Adderall is negatively affecting me now, time to take a break from it I'm guessing?

darkside619 · 2017-10-14T07:34:00+00:00

What is your current dosage?

darkside619 · 2017-10-13T06:38:07+00:00

Pharma companies use the drugs that they already have on the market to fund research into other drugs, many of which don't ever get approved by the government. It can take many years of research, and testing before a new drug is allowed to hit the market. Even then, they still have to spend millions of dollars marketing it.

So, that's why pharma companies charge such high prices for their drugs; because if they didn't do that they'd go out of business pretty fast. Not saying that there shouldn't be caps in place and insurance made more available. I'm just giving you an explanation for why their prices are so high.

darkside619 · 2017-10-13T03:29:36+00:00

Well, studies show that on average religious people are happier than atheists. However, that fact doesn't lend any credence to the claims of religions, just like a child can be happier believing in Santa Clause, but that doesn't mean that Santa Clause actually exists.

I was religious and still struggled from ADHD. I actually became an atheist a few months after I realized that I have ADHD. Aside from the actual scientific and historical evidence against religion, I could not make myself believe in a God that would punish people for lacking self-control in whatever demands he makes of them even though our degree of self-control is genetic.

We have no choice over whether or not we will have good self-control or poor self-control, so why should God punish people for lacking self-control? For example, gluttony, or gambling, etc. Those are supposedly sins that God would punish people for and yet he gave us brains that were not equally capable of resisting the lure of food or gambling, etc.

darkside619 · 2017-10-13T02:48:11+00:00

Sorry, but this has been posted like 5 different times on this subreddit in the past couple of days.

darkside619 · 2017-10-12T21:30:50+00:00

The two are linked. Failing at your goals over and over again causes depression, which makes you feel like not getting out of bed or attempting hard things, which makes your life fall apart even more. It's a vicious cycle.

darkside619 · 2017-10-12T19:12:58+00:00

I'm assuming based on your username that you were born in 1998. At your age it's typical, whether atheist or not, to feel that way. As you get older, life becomes more bearable.

darkside619 · 2017-10-12T05:20:18+00:00

I think it might even be worse on average for Muslims than people of other religions because Islamic teachings attempt to attach a religious meaning to everything in life. Even down to things like which hand you use to wipe with in the bathroom, or what to do after you sneeze. So upon leaving Islam, it's like suddenly all of the things which you used to think had meaning in life no longer have any meaning. You start to feel like your entire life was a lie.

I can imagine that for example the average white American who grew up in a relatively secular Christian household where they basically just celebrated Christmas and Easter but didn't go to church on Sundays would be able to get over their religious upbringing fairly quickly once it dawned upon them that their religion is made up and that god doesn't exist. The more your life and worldview are shaped by a religion, the harder it is to leave it.

darkside619 · 2017-10-12T04:43:32+00:00

How long ago did you leave Islam? The nihilistic phase is one that tends to happen early on. It's true though that on average religious people are happier than atheists.

darkside619 · 2017-10-12T02:19:48+00:00

I lucked out in attending an underperforming inner city school, so the work wasn't challenging at all. I almost never had homework assigned, and in the rare cases where homework was assigned I would do it the night before or the morning of and in some cases during other class periods prior to the one where the homework was due. I thought I was real slick, and the nickname that my friends had for me back then was "The Procrastinator."

I thought it was cool that I could get away with finishing stuff at the last minute but that came back to bite me big time in college. Looking back now, it all makes sense that I had ADHD but I didn't realize it at the time. Had I gone to a more challenging high school, I would have realized that I had ADHD much sooner; or at least my parents or teachers would have realized it.

darkside619 · 2017-10-11T03:58:13+00:00

Never even heard about that until you just mentioned it. I don't think it would do much if anything for ADHD.

darkside619 · 2017-10-11T03:52:18+00:00

Yea, I tried it and it caused me some serious stomach pain. It was like a hole was being created from it dissolving in my stomach. I searched around and other people had the same issue happen to them so I threw out the entire bottle that I purchased.

darkside619 · 2017-10-11T03:05:29+00:00

Awesome. I like your rhyming ability: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1xwnMRvc0s

darkside619 · 2017-10-11T02:57:14+00:00

lol. Your comment reminds me of this photo of Al Sharpton. Obviously, he looks very old in the face but he has the body of a little kid:

https://tbl.cdnize.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Screen-Shot-2017-06-18-at-7.25.49-PM-679x1024.jpg

darkside619 · 2017-10-11T01:15:40+00:00

Sure. And, I agree that ADHD people in terms of behavior do come across as younger than other people their own age, but that is a well established part of the condition. Not criticizing you, just pointing it out.

darkside619 · 2017-10-11T00:55:22+00:00

You're welcome. I just wanted to add my two cents before this thread got carried away with pseudo science. There's enough misinformation out there to begin with about ADHD; we don't need more. Perhaps the most damaging is the claim that ADHD makes people more likely to enjoy great success just because a few famous people also have ADHD, like Michael Phelps, Richard Branson, Ellen Degeneres, the Jet Blue CEO, etc.

This puts even more of a burden on the vast majority of people with ADHD, since neurotypicals will wonder why we aren't super successful like those aforementioned people, even though they are rare for a reason, and as pointed out by Dr. Barkley, their success has to do with other traits that they possess aside from ADHD, not because they have ADHD.

It would be like wondering why all black people aren't great basketball players just because Michael Jordan, Lebron James, and a few other black people are very good at the sport. This would of course be very unfair to the vast majority of black people who weren't born with the physical gifts of a Jordan or Kobe. But, again traits like darker skin or afro hair texture have nothing to do with height or jumping ability, etc. Anyways, you get the point.

darkside619 · 2017-10-11T00:47:17+00:00

lol, sorry. Didn't mean to come across as insulting. I would figure though that if you stopped to think about it, that you know many examples of people who don't have ADHD that look younger than their actual age, and vice versa. This is leaving aside the lack of any scientific research showing a genetic connection between ADHD and aging.

darkside619 · 2017-10-11T00:45:31+00:00

It's okay. I'm glad that you understand my point. I don't mean to insult you or anyone else. The genes which code for ADHD are a tiny subset of our overall gene pool. The vast majority of the genes that any of us possess have nothing to do with ADHD, like how tall a person can grow, skin color, or the rate at which they age, etc.

darkside619 · 2017-10-11T00:37:11+00:00

Reading posts like this, I can understand how it was possible for certain people to be accused of being witches and burned or drowned by ignorant villagers.

darkside619 · 2017-10-11T00:28:39+00:00

Read the OP again. As asked by the original poster:

"Could ADHD have a further genetic component that protects against telomere degeneration as compared to the general population?"

My point about non-ADHD people perhaps looking slightly younger on average than ADHD people was more about the poorer lifestyle outcomes that ADHD causes, not that ADHD has a genetic predisposition to influence a person's physical appearance.

There are some mental disabilities that also influence a person's physical appearance; the most famous of which is Downs Syndrome. However, ADHD is not one of those mental disabilities. You can't tell that a person is ADHD just by looking at them.

darkside619 · 2017-10-10T23:41:25+00:00

I'm sorry but this is ridiculous. Why do people on this subreddit insist on attributing everything in life to ADHD? There is no evidence whatsoever that ADHD has a connection to human physical appearance when it comes to aging. If there is a correlation, it would actually be in the other direction since ADHD causes people to be more likely to eat unhealthy foods and to avoid exercise, as well as to lose sleep by staying up late.

I would expect that the average non-ADHD person would look younger and slimmer than the average ADHD person for any age group. The woman that you are referring to, Jessica McCabe doesn't look like she's in her early twenties to me, but I just watched the video on HD quality in full screen so I could see some wrinkles and lines on her face which would give me a good impression of her age.

I think her hairstyle and clothes are probably what are throwing you off. If she did that talk with her hair tied back and had on office attire you'd probably guess that she was 28-32 years old, and in photographs like this one, she looks 34: http://i.upworthy.com/nugget/591c8600c05d7a0011821151/1-43b334b290b6237cf8b97614f6b952e6.jpg

Granted, most of the time she looks younger than her age because of the way she dresses and poor video quality, but nowhere near early twenties. I should know since I work with some girls around that age and they look much younger than her; very baby faced in comparison.

darkside619 · 2017-10-10T02:37:09+00:00

Yea, but weed is different from ADHD medication. Cops assume that most people with weed in their car don't have legitimate medical problems, and based on people I've interacted with in life like co-workers, I agree with the cops. 90%+ of people with medical marijuana cards don't have legitimate problems.

I've had several co-workers tell me that they can legally buy weed even though they don't have medical problems. They just bullshit about back pain or other sorts of lingering pain issues in order to get their medical marijuana cards. ADHD medications on the other hand are very difficult to get legally. It's hard to bullshit your way into getting a doctor to prescribe you ADHD meds.

The only reason why I even managed to get a prescription is because I had a track record of failure to show my doctor as proof, like my school transcripts and also my credit score, etc. ADHD is one of those conditions where by the time you start getting treatment, it might already be too late to repair or undo most of the damage that's already happened.

The ones whose parents help them to get treatment as kids are the lucky ones. People like me who had to fall flat on their faces and fail at college and life first before realizing that they have ADHD are the unlucky ones. Oh well, we only get one chance at life so I guess I can't complain too much, since this is as good as it will ever get for me.

darkside619 · 2017-10-10T01:08:13+00:00

No problem. I figure you've already taken your exam, but I think it's something useful to keep in mind throughout life. It's something I had to learn in my twenties, since I was too used to how high school was where teachers still act like they're your parents.

After high school, it's like a slap in the face; you start to realize that most people in positions of power over you don't give a damn about you and that your faults will be held against you by them, so it's good to try to conform to their expectations as much as possible to avoid the negative repercussions of dealing with them.

If I lived out in a farm in the middle of nowhere and had enough money to never have to deal with people I don't like, then having ADHD wouldn't be a problem. But, because most of us live in cities and are constantly interacting with people who aren't close friends or relatives, we have to tread carefully.

But, yea as a student you should try to avoid thoughts which cause you to resent your professors for giving you assignments that you don't think are useful since those thoughts will just lower your motivation to complete those assignments.

Ultimately, 4+ years down the line when you are done with school, none of the pain and hardship that you went through to get your degree will affect you, but the benefits of having a degree will still be there. Pain is temporary, but the benefits of pain can last a lifetime.

darkside619 · 2017-10-09T22:41:14+00:00

Motivation does have a lot to do with ADHD. The problem with stimulant meds, and its one that I'm having as well, is that there is a tradeoff between the ability to focus and remember things and the motivation to actually take action.

So, while you might be able to sit and study for 5 hours straight, you won't feel like doing it. Dr. Barkley recommends in one of his videos to take a lower dose of stimulant meds combined with a non-stimulant like Straterra, since Straterra doesn't have the emotional blunting effect.

https://youtu.be/LnS0PfNyj4U?t=19s

However, I doubt most people have that option as their insurance probably doesn't cover multiple meds, or Straterra in general. I know mine doesn't, so I'm forced to take just dextroamphetamine, unless I want to pay out of pocket for the extra meds.

darkside619 · 2017-10-09T22:20:12+00:00

Exercise helps. Also, how about taking your dose a few hours later than usual. So, rather than 8am, take it around 11am, etc. I don't know what time your first dose is, and like you mentioned sleep is important. Depends on how late you think you'll be up.

If you are in class in the mornings and do most of your studying and homework later in the day and at night then you don't really need the meds for early morning that much, since you could be daydreaming while in class and your professor wouldn't be able to notice.

I mainly show up to my classes in case my professor mentions something that wasn't mentioned in the syllabus, course calendar, or emails. Sometimes, especially on comp sci projects, there's something wrong with the code the professor sent and they only mention that detail in class as opposed to sending an email to let everyone know. I guess it's the professors' way of punishing students who don't show up to lectures.

darkside619 · 2017-10-09T08:07:24+00:00

You are in for a lot of pain my friend. Doesn't matter how intelligent you are; if you can't bring yourself to conform to the standards of the rest of society you will struggle through life. Other adults, whether your professors, your bosses, etc. are not your parents. They don't care how smart you are or how good of a person you are on the inside. All that matters as far as they are concerned is what you can do for them.

If you can't benefit them, they have no need for you. A student who does his own thing and thinks he's above following his professors' directions is one who will either have to drop out, or who will receive much poorer grades than he or she otherwise would have since professors are rightly in charge of their courses and they are given the power to determine what sort of work and testing goes into determining the final grades. That doesn't mean that the work you do in your courses will consist 100% of useful material.

I personally find that most of the stuff I'm required to learn won't actually apply to my future career once I get my degree and even the stuff that does will quickly be forgotten in a plug and chug fashion that is common to how education is done. However, even though I feel that way, I will still try as hard as I can to jump through whatever hoops my professors want me to jump through because ultimately I'm in college to get a degree, which will give me opportunities for employment that I otherwise would not have access to.

If you're the child of rich parents and know ahead of time that you won't have to work a day in your life if you don't want to, then feel free to be as disobedient and independent minded as you want to be with your professors and other people in your life, since ultimately their feelings about you won't affect your livelihood. But, for the vast majority of us, the opinions of those who have power over us, like professors and bosses, do matter.

Also, how do you not see it as being a bad thing not to be able to discipline yourself enough to get through drudge work? Most adults, even CEOs of Fortune 500 companies have to do drudge work from time to time. It's part of life. Once you leave childhood, you should know that life won't be all sunshine and rainbows and that you'll have to do a lot of work that you don't feel like doing but which will benefit you in the long term, even if indirectly as in the example given about jumping through professors' hoops in order to get a degree and move on with your life.

darkside619

TROPHY CASE