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> “...when he was in elementary school he fidgeted, > daydreamed and got A’s. he has been an A-B student > until mid college when he became scattered
by danneu 14y ago
> “...when he was in elementary school he fidgeted,
> daydreamed and got A’s. he has been an A-B student
> until mid college when he became scattered and he
> wandered while reading He never had to study. Presently
> without medication, his mind thinks most of the time,
> he procrastinated, he multitasks not finishing in a
> timely manner.”
> His father reacted with surprise. Richard had never
> shown any A.D.H.D. symptoms his entire life, from
> nursery school through high school,
This is precisely how my parents reacted when they found out I was taking amphetamine to control some sort of abject ADHD specter in university.
"But Dan, you never had problems with focus and performance. You're a smart kid! You always made A's in school!"
There's a jarring problem with this analysis. The truth is I've struggled with focus my entire life. It just so happened that university is the first time school surmounted my lack of focus or, more precisely, my willpower.
Thankfully I arrived at a low dose of amphetamine which is the only reason I've been able to work towards my life ambitions.
Addiction is always serious. And the cases in this article involve classic stimulant abuse. There are certainly conversations to be had. Not just about amphetamines, but also about the structures of our society that make amphetamine so sought after. Why was I psychoanalyzed in grade school when I didn't want to sit in a chair for 8 hours? Why do people only see "drug problem" when they hear about amphetamine availability across campuses instead of "systemic education system failure"?
But what I'm concerned about is an encroaching universal condemnation of ADHD medication where people may eventually roll their eyes at you when you seek help for a problem that inhibits your ambitions and squares your life away at a fraction of your full potential.
- imperio59 14y agoI don't think the article dismisses the fact that people can have trouble focusing in their lives, but how making these powerful drugs so easily available to prescribe to doctors and so easily available to patients who don't need them has created a new drug sub-culture of people who get high on prescription drugs. There are many alternatives to taking drugs to solve focus problems in life and I personally wouldn't want to be taking drugs that have so many side effects and black warning labels from the FDA...
- cdash 14y agoThat great for you if you would not want to take them but why should you be able to make that decision for other people?
- Adirael 14y agoIt's been so overly diagnosed that right now the opposite is started to happen. There's a lot of doctors and people diminishing it, and even saying it's no real sickness. I was a straight A student until I finished high school. Not because I focused and studied but because the level was shitty and it was enough for me to be sitting in class to known enough about the subjects. I started failing when classes became so boring and I became old enough to be skipping class. I was diagnosed at 22-23 and took medication for almost a year. My productivity was better on those months and it helped me gain some structure and organization I lacked. I stopped taking medication because I moved to a different part of the country and I didn't want to waste time seeing doctors (I needed to change meds as the ones I was taking were making me angry all the time). I'm good enough now. Sure, I'm still more or less a mess and I do procrastinate a lot, but those months gave me enough willpower and organizative skills to be able to get things done.
- j_baker 14y agoI needed to change meds as the ones I was taking were making me angry all the time It's worth pointing out that this is most likely a sign that you don't have ADHD, and possibly have some other disorder that looks a lot like it. Believe it or not, it's not all that uncommon for Bipolar people to be diagnosed with ADHD. During the depressive stage, Bipolar people tend to be unfocused and lacking in motivation. During the Manic phase, they tend to be impulsive and hyperactive. Same with anxiety disorders (like OCD). Those kinds of people tend to be so worried that they have difficulty paying attention. Hell, even thyroid disorders can look like ADHD. Either way, you're probably not taking medication right now because you don't need it.
- saosebastiao 14y agoThank you. I dropped out of college 3 times. It took me 10 years to earn a 4 year undergrad degree (with 10 years of student loans to go along with it). I started taking Vyvanse in year 8. Now my loans are paid off, in only 3 years since graduation, and I am earning enough to start saving for my 9 month old son's college expenses. My medication literally changed my life, and in every single way it was for the better. People who attack ADHD medication with blanket statements are incredibly misguided. It would be like keeping calorie-dense food from Anorexia sufferers so that they don't become obese.
- revelation 14y agoThe truth is I've struggled with focus my entire life. It just so happened that university is the first time school surmounted my lack of focus or, more precisely, my willpower. What a wonderful way of putting it. Going by educational success, I'm by many measures in the upper percentile of my age group. But I still catch myself thinking how easy it would be to just flood your brain with dopamine. It's a very attractive option to the engineer-science-me.