[mial]

Medications can help temporarily, but then tolerance appears and you need to up the dose. I think they are mostly helpful in the range of a few months up to a year, as a crutch to help someone sort their life out (professionally and/or academically), and also in terms of setting up efficient organizational techniques, developing helpful practices for focusing (meditation, exercising, diet). It helped me a lot in this way, I was then able to quit ADHD meds while retaining a much improved focus ability.

[Bjartr]

I'll throw my own anecdote into the ring here. As a person who's been on ADHD meds for 20+ years I've noticed that although tolerance does build up, it doesn't build up to the point that medication is ineffective, just less effective. Also, fairly short periods of no medication (a few days) can go a long way towards resetting tolerance to a meaningful degree. Despite being on these medications for decades, being on or off them continues to be huge factory in my day-to-day ability to execute tasks of any kind.

[playing_colours]

In your experience, do ADHD meds improve your brain functioning in a long term? I heard that amphetamine can stimulate and heal some deficiencies in the brain of people with ADHD. Did you notice something like that considering your 20+ years of med.

[hoorayimhelping]

I'm 36, got diagnosed with ADHD when I was 25 or so. I took meds when I first got diagnosed but hated them and went off after a couple of weeks. Since then, I've never taken any amphetamines for ADHD.

I've also noticed an increase in functioning and ability to succeed and manage the symptoms of ADHD as time has gone on. I'm less inclined to think it's the drugs and more leaning towards it being the person learning to manage their symptoms more effectively as they get older.

You sort of just learn to live with how your brain works and processes things. No idea if uppers help that process or not. It wasn't necessary for me.

[Bjartr]

> I'm 36, got diagnosed with ADHD when I was 25 or so.

I was diagnosed at 7, and am currently 30.

> I'm less inclined to think it's the drugs and more leaning towards it being the person learning to manage their symptoms more effectively as they get older.

Why do you say that if you were only ever on those drugs for a couple of weeks? Moreover, while your ADHD wasn't severe enough that your life wasn't negatively impacted in a significant way by not medicating it, why do you think that experience is likely to align with others' experiences? What if others stay on those drugs because the quality of life impact is greater than the downsides of those drugs?

I don't enjoy taking drugs for ADHD. I take them because my ability to be a functioning and productive member of society is greatly impacted if I don't. Perhaps I could learn to live without them, but that's not something that would happen in a day, or a week, or even a month or more, and during that time my ability to perform at my job and take care of my own well-being would go out the window.

> No idea if uppers help that process or not.

My understanding of the neurological underpinnings of ADHD (or at least some varieties of it) is that it is caused by poor operation of the "executive function" system of the brain. This is the system that allocates cognitive resources to tasks and the difficulty encountered by those with ADHD getting and staying on task is due to the system failing to allocate the necessary resources. So stimulants work because they ramp up that system. Note that the "hyper-focus" that many with ADHD experience is also a result of poor performing executive function in that it is an over-allocation of cognitive resources.

Do note that what I've written is a medical knowledge informed, but ultimately still layperson, understanding of the brain.

> You sort of just learn to live with how your brain works and processes things.

I agree in the sense that you can learn to accept any chronic condition, including its detrimental effects. However I see that as giving up, at least as far as my own quality of life is concerned.

[Bjartr]

Considering I went on ADHD medication during childhood it would be very difficult for me to know if (though I assume it has) and in what specific ways that's altered my cognitive development.