High ambition and ADHD diagnosis?

[Carl-Richard]

@integration journey This is truly the most insightful and revealing and inspiring video about ADHD you will ever watch. Mike went from being the worst in the class, to being the best in the class while medicated, to experiencing side effects from the medications and eventually losing the effect from the medications and then finding out a way to get off the medications and still function at a high level. It's truly a hero's journey:

 

Edited 16 hours ago by Carl-Richard

[integration journey]

5 minutes ago, Carl-Richard said:

@integration journey This is truly the most insightful and revealing and inspiring video about ADHD you will ever watch. Mike went from being the worst in the class, to being the best in the class while medicated, to experiencing side effects from the medications and eventually losing the effect from the medications and then finding out a way to get off the medications and still function at a high level. It's truly a hero's journey:

 

thanks. Will check it out. 

[Ulax]

Congrats on your diagnosis bro.

I'd definitely look into meds. There's sort of two main categories: Stimulant, and Non-Stimulant.

Only thing is some have some mad side-effects. I was on elvanse and that was fucked up. Had me all manic, and insomniac.

But i now take a non-stim called Amfexa, and bro it gives me relaxation and focus ive never had in my life. I'd deffo say its been worth going through that elvanse experience to have this Amfexa experience.

Also, its important to have a good psychiatrist. My first one was a bit of a crazy lady, and was tryna drug me up more than Charlie Sheen in 2005. The bruddah wanted me on three different meds a day 💀.

My current one is chill and reasonable, just recommends one med at a time, and helps me minimise costs.

[Carl-Richard]

10 minutes ago, Ulax said:

But i now take a non-stim called Amfexa

How is amphetamine a "non-stimulant"? I cba with you guys 💀💀💀💀

[integration journey]

13 minutes ago, Ulax said:

Congrats on your diagnosis bro.

I'd definitely look into meds. There's sort of two main categories: Stimulant, and Non-Stimulant.

Only thing is some have some mad side-effects. I was on elvanse and that was fucked up. Had me all manic, and insomniac.

But i now take a non-stim called Amfexa, and bro it gives me relaxation and focus ive never had in my life. I'd deffo say its been worth going through that elvanse experience to have this Amfexa experience.

Also, its important to have a good psychiatrist. My first one was a bit of a crazy lady, and was tryna drug me up more than Charlie Sheen in 2005. The bruddah wanted me on three different meds a day 💀.

My current one is chill and reasonable, just recommends one med at a time, and helps me minimise costs.

Thank you! 
I was actually also diagnosed with unspecified anxiety disorder same day so I think non stimulants are better for that. 

[Ulax]

2 minutes ago, Carl-Richard said:

How is amphetamine a "non-stimulant"? I cba with you guys 💀💀💀💀

ye appears i am spreading misinformation. Forgive me daddy

 

[Ulax]

8 minutes ago, integration journey said:

Thank you! 
I was actually also diagnosed with unspecified anxiety disorder same day so I think non stimulants are better for that. 

You're welcome.

Found that my Amfexa is actually a stim tho lol.

Thing is tho stims often work differently on ADHD brains. A non-adhd brain would get hyper on stims, but often an ADHD brain will get more calm. Because the ADHD brain lacks attentional control, and stims hype up the control centres of the brain. So your brain control skills level up.

Edited 15 hours ago by Ulax

[LordFall]

I have ADHD and only took meds for like a week then never again just found it wired me without boosts in productivity.

I get distracted easily so I do stuff like Pomodoro method(work in 20 min increments then take a break) and I find that works. 

It's not an excuse against success, just gotta manage your workflow and productivity like anyone else. Anything I really don't want to do becomes a real pain though whereas I find my friends have an easier time just pushing through it just cuz its gotta get done. Helped me figure out more creative ideas in business though. 

[Carl-Richard]

I saw a comment that said ADHD meds helps them procrastinate. It's like if you have no strong goals, more dopamine just means any and all goals become stronger, so you will be just as bad off if your problem is sticking to a goal. Maybe your goals are just wrong. That's what life purpose is about: finding a strong goal that drives your action.

It reminds me of when @Cred said "ADHD minds are insensitive to meaning". Well, maybe it's sometimes more like they lack meaning so they become ADHD.

[Cred]

Oho I've been summoned 💅

I've not been very active lately since I have been doing glossopoeia.

1 hour ago, Carl-Richard said:

It reminds me of when @Cred said "ADHD minds are insensitive to meaning".

I have revoked this statement. When I made it, my definition of "meaning" was poor. The exact opposite is true, actually. People with ADHD are extremely sensitive to meaning because they can't be distracted as easily by conventions, social truths and ideology.

Yes, according to this framing, neurotypical people are actually the ones who are distracted by status, and obeying to authority.

When somebody says "I have ADHD and I want to be successful" it first has to be unpacked, what is meant by "success".

The problem with the term success is that it includes purpose and meaning, but it also includes things like social status and recognition. If you have ADHD you will likely need to completely redefine what success is to you.

The reason why it is so hard to get a degree or to make money with ADHD is because "a degree" and "money" are both social constructs. People with ADHD fundamentally don't care about social constructs. The way to be productive with ADHD is to stop chasing degrees and money and try to focus on what is immediately meaningful at any given time.

If you have no choice and you for some reason I have to get an education because of parents or something, it would be smart to choose some education that has as many practical elements as possible.

The logic of an ADHD brain works like this for example: why would I sacrifice so much for a piece of paper that says "bachelor of science" if I could instead program a video game and instead of receiving some piece of paper, I could have my own video game that I can play. This seems completely reasonable. But the majority of the population wants the piece of paper more because of its social value. The same is true with money. Money, also, just a piece of paper that many people are crazy about not including people with ADHD.

Edited 12 hours ago by Cred

[Carl-Richard]

13 minutes ago, Cred said:

People with ADHD fundamentally don't care about social constructs.

Why?

 

15 minutes ago, Cred said:

The same is true with money.

Why?

[integration journey]

5 hours ago, Cred said:

Oho I've been summoned 💅

I've not been very active lately since I have been doing glossopoeia.

I have revoked this statement. When I made it, my definition of "meaning" was poor. The exact opposite is true, actually. People with ADHD are extremely sensitive to meaning because they can't be distracted as easily by conventions, social truths and ideology.

Yes, according to this framing, neurotypical people are actually the ones who are distracted by status, and obeying to authority.

When somebody says "I have ADHD and I want to be successful" it first has to be unpacked, what is meant by "success".

The problem with the term success is that it includes purpose and meaning, but it also includes things like social status and recognition. If you have ADHD you will likely need to completely redefine what success is to you.

The reason why it is so hard to get a degree or to make money with ADHD is because "a degree" and "money" are both social constructs. People with ADHD fundamentally don't care about social constructs. The way to be productive with ADHD is to stop chasing degrees and money and try to focus on what is immediately meaningful at any given time.

If you have no choice and you for some reason I have to get an education because of parents or something, it would be smart to choose some education that has as many practical elements as possible.

The logic of an ADHD brain works like this for example: why would I sacrifice so much for a piece of paper that says "bachelor of science" if I could instead program a video game and instead of receiving some piece of paper, I could have my own video game that I can play. This seems completely reasonable. But the majority of the population wants the piece of paper more because of its social value. The same is true with money. Money, also, just a piece of paper that many people are crazy about not including people with ADHD.

What are your tips on the best way to study subjects that Involve a lot of memorization and physiology like medical contents for people with ADHD? 

[Carl-Richard]

49 minutes ago, integration journey said:

What are your tips on the best way to study subjects that Involve a lot of memorization and physiology like medical contents for people with ADHD? 

Did you watch the video?

[integration journey]

1 hour ago, Carl-Richard said:

Did you watch the video?

Yes. My takeaway is that ADHD medication really helps if you are trying to excel in school work 

[Cred]

5 hours ago, integration journey said:

What are your tips on the best way to study subjects that Involve a lot of memorization and physiology like medical contents for people with ADHD? 

I'm sorry to say this, but my honest advice is: don't.

If you have ADHD, you only want to learn what is immediately important for you right now. This gets branded as "impulsivity" but in reality it is actually effectiveness. If you can't follow a syllabus very carefully, this doesn't make you less efficient, but more efficient in a certain way, because you immediately recognize and discard the unnecessary information.

Think about it. What is the purpose of a syllabus? To prepare the student for as many scenarios as possible in the future. But this leads to a problem. Which is that the ADHD brain reasons: why should I learn this if it only might be useful in the future if I choose this exact specialization which right now doesn't really interest me at all.

What you need to understand is that neurotypical people who are good students are good student students because they like the idea of being a good student. They don't really care that much about learning. They just like to fit that role. They do it because they want to fit in and they want prestige. If you have ADHD, it's very important that you don't try to copy this because your brain doesn't work like that.

If you do try this anyway with medication, I really don't see how you would ever become independent of medication. I'm seeing this with my roommate. He has ADHD, studies medicine, and he is medicated. He is barely functional enough to study medicine but is still depressed often and is coping with a lot of compulsive behavior. I never told him this directly but the way I see it, he will likely never be independent of medication his entire professional life. 

The logic with taking medication with ADHD is: I'm miserable now and when I'm taking medication I'm slightly less miserable, but I like myself more like this because other people like me more like this. You need to understand that if you try to function in a system that is inherently anti-ADHD you will never be fulfilled. (the heuristic is, the more rigid the system, the more anti-ADHD it is)

I'm still in the process of brainstorming how to have a good career with ADHD, but I did come to some conclusions.

First of all I came to the conclusion, the people with ADHD are simply not meant to pursue survival. I believe that back when people live in tribes, they were the ones who inspired people but not the ones who necessarily thought about how to survive. In this current system of course, it is assumed that everybody can work and wants to work which is false.

So this logic follows that is completely fine for you to for example keep living with your parents, or just straight up ask neurotypical people for money. The idea of independence is also anti-ADHD in my opinion.

(the extreme advice that I give applies to people with extreme ADHD. If you don't have extreme ADHD, the advice still applies to you, but you are more able to make compromises.)

If you absolutely have to have a career, or you have wiggle room since you don't have extreme ADHD, follow this heuristic:  Try to avoid "implementation jobs", since implementation requires specialization, rigor, responsibility and deadlines. Try to instead aim for consulting jobs for example of jobs where this extreme rigorosity is not necessary.

There are different approaches to learning that lead to different blind spots. If you excel in university all the way to the PhD for example, you are highly specialized, but there's a chance that there are other fields that are extremely relevant for your field that you know absolutely nothing about. If you have ADHD and you live in harmony with your ADHD, you will always get bored when it becomes time to learn those extremely technical details and conventions for implementation. When this happens, you tend to move onto the next field, and this leads you to traverse a lot of different fields of knowledge.

So the ADHD intellectual has the edge over the non-ADHD intellectual when it comes to breadth of knowledge and a non-ADHD person has the edge of the ADHD person when it comes to specialization and implementation. They are meant to be in a symbiotic relationship. It was never the purpose of the ADHD person to implement anything. They exist to inspire the non-ADHD people and to point out their blind spots. This is why consulting work seems to be most fitting for people with ADHD in my eyes.

Damn long post sorry

Edited 1 hour ago by Cred

[YIDIRYIDIR]

6 hours ago, integration journey said:

What are your tips on the best way to study subjects that Involve a lot of memorization and physiology like medical contents for people with ADHD? 

@integration journey In my experience, the best way to do this is to not by studying and memorizing the syllabus directly, but by doing exercises and tests First and only read the syllabus when looking for answers. this way the questions are "the project" and you are applying the information to it. 
and your goal is to get to a point where you can answer most or all the questions on the tests and exercises. 

I tried this myself. I studied engineering and architecture. Architecture school is full of similar courses that have a lot of memorization. 

[YIDIRYIDIR]

58 minutes ago, Cred said:

I'm sorry to say this, but my honest advice is: don't.

He can do it, and you said how here:

59 minutes ago, Cred said:

If you have ADHD, you only want to learn what is immediately important for you right now.

Project based learning, problem first, information second. 

1 hour ago, Cred said:

Think about it. What is the purpose of a syllabus? To prepare the student for as many scenarios as possible in the future. But this leads to a problem. Which is that the ADHD brain reasons: why should I learn this if it only might be useful in the future if I choose this exact specialization which right now doesn't really interest me at all.

Yeah, the school system is backwards sometimes.