Comment by hedayet | Hacker News Reader

Comment by hedayet | Hacker News Reader

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I have ADHD. Here's my story:

1. I can focus and solve hard problems, but you’ll notice my legs swinging restlessly, hand gestures, or me suddenly typing a completely unrelated web address.

2. I was always a great student, but I was also the most restless; making jokes and talking constantly, no matter how hard I was punished for my behavior.

3. The toughest part of my ADHD is inconsistency. My performance can fluctuate a lot, and it takes tremendous effort to stay consistent. I get bored quickly with easy tasks, so I rely on alarms, calendar events, and other reminders to help me stay on track.

4. People like me are prime targets for distraction businesses, whether it’s social media, gambling, or other addictive behaviors. And a lot of my energy goes to resist them.

All in all, even for a functioning person like myself - managing ADHD takes a lot of effort. In my late 30s, I’m finally feeling a bit more in control. I’ve accepted that this is part of who I am, and while I can’t fix it completely, I’m doing my best to avoid letting it impact the people around me.

I would recommend you pay careful attention to your diet

- get the proper amount of essential fatty acids

- experiment with vitamins, especially magnesium

- green, leafy vegetables

- minimal processed sugar & zero alcohol

And exercise. Get some cardio, even if it's just walking for a half-hour to an hour.

It's a struggle, but learning your body will help you optimize your performance and consistency.

Peace be with you, and I wish you the best of luck.

On the one hand, it's true that these things are very important. I (as another diagnosed with ADHD) definitely do worst when I don't get proper nutrients.

But it's very, very important to remember and understand that these things don't make it go away.

I'm not saying you're suggesting that doing these things will make ADHD go away—but your comment is ambiguous as to whether that's where you're going with it, and there's definitely a lot of people who don't really believe that ADHD is a "real" disorder, many of whom give advice just like yours and end with something like "...and if you do all of this right, you'll be perfectly normal!"

So I want to both heartily endorse your recommendations (both the general "eat well," and these specific items), and also caution strongly against expecting miracle results.

I get that now, but I'm diagnosed, too, with ADHD. Maybe that's why I forgot to mention that I'm in the same, exact boat.

I'm still a foot-tapper at nearly 60, with high blood pressure putting the kaibosh on Adderall, so I do the best I can with what I can.

Those are the techniques that I have found to work for me, but I wouldn't and didn't call any of them a miracle. No, this programmer's life is non-trivially difficult for we ADHD folks, friend.

I apologize for not making that clear, but I'm certainly not downplaying ADHD's reality or difficulty after having dealt with it for over 30 years.

And taking Adderall is not without its side-effects, so I wouldn't recommend either it or pharma-grade cannabis, because I'm not a doctor, and those things are dangerous. I only recommend the safest possible path. Besides, all my recommendations actually helped me get the most out of Adderall for the few years I had my prescription.

In my experience, there are no miraculous shortcuts, but those are the ways I have found help me tamp it down, after years and years of struggling with it, which has been daily for me with my passion for programming still going strong.

Further, asking adhd folk to "pay careful attention" is like asking a paraplegic to mind where he steps. Just FYI.

You're not wrong—but its not impossible—and it really helps! Having followed a lot of that advice in the past, and currently being in a slump; I can say it really it matters. Medication increases your chances of following through and the rewards compound.

> but its not impossible

No but it actually is though. The entire thing with ADHD is that the whole attention mechanism is defective.

Yes I can purposefully focus on something, but not consistently or over longer periods. That's the handicap. It's not a matter of not trying hard enough or figuring out one crazy trick. People with ADHD work differently from normal people and so far there's no fix for it.

Hey, person with ADHD here. It is not impossible and you are victimizing all of us by stating it is.

There are extreme methods you can take that legitimately solve for the "defective wiring", such as meditating 10 hours a day. It's not permanent once you go off it, but you, yes you, can read a novel straight through.

But you don't actually need to go that far to reap 80 percent of the benefits. Real, effective protocols lower the threshold for stimulation. Constant novelty (seeking escape in external stimuli such as phones and computers) exacerbate our symptoms.

This whole identifying as a person with ADHD thing has gone way too far, and I say this as someone who has struggled with it my entire life.

You can do something about it and that something about it isn't only restricted to medication.

I've also got ADHD, I'm not just spouting unsubstantiated bullshit.

I was simplifying, maybe too much, but honestly I am sick and tired of people that keep telling me to "just try harder". I'm running at redline fucking 24/7 and it's barely enough to survive.

I wasn't implying that if you've got ADHD you might as well give up trying to focus or productive. I'm just saying that expecting an ADHD person to get the same results as someone without without lots extra effort is absurd.

You can say what you like but ADHD is a real handicap for which we do not have a cure. We've got workarounds with different levels of efficacy. I'm tired of being expected to measure up to a standard which I both can't do and don't even want to do.

That's what I do for myself, friend.

I'm diagnosed ADHD, too.

My luck is that I have a loving wife who helps me. It would be far more difficult without her, but I guess I would have to use checklists if I had to do this on my own.

I should've said that I've been ADHD since my early 20s and have been coping for over 30 years.

Or maybe it should have been obvious by the specificity of my advice.

I figured you either were or would claim to be adhd.

I see lots of harmful "advice" pushed by supposed ADHD sufferers.

One time I saw an older ADHD sufferer trying to mentor a young person with ADHD by telling him to cut out preservatives and take up meditation.

Leafy Greens and Pay Attention are barely a step beyond vagina crystals and positive thinking, and its awesome that you think they worked for you, but people should be referred for proper medical treatment, always. Even if you add your other wins as supplementary options, it should never be seen to be something alternative to medicine.

Meditation has reams upon reams of scientific literature behind it. Equating it to a step above vagina crystals is spitting in the face of research going back at least half a century.

Meditation can and does help those with ADHD, especially in conjunction with correct medication.

>in conjunction with correct medication.

>in conjunction with correct medication.

>in conjunction with correct medication.

That's not what I said. I said, especially in conjunction with correct medication.

You're not arguing in good faith, and haven't everywhere you've commented in this thread. You've been nasty, short, and insulting to everyone you've engaged with.

Equating the benefits of meditation and learning to exercise the muscle of attention to "vagina crystals" is pure ignorance with an agenda.

Have you ever considered that you may just be an asshole?

I had a psychiatrist for my Adderall prescription, but he was really just a drug dealer who was forced to retire after one of his patients committed suicide. But that was long after I had quit Adderall and learned how to deal with my shit on my own.

Anyway, I wish you well, and please find a medical professional that can evaluate your real problem.

There it is, you are pushing this stuff because you have an anti medication bent. Thanks for owning up.

No man, I wish I had done these things when I was on Adderall. They're good for anyone, whether they're medicated or not.

I was referred to a school counselor in high school because I couldn't sit still, my behavior was inconsistent and I had a hard time focusing.

If that person had caught it, and referred me on to get an ADHD assessment, I would be miles better off.

Instead he gave me exactly the advice you just did, and it achieved nothing. Guy actually owned the whole food / wellness / woo store he referred me to which makes it worse.

Now I have my medication I look back on shit like this with absolute scorn. I know you probably intend the advice in good faith but its absolutely not a replacement for medicine.

I got a lot of work done for a few years, thanks to Adderall, but that ship has sailed because of high blood pressure.

I'm not selling anything, my friend. I'm sorry I didn't tell anyone that I was diagnosed with ADHD over 15 years ago, but I've been in the trenches for a long time now.

And, absolutely, medicine is next-level helpful, but if you can't use it, as I can't, then you have to do the best you can. Out of my love for others like me, I simply offered the best non-pharmaceutical advice I could, because that's what I use.

Peace be with you.

Imagine if someone had a broken arm and you told them to focus on their calcium intake. I mean, yeah, for sure, but it's kind of primarily important to put the arm in a sling before we discuss the finer points of mineral uptake efficiency. This may not be your intention but this post reeks of crunchy granola holistic fluff woo.

Is it woo if I'm a diagnosed with ADHD, too, which I am?

I explain this more fully in my other comments in this thread.

This isn't woo, my friend; it's the advise of programmer who has been in the ADHD trenches for over 30 years. And it's the best advice I can give because it's the best set of advice that I wished I would have gotten those decades ago.

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