Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The silent struggles of workers with ADHD

bbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

181–190 of 318 posts

Re: The silent struggles of workers with ADHD

#181

Post by senectus1 »

lcnPylGDnU4H9OF wrote: post #95
EdwardDiego wrote: post #61

So much of this is familiar, the timeliness, forgetfulness, the blurting things out, but especially that feeling of "FFS, why can't I do these things like everyone else, I suck". I was incredibly lucky, once I got into software dev, that my untreated ADHD often manifested in hyperfocus, so I could deliver large amounts of business value in bursts, that meant my other foibles were tolerable. Of course, my spending 20…

> "Just write a list, how hard is that?" 1. Remember to keep a list 2. Remember to update the list 3. Remember to check the list 4. Start a new list because I can't remember if / why I care about anything on the old list (Personally, I've never started a list but I can imagine how it would go.)

This sounds like me, but i just keep putting it down to my poor time keeping skills.

Re: The silent struggles of workers with ADHD

#182

Post by ojl »

treeman79 wrote: post #112
RationPhantoms wrote: post #53

This article feels like it was written for my brother. He's been fired, sequentially, 4 times in roles of progressively narrower scope/salary. From project manager (80k+) at a large NYC-BASED structured-cabling company to a billing coordinator position ( It makes me want to put my head into a pillow and scream because he's an intelligent, sociable and kind person but his mind just sits so juxtaposed from what these c…

In 40s now. Diagnosed a couple years ago. My career was a mix of huge successes and horrible failure. Really hard complicated and interesting projects I would shine at. Basically CTO founder type roles I was amazing. I stunk at routine day to day work. For me the worst pain possible is boredom. I’ve had kidney stones. Boredom is in same range. First time I took medication was shocking to find that the pain of boredom…

I recognise myself in this (except that I don’t have a diagnosis or medication). However, for me it’s a certain kind of boredom that’s painful. I like reading, running, sitting and thinking, and similar activities which might not be very intense. But at work, routine tasks or even technically interesting tasks which aren’t urgent in some way can feel painfully boring to me.

The most successful moments in my career have been when I have been at a place long enough to know the domain and being reasonably comfortable in the code base. Because then I have been able to take on those really difficult and urgent tasks. And I don’t get nervous or stressed while doing it :)

Re: The silent struggles of workers with ADHD

#183

Post by Arcanum-XIII »

ryandvm wrote: post #35
2bitencryption wrote: post #17

I just started working with a new team a few weeks ago. So far I've had "nice to meet you" calls with six or seven of the people on this team. And nearly half of them mentioned "by the way, I have ADHD, just so you know." And since I share so many characteristics with these individuals, now _I'm_ wondering if I have ADHD. Certainly the never-ending Instagram ads want me to think so. Or is this becoming a blanket term…

In my experience, most ADHD is really just a case of "I have limited willpower for extremely boring shit." Give me something interesting to do and I can work on it non-stop for 12 hours. The problem is that most jobs and almost all schooling is flat out incompatible with being an easily distractible person. I think it's just a phenotype that doesn't work well in the traditional professional environment. And yes, Adde…

Hey, why don’t you try harder is what I’ve heard all my life. I can’t. I’ve tried. I failed. I lost a lot of things. Made a lot of mistakes due to focusing on the wrong thing at the wrong time (most recently nearly got heavily hurt with a mill although I know I need to be very careful and I was fully engaged)

So no, it’s not only with boring task. I’d love to. My life would be far easier.

Heck I can have hyper focus on boring task because it’s relaxing.

So no. It’s not only will with boring task :(

Re: The silent struggles of workers with ADHD

#184

Post by tecleandor »

chrsig wrote: post #135
treeman79 wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any recommendations? I took one that you take at night. It slightly improved my focus during day. But would leave me sleepy all day. Even with taking it before bed.

Strattera (atomoxetine) is a commonly used SNRI developed for adhd. I personally had a very bad reaction to it, but it allegedly helps some people. Guanfacine is another, I haven't tried it, so I can't give any first hand experience. I think it's used more to help blood pressure & agitation that can come up with adhd Welbutrin is also commonly used.

I had a bad experience with Strattera too, and now I'm on Vyvanse, which is an amphetamine but not the worst. I'm still on a low dose but not bad. I'm feeling some improvements and thinking about some specialized therapy.

Re: The silent struggles of workers with ADHD

#185

Post by spritefs »

fallingfrog wrote: post #119
spritefs wrote: post #79

Imho this whole ADHD/adderall thing is just the pharma industry peddling medication and shilling super hard. I wouldn't be surprised if pharma dollars somehow influenced this BBC article getting published If some people like paying an additional tax to the pharmaceutical industry, good for them. For me personally, I'd rather jump off a cliff then support it Before someone gets shitty with me for "denying their experi…

Well, it's an anaesthetic. It makes the discomfort of forcing yourself to focus on something you find maddeningly pointless more tolerable. As long as the pain is there the anaesthetic will have a purpose.

> Well, it's an anaesthetic

I thought it was a stimulant

Re: The silent struggles of workers with ADHD

#186

Post by wincy »

brazzledazzle wrote: post #121
fsociety wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Idk my experience is much different. On the weekend, I would have a list of games I really wanted to play. Boot one up, play for a few minutes, feel like I should be playing a different one, switch and repeat. Or I would have hobbies or activities I would want to do. But would end up in the same cycle. Then at the end of my weekend I would feel down because I spent the entire past two days constantly task switching w…

That sounds somewhat like depression/anxiety paired along with ADHD. In adult ADHD they can often be very intertwined because by the time you've reached adulthood you have a history of impulsive decisions or bad time management to regret. Or perhaps it's just a symptom of ADHD combined with aging. I don't know about you but "hyperfocus" seemed to come much easier when I was younger which I associate with being less a…

I am not depressed and experience the exact same weekend malaise of the person you’re responding to described.

I found an exceptional game last weekend that I played through. I laughed, I cried, it was fantastic. I spent a lot of my free time on it, and beat it.

This weekend I was just a little disappointed I couldn’t wipe my brain and play that game again.

I don’t think that’s depression, it’s just being unwilling to put up with a game or activity being boring.

Re: The silent struggles of workers with ADHD

#187

Post by lzaaz »

LesZedCB wrote: post #173
lzaaz wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, what I'm saying is that the article makes it sound like a boss will fire you for being oblivious about your diagnosis and your illness. Instead, I think that the job needs to be done, and if you aren't able to for whatever the reason is the boss is going to have to find a replacement for you.

you are looking at it from the perspective of the boss. try looking from the perspective of the worker who want to succeed in a highly regimented world that's artificially constructed that way. if you don't believe the world is artificially constructed in myriad ways which are counterproductive to vast populations, i recommend the book Invisible Women.

No post body was provided.

Re: The silent struggles of workers with ADHD

#189

Post by SamoyedFurFluff »

bcoughlan wrote: post #99
k__ wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I went in an ADHD rabbit hole a week ago. I never considered my self suffering from it, my quirks were individual parts of my character! But now I highly suspect I have it. I lose focus all the time. For example, Going from doing laundry, to gathering dishes, and bringing out trash without finishing one of them. Or I can't read long articles with topics that are important for me but don't tickle one of my interests.…

> Or I can't read long articles with topics that are important for me but don't tickle one of my interests. Can't concentrate on boring things - surely that's normal? It feels like they're casting the ADHD net wider and wider and from reading the internet I'm starting to question whether my behavior fits into the ADHD category. And part of me wants it to so that I have a label that explains and excuses me. But how do…

I don’t have adhd but the way adhd people tell me is that they literally cant do even basic things that are under stimulating. Im talking basics like doing the laundry, taking out the trash, keeping a neat workspace, throwing out spoiled food, and other very mundane chores. It causes physical pain or something.

Re: The silent struggles of workers with ADHD

#190

Post by jvm___ »

RationPhantoms wrote: post #53

This article feels like it was written for my brother. He's been fired, sequentially, 4 times in roles of progressively narrower scope/salary. From project manager (80k+) at a large NYC-BASED structured-cabling company to a billing coordinator position ( It makes me want to put my head into a pillow and scream because he's an intelligent, sociable and kind person but his mind just sits so juxtaposed from what these c…

Do you think Abraham Lincoln's brother had ADHD?

Washington, December 24, 1848

Dear Johnston: Your request for eighty dollars, I do not think it best, to comply with now. At the various times when I have helped you a little, you have said to me ``We can get along very well now'' but in a very short time I find you in the same difficulty again. Now this can only happen by some defect in your conduct. What that defect is I think I know. You are not lazy, and still you are an idler. I doubt whether since I saw you, you have done a good whole day's work in any one day. You do not very much dislike to work; and still you do not work much, merely because it does not seem to you that you could get much for it. This habit of uselessly wasting time, is the whole difficulty; and it is vastly important to you, and still more so to your children that you should break this habit. It is more important to them, because they have longer to live, and can keep out of an idle habit before they are in it; easier than they can get out after they are in.

You are now in need of some ready money; and what I propose is, that you shall go to work, ``tooth and nails'' for some body who will give you money [for] it. Let father and your boys take charge of things at home---prepare for a crop, and make the crop; and you go to work for the best money wages, or in discharge of any debt you owe, that you can get. And to secure you a fair reward for your labor, I now promise you, that for every dollar you will, between this and the first of next May, get for your own labor, either in money, or in your own indebtedness, I will then give you one other dollar. By this, if you hire yourself at ten dolla[rs] a month, from me you will get ten more, making twenty dollars a month for your work. In this, I do not mean you shall go off to St. Louis, or the lead mines, or the gold mines, in Calif[ornia,] but I [mean for you to go at it for the best wages you] can get close to home [in] Coles county. Now if you will do this, you will soon be out of debt, and what is better, you will have a habit that will keep you from getting in debt again. But if I should now clear you out, next year you will be just as deep in as ever. You say you would almost give your place in Heaven for $70 or $80. Then you value your place in Heaven very cheaply for I am sure you can with the offer I make you get the seventy or eighty dollars for four or five months work. You say if I furnish you the money you will deed me the land, and, if you dont pay the money back, you will deliver possession. Nonsense! If you cant now live with the land, how will you then live without it? You have always been [kind] to me, and I do not now mean to be unkind to you. On the contrary, if you will but follow my advice, you will find it worth more than eight times eighty dollars to you.

Affectionately Your brother A. LINCOLN

Post reply on HN