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ADHD Stimulants May Increase Risk of Heart Damage in Young Adults

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Re: ADHD Stimulants May Increase Risk of Heart Damage in Young Adults

#61
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you know it was enough?

Wow, dude, just wow.

I have ADHD. I don't medicate because I don't want to.

Do I still struggle? Yes, a lot.

For me, I keep getting stuck down rabbit holes despite what systems I put in place to avoid it. It is a constant whack-a-mole.

My theory is that people with ADHD are just more creative. Their brains are designed to explore and push boundaries.

But the invention of internet, smart phones, social media, online video is simply too much for a brain of this calibre. Our brains evolved in the natural world, and we live in an extremely unnatural world now.

But one thing I found about the ADHD community is that they feel like meds are the only answer, to the point they get angry when people criticise them.

> Wow

So I genuinely am interested in what is "enough".

It's incredibly difficult to get anyone to tell you what they tried and to confront any alternative hypotheses. They take it as an affront.

Re: ADHD Stimulants May Increase Risk of Heart Damage in Young Adults

#62
post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He doesnt understand. For him its just "quit tiktok lul". kinda embarassing

Anything not matching the world view is clearly somehow wrong. Very impressive reality distortion field there. Except it's scary because it's the same mechanic that also makes people vote for populists that throw "great" rhetoric but act against their interests. Funny thing is that when I got my ADHD diagnosis, it was, for adults, very "fresh" conceptually. Which means everything got reviewed, retested, rechecked mul…

> reviewed, retested, rechecked

Think what this means though. You fit a criteria. Then ask why do we use this criteria? Trace the history of this criteria through the DSM. The criteria is arbitrary. There is no basis for it.

The field of ADHD began when stimulants were shown to help make kids calmer. And since then it has been a matter of: how to find other people that this medicine (that no one else is allowed and is highly controlled) will help.

There was never an investigation into maybe it is caused by environment/society.

The unquestionable commonality of ADHD is an impairment that impacts the ability to live/work.

No one starts here, and then looks at the potential causes. They see if you fit the criteria, and if you do then you medicate.

Medication is premised on it being a neurodevelopment disorder from birth, hence why ADHD people can take stimulants and no one else can. But this is not proven in any way.

My biggest gripe is that every ADHD person will tell you its okay for only them to take stimulants because their brain is different for normal people and hence they are immune to the negative side-effects. Which is not proven. The risks are under-stated, and the investigation of the true cause is cut short for convenience and revenue.

Re: ADHD Stimulants May Increase Risk of Heart Damage in Young Adults

#63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You just go back to the absolutely disfunctional state you were in before when you stop taking them. Your brain adapts by creating more dopamine transporters...meaning you need more dopamine for same effect. This happens in an effort to maintain homeostasis. There is no free dopamine unfortunately...what goes up must come down. The brain's homeostasis system is hard-wired. https://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.11…

I spent 25 years of my life without medication, it crippled my life and I couldn't get anything done unless absolutely, totally hyper focused on it. I don't even have high school. I failed at every job I had even though I won national programming competitions and everyone described me as the best programmer they ever met (and said that my technical knowledge is excellent but I'm just not doing the job so they have to…

I'm in a similar boat. But I am resisting meds. I always think I can pull it together with the right system and discipline.

I wouldn't trade the creativity and hyperfocus for anything. I feel I am on a journey and the one trick is to figure out how to beat this thing. But I am desperately struggling to get things done versus endless ideation/dreaming.

So I am very curious as to what you tried and why it didn't work. And of course, I hope there is something you didn't try that will work for me.

I have such a delicate balance at the moment and I cannot afford to disrupt it with meds, and could not afford to have med tolerance build after a few years leading me worse than when I started. EVERYONE tells me I should just take meds. The pressure is high. But I never will.

Re: ADHD Stimulants May Increase Risk of Heart Damage in Young Adults

#64
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, dude, just wow.

I have ADHD. I don't medicate because I don't want to. Do I still struggle? Yes, a lot. For me, I keep getting stuck down rabbit holes despite what systems I put in place to avoid it. It is a constant whack-a-mole. My theory is that people with ADHD are just more creative. Their brains are designed to explore and push boundaries. But the invention of internet, smart phones, social media, online video is simply too mu…

Your posting behavior has none of the hallmarks of unmedicated ADHD and all of the hallmarks of Asperger's/ASD. I would highly recommended you investigate the possibility you have been misdiagnosed. It would explain a lot of things.

Good luck on all your future endeavors.

Re: ADHD Stimulants May Increase Risk of Heart Damage in Young Adults

#65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I spent 25 years of my life without medication, it crippled my life and I couldn't get anything done unless absolutely, totally hyper focused on it. I don't even have high school. I failed at every job I had even though I won national programming competitions and everyone described me as the best programmer they ever met (and said that my technical knowledge is excellent but I'm just not doing the job so they have to…

I'm in a similar boat. But I am resisting meds. I always think I can pull it together with the right system and discipline. I wouldn't trade the creativity and hyperfocus for anything. I feel I am on a journey and the one trick is to figure out how to beat this thing. But I am desperately struggling to get things done versus endless ideation/dreaming. So I am very curious as to what you tried and why it didn't work.…

> So I am very curious as to what you tried and why it didn't work. And of course, I hope there is something you didn't try that will work for me.

You have an extremely stubborn, single-minded response to this subject, as evidenced by your posting history. I don't expect this will budge -- but someone ought to outright say it:

The painful truth for you may be that medication is what would help you.

The testimony of people with your same condition is overwhelmingly "this medication helps me", if you refuse outright to ever try it then you are wilfully opting into struggling and suffering. It does not seem like anything you've tried so far has worked.

The ultimate irony in this comment thread is listening to someone say "I tried so many things for years and years, but eventually medication helped" and you skip right over what worked because you want to try the list of things that failed.

Re: ADHD Stimulants May Increase Risk of Heart Damage in Young Adults

#66
post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anything not matching the world view is clearly somehow wrong. Very impressive reality distortion field there. Except it's scary because it's the same mechanic that also makes people vote for populists that throw "great" rhetoric but act against their interests. Funny thing is that when I got my ADHD diagnosis, it was, for adults, very "fresh" conceptually. Which means everything got reviewed, retested, rechecked mul…

> reviewed, retested, rechecked Think what this means though. You fit a criteria. Then ask why do we use this criteria? Trace the history of this criteria through the DSM. The criteria is arbitrary. There is no basis for it. The field of ADHD began when stimulants were shown to help make kids calmer. And since then it has been a matter of: how to find other people that this medicine (that no one else is allowed and i…

> Medication is premised on it being a neurodevelopment disorder from birth, hence why ADHD people can take stimulants and no one else can. But this is not proven in any way.

From your very own source in another thread:

> Molecular genetic studies have identified several genes that may mediate susceptibility to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2626918/

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