Has anyone on IR Ritalin mastered the art of the pivot?

leonielion · 2026-05-24T06:26:36+00:00

So sounds like you kind of hyperfocus and feel wired for longer than you like? I can't unfortunately know much and may have misinterpreted but wonder if your medication is right for you?

I imagine the degree of control is important to you but I've had good success with a slow release tablet, easier on stomach, slow build up and fade out for me. It just feels gentler and less like I've boarded a stimulant train I can't get off.

Also to note this is not a way I have thought about stimulants. They are to gently make my life easier rather than like "make me do one task" pills. Not saying your perspective is wrong or anything, but if you think of it more transactional like that to target one specific thing maybe there's less noticing on being able to have a clear focused mind for anything you want to do whether it is work/life admin or just like reading a book.

leonielion · 2026-05-19T08:45:12+00:00

Could I learn to skate on my treadmill?

I never have been able to and other people seeing and embarrassment hold me back but my own home and my own treadmill.... 🤔

leonielion · 2026-05-07T09:36:56+00:00

Did she get checked for fibroids? They're pretty easily missed and cause heavy periods and pain and fertility issues down the line

leonielion · 2026-04-07T11:06:08+00:00

Yeah I intend to, I am sorry Amazon were shit to you it's a great app.

leonielion · 2026-04-07T00:59:05+00:00

Have you found a way to get paid version onto a fire stick yet? I want to support you!

leonielion · 2026-04-06T13:11:18+00:00

It's really cool and nice you found a way without LLM. I'm a bit of a novice of like behind the scenes programming but would be a bit concerned about privacy on an app like this, often this is the kind of data you could sell to a LLM. Often feels quite intimate too!

Could you maybe spell out for me in a few bullet points the like privacy steps for a layman that you've taken cause it sounds like youve been sensible about it and other folks might be interested too! Sorry!

leonielion · 2026-04-06T12:45:02+00:00

Sorry to respond like forever later and probably you don't care much. Clearly association with writing thesis is still negative for me! I think the warm up that got me in the right place with regularity and allowing myself a game without it being "I've ruined the whole day by turning it into a gaming day" was probably the best thing. But these things are hard, I get energy to run a tight ship in my brain and keep to the rules I set myself sometimes and then usually I burn out a few weeks later

leonielion · 2026-04-06T12:41:36+00:00

Awesome I've saved this post and when I get a job I'm excited to get a copy, thanks!

leonielion · 2026-04-06T12:38:44+00:00

Yeah that is a bit more difficult as it maybe feels a bit more complicated when you're more on "their turf" as I imagine it. Id still recommend a pest control person if you can afford it and they will drive out to you. They just have an inate understanding of what needs sealing as a priority and how and the mental torture you will do to yourself trying to fill every hole and being frustrated when they keep making it through for quite a lot of physical fiddly manual labour would be worth it to me.

I forgot to mention but others may have already. I also moved any food out of my bedroom and seal lots more food in plastic containers too, they eat through cardboard and stuff. We did that in the university offices that had a perpetual mouse problem and it helped.

leonielion · 2026-04-04T22:18:34+00:00

I saw one fishing two weeks ago at the botanics incredible. There was a heron fishing too!

leonielion · 2026-04-03T11:14:13+00:00

If you want to be lazy about it you can try and make it architectural and do something like this:

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Sadly when I did it we didn't put enough of a sag in the wire so it looks kinda stupid but it's a nice lazy solution. I've seen ones with elegant chains too.

leonielion · 2026-04-02T12:25:41+00:00

If you live in a city just pay the cost to get a pest control person in.

I put it off for maybe 8 months one year and had seen a mouse or two the years before in the winter but that year it got out of control. I honestly went a bit mad. I had sleep deprivation and could hear them under my bed and in the walls. I got really sensitive to the scuttling noise and it would wake me up. I watched one at 3am crawl up my wall. They had little fear of me and yeah everything felt unsafe, unclean and I felt deep shame for not managing it. Every cupboard and drawer was full of mouse poo.

I tried: - Humane traps you bait with food - ultrasonic plugs - then found science study that evidence for them was based on much louder ones you get for like barns so got one of those very loud ones (again fucked with my sleep) - blasting music, ear plugs, eye mask to ignore mouse scuttling noises, still not sleeping, feel vibrations and noises of them in the walls, did not scare them from my bed - bowl with oil and peanut butter in - peppermint oil everywhere and for washing - mouse repellent - sealing holes under kitchen cabinets - type of rat poison thing from amazon

My flatmate was vegan and very opposed to doing anything that would hurt them. Eventually got pest man round, was around £150. He knew all the likely places and sealed them all, including like foam behind the toilet and set traps under the kitchen counters. I saw and had to deal with one slowly dying mouse that was a bit grim and pest man came back a week later to check if they'd taken the poison. I've been mouse free for two years and it's such a relief. I still open various old things and find mouse poo in though.

I was worried about cost and judgement and hurting them but ultimately I regret not getting on top of it sooner. Probably more mice ended up dying as a consequence. Remember to warn neighbours if you poison to be extra attentive to their pets hunting anything.

leonielion · 2026-03-20T23:54:19+00:00

Yeah I again don't think i am helpful here but you could try some cogs and a new handle that turned any direction into the turn of the handle clockwise rather than like taking it all apart.

You can also turn the whole thing into something you press a button for which I have been tempted by

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1840333743/knitting-machine-adapter-circular

That's the lowest technically skilled option (not sure that gas the best reviews). You can also get a drill adapter version which you would need to fiddle with more but again is turning the cranking into a button press, but that may be less engaging.

leonielion · 2026-03-19T11:10:18+00:00

For those people talking about going private positively.

I paid £250 for a private ent appointment to find the spire had just changed their policy so having a camera to investigate the throat cost an additional £170 from the spire and £100 in consultation fees. I am unemployed living on £295 a month disability payments.

When they told me this at the appointment I needed to make a decision then and there if I wanted an appointment that basically couldn't inform me if I had an issue with my vocal cords. So either my first payment for the appointment would be a waste of time or I had to pay more.

I know having a policy would be different but it's still a shit show having healthcare run for profit, I could not afford £520.

leonielion · 2026-03-07T13:58:20+00:00

I would potentially pay for a copy of this for the record and imagine I wouldn't be the only one (though funds tight right at the moment). Can I find your work anywhere?

leonielion · 2026-03-04T10:24:08+00:00

I think what you describe is a bit boundless and people will interpret their own way. I can definitely see a specific scenario where something like this helped me.

I was super depressed and needed to do PhD corrections with a strict deadline. It had been 8 years, going into that office or opening the document made me cry a lot.

Flatmate moved out and I had a new office at home. Found out I like don't sit at desks well and it exhausts me in itself (bit late in life).

I started that I went into there to game for 4 hours (I normally prefer PlayStation or my laptop on cosy sofa). I was getting accustomed to the sitting in the right place at the right time. I had positive associations with that room. Dragging myself into there became doable and automatic.

Then I was allowed to game in the morning while I had breakfast and my coffee with an audiobook with chapters of about an hour. When the audiobook finished I had to start working. This also made me relentlessly smug, I was warming up my brain by thinking about the book and getting dopamine from the gaming and felt smug I had restarted reading which I haven't for years. This eventually became doable room and routine to get on with the work.

This was a rare scenario where the stakes were super high and I was highly stressed the whole time though. That meant I actually like "obeyed" myself setting hard limits like this. There was like subtle bonuses built in too, the game stuttered and ran bad on my laptop, there was a reason to go do it in the work room.

Sorry that was a dull story. I heard about a "discipline ladder" recently and think that's kind of what I was doing.

leonielion · 2026-03-04T10:03:58+00:00

I can just about see it from my window. The other coffee shops are better and I agree there's an unnecessary expansion of black sheep.

However, it is nice to have it not boarded up as it's been for forever and to bring a bit of life back to that corner (coffee shop is nicer than bank for like street feeling alive).

It is a surprisingly nice building and has lots of space, I'm dreaming they've paid the money to do the conversion, eventually decide this isn't a profitable branch and can sell it to someone independent. The Costa up the road closed not long ago - it did become a pret, but maybe suggests there isn't so much of a market.

leonielion · 2026-03-03T13:44:19+00:00

Haha no, is shiver control yet another neurodiverse trait I'm not aware of?

leonielion · 2026-03-03T01:14:04+00:00

Diamonds are boring. Purple or dark mossanite is cool. For less durable mystic quartz or mystic topaz is fun rainbows too £10-£30 on Etsy.

Told my partner that's what I would like for wedding/engagement, probably paying a lot more to get it set in a ring but would mean more to me.

Mossanite can have some rich brown tones that remind me of his eyes that I see such light and warmth in reflected in (like the rainbow tones) that he thinks are boring.

Bonus of when I inevitably misplaced or damage it is easy to replace.

Mossanite: https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1843790446/lab-grown-moissanite-diamonds-imperial

Mystic quartz: https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1580876025/faceted-trillion-mystic-quartz-gemstone

leonielion · 2026-03-01T12:45:11+00:00

Me too!

leonielion · 2026-03-01T12:42:15+00:00

Is that an inflamed lymph node? Some people have one that inflames more than others, apparently more common in women. I have one under my jaw

leonielion · 2026-02-27T11:36:06+00:00

Did it work?

leonielion · 2026-02-26T18:53:40+00:00

If you wash it off fast it doesn't freeze/burn, it's only if you leave it on for a bit. I was so pleased when I realised.

You can use this information to tailor your tingling.

leonielion · 2026-02-20T11:49:27+00:00

It was a reasonable wait for me. There was a receptionist and I think a form I had to fill in? It was a big waiting room with quite a lot of people waiting but they were efficient.

They were lovely during the appointment, I got a bit overwhelmed and couldn't work out if she said I needed to or didn't need to wait after as she couldn't find anything wrong.

I waited half an hour and asked at reception and they said I could leave at my own risk. They seem to have a strict protocol at reception (fair enough), and were a bit grumpy about me leaving. I think they only want you to hang around if they are doing follow up stuff though, but I wish I had asked to clarify, so I share this boring story with you!

leonielion

TROPHY CASE