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Tell HN: If you have trouble focusing on projects/meetings, see a psychatrist

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Re: Tell HN: If you have trouble focusing on projects/meetings, see a psychatrist

#61

Post by whalesalad »

fein wrote: post #53
whalesalad wrote: post #34

Do we all have ADHD or are stimulants just good? Seriously. Pretty soon all of us will be on legal meth and we sit back and go "hey this is fun I get this from my doctor it's good" and yet as a society we judge meth, crack and cocaine addicts. Nearly anyone will respond well to a stimulant.

HN doesn't seem to like to be told to stop taking heavy drugs. I agree with you. These things seem to be handed out like candy to whoever says the right things to a shrink. I think every single one of my neighbors has an addy script from willy wonka internet docs. When I was a kid, my parents were told to put me on meds as I didn't want to participate in school activities that I didn't find interesting. They smartly…

Give virtually any human being on this earth an adderall prescription and they will spend the next few months espousing how wonderful it is and how much better their life is.

No shit buddy! It's amphetamine! Put it in the water supply to strengthen our GDP.

Re: Tell HN: If you have trouble focusing on projects/meetings, see a psychatrist

#62

Post by weakfish »

waqf wrote: post #59
weakfish wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is patently false and also misleading as comparing adderall to meth is like comparing dynamite to a nuclear bomb Edit: parent replied snidely to me, then deleted the comment. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Read this and see whether you think the same: https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/know-your-amphetamines

Sorry, but substack is _not_ what I would qualify as a reliable source.

Re: Tell HN: If you have trouble focusing on projects/meetings, see a psychatrist

#63

Post by max182 »

I was self medicating with massive amounts of nicotine and coffee, which probably was worse for my health than ADHD meds.

Before I was on meds I was all over the place, could hardly write code even though I knew what needed to be done. Got booted from company I started because of ADHD/Depression. Didn't graduate high school. All the signs were there. I just started seeing a psych from Stanford and he dismissed a lot of my preconceived notions around taking medication.

I was almost homeless before I started and thinking about working construction. Started meds. Got a FAANG-tier programming gig without even studying for the interview. No harm in trying things out if you're having trouble.

I can take an Adderall and take the best nap of my life which is the exact affect it should have.

Re: Tell HN: If you have trouble focusing on projects/meetings, see a psychatrist

#64

Post by [deleted] »

whalesalad wrote: post #46
phaedrus wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The difference is a person with ADHD will be calmed by a stimulant rather than amped up by it. The ADHD brain can't focus because it doesn't produce enough dopamine to reward the neural circuits for maintaining focus. So there's this paradoxical effect where something that in typical brains would lead to hyperactivity leads to calmness and clarity in an ADHD brain. It's qualitatively different.

this is the classical DSM-V answer you hear thrown around but honestly times are changing, our understanding of this disorder is changing, and I do not think that is unequivocally true.

[deleted]

Re: Tell HN: If you have trouble focusing on projects/meetings, see a psychatrist

#65

Post by time_to_smile »

whalesalad wrote: post #34

Do we all have ADHD or are stimulants just good? Seriously. Pretty soon all of us will be on legal meth and we sit back and go "hey this is fun I get this from my doctor it's good" and yet as a society we judge meth, crack and cocaine addicts. Nearly anyone will respond well to a stimulant.

I was diagnosed with ADHD as a teen and recall being perplexed by the mixed messages of "don't do drugs!" and "here take this stimulant so you can do better in school!"

If I'm going to take drugs, it's going to be to feel good not to work hard. I'm not taking drugs so that I can fit into an insane world's view of what a productive member of society looks like.

Re: Tell HN: If you have trouble focusing on projects/meetings, see a psychatrist

#66

Post by friedman23 »

bvanderveen wrote: post #22

A tautology: Adderall improves everyone’s ADHD symptoms! ADHD is just what life feels like when you’re not on speed. Cut down on pot and booze, move your body, avoid stressors, and take control of your things in your life. Don’t rationalize/medicalize your way into a permanent cognitive disability. You’re in control!

>You’re in control!

Use your imagination and have some empathy. Some people are not in control. Like every human characteristic people exist on some part of the bell curve.

Telling people they are in control is like telling someone that is on the autism spectrum to just get over it, or telling someone that weighs 130 pounds and is 6 ft tall that they can be as big as Arnold Schwarzenegger with a little hard work and protein.

Re: Tell HN: If you have trouble focusing on projects/meetings, see a psychatrist

#68

Post by agentultra »

whalesalad wrote: post #34

Do we all have ADHD or are stimulants just good? Seriously. Pretty soon all of us will be on legal meth and we sit back and go "hey this is fun I get this from my doctor it's good" and yet as a society we judge meth, crack and cocaine addicts. Nearly anyone will respond well to a stimulant.

Not a doctor.

As I understand it, caring for someone diagnosed with ADHD, the response to stimulants is quite different in people with ADHD.

When a neurotypical person with control of their executive function takes stimulants it will increase their energy levels but it will also interfere with their executive function. They will lose impulse control, have intrusive thoughts, difficulty focusing.

An ADHD person has difficulty regulating their executive function to begin with. All the different parts of the brain that have to work together in concert to perform a task have a leader that is easily distracted and they have a hard time controlling the leader. They start with confused thoughts and it can be struggle to maintain their focus on long-term plans/tasks. When they take stimulants it appears to help them regain control over their executive function. It increases their energy levels a bit but they way they react is quite different -- it can seem almost like it calms them down.

So no, we don't all have ADHD. And not everyone will respond the same way to stimulants. They're one tool that can help people who have trouble regulating their executive function.

Re: Tell HN: If you have trouble focusing on projects/meetings, see a psychatrist

#69

Post by bmitc »

mid-kid wrote: post #55
bmitc wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it possible that you don't have ADHD? I am not an expert, but it is my understanding that the medications affect those with and without ADHD totally differently. In reponse to the original post, I don't think psychiatrists are really the ones who should be diagnosing ADHD. It is again my understanding that neuropsychologists should be the ones administering the tests and diagnosis, where psychiatrists will then ma…

Not all medicine, and especially not adhd meds, have the same effect on everyone.

Yes, of course, but in this specific case, it is my understanding the effects are opposite, as in calming versus agitating.

Re: Tell HN: If you have trouble focusing on projects/meetings, see a psychatrist

#70

Post by [deleted] »

whalesalad wrote: post #34

Do we all have ADHD or are stimulants just good? Seriously. Pretty soon all of us will be on legal meth and we sit back and go "hey this is fun I get this from my doctor it's good" and yet as a society we judge meth, crack and cocaine addicts. Nearly anyone will respond well to a stimulant.

[deleted]
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