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I apologize my wording made it appear I was abusing drugs, I don't condone that. In fact I'm the opposite: I microdosed Adderall. 5mg a day for the longest time

I apologize my wording made it appear I was abusing drugs, I don't condone that. In fact I'm the opposite: I microdosed Adderall. 5mg a day for the longest time, then bumped up to 10mg. My doctors over the years pushed me to take more but I always said no. Instead I would take breaks and let tolerance die down before resuming. I first got a prescription when I found I would rather spend 2-3 hours of my work day staring at a wall than work on a tedious task (literally, I did this). I was either hyper focused on a task and spent all day and night on it, or would rather be left with my thoughts. I went home many days wondering what was wrong with me and waited every day to hear the news I was fired. I eventually went to a doctor around the age of 20 and he said, without a doubt, I have severe ADHD. I have found other ways to cope with the condition. Many already shared in this very thread what has worked for me: no sugar, exercise, plenty of sleep, and a tinge of coffee. Even when on small doses of Adderall, if I had more than a handful of Oreos, I would have to go home because work is impossible. This actually happened! I know it's hard for people without ADHD to understand. It's not about willpower, it was an impossibility for me to work.

ankushnarula 9y ago
I was convinced that I had ADHD by the time I was 21 after a lot of struggling in high school and college. I went to a psychiatrist and he asked me the basic DSM IV questions and he said it was a 90% match. So he put me on Ritalin and then eventually Adderall. I also had severe insomnia so this exacerbated my abuse potential in order to make it thru multiple days with higher performance without sleep. Within a year or two, I got off all the stimulants because I was falling apart. Almost 13 years later (and a lot more serious work struggle) I started talk therapy and began to realize that confidence, self-esteem, chronic anxiety and depression were my real underlying problems. It's hard to focus when you feel anxious all of the time. It's very hard to think deep - which reinforces the confidence and focus problem in high performance work situations. A vicious circle. So we tried the usual SSRIs, sleep meds, and benzodiazepines - which all have their own problems. Another 12 years later after being on these meds, I stopped early in 2016. Life was slowly getting worse - and my physical health as well. In the start of this year I to realized that SSRI/SNRI are not fully effective if you don't change your lifestyle. So I cut out sugar, juice, sweet fruits, simple carbs, alcohol, and limited my caffeine to the morning - all of which makes a world of difference. Now I'm struggling to form the daily habits of cardio in the morning and mindfulness meditation a couple times a day. I feel 100% more focused and stable. Only wish I had figured this shit out when I was a younger man.
- harigov 9y ago
  Thanks for sharing this! I am pretty sure that I have ADHD but I was never diagnosed, nor did I ever try visiting a doctor for this purpose. As someone with relatively low access to healthcare, I am always concerned about taking any medicines, even if they are supposedly "good". I realized that most of my ADHD symptoms stem from inflammation. If I take away any inputs including dietary(sugar, gluten, dairy, egg, etc.,) and environmental(pollutants, cold, dust, pollen, etc.,), I am as focused as ever. So that's what I focused all my effort on. My focus levels have improved quite a bit but I am still not there yet. If your symptoms are similar to mine, you might benefit from Spirulina and Turmeric. Both of them help reduce inflammation and provide several health benefits.
jasonlotito 9y ago
Thanks. It wasn't clear in your comment. Working with your doctor is the right way. Your original comment made it seem to me that you weren't.

ankushnarula 9y ago

I was convinced that I had ADHD by the time I was 21 after a lot of struggling in high school and college. I went to a psychiatrist and he asked me the basic DSM IV questions and he said it was a 90% match. So he put me on Ritalin and then eventually Adderall. I also had severe insomnia so this exacerbated my abuse potential in order to make it thru multiple days with higher performance without sleep. Within a year or two, I got off all the stimulants because I was falling apart. Almost 13 years later (and a lot more serious work struggle) I started talk therapy and began to realize that confidence, self-esteem, chronic anxiety and depression were my real underlying problems. It's hard to focus when you feel anxious all of the time. It's very hard to think deep - which reinforces the confidence and focus problem in high performance work situations. A vicious circle. So we tried the usual SSRIs, sleep meds, and benzodiazepines - which all have their own problems. Another 12 years later after being on these meds, I stopped early in 2016. Life was slowly getting worse - and my physical health as well. In the start of this year I to realized that SSRI/SNRI are not fully effective if you don't change your lifestyle. So I cut out sugar, juice, sweet fruits, simple carbs, alcohol, and limited my caffeine to the morning - all of which makes a world of difference. Now I'm struggling to form the daily habits of cardio in the morning and mindfulness meditation a couple times a day. I feel 100% more focused and stable. Only wish I had figured this shit out when I was a younger man.

harigov 9y ago
Thanks for sharing this! I am pretty sure that I have ADHD but I was never diagnosed, nor did I ever try visiting a doctor for this purpose. As someone with relatively low access to healthcare, I am always concerned about taking any medicines, even if they are supposedly "good". I realized that most of my ADHD symptoms stem from inflammation. If I take away any inputs including dietary(sugar, gluten, dairy, egg, etc.,) and environmental(pollutants, cold, dust, pollen, etc.,), I am as focused as ever. So that's what I focused all my effort on. My focus levels have improved quite a bit but I am still not there yet. If your symptoms are similar to mine, you might benefit from Spirulina and Turmeric. Both of them help reduce inflammation and provide several health benefits.

jasonlotito 9y ago

Thanks. It wasn't clear in your comment. Working with your doctor is the right way. Your original comment made it seem to me that you weren't.