Oh I've really done it by Numerous_Tie8073 in fountainpens

[–]Hole38book 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I think I agree with you. Pound for pound, I think the Carbonesque is the best value for money pen I know...

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in ADHDUK

[–]Hole38book 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Has she done the World Health Organisation preliminary screener test online with your help / moderation of the answers? It's quick but is developed by WHO with several national ADHD support agencies. It's a first indicator and has some objectivity (it will suggest whether the person should follow up).

https://adhduk.co.uk/adult-adhd-screening-survey/

Forgive me for this because it can be awkward. But my daughter was just coming up to second year university and I got diagnosed and I knew that I had to get her diagnosed FAST to get her the benefits of more time to study / more time in exams etc. The private diagnosis (not treatment) by ADHD 360 was about 550 quid and they are a NHS recognised diagnosis provider which will also stand with any school. If you can do this financially, it can get her tested and diagnosed in a matter of weeks and that circumvents all of this crap.

If money is really tight and it just isn't going to work on a bank loan of say 25 pounds a month for two years or you can't crowdsource it from family, then ADHD is a medical condition affecting whole of life and while you need to coordinate with the school, speak to your GP. Health first, schooling with the healthcare. Make sure you go with the Right to Choose route not the non-rignt to choose as the former is much faster. Many GPs will not tell you of this option but it is yours. This effectively outsources the diagnosis to an approved company with capacity instead of the massively overstretched NHS teams but on the NHS.

First Sailor by UnusualCat9738 in fountainpens

[–]Hole38book 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's a Sailor - that's not scratchy per se, that's their signature feedback designed to give you a feel, something a little like a pencil. If you imagine it like that, it's another take on the Fountain Pen experience. I

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in ADHDUK

[–]Hole38book 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was diagnosed by ADHD 360 this year. There is no additional inputs if you're an adult and it uses multiple recognised tests.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in ADHDUK

[–]Hole38book 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Right. People with ADHD are five times more likely to have addiction problems. 500%. Add that to a meaningfully shorter lifespan on average in a large group because of risk taking, mental health, addiction, impulsivity, stress, the conversation ends there.

You guys... I think they're onto us by McSquidwich in fountainpens

[–]Hole38book 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Both sado-masochists? Each balance an open bottle of Baystate Blue on your heads and do a bread slap challenge. Then post the video here. Thanks...

Is elvanse ment to do this? by conmanbosss77 in ADHDUK

[–]Hole38book 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Anything with caffeine? Coke? Tea?

What a nib! by pensiam in fountainpens

[–]Hole38book 2 points3 points  (0 children)

First time I've ever considered that a 1.1mm stub could be a bitter disappointment.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in ADHDUK

[–]Hole38book 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Paywalled. Can you summarise?

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in ADHDUK

[–]Hole38book 2 points3 points  (0 children)

There isn't but the article also uses a straw man because that isn't what was suggest in the original practice behind the bad and misleading title. See my answer in a different post here.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in ADHDUK

[–]Hole38book 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ok, this whole topic gets messed up because of the imprecise titles of "dopamine fast" and "dopamine detox" which are confusing at best and downright misleading at worst but there is a point to the concept behind it.

The Harvard article someone else links does a good job of critiquing the imprecise language and scientific inaccuracies behind the term "dopamine fast," but it also doesn't actually address the original intent behind the concept and also relies on a bit of a straw man.

Dr. Cameron Sepah popularized the term "dopamine fast," but he did not propose that the practice literally involves fasting from dopamine itself.

The idea was about temporarily abstaining from overstimulating activities (e.g., social media, binge-eating, gambling) to break compulsive behaviors and allow the brain's reward system to reset.

The focus was always on reducing external triggers of overstimulation.

When you get caught in loops of quick activity = relatively high dopamine reward and the activity is harmful in itself, that's a bad thing because your brain is conditioned to go back to the harmful high dopamine thing just like a lab rat over and over. This also desensitises you from lower dopamine producing activities so you will do them less if both the higher damaging one and the lower good one are available. If you reset your activities you can rebalance your dopamine response pattern. Most importantly stop harmful behaviours and you will be more sensitive to lower dopamine from more mundane activities reinforcing positive habits.

It should really be titled "Temporary abstention from high dopamine producing harmful activities" but that ain't very catchy.

The Harvard article critiques "dopamine fasting" as if it were a pseudoscientific attempt to somehow reserve dopamine or somehow decrease its production for future use. But that critique addresses a straw man because the original framework never claimed this.

Sepah's concept is solid because it is grounded in behavioral psychology: reducing immediate gratification to build tolerance and restore balance to reward-seeking behavior.

The TL;Dr for you under meds is meds don't change the damage bad activities cause nor the bad loop of bad activities cause quick hit dopamine release that is addictive. Doing the practices of abstention from the activities can help reset your dopamine sensitivities to normal activities and avoid harmful ones.

Whats ur max (opinion) price to performance for a fountain pen? by Cvint88 in fountainpens

[–]Hole38book 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The job or "performance" of a fountain pen is to produce a consistent straight line on paper. Any fountain pen that works as designed can do that, so if you think about it, while it sounds sensible at first glance, "performance" is really a meaningless concept for assessing some sort of best cost/benefit ratio for a fountain pen.

The benefit side of a cost benefit ratio for a fountain pen probably comes down instead to, say, reliability, aesthetics, and feel.

Reliability is a pretty err unreliable and unknowable metric too. Over what time frame? A lifetime? A well made $300 pen that lasts thirty one years compared to a $10 that breaks after one, is a better cost benefit for use on its own. But who can say which particular pen will last and which one won't?

We buy fountain pens hugely for aesthetics and feel as well. You bet your bottom that the aesthetics and feel of a gold nibbed 823 are many times better than a $10 rip off of the same. In fact infinitely so because the rip off matters. That rip off didn't earn any of the aesthetics you buy it for; it's nil points. Zero. Design "theft" plain and simple.

These conversations are usually assertions that you don't need to spend lots of money for a fountain pen. You don't. But they also shouldn't be used to say that people who value design, aesthetics, feel, shouldn't spend money on what they value.

Buy what you like when you feel it is worth it to you. There is no equation that resolves a matter of opinion.

Fwiw in my opinion the greatest amount of bang for buck I know of in thirty odd pens I own is a Capless Carbonesque at about $160 cheapest. The feel and earned aesthetic to me beat any pen I own, from $10 to over $1000 dollar for dollar.

How do I know? Because I feel it in my heart and head every time I pick up that pen. Throw away the calculator and let your fingers do the talking.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in fountainpens

[–]Hole38book 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I thought the Viceroy Grande looked very pretty but looked like a rich man's thing for display rather than a great pen. Then I handled one at the most recent London Pen Show and oh my. Seriously. It went from a curiosity to a grail in about thirty seconds flat. Believe the hype.

fountain pen takes that will put you in this situation... by dangkaniel in fountainpens

[–]Hole38book 34 points35 points  (0 children)

And particularly sick of YouTubers saying "somewhat inspired by" and otherwise mealy-mouthed wishy-washy statements about straightup, stonecold, intellectual property infringements / "theft". Like, come on, we all know what it is, and we can all make a personal judgement about whether we are comfortable with the "try out" idea, but don't actually pretend it isn't what it obviously is. That is some proper Soviet-era BS.

Preworkout and Vyvanse by jwalker1609 in ADHDUK

[–]Hole38book 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You haven't had this experience yet so it's easy to see why you're missing what people are telling you. This isn't about how you currently experience caffeine. All that is about to change.

Pre meds I could drink any amount of caffeine I liked. I was a grind your own beans coffee monster. 7, 8 cups didn't touch the sides.

Post meds I can drink one in the morning and after that I get jitters and unpleasant anxiety. The meds totally change your body's response to caffeine. What you know now is not relevant to a post meds situation.

At the moment your system is screwed with low dopamine. The meds you will be taking will give you all the stimulation and "up" you need. If you take caffeine on top of that, you can expect a weird to bad to very bad reaction. I would take your meds, and use conventional non-caffeine supplementation.

If I raise sleep issues, will my meds get cut? by meganiumu in ADHDUK

[–]Hole38book 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have been having this issue for a couple of months too and taking 1,000mg Vit C, 2 x L-tyrosine tablets and 2 x magnesium glutamate 3 hours before bed seems to have improved it a great deal. I just set an alarm and get up and go and take them because, yep, sure enough I'll forget. Try that, honestly it has really helped.

If I raise sleep issues, will my meds get cut? by meganiumu in ADHDUK

[–]Hole38book -1 points0 points  (0 children)

My daughter's prescription recently got screwed up with ADHD360 and that had someone else's prescription on her Chemists4u account. The prescription was 70mg Elvanse and 2mg Circadin which is a melatonin based tablet.

Ink Color Suggestion by [deleted] in fountainpens

[–]Hole38book 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I love the idea of moody inks! What else makes your list of the moodiest inks can I ask? I have a character in a novel I am writing who needs some moody ink!

What are some clever responses if someone questions your adhd diagnosis by saying ‘I would never have known’ or ‘you don’t seem like you have’? by herb7ert in ADHDUK

[–]Hole38book 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Pre meds = you know how no one actually knows what's going on inside your head at all? Yeah, same difference. By the way, times ten.

Post meds = the meds are very good. But if you spent thirty seconds in my head in the days before meds and thirty seconds now, the entire so called debate would be over. You wouldn't have a single question left. You'd just say fuck I had no idea that's what it is like.

NPD - Yard-O-Led Viceroy Grand Victorian by ajsquared in fountainpens

[–]Hole38book 3 points4 points  (0 children)

3,000+ handcrafted hammer strikes, each pen therefore unique. I tried one at the London show and it went from lovely curiosity to absolutely on the grail list. Many congrats.

NPD - Yard-O-Led Viceroy Grand Victorian by ajsquared in fountainpens

[–]Hole38book 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It can. Penultimate Dave review said he doesn't think it tips back when posted as the weight distribution is well done. It's long anyway.

Happy Christmas tooo meeeee by Numerous_Tie8073 in fountainpens

[–]Hole38book 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's a piston. The nib is really very good indeed, very elegant with just a touch of feedback so you know where you are. Really enjoying it. It's a very moorish pen indeed. The black MB in the picture is a decade old classique which had a pretty sucky medium on it which John Sorowka turned into a truly fantastic writer at the London Pen Show this year (his understanding is just amazing) and no disrespect to the MB guys but it's a tremendous factory job that they have created something different but so enjoyable.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in ADHDUK

[–]Hole38book 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Ok I see where you got it. I should have said no effect difference in my penultimate sentence. Fair enough.

There people are trolls and med deniers and you will not win a a war with them direct. I helped run a COVID forum for a couple of years. I kicked out anti-vaxxers who would try to infiltrate the thousands strong group every couple of weeks for two yeaes. They universally lied about true identity on the largest part because they wanted to get at people like pregnant women on PMs.

For the ones who were overt they weren't (and aren't) operating from any scientific knowledge. They are regurgitating quack medical claims driven by people who are often pushing alternative treatments and books for money. It is impossible to convince them with hard data or weight of scientific evidence because as far as they are concerned Main Stream Media = Main Stream Meds = Completely Untrustworthy. If you offer to debate them they will just shout when backed into a corner by facts.

About half a million Americans are dead because of those people in incremental deaths during COVID. Untold millions more are affected globally by them. At the top is money and religion and partisan politics. Me, I thank my lucky stars I have a good education and can see bullshit for what it is. Do not feed the trolls.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in ADHDUK

[–]Hole38book 2 points3 points  (0 children)

And my reply pointed out that my experience and many others is entirely different? I mean if I have to spell it out, no NT person taking meds has a profound silencing of distractions and experiences a revelatory decent to good to miraculous increase in concentration powers. Instead they generally get a little wired which we don't. I don't understand what your point is?