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This is interesting, and a few years ago I was reading about ADHD as a superpower. Neurodiversity isn't all something to be cured. However, I don't have ADHD,

This is interesting, and a few years ago I was reading about ADHD as a superpower. Neurodiversity isn't all something to be cured. However, I don't have ADHD, so I can't comment on living with it. The video is from 2014 - their are probably better treatments now https://psychnews.psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.pn.2019.3b15 https://psychnews.psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.pn.2... And there is a Show HN post on the front-page right about ADHD coaching for adults. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37252231 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37252231

jprd 3y ago
This is the reason HN is special. Thank you for providing insight, perspective and additional links that aren't just logs on a fire. You promote civilization with such discourse, and I personally just felt the need to throw a TY out there.
aidenn0 3y ago
I do have ADHD. Living with it kind of sucks for a lot of the reasons mentioned in TFV. It can also be a superpower, particularly with adaptive coping skills. I should also point out that I have both ADHD and rather high general intelligence. At any given IQ, measures of academic success are lower for those with ADHD. There's also survivor-bias in that I couldn't be posting this if I had died from reckless behavior.
selfhoster11 3y ago
It's not a superpower. In my experience, it makes it greatly more difficult to survive as an adult.
pornel 3y ago
It's a superpower in the same way a person with dwarfism has a superpower of having plenty of legroom on planes. Sometimes if you're lucky a different way of thinking/working happens to be useful, but most of the time it's a burden, and makes functioning in a society harder.
- brailsafe 3y ago
  As a really tall person with ADHD, I feel like this is probably an apt analogy.
  - salad-tycoon 3y ago
    You have 2 superpowers. And all I got is this lousy t-shirt (and adhd). This whole “neurodivergecy is a gift!” “Celebrate your differences! Embrace your kinks!” thing is irksome to me. I know it isn’t intended in a bad way but, sometimes things aren’t a socially repressed positive just looking for love and attention. Not everybody gets a trophy. Stimulants though, I know they work for some but boy, adhd + addictive drugs? Head scratcher. I have a nagging suspicion it’s the next OxyContin, personally. Maybe not on such a grand scale but I see negative effects in myself and others regularly. Maybe humans shouldn’t be hopped on speed so much?
    - hirvi74 3y ago
      > adhd + addictive drugs? Head scratcher. I have a nagging suspicion it’s the next OxyContin, personally. If I am Icarus, then stimulants are my wax wings. Stimulants have been the cause and solution to most of my problems in life over the past decade. Some days, I truly feel like I made a deal with the Devil. But what alternative do I have? The world has no sympathy and even less empathy. I want to survive in this world like everyone else. Sure, I do not technically need them to survive. I wasn't even diagnosed until my early 20s. However, I've had a taste of the good life, and I can't go back. I do not think I am clinically addicted, but I am very psychologically and physically dependent on stimulants. One sick thought that occasionally ruminates inside my mind is that while I feel like the medications have helped me so much, I look around me -- look back on my life -- and I literally have accomplished nothing. I have nothing to show for any of it. Life is "stable", for sure. Same underpaid, miserable job for 7 years now, but really, that's it... I do not care what any medical research paper or any doctor says. These medications are powerful psychoactive substances. I think they absolutely fuck with one's mind, and one's perception of reality albeit in subtle ways. I am starting to wonder if my perception of reality has been warped in to making me think I have been performing better than I actually have been all these years. I'm not really sure how to end this scattered rant, but all I can say is that I've lost a lot of faith in psychiatry and psychology because of ADHD and its treatments. ADHD is the most treatable psychiatric condition? Seriously?
SkyPuncher 3y ago
I'm concluding that I might have ADHD. The major challenge for me is my attention gets "hung" in a way that I don't fully control. Sometimes it can get hung on a work topic, in which case I absolutely crush the project/feature etc. Other times, it gets hung on something it shouldn't and I can't be productive to save my life. It also seems to come into play right at the end of a major project. It's very hard to wrap up the little details when I'm mentally ready to move onto the next thing.
- hirvi74 3y ago
  ADHD != a lack of attention. It's a lack of control of one's attention. What you are experiencing mirrors my ADHD symptoms. I can't even read a page of a novel without getting slightly distracted, having to re-read sentences, etc. but I can program for 6+ hours straight. When the hyperfocus kicks in, then it's really hard to break away/distract myself. I'll forgo standing up, eating, etc. because I'm in the "zone" and I can't make myself break away until it's damn near unbearable.
- pxc 3y ago
  Incidentally, that feature of ADHD (hung attention) is the one that stimulant medication doesn't help with (and is in fact likely to actively exacerbate). That's something you have to address in other (harder) ways. And yeah, everything you describe is characteristic of ADHD. :)
NoZebra120vClip 3y ago
[flagged]
- callalex 3y ago
  ADHD drugs are not methamphetamine, and it’s very ignorant, bigoted, and harmful for you to imply that they are. What scientific research did your pastor study before forming that opinion?
  - hirvi74 3y ago
    > ADHD drugs are not methamphetamine https://www.drugs.com/pro/desoxyn.html https://www.drugs.com/pro/desoxyn.html Sure, there is a slight difference in amphetamines and methampetamines, but by and large the positive and negative effects are damn near identical. The difference, as I understand it, are in the dosages required. The methyl group makes meth pass the blood-brain barrier much easier, which makes it much stronger and neurotoxic, but the substances are not too dissimilar. So what if ADHD drugs are meth and/or meth-like? Cocaine derivatives are common in medicine (Lidocaine, Novocaine, etc..). Opium derivatives too. The dosage, not the substance, makes the poison. The only reason people get so up in arms about this topic is due to social stigmas and the BS propaganda from The War on Drugs.
    - callalex 3y ago
      I want to make sure you are aware that ADHD prescriptions for desoxyn are extremely rare to the point of being basically zero. While I am sympathetic to your point that there shouldn’t be a stigma around using any prescribed medicine, I think it is irrelevant to this discussion because the fact of the matter is ADHD drugs just really aren’t the same thing as meth.
      - hirvi74 3y ago
        > desoxyn are extremely rare to the point of being basically zero. It's truly a shame, because from anecdotes I have read, it apparently works so much better and with less side-effects. But you are right, it's not very common. I've asked doctors about it before. Some have literally never heard of it (though they could be feigning ignorance). None have been open to the idea, and from what some have told me -- good luck getting insurance to cover it. > I think it is irrelevant to this discussion because the fact of the matter is ADHD drugs just really aren’t the same thing as meth. "ADHD drugs" are a very wide brush. There are 4 commonly used non-stimulants, for example, and a few others used off-label (Wellbutrin, Modafinil, etc..) Adderall and its ever increasing array of delivery mechanisms are the most common ADHD medication(s). Hell, you can lump Dex in there too since it's 75% the same drug. But as for the difference in effects between M. Amp. and Mixed Amp. Salts, even this psychiatrist doesn't think the difference is as profound as I am lead to believe you think: https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/know-your-amphetamines https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/know-your-amphetamines

jprd 3y ago

This is the reason HN is special. Thank you for providing insight, perspective and additional links that aren't just logs on a fire. You promote civilization with such discourse, and I personally just felt the need to throw a TY out there.

aidenn0 3y ago

I do have ADHD. Living with it kind of sucks for a lot of the reasons mentioned in TFV. It can also be a superpower, particularly with adaptive coping skills. I should also point out that I have both ADHD and rather high general intelligence. At any given IQ, measures of academic success are lower for those with ADHD. There's also survivor-bias in that I couldn't be posting this if I had died from reckless behavior.

selfhoster11 3y ago

It's not a superpower. In my experience, it makes it greatly more difficult to survive as an adult.

pornel 3y ago

It's a superpower in the same way a person with dwarfism has a superpower of having plenty of legroom on planes. Sometimes if you're lucky a different way of thinking/working happens to be useful, but most of the time it's a burden, and makes functioning in a society harder.

brailsafe 3y ago
As a really tall person with ADHD, I feel like this is probably an apt analogy.
- salad-tycoon 3y ago
  You have 2 superpowers. And all I got is this lousy t-shirt (and adhd). This whole “neurodivergecy is a gift!” “Celebrate your differences! Embrace your kinks!” thing is irksome to me. I know it isn’t intended in a bad way but, sometimes things aren’t a socially repressed positive just looking for love and attention. Not everybody gets a trophy. Stimulants though, I know they work for some but boy, adhd + addictive drugs? Head scratcher. I have a nagging suspicion it’s the next OxyContin, personally. Maybe not on such a grand scale but I see negative effects in myself and others regularly. Maybe humans shouldn’t be hopped on speed so much?
  - hirvi74 3y ago
    > adhd + addictive drugs? Head scratcher. I have a nagging suspicion it’s the next OxyContin, personally. If I am Icarus, then stimulants are my wax wings. Stimulants have been the cause and solution to most of my problems in life over the past decade. Some days, I truly feel like I made a deal with the Devil. But what alternative do I have? The world has no sympathy and even less empathy. I want to survive in this world like everyone else. Sure, I do not technically need them to survive. I wasn't even diagnosed until my early 20s. However, I've had a taste of the good life, and I can't go back. I do not think I am clinically addicted, but I am very psychologically and physically dependent on stimulants. One sick thought that occasionally ruminates inside my mind is that while I feel like the medications have helped me so much, I look around me -- look back on my life -- and I literally have accomplished nothing. I have nothing to show for any of it. Life is "stable", for sure. Same underpaid, miserable job for 7 years now, but really, that's it... I do not care what any medical research paper or any doctor says. These medications are powerful psychoactive substances. I think they absolutely fuck with one's mind, and one's perception of reality albeit in subtle ways. I am starting to wonder if my perception of reality has been warped in to making me think I have been performing better than I actually have been all these years. I'm not really sure how to end this scattered rant, but all I can say is that I've lost a lot of faith in psychiatry and psychology because of ADHD and its treatments. ADHD is the most treatable psychiatric condition? Seriously?

SkyPuncher 3y ago

I'm concluding that I might have ADHD. The major challenge for me is my attention gets "hung" in a way that I don't fully control. Sometimes it can get hung on a work topic, in which case I absolutely crush the project/feature etc. Other times, it gets hung on something it shouldn't and I can't be productive to save my life. It also seems to come into play right at the end of a major project. It's very hard to wrap up the little details when I'm mentally ready to move onto the next thing.

hirvi74 3y ago
ADHD != a lack of attention. It's a lack of control of one's attention. What you are experiencing mirrors my ADHD symptoms. I can't even read a page of a novel without getting slightly distracted, having to re-read sentences, etc. but I can program for 6+ hours straight. When the hyperfocus kicks in, then it's really hard to break away/distract myself. I'll forgo standing up, eating, etc. because I'm in the "zone" and I can't make myself break away until it's damn near unbearable.
pxc 3y ago
Incidentally, that feature of ADHD (hung attention) is the one that stimulant medication doesn't help with (and is in fact likely to actively exacerbate). That's something you have to address in other (harder) ways. And yeah, everything you describe is characteristic of ADHD. :)

NoZebra120vClip 3y ago

[flagged]

callalex 3y ago
ADHD drugs are not methamphetamine, and it’s very ignorant, bigoted, and harmful for you to imply that they are. What scientific research did your pastor study before forming that opinion?
- hirvi74 3y ago
  > ADHD drugs are not methamphetamine https://www.drugs.com/pro/desoxyn.html https://www.drugs.com/pro/desoxyn.html Sure, there is a slight difference in amphetamines and methampetamines, but by and large the positive and negative effects are damn near identical. The difference, as I understand it, are in the dosages required. The methyl group makes meth pass the blood-brain barrier much easier, which makes it much stronger and neurotoxic, but the substances are not too dissimilar. So what if ADHD drugs are meth and/or meth-like? Cocaine derivatives are common in medicine (Lidocaine, Novocaine, etc..). Opium derivatives too. The dosage, not the substance, makes the poison. The only reason people get so up in arms about this topic is due to social stigmas and the BS propaganda from The War on Drugs.
  - callalex 3y ago
    I want to make sure you are aware that ADHD prescriptions for desoxyn are extremely rare to the point of being basically zero. While I am sympathetic to your point that there shouldn’t be a stigma around using any prescribed medicine, I think it is irrelevant to this discussion because the fact of the matter is ADHD drugs just really aren’t the same thing as meth.
    - hirvi74 3y ago
      > desoxyn are extremely rare to the point of being basically zero. It's truly a shame, because from anecdotes I have read, it apparently works so much better and with less side-effects. But you are right, it's not very common. I've asked doctors about it before. Some have literally never heard of it (though they could be feigning ignorance). None have been open to the idea, and from what some have told me -- good luck getting insurance to cover it. > I think it is irrelevant to this discussion because the fact of the matter is ADHD drugs just really aren’t the same thing as meth. "ADHD drugs" are a very wide brush. There are 4 commonly used non-stimulants, for example, and a few others used off-label (Wellbutrin, Modafinil, etc..) Adderall and its ever increasing array of delivery mechanisms are the most common ADHD medication(s). Hell, you can lump Dex in there too since it's 75% the same drug. But as for the difference in effects between M. Amp. and Mixed Amp. Salts, even this psychiatrist doesn't think the difference is as profound as I am lead to believe you think: https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/know-your-amphetamines https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/know-your-amphetamines