Ask HN: How did an adult ADHD diagnosis help you? • Hacker News Board

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

#111

Post by macksd » Tue, Jun 15, 2021, 1:46 PM UTC

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…

I have similar observations, and your suggested explanations seem reasonable but I have nothing but anecdata either way. I have known a lot of people in tech in the US from whom I've gotten the distinct impression they are formally diagnosed with ADHD and perhaps on medication.

I have also known a lot of people who tend to self-diagnose problems that I suspect they don't really have and then talk about them a lot (such as ADHD). They're usually the people who are fixated on vaccines and 5G as the cause of many health problems, but they typically won't have much interaction with "establishment" doctors on these issues. It's my impression that this is more common in the US than Europe, but it's a distinct issue. Not sure if some of that is mixed in to your observations?

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

#112

Post by johnchristopher » Tue, Jun 15, 2021, 1:46 PM UTC

> They want to run neurological tests, said I'm 'twice exceptional'

It's a red flag to me. Who's they here ? What kind of setting, health insurance, country's social net are we talking about ?

Who's paying for the privilege of investigating a case that is twice exceptional ?

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

#113

Post by sdbrown » Tue, Jun 15, 2021, 1:46 PM UTC

It's been about 9 years and I'm still on the original dose of the first medication my psychiatrist prescribed. I'm really glad I managed my pride enough to make that first appointment.

- Slept better. No more tossing and turning for an hour or two before I fell asleep.

- Ate more regularly. My stomach starts to hurt if I wait too long between meals.

- Remembered people's names when meeting them, at least to the point where I could say it again after they introduced themselves and started talking.

- More realistic outlook. Things aren't perfect and they aren't the worst, they just either kind of suck for now or this is a good moment.

- No longer have to make a giant mental effort to get something done on the weekend. If I want to read a book, I read it. If I want to play video games, I play them. If I want to clean the house, I clean the house.

- No longer a giant mental effort to get something done at work. Need to send an email? Send it. Need to annotate some data? Annotate it. Need to schedule a meeting? Schedule it.

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

#114

Post by codpiece » Tue, Jun 15, 2021, 1:47 PM UTC

throwasquirrel wrote: post #72

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…

> 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? If your life isn't negatively impacted by it then you might be hyperactive or have trouble paying attention, but you don't have ADHD, by definition. It only becomes a disorder when it's causing a significant ongoing negative impact on your life.

That's the crux of it right there. I've had a wonderful, wonderful life, a rewarding career, a 30 year marriage and raised intelligent, well-grounded kids. Not just by _my_ definition, but by those around me whom I respect.

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

#115

Post by RHSman2 » Tue, Jun 15, 2021, 1:48 PM UTC

matlin wrote: post #107

Anyone reading this should be extremely skeptical of internet strangers recommending drugs that gave them "superpowers", changed their life, etc. Taking these drugs will make anyone feel more focused, motivated, etc because these drugs are strong stimulants that cause euphoria, focus, and bursts of energy. Anecdotally, I've seen a huge uptick in posts of the format "how an ADHD diagnosis changed my life" on Reddit, T…

Theoretically, if you have ADHD the medicine shouldn’t make you ‘high’. If you don’t it will have that effect. This was told to me by a specialist (I am dubious though)

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

#116

Post by darkhorse13 » Tue, Jun 15, 2021, 1:49 PM UTC

matlin wrote: post #107

Anyone reading this should be extremely skeptical of internet strangers recommending drugs that gave them "superpowers", changed their life, etc. Taking these drugs will make anyone feel more focused, motivated, etc because these drugs are strong stimulants that cause euphoria, focus, and bursts of energy. Anecdotally, I've seen a huge uptick in posts of the format "how an ADHD diagnosis changed my life" on Reddit, T…

Thank you for posting this. And since these are all basically just anecdotes, I would also like to add mine. I got hooked on anxiety pills after a diagnosis (not the same thing as ADHD, but still), and the withdrawals were genuinely the worst things I've ever faced. Like I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemies. With drugs, especially habit forming ones backed by Big Pharma, you should always be on the side of caution.

Moreover, some of the comments are literally about starting drugs a week or a month ago. God forbid, the long term effects could be entirely different. I started struggling with my dependencies after about a year or so.

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

#117

Post by FridayoLeary » Tue, Jun 15, 2021, 1:49 PM UTC

unbearded wrote: post #81

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 ta…

what's the difference between strattera and ritalin?

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

#118

Post by digitalsushi » Tue, Jun 15, 2021, 1:49 PM UTC

failwhaleshark wrote: post #65

ADHD-PI at 38. Well, it didn't help except to try psychiatric meds that I can't tolerate. 25 years after dad declared "Damn psychologist [sic] quacks don't know what they're talking about. They're liberals trying to control boys with medication. It's a myth!" And now I can't interact with people properly because they all think I'm a weirdo. How many close friends do I have? 0 How many friends do I have? 0 How many ac…

This is harrowing. I hope you can keep finding energy to give people a chance. I believe everyone has their 'people' but the tragedy is that it can take an entire lifetime to discover them.

Finding someone with even less, and giving them some of yours, can have wildly unpredictable rewards. And even if there is no reward, it's still damned distracting in a way that we need.

Don't give up on people, even when they all let you down so far.

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

#119

Post by anonymouse008 » Tue, Jun 15, 2021, 1:50 PM UTC

unbearded wrote: post #81

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 ta…

Did you ever experiment with Adderall, Vyvanse or Ritalin? How did you end up with Strattera?

I’m trying to triangulate a course for myself and still can’t pull the trigger on any of these for fear of side-effects or dependence.

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

#120

Post by sdbrown » Tue, Jun 15, 2021, 1:50 PM UTC

OkayPhysicist wrote: post #69

subroutine wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure which med you are on, but I've been on adderall for about 12 years. Started during 1st year of a phd program. In my experience with adderall... everything initially good about this particular Rx eventually fades away. Amphetamine makes you feel great. At the beginning really, really, great. It certainly helped me focus on whatever was in front of me, whether it was math homework or an iphone game. It bec…

With he sleep thing, I experienced the opposite. The ability to just lay down, decide to sleep, and sleep, combined with a bit of a chemical cue from the comedown really helped to regulate the insomnia I had struggled with since adolescence.

This was the biggest benefit for me.