Cognitive AI for ADHD • Hacker News Board

Re: Cognitive AI for ADHD

#71

Post by throw2291 » Thu, Aug 03, 2023, 10:30 PM UTC

fragmede wrote: post #63

overnight5349 wrote: post #61

The entire content of this website is six bullet points and three or four sentences. You really need to do a lot better than that. It looks like the cheapest, shadiest, slapped together "I hooked ChatGPT into google calendar" project, same as all the other "AI" projects coming out these days. You've offered no compelling reason to use this, nor explained what it does or how it can help me except in the vaguest of ter…

> It seems to be an effort to game you into being a more productive worker, and not actually helping you live with ADHD. Where ADHD leads to problems being productive despite having the intelligence to do the job, and that jobs tend to, y'know, fire you if you're not productive, and you go homeless without money, which you get from having a job, isn't helping ADHD people be productive the same thing? As far as your t…

[dead]

Re: Cognitive AI for ADHD

#72

Post by overnight5349 » Thu, Aug 03, 2023, 10:30 PM UTC

fragmede wrote: post #63

overnight5349 wrote: post #61

The entire content of this website is six bullet points and three or four sentences. You really need to do a lot better than that. It looks like the cheapest, shadiest, slapped together "I hooked ChatGPT into google calendar" project, same as all the other "AI" projects coming out these days. You've offered no compelling reason to use this, nor explained what it does or how it can help me except in the vaguest of ter…

> It seems to be an effort to game you into being a more productive worker, and not actually helping you live with ADHD. Where ADHD leads to problems being productive despite having the intelligence to do the job, and that jobs tend to, y'know, fire you if you're not productive, and you go homeless without money, which you get from having a job, isn't helping ADHD people be productive the same thing? As far as your t…

> isn't helping ADHD people be productive the same thing?

Sure, if you believe the meaning of life is working as hard as you possibly can for no benefit until you die.

Real people in the real world have passions, desires, hobbies. Chores, relationships, responsibilities. We have lives. If you've ever met someone with severe ADHD, you'd see that it affects your life deeply and can greatly decrease your quality of life. And that's mostly because of the 'work til you drop' mindset.

> As far as your trust issues go, that's for each individual to decide.

Trusting companies who have over and over done everything they possibly can to turn your trust into money is not really a sane or logical stance to take. Giving enormous detail about your personal life, or confidential work data to a company that blatantly does not respect you or your privacy is not wise.

So to sum up, you're mansplaining my own disability to me and gaslighting me about not trusting openai.

Don't stop now, my 'shitty dudebro' bingo card is nearly full

Re: Cognitive AI for ADHD

#73

Post by mattstir » Thu, Aug 03, 2023, 10:31 PM UTC

fragmede wrote: post #63

overnight5349 wrote: post #61

The entire content of this website is six bullet points and three or four sentences. You really need to do a lot better than that. It looks like the cheapest, shadiest, slapped together "I hooked ChatGPT into google calendar" project, same as all the other "AI" projects coming out these days. You've offered no compelling reason to use this, nor explained what it does or how it can help me except in the vaguest of ter…

> It seems to be an effort to game you into being a more productive worker, and not actually helping you live with ADHD. Where ADHD leads to problems being productive despite having the intelligence to do the job, and that jobs tend to, y'know, fire you if you're not productive, and you go homeless without money, which you get from having a job, isn't helping ADHD people be productive the same thing? As far as your t…

I'm quite curious about this sentiment because I've seen it more than a few times here on Hackernews.

I have ADHD and have been very successful in my work life so far. I'm on a prescription medication for when my focus is necessary but that seems to be either dismissed or heavily frowned upon here.

Is there a reason why the answer to ADHD seems to be "use AI to do your work" rather than "use the proven medications to allow you to focus"? It just seems strange to me.

Re: Cognitive AI for ADHD

#74

Post by lyapunova » Thu, Aug 03, 2023, 10:36 PM UTC

I think it's clear at this point that hackernews types don't want to see these thin wrappers around ChatGPT anymore. It was a cool genre of hacker project in February, but I'm not so sure anymore. We are already dropping into the trough of disillusionment, and it hasn't been more than 6 months. which says a lot about the lack of inertia behind projects withe generic LLMs at their core...

Re: Cognitive AI for ADHD

#75

Post by lyapunova » Thu, Aug 03, 2023, 10:38 PM UTC

whoomp12342 wrote: post #14

I almost installed this, but then I decided to cut the grass, and then I played with legos, and then I did some jumping jacks.

This is hilarious. If only I had some kind of app to help me focus long enough to download this app.

Re: Cognitive AI for ADHD

#76

Post by gochi » Thu, Aug 03, 2023, 10:40 PM UTC

btilly wrote: post #51

ryanklee wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm hesitant to make any assumptions about your decision to not medicate, but if it has anything to do with addictive properties, you should look into guanfacine. I have very severe ADHD and was unable to use the common medications for the reason listed. This last year I stumbled upon guanfacine, which is usually a blood pressure reduction med, but is prescribed off-label as an ADHD med. It has no noticeable effects…

I have not tried guanfacine. My problems are loss of appetite, trouble sleeping (leading to sleep deprivation that itself causes loss of executive control), and irritability. This is in addition to the fact that I have high blood pressure, and would rather not have to increase the cocktail of medications that I'm taking for that.

You might already be taking it if you have high blood pressure, potentially under a branded name. One of the things it's used for is high blood pressure, and due to not being a stimulant and also not being FDA approved for ADHD adults specifically (only children for now), doctors are far more likely to prescribe it under the high blood pressure umbrella for adults.

Believe one of the brands is called Intuniv.

Re: Cognitive AI for ADHD

#77

Post by acchow » Thu, Aug 03, 2023, 10:41 PM UTC

simplemts wrote: post #66

btilly wrote: post #13

I have moderately severe ADHD, and have good reasons to not use medication. My first response to this is that it solves problems that I don't have, and ignores the ones I do have. Organizing my day on paper is trivial. I'm also married to someone with a good partnership, and we offload different types of tasks to each other. She might enjoy having software assistants to be more productive, but I don't need that. I ha…

You nailed it on the end for me as an Adult with ADHD diagnosed in my 30s. Motivation has been my biggest A-Ha with ADHD and trying my absolute best to align what I do with what I want to do otherwise I am setting myself up for failure and others for disappointment with me.

Learning to create motivation is the ultimate hack for insufficient executive function.

People tend to think of motivation as some innate property of your person. But it's actually an emotional response to inputs.

Re: Cognitive AI for ADHD

#78

Post by beardedmoose » Thu, Aug 03, 2023, 10:43 PM UTC

ryanklee wrote: post #38

btilly wrote: post #13

I have moderately severe ADHD, and have good reasons to not use medication. My first response to this is that it solves problems that I don't have, and ignores the ones I do have. Organizing my day on paper is trivial. I'm also married to someone with a good partnership, and we offload different types of tasks to each other. She might enjoy having software assistants to be more productive, but I don't need that. I ha…

I'm hesitant to make any assumptions about your decision to not medicate, but if it has anything to do with addictive properties, you should look into guanfacine. I have very severe ADHD and was unable to use the common medications for the reason listed. This last year I stumbled upon guanfacine, which is usually a blood pressure reduction med, but is prescribed off-label as an ADHD med. It has no noticeable effects…

I was previously on Guanfacine in combination with Adderall for my blood pressure so I don't have experience taking it solely. I did learn I cannot take stimulants at all, it takes my anxiety to 1000 and makes me a complete a-hole around my house which helps nobody.

Can you elaborate which ADHD symptoms it has helped the most? I'm currently not taking any meds but I can't focus or concentrate to save my life which makes a demanding IT job difficult at times.

Re: Cognitive AI for ADHD

#79

Post by Aurornis » Thu, Aug 03, 2023, 10:52 PM UTC

ryanklee wrote: post #38

btilly wrote: post #13

I have moderately severe ADHD, and have good reasons to not use medication. My first response to this is that it solves problems that I don't have, and ignores the ones I do have. Organizing my day on paper is trivial. I'm also married to someone with a good partnership, and we offload different types of tasks to each other. She might enjoy having software assistants to be more productive, but I don't need that. I ha…

I'm hesitant to make any assumptions about your decision to not medicate, but if it has anything to do with addictive properties, you should look into guanfacine. I have very severe ADHD and was unable to use the common medications for the reason listed. This last year I stumbled upon guanfacine, which is usually a blood pressure reduction med, but is prescribed off-label as an ADHD med. It has no noticeable effects…

> but is prescribed off-label as an ADHD med

Guanfacine is approved to treat ADHD in the United States and several other countries.

Technically, extended-release Guanfacine is approved because that's what was used in the trials. The brand name is Intuniv and the generic is Guanfacine ER.

The generic guanfacine (non-ER) can also be used, though technically off label. The only difference is that it must be dosed twice a day instead of once a day and the absorption is different so you can't do a 1:1 translation of your dose to the ER.

Now that Guanfacine ER is generic and cheap, you might want to consider it for once daily dosing.

The non-stimulant medications are very good, but require some patience to get started with. Too many people give up in the first week or month because the side effects haven't settled yet. Straterra (Atomoxetine) is another one that can take 1-2 months for good efficacy. Clinical trials show the positive effects continue to build over the course of a year. Surprisingly, Atomoxetine has a lower relapse rate after discontinuation too, suggesting it might be making some long-term positive changes to the brain. This is a nice contrast to stimulants, where the patient becomes essentially dependent on the medication and can go through a protracted rebound if they ever have to discontinue.

Re: Cognitive AI for ADHD

#80

Post by btilly » Thu, Aug 03, 2023, 10:53 PM UTC

gochi wrote: post #76

btilly wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have not tried guanfacine. My problems are loss of appetite, trouble sleeping (leading to sleep deprivation that itself causes loss of executive control), and irritability. This is in addition to the fact that I have high blood pressure, and would rather not have to increase the cocktail of medications that I'm taking for that.

You might already be taking it if you have high blood pressure, potentially under a branded name. One of the things it's used for is high blood pressure, and due to not being a stimulant and also not being FDA approved for ADHD adults specifically (only children for now), doctors are far more likely to prescribe it under the high blood pressure umbrella for adults. Believe one of the brands is called Intuniv.

It isn't in my current list, but I saw that. And find this fact interesting. If it can potentially replace another medication, that would be nice.]

It certainly seems better for me than a stimulant.