My ADHD founder toolbox

Invest in your mental health. (Diagnosed 1 year ago)

Say you’re procrastinating on starting on a new work project. Neurotypicals might just type `npm init myproj` and “hit enter” to break it down into a smaller piece. Useful and seemingly simple..

However, ADHD’ers brain may interpret “hitting enter” as akin to putting your hand on a hot stove element. You literally just can’t do it! In that case type in `npm init myproj`, grab an (open minded) coworker to “hit enter”. Despite the odd looks, having the repo created will often override the blocker!

Though it’s the principal that counts as your brain could shift the blocker to the readme, etc, so you have to adapt as needed. The general premise is to ignore the odd looks, and get help despite the seeming inanity of the action. Involving someone else even trivially helps too, similar to the “body double” concept.

Generally you can use your ability to reason to overcome hind brain hindrances. It’s sort of like using reasoning to create a hot glove to grab hot things out of a fire, rather than “just try harder” to force yourself to have thicker calluses like everyone else. But first you have to accept you don’t have natural calluses and your brain won’t let you grab hot things because it hurts. Grab a glove, or get a friend to.

I'd only manage that for about two days before giving up without the meds, heh

> I mean you did not even bother to search for another paper.

I most certainly did. The search results I got were primarily ads, and few clinical studies I found were, like the one you linked, far less bold in the results they claimed than your claim of a “cure”.

> You make me assumption that I’m trying to disabuse you of taking your medication. I’m not. I don’t care, take it if you want. But by not being open to other methods of treatment, you aredisabusing people of that choice.

Excuse me, how?

> You go on and on about how you don’t think it would work

The studies themselves don’t support your claim of a cure.

> but have you ever had your B6 level tested never mind your red blood cell B6 levels?

No, I haven’t been to a doctor since some person on the internet mentioned this a few days ago. I did have a scheduled psychiatrist appointment in that time, but had to reschedule because il out of state for a family medical emergency.

> I get it, you don’t care

I don’t know where you got that impression. I took the time to reply thoughtfully and, despite your impressions otherwise, to look for other studies more pertinent to my own experience. In my thoughtful response I expressed caution and the reasons for that caution, which you completely ignored.

> you found a treatment that works, even though that treatment is not curing the underlying disorder

That’s right. And it’s important. It’s the reason I’m still alive. I’m cautious about upsetting treatment that works because I would very much like to remain alive.

> I’ve been working with people with new disorders for 25 years and I’ve seen it over and over again.

I don’t know if you mean the disorder is new in the world (it’s not) or in me (it’s also not).

> So I’m not asking you to stop taking anything I’m asking you to keep an open mind which you seem to not be able to do.

I don’t know where you got that impression. An open mind isn’t characterized by immediately accepting life changing “solutions” proposed by random people on the internet, regardless of whether they cite medical studies. I expressed an open mind, I said I’d consider giving it a try.

> That’s OK.

In your own words, I don’t believe you. You have talked past me and several others in this thread, and you don’t seem to want to accept anything other than a revelation that what I need is vitamins rather than the treatment that my doctor prescribes. You have even suggested that I’m preventing other people from treatment (or a “cure”) you think more appropriate simply because I haven’t dropped everything to try your preferred treatment. If this is how you “work with” other people who are hoping to treat their ADHD effectively, god help them. And it has nothing to do with the particular treatment, I felt the same way about my first psychiatrist who was just as zealous about stimulant treatment.