[thonos]

> None of you ever want to hear it, but everyone goes through this. It’s the human condition.

Comments like this make me angry because it shows how much of a disconnect there is with taking ADHD serious. It's like saying to a depressed person to "just don't be sad and focus on something fun".

Sure everyone struggles, but imagine those struggles cranked up by 20x. You overthink EVERYTHING, you're driven by random impulses that make you focus on something new and shiny, that make you yourself believe that this is not an impulsive, but this time something worth committing to, just to lose interest 2 weeks later.

Small negative things like someone not replying to your message right away can result in dysphoric episodes without medicine and completely crush your motivation for days.

You drop everything to do dumb things like replying to your comment even though I should be working right now, but I can't not do it, my brain just doesn't let go.

My brain always works in extremes without a middle-setting. Either I'm 100% into something, or I am so not interested that doing mundane things that don't have an immediate urgency feel like having a tooth pulled out and I'd rather do anything else instead. Try translating that to more boring tasks at work and you can see how this becomes a problem.

The list goes on and on and on. Living with ADHD is a nightmare and constant struggle.

[falcolas]

Yeah, this honks me off too, something serious.

“Everyone goes through this.” Sure. Once a week. Maaaaybe once a day if they’re treading towards ADHD, but it’s not inhibiting to their lives.

But if you have ADHD: it’s closer to once a minute, sometimes even every ten seconds. A conversation that lasts more than 10-15 seconds? A struggle to follow. A minute, ten minutes, an hour? I’ve lost the tangent so many times I couldn’t count if I tried (you need short term memory to count…)

[reader_mode]

>Sure everyone struggles, but imagine those struggles cranked up by 20x. You overthink EVERYTHING, you're driven by random impulses that make you focus on something new and shiny, that make you yourself believe that this is not an impulsive, but this time something worth committed to it, just to lose interest 2 weeks later.

I'm still having a hard time seeing this as a debilitating condition, I can relate to all the things you said and undoubtably taking drugs like modafinil or ritalin turn me super productive and focused, but I don't want to be medicating day in day out, tolerance grows too fast.

End of the day responsibilities forced me to stick with things after I lose interest, sure I may be 20% as productive as I would be if I was super interested and I spend 80% of the time distracted because I'm bored, but 100% is usually 5x of what people consider the norm anyway.

[eyelidlessness]

> I'm still having a hard time seeing this as a debilitating condition, I can relate to all the things you said and undoubtably taking drugs like modafinil or ritalin turn me super productive and focused, but I don't want to be medicating day in day out, tolerance grows too fast.

You don’t see it as debilitating because you don’t experience it. You’re describing the experience of your chemical reaction to drugs that treat a chemical deficiency you don't have, of course you react differently!

When I take amphetamines as prescribed and coordinated with my doctor, I don’t feel more productive or focused. I feel like the entire act of living isn’t a completely impossible catastrophe. I feel like I can speak to humans without collapsing into a trembling ball of anxious angry sadness. I feel like I can get to the store and back without a complete meltdown. I feel almost normal. Without it I’m lucky if I can get through the day without hoping I wouldn’t. Now do you get it?

[thonos]

Sure we can manage without medicine (have done so for 25 years of my life) but constant struggling and arguing with yourself about small things is just not fun.

The difference is if those issues are actually becoming a problem that affects your day-to-day life vs just a mild annoyance. When you can’t get your task at work done because you just really don’t care about it for example. Or when you again throw out your entire salary into this weeks dumb hobby that you are fully convinced isn’t just a phase.

It’s also worth noting that adhd is a spectrum and not a binary condition. Some people have more problems in some things while some other people struggle with something else, or have it very mild.

When I take meds I actually don’t feel any different. It’s just easier to stick to things and in more mentally balanced.

Funny story - I actually found out that I had adhd because I commented on a HN post about my productivity issues and someone suggested that those don’t sound normal. Even just officially knowing what’s wrong helped a lot with managing (even without meds) because I understand where these impulses are coming from for example

[falcolas]

Think of the relation between being really sad and having crippling depression.

Now take “occasional ADHD symptoms” and ramp them up to the same degree. Get an idea of how this could be debilitating now?

[reader_mode]

Yep - but from what I've seen in kids diagnosed as ADHD it's not really close, my nephew got diagnosed but realistically I can see myself being way worse at his age and still coming out functional without medication.

[falcolas]

Would you ever look at a child who can’t complete their classes due to bouts of MS and say “I can see myself being in worse pain at that age, why are you giving them medication?”

Why do you feel your opinion is more valid just because you can’t see their pain?

[astrange]

You're older so your cohort was worse performing in general, because everyone in the US had lead poisoning back then and now kids are somewhat healthier. (You probably have adult ADHD.) He can still need help if he performs worse than the rest of his class - there really aren't long term downsides to taking medication or anything here.

[watwut]

> I'm still having a hard time seeing this as a debilitating condition, I can relate to all the things you said and undoubtably taking drugs like modafinil or ritalin turn me super productive and focused, but I don't want to be medicating day in day out, tolerance grows too fast.

I have hard time to see your broken leg as walking preventing condition. I have hit my leg badly yesterday, but I can easily walk now, it surely must be the same.