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Evidence-based conclusions about ADHD

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Re: Evidence-based conclusions about ADHD

#111

Post by seba_dos1 »

sph wrote: post #106
seba_dos1 wrote: post #21

> Surprisingly, data show that sugar consumption does not worsen symptoms of ADHD. Surprisingly? Sugar consumption is known to help with symptoms of ADHD, as do other dopamine-inducing activities, which makes perfect sense to me. The problem with sugar is that it has a pretty high cost due to all its other effects on the body, that its dopamine hit wears off pretty fast and you quickly build up a tolerance, which is…

> Sugar consumption is known to help with symptoms of ADHD, as do other dopamine-inducing activities Sorry to say, that is absolute bollocks. Sugar is ADHD in powdered form, and both in personal experience and the professional advice from my psychiatrist is to stay as far away from sugar as possible. Also, symptoms of ADHD != ADHD. Many things cause lower baseline levels of dopamine in the brain, but not all of them…

> Sorry to say, that is absolute bollocks.

Prove it. There is no scientific data that would establish a link between sugar intake and worsening symptoms of ADHD. Systematic review of ADHD-related studies[0] concluded that the current evidence is weak and that what's there may very well describe correlation instead of causation, or even inverse causation.

> Please provide some sources because your comment goes against all professional and scientific advice.

You're commenting under a website that's literally all about one of such sources[1]. I even quoted it in my previous comment already - that wasn't my idea, that was my reaction to actual scientific data that was, for some reason, being described as "surprising".

> the professional advice from my psychiatrist is to stay as far away from sugar as possible

As I've already noted earlier, it's a good advice - just not because consuming sugar makes ADHD worse.

> Personally, as a diagnosed ADHD sufferer, the lower the amount of carbs I ingest, the better my executive centre functions.

That's perfectly possible, for the same reason why stimulant-based treatment works for some people with ADHD and does the opposite for others, and also for multitude of other non-ADHD related reasons. This doesn't mean that what you're experiencing is in any way universal though, and my personal anecdata disagrees with your anecdata anyway.

[0] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30986731/

[1] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33549739/

Re: Evidence-based conclusions about ADHD

#112

Post by seba_dos1 »

erlich wrote: post #109
triggercut wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I get it, why should we have to change to fit in a capitalism shaped hole? Absolutely. I struggle with that constantly. But it's much more than that. If it's only affecting your work and nothing else in your life then you're almost lucky.

Would you take the meds if you were retired with more cash than you need?

I certainly would. I wouldn't want to spend my retirement getting angry at myself that I suck at executing my hobbies, neglect relationships with people I care about, can't meaningfully rest even if try hard, struggle with keeping the space around me tidy even in the most generous meaning of that word etc.

In fact, that scenario would motivate me to seek medication much more than just having troubles with being productive at work. For now, I somehow manage to be productive enough for my job without having to use medication, so I'm trying not to fiddle with my organism needlessly. However, I'd still like to be less of a burden to the person I live with (who, thankfully, understands what I'm going through very well).

Re: Evidence-based conclusions about ADHD

#113

Post by seba_dos1 »

erlich wrote: post #89
adhd1080i wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That was my experience. I was astounded that my mind became so calm, and I could just sit and focus on what I needed to. Having since been medicated for some time, I now take this for granted, but it was a real watershed moment for me, that first day.

Aren't you worried about side effects and addiction? Say you find some really bad side-effect in the future, can you live a normal life without it, and then you have to think how has your mind changed since getting used to the drug compared to before? And then if you have some other health problem, you always have to worry is it because of the substance or not...so you will think maybe I need to stop just in case...a…

It's hard to become addicted to medicine that you take to, among other reasons, stop forgetting about such things as taking your medicine.

Side-effects can be real though, which is why during a therapy you're usually going through a variety of medicines closely watching for how they interact with your organism before settling on a particular thing.

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