[_yb2s]

Same… there is tons of research on ADHD showing stimulants are safe and effective long term. I suffered needlessly for years because of ignorant ideas like this… and using medication was life changing.

Counter-intuitively there is data showing medications can help people develop better executive function- children who use ADHD medication are less likely to have adult ADHD.

That said, I think the core advice of this article is excellent- and addresses something entirely different than ADHD medication.

[salawat]

The problem is most stimulants subtly fuck with your reward and risk processing circuitry, and you don't tend to even realize it until you get clean for a hot minute, which is hard if you've been on a high dose. Especially if you don't know what you're in for, and doubly so if you've been on the same dosage for a long time.

Shit ain't magic.

[_yb2s]

It’s not “magic” but it can be an effective treatment for ADHD - for the people it works for, which isn’t everyone.

Personally, I think a lot of people with ADHD are way over medicated, leading to the type of symptoms you describe. If you take the lowest effective dose of the most mild stimulant that works for you, it will probably not work quite as well but will also not have any side effects at all. Ritalin is usually much milder than e.g. adderall, and I think most people would do better on extremely low doses of it- like 5-15mg spread out over an entire day for a large adult, whereas people tend to start on 2x that and then double it.

It’s supposed to “fuck” with your reward and risk processing circuitry - in particular to make them actually work for people where they naturally don’t work.