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Reverse engineering my ADHD test

nullpt.rs

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Re: Reverse engineering my ADHD test

#41

Post by great_wubwub »

anamexis wrote: post #35
usernametaken29 wrote: post #33

I spent a decent amount working on ADHD diagnostics and unfortunately it sucks. To my knowledge, to this day, there isn’t a single reliable biomarker that identifies autism spectrum disorders. It’s usually correlation studies paired with questionnaires which for lack of better words can be described as “incidental” at best. Most z scored tests I know are also developed with small samples, a hundred participants with…

ADHD is not an autism spectrum disorder, is it?

Autism Disorder with High Distractability?

Re: Reverse engineering my ADHD test

#42

Post by poopmonster »

0x457 wrote: post #23
pixel_popping wrote: post #8

[flagged]

> > you end up addicted and pretty much permanently require drugs to function well No? First, even when I was taking it almost every day for three years, I kept forgetting to take it. Today, my last refill was in February this year. I recommend against raw-dogging reality with ADHD without meds. At least so you have baseline "this is what normal feels like"

I think it's important to take it case-by-case. Many people with ADHD find stimulant medications positively life-changing. However, plenty of people with ADHD also have a substance use disorder. Sometimes medication is an effective treatment for both issues; other times it exacerbates the latter.

Consider the subreddit r/stopspeeding, a recovery community for people addicted to stimulants. Many, many users share similar stories of being prescribed a stimulant medication for ADHD, then beginning to abuse it. Many of these people really do have ADHD, but find that their lives are better without stimulant medication.

Re: Reverse engineering my ADHD test

#43

Post by poopmonster »

gavinmckenzie wrote: post #37
Muromec wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That doesn't have to be ADHD, could be the *tism too. The tells are usually somewhat overlapping. In general, if you are in the industry, save yourself (and your kids) some trouble and get diagnosed before it becomes a problem. Add: I wonder why they don't just give people some ritalin and ask if they feel calmed down? Except the obvious reason of course

That’s basically how the end of my diagnosis went because aspects of my results were borderline, so she suggested that I just try meds to see. But keep in mind that only one type of ADHD involves being hyper. Some of us are inattentive types where our brain feels like an old 70s pony car engine, and if you pull up to a stoplight you need to keep the motor revving or it will stall. Taking Ritalin for us is the equival…

Great simile. That really is how it feels.

Re: Reverse engineering my ADHD test

#44

Post by scrapcode »

aidenn0 wrote: post #36
Muromec wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That doesn't have to be ADHD, could be the *tism too. The tells are usually somewhat overlapping. In general, if you are in the industry, save yourself (and your kids) some trouble and get diagnosed before it becomes a problem. Add: I wonder why they don't just give people some ritalin and ask if they feel calmed down? Except the obvious reason of course

> Add: I wonder why they don't just give people some ritalin and ask if they feel calmed down? Except the obvious reason of course I have been screened a few times for ADHD and each time was found to obviously have it. Ritalin does not make me feel calmer. I have been told by those close to me that there are externally visible improvements in my behavior. At doses to reach that effect, it also impacts my sleep qualit…

I'm nearing my 40s. In my mid-twenties I was diagnosed and over the next couple of years tried all of the usual ADHD meds and none of them were short of terrible in regard to side effects. I guess I've just learned to live with it in a way that outweighs the side effects I get from the drugs.

I was diagnosed with Shiftwork Disorder at one point in time and was prescribed Modafinil and it was incredible for the most part and had zero side-effects, but my doctor wont prescribe it for ADHD. One down-side to Modafinil is that I could get stuck on an unproductive task and would realize in hindsight that I had just been hyper-attentative to this unimportant task for hours.

Re: Reverse engineering my ADHD test

#45

Post by throwawaya7e81f »

fv3y wrote: post #40
aidenn0 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Add: I wonder why they don't just give people some ritalin and ask if they feel calmed down? Except the obvious reason of course I have been screened a few times for ADHD and each time was found to obviously have it. Ritalin does not make me feel calmer. I have been told by those close to me that there are externally visible improvements in my behavior. At doses to reach that effect, it also impacts my sleep qualit…

I'm still on my journey of finding meds (and dosages) that work but I would highly recommend for anyone who has a inattentive scatterbrain to try lis/dexamphetamine. Methylphenidates can be quite numbing (zombifying) in my group of ADHD friends but dex seems to have a more consistenly helpful effect. The unfortunate caveat for me is that I personally seem predisposed to pelvic floor/urinary issues, which you'll find…

I have exactly the same problem with pelvic floor and urinary issues when I take adderall, although with continued use and PF therapy it's gotten moderately better (and my dr and I decided that the benefits outweighed the risks and issues).

I found methylphenidate-based drugs to be useless after a few days.

Have you tried pure lis or dexamphetamine? I know dex can be prescribed without the mixture, maybe lis can too. I keep meaning to ask my doctor about it.

The other issue I find is tolerance, though even with this I'm still far more focused than when I'm not taking adderall. It really is amazing how much better it makes me feel. I find no problem with addiction whatsoever -- if I forget to take it, then I just have full blown ADHD, but I'm no worse off. I also find it's more effective if I minimize coffee, but I haven't yet cut coffee entirely. (I find caffeine is vastly more addictive than amphetamines.)

Re: Reverse engineering my ADHD test

#47

Post by Muromec »

aidenn0 wrote: post #36
Muromec wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That doesn't have to be ADHD, could be the *tism too. The tells are usually somewhat overlapping. In general, if you are in the industry, save yourself (and your kids) some trouble and get diagnosed before it becomes a problem. Add: I wonder why they don't just give people some ritalin and ask if they feel calmed down? Except the obvious reason of course

> Add: I wonder why they don't just give people some ritalin and ask if they feel calmed down? Except the obvious reason of course I have been screened a few times for ADHD and each time was found to obviously have it. Ritalin does not make me feel calmer. I have been told by those close to me that there are externally visible improvements in my behavior. At doses to reach that effect, it also impacts my sleep qualit…

> it also impacts my sleep quality enough that I don't take it.

Yeah, it's basically why I don't bother with it. I know it works, but trading one set of problems that I know how deal with for a different set of problems that needs more meds isn't appealing at all.

Re: Reverse engineering my ADHD test

#48

Post by thin_carapace »

nullpt_rs wrote: post #15
LocalPCGuy wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree that ADHD is a serious condition for many people, and that it's overly romanticized and that isn't good when it comes to getting help for those that do need it. To that point, I'm going push back on this language just a bit: > you end up addicted and pretty much permanently require drugs to function well That is negatively framing medication, which if taken properly as prescribed is no different than any othe…

Agree with original commenter but +1 to reframing the language. I was very afraid to begin medication because I would always hear about how addicting this medication can be. But like you say, you wouldn't tell someone with diabetes that they're addicted to insulin.

it's not good to flame people for things they can't control. I also think it's not fair to compare insulin (life saving non synthesizable hormone) vs amphetamine (hard drug that helps people better cope with a society expressly designed to beat them down), because then we forget that dosing amphetamines daily comes with its own price of damage to the body. drugs prescribed for adhd are also very much addicting - if one lets an amphetamine script run out, symptoms of withdrawal will take place, regardless as to how the condition is verbally labelled (which while horrible is also to me not fair to compare with a diabetic dying without insulin)

Re: Reverse engineering my ADHD test

#50

Post by johnwalkr »

a2dam wrote: post #27

> At the end, she told me she would review my exam and have the results ready in a few days. Yeah man I can go ahead and let you know early if you want.

This comment is so funny to me, because I imagine you being distracted to make the comment before making it to the end where the psych did indeed review the new results.

Well I only know that because I skipped to the end. Then, while scrolling up I realised I missed the whole side-quest about promising to not cheat the test again, taking the test again, but then "accidentally" finding an exploit the system, and then cheating the test again, but this time cheating even more to see the results.

Then, scrolling up more I see that this whole thing started with seeing stars and then buying a telescope on amazon (probably at 3am).

And here I am commenting on HN instead of replying to an email...

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