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Comment by penagwin | Hacker News Reader

> Ever spent a day off staring at a wall dreading the possibility that you might waste a day until you realize the sun has gone down? Yup, so much fun.

This is literally every Saturday for me. I'm thinking about keeping my Ritalin by my bed. I don't understand why it's so difficult and it makes me really frustrated - I just can't get out of bed. I try to wake up and my mind goes "naw". I sit up to get out of bed, sit there for 40 minutes, and still can't get myself to get out of bed. Stare at my Pillow, some reddit posts, another 45 minutes are gone.

Now it's 2pm, I've wasted half the day. My depression tells me it's because I'm a lazy piece of shizzle.

Source: Diagnosed with ADD/Aspergers/Depression/Anxiety... Horaay :(

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Being diagnosed with all of those things -- doesn't it seem like a pharmaceutical spiral brought on by a sick process? Ever since my sister was misdiagnosed with a handful of labels and put on a handful of drugs which subsequently ruined her life for a very long time I've been interested in looking at alternatives to the pharma status quo. I read Lost Connections by Johann Hari recently and it was remarkable. The chapter on how people with similar diagnoses radically improved by joining a gardening club (reconnecting with others) makes the book worth reading, but it goes into much much more. It's worth looking up.

None of these "alternatives" ever fixes bipolar,schizophrenia, borderline, adhd, etc.

When you have those stuff, you need to take meds AND join the gardening club.

You can't go manic at the gardening club.

Right. Those are very extreme diagnoses. Medication is often required. What this book speaks to is the problem with overprescription as applied to the average person, and offers many solutions.

Overprescription? It is so damned hard to get stimulant medications (patients don't even dare ask for fear of being labeled "drug seeking") that even people who need them badly have a hard time getting them.

So, no, it does not seem like a "a pharmaceutical spiral brought on by a sick process", whatever the blazes that means.

IMHO what you are saying and accurate diagnoses which result in positive-to-lifechanging treatment are not mutually exclusive. There's always more than one way for a thing to go wrong ;). And I'll check that book out. There's an interesting book on addiction, based on studies on rats, arguing that addiction is usually a coping mechanism for an unhealthy environment. Again, I don't think these different things are mutually exclusive.

The FDA recently approved a drug for this scenario: https://www.psychiatryadvisor.com/home/topics/adhd/jornay-pm...

It’s an extended release methylphenidate that you take at night time, and 12ish hours later it actually takes effect.

Fuck I do this every day. Been diagnosed with ASD and I probably have at least one sleep disorder too. The guilt is indeed the worst part about it.

That and being late to work. I don't think anyone would believe me if I said that I'm more upset that I'm 10 minutes late then my boss is.

I got up 10 minutes early! I thought I was running on time! Suddenly I'm supposed to be there in 5 minutes! WHY?!!? It's like time isn't freaking linear!!!!

Yes! It's a triple whammy: you get to stress out because you're running late, be late anyway and feel guilty about it.

I struggle with a few things, and probably some things from your list, but no diagnoses yet.

One thing that always goes through my head is just feeling like society is made for a model of human that just isn't me. There's a society out there that would suit me great, but I missed the boat on that. It was probably in the distant past before things got big, noisy, and complicated.

Hey, this is exactly why I keep it by my bed with a bottle of Soylent. The first thing I do when I wake up every day is take it and chug the Soylent to make sure I've got enough nutrition for it to work well. It helps a lot, I would earnestly encourage you to try it

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