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The silent struggles of workers with ADHD

bbc.com

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Re: The silent struggles of workers with ADHD

#51

Post by DoreenMichele »

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.

Re: The silent struggles of workers with ADHD

#52

Post by WheatMillington »

d--b wrote: post #49

Can people stop a second with ADHD-as-a-disease? It’s the society that’s sick!! Prevalence in the US is 10% of the general population. Many of whom have active social lives and high paying jobs. Those people play the game they have been told to play. Corporate bullshit, boring tasks, endless meetings, and then they complain to their doctors they don’t feel like it fits. Something’s afoot. and the doctors say: “right…

That's not a helpful post whatsoever. We don't get to individually choose the society we live amongst. It's not an option for most people to just quit and live their best life. So we do what we can to be happy and perform within the constraints we have.

Re: The silent struggles of workers with ADHD

#53

Post by RationPhantoms »

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 companies want. However, I can see his mind move beneath his eyes when we converse, and then subsequently lose focus, so it's pretty apparent if you were to meet him. I can see how that translates to poor job performance.

Unfortunately, due to a heavy-handed prescription dosage of adderall when he was young, he's pretty hesitant about trying a new regimen. I've tried pulling him into it by telling him my newly prescribed Semaglutide (Wegovy) medicine will also be a lifelong medication/issue too so we'll be in the trenches together.

Re: The silent struggles of workers with ADHD

#54

Post by TurkishPoptart »

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…

>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."

Is this a generational thing? I mean, are these people in their early 20s? I'm in my 30s and would never say anything about my mental health in a phone call with a stranger unless my boss is bringing up this subject with me on a one-on-one.

Re: The silent struggles of workers with ADHD

#55

Post by [deleted] »

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…

[deleted]

Re: The silent struggles of workers with ADHD

#56

Post by herdyderdy »

fsociety wrote: post #50
ryandvm wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

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…

Has this helped long term and repeatedly? I have that same struggle of switching between things all my life even if I enjoy one activity a lot. Very occasionally I do find something I can sit and enjoy for hours but it is rare.

Re: The silent struggles of workers with ADHD

#57

Post by waboremo »

k__ wrote: post #32
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…

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.…

Haha, freelancing ADHD is a classic! We seek being our own boss so we don't have to be forced to do what we cannot, only to then intensely struggle completing tasks we know we are capable of due to executive dysfunction, and then feel so much shame and guilt over a struggling freelance business leading to even more restlessness!

Anyways definitely seek a specialist, there are many options and even if it's not ADHD they've got access to a lot of really great resources to cope with what you do struggle with.

Re: The silent struggles of workers with ADHD

#58

Post by afarviral »

moojacob wrote: post #33

As someone who has experienced a bad reaction to ADHD medication after years of using it, I can say that it was a frustrating and difficult time. I felt like I had been relying on the medication to function, but it suddenly stopped working for me and made me feel even worse. I was worried about how I was going to manage my ADHD symptoms without it. However, I eventually discovered that I could improve my executive fu…

Quite a similar experience to me. After a change of meds I had a bought of intense disphoria and anxiety which I (perhaps falsely) attributed to the meds after 9 years of use and misuse (insufflation etc). I stopped cold turkey until my special authorization expired and haven't used them since. It is a relief in some ways that my overall as methylphenidate is quite hard on the heart and addictive, so it got me through the quitting phase. I've found other ways to get by with my ADHD; diet, sleep, caffeine, environment etc. Its possible the meds had already helped to establish the patterns of concentration too.

Re: The silent struggles of workers with ADHD

#59

Post by unethical_ban »

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…

I am having this issue at work, and have throughout my career, come to think of it.

Give me a challenge, AND all the tools to conquer it, and I can get it done. Give me a lab environment with the servers and scripting tools I need to automate something, and I'll put it all together.

Hamstring me by not giving me the tools I need, make the barrier to accomplishment too much, or give me really boring work without some kind of clear path, and I lock up.

I can play Factorio for 12 hours a day when I get my yearly mood for it. When I am assigned a cool automation task with the tools available to BUILD it, I can run with it. Too bad my current job, a multi-billion dollar software company, can't spare me a few VM licenses without me jumping through hoops.

Oh, and Adderall can help, but it makes me so anxious and even more impulsive once I'm done with work.

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