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Comment by Lewton | Hacker News Reader

I thought giving people adhd meds and seeing whether it relaxes them was a pretty good (not perfect) indicator? Am I wrong?

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That's not true, I have ADHD and I still feel stimulated when I take my medicine just like anyone else would. The difference is that it also gives me symptom relief as well.

Over time you will develop more of a tolerance to these stimulating effects, at least to a degree, but the therapeutic benefits will continue for as long as you take them.

And therein lies the problem with making generalizations from single data points. Supposedly I have ADHD as well (I'm diagnosed such at least), and I generally become more mellow after taking adderall. I think the moral of this further anecdote is that generalizations should not be made on either of our experiences. Add into that the confounding factors of human bodies not being identical and having differing reactions to the same stimuli, and it becomes an even more dangerous game.

I agree, I wasn't trying to imply that relaxation from stimulants would be -the- diagnosis for adhd, but if people with adhd tend to relax from the meds and people without adhd tend to not relax, then the claim that it's a myth that the meds affect adhd sufferers differently would be a lie

Even more anecdotally, back when I was young and took amphetamines, it would mellow me out despite not having ADHD. Taking opiates would stimulate me. Bodies and minds are quirky.

For what it's worth, I have ADHD, and when I take adderal it has a profound mellowing, and calming effect.

I don't take it in the morning for that reason. Because it has zero stimulation / awakeness effect on me, I wait to use it in the afternoon, when sleep inertia has fully dissipated.

I don't think this works as well for adults. People with ADHD tend to calm down as they become adults (because of the whole "becoming an adult" thing), so the environment changes.

EDIT: calm down wrt physical movement, symptoms on the cognitive side are still very present of course. It's just that adults tend to be better equipped to cope with some of them.

That depends on the the type of ADHD being treated and the type of medication prescribed. I take extended release tablets which work very well for my needs. When i was prescribed instant release tablets I was cracked out for a few hours then desperately wanted to sleep until the end of the world.

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