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Comment by Swordfish12345 | Hacker News Reader

May I ask: when you say you "tried everything and nothing worked"...was this before you knew about the existence of ADHD?

The tragedy I find is that people first discover ADHD and then go straight on meds. They don't use this new realization and understanding of their condition to try to solve it without medication. And once you begin medication, your brain starts to change, and you really can't isolate whether a behavioral change is actually working independent of your medicated state. So begins a long journey of decreasing efficacy of the meds to the point that you will end up worse than where you started.

Also curious what you did try? What was the longest time you disconnected from the internet and social media? How much did you exercise?

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> May I ask: when you say you "tried everything and nothing worked"...was this before you knew about the existence of ADHD?

No, this was after I knew about the existence of ADHD, and from the structure of the comments this should have been obvious to you. I was referencing my previous comment: "they throw the kitchen sink at you for about a year or two before they progressively walk you up to the more "extreme" medication if nothing else helped." It is quite clear that this refers to the early treatment phase after diagnosis.

> Also curious what you did try? What was the longest time you disconnected from the internet and social media? How much did you exercise?

To answer all 3 questions: enough, enough, and enough.

How do you know it was enough?

Wow, dude, just wow.

He doesnt understand. For him its just "quit tiktok lul". kinda embarassing

Anything not matching the world view is clearly somehow wrong. Very impressive reality distortion field there. Except it's scary because it's the same mechanic that also makes people vote for populists that throw "great" rhetoric but act against their interests.

Funny thing is that when I got my ADHD diagnosis, it was, for adults, very "fresh" conceptually. Which means everything got reviewed, retested, rechecked multiple times. Two professors and several doctors were involved. I'm pretty sure even medical professionals would find it hard to poke holes in either my diagnosis or treatment plan. I even got to be a "demo patient" for medical students multiple times, for them to learn.

But, they read a bunch of papers (without training in the field), so clearly they know better, eh?

> reviewed, retested, rechecked

Think what this means though. You fit a criteria. Then ask why do we use this criteria? Trace the history of this criteria through the DSM. The criteria is arbitrary. There is no basis for it.

The field of ADHD began when stimulants were shown to help make kids calmer. And since then it has been a matter of: how to find other people that this medicine (that no one else is allowed and is highly controlled) will help.

There was never an investigation into maybe it is caused by environment/society.

The unquestionable commonality of ADHD is an impairment that impacts the ability to live/work.

No one starts here, and then looks at the potential causes. They see if you fit the criteria, and if you do then you medicate.

Medication is premised on it being a neurodevelopment disorder from birth, hence why ADHD people can take stimulants and no one else can. But this is not proven in any way.

My biggest gripe is that every ADHD person will tell you its okay for only them to take stimulants because their brain is different for normal people and hence they are immune to the negative side-effects. Which is not proven. The risks are under-stated, and the investigation of the true cause is cut short for convenience and revenue.

> Medication is premised on it being a neurodevelopment disorder from birth, hence why ADHD people can take stimulants and no one else can. But this is not proven in any way.

From your very own source in another thread:

> Molecular genetic studies have identified several genes that may mediate susceptibility to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2626918/

I have ADHD. I don't medicate because I don't want to.

Do I still struggle? Yes, a lot.

For me, I keep getting stuck down rabbit holes despite what systems I put in place to avoid it. It is a constant whack-a-mole.

My theory is that people with ADHD are just more creative. Their brains are designed to explore and push boundaries.

But the invention of internet, smart phones, social media, online video is simply too much for a brain of this calibre. Our brains evolved in the natural world, and we live in an extremely unnatural world now.

But one thing I found about the ADHD community is that they feel like meds are the only answer, to the point they get angry when people criticise them.

> Wow

So I genuinely am interested in what is "enough".

It's incredibly difficult to get anyone to tell you what they tried and to confront any alternative hypotheses. They take it as an affront.

Your posting behavior has none of the hallmarks of unmedicated ADHD and all of the hallmarks of Asperger's/ASD. I would highly recommended you investigate the possibility you have been misdiagnosed. It would explain a lot of things.

Good luck on all your future endeavors.

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