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Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer

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Re: Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer

#371

Post by slipperlobster »

gosub100 wrote: post #358
slipperlobster wrote: post #299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My issue with reading is that my eyes will continue on while my brain has already left the station, so to speak. I'll end up having to go back and re-read sentences/paragraphs. I started doing some research (prior to speaking with my psychiatrist) and started noticing some ADHD-esque behaviors in my toddler. I'm not looking to get them diagnosed (yet?), because who knows what is "normal young kid inattentiveness and…

I think your situation (especially with your child) outlines one of the insidious challenges we face in our modern society: breaking through the confusion and understanding the nuance of an issue (in this case, ADHD). We've all heard the misinformation tropes "Back in my day , a kid was hyper because he wanted to play , nowadays $BOGEYMAN says those kids need to be medicated so they can get a 4.0", and they sound so…

> Yet I distinctly remember kids from my childhood who could not hold a conversation, they would literally break off into a new topic while you were mid-sentence with them.

I have some variant of this - I'm constantly, subconsciously cutting in during someone else's sentence just to blurt out what immediately came to my brain, because I usually forget it by the time they are done. It's something I'm really working on, but it gets better day-by-day.

Re: Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer

#372

Post by bitwize »

gosub100 wrote: post #358
slipperlobster wrote: post #299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My issue with reading is that my eyes will continue on while my brain has already left the station, so to speak. I'll end up having to go back and re-read sentences/paragraphs. I started doing some research (prior to speaking with my psychiatrist) and started noticing some ADHD-esque behaviors in my toddler. I'm not looking to get them diagnosed (yet?), because who knows what is "normal young kid inattentiveness and…

I think your situation (especially with your child) outlines one of the insidious challenges we face in our modern society: breaking through the confusion and understanding the nuance of an issue (in this case, ADHD). We've all heard the misinformation tropes "Back in my day , a kid was hyper because he wanted to play , nowadays $BOGEYMAN says those kids need to be medicated so they can get a 4.0", and they sound so…

For people my age it was "Back in my day, people applied good old fashioned discipline. That's all ADHD is, a lack of discipline." Often discipline came via the strap or similar.

Re: Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer

#373

Post by JohnBooty »

swader999 wrote: post #302
muhblah wrote: post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This reflects exactly my day to day struggles. Especially that productivity boost when every one starts leaving, and I _was not able_ to finished the smallest one of my tasks planned for the day 'til then most of the time. I'm writing "was not able" on purpose here, because as someone (being blessed) with ADHD, your brain does not allow you to make progress on the smallest tasks due to all those fireworks being blown…

Yup, I think all the meds for this can succumb to tolerance. A real life Flowers for Algernon. Over the years I've upped the dose, switched meds, drug holidays but nothing has matched how well my brain worked the first couple of years on meds.

Well, I'm jealous. For me it was literally like... the first few weeks on adderall lol.

I continued to benefit from it for ~6-7 years. But, never felt anything like those first few weeks.

Re: Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer

#374

Post by sibeliuss »

conception wrote: post #75
keyle wrote: post #33

This hits home. I think we need to really take a hard look at today's world of tech and how we communicate and collaborate. I find that, if time allows, I get a massive productivity boost after 4:30pm and everyone is either winding down or leaving. All the sudden, the walls flatten, the horizon deepens and I enter a deep state of flow. Around 10 AM, after an elongated "stand up", I should be ready to go... And yet it…

If you haven’t tried any sort of mindfulness/meditation program, I’d recommend one. I like Ten Percent Happier and enjoyed the app and its content (not affiliated in any way). Being able to think about nothing is a skill/habit/muscle that needs to be learned and practiced. My mind still can churn but at least now I have the tools and some ability to tell it “not now” and quiet it some. It’s been pretty dramatic, espe…

As someone with a lot of focus potential, its mildly frustrating to read these accounts because even I'm terribly distracted, if I let myself be. But I've been meditating for a while and, in conjunction with a lot of discipline around avoiding social media, have been able to hit a sweet spot.

I wonder though if I never discovered these two things, and simply absorbed everything I read online and convinced myself I had ADHD and got on meds. It's modern life, getting people down. There's simply no way to break through without recognizing that life is inherently distracting, and finding strategies around that.

This is not dismissing the reality of ADHD, however, only to note that medication is overprescribed and that many confuse biology with extremely targeted algorithms designed to capture attention.

And then there are the drug companies who capitalize on workers required to maintain long periods of focus; knowing they are vulnerable to performance pressure, they flood the industry with marketing. Next thing you know, an entirely healthy person's attention is destroyed, because the new baseline is oriented around a stimulant which they do not need, and which operate contrary to someone who actually has ADHD, which meds benefit. Like the opiate crisis, its all just an everyday American tragedy.

Re: Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer

#375

Post by InSteady »

Podgajski wrote: post #179
viraptor wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It looks like you have a whole stash of related papers. If you could send all those links, I'd really appreciate it.

They all stashed my brain after years of researching nutritional psychiatry. As far as ADHD goes, I just suggest searching both PubMed and Google scholar for ADHD, glutamate and GABA. I think glutamate and GABA play a larger, or fundenental role, in most psychiatric disorders.

May be a part of why so many people with psychiatric disorders (especially undiagnosed or untreated) often use nicotine and/or alcohol to cope. They both interact heavily with the GABAergic system. Alcohol also inhibits the activity of glutamate and reduces extracellular levels in certain brain regions. Too much glutamate in the brain can cause 'failure of different neurotransmission systems' and is neurotoxic.

It's too bad self-medicating with these substances comes with such awful downsides.

Re: Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer

#376

Post by falcolas »

dijit wrote: post #121
mathieuh wrote: post #92

I used to think I had some ADHD symptoms: growing up I never did any revision for any of my school exams until a couple of days before, all my coursework and projects were done last minute in a week of intense focus, I've had issues with drugs in the past etc. Then I met someone who actually has ADHD and saw them before they'd taken their stimulant drugs. They were completely nonfunctional in any sense of the word, t…

Well. 1. Self-diagnosis is not a diagnosis. 2. Things exist on a spectrum. The definition of it becoming a "disorder" is when it negatively affects your life enough. During diagnosis a psychotherapist will be tasked with identifying traits of ADHD (IE; Markers), you will not have all markers. Everyone will have some. Then those markers are investigated to discover how much they impact your quality of life. If it is a…

> Self-diagnosis is not a diagnosis.

Nit: Self-diagnosis is the first step towards a formal diagnosis. You don't go to the doctor to get antibiotics before self-diagnosing that you're sick.

That said, as useful as a formal diagnosis is (getting proper help, and even meds), don't skip it if you can afford to do it.

Re: Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer

#377

Post by muhblah »

swozey wrote: post #277
muhblah wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks, also had this discussion with a colleague (obviously not having ADHD) who thought he understands what I’m (having ADHD diagnosed) talking about and I argue he does not. I then almost started to doubt my own perception abilities InsertHugeFacepalmHere

If you ever forget or wonder if you have ADHD vs being inattentive, just look back at its affects on your romantic relationships and how much it damaged them or made them more difficult. How often a partner probably told you that they felt neglected or forgotten, or how often you'd wind up in a rabbit hole and forget that you also have to nourish that relationship.

Totally agree. I stopped counting long time ago.

Re: Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer

#378

Post by intelVISA »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #254
tapland wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One thing I noticed: Other people would get hyper from coffee, I would not. My brain would calm down a lot with the help of caffeine. I would regularly down 3-4 red bulls (diet) in the evening if I knew I needed to fall asleep and sleep well. I'm not sure if it's been studied but anecdotal evidence from others seem to suggest I'm not alone and that some others have the same experience.

N=1, I sleep better on stimulants than off them. No problem falling asleep after drinking coffee (usually it makes me more sleepy), or even taking a prescribed stimulant before going to bed.

Same, coffee is quite sedating.

Re: Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer

#379

Post by JohnBooty »

muhblah wrote: post #349
swader999 wrote: post #302

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup, I think all the meds for this can succumb to tolerance. A real life Flowers for Algernon. Over the years I've upped the dose, switched meds, drug holidays but nothing has matched how well my brain worked the first couple of years on meds.

> nothing has matched how well my brain worked the first couple of years on meds As someone who also has a bit more than 2 decades experience with ADHD medication and started with meds quite early in my teenage years when I went to school, I have very similar experience to yours. One of my assumptions is that it also has a lot to do with the humans metabolism that changes over the years.

    One of my assumptions is that it also has a lot 
    to do with the humans metabolism that changes 
    over the years.
That theory makes sense to me. However, my anecdotal experience is that I never tried any of these meds until my early 30's.

The first few weeks on Adderall were f'ing magical. I remember tearing up, I was so happy. Finally I was laser-focused. A bit emotional thinking of it now.

The magic faded fast. Adderall was still a large net positive for me for ~6-7 years. But never like those first few weeks. I guess I got somewhat close to that original experience a few times, after extended breaks from Adderall and restarting it.

Anyway, this is of course a sample size of 1. But since all the experiences described above took place in my 30s I don't think that metabolism change was a major factor. Certainly not within the first year. Again I know... n=1 =)

Re: Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer

#380

Post by falcolas »

atcalan wrote: post #325
scyzoryk_xyz wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fact you lost the paperwork should be a pretty damn good indicator and this part made me laugh out loud. I'm glad to have been simply diagnosed by someone who just accepted my story as true. All this talk about diagnosis is just bizarre. It's not a 0-1 sort of thing, they have to trust you. Unfortunately you have to be confident and assertive because they will gas-light you in the name of being 'careful'. Sports…

Now do remembering to fill your medicine when you're off your medicine :) you need extreme executive loading to argue with insurance and RXs especially with the supply chain issues.

It always bothers me how the procedure for getting ADHD meds is the single most ADHD unfriendly procedure in existence.
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