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NIH Researchers Identify Brain Connections Associated with ADHD in Youth

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Re: NIH Researchers Identify Brain Connections Associated with ADHD in Youth

#81
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These comparisons feel like bad faith. This is what they actually said: > I've always been a cautious skeptic of ADHD in children. On the one hand I know ADHD is a thing and that it legitimately affects some children ... They explicitly say that they know it affects some children, but they're concerned that it's overdiagnosed because the symptoms have overlap with normal child development. This isn't some kind of uni…

Wait... Which barbaric country is that where a simple family doctor can prescribe amphetamines like that? Not in my EU country. It's a controlled medication and can only be prescribed by psychiatrists.

In the us, any MD can prescribe almost anything.

Re: NIH Researchers Identify Brain Connections Associated with ADHD in Youth

#82
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Diabetes is a biological disease which can be objectively proven and diagnosed based on biological tests. There are no objective biological diagnostic criteria for anything in the DSM. "psychiatric diagnosis still relies exclusively on fallible subjective judgments rather than objective biological tests" -Allen Frances, The New Crisis of Confidence in Psychiatric Diagnosis https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allen_France…

That's only because we have no way to measure it, not because it's not also a physical problem.

>That's only because we have no way to measure it, not because it's not also a physical problem

People say the same thing about God.

Measurability is a fundamental requirement of science for something to be tested or studied systematically.

Re: NIH Researchers Identify Brain Connections Associated with ADHD in Youth

#83
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All quirky fun and games until you realize you can't do high-paying jobs that requires consistent focus. Which is not really a problem unless you want a family or to live in nice parts of cities.

There's a lot of high-paying tech jobs that can be playing into ADHD (and other not neuro typical brains) strengths and focus thats more like running 42 1km "sprints" than mostly consistent pace 42km marathon. Things that come to mind are data science/analysis, debugging and fixing outages (finalizing follow up RFO might be hardest part ), security/hacking (hopefully white hat)... And basically whatever else one pers…

I’m a SWE at a Series A startup with predominantly inattentive ADHD. The need for me to jump around a bunch of things rather than just tunnel on the same area is a godsend. I struggle to really go deep or commit to long-running efforts, but if I can just jump into each thing for a few hours and constantly rotate things, I get an insane amount of work done.

Most jobs would not afford me this, but I lucked into a great role that plays into it rather than fights it.

Re: NIH Researchers Identify Brain Connections Associated with ADHD in Youth

#84
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a huge difference between the common stereotype of ADHD (just rowdy children who can't sit still), and actual symptoms and diagnostic criteria. The difference is almost as comically warped as an image of a "hacker" in media vs actual hackers. ADHD includes many other things like weak short-term memory, defunct perception of time, hard to control hyperfocus, overwhelming inner monologue, and executive dysfunc…

I really like that you list a whole lot of things that ADHD includes that most people are unaware of, but I wanted to call attention to the two that probably had the largest negative impact on my own life Rejection Sensitivity and Emotional Disregulation I have always been paralyzed by being afraid of failure (rejection), and that has kept me from pursuing a lot of things in the past And I've always been prone to ang…

I’m predominantly inattentive type but focus isn’t actually my most severe symptom. That would be executive dysfunction.

I lucked into SWE being a hyperfocus of sorts, so luckily work isn’t awful if I’m not on meds, but holy cow is anything else just complete drudgery. Feels like everything is behind a wall of “startup energy” that is so hard to get through, especially without external accountability.

Rejection sensitivity is also part of it for me. I felt like I could never think fast or organized enough in the moment when talking (I would lose my train of thought in the middle of sentences), so I would get anxious coming in and try and plan, but there’s only so much you can plan for, and it just is a bad cycle to get in. Therapy and internalizing things don’t actually have that high stakes is helpful but only mostly a fix.

Re: NIH Researchers Identify Brain Connections Associated with ADHD in Youth

#85
post #6

> They found that youth with ADHD had heightened connectivity between structures deep in the brain involved in learning, movement, reward, and emotion (caudate, putamen, and nucleus accumbens seeds) and structures in the frontal area of the brain involved in attention and control of unwanted behaviors (superior temporal gyri, insula, inferior parietal lobe, and inferior frontal gyri). So... ADHD is a symptom of an ov…

This tracks with my own theory on ADHD. It often times feels like a super power when it isn't ruining your life. If you manage it, it's remarkable. Left to its own devices, it's debilitating. When I was younger I tried to medicate the issue away, and then eventually came to the realization that I was doing more harm than good. So I learned to appreciate myself as just "different" as opposed to "dysfunctional". Perhap…

Seems like if you go back in time, someone who is impulsive + easily bored etc would be an evolutionary advantage to their tribe (what's over that hill? let's go see!) if not themselves.

Re: NIH Researchers Identify Brain Connections Associated with ADHD in Youth

#86
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All quirky fun and games until you realize you can't do high-paying jobs that requires consistent focus. Which is not really a problem unless you want a family or to live in nice parts of cities.

>All quirky fun and games until you realize you can't do high-paying jobs that requires consistent focus. This is not a good understanding of ADHD. People with ADHD have hyperfocus tendencies, and this in fact can apply to their job while they ignore everything else. That is to say extremely successful people might be that way BECAUSE of their ADHD, not in spite of it. A programmer who devotes the majority of their l…

I found ADHD to be a huge advantage as a founder - hyperfocus + constantly solving NEW problems was stressful but also fun and energizing, whereas to others it could be perhaps just stressful.

Re: NIH Researchers Identify Brain Connections Associated with ADHD in Youth

#87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a lot of high-paying tech jobs that can be playing into ADHD (and other not neuro typical brains) strengths and focus thats more like running 42 1km "sprints" than mostly consistent pace 42km marathon. Things that come to mind are data science/analysis, debugging and fixing outages (finalizing follow up RFO might be hardest part ), security/hacking (hopefully white hat)... And basically whatever else one pers…

I’m a SWE at a Series A startup with predominantly inattentive ADHD. The need for me to jump around a bunch of things rather than just tunnel on the same area is a godsend. I struggle to really go deep or commit to long-running efforts, but if I can just jump into each thing for a few hours and constantly rotate things, I get an insane amount of work done. Most jobs would not afford me this, but I lucked into a great…

Isn't that called proactive procrastination?

Where you intentionally have more than 1 thing/project going on, so you can procrastinate on nr1 while you work on nr2 ...etc.

And for going in deep and long - it really needs to be something personally interesting.

Or someone else has a better was to get into hyperfocus flow/zone?

Re: NIH Researchers Identify Brain Connections Associated with ADHD in Youth

#88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really like that you list a whole lot of things that ADHD includes that most people are unaware of, but I wanted to call attention to the two that probably had the largest negative impact on my own life Rejection Sensitivity and Emotional Disregulation I have always been paralyzed by being afraid of failure (rejection), and that has kept me from pursuing a lot of things in the past And I've always been prone to ang…

How long have you been on medication? I think I should start medication again (diagnosed 7 years ago in early adulthood) but am scared of the side effects of long term medication use.

TLDR: I’ve been on Adderall over ten years and no known long term problems attributable to my meds. You should share your concerns with a/multiple doctor(s).

I’m not the parent but since no one answered: I was diagnosed in early childhood but only started meds around 21 years old (the first time I took Adderall was the first time I wrote an outline for a paper) and I’ve been on it nearly continuously for 13 years now, almost at the maximum dose. So far, no side effects at all of long-term use other than a learned behavior of building anxiety and stress every month around the time of getting my perception due to the war on drug style of regulation. I have only rarely had short term side effects when only taking extended release Adderall.

On your concern generally, I’m not a doctor but I’m not sure long-term effects should be a big concern without some known contraindication. To my recollection, none but my current doctor have given much discussion to long term effects of Adderall, if at all. My current doctor (who I believe had finished residency shortly before I started seeing him) was concerned about long term (heart) effects and I asked him for some links to info/studies. He sent me a webmd link to an article discussing a paper examining cardiac events in Canadian patients over 65 recently starting Adderall, which found no increased risk of cardiac events vs those not starting/taking Adderall. I don’t think there were conflicts of interest declared but it seemed like some authors had some association with the Shire pharmaceutical company. For context I’m mid 30’s, American, and have been taking Adderall as a long-term patient so I was confused about why he would send that but he didn’t expand on it when pressed. Research I did on my own only led me to studies showing that people with ADHD are twice as likely to of die in an accident as non-adhd counterparts, which I had never heard from any doctor and I believe is the leading cause of death in my age group.

As another note, my uncle was prescribed Concerta for an off-label use and quickly started having suicidal thoughts and stopped using it. Work with a physician who feels like a good match with you so you can be candid with them.

Re: NIH Researchers Identify Brain Connections Associated with ADHD in Youth

#89
post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are the harsh side effects you speak of?

Insomnia, fatigue, appetite loss, anxiety, irritability, paranoia. Side-effects for amphetamines being stronger than for methylphenidate.

I've never personally had any them, just a mild loss in appetite, that I appreciate, as I am on the pudgier side. It makes me calmer and have even feel deeply asleep , after taking them. Also have been off them for weeks sometimes and on again when needed, with no side effects. If you are actual sufferer of ADHD, the effects and benefits are almost immediate. Not everyone might react perfectly to one type of medication, that is why there are different types out there.
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