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> You can’t come close to relating if you don’t have it. Really? How do you know that? I don’t think you can come close to relating to what a non-ADHD person

> You can’t come close to relating if you don’t have it. Really? How do you know that? I don’t think you can come close to relating to what a non-ADHD person knows or feels as you have ADHD.

lfowles 6y ago
I've heard there are some drugs that impair executive function enough to simulate bad ADHD, it's too bad they're probably not legal to for people to take to gain a sense of empathy :)
mhh__ 6y ago
You do grow up with them though. I'm pretty convinced that I have ADHD, will be seeing what I can do about it when the doctors are less stressed, one of the things that struck me recently is that almost everybody I meet causes me to think "wow, they're organised" - even to the point where someone who I know very well even has the piece of paper to prove he has ADHD is like a scheduling algorithm compared to me.
- eyelidlessness 6y ago
  When you’re ready to go, if you’d welcome the advice: go read through the DSM criteria and think honestly about how it could describe your childhood self, and how it might reflect on your adult experience. The thing is written to diagnose kids. Being prepared to translate it was critical in getting my diagnosis.
- spiralx 6y ago
  What the other person said and try and have adults who can back up that you had the symptoms of ADHD as a young child. My parents were not super-engaged with the process and it made my diagnosis a lot harder, my friend's parents were and he sailed through it.
nerdbaggy 6y ago
Touché. I guess nobody will know what it’s like to be somebody else
falcolas 6y ago
Quite some time ago, I read a short story by Kurt Vonnegut that described an effort to “equalize” everyone. The protagonist had a different, exceptionally loud, nose played in his headphones at random intervals. It had the effect of interrupting his thought process completely, to lower his effective IQ. I’ve always thought it was a decent representation of how ADHD works. Hyperfocus is harder to simulate, since it requires one to focus on exactly one thing for hours on end. To the point where you don’t even think about things like “do I need a drink? Do I need to pee?” My wife is fairly nurotypical, and it blows me away sometimes how she can decide she wants to work on something, and then works on that something. For hours on end, while being able to interrupt herself with things like pee breaks and food, while being able to go back to the project after.
- dmitrygr 6y ago
  It is this one - one of my favourite short stories: HARRISON BERGERON http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/harrison.html http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/harrison.html
  - falcolas 6y ago
    Bookmarked. Again. I think the title is just so different than the content that I never associate the two. In any case, thank you!
garmaine 6y ago
> I don’t think you can come close to relating to what a non-ADHD person knows or feels as you have ADHD. I had no idea what normal people felt like until I took doctor-prescribed amphetamines for the first time at the age of 35. Most people take speed for a high, but for me I just felt "normal" for the first time ever. I could think clearly. I could remember things. I could react entirely proportionate to the demands of circumstance. It's like something clicked and I was suddenly knew that is why life's a struggle! It was no longer my failing, but something I was born with. Anyway, point is that thanks to medication we can get a glimpse into what life is like for non-ADHD people, and it is glorious. You don't know how easy you've got it.

> You can’t come close to relating if you don’t have it. Really? How do you know that? I don’t think you can come close to relating to what a non-ADHD person knows or feels as you have ADHD.

lfowles 6y ago

I've heard there are some drugs that impair executive function enough to simulate bad ADHD, it's too bad they're probably not legal to for people to take to gain a sense of empathy :)

mhh__ 6y ago

You do grow up with them though. I'm pretty convinced that I have ADHD, will be seeing what I can do about it when the doctors are less stressed, one of the things that struck me recently is that almost everybody I meet causes me to think "wow, they're organised" - even to the point where someone who I know very well even has the piece of paper to prove he has ADHD is like a scheduling algorithm compared to me.

eyelidlessness 6y ago
When you’re ready to go, if you’d welcome the advice: go read through the DSM criteria and think honestly about how it could describe your childhood self, and how it might reflect on your adult experience. The thing is written to diagnose kids. Being prepared to translate it was critical in getting my diagnosis.
spiralx 6y ago
What the other person said and try and have adults who can back up that you had the symptoms of ADHD as a young child. My parents were not super-engaged with the process and it made my diagnosis a lot harder, my friend's parents were and he sailed through it.

nerdbaggy 6y ago

Touché. I guess nobody will know what it’s like to be somebody else

falcolas 6y ago

Quite some time ago, I read a short story by Kurt Vonnegut that described an effort to “equalize” everyone. The protagonist had a different, exceptionally loud, nose played in his headphones at random intervals. It had the effect of interrupting his thought process completely, to lower his effective IQ. I’ve always thought it was a decent representation of how ADHD works. Hyperfocus is harder to simulate, since it requires one to focus on exactly one thing for hours on end. To the point where you don’t even think about things like “do I need a drink? Do I need to pee?” My wife is fairly nurotypical, and it blows me away sometimes how she can decide she wants to work on something, and then works on that something. For hours on end, while being able to interrupt herself with things like pee breaks and food, while being able to go back to the project after.

dmitrygr 6y ago
It is this one - one of my favourite short stories: HARRISON BERGERON http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/harrison.html http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/harrison.html
- falcolas 6y ago
  Bookmarked. Again. I think the title is just so different than the content that I never associate the two. In any case, thank you!

garmaine 6y ago

> I don’t think you can come close to relating to what a non-ADHD person knows or feels as you have ADHD. I had no idea what normal people felt like until I took doctor-prescribed amphetamines for the first time at the age of 35. Most people take speed for a high, but for me I just felt "normal" for the first time ever. I could think clearly. I could remember things. I could react entirely proportionate to the demands of circumstance. It's like something clicked and I was suddenly knew that is why life's a struggle! It was no longer my failing, but something I was born with. Anyway, point is that thanks to medication we can get a glimpse into what life is like for non-ADHD people, and it is glorious. You don't know how easy you've got it.