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Philosopher King posted:Does anyone else feel like there might be a glass ceiling that exists for people with ADD, or is it just my imagination? I'm currently picking up a paralegal certification and am nervous about the idea that once I lose my medical coverage from my parents, I'll suddenly be very bad at the very things that that field of work stresses - being very organized, paying attention and taking notes, researching a single topic at length, remembering dates and deadlines, etc. While I'd be able to move to a different coverage provider, or really pay out of pocket if the only option and really needed, I'd still be faced with a lovely situation that not every employer may be sympathetic to. Worse, I think having a dependence on stimulants to work at my usual performance would make me seem less reliable than a co-worker, and they'd be right to think it. I'm not sure how much I can complain about this considering there are plenty of people working with worse handicaps, but it still sucks.
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Nov 19, 2009 01:44
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| # ¿ May 3, 2024 07:33 |
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Aww hey guyz.  It probably bugs the hell out of my professors, but even with the braindrugs, if my visual system isn't busy I can't listen to anything gainfully. I'll usually have to be working on some little geometric pattern, taking notes, and listening to lecture or discussion, and be able to move between them all seamlessly. I power through audiobooks and lectures on tape while painting, and have probably heard more hours of lectures in my studio than in class. Its the only time when I feel my brain is firing on all cylinders, with my eyes, my hands, my ears, and both sides of the brain all humming along. I haven't increased my Concerta perscription in six or seven years. I've noticed a reduced effect of course, but I'm loathe to deal with a period of readjustment. Staying on the drug forever seems unreasonable, but whenever I've gone off completely I'm just reminded why I got on to begin with. Instead, I just rely more on calendars and have learned to chunk tasks, cycling through many projects in a day. I get a surprising lot of poo poo done, but never all at once. Monotasking is still very hard. I normally don't drink coffee or caffeine, but I can usually monofocus if I get myself high on the stuff. I imagine caffeine has a greater effect due to the methylphenidate already in my system, and I really don't like the interaction. I'll end up trembly and uncomfortable until things normalize. Still, whenever I have to get one thing completely done start to finish in one sitting, I'll have to get a coffee and point Pandora at some sort of awful club music and just power through.
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Nov 21, 2009 07:33
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Kneel Before Zog posted:Have any of you noticed weight loss side-effects or are goons not affected by such things? I've always been pretty thin, but I imagine its kept my weight lower than it would have been if I hadn't ever taken the speed. I experience hunger in a very different way when I'm on Concerta than when I'm not, and when I take breaks I'll usually gain some weight but mostly because I'll eat a lot for a few days until my brain gets used feeling normal hunger again. I don't take speed I sorta feel like I'm stoned for three or four days, with a weird attention span, foggy conversations, and constant appetite.
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Nov 22, 2009 23:49
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I think its over diagnosed, and while I imagine this is different with young children who don't have a choice, but most people who don't need it end up not taking it and go off pretty quickly. The breaks that I've taken were more enjoyable (once the anxiety and mild effects withdrawl and over-compensation normalized) than the normal periods where I'm on the drugs, and if I didn't have to take them I certainly wouldn't. Unfortunately, as the same issues always pop up as what brought me to admit the attention problem in the first place. I think even I assume that ADD a behavioral problem rather than a chemical problem, and that I'm treating my laziness more than a deficiency in how dopamine moves in my brain, but it really is the latter. Trying to focus on reading 500 words of interesting material without medication produces the same frustration and physical, internal feeling as trying to listen to and follow three conversations at once. Try it some time to see what I mean. If I get that same result when trying to talk on the phone or read a menu, something's wrong.
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Nov 25, 2009 17:51
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