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How to Read Books When You Have ADHD

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121–130 of 204 posts

Re: How to Read Books When You Have ADHD

#121

No. ADHD does not work this way for me, or people like me who are inattentive . This article is the equivalent of the time my primary care physician said, “just use a calendar”. You want me to maintain a set of documents? Buddy, without meds I can’t remember to brush my fucking teeth. I’m not exaggerating. ADHD is a spectrum, articles like this paint everyone with the same brush, which furthers many people to feel li…

Lots of addicted folk talk this way. I couldn’t function without ____, where ____ could be anything from coffee to amphetamines. That isn’t to say that you are abusing the medication, but that the dividing line is more arbitrary than most people understand. Many addicts are simply people with inadequate health coverage who are forced to self medicate, often with the exact same substances (adderal, benzodiazepines, pain killers) that those with better doctors and more wealth get quite easily without stigma or threat of prison. The fact these substances operate as performance enhancers for entire industries (truck drivers and programmers are big amphetamine users) all point to the ridiculous double standard that we arbitrarily erect to classify some as addicts and others as patients. Mostly it’s a question of the wealth of the addict, which for programmers on speed tends to not be a limiting factor.

Re: How to Read Books When You Have ADHD

#122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I very much agree and share a similar experience. Struggling with ADHD is not a matter of not being able to focus. Part of the issue is directing and keeping attention on non-pleasant tasks that are stacked up against a brain chronically low on dopamine and norepinephrine transmission. As someone with diagnosed and treated ADHD, these articles are misleading. In my opinion it's dangerous to claim "Do this ONE behavio…

> Please, consult with a medical professional instead. I feel like this might be a dumb question, but what brand of medical professional should you go to? I've discussed with my GP, but those discussions usually don't have any meaningful advice.

(US specific advice)

I felt like my GP was really only good for getting the ball rolling: I asked her to refer me to a psychologist for testing and she did. To be honest, I think you could skip the GP step and just meet with any clinical psychologist to discuss with that person your concerns about ADHD. Their office should be able to tell you if they can do ADHD testing before you go in. Some psychiatrists may test as well. The difficulty, of course, is that psychologists are often out of pocket or are paid at a reduced rate by insurance.

After the testing is done many GPs are willing to do med management, though it's a pain, since the Federal government requires prescriptions to be for no more than 30 days and you can't refill it more than three days ahead of time. Personally I have my neurologist manage it, but I have epilepsy and it makes sense to me to go to her for all of my brain medications.

Re: How to Read Books When You Have ADHD

#123
post #65

Pictograph instructions: that's the real SOB of ADHD. Reading novels is not a chore for me, depending. I typically find an author I like and then read the the hell out of his writing. Stephen King short stories are a pretty good place to start imo if you want to get into reading (again), though I started with Vonnegut myself. I am a famous re-reader of books btw. Its like slipping into a comfortable "another world" f…

I believe ADHD people are fully capable of training their minds to become extremely productive. Granted, most people don't want to train anything, much less their minds, so it doesn't manifest much in the wild. But in those that do, it's like a superpower. I spent several years training my hyperfocus to the point where, barring externalities like lack of sleep or food, I can engage it at will. For challenging or crea…

This sounds great and all but feels more like a cope. A proper dextro dosage will make you much more productive, more consistently, than you could ever "train your mind" to be naturally.

Re: How to Read Books When You Have ADHD

#125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I very much agree and share a similar experience. Struggling with ADHD is not a matter of not being able to focus. Part of the issue is directing and keeping attention on non-pleasant tasks that are stacked up against a brain chronically low on dopamine and norepinephrine transmission. As someone with diagnosed and treated ADHD, these articles are misleading. In my opinion it's dangerous to claim "Do this ONE behavio…

> Please, consult with a medical professional instead. I feel like this might be a dumb question, but what brand of medical professional should you go to? I've discussed with my GP, but those discussions usually don't have any meaningful advice.

If you suspect you have ADHD, try to find a psychiatrist/clinic specializing in adult ADHD. "Adult" is the key word here, general ADHD doctors are still focused on children. Finding an adult ADHD specialist gives you much better chance of not being ignored or pattern-matched to something else.

If you're worried it'll make you seem like you're looking for a diagnosis you'd like, be honest and up-front with them. Say, "I have a hypothesis that I have ADHD, I'm looking to have it confirmed or rejected, and in the latter case, to be directed towards a better one. Here is why I believe I may have ADHD...".

Re: How to Read Books When You Have ADHD

#126
post #105
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't forget that you also need to add filler so you can shove a couple of ads in the middle of the stream. Add a side-story about your uncle that is completely irrelevant so you have room for one ad more! Then paginate the thing so the ads on the sides + top and bottom can reload for more impressions. And we feel it's important to offer our readers a nice flow, so add some history events so the back-button doesn't w…

I created a website that does the opposite of that, and it works so well that I wonder why they bother doing this. I click away from so many websites because of all the friction they cause.

Sounds interesting. Do you mind sharing your website?

Re: How to Read Books When You Have ADHD

#127

No. ADHD does not work this way for me, or people like me who are inattentive . This article is the equivalent of the time my primary care physician said, “just use a calendar”. You want me to maintain a set of documents? Buddy, without meds I can’t remember to brush my fucking teeth. I’m not exaggerating. ADHD is a spectrum, articles like this paint everyone with the same brush, which furthers many people to feel li…

I can relate to this. Without medication I don't have any motivation to do ANYTHING, and that quickly leads to depression. My doctor recommended that I don't medicate on weekends, but what about my personal life? I have things I need to get done at home. My wife likes to with me and my executive functions, too.

I can relate. My compromise is to only take my morning dose on the weekends(most of the time). Do things and sort of wander off into the evening. The timing, dose, rhythm of your meds may differ, of course. Mine is not the extended release.

For me, there is a big difference of how effective the meds are during the week because I have gone light over the weekends.

Re: How to Read Books When You Have ADHD

#128
post #75

My trick: get the audiobook version, and listen while doing something else, which prevents my mind from wandering too far from the text. Ideally not something I was going to do anyway, but something that I'm only doing to occupy myself while I listen. I find that driving or cleaning are OK, but the problem is that they're both often too brief to really get into the book, and that they both occasionally demand cogniti…

That will destroy your concentration over long term.

Are you sure? I've done this for the last 20 years and feel that it's only improved my listening comprehension and allowed me to focus on simple things I'd otherwise not be able to marathon

Re: How to Read Books When You Have ADHD

#129
My solution is walking while I read. As a result, I end up walking for 4-6 hours at a time when I have a lot of reading to do. My biggest struggle is finding good e-readers that can handle all the reading formats I need, sync annotations, and have good connectivity. Still haven't found one. I'm not sure they exist yet.

I also find myself saving things to read, because I struggle to read them while sitting, but never quite get around to reading everything.

Re: How to Read Books When You Have ADHD

#130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Please, consult with a medical professional instead. I feel like this might be a dumb question, but what brand of medical professional should you go to? I've discussed with my GP, but those discussions usually don't have any meaningful advice.

Not a dumb question at all. I feel the same way, any GP I've mentioned it to never seemed interested in really helping. I think your ADHD got the best of you today, because the comment you're replying to suggests working with a psychiatrist. :)

haha. That's the funny thing. I've heard differing things about psychiatrist, psychologist, and neurologist.
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