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.
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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.