[zealon]

Test for ADD/ADHD. Seriously.

Many people with ADD/ADHD end up in the IT business. Drinking and drug problems, nicotine and caffeine addiction, high-risk behaviours and family issues are very common among ADD/ADHD people.

The reason behind this: low dopamine and norepinefrine levels in the ADD/ADHD brain. Those low levels create a very high reward threshold, so people with ADD/ADHD tend to unconsciously seek for strong or risky stimulus.

HTH

[Tossrock]

I feel like it's not really possible to be tested for ADD as an adult without just coming across as a person seeking amphetamines. Which is funny, considering how eager child psychiatrists are to hand out diagnoses.

[WalterSear]

If you just want the test, take the Wender-Utah adult ADD inventory. It's around online.

[scotth]

How can this be corrected?

[subversively]

Not at all. You can take Ritalin and Adderall, but that will give you the personality of an accountant and take away your creative problem solving skills.

[WalterSear]

It doesn't do that to everyone. If anything it makes me more creative. Pity that after a couple of weeks, they stop doing anything, and the withdrawal is so unpleasant.

[sizzle]

sorry I meant neutral, ph of 7, and if your urine is acidic <7, eating basic foods/supplements (tums), will get you back to where you need to be.

[sizzle]

you need basic urine to metabolize amps properly, a glass of OJ or anything with vit. c/citric acid will make it seem like it's not working.

[resdirector]

I'll bite. This hasn't been my experience nor the experience of anyone I know who uses Ritalin or Aderall (or Dexedrine).

YMMV

[easy_rider]

When I did Amphetamines for the first time (and cocaine for that matter), I was like WOW. I couldn't believe the sheer mental clarity I experienced. This was more like a team of accountants on a high-speed bullet train, filing Kim Dotcom's annual taxes while doing sudoku's in the background.

I managed to take a low dose of l-amp for exactly 2 consecutive days before I started abusing again. Yes it worked, but I just want more and more. You feel like a superhero compared to baseline.

[nijo108]

I agree, amphetamine/methamphetamine really boost my creativity and productivity, however it was too much for me to handle. I have experienced some of the most intense mental breakthroughs and produced some of my most creative works with speed, but it takes it's toll in a heavy way, atleast if you go at it like I did. I am just now starting to feel normal again 6-months later after recovering from a 3-month speed fueled intellectual adventure that landed me in the mental hospital twice due to psychosis. I think there is a reason our minds are calibrated with particular dopamine and neurotransmitter levels, when we alter these levels we see the amazing potential of the human mind, but the brain hardware can't handle it unfortunately. Addiction is hard, now I am back to coding (sober) and I find myself thinking about having a bump whenever I feel unmotivated, which is often.

[easy_rider]

Hear hear. Don't give in. If you wanna talk to someone who's had a similar experience. be welcomed. Although it didn't land me in the hospital, I must say I'm thankful of the support of my girlfriend. Even when I was listening to the shadow-people plotting against me, she supported me and helped me pull through. Don't kid yourself when you think you can manage on your own. Even if you have a super strong will which seems you do. The cravings can be bad, and giving in could be in a blink of an eye.

[easy_rider]

Found an interesting article that discusses the tight-rope add/adhd'ers walk when medicating.

http://www.thefix.com/content/adderall-addicts

I honestly must say I've never read into Atomoxetine, and it looks interesting.

Edit: A randomised double-blind placebo-controlled trial found that atomoxetine is an efficacious weight loss medication

Never mind..

[subversively]

It has been mine. Sure, YMMV.

But don't you require continuously increasing dosage?

[zealon]

Don't think so, but as others pointed, YMMV. A post I just released: http://www.reddit.com/r/ADHD/comments/21kz8l/addadhd_no_supe...

[easy_rider]

Let me cosign this. Tl;dr I'm a highly functional, auto-didactic freelance programmer and pothead. I get highly stimulated by everything from porn to "dangerous" activity like skateboarding, bouldering, gambling, alcohol and drugs.

Yes. I've never been officially tested, think I slipped the early detection nets. I could read before I went to elementary. I surpassed everyone in basic calculus easily. Usually got bored, and started clowning around a lot. It was a Montessori [1] school and this made me surpass my classmates by about 1,5 year in certain classes like math. I have really poor eyesight, and had really big glasses, so yeah I got messed around with a lot, stood my ground, got into a lot of fights, switched school while skipping a year.

In our schools it is normal that you sit in smaller groups with your classmates, so yeah they did single me out when I got distracted all the time, but this never was sufficient and got kicked out of class a lot of time.

Then when my father died when I was 11 after about a year of fighting with cancer, they started attributing my behavior to that stress factor. (ugh, I told them to eat my shorts, and got strongly opinionated about pediatric workers:) ).

I did do a lot of petty things around that time that would give me thrills. I did manage to spur interest in computers from a very young age which kinda saved me I guess :-) (read on), and impressed my friends with "hacking" 3 digit bicycle code-locks. A lot of pranking, lighting fires. I got into alcohol in my last year of elementary.

I went to a pretty elite high-school when I was just 12. My sister went to the same one, and was a couple years ahead (she finished. I never couldn't cut the two hour a day study requirements. The interpretation of my problematic behavior had already been passed along as info to my high-school teachers (which is usual here). Subsequently I don't think they ever considered ADD/ADHD. In the second year got kicked out of 9/10 classes. My reputation preceded me, and it usually worked to get the class to quiet down by kicking me out. So they started calling me literally a disturbance that was undermining my classmates education.

I went to homework class when I failed the second year for the first time. I ended up sitting around with a bunch of kids just like me: Most of us smoked pot, were all pretty intelligent. And we were great about lying about the amount of homework we had. Enjoyed the free tea and cookies. One of the pediatrics by then said I had ADHD. But I was never hyperactive really. They wanted to put me on Ritalin. My mother was against it, but gave me the choice and I obliged.

After that I switched to a somewhat lower education system in high-school, which made me pass everything without doing anything other than smoke a lot of weed and singling myself out in the class, and just paid attention to the teachers, which worked fine if I was baked.

I've been experimenting with psychedelics since I was 15. First time I took MDMA was age 17. The list of drugs I have experimented with is impressive.

I am still a daily pot smoker, although I found Green Tea, L-Theanine [2] extract and even mild anti-anxiety or anti-depressants to work for me as well. I pick the first two since they are not physically addictive. HOWEVER, they all make me sleepy at some point, and I sometimes f up by power-napping for too long, then battle insomnia at night. This sucks.

I did some Ephederine back in the days when it was still legal, but for lulz, not because I thought it would help my condition. Other than that, never did stimulants (except for MDMA @ party's) until I was around 23-24. I have found stimulants to be extremely addictive to me, so I really shouldn't be near them. Although low dose amphetamines and Methylphenidate do make me a highly productive, I start abusing them really fast, which fast-tracks down into watching a lot of porn. Also, it KILLS my appetite and I've been lean since forever, so it just makes me lose a lot of weight.

I don't wanna go to my doctor to get a script because of these reasons. But I still struggle a lot with finding a balance.

I have been working for companies since the age of 16. I have been self employed freelancer for a year now, and also got a house and mortgage at around the same time. My motivation usually involves paying the bills now :(

When I have interesting new projects lined up (like now), I get highly motivated. But the 10 minute PHP hack I happily postpone until the last possible second.

So yes all in all, I also attribute dopamine. It is also really hard to explain to people why you don't "just do choir x" if you know it will make "choir y & z" easier, or just alleviates stress in general; my brain just obliges. I really really struggle with this.

My saviors for being productive are THC and L-Theanine [2], and it kinda sucks. Amphetamines make me work for hours straight until I finish all the amps and hardly eat. And weed makes me eat a lot and sleep a lot..

Also I do not recommend smoking weed at all!!! You should be vaping it :P

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montessori_education

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theanine

[toddan]

My story is a bit similar to yours. I got diagnosed with ADD when i was 16 and was put on concerta during my high-school years.

I am interested on how you manage to get stuff done when smoking weed. I have tried to make weed a tool to manage my self, but its not just working for me. I get really confused in my head and do not manage to produce quality work when stoned. It also sometimes makes me super paranoid.

[dgabriel]

I have ADHD and no tolerance for weed -- it ruins my headspace and makes me paranoid. I also hate ritalin/etc, so I manage myself using tools like lists, alerts (if I've been using my web browser for too long), calendars, and lots of visual cues around my workspace and home (color-coded stickies).

I really, really wish drugs worked better for me, because it looks so much easier.

[easy_rider]

Yeah, routines sure help. I also TRY to put everything back in its own spot, but i always kid myself I can remember every location of everything, and do not need that.

Exercise routines are also helpful (again, if I do not get bored/distracted 5 mins into it... meaning I have to go somewhere where I can only do activity x. Like the climbing gym, or a martial arts class.

Drugs are not easier at all. Like I said, it's still walking a tight-rope. Also like is being pointed out, brains are differently. I do not get the paranoia from 14+ years of Cannabis use, most people develop it after so much time, or have 0 tolerance and get it from occasional use.

And like I stated, it just puts me in a mode of "focus on one thing". It still doesn't want me to actually start doing something I have to, but I don't get distracted too much from what I'm doing.

So YMMV.. as always. I'd promote regular exercise and routines like you mentioned to start with. You should really look into L-Theanine however. Exp if you drink coffee. It takes off the edginess off caffeine (or any stimulant), while you still get the mental stimulus (focus). When I drink a whole pot of green tea, which contains a good amount of caffeine, my heart rate is even more relaxed than normal.

[sizzle]

I have been taking chelated magnesium twice a day and it has helped a bit in lifting the "fog" sooner so I can sit down and start working.

L-Theanine sounds intriguing, is it in all green tea variants or do I need some special higher quality leaf?

What are your thoughts on dabbing? (wax + metal nail)

thanks for sharing your story and perspective, it helps a lot.