I've already had a massive post about this before, but when I was diagnosed with ADD I had no idea how much of my life it was affecting.
Until I saw this video about 3 years ago, it shook me to my core, everything he said lined up and made sense now. I used to go by the name BallisticGe0rge because of my short temper. I always thought that was just who I was, but this explained it.
For me it was a random clip on 20/20 with Barbra Walters, back in the early 90's when it was just becoming a common diagnosis. I am a ritilan/adderall success story. I was already in high school and didnt have time to work on "changing how I learned" I needed to be able to buckle down and focus. All I can say is thank god for the medication. I went from failing in middleschool to getting straight A's in 11th grade and graduating with honors. I stopped taking it in college which was probably a mistake but I went back on it for grad school.
Sadly I didn't get diagnosed until after college, after losing out on many opportunities and many friends.
Not that I blame anyone, my parents and I and many doctors were cautious to label anything ADHD as diagnoses of it were rampant with my generation growing up.
I subconsciously understood my problem and was self-medicating myself on dangerous amounts of sugar and caffeine to get myself to focus during class. I knew I couldn't concentrate or study or read and I knew caffeine would help. I was going through an obscene amount of Mountain Dew, caffeine pills, and 5 hour energy drinks.
I finally got my shit together and went to see a doctor about it (and other things).
At the very least, I don't really drink soda or eat sugary foods anymore.
Sugar is incredibly bad for you in large amounts. It will hurt your mental performance more than help it and you will erode your body due to inflammation.
Coffee is probably more useful being a stimulant like adderall. Probably just try adderall.
I was diagnosed with ADHD years ago and started taking meds for it, but it didn't positively affect me. I felt like every pill I took stole a small part of my soul. Hard to describe, but it felt like it paralyzed me mentally and made me more aggressive. Additionally, it stifled my creativity.
Anyone else have a similar experience? Thoughts? Suggestions?
Methylphenidate (Ritalin, concerta) made me feel like this. Amphetamine (adderall) does not. Probably irrelevant, but I find that cocaine is a lot like methylphenidate. Amphetamine is different. Amphetamine makes me a productive member of society. Methylphenidate made me a zombie.
i was diagnosed with adhd in 2nd grade, honestly i hate they way adderall makes me feel i quit taking it in middle school, haven't looked back, i'm now a year and a half away from graduation with a BS in Computer Science, perhaps i'm not getting the best grades mostly B's here but i seem to be retaining all of the info perfectly and able to apply it when i need to because i get mostly A's on my tests.
Great. I'm on a low does of Aderal. I talked to my doctor about going off of it, even though my wife is a clinical pharmacist I still have this thing about taking medication. Anyway He, and my wife have both said, it's only 10mg, is a low does, so if you think it helps you stay on it. And it does help a lot at work.
1.5k
u/GloriousGe0rge May 30 '17 edited May 30 '17
I've already had a massive post about this before, but when I was diagnosed with ADD I had no idea how much of my life it was affecting.
Until I saw this video about 3 years ago, it shook me to my core, everything he said lined up and made sense now. I used to go by the name BallisticGe0rge because of my short temper. I always thought that was just who I was, but this explained it.
Edit - Here's the entire series of his presentation, anyone dealing with ADHD should definitely watch it.