5 ms·

I'll echo this; I'm a serial founder who was diagnosed with ADHD in his mid-forties. The stimulant medications do not make me "high", do not provide any kind o

I'll echo this; I'm a serial founder who was diagnosed with ADHD in his mid-forties. The stimulant medications do not make me "high", do not provide any kind of buzz. Rather, they have a moderating effect. Explaining this requires correcting the misunderstandings in the public realm of how adult ADHD presents, but in nutshell: * The (largely mental) hyperactivity is controllable, that is, I retain my creative ideas generation and interest in new things, but I am no longer governed by it, and * The rarely discussed hyperfocus behaviour (which I frankly regard as a superpower) is more easily snapped out of. To the uninformed, the most paradoxical outcome is that I can take a powerful stimulant medication, lie down in bed, and fall asleep easily, when normally I'd be staring at the ceiling pondering anything from CSS to soldering and unable to sleep for the rush of ideas. This response to medication is not diagnostic, but it is indicative that the medication I have is correct. Moreover it allows me to both retain the two traits that have made me a successful systems maker, but permits a less chaotic engagement with the neurotypical-oriented processes of modern human society, so for example I renew my passport before it expires. I self-medicated with a variety of over-the-counter substances for decades, including nicotine, sugar, and coffee. I am super grateful for the medication since I have now dropped the nicotine and sugar. My psychiatrist believes the condition is a) misnamed, and would be better titled "Attention Difference Disorder", and b) points out that the twin traits of rapid ideas switching and hyperfocus are only a problem in some aspects of engagement with modern society and that in an pre-agrarian society they'd be excellent traits for a hunter.

incomplete 6y ago
i generally hate short, banal replies, but here we go: this. all of this. yes. :)
- ADHDthrow2323 6y ago
  I second that.
  - nullsense 6y ago
    Me too
    - zeepzeep 6y ago
      yes
ADHDthrow2323 6y ago
> The (largely mental) hyperactivity is controllable, that is, I retain my creative ideas generation and interest in new things, but I am no longer governed by it, and As a person who is in their 1st week of medication, that is a HUGE relief. Thank you. I have a lot more to comment here but have a quiz (engineering undergrad) to do rn..lol. But I gotta say your description of you experience is the most comprehensive thing I was ever able to relate to. I found a lot of people on r/ADHD articulating individual feelings/experiences that I felt but was not able to talk about, but yours just covered a lot more base with me personally. > anything from CSS to soldering and unable to sleep for the rush of ideas. That hit hard XD. > would be better titled "Attention Difference Disorder" Yes, a lot of people are don't like that it was named mostly based on the symptoms most annoying to the people around the person ADHD with. Many people suggest something along the lines of "Executive Function Dysregulation" to remove the "hyper" part that many people don't suffer from and include emotional-dysregulation in the symptoms. Ok enough. time to go.
- username90 6y ago
  I got diagnosed as an adult and it was life changing for me, has been on them for 5 years. Here are some tips: 1. Never take stimulants to have fun, just take them to do tasks to progress your life. ADHD doesn't prevent you from having fun, and having fun with stimulants is what makes them addictive. 2. Take regular breaks from the medication. You wont get much done the first day or two after, so don't plan on doing anything except stay at home and procrastinate those days since your inattentive symptoms will be worse than usual. 3. Sometimes try to do tasks without medication. Having worse focus helps in some way since it means you must master a topic much more before you can complete the task. My guess is that many of the PRO's of ADHD comes from this, since it means instead of just completing a task and moving on you have been forced to master the subject way more than other people with similar grades/achievements. Think of two people with similar grades, one worked hard and did lots of practice problems while the other was lazy and never worked. Who do you think understands things better? What do you think happens if the lazy guy suddenly puts in the effort? That is what happens with ADHD medication.
  - ryanianian 6y ago
vmception 6y ago
> I'm a serial founder who was diagnosed with ADHD in his mid-forties. I've seen this a lot. A lot of parents were in complete denial about their children having ADHD, and the rampant diagnosing of ADHD at a point in time. Turns out a lot of children actually had it, and it is not the most compatible with the environment they are in and will be in. All things did happen: rampant diagnosis, misdiagnosis, and parents in denials. But none of that means any particular child didn't have ADHD. I've brought this reality up to other parents repeating the same things.
- 542354234235 6y ago
  Or in my case, I was a legit diagnosis during the period of over diagnosis and over medication. I hated being “different” and got off the meds as soon as I could and was in denial for the next 20 years and just brute force handled symptoms. Now after a couple years of reengaging with mental health and getting medicated, it is so much better than researching compression algorithms and ancient Roman battle formations while procrastinating my 2 month project until it is already past due and then working 18 hour days for a week to get it done.
notretarded 6y ago
I'd diagnose you with something else. Chronic arrogance, also unwillingness to accept that you're pretty average and terrified of failure. Although, of course, you'll contradict me because it doesn't fit your narrative of being a super human. But yaknow, you keep blasting away your money into a psych's hand and taking medication which does best part of bugger all other than give you recourse for your behaviour.
nicolas_t 6y ago
I've learned never to take concerta when I'm tired, it will make me extremely sleepy and I'm liable to sleep the entire day (which is not necessarily what I want on days I have something very important to do). I'm an extremely light sleeper and always had a very hard time falling asleep, so my guess is that concerta quiets down my brain enough that the chronic lack of sleep catches up on me.
- simsla 6y ago
  Interesting. When I take Concerta (54mg) it makes me unable to sleep for the next 12 hours. It doesn't make me any more awake/less tired than I normally would be, and I can lie down and kind of zone out, but I never completely drift off. Pseudo-meditation is the closest I can get to sleeping when I'm on Concerta.

incomplete 6y ago

i generally hate short, banal replies, but here we go: this. all of this. yes. :)

ADHDthrow2323 6y ago
I second that.
- nullsense 6y ago
  Me too
  - zeepzeep 6y ago
    yes

ADHDthrow2323 6y ago

> The (largely mental) hyperactivity is controllable, that is, I retain my creative ideas generation and interest in new things, but I am no longer governed by it, and As a person who is in their 1st week of medication, that is a HUGE relief. Thank you. I have a lot more to comment here but have a quiz (engineering undergrad) to do rn..lol. But I gotta say your description of you experience is the most comprehensive thing I was ever able to relate to. I found a lot of people on r/ADHD articulating individual feelings/experiences that I felt but was not able to talk about, but yours just covered a lot more base with me personally. > anything from CSS to soldering and unable to sleep for the rush of ideas. That hit hard XD. > would be better titled "Attention Difference Disorder" Yes, a lot of people are don't like that it was named mostly based on the symptoms most annoying to the people around the person ADHD with. Many people suggest something along the lines of "Executive Function Dysregulation" to remove the "hyper" part that many people don't suffer from and include emotional-dysregulation in the symptoms. Ok enough. time to go.

username90 6y ago
I got diagnosed as an adult and it was life changing for me, has been on them for 5 years. Here are some tips: 1. Never take stimulants to have fun, just take them to do tasks to progress your life. ADHD doesn't prevent you from having fun, and having fun with stimulants is what makes them addictive. 2. Take regular breaks from the medication. You wont get much done the first day or two after, so don't plan on doing anything except stay at home and procrastinate those days since your inattentive symptoms will be worse than usual. 3. Sometimes try to do tasks without medication. Having worse focus helps in some way since it means you must master a topic much more before you can complete the task. My guess is that many of the PRO's of ADHD comes from this, since it means instead of just completing a task and moving on you have been forced to master the subject way more than other people with similar grades/achievements. Think of two people with similar grades, one worked hard and did lots of practice problems while the other was lazy and never worked. Who do you think understands things better? What do you think happens if the lazy guy suddenly puts in the effort? That is what happens with ADHD medication.
- ryanianian 6y ago

vmception 6y ago

> I'm a serial founder who was diagnosed with ADHD in his mid-forties. I've seen this a lot. A lot of parents were in complete denial about their children having ADHD, and the rampant diagnosing of ADHD at a point in time. Turns out a lot of children actually had it, and it is not the most compatible with the environment they are in and will be in. All things did happen: rampant diagnosis, misdiagnosis, and parents in denials. But none of that means any particular child didn't have ADHD. I've brought this reality up to other parents repeating the same things.

542354234235 6y ago
Or in my case, I was a legit diagnosis during the period of over diagnosis and over medication. I hated being “different” and got off the meds as soon as I could and was in denial for the next 20 years and just brute force handled symptoms. Now after a couple years of reengaging with mental health and getting medicated, it is so much better than researching compression algorithms and ancient Roman battle formations while procrastinating my 2 month project until it is already past due and then working 18 hour days for a week to get it done.

notretarded 6y ago

I'd diagnose you with something else. Chronic arrogance, also unwillingness to accept that you're pretty average and terrified of failure. Although, of course, you'll contradict me because it doesn't fit your narrative of being a super human. But yaknow, you keep blasting away your money into a psych's hand and taking medication which does best part of bugger all other than give you recourse for your behaviour.

nicolas_t 6y ago

I've learned never to take concerta when I'm tired, it will make me extremely sleepy and I'm liable to sleep the entire day (which is not necessarily what I want on days I have something very important to do). I'm an extremely light sleeper and always had a very hard time falling asleep, so my guess is that concerta quiets down my brain enough that the chronic lack of sleep catches up on me.

simsla 6y ago
Interesting. When I take Concerta (54mg) it makes me unable to sleep for the next 12 hours. It doesn't make me any more awake/less tired than I normally would be, and I can lie down and kind of zone out, but I never completely drift off. Pseudo-meditation is the closest I can get to sleeping when I'm on Concerta.