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

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141–150 of 220 posts

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

#141

I don't think the problem is that you can't focus - the problem is that the reward isn't high enough. I know your post isn't money-related, but let me digress. What is the point of fixing your procrastination? What goal are you really trying to achieve? If you can't pay attention in project meetings, so what? It's not like you'll get a $100,000 bonus for doing so. If there was a $10 million gold bar in the bottom of…

> If you can't pay attention in project meetings, so what? It's not like you'll get a $100,000 bonus for doing so.

Yeah, but you also won't get that promotion if you can't focus on meetings, even though every part of you wishes you could.

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

#142
post #26

I did the same two years ago and it's been transformative. There are people who will tell you that medication isn't a complete solution, or that it's not the best one. They're not wrong, but telling someone who is drowning that they just need to learn how to swim isn't doing them any favors. I was 40 when I was diagnosed, and understanding the implications of that diagnosis has made my life much better. My first coup…

It's really helpful to hear from someone a few years out from a diagnosis. There are so many accounts from people who just started meds and are thrilled with how it's going and the initial excitement of "life didn't have to be this hard". I'm in the "I should really see someone" stage, and part of the reason I'm skeptical of these accounts is that I imagine stimulants would make anyone more focused and productive. To…

I'm 6 months out now from diagnosis/adderall. I've had ADHD (hyperactive/inattentive combo) all my life, but never got formally diagnosed until 6 mo ago. That first month was weird. Started on 10mg IR (instance release) and felt no difference. Upped to 15mg and the effect was mildly noticeable. Went up to 20mg too fast and inadvertently got "high" for a few days, oops. Let me tell you, I totally understand why people become addicted to amphetamines. I felt like a young teenager again, it was glorious. The clarity was unbelievable. At day 4 on 20mg I suddenly started crashing hard when the meds wore off; suicidal thoughts and dark depression. I quickly went back down to 15mg and stayed there for another month. After month 2-3, I went back up to 20mg and that's where I've been since then just fine. The key is to build up slowly.

Each day I can tell when the medication "switches on" and "switches off" because I start getting more focused and I'm actually getting things done. Procrastination is noticeably reduced as well. Unfortunately it seems the body builds a tolerance because as time goes on, the medication is becoming less and less effective. Also if I take any after 3PM, I get insomnia, so this means I only take it the first half of the day.

The IR version lasts about 4-6 hours. I usually take it around 10am so I can focus for the core hours of work. This is kinda crappy because my family doesn't get the benefit unless it's on the weekend when I don't work.

I totally understand that "do I really need these?" question. I was the same way for a looooong time. I viewed ADHD as an advantage for the first 30 years or so of my life. Then things got to a point where I couldn't even do the bare minimum and that's when I got desperate. In my opinion, it was a bit naive to ignore being medicated for so long. I should've started treatment years ago when I first started experiencing difficulties. You may or may not feel the same eventually.

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

#143

I got on meds for ADHD and they objectively didn’t help that much. I also felt like my pulse and emotions were greatly elevated in confrontational situations to an uncomfortable extent (though caffiene was involved). The other aspect was that it was almost $300/month for a prescription. In social situations they did help a bit. Any impact on productivity was minor. I’d also say right after the meds kicked in I would…

Taking caffeine with Adderall gives me horrendous anxiety and heart palpitations so I don't drink coffee anymore. When I take adderall + magnesium I'm almost as calm as I am unmedicated. For anyone else taking them both that may not have made the connection yet.

I thought caffeine + adderall was sending my heartrate through the roof, as I usually feel extremely alert on that combination. I was blown away when I finally got a watch with a HR monitor on it and found that it was barely moving it, from mid 60s resting to low 70s on stimulants. I figured it would be closer to 100 because it makes me feel like my eyes are vibrating lol.

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

#145
post #112

I'm becoming more of an adult-onset ADHD skeptic. I mean, there is even a crisis now because of an Adderall shortage [1]. People who legitimately need them (they cannot hold a job without it) are not able to get them. I think there is certainly a spectrum of ADHD. Those with severe ADHD literally cannot function in society, they can't hold jobs, they can't get university degrees, without medication. Then you have the…

I'm one of those who literally can't function in society. ADHD is definitely a spectrum disorder and the spectrum also varies within each individual mattering on the situation.

As such I'm not working in tech but I love technology and doing things related to it. I'm highly knowledgeable and highly competent.

I don't social media anymore. I'm out of shape but I'm not fat but I don't exercise so I'm not strong. I get decent sleep but I also do whatever I want with my schedule for the most part, but I get at least 6 hours of sleep and it's good sleep because I don't force myself to sleep when I can't sleep.

The biggest symptom for me with my ADHD isn't focus. It's not attention. I have both of those things with and without my medication probably more than anyone that I talk to on a day-to-day basis and that's because skills I've learned over time to change the way that I approach my environment.

The biggest issue I have with my ADHD is motivation. It's task starting. Even self-goal-related task starting.

The second biggest issue is frustration and anger and impulsivity.

Now you can get told your whole life when you have ADHD that you're not focused on things. And then you develop methods to make sure that you are focused on things... Then through no fault of your own it appears as though that you're not focused on things because you're not *doing things*. You have no fuel in the tank even on a good day to actually sit down and do something that you want to. You're not depressed. You're just not doing the thing.

Even the common medications available today don't address this. But one thing I will say is that stopping dopamine hits doesn't help this. Dopamine fasting is a fucking myth. You need dopamine when you get in situations like this because you're just already at a low baseline and you're desensitized and depriving yourself of more doesn't actually lower that needle on the compressor to use an audio analogy. So, most of the time what gets me out of this funk is to get frustrated at something external. If I'm watching someone play old games on twitch in the retro category maybe I'll get frustrated because they are using dosbox when they should be using PCEM and the accuracy that they are getting is wrong and they're showing the game wrong so then I get motivated to get up and actually play the game correctly while they're doing it wrong or something. Or I'll read a hardware review for some computer part and I get frustrated that they aren't benchmarking this shit correctly anymore and if I have the means to have that hardware then I'll try to start writing a review and doing testing methodology for it. Those are just some small examples. I say jokingly that spite is a motivator for me.

Edit: diagnosed at the age of two and medicated around that same year and I'm 34 now. Also a side diagnosis of extremely high functioning Asperger's.

Also some extra little things I guess...

The world frustratingly operates on delayed gratification and delayed punishment. And by delayed I mean more than immediate. This doesn't work for me. You aren't doing me a favor if I did something wrong and you don't tell me right then right there in a constructive manner. You also aren't helping me if you are withholding reward for longer than exactly when I did the right thing. I'm not saying I'm a spoiled little brat that needs things as soon as possible because everything is about me me me... I'm saying that my brain literally will not process these things the same way if you involve a Time component.

Edit again: anyone who thinks this long scrawling comment is the product of an amphetamined up brain. I just woke up and rolled over turned off the sleep tracking on my phone opened up edge went to hacker News as is my usual morning routine. I'm completely unmedicated right now. Most likely this comment wouldn't exist if I had my medication in my blood right now because I would have thought about what usefulness commenting might have and then thought better of it. IE I would have had less impulsivity. So I'm not saying this is medical advice but if when you take your Adderall for your new found out ADHD diagnosis and you find that when you take it that things are going quicker and you're doing more things possibly impulsively then... I'm just going to say that we don't have the same ADHD or you just don't have ADHD and you're just tweaking right now instead because when I take my 30 mg of instant release amphetamine salts I am extremely calm and extremely collected and I don't do half the stuff I usually do when I don't have my meds in my system.

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

#147
I don't know if it's only the Baader–Meinhof phenomenon or a real impression but for the past few weeks I've seen a lot of testimony and articles on ADHD (on hn and other media). Some friends also started to mention it more than before.

I always recognize myself in those testimony and I think it's time to do something about it. So thank you for your message!

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

#149

My personal anecdote. I have issues with focusing and prioritizing work. What helped me is getting a work with absolutely floating work time. For example today I went to work office at 19:30 and I'm going to leave it at 7:00 or something like that. It doesn't matter. What matters is: I work prolonged hours (because I still procrastinate, but I've found out that I start to focus on work after 4-5 hours or something li…

what you're suggesting is pretty much impossible if you have kids or a family

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

#150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Taking caffeine with Adderall gives me horrendous anxiety and heart palpitations so I don't drink coffee anymore. When I take adderall + magnesium I'm almost as calm as I am unmedicated. For anyone else taking them both that may not have made the connection yet.

I thought caffeine + adderall was sending my heartrate through the roof, as I usually feel extremely alert on that combination. I was blown away when I finally got a watch with a HR monitor on it and found that it was barely moving it, from mid 60s resting to low 70s on stimulants. I figured it would be closer to 100 because it makes me feel like my eyes are vibrating lol.

Hah, yeah I do worry about the cardio effects of stimulants esp now that I'm past 40. I may try the smart watch route as well.
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