Metafilter does Adult ADHD

June 6, 2022 11:36 AM

I know I've come across many good answers, comments, posts and questions about adult diagnoses of ADHD. Do you have any in your memory banks or favorited, followed or flagged you could share with me?
posted by Grandysaur to MetaFilter-Related at 11:36 AM (22 comments total)

This comment of mine seems to have hit a chord with many people. (Including me, looking at it now and wondering if I should get back on those meds.) I wasn't diagnosed until I was an adult, so I didn't have experience taking ADHD meds until then.
posted by The corpse in the library at 2:13 PM on June 6, 2022 [3 favorites]

Following with interest here. I’m currently titrating up on medication trial #3 after giving up on Strattera.
posted by lazaruslong at 12:08 AM on June 7, 2022

also wow that thread The corpse in the library linked has several great answers including theirs
posted by lazaruslong at 12:10 AM on June 7, 2022 [1 favorite]

I posted a pair of pieces to the front page last year that y'all might be interested in: "this was like discovering DNA" and "no single cause; 5.9% of youth & 2.5% of adults; safe & effective meds". I hope you can briefly check out the main link for that second one: "The World Federation of ADHD International Consensus Statement: 208 Evidence-based conclusions about the disorder" is a 2021 scientific review of studies about attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. It's an open access article you can read for free online, and has a summary of findings that may help you understand your own condition.

Also, different practitioners trying to assess the same person would usually disagree about how to diagnose that person.
posted by brainwane at 6:21 AM on June 7, 2022 [6 favorites]

Are you only looking for things about people who were diagnosed as adults, or are general ADHD posts helpful? The YouTube channel How to ADHD was recommended here more than once before I finally watched it and it is very useful. Here is a recent post on the blue about it.
posted by soelo at 10:31 AM on June 7, 2022

Brainwane, your post from last July was the direct catalyst to my getting a diagnosis as an adult and the life-changing improvement I had as a result of medication. There's no way I can thank you enough.
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 2:09 PM on June 7, 2022 [14 favorites]

Yes, brainwane's post really helped me to understand that I am probably somehow neuroadivergent. I struggle along just fine and in fact do great in many situations, but so much seems so much harder than a lot of people I deal with.

I am literally sitting here thinking about whether I should delete this comment and also all the people I have had a "weird" conversation with JUST TODAY, and feeling a little overwhelmed.

That overwhelm comes from a place of "I dunno", because I apparently can function in the world and can be a highly functioning individual in an IT related space? (Which makes sense why I can do it... input in should match input out.)

Grandysaur, that is an absolutely long winded way of saying you are seen. Great hope that you find a way to improve your experience with ADD/ADHD however it is in your life.
posted by a non mouse, a cow herd at 6:16 PM on June 7, 2022 [5 favorites]

These are resources that have come up more than once, some recently:

CHADD

Jessica McCabe -- How to ADHD: TED Talk - Failing at Normal , YT channel (including the recent "My Channel was a Bit Ableist When I Started"), website

Ologies podcast episodes with useful links in the show notes:
Part 1: Attention-Deficit Neuropsychology (ADHD) with Russell Barkley
Part 2: Attention-Deficit Neuropsychology (ADHD) with How to ADHD, Black Girl Lost Keys, Jahla Osborne + more
Bonus ep: Life Advice

HMP Continuing Medical Education: Adult ADHD: Patient Perspectives & Best Practices
posted by snuffleupagus at 6:51 PM on June 7, 2022 [3 favorites]

Naturally I cannot find the recommendation now, but someone on MetaFilter recommended reading Taking Charge of Adult ADHD.

It is great. I really appreciated the tone (so reassuring and kind). It's also clearly written by someone who has a deep understanding of ADHD; the chapters are very bite-sized and readable.

My only caveat is that the author still uses the dumb 'alternating he-she pronouns' thing (that can be annoying for some but devastating for others).
posted by librarylis at 7:58 PM on June 7, 2022 [2 favorites]

This whole thread from 2010 literally changed my life.
posted by EXISTENZ IS PAUSED at 10:08 PM on June 7, 2022 [5 favorites]

That thread, my remark, and then the remark following: just because it sounds like you, doesn't mean it is... I was diagnosed and medicated within two years of that thread and my wage has doubled.
posted by b33j at 10:12 PM on June 7, 2022 [6 favorites]

I'm sitting here. Metafilter has definitely helped me realise I'm not just a wierdo (well that too! :) ) But I'm not just lazy, I genuinely have stuff going on. Not quite neurotypical.

Thank you all for sharing, definitely food for thought.
posted by freethefeet at 1:08 AM on June 8, 2022 [4 favorites]

Diagnosed last year, medication recommended by that specialist. My GP disagreed because I'm already taking Wellbutrin "and that's good for it." So I'm still researching, and as much as WFH has been a relief, THIS MUCH WFH has probably not been good for ADHD.
posted by emelenjr at 6:56 PM on June 8, 2022

I have been thinking about that quite a bit recently.

My tentative conclusion is that it's not so much WFH itself that's bad, as that going full WFH can quickly lead to just being at home all the time if you aren't self aware about it (in my case, to the point that -- with the influence of Covid insularity and the calendar losing its meaning -- I wasn't even spending time in my own yard while the sun was up for a year plus, which is theoretically one of the reasons I live in the 'burbs over the city in the first place).

So a lot more intentionality is required for WHF to be healthy with a plastic time sense, and that can be surprisingly tough if you're accustomed to work being an externality that propels you into the world in an unarguable way; and even moreso if have the thing where you get oppositional or avoidant with yourself, when addressing patterns like this. But on the upside, I think properly managed WFH has a lot of benefits for ADHD people vs. commuting to and working in traditional office spaces (and other neurodiverse folks too).
posted by snuffleupagus at 8:28 PM on June 8, 2022 [4 favorites]

BuddhaInABucket, your comment has made my week. I'm indescribably delighted. And a non mouse, a cow herd, I am very glad to have helped you too!
posted by brainwane at 7:21 AM on June 9, 2022 [5 favorites]

My tentative conclusion is that it's not so much WFH itself that's bad, as that going full WFH can quickly lead to just being at home all the time if you aren't self aware about it

For me, it's more than that. Sometimes, working from home can be good - not as many people around, etc. If I have a really big project that my brain wants to just power through, it's great. But for the more day to day crap, being in the office can help me focus. B/c it's like, well I'm here, at work, so I guess I might as well get work done. It's not a perfect system, but still...

When I'm at home, it's like, I want a snack, go to kitchen, realize I forgot to put dishes in dishwasher, go to dishwasher, then realize I forgot to feed the cat, get cat food, realize there was a chewy delivery a week ago I never emptied, etc etc, and then 2 hours later, both the cat and I are still hungry, and now I'm about to be late or a zoom meeting.

But maybe that's just me and my flavor of ADHD. The other thing is that I'm in a small apartment, and for Reasons, it's physically hard for me to go up and down the stairs, and there's not much space for me to pace around. Just the fact that at work, getting to the kitchen, or getting to the bathroom, takes a fair amount of walking was really good for me.
posted by litera scripta manet at 9:44 AM on June 10, 2022 [4 favorites]

I think the biggest factor for me WRT ADHD coming on strong during the pandemic is that I no longer have to be "on" all the time, even during meetings, which are usually just audio. I attend all the meetings, get all my work done, find extra ways to be indispensable to my team, but I can't focus at all.
posted by emelenjr at 10:58 AM on June 10, 2022

Thank you for putting up this prompt/gathering links, I've been... coming to terms with "Ok, maybe this *is* the best explanation for what all I've got going on" and trying to muddle through getting an evaluation.

The various tele-diagnosis startups have been tempting, that idea of "rather than wait months for an appointment that gets canceled, perhaps get on the path now and use that to turn around the slow leak that is my job performance?", but it turns out I'm a year or so too late on that front and they're clamming up in the face of investigations.

So, here's to hoping I can make some headway on finding someone. (if anybody has Seattle-area recommendations for adult ADHD evaluations, I would *love* pointers, or even just "what does this look like/what should I be doing?", or links therein where someone's already answered this)
posted by CrystalDave at 11:46 AM on June 10, 2022 [1 favorite]

This thread about the ADHD Alien comics was the one that really helped my partner and I turn a corner in terms of communicating about his ADHD and me learning to get better at managing some aspects of it that I had struggled with.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 5:52 PM on June 11, 2022 [1 favorite]

I have an appointment with my doctor tomorrow to talk about my meds. I was taking adderall for 30 days, then switched to a non-stimulant for 90 days. On adderall I knew the meds were making me jittery, focused, and difficult to sleep. On the new med, I'm not sure that anything is happening. And I could really use some help right now, as parts of my life feel like they are falling apart.

I'm so tired of trying to find the answer that will fix my life. I'm not ready to accept my life as it is - there is too much that needs to change. But is change even possible?
posted by rebent at 9:00 AM on June 13, 2022 [3 favorites]

rebent, have you tried any extended-release drugs or was this Adderall IR? Adderall IR on its own makes me jittery as fuck, but the XR version, or even better, Vyvanse work really really well.
posted by augustimagination at 1:21 PM on June 14, 2022

As a data point, Strattera gave me an extreme panic and hypertensive response -- and I was trying it as an alternative to the increasingly large amounts of Dexedrine spansules (i.e. plain old amphetamine salts, time release) I needed for therapeutic effect as I got older (and less tolerant of the side effects).

It's probably about time for me to give meds another run too; as I'm not really satisfied with how I function and it's been long enough for new candidates.
posted by snuffleupagus at 1:26 PM on June 14, 2022 [1 favorite]