I have NOT found that, when taken at a therapeutic dosage, people with ADD/ADHD thinktheir medications are fun other than the "fun" feeling of satisfaction you get when you complete a task.

I have found that people who do not have ADD/ADHD find those same medications to be fun, however, even at a therapeutic dose.

Otherwise your comments on the effects are spot on. Personally I had to make a choice in my mid-twenties, the meds or a happy-go-lucky life where I feel unfulfilled but I have a fun time.

I used to just sit all day, thinking about what I needed to do, yelling at myself in my head to do it, but never doing anything. Just constant maladaptive daydreaming. I have inattentive type ADD. I didn't develop mental executive functions until I was 28. I started recognizing there was a "manager" in my brain that wasn't there before. I sobbed when I found out most of my peers developed that 10 years earlier.

From what I've seen, people with ADD/ADHD go through a cycle of recognizing then denying that they have a disability. I have done this personally 4-5 times in my life. I will accept I have a disability and deal with it, then eventually decide that it was my environment that was causing the symptoms, only to later come to a point where I once again have to accept I have a disability that cannot be managed entirely with CBT, task lists, meditation, mindfulness, etc... I'm happy for those that feel they can do it without medication, but I also have to wonder if I'm just meeting those people at a point in time before they have to get back on medication again...