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How I Run a Company with ADHD

andrewaskins.com

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Re: How I Run a Company with ADHD

#101

Post by sundvor »

internet_user wrote: post #43
adito wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you don't know much about ADHD , it's not what you think it is. Honest question, I don't know much about ADHD. What's ADHD actually is?

ADHD is some degree of impairement in the ability to self-direct your own behavior, also known as executive function.

Yep. This is an interesting article about the neurobiology behind it, getting into dopamine related reward network / neurochemical deficit theories.

https://psychscenehub.com/psychinsights/neurobiology-of-adhd...

Re: How I Run a Company with ADHD

#102

Post by Nition »

swsieber wrote: post #76

If by chance you have ADHD symptoms and you haven't been to a sleep clinic, please visit one. Not getting enough sleep can be a major contributing cause.

I've always found it interesting that the effects I get from not getting enough sleep seem extremely similar to the effects people describe from ADHD.

When I tried to look up whether ADHD could actually be a sleep disorder, I only found a lot of the reverse: Articles saying that people with ADHD often also get a bad sleep. But I certainly wondered whether the causation might be the other way around.

From what you're saying, sounds like there's evidence that it can be, at least partially?

Re: How I Run a Company with ADHD

#103

Post by taneq »

ScottFree wrote: post #36

My reaction to this article has been... complex. ----- Bah! Another article about ADHD. ADHD's over diagnosed and not not as big a problem as people make it out to be. But, I'm curious all of a sudden, so I might as well read it. > For the first 19 years of my life I knew I was lazy. Yeah, I'm pretty lazy too. That's just who I am, though. I don't have ADHD... > So what, you can't stop bouncing your leg at the restau…

I just thought "tick!" an uncomfortable number of times in a row while reading that. Gonna go get a coffee.

Re: How I Run a Company with ADHD

#104

Post by taneq »

internet_user wrote: post #69
DoreenMichele wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of Twice Exceptional* people get labeled lazy. It may not be ADHD. It may be some other hidden issue. In the vast majority of cases, people who get identified as an adult seem to be tremendously relieved and empowered by having a better label than lazy. * https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twice_exceptional

Twice exceptional people with a solid track record of underachieving? How is that in any way exceptional? * Executive function is affected by all those disorders you mention in the wiki. And the best proxy we know of and can measure is attention.

Exceptional doesn't mean better.

Re: How I Run a Company with ADHD

#105

Post by blotter_paper »

stefanfisk wrote: post #99
blotter_paper wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah. I don't want to be somebody who jumps on the bandwagon and self-diagnoses themselves with ADHD, but I also fall into all of these categories, have developed a bunch of his coping mechanisms on my own (the lists part really hit home, I cannot get shit done without making multiple lists and sub-lists throughout the day so that I have an anchor to fall back on when I'm getting distracted), and consume gratuitous a…

As someone who was diagnosed just about a month ago after a lifetime of coping I’m curious, what’s the argument against diagnosis?

I'm certainly not arguing that anybody else should avoid diagnosis. I don't expect this to be a popular opinion, but I tend to stay away from medical practitioners in general. The last time I broke a bone I did some googling and treated it at home; I generally feel like the time and money needed to access professional medical advice isn't worth the knowledge which is already available at my fingertips faster and cheaper. If I were to get diagnosed at some point, it would be because society won't let me buy kiddie-meth (Ritalin/Vivance) over the counter. I've tried kiddie-meth four times illicitly, and it did wonders for me, but I'm not yet ready to incorporate it into my regular drug stack. I worry about potential effects from prolonged use (the "dulling" some people describe), and it makes me prone to giving all of my effort to the task at hand even when that isn't actually clever. I'm not ready to burn that filament yet. If I were throwing everything I had into a startup, I could totally see getting on the stuff. I'm about a decade from that point in life by my best approximations. As a side note, I accidentally smoked a little bit of actual-meth once (the guy who packed the bowl didn't tell me there was meth in it -- long story), and the effects were very similar. I didn't realise why I had been in such a great flow-state until it was revealed to me about a week later.

Re: How I Run a Company with ADHD

#106

Post by kqr »

manyxcxi wrote: post #93
ScottFree wrote: post #36

My reaction to this article has been... complex. ----- Bah! Another article about ADHD. ADHD's over diagnosed and not not as big a problem as people make it out to be. But, I'm curious all of a sudden, so I might as well read it. > For the first 19 years of my life I knew I was lazy. Yeah, I'm pretty lazy too. That's just who I am, though. I don't have ADHD... > So what, you can't stop bouncing your leg at the restau…

I was officially diagnosed at age 32. This wasn’t some pill mill diagnosis either. I worked with my psych for 3 months before we tried any meds, it would’ve been longer but I had accidentally discovered most of the practical methods for dealing with it on my own. Two great reliefs came from the diagnosis: 1. I’m not a lazy, unmotivated person 2. Meds, at the right dose, are amazing. When my Vyvanse kicks in, it’s lik…

> The thing I want to do least is the thing I force myself to do first, and nothing else until it’s done

That can end really badly; I'm glad it's worked out for you.

Re: How I Run a Company with ADHD

#107

Post by serf »

They went to a psychologist for a diagnosis, after grades started to slip, and received it. The author also mentions that they dislike ADHD medications.

My curiosities when reading this article :

Did the psychologist actually fix the slipping grades in any meaningful way? If so, was it through pharmacological methods, or some other technique? If it was dealt with through prescriptions, and the grades improved at the sake of anxiety, is that (graduating college with better grades) worth it? If it's worth it, should that behavior be drug into life as a founder -- presumably due to some sort of advantage that those pharmaceuticals may provide, and the anxiety just dealt with somehow else?

These are all honest questions, if anyone cares to share their take on the situation with me. I've been in similar situations.

Re: How I Run a Company with ADHD

#108

Post by opportune »

internet_user wrote: post #70
ryanianian wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't have the research handy, but Adderall has been proven very safe for long-term use when taken at "normal" dosages and with oversight by a doctor. I've been on it for 20 years and with the oversight of responsible doctors, and I have never had to increase my dosage (in fact I've reduced it 25% in the last 5 years). All my heart/blood/* tests come back good and I'm not a particularly health-conscious person. I r…

Nobody will ever admit it but memantine and/or dxm maintain effectiveness of amphetamines. Even as much as fully resetting tolerance in some cases.

Not worth it for the potential brain damage

Re: How I Run a Company with ADHD

#109

Post by fouc »

ScottFree wrote: post #36

My reaction to this article has been... complex. ----- Bah! Another article about ADHD. ADHD's over diagnosed and not not as big a problem as people make it out to be. But, I'm curious all of a sudden, so I might as well read it. > For the first 19 years of my life I knew I was lazy. Yeah, I'm pretty lazy too. That's just who I am, though. I don't have ADHD... > So what, you can't stop bouncing your leg at the restau…

I think the best description of ADHD I heard was that it has more to do with an "attention-switching" deficit. People with ADHD are capable of intense focus on highly stimulating things like a good book. The intensity of focus drowns out everything else, making it hard to deal with other important tasks until the book is finished.

It's also much more difficult to maintain their attention on things that are no longer stimulating.

So ADHD folks are great at starting interesting projects, but once the space of possibilities has been narrowed down and all that's left is hammering it out, it becomes intensely difficult to maintain attention on that due to lack of stimulation.

Re: How I Run a Company with ADHD

#110

Post by stefanfisk »

blotter_paper wrote: post #105
stefanfisk wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who was diagnosed just about a month ago after a lifetime of coping I’m curious, what’s the argument against diagnosis?

I'm certainly not arguing that anybody else should avoid diagnosis. I don't expect this to be a popular opinion, but I tend to stay away from medical practitioners in general. The last time I broke a bone I did some googling and treated it at home; I generally feel like the time and money needed to access professional medical advice isn't worth the knowledge which is already available at my fingertips faster and chea…

it sound like your argument is essentially that medical professionals cost too much money and have too low availability to make it worth your effort, is that correct? if so, may I ask where in the world you live?
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