The silent struggles of workers with ADHD • Hacker News Board

Re: The silent struggles of workers with ADHD

#241

Post by _whiteCaps_ » Tue, Dec 13, 2022, 12:29 AM UTC

DoreenMichele wrote: post #51

Moissanite wrote: post #5

As an adult who feels like they identify with these characteristics, it is hard to know when to try to get help, or whether you are just seeing what you want to see and looking for an excuse. I have always shied away from seeking an adult ADHD diagnosis, partly because of prideful denial (not wanting to acknowledge that there might be something wrong with me), and partly because I have no faith in the NHS giving a sh…

As a general PSA: ADHD is supposed to be a diagnosis of last resort that they give after eliminating all other possibilities. It's useful to know the root cause of whatever problems you may be having. Some studies and some individuals report benefiting from certain nutritional supplements if you get a diagnosis and want to treat it without medication per se.

What are the other possibilities?

Re: The silent struggles of workers with ADHD

#242

Post by phil21 » Tue, Dec 13, 2022, 12:36 AM UTC

SamoyedFurFluff wrote: post #189

bcoughlan wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

I have no idea if I have ADHD, but I certainly have "presented" that way for my entire life.

I dropped out of high school after moving from private to public, since it was utterly worthless and a waste of my time. I logically knew I could just stick it out another 2 years and party, but I literally could not force myself to wake up to do it. I contemplated suicide over this, so it's not something I was taking lightly at the time or not caring about. I ended up just taking the GED one day on a whim.

Then I went on to have a somewhat successful career. It took me years to realize/internalize I'm not just lazy - something is different about me. Very few folks in my peer group could keep up with my work ethic once I found things I was interested in. For me this doesn't mean I only do the "fun stuff" - it means I need to see results of my effort, and those results need to be meaningful. I also need to work on things with a definitive "end" to them - not a never-ending project that won't see a single real-world result for years.

I describe it to folks that I am literally allergic to busy-work. You could offer me a million dollars to do some busy-work task for a month and I already know I'd fail at it before I started.

If the consequences or rewards are large and immediate enough you can kind of "push through" it - but if it's some concept of a future consequence or reward the brain simply decides it does not care.

This is all pretty difficult to nail down I think because I'm simply describing what other folks have certainly felt to some degree. The difference is I don't know many folks who will trade weeks of mental anguish and lots of money to avoid doing a 30 minute task.

That said, lazy often looks pretty damn similar and it's easy to have an excuse on hand.

Re: The silent struggles of workers with ADHD

#243

Post by jstarfish » Tue, Dec 13, 2022, 12:36 AM UTC

jvm___ wrote: post #190

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…

He sounds more like a panhandler/grifter than anybody with an actual disorder.

Re: The silent struggles of workers with ADHD

#244

Post by seba_dos1 » Tue, Dec 13, 2022, 12:49 AM UTC

phil21 wrote: post #242

SamoyedFurFluff wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I have no idea if I have ADHD, but I certainly have "presented" that way for my entire life. I dropped out of high school after moving from private to public, since it was utterly worthless and a waste of my time. I logically knew I could just stick it out another 2 years and party, but I literally could not force myself to wake up to do it. I contemplated suicide over this, so it's not something I was taking lightly…

> For me this doesn't mean I only do the "fun stuff" - it means I need to see results of my effort, and those results need to be meaningful.

You nailed it here - anticipation for results is one of the greatest motivations I can have. If it's not there, things get really hard. I don't think it can be sufficient on its own, but it sure needs to be there.

That said - some kinds of what's essentially busy-work can be pretty rewarding in this regard too. There were periods where I caught myself doing plenty of non-creative and rather trivial distro packaging at work just because it was providing me with a quick feedback loop. It wasn't interesting or challenging, but a meaningful chunk of work could be completed before I got bored and seeing it done was rewarding enough to keep going.

Re: The silent struggles of workers with ADHD

#245

Post by DoreenMichele » Tue, Dec 13, 2022, 12:50 AM UTC

_whiteCaps_ wrote: post #241

DoreenMichele wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a general PSA: ADHD is supposed to be a diagnosis of last resort that they give after eliminating all other possibilities. It's useful to know the root cause of whatever problems you may be having. Some studies and some individuals report benefiting from certain nutritional supplements if you get a diagnosis and want to treat it without medication per se.

What are the other possibilities?

My oldest was checked for ADHD in kindergarten and the ruled out ADHD because he paid more attention to longer sentences. It would be some years before I would learn that he was basically suffering from "bored gifted kid syndrome (TM)" and not ADHD.

He also has some health issues and can't pay attention when he's under the weather.

There can be lots of reasons someone has trouble concentrating at times.

Re: The silent struggles of workers with ADHD

#246

Post by swalsh » Tue, Dec 13, 2022, 1:20 AM UTC

tjkrusinski wrote: post #15

Glad to see this article focus on more than distractibility. In my mid twenties I struggled with managing impulsive behavior. I would regularly say inappropriate things in meetings, unable to understand why I said what I said. After a lot of work in therapy and many different types and dosages of medications, I'm in a better spot. I've turned what was a problem into something I'm proud of. Through putting my foot in…

> I've grown an ability to say the hard, uncomfortable things

An underrated employee with a superpower every org needs.

Re: The silent struggles of workers with ADHD

#247

Post by brailsafe » Tue, Dec 13, 2022, 1:47 AM UTC

smnrg wrote: post #30

tjkrusinski wrote: post #15

Glad to see this article focus on more than distractibility. In my mid twenties I struggled with managing impulsive behavior. I would regularly say inappropriate things in meetings, unable to understand why I said what I said. After a lot of work in therapy and many different types and dosages of medications, I'm in a better spot. I've turned what was a problem into something I'm proud of. Through putting my foot in…

Rejoice, you have a spark of humanity left in you—even in a corporate environment. Which is usually a requirement to be hired in my team. I vastly prefer direct, humorous, and respectful coworkers like you over perfectly controlled machines.

Are you hiring frontend people?

Re: The silent struggles of workers with ADHD

#248

Post by cyanf » Tue, Dec 13, 2022, 1:50 AM UTC

aatd86 wrote: post #163

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.…

Out of curiosity, do you have intrusive thoughts? Or if you think about your thoughts calmly, at a distance, what pops up? When you try to imagine let's say a chess board and the pieces on it, does it look clear to you? Or do you have difficulties controlling your internal visualization? (if anyone also with ADHD wants to answer, feel free)

For me, the visualization of the board is amorphous and unstable. It also resets about every so often.

However, I’m not sure if this is an experience exclusive to ADHD.

Re: The silent struggles of workers with ADHD

#249

Post by brailsafe » Tue, Dec 13, 2022, 1:53 AM UTC

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…

In my experience, these are a significant aspect, but not at all the whole thing.

The biggest hurdle for me, is management's expectation that I be passably as competent at staying on top of multiple async communication threads, and being on time for things.

Even if I say up front that "I will try and likely fail at following up with things that require me to check back in on things that may or may not have changed in a while, or remembering to respond to people." They eventually end up saying "I'm able to be in n meetings a week and manage k jira boards concurrently, surely you should be able to do x"

Nope. DM me or tag me if something needs a new look.

Re: The silent struggles of workers with ADHD

#250

Post by skissane » Tue, Dec 13, 2022, 1:56 AM UTC

s5300 wrote: post #224

tecleandor wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Vyvanse is just DextroAmphetamine once processed in your body - AKA Speed in terms of slang drug usage. AFAIK, it’s just that no matter what the dosage, the drug dispenses itself/processes in your body based on a few factors, & is always that amount being continuously released over time. I guess if you’re arguing (I know you are not, I am just putting unsolicited info out) in terms of what amphetamines are the worst……

> So if you don’t have an addictive personality & can control yourself, prescribed methamphetamine (Desoxyn, not sure if a generic exists)

Methamphetamine is legally available by prescription in the US, but in many other countries that is not true. Here in Australia, it is technically legal to prescribe, but effectively unavailable, because no pharmaceutical company is authorised to sell it. (It is unclear to me if that is because the government refuses to authorise it, or merely that no company thinks the potential revenue is sufficient to justify the hassle of seeking that authorisation.) Even in the US, from what I hear, many refuse to prescribe it at all, or only do so sparingly, because (apparently) the DEA likes to give methamphetamine prescribers extra "attention".

Methylphenidate (Ritalin/Concerta/etc) is notably absent from your list. I've heard claims (not sure how true they are) that methylphenidate has less neurotoxicity than amphetamines. Related compounds to (racemic) methylphenidate include dexmethylphenidate and serdexmethylphenidate (a prodrug, as lisdexamfetamine/Vyvanse is).

Other drugs I know of that are sometimes used for ADHD include guanfacine, clonidine, modafinil, armodafinil, atomoxetine (Strattera), bupropion (Wellbutrin) and phentermine (usually prescribed as a weight-loss drug, but has been used off-label for ADHD).