ADHD also can show the same symptoms as PTSD or bipolar disorder sometimes. not a lot of people know that. So taking those medications while not having ADHD can severely mess up the CNS and brain.
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Well. Assumed that was true - your point is what? I posted a meta-analysis about effects of medication in ADHD people.
Perhaps posting a summary of said paper would have been more conversationalist? I guarantee you no one is going to read those, especially since you gave no context to why you posted them.
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Couple things. Medication should be last resort exercise should always be first for any mental health related problem. You posted how the medication affects ADHD I posted how if they aren’t ADHD and are actually suffering PTSD it can make the symptoms worse and cause irreparable damage. Please be cordial if you’re not communicating clearly or fully.
What? Thats just a review of facts. “Last resort” is an opinion.
The review is about ADHD medication in ADHD people. No mention of PTSD at all. No mention of self-diagnosis, abuse of medical drugs, neuro-enhancement etc.
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Some things are mental health problems, such as PTSD, anxiety disorders etc. ADHD is not a mental health problem; it is a neurological difference, which can have symptomatic mental health problems as comorbidities. You can’t fix ADHD with therapy, meditation, exercise etc. Honestly even doing any of the above regularly can be impossible for people with ADHD. Medication doesn’t ‘fix’ anything, but it does enable people with ADHD to function well enough to at least stand a chance of developing those habits.
Edit: I’m also going to touch on this “last resort” thing. You’re talking utter nonsense. For ADHD, the first port of call is medication, and then therapy is recommended as a complementary exercise, because without the medication, therapy is often useless.
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Therapy, meditation and exersice are just for lessening the possible negative effects being of being neuroatypical. Works for some, doesn’t work for others. I mean, those are the same things neurotypical people do for many of the same reasons us few posters in this thread are doing them. They’re won’t cure your ADHD, but they generally do have positive results for everyone.
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You were probably looking for a way to medicate yourself.
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One thing I’ve been reading about is how many people get misdiagnosed as bipolar when in fact they have ADHD, leading to prescriptions for antipsychotics and a lot of scary shit.
I’m interested in ADHD medications, but also very ambivalent. Some people report having their creativity dulled on meds, and there are also concerns about stimulants ramping up anxiety, etc. I’d be very interested to hear from anyone here who’s had either positive or negative experiences. I have to say, Adderall scares me because it’s an amphetamine, and I’ve never liked speed. I wonder whether Ritalin is less speedy…?
I recently cut way down on drinking and pot smoking, in part because I realized I was self-medicating. I now see that I’ve been managing ADHD on my own for many years fairly successfully, but this pandemic has really hit me hard.
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I think that is big pharma horseshit. I have no inclination to go looking for things to back me up, it’s easily Googled, but speaking as a person who spent their childhood medicated, fuck that.
(I’m not angry at you; just at our social reliance on medication to solve our problems, however “small”)
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Sorry that it didn’t help you. There may be plenty of reasons for that.
But please stop discouraging people to look for professional help instead of messing up their lives, using “recreational drugs” etc.
Btw. without science and scientific thinking there would be no Elektron box and no computer to type into.
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I’m in the UK, and we don’t have the pharma obsession that the US does. We basically just get prescribed generics and it’s all based on science, not lobbying. I’m not going to Google your opinion for you, but I have done a lot of reading on the subject, and I don’t buy into the anti-medication stigma at all. Having said that, there are a lot of problematic elements of the pharma industrial complex in the US, and I do believe that has led to over-prescription of many different potentially harmful drugs, ADHD medication included.
Also, anecdotally, I’ve heard a lot of people who were medicated as children have a very negative perception of medication in adulthood. I was diagnosed as an adult so it is different for me, and I can’t imagine what it would have been like to be medicated as a child. I’m pretty sure my kid has it too, but she’s too young for a diagnosis, and I’m reluctant to medicate her before she is old enough to have a say in the decision.
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That is not at all my position. Professional help, absolutely; self-medication, no. However, our social tendency to fall back so easily on drugs is imo messing us up more. There are plenty of other things to try before resorting mind-altering drugs.
And in no way was I condemning science in general.
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It’s all about why we medicate.
For a lot of kids, I think medication is used as a bit of a blunt tool to get them to shut up in school.
For adults, medication is often prescribed on a more “use it as you need it” basis, with the needs of the patient, rather than the school, at the heart of it.
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Eat well, exercise daily, and get plenty of sleep. Educate yourself and identify your own challenges so you can find strategies to overcome them. Meditation can be helpful for overall wellness. Medication can make a big difference, but sometimes it’s necessary to try different kinds / doses until you find a good fit.
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Drugs are merely one tool to help coping with being neuroatypical in a society where being neurotypical is the norm. It’s definitely not something all neuroatypical people should get, but that said if you’re having a hard time and suspect the reason might be ADHD or being generally “on the spectrum”, definitely go to the doctor, it’s their job to help you figure out whether drugs are the right treatment for you. Just keep in mind that in the end you’re treating issues that stem from being neuroatypical, not being neuroatypical itself. Having ADHD doesn’t automatically mean that you need medication.
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Can’t see that here locally. People with major depression tend to stay ill for years and talk about their problems before even considering medication. ADHS children get ergotherapy instead of first line interventions, because health professionals and parents are scared alike. Anti-craving drugs are ended by family doctors even in successful patients (alcoholism) etc.
Well I’ll just have to take your word that somehow the UK is isolated from big pharma lobbying. Just something to keep in mind from someone who probably didn’t need to spend their childhood drugged.
That really annoys me. Do you have an idea how many kids “drug” themselves with cannabis because they are denied the proper help? Do you have an idea how many become school dropouts, how many have depression and anxiety disorder as adults?
It did not help you, granted - but please stop extrapolating your personal experience on the world.
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My partner pointed out to me last year how I clearly exhibit signs of ADHD, and then I thought about it and realized all my closest friends throughout my life have been treated for it.
Not really sure what I can add except I have done a couple 10-day vipassana courses and those made me feel on point and transformed coming out of them but then the old habits creep back as well as the accompanying anxiety and depression because it’s hard to keep up with the practice, and likely even more so with ADHD. I still highly value the practice and look forward to sitting another course someday, but exercise and making music are my two favored activities to, as @ghostbuddy put it, lessen the negative effects of being neuroatypical.
I also still smoke way too much weed but am really not liking what that is doing to my lungs now that I’m in my mid-30s, so yesterday decided I want to replace that vice with eurorack, which is both the pinnacle of distraction and a great form of meditation.
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