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> 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

> 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
  > Take regular breaks from the medication "Medicine holidays." They're a necessary part of ADHD treatment to deal with tolerance and to ensure you still need the medication at your current dose. After you take a few days off (I do one weekend a month and one week a year) try taking a smaller dose. Everyone's tolerance and needs can change drastically over time. If you stay at the same dose forever without breaks you'll have no concept of if the medication is still working for you - much like your 3rd point. I took 40mg/day in my 20s, down to 30mg a year ago, and now up to 35mg/day in covid times.
- sizzle 6y ago
  Taking breaks simply isn't possible for many, like the withdrawals translates to sleeping 16 hours a day and not having an iota of energy to do everyday activities. It is a vicious cycle the deeper you get into taking stims and feeling normal baseline response by finding your therapeutic dose, why would you want to feel acute withdrawal symptoms and get nothing done on med 'vacation days'?
  - username90 6y ago
    > why would you want to feel acute withdrawal symptoms and get nothing done on med 'vacation days'? I like that though, just chilling for a day or two, do what you feel like and not what feels important. If your life doesn't give you the opportunity to do that I'd suggest try to get more flexibility, you don't need to be super attentive and productive every day. ADHD isn't a disease, it just means you are badly adapted for modern office work and bureaucracy, and having vacations where you can go back to your simple carefree self is very valuable.
    - neutronicus 6y ago
      The other thing your are not that well adapted for is parenthood (lots of getting shit together and going someplace on a schedule) and that is harder to take a break from
      - 6y ago

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
> Take regular breaks from the medication "Medicine holidays." They're a necessary part of ADHD treatment to deal with tolerance and to ensure you still need the medication at your current dose. After you take a few days off (I do one weekend a month and one week a year) try taking a smaller dose. Everyone's tolerance and needs can change drastically over time. If you stay at the same dose forever without breaks you'll have no concept of if the medication is still working for you - much like your 3rd point. I took 40mg/day in my 20s, down to 30mg a year ago, and now up to 35mg/day in covid times.
sizzle 6y ago
Taking breaks simply isn't possible for many, like the withdrawals translates to sleeping 16 hours a day and not having an iota of energy to do everyday activities. It is a vicious cycle the deeper you get into taking stims and feeling normal baseline response by finding your therapeutic dose, why would you want to feel acute withdrawal symptoms and get nothing done on med 'vacation days'?
- username90 6y ago
  > why would you want to feel acute withdrawal symptoms and get nothing done on med 'vacation days'? I like that though, just chilling for a day or two, do what you feel like and not what feels important. If your life doesn't give you the opportunity to do that I'd suggest try to get more flexibility, you don't need to be super attentive and productive every day. ADHD isn't a disease, it just means you are badly adapted for modern office work and bureaucracy, and having vacations where you can go back to your simple carefree self is very valuable.
  - neutronicus 6y ago
    The other thing your are not that well adapted for is parenthood (lots of getting shit together and going someplace on a schedule) and that is harder to take a break from
    - 6y ago