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

Ask HN: How did an adult ADHD diagnosis help you?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 401 posts

Re: Ask HN: How did an adult ADHD diagnosis help you?

#81

Post by unbearded »

Have been taking Strattera for a few months and wonder how many years of my life I would have not wasted if I had been diagnosed with ADHD earlier in my life.

I just turned 40 and I never thought I had ADHD until recently. Before I just thought my lack of attention on things was just the price of being a 10X on productivity (and I was a little arrogant because of it).

The reality was that I chose to put my time on tasks that I found interesting and engaging and when that choice was not available, I would feel anxious, stuck and totally unfocused. Still, I thought that was just normal procrastination that everybody goes through.

Some changes in my life and goals limited my time to act and required me to be more focused, but instead of getting into action I got more stuck than ever and very anxious as the deadlines got closer and got missed.

Treating my ADHD helped me change my relationships for better and widened the possibilites in my work and I would recommend to anybody in the same situation.

Re: Ask HN: How did an adult ADHD diagnosis help you?

#82

Post by kolinko »

kmarc wrote: post #55

Living in Europe, my perception (AKA: anecdotal / unscientific / non-measured) is that most of the ADHD-diagnosed people I know live in the US, while I only know one European person in my network who received similar diagnosis from a professional psychiatrist. Counterintuitively, I know way more European people than Americans, which makes my perception feel even more skewed. I very well know that my sample(ing method…

Fellow European here - at least in Poland it is virtually impossible to get diagnosed as an adult, and there is very little knowledge of ADHD among mental health prpfessionals.

ADHD affects around 5% population, as various studies have shown. In Poland we have virtually 0% adults diagnosed an on treatmnt, and I don’t know a single therapist that wI could confidently recommend to a person seeking diagnosis/treatment. (And I looked and asked around a lot).

By comparison, in SF there is a dedicated clinic for adult ADHD, not to mention therapists aware of such thing.

Re: Ask HN: How did an adult ADHD diagnosis help you?

#83

Post by wy35 »

Loughla wrote: post #12

So my take maybe isn't the healthiest on this, not sure. If you believe you have ADHD, and your therapist believes you have ADHD, BUT your life isn't negatively impacted by it , why start treatment now? Ask yourself if you have any negative impacts from ADHD. Ask your spouse. Personal relationships, professional work, all aspects. If the answer is no, then why bother? Source: ADHD treatments that left me a zombie whe…

> Source: ADHD treatments that left me a zombie when all I really needed was therapy and help to figure out realistic, functional coping mechanisms.

A good psychiatrist will have you do all of the above.

Re: Ask HN: How did an adult ADHD diagnosis help you?

#84

Post by throwasquirrel »

Cass wrote: post #43

I'm a successful 33 year old adult in a career ideally suited to the way my brain works, so I was VERY skeptical about whether it would make any difference to my life to get diagnosed or go on meds. Now that I have, I can confidently say that it was a total game-changer and I wish my parents had gotten this done for me when I was a kid. It would've made so many things so much easier. I currently only use my meds (spe…

> I went through a whole grieving process when I realized how much easier I could've had it all along.

I was diagnosed six months ago and I have absolutely been going through the this same process. At one point I cleaned up a bunch of old boxes (some of which I'd been meaning to unpack for over a decade... yes the meds help!) and came across a folder of my old school reports. Reading through them and seeing the lifelong pattern of struggle with focus and attention that I'd just thought was normal, and that didn't have to have been that hard... I cried, a lot.

Re: Ask HN: How did an adult ADHD diagnosis help you?

#85

Post by jspash »

kmarc wrote: post #55

Living in Europe, my perception (AKA: anecdotal / unscientific / non-measured) is that most of the ADHD-diagnosed people I know live in the US, while I only know one European person in my network who received similar diagnosis from a professional psychiatrist. Counterintuitively, I know way more European people than Americans, which makes my perception feel even more skewed. I very well know that my sample(ing method…

American here. Lived the first 30 years of my life in the States, the next 20 in France/UK and have worked (temporarily at least) in most major European cities.

I think you are on to something with you last point. One long-standing joke about Americans is that within 5 minutes of meeting them you'll know more about their bank account, hopes/fears/dreams, and their lower colon than you'll ever know about your best European friend in a lifetime.

I'm not judging. We (Americans) are simply open about lots of personal details to everyone. We're a bit like the golden labs of humankind. If someone will listen, we're happy to talk about anything.

Europeans on the other hand (this is another BIG generalisation) are definitely much more private especially when it comes to health. I've been in the UK for quite a while now and I struggle to even learn the names of my neighbours two doors down. Good luck borrowing a cup of sugar around here. In the states I actually let someone use my shower! I knew him from passing in the hallway and he had a job interview in an hour but lost his keys.

Anyhow...I digress. #4 is my choice. Access to good healthcare is NOT a cause. But I don't want to go there and start a discussion on the pros/cons of socialised medicine. It always ends in shouting. :D

Re: Ask HN: How did an adult ADHD diagnosis help you?

#86

Post by falcolas »

codesnik wrote: post #6

There could be consequences, btw. Like being barred from getting a pilots license in US if you'd ever acquire a taste for flying for example.

Late 30’s diagnosis for ADHD, who went to school to fly in college. Here’s my hot take:

Being barred from a pilots license is a good thing.

I look back on that time, and I’m shocked I didn’t crash the damned aircraft. I couldn’t focus when landing (executive focus disfunction), I would freak out randomly (emotional disregulation), and I gave at least one of my instructors several grey hairs when landing.

When you’re a pilot, you can’t afford to not be paying attention.

Re: Ask HN: How did an adult ADHD diagnosis help you?

#87

Post by jnovek »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #31
afarviral wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ADHD meds (psychostimulants) are fast-acting anti depressants. I hope the regiment works out regardless of the underlying condition they're helping you manage, but just another perspective.

ADHD meds are definitely not antidepressants. A sense of euphoria can be a side effect of early treatment, but that's not to be confused with an actual anti-depressant effect. Some (unfortunately many) users get stuck chasing that initial sense of euphoria with continued dose escalation requests, or by playing games to only take doses on certain days of the week or even by doubling up doses on some days. This is a ro…

Stimulants do have an anti-depressant quality in a similar sense to SNRIs. They stimulate release of extracellular neural serotonin and norepinephrine (SNRIs block reuptake of serotonin and norepinephrine. Before the accidental discovery of the first front-line antidepressants in the 50s, they were prescribed for depression.

However, for the reasons you mentioned, they aren’t very good antidepressants. It’s easy to mistake the early euphoria of amphetamine for reduction in depression. Without careful management, it’s easier to become tolerant or even addicted to amphetamine.

Re: Ask HN: How did an adult ADHD diagnosis help you?

#88

Post by lil-kernel »

I’ve been on a low dose of Ritalin for a few months now and it’s been life changing. I was self medicating with a lot of caffeine (which definitely wasn’t good for me) and I couldn’t really choose when my brain would kick in. Sometimes it’d be at like 9 pm and I’d just work till 2am. Not great for someone trying to have a normal sleep schedule. Medication has helped me add some scheduling to my brain. I take a small dose in the morning and another in the afternoon; I feel focused the entire day, and I’m tired when I come home. I’ve been on a good sleep schedule for quite some time now, my caffeine consumption lowered a good bit, and I do feel happier. Maybe it’s the meds, maybe it’s a side effect of feeling like I can actually be a performant human during work hours. Either way, I’ll take it. I think it’s worth at least exploring medication. I did a blind trial with my doctor to see how it affected me and that made me feel a bit more confident that this was a good route.

Re: Ask HN: How did an adult ADHD diagnosis help you?

#89

Post by iovrthoughtthis »

Cass wrote: post #43

I'm a successful 33 year old adult in a career ideally suited to the way my brain works, so I was VERY skeptical about whether it would make any difference to my life to get diagnosed or go on meds. Now that I have, I can confidently say that it was a total game-changer and I wish my parents had gotten this done for me when I was a kid. It would've made so many things so much easier. I currently only use my meds (spe…

thanks for giving me some word for what i felt. it has definitely been a grieving process.

Re: Ask HN: How did an adult ADHD diagnosis help you?

#90

Post by danielharan »

kmarc wrote: post #55

Living in Europe, my perception (AKA: anecdotal / unscientific / non-measured) is that most of the ADHD-diagnosed people I know live in the US, while I only know one European person in my network who received similar diagnosis from a professional psychiatrist. Counterintuitively, I know way more European people than Americans, which makes my perception feel even more skewed. I very well know that my sample(ing method…

There's a genetic component - as there is for Openness, which is higher on the West than the East Coast of the US.

So, maybe ADHD types were the first to leave Europe for the Americas?

Post reply on HN