31–40 of 67 posts
I’m kind of surprised by this. I thought a lot of folks switched over to Vyvanse over the past decade.
Vyvanse is definitely better than Adderall, but it can be annoying to get insurance on board. Also, is there an instant release Vyvanse? I thought it was just extended release.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive. When putting out such bold statements it'd behoove you to substantiate them or yourself.
I consider it to be closer to common sense than a "bold statement". Amphetamine is a highly addictive drug with serious side effects. As a nation, we prosecute those who engage in the unlicensed manufacture of amphetamine and its analogs. As for ADHD, the man who first described the condition later confessed he fabricated the whole thing. >Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive, not less, as a topic gets…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is an unfortunate point of view and is damaging to those legitimately suffering with issues related to ADHD and similar diagnoses. As a child I struggled with ADHD, it’s not a state of mind. It’s not a decision. It’s a chemical imbalance that make a child’s innate lack of self control, and poor ability to self regulate something as simple as idle movements, orders of magnitude more difficult. I’m not commenting…
> I’m not commenting on over/under diagnosing of ADHD, I’m commenting on a condition that some individuals legitimately deal with. Some find themselves unable to focus on tasks, or get labeled the weird kid in their peer group because of behaviors they don’t even realize they’re doing. I'm of the opinion that there's nothing wrong with that. I lean more towards the acceptance side of things. Humans are diverse in man…
For the first time in my life, with decades of experience dealing with and managing ADHD with soft skills and sheer stubbornness I started medications for ADHD last year. The significant changes and disruptions to society and daily life of the COVID 19 pandemic left me in a position where my skills were no longer adequate to deal with my condition. A loss of focus helpers (like a dedicated working environment, commute times, access to fellow co-workers etc), added stresses caused by dealing with other medical issues in the new paradigm, easy access to other distractions and more added up to a crippling depression and self loathing as I became less and less capable of performing to the standards that I knew I was capable of and had performed at even just a couple years before.
I tried anti-depressants because I was depressed, so of course that seems the right way to go. But no amount of anti-depressant or counseling will fix self disappointment and frustration at being unable to bring yourself to perform to your known potential. There was no "value" in my inability to do my job, to do the things I'm good at and the things I enjoy. I wasn't doing something else that was more fulfilling. I wasn't learning something new about myself, or finding an alternative path to success. I was spinning in circles trying ot do what I wanted to do and failing at it over and over again for no other reason than decades of skills and practice were no longer effective in the world I found myself in.
Maybe, on a long enough time scale, I could have learned new strategies. I could have spent large enough sums of money to build a new and different environment around me to support those new skills. And in the mean time I would have spent years spiraling further and further into depression for failing to be the person I wanted to be and was capable of being.
Taking ADHD medications helped. The struggle to deal with the way life is no longer the same is still there, but I'm not having to fight my own head at the struggles at the same time. The week I started it, for the first time in my entire life I thought to myself "I need to do task A" and then just got up and did that thing to its completion, and then I did it again for task B, and again for task C. No minutes to hours prepping myself, working up the energy and mental gumption to do the thing. No mental dance to shift between tasks. No fight to stay on task A instead of jumping between A, B and C. I don't think it's possible for me to explain how incredible it felt to be able to just "decide" to do a task, or how it feels now to know I've never actually been able to do something that way before.
Skills are useful, and knowing the ones I do make it easier to deal with the days where even with the medications I still struggle. But a key component to diagnosing a disorder is "does it negatively impact your ability to conduct your life". Diversity is one thing, but no one should have to fight their own head to live the life they want just for the sake of "diversity".
I've found exercise (minimum of 5 hrs a week) to work better than any substance for curing depression, anxiety, and concentration. Individual results may vary.
Careful with this. I was “self-medicating” my ADHD with exercise for years simply thinking I just liked exercise and not ever realizing that I had worked up to 25-30 hours a week just to function. Exercise absolutely does 100% work but meds that raise your baseline so you don’t have to exercise is a much healthier relationship with it. There are a lot of habits that ADHD people fall into to “stim.” Whether or not it’…
Can't stand meds though.
I've found exercise (minimum of 5 hrs a week) to work better than any substance for curing depression, anxiety, and concentration. Individual results may vary.
To be less sardonic, I'm not sure what this has to do with the topic at hand. It feels like people like to kramer into any discussion about medication to offer their unsolicited advice. Just about anyone that's gone through what you've mentioned have heard that same advice 10x over.
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This is an unfortunate point of view and is damaging to those legitimately suffering with issues related to ADHD and similar diagnoses. As a child I struggled with ADHD, it’s not a state of mind. It’s not a decision. It’s a chemical imbalance that make a child’s innate lack of self control, and poor ability to self regulate something as simple as idle movements, orders of magnitude more difficult. I’m not commenting…
The whole concept that a doctor has to say there's something wrong with you to get drugs I find to be very patronising. If somebody has trouble focusing, they can just take some drugs and fill out some planners, they don't need to be labelled using an acronym.
I'm not convinced ADHD is an illness either, but this isn't really specific to ADHD, I'm pretty sceptical of the entire DSM model and our need to give people a label or a combination of labels. I was diagnosed with ADHD in the aftermath of the most extreme abuse of my life because I didn't focus in class. I think a lot of the point of the label was making the adults feel like they were "helping me with an illness" rather than making an abused kid swallow strong drugs in order to keep up in this unforgiving world. In the entire diagnostic process nobody so much as asked me what had happened in the previous year.
Even when I hear arguments like this, it's pleading practicality and nessecity. We need the label so he can get these drugs. We need the label so we can do X and Y. Only the label can give me true understanding of who I really am. But the label is incidental to all of this stuff, there's no reason you actually need this specific label. I'm almost certain the main reason we have these labels at all is so present the labelled as pathetic enough to be worthy of insurance coverage.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> As for ADHD, the man who first described the condition later confessed he fabricated the whole thing. What is that man's name?
Dr. Leon Eisenberg
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> As for ADHD, the man who first described the condition later confessed he fabricated the whole thing. What is that man's name?
Dr. Leon Eisenberg
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/work-of-fiction/
>A software-based translation of that article from German to English does describe Dr. Eisenberg as the “father of ADHD” and report that during his “last interview” he said something similar to “ADHD is a prime example of a fictitious disease.” However, when one allows for the vagaries of translation from German to English and reads the statement in context, it’s clear that Dr. Eisenberg wasn’t asserting that ADHD isn’t a real disorder, but rather that he thought the influence of genetic predispositions for ADHD (rather than social/environmental risk factors) were vastly overestimated [...]
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive. When putting out such bold statements it'd behoove you to substantiate them or yourself.
I consider it to be closer to common sense than a "bold statement". Amphetamine is a highly addictive drug with serious side effects. As a nation, we prosecute those who engage in the unlicensed manufacture of amphetamine and its analogs. As for ADHD, the man who first described the condition later confessed he fabricated the whole thing. >Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive, not less, as a topic gets…
I experienced a set of symptoms that makes it harder for me to stay focused than most people. It would make it difficult to do my job, as it was to succeed in school before I was medicated (it's no surprise to me that I flunked out of high school at first).
Adderall ameliorates these symptoms drastically without major side effects. I don't seem to be addicted as I frequently (if briefly) stop taking it for reasons of avoiding tolerance. Please explain to me what's wrong about this? Should I stop taking Adderall, to hell with the reduced quality of life, because someone on the internet says a chemical substance meant to treat my symptoms is not "medicine"?
I've found exercise (minimum of 5 hrs a week) to work better than any substance for curing depression, anxiety, and concentration. Individual results may vary.
Careful with this. I was “self-medicating” my ADHD with exercise for years simply thinking I just liked exercise and not ever realizing that I had worked up to 25-30 hours a week just to function. Exercise absolutely does 100% work but meds that raise your baseline so you don’t have to exercise is a much healthier relationship with it. There are a lot of habits that ADHD people fall into to “stim.” Whether or not it’…