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TL, DR : ADHD case here, loved the meds till side effects caught up with me, went on to complete degree without any medication. First of all : Hasn't anyone here had bad experiences using Adderall / whatever? I was on dex-amphetamines for most of teen years (13-19) and by 20 I was pretty loopy. I had an amazing concentration span while taking them for whatever schoolwork that was thrown at me, but in retrospect I was probably just mildly high whenever I was "working". And yes, like many here, I sung the praises of the drugs when I realised I could really enjoy doing the math / calculus / physics / chemistry, and went on to top 4 out of 5 of my subjects. But it all seems unnatural now. Maths isn't supposed to be so loving fun. I'm 29 now, (stopped taking dex at 19) and I've just completed an engineering degree which really didn't interest me but I ground through it anyway. I have been on anti-depressants for most of the degree, but I'm not sure I'd need them if I hadn't screwed my head up so much with dex (by loopy at 19, I mean I was loving weird, and very confused). Most of the degree was boring as hell but I ground through it. And before someone says I was misdiagnosed, I was professionally diagnosed by a few different specialists as a kid before going on meds, and had all the other hallmarks of ADHD kids - violent temper (kicked holes in many walls, broke my parents vases), class clown / most disruptive child in whatever school I went to, incredibly difficult to control.
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Nov 15, 2009 05:20
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SquirrelFace posted:To all the people not diagnosed until adulthood, did you ever feel a sense of loss over all the things you could have done, but didn't because of ADHD? Looking back at all the lessons and clubs and activities I dropped out of as a kid makes me feel like I missed my chance to be a good pianist or dancer or whatever. If I had stuck with Spanish instead of taking up three other languages, maybe I would be fluent. If I had stayed in gymnastics, maybe I would be an athlete. I know its crazy to let that stuff get me down now and I am hopeful, but I'm just angry about it. The reverse. I wonder what life would be like if I hadn't spent the greater part of my teenage years on stimulants. Yes, they helped me get things done. I listened to everything the teachers said, I got in the top 2% and came first in all math subjects. I studied programming and taught myself C, Assembly, and Pascal at 14 (among other things). But godamn I was weird. I was chatting to a kid today (I'm 29) who'd just started on Ritalin and he seems exactly the same. He wouldn't shut up about his various boring interests. It was like the kid's mind was on fire, and his enthusiasm and dedication to his work (he works near my workplace on the weekends) were 'unnatural' in my opinion. Volunteer work? Sign him up. I mean godamnit people it's natural to find certain things boring. Ritalin will without a doubt make concentrating on uninteresting tasks easier, it will help you peruse and understand legal documents / poo poo they throw at you at work much much easier. Just keep in mind to a large extent our interests define us, and if your interests are 'loving everything' you may develop personal problems (yes, like I did), tics, nervousness, depression and other side effects the medications may bring you over time. You'll win accolades from everybody who wants you to read everything technical / legal / very bland though. I just got a job at a firm. I still fall asleep / think about monkeys if what I'm studying is like a 500 DVD player manual with all the pictures taken out, but I get by. Occassionally my lateral thinking takes me on tangents relevant to the issue being considered, I come up with new ideas, and this is valuable too. I'd like to add on this point that if I read only 100 pages of something without a stimulant, I recall and retain that 100 pages better than if I'd read it on drugs (much better it seems). It seems to me many of the people posting have life issues they'd like to find an excuse for and are perhaps too eager to get on drugs (it's a loving drug) and believe it will solve all their life problems. As someone with behavioural problems, perhaps the same ones you share (impulsiveness, depression, monkeys) I think if I hadn't had bad experience with amphetamines I'd be tempted to go on them as well. Hobo Tickler fucked around with this message at 01:43 on Apr 11, 2010 |
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Apr 11, 2010 01:34
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I said might and may, and please don't put words into my mouth. I didn't say you'd end up with problems with 100% certainty. By 'enthusiasm' I meant the artificial enthusiasm invoked by the drug that causes you to read The Great Gatsby or a 200 page dense maths textbook you normally wouldn't read in one sitting. The wired, brain on fire, drug invoked enthusiasm for boring poo poo is what I mean. I haven't been keeping up with the issue, but when I was a kid 'ADHD kids' were known for having an awesome attention span for things they wished to participate in - is this not the case now?. I read most of Roald Dahl's stuff before I was 10 and read the LOTR in year 5, yet later on I still went on dex because I had 'difficulty concentrating'. My main difficulty was concentrating on stuff I didnt want to do (e.g. statistics). edit : Also a lot of people have posted saying 'oh god I think of monkeys too when trying to read and concentrate how do I get the drugs' - these are the people I was referring to. People who openly admitted they were to some extent dysfunctional. People who display hallmark symptoms of ADHD such as impulsiveness. Well just hold up and consider whether you really need drugs. Have a meal, sit down, away from your dungeons and dragons or whatever, and try concentrating and working on boring stuff that needs to be done. It's hard, but you can manage without. Hobo Tickler fucked around with this message at 04:13 on Apr 11, 2010 |
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Apr 11, 2010 04:07
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