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Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer

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Re: Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer

#521

Post by [deleted] »

swozey wrote: post #458
gosub100 wrote: post #269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you have the inability to read books? I notice that I simply cannot focus on reading a book to save my life. I can read internet comments and articles all day though. If I try to read a book I get annoyed that they're "not making their point" fast enough, especially with fiction and visual descriptions of people and places. I used to just complain about it, but now I wonder if thats actually pinpointing something…

I read a ludicrous amount of books as a kid. Stuff like The Wheel of Time, 1000+ page books. Now I just buy books and don't read them. I'll also buy audiobooks and bounce between them not really remembering much of the plots until I fall asleep. I think the instant gratification of refreshing reddit/digg(rip)/instagram and having completely new things to see/read has destroyed my long term attention span. I don't rea…

[deleted]

Re: Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer

#522

Post by red-iron-pine »

boringg wrote: post #214
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…

I assume that is how most people get through high-school and university? Intense focus on the couple days before finals / final projects. I too did that. Is that not the case or is that warning lights for ADHD? High school you can get away with it because the course content is easier - college is much more challenging...

in grad school the intense few days becomes intense few months, but close enough

Re: Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer

#523

Post by alok-g »

hirvi74 wrote: post #514
alok-g wrote: post #504

I have all the symptoms described (inattention type, not hyperactivity), including hyperfocus. A test my therapist had given me indicated that I do have ADHD. However, she told me that I do not actually have ADHD as my hyperfocus does not fit with "attention deficit", and there's alternative explanation for the symptoms from some other issues. Upon reading this post however where inattention and hyperfocus are both m…

Is your therapist a clinical psychologist or psychiatrist? If not, I would take what she says with a great skepticism. > I feel sure that I did not have ADHD symptoms during childhood. That would be an instant disqualification of an ADHD diagnosis. > I believe have come extreme and unusual mental stresses I have been subjected for several years I am not a clinician nor do I know the full extent/magnitude of your stre…

Thanks for a detailed response! Sincerely appreciated.

>> Is your therapist a clinical psychologist or psychiatrist?

Yes. Clinical psychologist.

>> That would be an instant disqualification of an ADHD diagnosis.

You could be right. That's what most literature says. However, there's some talking about ADHD developing in adulthood. I cannot say whether to trust or not; surely there's very little such literature.

>> ... nor do I know the full extent/magnitude of your stresses

I have been shouted upon by my wife at peak volume for hours at a stretch, about once every two days, for years, with her usually beating herself badly along the way, sometimes threatening with knives, and so on and on.

As I wrote in another comment here, I started facing these symptoms around 2011 and distinctly in 2012, when I was 35 years of age. Prior to that, I have always been a star performer, during childhood and at work, with no such symptoms to the best of my understanding.

>> ... but have you ever investigated (C)PTSD? If can mimic many ADHD symptoms.

My therapist did mention that to me and told me to read about it. I read about it on Wikipedia, but do not know enough myself to say either way. I'll talk to the therapist again on my next visit.

Re: Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer

#524

Post by hirvi74 »

sureglymop wrote: post #37
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…

I feel incredibly lucky that my parents got me evaluated for ADHD and Autism when I was still a minor. It's much much harder as an adult. There is a lot of stigmatization and also this thought of "oh you got through school, oh you got this far" for adults with ADHD. I used to take medication and it helped me a lot. Now however I have come off of them completely. The side effects can be devastating. In my case, I deve…

> don't compare your experience to the neurotypical one

I can't help myself from doing this, but I am not sure if I truly should want to stop making such a comparison. I find it leaves me feeling like I am inferior or sub-human. I have ADHD, and so what? ADHD can make things more challenging, but not impossible (within the realms of reason).

Re: Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer

#525

Post by helboi4 »

austin-cheney wrote: post #391
helboi4 wrote: post #318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can we all just agree though that coffee and sugar are dopamine not serotonin obviously? Like you don't get less depressed from drinking coffee.

No. It over simplifies what is happening to the point of drawing false correlations. Low serotonin production is strongly linked with low dopamine production but the reverse is less clear. More direct to this conversation sugar and caffeine consumption addresses low dopamine directly, but this coping behavior seeks to address the results of low serotonin, not dopamine. People with low dopamine but regular serotonin a…

Oh I mean that makes perfect sense. You're agreeing with me. Caffeine and sugar give you dopamine. Of course those with low serotonin are likely to have low dopamine - being depressed makes you not want to do stuff. And I can also understand why being depressed would make you want comfort consumables more than being only low dopamine.

Re: Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer

#526

Post by mattnewton »

disgruntledphd2 wrote: post #342
autoexec wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And how would you even double-blind test this anyway? Get lights that either start fast and slow down or blink at speeds that randomly change then use serial numbers to track which lights are which, but send them out at random to test subjects?

Which treatment you're in is relatively easily detectable, so unfortunately that wouldn't work. I like the approach though, it would be a reasonable control condition (assuming that the 60bpm is a core part of the effect).

you would blind the participants to the effect you are looking to measure. If they don’t know what to expect or what conditions there are, they can still get a placebo effect from random patterns.

Re: Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer

#527

Post by chipsrafferty »

nonethewiser wrote: post #91
TheRealHB wrote: post #54

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…

Seems likely to be a placebo. You have a vested interest in it working, admit its not based on any sort of science, and one of the setup steps is to overcome distraction (which is the problem that’s trying to be solved).

Seems unlikely to be a placebo.

Re: Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer

#528

Post by Gigachad »

alchemist1e9 wrote: post #464
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…

I’d also suggest that any high IQ individual will by the very nature of being in an extreme of that IQ distribution exhibit some other behaviors that are in tails of the “normal” distribution for various behaviors. I’ve had multiple people suggest to me I might have ADHD, it’s nonsense, I remember everything and don’t miss any deadlines. They observe me working simultaneously on many projects and since that is imposs…

I’ve occasionally had people with ADHD or Autism try to diagnose me with it. I took it seriously and read up all about it, watched YouTube videos where people explain their experience, and did the screening questionnaires. And I don’t think I’m even close to having either ADHD or Autism.

Just seems like people see something they can relate too, like listening to fast pace music, or ordering the same thing at the restaurant every time, and then link that to their condition/project it on you.

Re: Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer

#529

Post by fasteo »

nathell wrote: post #348

I’m 39. I’ve been diagnosed with ADHD/AS about 11 months ago, after having seen a psychiatrist complaining about chronic fatigue (cf. my Ask HN from two years ago [0]). Methylphenidate has helped _immensely_. As has accepting the wiring of my brain, taking a two-months sabbatical, and practicing awareness about the ADHD habits. I’m having the year of my life. I can’t remember being productive this consistently basica…

>>> after having seen a psychiatrist complaining about chronic fatigue

Is there a causal relation between ADHD and chronic fatigue ?

Re: Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer

#530

Post by chipsrafferty »

TheRealHB wrote: post #467
herculity275 wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have a script you could share?

Just use any blinking LED template code that your OEM offers for your particular board (ESP32 or alike) as it will be specific for the PIN the LED is wired and libraries available, etc. Basically a function slope with a value from 150 to 60 that calls "blinks" over an hour, when at the end it turns off LED. You can make it smoother, add the heartbeat sensor, make it pulse instead of blink, that stuff will be particul…

What if I don't know what any of that means? I only know how to code, never used a "board" but I want to try this
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