Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

Does it mean you DON'T have ADHD if you get a stimulant affect from Adderall?


No. Brain chemistry is complex and different stimulants hit different people different ways. It took like 5 medications to find one that didn’t make me feel like a tweaker.


Originally diagnosed as a teen, was put on Adderall XR and it made me feel like an empty shell every day I took it - stopped taking it after a few months, figured the diagnosis was wrong. Last year after realizing many of my struggles in my adult life indicated I did, in fact, have ADHD, I went to my primary care provider and...well, duh, I do have ADHD. Started taking lisdexamfetamine (Vyvanse) and, while it doesn't magically make many years of learned habits vanish, I can actually function like a normal adult, or, as another poster in this thread said, I can get shit done without it being an emergency (or something I'm inextricably interested in that would immediately cause me to go into hyperfocus mode.)

Hell, caffeine barely does anything for me if I'm not taking my meds - I could pound energy drinks and go to bed 30 minutes later. Meanwhile, unless I have built up a tolerance, nicotine would give me a legitimate rush, and I unknowingly self-medicated that way for years (though it was substantially less effective).

The human brain is funny, it doesn't matter if you're ND or not, different stimulants affect people in wildly varying ways.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: