Image not quite for ADHPeeps but I feel this sort of thing happens regularly for us as well.
Holy shit! This post gave me an epiphany.
I was a cartoonist for the student newspaper, and drawing a funny comic strip every day was grueling. But I did better when I drank a Coca Cola before I started to brainstorm. Later, guess what - diagnosed ADHD.
Anyway, I probably took 2-3 hours on each comic, and was paid $5 per strip. And spent some of that on soda. So, it was a labor of love and foolishness. Also, I was semi-famous on campus for edgy cartoons that were occasionally funny, most of which I am embarrassed about in middle age.
Apparently videogames are a “medication” for my adhd because since i started adderol they don’t “pull me in” like they used to.
I miss it a little bit, it’s also kinda weird but its also nice to not be compelled to play like before
Your brain is dopamine deprived, video games are designed to get our dumb monkey brains to squeeze out all the happy juice. Adderall floods your brain with dopamine so the video games just don’t hit like they used to.
I used to drink 4 red bulls or 2-3 rockstar energy drinks per day. This was on top of any coffee.
Now, diagnosed and medicated, I’m down to zero and I rarely drink coffee.
I was clearing three, sometimes even four Rockstars per day not too long ago. Just got to where they didn’t even affect me much, and cracking open fresh ones throughout the day just made me feel alert and good. I got it back down to just one every morning around 5 or 6am, with maybe a second in the afternoon once per week – usually on a Saturday or Sunday when running errands and trying to survive parenthood. I’m in my late-thirties now, and need to find an effective alternative, but coffee makes me feel poisoned… almost like there’s toxic metals coursing through my veins.
Tried pairing coffee with taurine to counteract the negative side-effects of the caffeine, but it doesn’t work quite as well without whatever witch’s brew they throw in with it in energy drinks.
Try caffeine pills instead of coffee.
Caffeine pills gave me heart arrhythmia for like 2 months. I had to wear a monitor and everything.
Pill form is so much more potent, and I was splitting them, effectively bypassing the coating that helps it dissolve slowly. Your body is just not meant to absorb 150mg of caffeine instantaneously. Crazy I know.
Alcohol. Before getting formally diagnosed and medicated, drinking was the only thing that would quiet the inner restlessness. It worked but it’s not a healthy lifestyle at all.
This is something I like to bring up to people who are hesitant to medicate their kids. Yeah, I know you think Timmy is fine because he’s not completely failing in school, but you should at least show Timmy that he has options and that it’s OK to talk to a doctor and take medication if he needs it. He doesn’t have to rely on Jack Daniels and Folgers to eek his way through life.
This one surprised me, too.
I had a nasty habit of waiting until the evening to do my papers in college, because that was when it was acceptable to have some wine or whiskey while I wrote. But it was amazing just how much easier it was to stay on task after having a drink, and during finals - or after college when i was on deadline - i would alternate between liters of coffee in the morning and several drinks in the evening.
Now that I’m medicated both coffee and alcohol are just occasional indulgences… well, alcohol is at least. But I didn’t expect it to help curb my impulsive consumption habits like it has- it’s been a game-changer.
I’ve been cutting back on caffeine finally because I thought it was my medicine giving me anxiety, and I’m pretty sure it’s the caffeine. Now I’m usually at about two cups of coffee in the morning (the mug I have is American large, and I always seem to fill it up).
Neurotypicals think they have this superior discipline and attitude to “get on the task”, and I believed them, too! Now, medicated, I realise that they only work on these constant dopamine micro rewards in their prefrontal cortex. Which I now get, too.
Chewing gum almost every waking moment of the day. People used to assume I was trying to quit smoking, I would joke that I was actually trying to build my way up to starting.
I used to love chewing gum until a dentist scared me away from it. As a result, my undiagnosed grinding destroyed most of my teeth…
I am thankful that my dentist talked me into switching to a sugar-free brand years ago. Probably saved me a couple teeth so far.
Wow people that drank redbull have kids in college already, I guess it does make you move quicker
Red bull was invented in ’87…
True, but it depends on their country. Wasn’t brought to the UK until '94 and the US in '96. And on top of that when did they become widespread in their respective country?
Very well could be true, could be an anachronism, or could be someone who refers to all energy drinks as red bull.
But the real irony is doing this research for an ADHD meme.
Or I’m old enough that I was drinking red bull when it came out, in college in the early 90’s and stopped by about 2000 when I was in uni because it was what gave me the worst hangovers… sometimes “research” is just remembering things
Big if true! Would’ve never thought red bull was older than me!
I think I got this from lemmy?
What if caffeine doesnt work on me?
I got 10 hours of sleep last night, drank a coffee at noon. Still crashed at 130 and had to take an afternoon nap like normal.
I believe it’s common for ADHD folks that caffeine doesn’t energize you, but it might help you concentrate better. Or it might not. I don’t know, really. I drink copious amounts of coffee and energy drinks and still have trouble concentrating.
I dont see how I can concentrate if im passed out in the middle of the day lol.
That’s fair
Weed to let me take things slowly. Otherwise thoughts spiral out of control, I want to do 1000 things at the same time and can’t focus on a single thing. Weed gives me focus, and those eye blinders that people used to put on horses so they would have a narrower field of view, whatever they’re called. I’m not english I’m so concentrated I almost forget to eat on days I have an edible,… and I’m a foodie
They’re called blinkers - the horse vision limiters
Reminds me of when people find out I do cocaine and Adderall.
“Oh Michael likes to get high”
No, Michael doesn’t have health insurance and has very severe adhd. I can’t live a normal life without stimulants and drug dealers are cheaper than doctors. welcome to America.
Why the combination? I have no idea about either.
It’s not a combination. I’d try to buy Adderall which is what a doctor would prescribe but there is an Adderall shortage because… Well because people sell their meds to drug dealers so the FDA clamped down.
So if Adderall isn’t available or too expensive I buy cocaine and use small amounts to combat my condition.
The “bad guys” are bridging the gap!
You nailed it. I fall into the insurance gap in my state. I make too much for free healthcare but not enough to qualify for discounts on healthcare. The Fed thinks I should be helped by my state, my state disagrees.
what state?
I’ll give you a hint with a fake headline…
“Man attempts to marry racoons but refuses to sign the racoons pre-nup”
What state is it?
Damn mate, that’s really rough. I did see recently how US companies are taking advantage of the made-up scarcity to scalp people with ADHD to the point where the black market is more affordable. I only you know what you’re doing vis-a-vis risks from tainted batches.
I do worry about getting a hot batch and dying but that’s just the state of America today. Women will be getting dangerous back ally abortions as well soon.
please test your pills! fentanyl test strips are cheap and widely available. you can also use reagent tests to confirm what is (and isnt) in them. DanceSafe is a great resource for this: https://dancesafe.org/
It’s a problem with the categorization. They’re treated like oxy legally so they aren’t allowed to manufacture over a certain amount.
Cocaine bad for mental health. Even with ADHD cocaine is so cut and stepped on its not reliable enough to get anything done.
It falls into the “better than nothing” category for me. I’m aware it’s absolutely not a good idea.
I’m sorry your government failed you so badly. That’s a tough place to be in.
Thank you Mr poopybutthole
Similar but Pistachios. The mechanics of opening the shells and eating them allowed me to focus on the college professor’s material after an 9-10 hour work shift. If I showed up to class without pistachios or sunflower seeds I was nodding off in class.
When I was younger they gave me Ritalin, mostly to stop me from burning the building down. It worked, because I never burned the school down… can’t say the same for the neighbors shed… plus there was that incident with the bridge, luckily the fire department showed up quickly.
good stuff, keep up the flame! 🔥
I’m in the middle of diagnosis. I do have Bipolar and have been medicated for 4 years or so. My shrink and I suspect that ADHD is there. It seems to be a common comorbidity. I was self-medicating with alcohol, until I got to a very bad place.
Both bipolar and ADHD have a frightening percentage of substance abuse, often as a form of self medication.
I went to the shrink around the time when I got sober. Quitting drinking and meds literally saved my life.
BTW, I got sober thanks to SMART Recovery. SMART is science based and behavior oriented, so even if you don’t have an addiction problem (substances and/or behaviors), You can learn a lot of stuff applicable to behavioral problems. Much of the program is based on Cognitive Behavioral therapies, no higher power required. Confidential. Free.
I’ve stopped taking lots of strong tea with sugar, because despite kinda helping with work, it makes me really depressed.
Wait what, I have below average blood pressure and have always leaned on caffeine to focus better. I never had any idea the two might be connected.
I developed this unique tea leaf / tree bark mix over 20 years ago, and I could swear it changed my life. I studied for 14 hours per day sometimes and absorbed all my training within a few years. Then the effect was gone.
Looking at it objectively, maybe the trick was that it had just the right amount of caffeine, but unlike pure black tea, not too much at once and with a lot of water. Possibly also compensating a micro nutrient deficit. Could also be complex indirect effects, e. g.: ADHD related to gut biome, additional problems due to bad bacteria / yeast overrepresented, medicinal plants in the mix fighting that, to a mild degree.
Treating digestion problems with medicinal tea in combination with caffeine and love for black tea started the whole idea, IIRC, so it’s not entirely impossible.
Out of curiosity, what was the mix of teas you used?
Rockstar and pseudoephedrine Claritin with a fresh made breakfast burrito. Discovered I could focus easily for hours as the stimulants with a full stomach of food kept me from being overstimulated. Ironically cost me a lot more than Ritalin does as I didn’t have the time or money to pursue a diagnosis at that time.
Nicotine. I started smoking at 16. Vaping now but nicotine and caffeine are carrying me through my unmedicated life
I would hazard that’s less unmedicated and more self medicated.
You’re not wrong haha. Can’t wait to be able to afford proper medicine
looks awkwardly at the next administration
All I need is one prescription bottle with my name on it and then it’s all onions from there
