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My ADHD founder toolbox

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Re: My ADHD founder toolbox

#141

Post by baby »

throwawaaarrgh wrote: post #51

I diagnosed when I was like... 8 years old. From then to 17 I was on various meds, finally gave them all up. So for about 22 years I've coped with ADHD without meds. I am a Staff Engineer and make a good living, respected in my field. Regardless of anything else, I think the key thing to remember about ADHD is that you do not need to be a high-performing human being, at all, in life. You will forget things and get di…

As a noob, can you guys give me an idea of what it is to live with ADHD? My understanding is that focus is a spectrum and different people are on different spots on that spectrum. I always imagine that something becomes a condition and gets a name (like ADHD) once it becomes an issue in your life and prevents you from functioning in society. When I hear that you're a staff engineer it sorts of tells me that it's not really an issue for you? Not saying that you don't struggle with focus, but everybody is, I imagine that some people can't even hold a job because of their lack of focus though.

Re: My ADHD founder toolbox

#142

Post by romwell »

I've been diagnosed last year, at 34, and my life has started making so much more sense.

Wish I got diagnosed earlier — getting a mathematics PhD with untreated ADHD was double plus ungood.

I didn't know anything about ADHD, and was sure I don't have it because it's described as "deficit of attention" (spoiler: it's not).

I realized I need to look into it after relating to one too many ADHD memes.

In the aftermath, I have written an ADHD Meme Wiki[1], which helped me (and several other people!) get diagnosed and understand ADHD better:

[1] https://romankogan.net/adhd

Re: My ADHD founder toolbox

#143

Post by pmarreck »

yc-kraln wrote: post #62
throwawaaarrgh wrote: post #51

I diagnosed when I was like... 8 years old. From then to 17 I was on various meds, finally gave them all up. So for about 22 years I've coped with ADHD without meds. I am a Staff Engineer and make a good living, respected in my field. Regardless of anything else, I think the key thing to remember about ADHD is that you do not need to be a high-performing human being, at all, in life. You will forget things and get di…

I was diagnosed when I was six, and, like you, I dropped all meds at 17. Recently (as in, this year) through a combination of therapy and introspection, I realized that while indeed I was able to have a successful life, career, relationships without the medication, and that, yes, my coping mechanisms were satisfactory, I was punching myself in the face for no reason Last month I saw a psychiatrist and got a prescript…

You're proposing a false dichotomy. It's quite possible that it works for some people and it doesn't work for others and only being in the persons' shoes will let you truly evaluate the benefits vs. the tradeoffs.

For example, stim meds increase my focus but also seem to reduce my creativity and injure my sleep (to the point that I have occasional short-term memory loss). So every day I individually evaluate whether it will be worth it or not, and I make sure to take at least a couple days off a week to catch up on REM sleep.

Re: My ADHD founder toolbox

#144

Post by mtsr »

californical wrote: post #139
mtsr wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it any surprise people get apprehensive about stopping medication? We don’t ask people to not use prescription glasses or leave their wheelchair at home and expect them to be happy about it, do we?

You keep saying this throughout the thread. These are fundamentally different, as someone with both conditions and both prescriptions. There is no side-effect to glasses, you can put them on or off completely at-will any moment, and they make a very exact correction to one specific parameter (vision focusing ability). ADHD meds are imprecise and affect many systems in different ways - some positive and some negative.…

Absolutely. And that’s something that any good doctor will discuss and monitor. And generally medication is combined with other treatments like CBT to learn to cope better, because medication doesn’t magically fix people.

But stimulant meds still don’t deserve any more stigma than glasses. For those who take it as part of treatment of a lifelong disability.

Edited to add: Btw, try playing squash or go swimming with kids. Suddenly your glasses aren’t the perfect solution that they may otherwise seem to be and they become yet another tool, like having the kids wearing bright swimming clothes so you can spot them in a crowd.

But you’re right, we’d love for ADHD meds to be as effective and universal as glasses, but they’re not. Probably because ADHD isn’t a single condition, but a spectrum of conditions with some overlap. So expecting a single treatment to take away all symptoms is a fantasy.

Re: My ADHD founder toolbox

#145

Post by pmarreck »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #70
resonious wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not GP but I also stopped taking meds (actually recently for me, and I'm 27). I'm sure GP's reason is different. My reason was that I had realized that a lot of my old ADHD symptoms were actually still happening. I was still procrastinating, still getting stressed when forced to focus on stuff I don't care about, still forgetting stuff. As an experiment, I decided to keep lowering my dose to see what happens. I k…

> My reason was that I had realized that a lot of my old ADHD symptoms were actually still happening. I was still procrastinating, still getting stressed when forced to focus on stuff I don't care about, still forgetting stuff. Anecdotally, I've watched a lot of friends and colleagues go through this exact cycle: Going on meds and then just focusing more intensely on their distractions. I really think we're doing a d…

> Going on meds and then just focusing more intensely on their distractions

... shit, that was today for me. Oops. (But in all fairness, I'm still recovering from a flu.)

Re: My ADHD founder toolbox

#146

Post by vimsee »

4ggr0 wrote: post #127

I was diagnosed with ADD about two years ago and started taking meds. A couple of weeks ago I found something which allowed me to stop taking meds - I started running. I did not expect this to help with my ADD, but my head is so much clearer and focused since I started to run, it's crazy.

ADD here too with severe tics and anxiety. This resonates with me to some extent. Physical workout does wonders for your mentality while also making your body healthier.

I am on Aduvanz (Adderall equivalent) and it lifts me up an extra notch, or at least; is a good alternative when time is sparse. But being active is the single most important thing every person can do.

I hope doctors will push harder on exercising in the future as we see more and more "cures" in the form of pills in circulation nowadays which, in many cases; could be fixed by a little change in lifestyle.

This especially goes for people fighting obesity, insomnia and anxiety. Start using your body and your body will start healing - and your mind will too. All that with the added benefit of (if any) zero side-effects.

Re: My ADHD founder toolbox

#147

Post by Jarwain »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #100
brian_cunnie wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> psychiatric meds you can get on and off safely at any time Maybe you can get off them safely, but not always easily. My alcohol/drug recovery group is filled with people who couldn't easily get off them, like my friend N., who rather than swallowing his medication (Ritalin?), he crushed it & snorted it like cocaine.

> Maybe you can get off them safely, but not always easily. You're implying addiction, but in the more common case, people with ADHD can be apprehensive about getting off the meds for the same reason people with chronic pain can't easily get off painkillers, or people in general can't easily get off oxygen. > like my friend N., who rather than swallowing his medication (Ritalin?), he crushed it & snorted it like coca…

Depends on the medication. I've definitely gotten high from my meds while trying to figure out the right dose, and snorting it ups the absorption rate a Lot. Especially w/amphetamines.

Anyways, I'm skeptical of that 100x number. Comparing 5mg of adderall to 50mg, I could easily imagine getting addicted to the euphoria from the latter and spiraling. I can't even imagine 500mg of adderall, that's just an absurd dose.

I could maaaybe imagine that the 50mg dose resulting in a sorta psychological addiction and 500mg being more physiological, but it doesn't really line up with the model I've built from my own experience. Of course, everyone's different

Re: My ADHD founder toolbox

#148

Post by Jarwain »

Skgqie1 wrote: post #137
sn41 wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you are a bit premature in your assessment. The first month usually works for most people. Later on, you may find that it has no effect, worse, you start developing a dependency. People don't give up medication due to ideals or laziness, many find that the disease is often manageable using less addictive approaches like CBT. That said, if medications cure you altogether, there's nothing better. But ADHD, unli…

For me, I've been on dexamphetamine sulphate for about five years. I had to have my dose adjusted after about a year, because I experienced what you mentioned (decreased efficacy). Once the dose was increased, the effect became pretty stable though (I'm currently on 45mg a day). I wouldn't say it completely negates my ADHD, but it definitely makes things a lot more manageable.

What did your dose look like at the start? & how did it progress over the 5 years?

Re: My ADHD founder toolbox

#149

Post by throwaway47bs6 »

rtpg wrote: post #52

Regarding meds, are people willing to share what kind of doses they are on? I take 27mg of Concerta, and I remember talking to someone taking like... 5x that? And being quite shocked, but there's always that curiosity about what dosages makes sense.

For any given day I have a choice of 70mg Ritalin (as three evenly spaced doses), or 70mg Vyvanse. They're differentiated by my response. Which I take depends on what working pattern I intend for that day. Vyvanse if I want to focus on a single task (especially coding or writing), or for social days; Ritalin when planning to churn through a to-do list or have a bunch of calls/meetings.

Disclaimer: this is personal anecdote, not a recommendation.

Re: My ADHD founder toolbox

#150

Post by sedivy94 »

Skgqie1 wrote: post #134
BandOfBots wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“more energy to do things” is directly correlated to the level of dopamine ADHD medication augments in our brains

I disagree with this. For me, the energy is because I have to use less energy doing basic day to day shit. Unmedicated, it takes far more effort and work, and leaves less energy for later tasks.

It’s amphetamine. The energy is from the amphetamine. The mechanism of action (norepinephrine and dopamine reputable inhibition) isn’t far from that of cocaine or methamphetamine. Let’s be real here. Amphetamine is known to skew one’s self assessment of their performance while on the drug.
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