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My ADHD founder toolbox

hypatia.ca

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Re: My ADHD founder toolbox

#161
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.

18mg of methylphenidate (generic brands).

I've been very lucky to have such a positive response to such a low dose, as it's helped me tremendously with only the mildest of side effects (occasional high pulse, sore jaw).

Higher doses do nothing but increase my heart rate.

Re: My ADHD founder toolbox

#162
post #76

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…

I'm curious... Are these not things virtually everyone struggles with to some degree? There are no end to time management books and people who wish they would spend less time on their phones/playing video games/etc.

k [deleted]

Re: My ADHD founder toolbox

#163
post #141

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…

It's a tough one, because the symptoms are relatable to most ("isn't that everybody?"). They're just more intense than for most, and come with unexpected "features" like executive disfunction. The intensity also varies from a person to another, and the severity depends on a person's lifestyle.

The lack of focus is a lure, an oversimplification. It's not just "I can't focus on something I don't like to do". It's more like "halfway into making a cup of coffee, the most important thing in my life became to clean the pantry". Imagine running late, but stopping dead in your tracks with only one sock on, and answering an email. You know it's mad, but you can't help it.

However if you have a job that's lenient enough, you can hide it well. I stopped treatment because I couldn't gather enough data. My job was too easy to know if it worked. It's still the case.

Another thing is that a lot of people learned to cope with it for decades before getting diagnosed. Their life is full of alarms and error-catching mechanisms, so the symptoms are well-managed. If you know your strengths and weaknesses, you pick your battles. It's not an issue unless your battles are picked for you.

Re: My ADHD founder toolbox

#164

As someone who is also battling ADHD, I feel super anxious reading the comments here all talking about X and Y medicine, which I am super not wanting to do. I used to do therapy but I found my therapist was making videos on Facebook about a few things I told him (though I was never named but I felt this was a huge breach of trust). I exercise quite a bit. (lots of cardio and core exercises, I particularly enjoy barbe…

I'm not on meds anymore. Did try them for a month though. Worked great aside from giving me stress as it wore off. Really weird to feel stressed for literally actually no reason.

What it did give me is a look into what functioning normally-ish would look like, Which has helped enormously.

I'm not a huge fan of medication myself, but if I were you I'd definitely give it a shot. You can always stop if it's not your thing and there's a fair chance at lasting improvement even when you DO stop.

Re: My ADHD founder toolbox

#165
Medication really helped me, and combined with (zazen) meditation I have days where I feel like 'normal' people.

Working up to meditating for ~30 minute sessions (alone or in groups) forced me to face my worst nightmare: sitting still against my will.

Gradually, the physical burning sensation to 'escape' the mental torture of doing nothing calmed down. Further into my practice, the same happened for the monkey mind constantly thinking about shiny things. On good days I can attend long meetings and not lose it, remember chores, calm the chatter in my head, avoid playing mind games to keep myself occupied (eg. "can I cross the road in less than 5, 4, 3, 2 ...").

Medication helped to bump me over to the other side, and meditation has helped me stay there.

Re: My ADHD founder toolbox

#166
post #164

As someone who is also battling ADHD, I feel super anxious reading the comments here all talking about X and Y medicine, which I am super not wanting to do. I used to do therapy but I found my therapist was making videos on Facebook about a few things I told him (though I was never named but I felt this was a huge breach of trust). I exercise quite a bit. (lots of cardio and core exercises, I particularly enjoy barbe…

I'm not on meds anymore. Did try them for a month though. Worked great aside from giving me stress as it wore off. Really weird to feel stressed for literally actually no reason. What it did give me is a look into what functioning normally-ish would look like, Which has helped enormously. I'm not a huge fan of medication myself, but if I were you I'd definitely give it a shot. You can always stop if it's not your thi…

I take meds for unrelated things, for allopecia, like Finasteride, Minoxidil, Saw Palmetto. I am not sure how those would interact with the medicines I saw on this thread.

I also take Algae based Omega 3 semi regularly (but that stuff tastes like crayons).

Re: My ADHD founder toolbox

#167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

N=1, I can confirm this effect. I started to call stimulant medication "sticky". As in, when they kick in, I find it much easier to focus on doing whatever it is I am doing at that time. So, if they kick in while I'm on HN, I can kiss the next couple hours goodbye. It's a trap that took me too long to figure out, and one I still fall into quite often (the period between taking a pill and it kicking in is long enough…

This feels so validating to read. I was having problems with my attention cannon and they just handed me a bigger one.

I stopped when I caught myself in a deep dive about the different types of flour in Germany.

It also affected my mood in really unpleasant ways, both for me and people around me. And it gave me a productivity boost at work at the expense of my life past 4PM.

Nowadays I just have a coffee before work.

Re: My ADHD founder toolbox

#168

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…

Ok, that is the assessment after one month. I would be interested to hear your opinion after a year and after a decade of using.

Re: My ADHD founder toolbox

#169

As someone who is also battling ADHD, I feel super anxious reading the comments here all talking about X and Y medicine, which I am super not wanting to do. I used to do therapy but I found my therapist was making videos on Facebook about a few things I told him (though I was never named but I felt this was a huge breach of trust). I exercise quite a bit. (lots of cardio and core exercises, I particularly enjoy barbe…

Have you ever considered picking up a martial art? I did Taekwondo for some time before covid hit, and I loved the sense of community it had.

Something that I've wanted to try is creating or joining a group of people who meet on a regular basis (at least weekly for me), talk about principles, projects, plans, progress, and in doing so, hold each other accountable.

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