8 ms·

ADHD sucks. I mean, it ain't cancer, but it sucks. I was never officially diagnosed, but when my son was at 7 is when I realized what ADHD really is, and that

• alehul 7y ago
  As someone who also has it: have you tried medicine like Adderall? I’m so torn on it. On one hand, it makes me so productive, but on the other, it makes me so unemotional and cold and abrasive. It also makes me sweat, increases my heart rate, and has a terrible comedown when taken often. I was diagnosed at 16 and was on it for years, eventually moving up to 4x the dosage as my body grew resistance. I’ve stopped it for the past couple years, and now am back to the lowest dosage on rare occasions I take it, but still unsure how to feel about it.
  • QuackingJimbo 7y ago
    It definitely helps the day to day but I cant help but think it is a horrible idea long term
    • ryanianian 7y ago
      I don't have the research handy, but Adderall has been proven very safe for long-term use when taken at "normal" dosages and with oversight by a doctor. I've been on it for 20 years and with the oversight of responsible doctors, and I have never had to increase my dosage (in fact I've reduced it 25% in the last 5 years). All my heart/blood/* tests come back good and I'm not a particularly health-conscious person. I regularly take week-long breaks to assess if it's still the right regimen for me. (Like the parent post says, the days off of it can be brutal but avoiding tolerance and assessing its true impact are invaluable.) I don't "like" Adderall but it is the only way I feel sane. My point: don't be afraid to seek meds that help just because you may fear some long-term effects. A doctor can help you decide if the long-term effects are worth the gain, and there may not in fact even be the long-term effects you're worried about, especially if you talk about those worries with your doctor.
      • internet_user 7y ago
        Nobody will ever admit it but memantine and/or dxm maintain effectiveness of amphetamines. Even as much as fully resetting tolerance in some cases.
        • opportune 7y ago
          Not worth it for the potential brain damage
          • sizzle 7y ago
            How does it cause brain damage?
  • falcolas 7y ago
    Work with a psychiatrist to try other meds. There are non-stimulant meds that work with ADD too. Adderall is not the only option; it didn’t work for me. It took a bit, and I ended up with Dextroamphetemine. The physical side effects dulled down to the occasional restless leg, and the mental effects work well.
    • HeWhoLurksLate 7y ago
      Personally, I was on methylphenidate (generic for Concerta) from eighth grade until very recently, when I switched to an Adderal ER. The difference for me was more what happened when I came off of it- on methylphenidate, I got super irritable right around the same time I got home, which was not good. I haven't noticed anything weird with this one, but for anyone reading this, I would highly recommend "shopping around" for ADHD medicine if you can.
    • ClassyJacket 7y ago
      Adderall and Dextroamphetamine are almost the same. They're both amphetamine (speed) with just slightly different ratios of the isomers.
      • pseudalopex 7y ago
        Dextroamphetamine is a pure enantiomer. Adderall includes levoamphetamine, which has stronger peripheral effects.
  • leoc 7y ago
    It does nothing for procrastination and so proved useless to me.
  • jjeaff 7y ago
    Try Vyvanse or one of the other high grade, extended release alternatives to Adderall. Lots of people have had issues with Adderall, especially after the patents expired and it started being made almost exclusively overseas as a generic.
    • blackflame7000 7y ago
      Long term usage of those drugs will cause GERD. I know first hand
      • system2 7y ago
        Even the first time does it. Addie or others are super strong and mess up the stomach acids fast.
      • jjeaff 7y ago
        How long is long term? I have a friend that had problems with GERD until he started taking Adderall. It seems that he is not alone. Something about stimulants seem to help digestive problems for some people.
        • blackflame7000 7y ago
          After about 5 years is when I started noticing the side effects got worse than the desired effect.
  • EnderViaAnsible 7y ago
    I think nearly all of us that aren't secretly abusing medication feel that ambivalence. For me and I assume for others, it is not a fully adequate treatment. Some symptoms it fixes, some it helps with, some it does nothing for, some it actually makes worse. (In particular, impulsivity and inability to task switch accurately.) Then there are the side effects, and the comedowns after tolerance builds. Nevertheless you must still learn coping skills, still pursue other treatment (exercise, decent diet, sleep, CBT if needed), still struggle as the square peg. I have used medication for roughly 5 years ish of 30 some years of life, intermittently. I'd say taking it is better treatment than not, but honestly, like you, I feel a deep ambivalence towards it. (Even resentment, sometimes.)
  • internet_user 7y ago
    Look into nuvigil, and if that fails - wakix (pitolisant/tiprolisant)
  • bg4 7y ago
    I have ADD and sleep apnea, a double whammy of conditions that society likes to mislabel as 'character flaws'. I took ADD for a few years; it helped at first but after a year or so I had to stop because I was becoming very angry when on it. I believe the exhaustion/constant jet lag of the apnea (even with CPAP treatment) and work/kids entirely depleted my patience and self-control and the adderall then exacerbated my temper. I'd much rather be foggy/forgetful than angry.
    • all2 7y ago
      I was diagnosed with sleep apnea. I no longer need my machine Here are some of the things I tried: cut out wheat, cut out refined sugars, lift heavy things 3 to 5 times a week, do an elimination diet (whole 30 is a good one), get a good supplement stack (Standard Process has good stuff)... I'm not sure what else I tried. I think the changes in my diet made the biggest difference.
  • Sophistifunk 7y ago
    I've never had Adderall because it's not for sale in .au for some reason. I've tried Ritalin and Modafinil and Dexamphetamines. Ritalin didn't help much and gave me headaches, but Modafinil is much better. It doesn't help with the ADHD quite as well as Dex does, but all the annoying side effects are far less pronounced as well. Unfortunately in .au you can't get it subsidised for ADHD, only narcolepsy, so I've stuck with Dex just because it's so much cheaper, despite it being way worse for you.
  • thrav 7y ago
    Dosage could be off too. Try going lower and tone release. Look up titration. The right doctor will help you dial this in and interview you to make the right call.
  • system2 7y ago
    Yes, you pretty much summed up all. Don't forget sleepless nights if you took it after 11 am or later. Also: Heartburn, dry mouth, and severe dehydration, loss of appetite (yay for this one actually). And flushing (pee pee pee all day). IF you are working from home with minimal contact, it works. Never EVER answer a phone call when you are on it (this is to whoever planning to use it in the future). God knows, how many times I argued with a client just because of Adderall. It forces anyone using it to keep the communication to a minimum. And when a client calls (usually oblivious, but demanding), you will end up arguing at some point. Adderall = never do anything social including phone calls. I am serious.
    • atemerev 7y ago
      Looks like your dose is way too high...
      • system2 7y ago
        Usually people take 20-30 mg pills. This happens anywhere after 10mg. I see lots of sleepless dudes in tech industry. All angry and intolerant :)
        • atemerev 7y ago
          My prescription is 30mg of Elvanse daily, which corresponds to 12mg of Adderall _spread through the day_ (Elvanse/Vyvanse is an extended release form). Taking it all at once would surely lead to all that effects.
    • thecatspaw 7y ago
      > Don't forget sleepless nights if you took it after 11 am or later. Medication that keeps you awake for 16 hours leads to sleepless nights if taken late into the day, more news at 2.
      • chaosite 7y ago
        Obviously. On the other hand, if you didn't take it before 11am for reasons (some of which may be bullshit!) you then get to make a Sophie's choice between being productive and sleeping.
• lioeters 7y ago
  > Some how I made it through 40+ years with it and never knew it. I can relate to this, and I think there's a potentially large underbelly of society, that many (most?) of us are walking around with undiagnosed personality "disorders" (let's say, traits) like ADHD, the autistic spectrum, agoraphobia, narcissism, sociopathy, and so on - maybe even ones we haven't discovered or classified yet. The infamous DSMMD (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) is a massive tome, where pretty much every member of human society can find a matching category..
  • colechristensen 7y ago
    In a nutshell, the DSM say anything that sucks is a disease. What is exciting is that the wandering-in-the-dark of psychology is being usurped by neurology actually understanding how the brain works on gradually higher and higher levels.
  • eswat 7y ago
    I found out this year, at 32, that I have a mostly-anxious/sometimes-avoidant insecure attachment style. Some of the bumps I’ve experienced in life probably would have gone smoother if this was made apparent to me years ago and I had the tools I have now to work with it.
• colechristensen 7y ago
  ADHD doesn't suck. Forty years of 9-5 jobs, mortgages, university degrees, and elementary school sucks when you're the type of person who can get diagnosed as ADHD. The world discriminates against people who don't have the temperament to fit in to its patterns of society. We don't quite know how to pursue ἀρετή, virtue, eudemonia, excellence, whatever you want to call it in life because modern life was built for another kind of person and the animal life we left behind is far gone. Advice about "fixing" ourselves is mostly about finding effective ways to fit square pegs into round holes (like Adderall)
  • EnderViaAnsible 7y ago
    ADHD is objectively a bundle of true deficits, not just a set of traits society frowns on. Certainly these deficits weren't as much of a disadvantage in early human evolution, but if you can create metrics and show that people with ADHD perform worse at some generic tasks vs. average human beings-- and you can, we have-- this is not just a world that has been created that is inhospitable to them. The ugly thing I've found, which accords with what you have said here, is that the best treatment for me is as many hours of sunshine as possible and several hours of vigorous exercise a day. (Thanks for teaching that, Marine Corps.) But of course there are very few jobs with security, brain exercise, and mobility that give me this, and essentially no jobs that are compatible with it (that it is, where I could take this time off per day and still retain a job). So of course I use medication and stick with jobs that drive me nuts, jobs that are terrible for me but pay well. I feel for the ADHD people who weren't gifted as decent a brain as mine, as if it weren't for that I doubt my employers would have been as indulgent of my other flaws from ADHD.
    • colechristensen 7y ago
      Read The Selfish Gene and https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2008/06/12/the-misfits https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2008/06/12/... There is doubt that a set of behaviors which is so prevalent in the population is just an accident and a disease. Evolutionary pressures exist to optimize gene expression ratios in a population. Put differently, when a certain gene becomes rare in a population individuals with that gene have a significant advantage in life and reproduce more – when the same gene becomes over prevalent individuals with that gene have a significant disadvantage and reproduce less. There are traits which have pressure to be a certain proportion of a population. ADHD or whatever else you may call it could very well be that. Ancient societies which had a small proportion of a certain kind of person thrived because their different behavior made them successful. It doesn't have to be a disease to not fit in to a certain society.
• adito 7y ago
  > If you don't know much about ADHD , it's not what you think it is. Honest question, I don't know much about ADHD. What's ADHD actually is?
  • internet_user 7y ago
    ADHD is some degree of impairement in the ability to self-direct your own behavior, also known as executive function.
    • ScottFree 7y ago
      Isn't that at odds with your previous comment? > Inability to sustain concentration is not a temperament. It's a neurological impairement. The impression the article gave me is that ADHD is more the inability to choose what you focus on, not an inability to sustain concentration?
      • internet_user 7y ago
        Inability to sustain attention/concentration is just one of the most common facets of ADHD. Yes, you could have more/others impairments in your executive function than just attention. Impulsivity is commonly measured as well. ADHD is really an umbrella term for several syndromes. I disagree with the notion that "inability to choose" is necessarily a definitive part of ADHD . It often is, and is common, but it's not unique to ADHD at all. It can also be due to anxiety, PTSD, all sorts of other issues, and people with those issues improve on anxiolytics/tranquilizers, instead of stimulants.
        • ScottFree 7y ago
          > ADHD is really an umbrella term for several syndromes. That does seem to muddy the water a bit, doesn't it? Thanks for the detailed response!
          • internet_user 7y ago