I'm actually wondering if my extreme reactions to people touching and moving stuff in my room aren't ADHD-induced. That would kinda make sense, since it's shame&guilt-powered, and involves me feeling like useless crap.
@Helen of Boy: I think my spouse handled those ... even though she's the ADHD one, she gets stuff done like this by having A System.
So today I realized a thing. I'm taking meds for ADHD, and I'm even taking two doses a day, but they wear out by 4 or so, and sometimes I need to cook dinner. And all the things I like to eat have stuff you have to keep track of at the same time and/or a lot of steps, and so I keep ending up cooking things I only kinda like because by the end of the day and without the meds I just don't have the energy to do anything complex. BUT. If I use the slow cooker in the morning, I can do the complicated parts while the meds are still working, and things will be done when it's time to have dinner! (I could also, in theory, do cook-ahead freezer casseroles and stuff, but that's planning a lot more into the future.)
:) so I managed to read through all of this stuff and It all made me smile cos you people totaly understand the struggle! ive was Diagnosed ADHD like 12 years ago? Heh its been funn, I dunno if anyone here noticed but caffiene tends to have some nice effects on folks with ADHD it doesnt make me jittery or hyper or any of that crap i feel all nice and calm and could get cimfy enough to sleep if i dribk coffee or tea before bed, Once I realised the connection it made me happy(I hated taking pills for it cos I was surrounded by people abusing prescriptions-.-) I was finaly able to functiin semi normaly im still a goofball and destroy everything but meh xD it ended up becoming a serious addiction for me though to the point where Id drink at least five or six of those big ass dunkin donuts cups of coffee. I ended up having some pretty bad withdrawals one day when I didnt drink enough so over the last two years ive been regulating the shit out of my caffeine addiction and Im down to only a cup a day maybe 2 if im feeling anxious. Anyway! I never knew that there were such things as ADHD induced depression or ptsd I have PTSD and have had my battles with depression Im curiius though if anyone has experienced situations where no one wants to be around them because they hadnt taken there medication, because I definetly have...Ive been called annoying and ignored or berated for clumsiness and even just told "take your meds or drink some coffee cos I dont wanna deal with you otherwise" I hate that.
Yessss, caffeine and energy drinks have that effect on me too. Too bad I don't like coffee that much, I could use some controlled drowsiness :P Augh, that sucks a lot, I'm sorry you have to deal with this :( I've never been called annoying directly, I think, but I sure creeped some people out by my hyperactive tornado impressions and was left wondering what did I do wrong. And don't even let me started on clumsiness...
Caffeine doesn't do anything for me as far as brain stuff goes. Like, it doesn't make me hyper and jittery, and it also doesn't make me calm and focused. Coffee is like water that makes me have to pee more.
It's a crapshoot for me. I'll drink black tea at night and it'll help me go to sleep, but during the day, I'll drink 3 cups of coffee and nothing. (Of course, sometimes I have 3 cups and want to go to sleep. And sometimes I'll drink a cup of tea and be hyper for the rest of the day.)
Caffeine is really weird for me. If I'm really tired and I drink something with caffeine, it will be easier for me to fall asleep because things like every noise in the room and the texture of the sheets and wondering if my cat is going to show up and meow at me stop being a big deal. Two full glasses of a caffeinated soda, on the other hand, will send me right to the verge of panic attacks, particularly if I haven't eaten recently. It's really good at helping me to focus but not so good at letting me pick what I want to focus on. So most of my caffeine intake these days is social--I'll have a coffee if other people are having a coffee, etc, but not just because.
Hmm I wonder what makes it vary by person?? @mrozna id love to see a hyperactive tornado impression xD @Aya the same happens yo me with soda, so I dont drink it often
I could be wrong, but I think it's the sugar plus caffeine with soda that makes it so different. At least in my experience, sugar has a pretty hefty impact on me.
There's a point. Sugar makes me ramp up pretty fast - but then I crash just as fast, so it doesn't really help with staying awake, which is lame.
Heavy detail gloss here: ADHD has something-or-other to do with lower-than-average activity in the parts of the brain responsible for executive function (planning things, working memory, problem solving, etc, sitting in the prefrontal lobes). Caffeine is a stimulant, just as many of the prescription drugs that treat ADHD are. The way that stimulants work is more or less increasing activity in the entire brain. But of course some stimulants are going to get more activity where there are more receptors that stimulant can fit in, which will vary by person. And the level of activity in parts of the brain to begin with would also vary by person. Essentially, if the brain was a piece of paper, taking a stimulant is kind of like aiming a spraybottle full of water at the executive function part of the brain. You know it's going to get the paper wet in that general area, but you can't always predict where else on the paper will get wet. Sugar ramps up really fast for the same reasons it crashes really fast: it's really easy to get the energy out of it. You get a brief spike because all the energy is being released at the same time. It's also throwing energy at the body rather than providing direct stimulation to the brain the way that caffeine or adderall might, so it works a little differently.
Huh. I honestly didn't know that was a common experience. Sometimes I have weird reactions to energy foods, because I tried to go vegetarian in second grade, fucked up hard core, and ended up with a protein deficiency. So, even though I haven't had a protein headache in years, I just figured that my dramatic reaction to sugar was just part and parcel of that. thanks for info!
@Aya that makes some sense :) thank yiu for explaining ^_^ @boyacrossthestreet i tried to go vegetarian in third grade! Yep didnt work out and protienprotienprotien! needless to say I am not a vegetarian...anyway My therapist wants to put me on meds for my ADHD what do they even prescrive for that?? I know aderal is one are there any others???
@Missfortunate Broadly speaking, there are two categories of ADHD meds: stimulants and everything else. The trade names will vary by country and I'm no good at spelling the chemical names, but stimulants all work more or less the same way (the sort of shotgun approach I mentioned earlier). Some big trade names in the US are ritalin, adderall, vyvanse, and concerta. Usually a psych will try a couple stimulants, and if those don't work or have too many side effects, they'll switch to a non-stimulant. I think wellbutrin is pretty common on that front. There's some other stuff, like strattera, that aren't stimulants, but most of those are newer drugs without generics (at least in the US) and so your insurance is likely to complain about covering them.
@Aya thank you!:3 it took a couple reread to absorb that but yeah :3 I do wonder what.my insurance will cover on that front...I shall look into it!! Might not be too bad tho cos my insurance covers all my gender stuff..hopefuly anyway
My insurance company has to specifically approve prescriptions for stimulants, so if I change meds or dosages, I get to wait 3-4 days for insurance to get their shit together before I can get my pills again. My insurance also won't cover brand-name drugs unless X number of generics have been tried and failed, and even then it costs more. But my experience is that if your insurance company covers drugs, nearly all generics will be covered. If your insurance doesn't cover this stuff, some places (like wal-mart) have a $4 drug list where you can get certain medications for $4 for a monthly supply. I don't think any ADHD meds are on the US wal-mart list in particular, but looking at local pharmacies/grocery stores/etc for policies like this can end up saving you a lot of money.
Thanks for the info @Aya ill definetly keep the walmart thing in mind, the walmart here has a pretty big pharmacy :) also im gonna see my therapist again on thursday :3 hopefuly I can actualy talk about stuffs
I looked up the options for treatment of adults with ADHD because I've been thinking about trying to get on medication, and found out ADHD medication for adults is not refunded by NFZ. Haha oh well. Judging by what everyone writes about ADHD in Poland, it's a miracle I even got diagnosed with it. Also, I do not recommend reading comments under any ADHD article, unless you want to be reminded over and over that "back in my day regular ass-whooping was the magical cure for kids with ADHD". I can barely maintain these few of healthy habits I still got. I'm so fucking tired of being scared of taking opportunities and fulfilling my tasks, and planning. It feels like I'm too slow and everything goes too fast, and it's my fault I'm not keeping up. I just want to get help, and move out, learn to support myself and live my own life, and the world puts up a middle finger at me again and again.
Here's an article about depression in ADHD - "rejection-sensitive dysphoria"/"atypical depression" may be due to the same hyperactiveness/hyperarousal that results in the other aspects of ADHD.
