I feel that. Without caffeine and anger I would just be a sad, highly compressed ball of sadness and stress and sadness.
I’m in this comment and I dont like it
It’s not just you, don’t take all the credit
I don’t get angry, just anxious. I AM that ball of sadness and stress.
Have you tried looking for a wizard to ponder you?
Did they go to wizard college or did they conserve their V I T A L E S S E N C E for 30 years?
…usually both. Wizarding is a lot like how it’s described in Sir Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series.
I literally made a custom shirt that says “Fueled by caffeine and spite”.
You got an Etsy? Lmao
This post is forgetting the alcohol
Gotta calm the nerves some how
Did someone say weed?
Alcohol makes me angry at the world. Weed glues me to the couch.
So alcohol for productivity
All the above plus an unhealthy amount of isolation and hardcore computer addiction got me through life “unmedicated” 🥹
Nicotine and generational trauma seems to work, too.
I’ve been on all kinds of medications from age 7 to 26.
Ritallin sped up my heart and I couldn’t keep up in gym class because I was constantly catching my breath.
Concerta/dexadrine took away my appetite. One bite every meal, then I was full. I was pathetically skinny and got called anorexic all the time.
Straterra made me tired and drousy all day, I was sexually frustrated because my dick would REFUSE to get hard, and then I would wake up at night, not being able to sleep.
I’m 31 and madication free for 6 years, and have learned to overcome my ADHD on my own. Never swallowing a other ADHD pill again, fuck that shit entirely.
Glad you got it under control without the pills that made you feel bad. Happy for you
Thank you!
I’ve been on Adderall and Vyvanse for ADHD and binge eating disorder.
The Vyvanse helps a ton with the binges. My doc had suggested I try Concerta if I’m having a hard time finding Vyvanse this month. I was able to find Vyvanse but I had no idea appetite suppression could be so much in the Concerta. Probably way easier than finding/taking any of those fashionable diet injectables. And generic Vyvanse still gets on backorder…
Maybe I’ll bring up trying that next time.
Do it, if you have a problem with binge eating it could do you wonders. I’m the opposite, even off meds I’ve always had a hard time gaining weight no matter how much I eat. It’s probably the beetus that will get me with how much junk I munch on every time I use cannabis lol. I’m 6’2 170lbs
why do you need to gain weight??? what you describe is a good functioning metabolism. only thing you can do is eat more protein and train to put on muscle, you will not gain fat until you purpoesfully break your metabolism.
Idk, maybe all the “you’re too skinny” “you’re anorexic” “you need a .milkshake” I’ve been hearing all my life.
But yeah muscle is the kind of weight I’ve tried to gain. In my early 20s I spent 6 days a week in thr gym for 6 months and only gained 15 lbs. I drank 4L of milk a day. I ate a breast of chicken every day. I took in as .any grams of protein per meal, as I weighed in lbs. I took mutant mass and farted it all out. It was exhausting. Then I started a new career, and life got too busy to keep at it, spending 2-3 hrs a day in traffic. It was just too much so I lost all that weight
you forgot fat ;-)
I mean, yeah a bit of fat would be neat too. But I find that just as hard to put on as muscle. Holy hell I don’t think I could take in any more food than I already do, idk where it all goes!
there is a theory that lean mass hyperresponders only take what they need, while discarding what they dont need. so for you, calories in = calories out doesnt count at all.
no. you need fat AND protein to build muscle. the fat you eat doesnt get turned into fat; it gets turned into buildings blocks for your body. fat is hugely important in building all kinds of things. as is protein.
You dont need to gain weight
That’s a first
the meds help with managing your feelings, thats what you did with binge eating. scientists discuss how binge eating and adhd are realated.
The link is pretty interesting. Apparently a lot of eating disorders can be related to ADHD…namely BED, anorexia, and bulimia.
With BED, supposedly it’s about instant gratification. That’s likely why a lot of people binge on a specific type of food…like sweets or saltys. Some of it can even be an OCD behavior.
I do wish it was given nearly the same attention as the other eating disorders. It wasn’t even until a couple of years ago that I heard of it and the specific markers (like eating well past being full, or binging in secret). But most people have never heard of it because “har har fat person”.
This is also why I believe obesity should often be handled as a symptom of mental distress, not something that exists in a vacuum.
I privately think it has something to do with a broken glucose metabolism. basically, your cells are out of energy. so you have cravings for all kinds of stuff that ramps up your basic metabolic rate.
or you crave food. if you eat food, like with sugar and carbohydrates, your blood sugar is ramped up, if blood sugar has a spike, insulin gets released, and you need this insukline to push the glucose out of your blood in your cells, so you end up having energy. and that makes you happy.
so thats what i believe
alcohol gives you energy by the way, like. in the individal cell.
so the instant gratification is your cells having energy.
How do you cope?
mountains of powerful cannabis and cheap coffee
Cope with what exactly?
Having to function in current society with ADHD I presume
I dono… I just always wanted to be normal, not rely on a drug that gives me undesirable side effects, and if I forget to take it, I have a terrible day.
I’m still trying to learn to fit in every day, and it’s hard. I still slip up, and have my days some times. It’s not going away either, but this is how I choose to do it
Answer: denial.
I’m not sure I follow.
Nothing, just being silly
Eeeyyyy!! 🤙🏻
denial swimming in a sauce of selfneglect, selfabuse and alcoholism
Yeah, fuck life changing medication! White knuckle it like a true american.
I’m not American
Yeah, fuck life changing side effects! White knuckle it like a true american.
My point wasn’t that people shouldn’t do what’s right for them. It was that for many people these medications make a huge difference and without them they they might find themselves suffering from things like depression, anxiety, isolation, etc.
That’s prob beyond you, tho.
Yeah you’re right and that’s great for them, but I’m not part of that group
Also, For many people these medications destroy their bodies and lives. The world isn’t black and white
so, where i can read about how ritalin destroys the life and bodies of adhd patients?
Not when administered by a health care professional and properly monitored
i looked up ritalin on that side, and there was not a single article about ritalin destroying bodies and lifes.
Oh yeah, three hours of high school swim practice and seven of school without a bite to eat on Concerta. Awful. And I’d stay up til 3 am every night with vyvanse. I’d consider trying something else but I’m 0-2.
the ritalin issue was probably salt and mineral / vitamin deficency. yeah, you need to eat before taking concerta, people just dont listen ;-)
dont think thats the main issue here
I do
lol obviously
I took the concerta with my cereal before school as prescribed by my doctor. Lunch I was able to get down my pb&j, but dinner was impossible past the second or third bite
exactly what i went through, everything tastes like cardboard.
I wish I could get diagnosed
Me too. Wish my wife would understand, when I’m being productive and … crotchety, its basically never because she’s done anything wrong, and forcing me to calm down is going to leave us all disappointed.
I’m sorry for that :/
I frequently disappoint my wife…
But mainly in the bedroom.
Why can’t you?
Psychiatrists in my area have long waiting lists, and most of them don’t even have a website where I can look up if they know anything about ADHD. It takes a lot of willpower for me to get over my anxiety and call even one of them, and naturally it never leads anywhere. It seems like all my mental health problems are working against me making this appointment, and the psychiatrists aren’t doing anything to help with the process.
Is there online tests or something similar to see if you are possibly on the spectrum as they say ?
You seems to know what you are talking about and I always feel like well yes of course that’s how life is.
It’s hard though. A key criteria (at least in the UK) how much it affects you day-to-day. My father probably has it and passed along a lot of guidance that I now recognise as coping mechanisms/symptom management strategies. Day to day I’ve got it in hand, it’s only when the big storms come that I struggle, and that doesn’t fit with the diagnostic approach.
Thank you!
Would you share some if those mechanisms please?
It’s hard to not make them sound trivial, but you’ll see some of them in the memes that pass through here. Off the top of my head though:
- the importance of routine/consistency. He got up at the same time almost every day for 50 years. He went to the gym before anything got in the way, that sort of thing.
- he pushes conscious decision making, of following through on things and being definite. Do not let yourself be guided by what you want in the moment, be guided by what you plan and intend.
- put things in the same place. Put things back where you got them from. Don’t rely on your memory, rely on your habits.
When I write these they seem silly and trivial, but they help me a lot.
Yes. Lookup raads-r autism test. It’s almost as good as a psychiatrist at diagnosing. If you score high there, chances are high a psychiatrist would as well.
Caffeine makes me sleepy. :(
Same… It’s like 20 minutes of focus and then I need a nap 🤷♀️ When I was younger, I’d just inhale energy drinks, but the crashes just kept coming faster and faster.
I get sleepy at around noon no matter what i do. I have medication but it doesn’t do shit anymore. I need a nap.
The ONLY thing that works is if I’m either really busy or really upset. That is the only way i don’t feel tired. 😩
Have you tried taking a break from your medication to reset? Mine even recommends doing that every now and then in the leaflet.
Just make sure not to simply stop taking it, and talk to your doctor first.
I live by the rule of 200 mg to go slow, 400 mg to go fast.
Yeah, that first pot of coffee is just for lulz and keeps me just coherent long enough for my Adderall to kick in.
Same! But espresso and Ritalin
It did this for me until I hit 30, then it just made me up up up and not hungry, now past 50 it feels smooth and I can eat but can’t have it in the evening because it will keep me from getting sleepy!
If you want extra difficulty, I can recommend you Valproic-acid. It’s essentially an ADHD worsener, except you’re not really allowed to talk about that due to some people showing toxic positivity to psychiatric medication, in this case it’s also an anti-seizure medication.
i use weed
I wish weed helped me but it makes me so much worse.
Can’t fucking stand it. Oh, yeah, make me both completely unable to pay attention to anything and unable to be truly frustrated by that. Don’t even get the dopamine people say you’re supposed to get more of than the normies, it just makes everything worse.
It’s like a horsekick of a sedative for me. Don’t get me wrong it feels nice floating on a bed. But on that day, absolutely nothings gets done.
Ah, is that where my anger problems come from?
I so badly want to be medicated again. However I’ll require yet another diagnosis even though I have 3 throughout the years. Problem is, it’s too difficult for me to get all my ducks in a triangle to get the process moving
Anyways I hear meth works pretty much the same plus it’s easier to get so yeah imma check that out
… Uh… Your mileage may vary.
Dr’s across the Midwest hate this one hack
Methamphetamine is literally used as a treatment for ADHD. It’s also fairly easy to get a hold of amphetamine on the darknet which is used in things like Adderall. It honestly isn’t that bad of an idea to try amphetamine or even methamphetamine if you actually know the correct dosage range. Recreational users would typically start at a higher dosage than someone looking for medicinal effects. Over time though medical users can end up on a similar dosage to a recreational user due to tolerance.
This isnt a good thing like you think it is
Care to explain this statement?
You are saying how easy it is to get meth and how good it is, think bro.
I am more talking about amphetamine rather than methamphetamine. Chemically it’s the same as Adderall, and you can find actual Adderall from the darknet or dealers as well.
Everyone’s different but I’ll just tell you I had the exact same thoughts and fast forward 5-6 years after that thought I was literally shooting up meth in socal under bridges homeless as fuck…I was terrified of needles too, hated getting shots could barely stand it but amphetamines can super duper take you soooo many places you don’t want to go.
Be careful and talk your plans over with a mentor/someone you trust please
You didn’t happen to see Anthony kiedis under any of those bridges?
To be clear this isn’t something I would want to try unless I had no other option. I am lucky that my University does testing for ADHD, and am hoping to get tested one day. I also already have an autism diagnosis, so already get some support, meaning it’s not as high a priority for me as it is for someone completely undiagnosed.
I’ve already tried substances similar to amphetamine like cocaine, and honestly don’t find them that pleasant. I am not in any real hurry to try that again. So I also doubt amphetamines are my thing.
I do find it interesting though that stories like yours happen. I’ve tried some very dangerous and addictive things including xanax, valium, ketamine, amphetamine, nicotine as well as the previously mentioned cocaine and honestly none of them took. I can only conclude that either I have no addictive tendencies or that I haven’t tried the right class of substance yet. It’s almost impossible for me to imagine being in your position. I guess it comes down to genetics or something.
I will note as well that if you can become addicted to the street version then that means you would have become addicted to the doctor prescribed version eventually too given enough time. It’s similar to how pain patients end up addicted to opioids. I am glad you are doing better though.
The problem is that the purity of the drug you’re getting is not guaranteed or regulated at all. For a lot of recreational/street drugs, the bigger problem is often the filler and crap they get cut with. If you’re paying enough for actually reliably pure drugs, you might as well just pay out of pocket for the psychiatrist and avoid the risk of drug charges.
Yes it’s not an ideal solution. If it’s between self medicating with other drugs versus getting the thing you should be prescribed with through illicit means I would choose the latter. Ideally healthcare would be free everywhere and getting a diagnosis wouldn’t take literal years or even a decade. That’s unfortunately not the world we live in. I have friends that were referred years ago on the NHS and are still waiting.
I would recommend against using street drugs in place of prescriptions because of the aforementioned reasons. I’ve seen what street drugs do to people while working in ERs and in a clinical setting, and it’s just not worth it.
Maybe I haven’t explained myself well enough. For many people it’s a choice not between prescription vs illicit. It’s a choice between illicit Adderall vs illicit cannabis, alcohol, nicotine, and anything else they can get their hands on. That’s what happens when people aren’t getting the medication and healthcare that they need. They take their problems to other substances and behaviors.
I’m saying that getting methamphetamine as a replacement for Adderall is a terrible idea because of the problems with contamination and legal repercussions. If you don’t have access to the psychiatric care, getting started with drugs that are cut with god knows what at highly unreliable doses is not likely to make things much better, definitely not in the long run.
Caffeine & Daily Exercise & a job that is flexible about how we do things. I have only worked at startups and places that change systems a lot, that seems to suit my nature better somehow.
But my favorite T-shirt says
Whiskey and Yoga
I wish I could afford therapy.
My health insurance only pays for 2 psych vists/y. This is in “socialist utopia” W-EUR.
We shouldn’t mock the US healthcare system, ours is only marginally better.
You wanna know something cool though? If I was alcoholic instead of depressed, I could get help for free.
I hate this entire world and every human being on it, and my parents most of all for bringing me into it.
This might be a bit sensitive of a question to ask, but what country are you in? Because I’ve lived in several western European countries and the access to healthcare wildly varies between them. Especially countries that’ve “enjoyed” a multitude of conservative/right wing governments over the past three decades seem to have really embraced enshittifying healthcare access and affordability while pushing an American-style private system as the “solution”.
Flanders, Belgium. We’ve been ruled by right-wing austerity hawks for a good decade now, so you hit the nail on the head.
I’m sorry to hear that. And yes, it’s depressing to see these “privitization will save us all” types destroy public services using the same old playbook of “defund, defund, defund, point out the issues after decades of defunding, then start to slow-roll private options until the public service has been fully hollowed out” everywhere.
A psychologist/psychiatrist is not a therapist, it’s a very different pay grade.
A therapist will usually consult with a psychologist to get you recommendations, and will help you work through your ADHD. It may take a couple of attempts to get a good one, though.
You wanna know something cool though? If I was alcoholic instead of depressed, I could get help for free.
Okay? It’s objectively a good thing for alcoholics to get help. Getting equal care for other issues is the goal.
Don’t be a crab in the bucket.
The difference is less that it’s in some circumstances only marginally better. Rather, it’s more that when you advocate for better coverage in EU, the pushback might be more along the lines of “that’s too expensive or an inefficient use of highly limited taxpayer dollars, but I’m open to continuing to evaluate the impact and economics of it”. In the US, sometimes the pushback is “you don’t like it? Then GTFO, you communist traitor!”
Wonder how the rate of undiagnosed ADHD is…
Too damn high.
Last guesstimate I saw was something like 10% of the population in total. Which is pretty reasonable as a population adaptation that outlived its usefulness.
probably high, and the rate of unwarrented diagnoses also must be high. and people that get misdiagnosed as bipolar. borderline, and binge eaters. must be high among women, as far as i understood.
met one chick that was clear as day 100 % adhd, I sniffed that out the second time i met her. they said she was bipolar and put her on bipolar meds she absolutely hated to take.
i tried to explain it to hear, and had to give it up, she was in total adhd denial,. and i knew it was pointless.
if you would need a picture for an adhd book, you would take her. everything fit, she also had a chaotic raging alcolholic as father, and would self medicate with canabis and alcohol.
nothing helped me in life like ritalin and elvanse did.
ritalin speaks to me.
Ritalin was the worst one for me; gave me headaches and was a little too “unstable” or “rough” for me. Elvanse, on the other hand, has been my favorite… smooth as butter. Thinking about switching now that they have a generic version that my insurance will probably cover
I found out that my headaches were du to high insuline resistance. took me two years to get that under control, i dont have headaches anymore, lost weight, look way younger in the face.
i am not saying YOU have the same problem, i am only describing why I had headaches.
