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My ADHD founder toolbox

hypatia.ca

311–320 of 413 posts

Re: My ADHD founder toolbox

#311

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…

Get you B6 levels tested: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24321736/ Also, it is not about dopamine, it is about glutamate: https://www.brown.edu/news/2018-03-12/glutamate

While glutamate seems to play a significant role, it’s not enough evidence to discount dopamines role.

This whole space is in need of more research, we’re not at stage where definitive statements can be made one way or the other.

Re: My ADHD founder toolbox

#312
post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also known as Yak Shaving in our industry :) Still, the reference to ADHD is definitely valid!

This is going to sound like nitpicking, but no, and the distinction is what makes it a good example of ADHD. "Yak shaving" (at least as I've always heard it used) isn't applicable here. It would be if she came home and he's repairing his circular saw or something. Why is he doing that? It's because the ladder's broken, and you need the ladder to reach the light bulb, and to fix the ladder you need the saw. So, a seem…

Fair point, I missed the distinction between simple distractions and having to take care of an ever-growing chain reaction of necessary tasks to fulfil the original mission.

Re: My ADHD founder toolbox

#313

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ADHD is real, it deeply damages people's lives and it is usually treatable with stimulants, with an unusual degree of effectiveness. My psychiatrist told me up front that his diagnostic process was not directed towards ADHD and that he might end up with some other diagnosis or none at all. In the end he diagnosed me with ADHD after a process of interviews, tests, evaluation of historical evidence, and submissions by…

Stimulant's are effective at improving mood and productivity. There is no question there. I'm highly skeptical of a "disease" or "disorder". Having worked in investment banks where the majority of people were on adhd meds, college where most students were on adhd meds, and seeing all these mid-life diagnoses - is troubling, esp. when prescribing these drugs to children. Its becoming normalized, and even celebrated. S…

> I'm highly skeptical of a "disease" or "disorder".

Well, it’s you versus the entire medical community. Who do you think is more likely yo be right?

Your bad experience is unfortunate but does not reflect that of most people with ADHD. It’s the only disorder which responds incredibly well to treatment by stimulants, and you’ll find that fact proven out by medical science.

Re: My ADHD founder toolbox

#314
post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just got diagnosed this year in my mid-thirties and have ramped up to 80mg Ritalin (methylphenidate), which I take all at once in the morning. I also tried 70mg of aduvanz (lisdexamfetamine). These are the maximum doses where I live, and to be honest, I've not noticed too much of anything from either. If anyone has any experience/literature on what makes medication work/what determines the required dose for an indi…

Is it CR / XR or IR? I'm on total of 60mg/day IR taken in 10mg doses throughout the day. I've briefly tried CR, but it had zero effect on me until some absurd doses (like 40-50mg CR taken almost at once), when it turned into debilitating headache, so I'm back on IR now, because that works on me and is easy to adjust on demand. In general, AFAIK, there is no rule. The best type of medication and minimum effective dose…

I believe it is like XR but it’s not marketed that way in my country. Aduvanz is supposedly very slow release. I’m on the max allowed for now. Maybe I can try something different in a while. At least there aren’t any side effects either.

Re: My ADHD founder toolbox

#315
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.

Exercise helps with releasing neurotransmitters like meds do. It’s a known effect, and was recommended to me when I started meds.

It works unreasonably well.

However, different people need both different meds, and different dosages, so it’s not a substitute for everyone.

Genuinely glad it’s working for you, meds are one less thing you need to manage.

Re: My ADHD founder toolbox

#316

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While meds can definitely help, one month in is way too early to know if the change is long-term positive. This is especially true with stimulant medications.

> This is especially true with stimulant medications. Hard to see how this is " especially true" with stimulants, given they're the rare case of psychiatric meds you can get on and off safely at any time, and the bulk of the effects appear in hours to days after starting the treatment (and disappear just as fast after cessation). Contrast with e.g. depression treatment, where it takes a month or more before it's clea…

I say it's especially true with stimulants not because of some perceived safety, but because at the start of taking stimulants you will feel great. This generally wears off within a few weeks and never comes back. The test of whether stimulant medications help you isn't if they help you at the start, it's how you feel about them six months in.

edit: feeling great only applies to some stimulant medications and seems to vary from person to person. Personally, I hated the pharmaceutical stimulant experience but they still helped me. I would be taking meds right now if I could afford it.

Re: My ADHD founder toolbox

#317
post #217

The fact that everyone is diagnosed with adhd and then given amphetamines is going to be the medical scandal of this century. I have several friends who have become unbearable due to being constantly high, one of them quit their job and is now unemployed and alone, unable to function in crowds. Of course they all report that they feel great on the speed!

While I agree that stimulant are overprescribed they can however be at least temporarily helpful to help someone with ADHD get their life in order and make meaningful lifestyle changes in order to get the symptoms under control.

How would we measure if it’s being overprescribed?

It’s more likely still under-diagnosed.

The pandemic threw such a big spanner in the works that so many of us started to struggle enough to notice it wasn’t normal. This put the mental health system under significant strain. More people than ever have been diagnosed.

In the US, an ill-guided rule that limits the manufactured capacity of stimulants, not by demand, but by an arbitrary number, impact people recently.

They couldn’t refill their scripts. Supply effectively ran out.

> temporarily helpful to help someone with ADHD get their life in order and make meaningful lifestyle changes in order to get the symptoms under control.

A wheelchair is temporarily helpful, so are reading glasses. They could help someone to get their life in order, and make meaningful lifestyle changes to get their symptoms under control.

Somehow I think we’d both agree even after that you wouldn’t take someone’s wheelchair or reading glasses from them?

Re: My ADHD founder toolbox

#318
post #135
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…

Do you wear glasses? Would you say you have a dependency on them? I know my wife does. So what? Again with the stigma. There’s little medical reason to expect stimulant effectiveness to change after the first couple of weeks, the “honeymoon period”, during which the mood lifting effects are most pronounced. It’s also that same effect that is the main attraction for abusers because it can give euphoria in high enough…

I have been wearing glasses against nearsightedness/astigmatism since I am an adult.

I already needed them as teenagers, but my mother was against it, because I should not grow too dependent on them. Because she says if you wear glasses, the eye adjust to the glasses, so you see as bad with the glasses, as you did without glasses. Then you need stronger glasses, and every time you get stronger glasses, they make the eyes worse, until they make you almost blind. The opticians are destroying your eyes on purpose, so they can sell more glasses

I only got glasses as adult because it was mandatory to get a driving license. I actually got an anxiety attack in the driving exam and failed the exam, when I had to put my glasses on because I was still convince they make you blind.

I wonder if I have ADHD, too. I am completely unable to participate in classes, but my grades in exams were good enough that no teacher suggested testing. It is like I have zero attention on anything said in class, but then hyperfocus on reading/writing/programming stuff. Anyways my mother would not have allowed me to go to a psychiatrist, because she think that psychiatry is a scam. The psychiatrists are only trying to get you addicted to drugs and destroy your health on purpose, so they can sell more drugs.

Or it might be because I could not see anything in class. Then I had to stare at something and try to recognize something in the blur, and that was taking away all my attention. But reading things in close range worked fine without glasses. Perhaps degraded sensory input is actually a cause for ADHD. The brain diverts too much processing power on processing sensations, and there is not enough processing power left for the actual task, and it makes any sensation (distraction) appear much more important. I still cannot participate in classes even with glasses

Re: My ADHD founder toolbox

#319

The fact that everyone is diagnosed with adhd and then given amphetamines is going to be the medical scandal of this century. I have several friends who have become unbearable due to being constantly high, one of them quit their job and is now unemployed and alone, unable to function in crowds. Of course they all report that they feel great on the speed!

Seriously. There are "doctors" offices in NYC that operate in 5 minute appointment intervals. The entire waiting room is full of white collar professionals or college students with this terrible disease, ADHD. Anyone who wants it can get it, you just gotta find a pill mill. You self diagnose by saying "I can't concentrate" or "I get distracted" and the shrink writes you a legal script for speed. Some places may have…

Yep and this ends up hurting everyone who legitimately suffers from it.

Both from people who do this, then decide the meds just get them high, so they must get everyone high—they don’t.

And from those who see this and use it as fuel attempt to discredit the condition itself.

> writes you a legal script for speed.

ADHD meds aren’t street drugs. There’s stimulant and non-stimulant options, that work for different people.

> its laughable this qualifies you for legal meth

Desoxyn is a rare treatment option, valuable to those who really need it.

Methamphetamine may be _very_ close to other amphetamines, but the methyl group unlocks access to other parts of the brain. It’s a different drug, with different effects.

I fully agree with you that this shouldn’t be happening, but the comparisons to street drugs only work in favour of operations like the one you describe in NYC.

Re: My ADHD founder toolbox

#320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I knew day one. Three years have continuously confirmed what I knew day one. I wish I hadn’t been so afraid of meds that would help me.

I’m exactly the same. I knew 40m in, right when it started to take effect. It was night and day. Like I’d just walked from a raging thunderstorm into a quiet sunny meadow, but I’d thought that I was in a quiet meadow my whole life. It was profound. There was a decade between me first seriously suspecting it, and that. Information about it is much easier to come by now, and more people talk openly about it. Without th…

'Like I’d just walked from a raging thunderstorm into a quiet sunny meadow, but I’d thought that I was in a quiet meadow my whole life. It was profound.'

That is profound. Also says a lot about us as humans. Glad it's not raging anymore

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