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Comment by cbsmith | Hacker News Reader

> I guess it depends on the treatment, but amphetamine based adhd treatment was for me, the fucking devil.

Fortunately, we now have options other than amphetamines, but yes, in general, like most diseases, ADHD is categorized by symptoms, not really causes, and so lots of treatments that work wonderfully for some people with ADHD are literally the worst thing for other people with ADHD.

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What are the new options? Thank you.

So, on the medication side, there are NRIs (norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor) and alpha-2A agonists. The latter in particular work kind of the opposite of stimulants. A psychiatrists described the difference to me with the metaphor of a sound system where you're having trouble listening to the music. The stimulants are amplifiers that push up the volume. The other approach is a better preamp that does a better job reducing the noise. Depending on the nature of your problem, one is going to help a lot, and the other is going to be useless at best, but could well make the problem worse.

I presume you're aware of the other non-pharmaceutical interventions, like CBT. Generally they don't have as high a success rate, but that doesn't mean that they aren't be the right solution for you.

I found Modafinil really helped. Had to persuade my consultant to prescribe it 'off-label', it's approved for narcolepsy.

fwiw, I'm pretty sure you can get mopafinil and adrafinil (or at least one of the two) online grey-market pretty easily

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