[stagbeetle]

This is a very good mindset, but not everyone holds out that long. I had the same experience and hated how the meds changed my personality. "It wasn't me. I'm not following my own personal destiny on meds. It's someone else."

ADHD has some very neat pros, but without a proper support network and a good foundation, going without meds is hell. I recently finally gave in to my idealism (even now I don't want to call it that) and convinced myself that I have goals, and those goals can't wait another year for me to get things right. I've wasted enough years struggling for air.

The first month was pretty bad, adjusting your family and friend's expectations. I even found myself avoiding conversation "until the meds wore off and I was me again." Few will understand any of the things in your post, but it will spark some thought in those that are susceptible.

[goldenkey]

Most of ADHD's clinical symptoms are hilariously identical to having bad habits. Of course a dopaminergic pill is going to alter reward mechanisms in the brain and help a shitty snotnosed kid do things they would normally not do. But discipline and wisdom can also impart behavioral changes, and is much more lasting and real.

Amphetamines are performance enhancing drugs for air force pilots to do 16 hour sorties.

They are too hard a drug to give to a kid to bandaid over his impulsivity.