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Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer

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Re: Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer

#51

Post by worklaptopacct »

Mordisquitos wrote: post #40
jakey_bakey wrote: post #8

"Coping Mechanisms: Over the years, adults develop various coping strategies that can mask ADHD symptoms. For instance, someone might excessively rely on calendars, to-do lists, or alarms to compensate for forgetfulness." You're goddamn right I do

In my case I have to say that is only half true. As an adult-diagnosed ADHD sufferer I cannot say that I developed coping strategies on which I relied excessively that masked my symptoms. Rather, I used to try [0] to develop coping strategies, only for me to eventually drop them for unexplainable reasons at the slightest routine-messing incident or event, regardless of how effective the strategy was being or how good…

This is me. I stopped trying to be organized, because I know that as soon as there is some inconvenience or difficulty organizing, I will just get overwhelmed and drop everything I was trying to do. For example, I just cannot take notes or manage a calendar.

Re: Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer

#52

Post by lopis »

JoBrad wrote: post #47
karpour wrote: post #32

Anyone else tired of blogs trying to make their content more interesting by slapping loads of generated images into each post?

I thought the images were pretty good, although obviously generated. They complimented the author’s points well.

While they are good, they fall in the graphic design uncanny valley where several details are disturbing and distracting.

Re: Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer

#53

Post by JUNGLEISMASSIVE »

helboi4 wrote: post #44
austin-cheney wrote: post #35

One key identifier not mentioned in the article is that ADHD, as well as manically depressed, people typically produce extremely low levels of serotonin. It is common for ADHD people to compensate with stimulants like caffeine and sugar. Many people crave minor stimulants in the afternoon or early morning when serotonin levels dip in the day. People chronically low on serotonin however will crave these all day long i…

It's dopamine that ADHD lack and that you get from caffeine and sugar, not serotonin. People who are depressed do lack serotonin though yes. And you can have both. You can't get that from caffeine though.

[dead]

Re: Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer

#54

Post by TheRealHB »

The Blinking LED,

A simple Hack that still works for me after years:

1. Place a tiny LED (red or yellow) by the side of your monitor or virtually on the screen corner. Basically anywhere almost bordering your field of view.

2. Make it blink like a fast heartbeat (120-150 bpm) and gradually slowdown to around 60 bpm (or your slow heartbeat base). Make the slope approx 20 to 60 minutes (you can adjust the best rate by testing in 10m increments after a few days in one setting).

Now...

3. Get to work regardless if distracted and agitated. Close all apps except what you need to work and BOOM!, let the magic happen. Without realising, your brain will try to sync with the light that you can barely see, calming you down and allowing you to go focus-mode with the task in had.

Works like hypnosis!

It is also a cheap hack... I build my unit with a cheap ESP32 and heart-rate sensor to sync deeper and dynamically adjust the slope...

Will explain better if any interest.

No science behind (only principles), I just hammered a solution like any Ape with the shakes would need!

Re: Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer

#55

Post by [deleted] »

Difwif wrote: post #39
upupupandaway wrote: post #10

I swear that every time I read an article by somebody who claims they've been diagnosed with ADHD, it is the same formula: "when I was a child...", "I didn't know what it was", ..., "I was finally diagnosed with ADHD", then finally "I have super powers no one else has so I will use them to my advantage". I would love to see an ADHD version of the horoscope/personality tests administered by Stagner and Forer. I predic…

I have been personally diagnosed with ADHD and have benefited from medication but it doesn't come without its costs. My wife was diagnosed when she was very young and we've had a lot of time to run self experiments and discuss ideas. I don't think people want to hear this but I believe so many people think they have ADHD because of a lack of discipline. Even people with ADHD will understand what I'm talking about. So…

[deleted]

Re: Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer

#56

Post by pwillia7 »

This is great! So many people in the ADHD community don't dig in enough into the 'superpower' side of it, so I'm super glad you covered that here. We can't get rid of the bad parts so I think it's extra important to lean into the good parts too.

I will also share this Historia Civilis video on the history of work, which really resonated with me as an ADHD person -- It's OK and even more 'natural' to have fast and slow days.

And I will say, for me, Obsidian was another red herring. When I see Gwern's blog I dream about my ordered note taking life and I tried for about a year to do that with obsidian. I took a lot of notes, but I don't read them and they do nothing for me.

I ended up after a lot of trial and error with a bookmarklet that lets me take notes right in a browser window paired with a real planning app like tick tick or Google keep or whatever.

The quick notes are good for when I'm trying to avoid my other Todo list because there's something I don't want to do on it but I still need to take other notes.

Here's the bookmarklet I started with: https://gist.github.com/clisamurai/1f355b6028c8b9d1836b4ca01...

Re: Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer

#57

Post by escapedmoose »

Mordisquitos wrote: post #40
jakey_bakey wrote: post #8

"Coping Mechanisms: Over the years, adults develop various coping strategies that can mask ADHD symptoms. For instance, someone might excessively rely on calendars, to-do lists, or alarms to compensate for forgetfulness." You're goddamn right I do

In my case I have to say that is only half true. As an adult-diagnosed ADHD sufferer I cannot say that I developed coping strategies on which I relied excessively that masked my symptoms. Rather, I used to try [0] to develop coping strategies, only for me to eventually drop them for unexplainable reasons at the slightest routine-messing incident or event, regardless of how effective the strategy was being or how good…

I do the same. And while it’s frustrating that nothing seems to stick long-term, I think it’s important to be trying. I’ll create a recurring to-do list of errands and I’ll stick to it for a week if I’m lucky. It feels bad when I find all those errands incomplete the following week when there’s a slight change in schedule, but at least those things got done the first week. And I pivot to a new strategy and try it all again.

The cycle stopped bothering me so much when I realized that’s what it is: a cycle. It ebbs and flows with my energy levels. And frankly part of why I can’t keep it up is probably because I’m putting too much demand on myself. If I need to take a break, I guess that’s just what needs to happen. I’ll probably pick up a more productive routine again next week.

Re: Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer

#58

Post by chrisweekly »

icepat wrote: post #3

I've been in the diagnostic process for ADHD twice. First time I ended up losing all the paperwork, and getting kicked out of it. In the time between the first and second attempt, I developed PTSD which essentially stalled the second diagnostic as they could not cleanly differentiate between the two. For some reason, getting a diagnosis has been nearly impossible for me, despite each diagnostician saying "ADHD is hig…

meditation

Re: Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer

#59

Post by Podgajski »

I read that whole thing and didn’t read one word about nutrition?

I’ve come along way to understanding the nutritional metabolic pathways that may increase the symptoms of ADHD.

Pyridoxine, or B6, is the most studied nutritional factor when it comes to reducing ADHD symptoms. I’m not saying this is the only cause of ADHD, but if this works other things might work as well. Zinc is a good possibility on the list also.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24321736/

According to our data, multi-year pyridoxine treatment normalizes completely the pattern of ADHD behavior, without causing any serious side effects.

Re: Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer

#60

Post by hnbad »

chownie wrote: post #38
m463 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read a book once decades ago about ADHD, and it said lots of children are misdiagnosed with it. One of the very common causes is that kids who don't eat regularly (or eat sugar then crash) will encounter low blood sugar. The body reacts to this by dumping adrenaline in the bloodstream and ... voila ... an excitable kid with little focus.

Between decades ago and now we've recognized that sugar only causes excitableness in children who are prompted (Clever Hans style) by adults who expect such an outcome. The wisdom you're referencing is circa the 70's, it's been attempted many times since and has never replicated.

The comment you're replying to doesn't seem to mention the debunked "sugar rush". The "crash" on the other hand seems to be more replicable.

Also your framing ignores that the "prompting" can be circumstantial rather than targeted. The "rush" is frequently misattributed to sugar when it can actually be better explained by the food itself being a rare treat (and thus exciting) or the situation in which it is provided being special (e.g. a party). Or it can simply be the joy of eating something very tasty.

It's less Clever Hans and more "kids are more prone to sudden outbursts of strong emotions and adults blame it on food".

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