ADHD. Caffeine doesn't do anything for you and/or makes you sleepy. You've never know what ot…

I very much identify with this. Both from an ADHD and anxiety perspective. I really had no idea how bad it had gotten until I was able to experience what not having constant anxiety felt like. Medication was a huge step forward in helping me "reset" and gave me a way to target actual life events that triggered my anxiety

Re: Me and ADHD

#12

Post by logicslave »

ThrustVectoring wrote: post #7

Not surprised at all that caffeine helps. ADHD is, bar none, the mental health diagnosis most amenable to medication. Specifically, stimulant therapy. There's no principled distinction between self-medicating and prescriptions here, other than various legal risks, costs, and side effect profiles. Caffeine is particularly poorly suited to this due to adaptation and anxiety, but it's certainly something , especially if…

Yes, but in the long run amphetamines will do significant damage to your health.

Re: Me and ADHD

#13

Post by athorax »

dmarchand90 wrote: post #8
athorax wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me, it is the "open-ended" part of a project that really ends up screwing me. If I don't have a definitive task/goal to work towards that is when I start to procrastinate

For me the worst part is when I have a combination of short urgent tasks and an open ended one. The open ended task always ends up being pushed aside

My support request queue has been routinely emptied this week exactly because of that haha

Re: Me and ADHD

#14

Post by borski »

logicslave wrote: post #12
ThrustVectoring wrote: post #7

Not surprised at all that caffeine helps. ADHD is, bar none, the mental health diagnosis most amenable to medication. Specifically, stimulant therapy. There's no principled distinction between self-medicating and prescriptions here, other than various legal risks, costs, and side effect profiles. Caffeine is particularly poorly suited to this due to adaptation and anxiety, but it's certainly something , especially if…

Yes, but in the long run amphetamines will do significant damage to your health.

Only if abused at high doses. I was recently diagnosed with ADD and the adderall XR is incredibly helpful, and at my 10mg dose on an “as needed” basis (since I don’t need productivity every day) I’m not concerned at all.

Re: Me and ADHD

#15

Post by athorax »

jasonlotito wrote: post #9
athorax wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me, it is the "open-ended" part of a project that really ends up screwing me. If I don't have a definitive task/goal to work towards that is when I start to procrastinate

Oh, I know this problem. Happens quite often. A technique I use is to break down the project into smaller pieces. What's the smallest well-defined task/goal I can work toward. Even if it's just setting up the repo, or writing out a README. It's amazing how often this little step can help kick things off.

Definitely. It is one of the reasons I enjoy working in a 2 week sprint setting (all other reasons aside). It forces me to really break tasks down to actionable items

Re: Me and ADHD

#16

Post by elliekelly »

logicslave wrote: post #12
ThrustVectoring wrote: post #7

Not surprised at all that caffeine helps. ADHD is, bar none, the mental health diagnosis most amenable to medication. Specifically, stimulant therapy. There's no principled distinction between self-medicating and prescriptions here, other than various legal risks, costs, and side effect profiles. Caffeine is particularly poorly suited to this due to adaptation and anxiety, but it's certainly something , especially if…

Yes, but in the long run amphetamines will do significant damage to your health.

Leaving ADHD untreated can do significant damage to your health, too.

Re: Me and ADHD

#18

Post by borski »

Spivak wrote: post #6

Getting tested & treated for my ADHD was genuinely life-changing for me. It's one of those insidious disorders that doesn't let you know how bad you actually have it until you experience what it's like without it for the first time. The inattentive type is nothing like the stereotypes. One of my favorite signs you might have ADHD. Caffeine doesn't do anything for you and/or makes you sleepy. You've never know what ot…

100% this. I was diagnosed last year (at 33), and it changed my life for the better; specifically, it allowed me to stop being angry at myself every time I did something that was, in fact, a symptom of ADD. Now I had a reason and could work to modify behaviors, as opposed to just feeling guilty and undisciplined.

Mark Suster’s posts were what set me on this track of self-realization (along with my best friend and fiancée telling me to consider it), so I’ll leave them here in case they help anyone else too:

[1] https://bothsidesofthetable.com/how-to-know-if-you-have-add-...

[2] https://bothsidesofthetable.com/why-add-might-actually-benef...

[3] https://bothsidesofthetable.com/developing-an-action-plan-fo...

Re: Me and ADHD

#19

Post by schneidmaster »

ThrustVectoring wrote: post #7

Not surprised at all that caffeine helps. ADHD is, bar none, the mental health diagnosis most amenable to medication. Specifically, stimulant therapy. There's no principled distinction between self-medicating and prescriptions here, other than various legal risks, costs, and side effect profiles. Caffeine is particularly poorly suited to this due to adaptation and anxiety, but it's certainly something , especially if…

Coffee consumption was actually one of the questions that I was asked when my therapist first suspected that I had ADHD. I used to drink 5+ cups per day (especially workdays) while feeling fairly little effect from it. I'm now on medication which works an order of magnitude better for managing my symptoms, and I rarely drink more than 1 cup of coffee per day.

It's also worth noting that ADHD often comes with other mental health comorbidities; in my case, it exacerbated my depression. I would often fall into a spiral of inability to focus -> feeling bad about myself for not completing work that I was generally more than capable of doing -> even less ability to focus. I still have depression, but starting on ADHD medication all-but-removed my most frequent trigger.

Re: Me and ADHD

#20

Post by madamelic »

Fellow ADHD person:

Get diagnosed and get a low-dose of meds. It helps _a lot_. You will likely hate the feeling they give you for the first week (you will genuinely feel high even on 10mg Adderall XR), along with nightmares and night sweats but after a few weeks, you'll suddenly be productive at a very normal level.

I don't feel strung out nor is it some addiction. Ignore the people screaming about Adderall being "literal meth" and how it will certainly kill you. Even with an addictive personality, it's very easy to avoid over-doing it (hint: only take it as prescribed).

Medication is intended as a stop-gap to build a system so you won't need high doses forever. If you go into thinking meds are all that needs to be done, you are going about it wrong. You need to build a system and reflect on how to improve your baseline productivity and keep yourself on rails (planners, calendars, checking your work, reviewing work with a fresh mind before sending out, etc).

Additionally, it does help if you like what you are doing. I'd imagine ADHD is much easier to maintain if you are self-employed or have a large leeway to define how work gets done or what work gets done. If you are in a command-and-control / top-down power structure, you need to leave; you'll never thrive there and will ultimately get tossed out.

Lastly, caffeine does help from my testing, especially caffeine combined with L-Theanine. I used to take 100mg of HVMN "Sprint" pills as a test whether I had ADHD; it helped quite a bit. It didn't make me jittery and it let me focus much better.

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