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Comment by CoastalCoder | Hacker News Reader

What's worked for me:

1) Good, regular sleep. ADHD symptoms are way more controllable when I'm well rested.

2) Stimulants: caffeine and Vyvanse. I also had a prescription for Adderall, but it has some nasty side effects for me so I rarely take it.

3) Accept that it's hard to focus on stuff that doesn't interest me, and plan accordingly. (Including career choices.)

4) Work in person, rather than remotely. I'm too tempted to screw around when I'm not around coworkers.

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Caffine is quite interesting because I often got even more tired after 30 minutes drinking some coffee.

The first 30 minutes indeed got me very excited, but then I will fall asleep soon after.

The same thing happened to me right now with energy drink such as Redbull or Monster. Therefore I mostly drink them for some competitive activities that only last short hours

I'm the same with coffee as caffeine, but I can drink a sugar free energy drink (Moister Ultra) and the caffeine in that does the job without any of the sleepiness sideffects.

* Monster Ultra

Check for other supplements in that stuff like turine and b12 b1 stuff. They can help with focus and mental energy.

Absolutely does include them. The quietening effect the first can had had never been replicated. But I still chase the feeling.

If stimulants relax you then medication would probably help, as it operates on a similar method.

> 4) Work in person

Im kinda the opposite, when im in an office, i somehow make sure no one else is getting work done

> 3) Accept that it's hard to focus on stuff that doesn't interest me, and plan accordingly.

A former boss noticed this about me, years before I knew I had ADHD. It was pretty great. I tended to turn things around extremely quickly when I found them interesting. If he saw something was taking me a while or I wasn’t making progress after a couple days, he’d just give it to someone else. The net result was I got to pick my own projects, found the job much more interesting, and was significantly more productive. On the flip side of this, there were projects other people would struggle with for weeks that he’d give to me and I’d turn it around in a few hours.

These days I don’t find anything interesting and I’ve been trying to will myself to work on the same thing for 2 months (and another for 6+ months) and I can’t seem to do it. I really want to get past these things to find something new to do, but it’s been hard. The one project is massive as well. It had me looking at new career options yesterday.

Out of curiosity, what dosages of caffeine do you take? No matter how much I take it never seems to be enough.

I have no idea if this will be useful to you, because it's so contingent on my caffeine sensitivity, my sleep, whether or not I've taken Vyvanse, what time of day it is, and what mental tasks I need to perform.

But to give a real answer:

On workdays I have about 20-40 fl oz of coffee during the morning. I stop all stimulants at noon so I can sleep.

On non-workdays I have 1-3 normal sized mugs of coffee in the morning, just because I like it.

Up to a litre of coffee in one morning is crazy from my point of view, but I guess it also depends on the way you prefer your bean drug: you're not drinking thirty shots of espresso, I hope?

He's talking ounces, I really doubt the guy is taking ristretto. Surely he's not from Italy!

Regular drip coffee maker, with a bean to water ratio that most would consider "normal". (I don't recall that actual ratio at the moment.)

Welcome to ADHD

ADHD people drink coffee as a form of self medication. Caffeine is an absolutely terrible and barely working stimulant for that purpose, so we end up drinking a lot to get some effect, or at least trick ourselves.

A cup of coffee is 6oz. I drink like 6-8 a day. I do however stick to average roasts, rather than robustas or light "breakfast" roasts.

My brother has that brain worm (that I used to have) where using a medication is "bad" so instead he drinks like 5 giant energy drinks a day.

My father drinks a similar amount of coffee as I do per day, and often drinks coffee as a late night relaxation aide. Stimulants can be "calming" to some people who have a certain genetic mutation and often have ADHD

The first dose of Ritalin I took, I immediately fell asleep and took a 2 hour nap.

Audhder here - work remotely, more likely to be able to get work done!

Why is Vyvanse? UK based.

Vyvanse is like long acting adderall that cannot be crushed and snorted. Must be metabolized in your digestion to become active.

Thank you. Will ask my doctor.

Not to be confused with "Adderall XR", which like Vyvanse is meant for slower and longer release than normal Adderall.

At least for me, Vyvanse is much more tolerable than Adderall XR.

It's always extremely weird to me when people have to make this distinction because I was under the impression that ALL Adderall prescriptions are for the XR extended release which comes in capsules full of small beads of medication. No one should be taking Adderall IR instant release tablets. Those things have almost no reason to exist. I really don't understand who is taking those things and where people are getting the impression that IR tablets are a normal Adderall formulation. "Long acting" Adderall has been the norm for decades now and I haven't even seen or heard of anyone taking IR tablets since like the early 2000's

The XR mechanism is shit compared how vyvanse and concerts manage theirs.

If you’re a slow metaboliser you end up getting a big overlap around 3hours in which can be quite unpleasant, hence the non XR compound

If I take the lowest dose concerta I will not sleep that night no matter how early i take it. This was pretty devestating when I was younger and not mature enough to realize what was going on. Parents were obsessed with ADD medication at the time. I think vyvanse or xr adderall would be a similar nightmare for me.

Interesting.

I had similar issues with XR methylphenidate and Dex, but concerta and vyvanse were find if I took them first thing.

I suspect a bit insignificant amount of people are slow metabolisers and are having a shit run with stimulants as a result

Yes. Never tried the others. stratera - weird side effects quit immediately. ritalin is good. concerta also good... too good. Havent tried it in years Id only guess if anything Im slower if older.

I was given a prescription for XR. It took me a month or more to even try it, because I’d sleep in, then it would take me a while to get moving, and by that time I was worried it would still be active with the idealist it me would think I should go to bed. Something that didn’t last as long would give me much more control.

Because there is ritalin and concerta, I think it's just easier to understand and explain. Im less familiar with adderall but by searching a few times IR XR and Vyvanse are still prescribed? and adderall ir is also approved for narcolepsy at least.

Lisdexamfetamine, it’s very similar to Adderall but more expensive as it comes in capsules instead of tablets, but the upside is it lasts all day instead of a few hours. It recently became generic in the US, but is still around $60-120 a month’s supply (at least at my dosage), vs $25 or so for a month of Adderall.

Thank you.

Aka Elvanse in the UK

Elvanse

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