The FDA has officially declared a shortage of Adderall

I've found exercise (minimum of 5 hrs a week) to work better than any substance for curing depression, anxiety, and concentration.

Individual results may vary.

This is an unfortunate point of view and is damaging to those legitimately suffering with issues related to ADHD and similar diagnoses.

As a child I struggled with ADHD, it’s not a state of mind. It’s not a decision. It’s a chemical imbalance that make a child’s innate lack of self control, and poor ability to self regulate something as simple as idle movements, orders of magnitude more difficult. I’m not commenting on over/under diagnosing of ADHD, I’m commenting on a condition that some individuals legitimately deal with. Some find themselves unable to focus on tasks, or get labeled the weird kid in their peer group because of behaviors they don’t even realize they’re doing.

Now I am older, I’ve learned strategies to self regulate. I’ve learned how to turn that energy into a strength. Often times I can channel that energy into my work, but I’ve also learned when I need to seek assistance either through medication, or taking some time away from work, or using my partner as a sounding board. I have 3 kids of my own now, and I see the same struggles in one of my sons. I see it now from the perspective my parent saw it from.

As a parent I didn’t want to medicate my child if it wasn’t necessary, I wanted to help him develop his own strategies to deal with his condition. But he lacks the insight and self-awareness that I developed with age and with the help of the medication. Medication that helped me to see what was possible, helped me to slow down, and helped me to understand myself and how my behaviors were affecting the world around me. Medication that I’ve seen change my sons life at school, how he interacts with his peers, his ability to constructively participate in Boy Scouts, his ability to be more patient with his older sister and younger brother. He still struggles, the medication isn’t a panacea, but it has given him the ability to improve himself.

Hopefully, one day he won’t need the medication regularly. He will make that decision when the time comes. But right now, nobody needs people like you saying “ADHD is a fictional illness”. Your opinion does not convey any value to those who have to deal with it in their daily lives. Just because it isn’t your reality does not make it a non-real issue.

p.s. for people who have a hard time understanding how an amphetamine can help someone with this type of condition.

Everyone is different, and most people experience a stimulant effect from amphetamines. I do not, my son does not, amphetamines significantly calm and slow us down. With the correct time delayed dosage, the world feels less “exciting” and things that were distractions or often stole my focus just become background noise. It’s not a feeling I particularly like, but the best thing I can compare it to is like a washing machine getting off balance and knocking around, sometimes you just need to slow it down and let it settle for a little bit.

> As for ADHD, the man who first described the condition later confessed he fabricated the whole thing.

What is that man's name?

Careful with this. I was “self-medicating” my ADHD with exercise for years simply thinking I just liked exercise and not ever realizing that I had worked up to 25-30 hours a week just to function. Exercise absolutely does 100% work but meds that raise your baseline so you don’t have to exercise is a much healthier relationship with it.

There are a lot of habits that ADHD people fall into to “stim.” Whether or not it’s a healthy way of managing it is up to the person.