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Launch HN: Shimmer (YC S21) – ADHD coaching for adults

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Re: Launch HN: Shimmer (YC S21) – ADHD coaching for adults

#201

Post by christalwang »

faeriechangling wrote: post #192
addthrowaway75 wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My friend it is you who should consider being ashamed. Suggesting stimulants as the first line of treatment rather than cardiovascular exercise, good sleep, and a healthier relationship with food is at best dismissive of the body of modern research and at worst introduction of a dangerous 'just pop a pill' crutch. Stimulants are not at all the only way out of the ouroboros of adhd symptoms making today hard and tomor…

ADHD meds are suggested as a first line treatment above all of those other things because they are more effective than all those things, like several times as effective, and are well tolerated and inexpensive. It is that fact which plays into why this treatment is exploitative. You should only ever be trying something like this after exhausting a number of more effective options. This program is marketing itself as f…

Definitely agree ADHD medication has been proven to be most effective. Thank you for this comment!

Most of members use coaching as a tool in conjunction with medication or other forms of treatment. Our service is not marketed as treatment, but simply another tool (for guidance, support, accountability, skill discovery) you use like to do lists, education blogs, body doubling, etc.

Our methods, on the other hand, stand on the shoulders of giants and are based on evidence-based approaches and methods. We put a lot of effort & care to conferring with the medical/clinical, coaching, and other helping professions to ensure what we're building is based on evidence-based approaches. Happy to share more over if helpful! hi@shimmer.care

Re: Launch HN: Shimmer (YC S21) – ADHD coaching for adults

#202

Post by 6stringmerc »

Sure, please let me know your schedule and I’ll set up a 1:1 call so you can learn from a really really smart person that commitment to mental health and profit are mutually exclusive and you should pivot into something different, and because it’s such a short conversation, I’ll only charge you $170,000 because you’ll save a lot of money and heartache down the line. Easy to find on Twitter.

Re: Launch HN: Shimmer (YC S21) – ADHD coaching for adults

#203

Post by annie_muss »

sdwr wrote: post #186
jacobian wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Suggesting stimulants as the first line of treatment rather than cardiovascular exercise, good sleep, and a healthier relationship with food is at best dismissive of the body of modern research and at worst introduction of a dangerous 'just pop a pill' crutch. Literally none of this is true. The research overwhelmingly shows that stimulant medication is the most effective treatment for ADHD, and second place isn't…

ADHD and stimulants are codefined. That doesn't prove anything, it's a circular definition. The people who got exercise, slept well and kept meaning in their life avoided falling down the hole. They aren't in the study in the first place.

> The people who got exercise, slept well and kept meaning in their life avoided falling down the hole. They aren't in the study in the first place.

The people who kept up with a well planned exercise routine, slept well instead of trying to catch up with work at 2am in a mad rush, and had meaning in their life because they didn't push their friends away with uncontrolled emotional outbursts? Perhaps they aren't in the study because they don't have ADHD?

Re: Launch HN: Shimmer (YC S21) – ADHD coaching for adults

#204

Post by triggercut »

christalwang wrote: post #174
triggercut wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get it. I'm lucky enough that I can spend thousands a year to get the professional support I need but simply turning up to talk for an hour a week isn't going to achieve much, you have to put in the work to set up your life, your environment in a way that works for you to help slowly improve the chances that your have more good days than bad and not get drawn into a black hole of bad days that just sucks all your e…

Your #2 is oddly one of my fav things I've implemented recently. I use 2 identical bottles with straws that I fill in the morning and just by them being there (I drink them whenever I'm listening in Zoom calls... looks a bit awkward, but I'm over it) I'll finish 2 full bottles a day without even noticing it. My whole life I've drank literally 0 water up until recently! Another one that worked well for me is putting l…

Large mesh laundry bags. Different colours. Split your dirty smalls, t-shirts, bedding etc. between them then just zip them and throw one in the wash each day at some set time. You still have to remember to take them out again.

I've seriously considered installing some kind of soundproofed/vibration-isolated cupboard inside my walk in wardrobe to just keep everything in the same place, but my wife is less than keen. A laundry chute, however, surprisingly, still on the cards.

Re: Launch HN: Shimmer (YC S21) – ADHD coaching for adults

#205

Post by samstave »

christalwang wrote: post #107
samstave wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I cant believe you didnt even answer my question, a person who has already spent thousands on this problem personally and youre announcing a fucking launch IM YOURE FUCKING CUSTOMER

Thanks for your comment, and apologies on the delay here. > what specifically, or HOW specifically is your therapy different than the therapists I have already spent $$$$ on? First I want to re-clarify that we are not providing therapy. We providing coaching services for ADHD-related symptoms and skills (like executive function). However, coaching (along with therapy) definitely does not cure ADHD, as ADHD is a lifel…

Thank you, I'd like to give you a datapoint ;;

I developed ADHD as a symptom of being in IT/OPs/Devops/Director of IT my entire career, which when managing a large team and an enourmous mount of servers/data -- and designing a lot of things... I was mentally task switching CONSTANTLY

So my mind is always all over the place because I can think of several subjects simultaneously in great detail.... (but Can't everyone?)

Re: Launch HN: Shimmer (YC S21) – ADHD coaching for adults

#206

Post by [deleted] »

sdwr wrote: post #186
jacobian wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Suggesting stimulants as the first line of treatment rather than cardiovascular exercise, good sleep, and a healthier relationship with food is at best dismissive of the body of modern research and at worst introduction of a dangerous 'just pop a pill' crutch. Literally none of this is true. The research overwhelmingly shows that stimulant medication is the most effective treatment for ADHD, and second place isn't…

ADHD and stimulants are codefined. That doesn't prove anything, it's a circular definition. The people who got exercise, slept well and kept meaning in their life avoided falling down the hole. They aren't in the study in the first place.

[deleted]

Re: Launch HN: Shimmer (YC S21) – ADHD coaching for adults

#207

Post by atonse »

christalwang wrote: post #175
Uptrenda wrote: post #164

Oh look: another service that thinks ADHD is an inability to do scheduling or some other bullshit. ADHD is literally a neurological disorder that effects dopamine in the brain. It reduces wakefulness, concentration, the ability to filter out distractions, and the ability to motivate yourself. A software solution won't fix this. What ADHD people need isn't a normie couch to tell them to 'prioritize' differently or a b…

Thanks for your response + clearly you have a strong understanding of ADHD as a neurodevelopmental condition (and the stats around medication's efficacy!). Medication is by far the most effective treatment method for ADHD at 80%+, which is incredibly astounding given most mental health & brain disorders don't have such an effective treatment method. We definitely understand that a software solution will by no means "…

I haven’t looked closely at your product but there was a similar one that launched a few months ago on HN and it was almost a joke the way they launched it.

Almost every single one of their techniques and incentives is were bound to fail exactly if someone had ADHD.

Like they had a 14 day trial where you had to remember to keep launching the app every day and things like that.

Guess what, someone with ADD would forget to launch the app, and definitely blow through a silly 14 day trial before they could even realize any value. It showed me exactly how clueless they were about their audience.

Re: Launch HN: Shimmer (YC S21) – ADHD coaching for adults

#208

Post by LocalH »

annie_muss wrote: post #203
sdwr wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ADHD and stimulants are codefined. That doesn't prove anything, it's a circular definition. The people who got exercise, slept well and kept meaning in their life avoided falling down the hole. They aren't in the study in the first place.

> The people who got exercise, slept well and kept meaning in their life avoided falling down the hole. They aren't in the study in the first place. The people who kept up with a well planned exercise routine, slept well instead of trying to catch up with work at 2am in a mad rush, and had meaning in their life because they didn't push their friends away with uncontrolled emotional outbursts? Perhaps they aren't in t…

Perhaps those also absent from the study are those with ADHD, but whose family accepted and nurtured it instead of projecting onto them and never listening. Those people don't usually need to mask and don't end up mentally underdeveloped because the people entrusted with their care actually cared about them, rather than trying to "mold" them into something they're not.

Seriously, why does ADHD and other neurodivergent "treatment" always fail to listen to the afflicted? It's ableist and othering, and it's fucking disgusting.

Re: Launch HN: Shimmer (YC S21) – ADHD coaching for adults

#209

Post by LocalH »

sdwr wrote: post #185
addthrowaway75 wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My friend it is you who should consider being ashamed. Suggesting stimulants as the first line of treatment rather than cardiovascular exercise, good sleep, and a healthier relationship with food is at best dismissive of the body of modern research and at worst introduction of a dangerous 'just pop a pill' crutch. Stimulants are not at all the only way out of the ouroboros of adhd symptoms making today hard and tomor…

Thanks for this, you're being very evenhanded. Lifestyle changed sustained over time is the way to go, any remaining bad feelings can be taken as signals or just part of life. Pills aren't magic.

Spoken as someone who never had to deal with decades of prolonged abuse for the crime of not having enough dopamine

Re: Launch HN: Shimmer (YC S21) – ADHD coaching for adults

#210

Post by LocalH »

iamdbtoo wrote: post #88

> We understand that life doesn't always go according to plan. Shimmer members can cancel or reschedule a coaching video call without penalty 24 hours in advance. If cancellation is within 24 hours, the session will be forfeited for the week. Thank you for your understanding! I understand your need to ensure your time is not wasted, but policies like this can wreak havoc on people struggling with executive dysfunctio…

I agree with this. Such policies often have very ableist results for people with dopamine shortage. That may not be the intention, it's often a purely business decision based on economic analysis of the business model, but that is a common result.

The sad part is, it would be entirely possible for ADHD and other ASDs to be accomodated in daily society. But, people without those differences would abuse the absolute piss out of those accomodations. How do we prevent abuse without harming those who legitimately require such accomodations? There's a reason there is such a concept as "ADHD tax".

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