5 ms·

If you haven't before, consider looking into whether or not you might have ADHD.

by ekanes 6y ago

eloisius 6y ago
I was diagnosed with ADD as a kid and took Ritalin for a little while, but hated it so I convinced my parents to let me stop. I haven't sought medication or treatment since then. I can manage it really well if I'm intentional about how I arrange and use my environment, and it usually seems like the bursts of intense focus and creativity compensate for the tendency to be distracted and chasing multiple concurrent threads. Granted, I need a manager and work environment that indulges my need to deep dive on something without a lot of structure occasionally. Losing those bursts and everything becoming kind of gray scale is why I hated taking the meds as a kid.
- ekanes 6y ago
  It's a long conversation and hard to have here/in-comments, but I'd encourage you to look into it again, for several reasons. I get the focus/creativity aspect for sure! 1. Medications have come a long way, and there's more than just Ritalin (or Adderall) as options. I get the grey scale concept, but I don't think it has to be that way. There are varying doses and varying medications, and you might find something that is almost all upside with (possibly) no downside. 2. You might perceive yourself to be managing / coping fine (and you might be, I don't mean that in any disrespectful way!) but there could be vast undiscovered focus abilities you could access. For me personally, the difference on and off medication is VAST. 3. You might not always have that manager/environment. Or (what happened for me) someday you might (already) have a family, and fewer options for those bursts of focus. I used to work until 3am when I was on a roll, but now I can't. 4. The distraction / multiple threads stuff can have other impacts on your own self-image. Depends on how well it's managed I guess, in the world and inside your head. Good luck! :)
- forgotmypw17 6y ago
  Don't let society dictate how your brain should function. You are fine and valid the way you are, and don't let anyone call you a disorder.
  - ekanes 6y ago
    ADHD and Autism are "spectrum" disorders. Meaning that in a sense, we ALL have them to varying degrees, on a spectrum. (For example, we can all be distractable..) The definition of a disorder is that it's interfering with your life. So, if it's not bothering you, ALL GOOD. :) You don't have a disorder. I appreciate that you're well-intentioned. And of course if someone is happy exactly as they are, that's awesomesauce! But to the degree someone expresses that they struggle with something, and they might benefit from learning more or exploring options, it's not wrong to gently and respectfully encourage them to explore learning/options. It doesn't mean someone is "calling them" something.
  - eloisius 6y ago
    Yeah, that's the narrative I fed myself since I was a teenager, and I had plenty of validation for it from family members that loved me. I was just "too smart" to sit in class bored all day or whatever. I'm trying to question that narrative. The burst of focus and creativity might be great, but I wonder if the sibling commenter is right that I could be missing out on vast, untapped potential and I might not lose the upside. I don't know.
    - forgotmypw17 6y ago
      > I was just "too smart" to sit in class bored all day or whatever. Yes, you WERE too smart to be forced to sit around and learn at a pace that was way too slow for you. Imagine how much you could have learned if you were progressing at your own pace (let's say top 10%) rather than school curriculum pace (let's say tuned for 90% of students to keep up) Think about how much more successful you could have been in programming if you had learned calculus by 8th grade, a task I'd say at least half our U.S population is capable of. Instead, you are forced to put up with the same spoonfeeding as everyone else, and if you don't like it, you have a disorder? You were rightfully frustrated and upset at this waste of your time. Not to mention how unnatural and unhealthy it is to sit in place for hours at a time. It's not a disorder, it's a natural response to reality.
      - eloisius 6y ago
- sam1r 6y ago
  Tbh you just gotta find something you love doing and the rest will resolve itself
joshspankit 6y ago
I have a very similar experience of time, and have only now late life gotten some insight in to my past struggles with a ADHD diagnosis. Worth looking in to foooor sure.
- ekanes 6y ago
  Yeah, I find myself encouraging others to explore this stuff until it's fully resolved in your mind, because of the difference it's made in my life and in others I've seen personally.
- eloisius 6y ago
  I'd love to hear more. I've definitely lived with the downsides, but my experience with medicating for it as pre-teen was so negative that I have been extremely reticent to seek treatment since.
  - yonaguska 6y ago
    There's more to treatment than just medication. A good therapist specializing in ADHD will help you figure out how to build habits and processes to cope.
  - joshspankit 6y ago
    First off I’d say that medicating as an adult is an entirely different experience than as a child (I have children, but was not medicated as a child, so YMMV) mainly because you can almost immediately tell the difference and you have the language necessary to properly discuss pros/cons/adjustments with your doctor. As well, we now know that like hormonal birth control there’s no one pill that’s right for everyone so it’s awesome to have people be open to the adjustment process. From a life perspective, even without medication it’s been extremely helpful for me to see (for example) my lateness for what it mostly is: my brain is driven by the desire to be fully engaged. In the past I have been late not only because I forgot (which is easy(ish) to deal with by sticking to the calendar), but because in the “dead” time before a timed event I am driven to fill it with things I used to deem “worthwhile”, and would focus intently to turn up the engagement (obviously) thus lose track of time and suddenly find myself in a time crunch. Anything from “just a quick level” of a fast-paced fps, fast racing game, or sparkly new mobile game to picking up a sidelined woodworking project or (more often honestly) grabbing a work-task off the todo list. And, I will say that it feels great to be fully engaged and “firing on all cylinders” (I’m really enjoying Space Pirate Trainer on quest this month), but in the past where I would say subconsciously to myself “This is what I’m made for!” and push other things aside, now I can recognize the drive to what’s unique or engaging as being just about those two things, and I can properly choose what my priorities are.

If you haven't before, consider looking into whether or not you might have ADHD.

by ekanes 6y ago

If you haven't before, consider looking into whether or not you might have ADHD.

I was diagnosed with ADD as a kid and took Ritalin for a little while, but hated it so I convinced my parents to let me stop. I haven't sought medication or treatment since then. I can manage it really well if I'm intentional about how I arrange and use my environment, and it usually seems like the bursts of intense focus and creativity compensate for the tendency to be distracted and chasing multiple concurrent threads. Granted, I need a manager and work environment that indulges my need to deep dive on something without a lot of structure occasionally. Losing those bursts and everything becoming kind of gray scale is why I hated taking the meds as a kid.

ekanes 6y ago
It's a long conversation and hard to have here/in-comments, but I'd encourage you to look into it again, for several reasons. I get the focus/creativity aspect for sure! 1. Medications have come a long way, and there's more than just Ritalin (or Adderall) as options. I get the grey scale concept, but I don't think it has to be that way. There are varying doses and varying medications, and you might find something that is almost all upside with (possibly) no downside. 2. You might perceive yourself to be managing / coping fine (and you might be, I don't mean that in any disrespectful way!) but there could be vast undiscovered focus abilities you could access. For me personally, the difference on and off medication is VAST. 3. You might not always have that manager/environment. Or (what happened for me) someday you might (already) have a family, and fewer options for those bursts of focus. I used to work until 3am when I was on a roll, but now I can't. 4. The distraction / multiple threads stuff can have other impacts on your own self-image. Depends on how well it's managed I guess, in the world and inside your head. Good luck! :)
forgotmypw17 6y ago
Don't let society dictate how your brain should function. You are fine and valid the way you are, and don't let anyone call you a disorder.
- ekanes 6y ago
  ADHD and Autism are "spectrum" disorders. Meaning that in a sense, we ALL have them to varying degrees, on a spectrum. (For example, we can all be distractable..) The definition of a disorder is that it's interfering with your life. So, if it's not bothering you, ALL GOOD. :) You don't have a disorder. I appreciate that you're well-intentioned. And of course if someone is happy exactly as they are, that's awesomesauce! But to the degree someone expresses that they struggle with something, and they might benefit from learning more or exploring options, it's not wrong to gently and respectfully encourage them to explore learning/options. It doesn't mean someone is "calling them" something.
- eloisius 6y ago
  Yeah, that's the narrative I fed myself since I was a teenager, and I had plenty of validation for it from family members that loved me. I was just "too smart" to sit in class bored all day or whatever. I'm trying to question that narrative. The burst of focus and creativity might be great, but I wonder if the sibling commenter is right that I could be missing out on vast, untapped potential and I might not lose the upside. I don't know.
  - forgotmypw17 6y ago
    > I was just "too smart" to sit in class bored all day or whatever. Yes, you WERE too smart to be forced to sit around and learn at a pace that was way too slow for you. Imagine how much you could have learned if you were progressing at your own pace (let's say top 10%) rather than school curriculum pace (let's say tuned for 90% of students to keep up) Think about how much more successful you could have been in programming if you had learned calculus by 8th grade, a task I'd say at least half our U.S population is capable of. Instead, you are forced to put up with the same spoonfeeding as everyone else, and if you don't like it, you have a disorder? You were rightfully frustrated and upset at this waste of your time. Not to mention how unnatural and unhealthy it is to sit in place for hours at a time. It's not a disorder, it's a natural response to reality.
    - eloisius 6y ago
sam1r 6y ago
Tbh you just gotta find something you love doing and the rest will resolve itself

joshspankit 6y ago

I have a very similar experience of time, and have only now late life gotten some insight in to my past struggles with a ADHD diagnosis. Worth looking in to foooor sure.

ekanes 6y ago
Yeah, I find myself encouraging others to explore this stuff until it's fully resolved in your mind, because of the difference it's made in my life and in others I've seen personally.
eloisius 6y ago
I'd love to hear more. I've definitely lived with the downsides, but my experience with medicating for it as pre-teen was so negative that I have been extremely reticent to seek treatment since.
- yonaguska 6y ago
  There's more to treatment than just medication. A good therapist specializing in ADHD will help you figure out how to build habits and processes to cope.
- joshspankit 6y ago
  First off I’d say that medicating as an adult is an entirely different experience than as a child (I have children, but was not medicated as a child, so YMMV) mainly because you can almost immediately tell the difference and you have the language necessary to properly discuss pros/cons/adjustments with your doctor. As well, we now know that like hormonal birth control there’s no one pill that’s right for everyone so it’s awesome to have people be open to the adjustment process. From a life perspective, even without medication it’s been extremely helpful for me to see (for example) my lateness for what it mostly is: my brain is driven by the desire to be fully engaged. In the past I have been late not only because I forgot (which is easy(ish) to deal with by sticking to the calendar), but because in the “dead” time before a timed event I am driven to fill it with things I used to deem “worthwhile”, and would focus intently to turn up the engagement (obviously) thus lose track of time and suddenly find myself in a time crunch. Anything from “just a quick level” of a fast-paced fps, fast racing game, or sparkly new mobile game to picking up a sidelined woodworking project or (more often honestly) grabbing a work-task off the todo list. And, I will say that it feels great to be fully engaged and “firing on all cylinders” (I’m really enjoying Space Pirate Trainer on quest this month), but in the past where I would say subconsciously to myself “This is what I’m made for!” and push other things aside, now I can recognize the drive to what’s unique or engaging as being just about those two things, and I can properly choose what my priorities are.