If you’re talking about adhd drugs like adderall then how do you deal with untreated adhd? It’s absolutely exhausting to me and maddening to everyone around me when I have to go without for whatever reason.
There is no good answer. Adderall is a miracle drug for people like us.
To get by without, you have two options: incredible discipline and force of will, and overcompensating with other stimulants.
Meditate, exercise, do anything it takes to force yourself into whatever structure fits your life. I'm talking to-do lists for your to-do lists and scheduling your daily time down to brushing your teeth. You have to force structure onto your life to contain your attention and energy. You have to make some truly profound changes in your life.
Or drink way too much caffeine, smoke too many cigarettes and try very hard to not think about the damage you're doing.
The only shortcut I know of is to get enough black market adderall for a couple of months and use that to keep yourself functional long enough to build the systems and habits that can keep you going without.
See the Getting Things Done method, pomodoro, and find a good task management system. Write everything down, find a system for keeping notes. Also try keeping a diary.
Also try to reduce your phone and computer usage. If your phone supports it, use monochrome mode. Push yourself to read more books instead of watching videos or playing games.
I thrived without meds during my time in the Army. The structure, being told what to wear, when to show up, and the clearly defined expectations were great.
Attempting to emulate this personally as a civilian has yielded mixed results.
The market is ripe for a First Sergeant as Service solution.
> Attempting to emulate this personally as a civilian has yielded mixed results.
Right. I'm not even trying, even though I highly suspect it would've helped me if it worked - because I know it won't, because my brain is able to tell when I'm trying to trick it, and will refuse to cooperate.
Actual military? That could work, because the order and structure would be beyond my control. Self-imposed? It's hard enough on drugs, impossible without. Asking someone else to impose some structure on me, as an adult? My brain knows it's even easier to cancel the deal, weasel off of the agreement - especially if it has literally no other purpose and meaning than trying to trick myself into functioning.
So yeah, I'd be up for becoming a paying customer of some First Seregant as a Service thing, but I can't imagine how you could structure it so it doesn't feel artificial and voluntary, making me unable to stick to it any more that I can to exercising (a highly beneficial activity that my brain recognizes as artificial and bullshit, and refuses to allow it).
I'd say this is where there is a whole area of non-sexual Dom/Sub dynamic kink relationships. It exists, just has a taboo attached to it and is also difficult to find and negotiate.
That's... something so unusual that it never would've occurred to me. Thanks for posting it!
When you put it this way, I think you're absolutely right about this - those kinks are exactly what one should expect to have a "halo" around them, of people unknowingly self-medicating their undiagnosed ADHD.
YMMV, but this has been great for a "natural" feeling focus for myself as someone with ADHD.
2 pills of BodyBio PC (phosphatidylcholine + 3 other phospholipids)
3g MSM
1g DHA
140mg elemental Magnesium Threonate
Optionally:
1g Taurine + 100mg caffiene pill
Another optionally
50mg provigil/modafinil (typical dose is 200mg)
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Most folks are focusing on dopamine increasers (amphetamines, provigil, dopa mucuna, caffiene, sugar) as dopamine stimulants, but too much has its rough points as others have pointed out.
But focusing on supplying underlying nutrition has had pretty profound effects on my mental ability to get things done and focus.
> Meditate, exercise, do anything it takes to force yourself into whatever structure fits your life. I'm talking to-do lists for your to-do lists and scheduling your daily time down to brushing your teeth. You have to force structure onto your life to contain your attention and energy. You have to make some truly profound changes in your life.
This doesn't help when I try to get out of bed in the morning and my body does not move. Does not move. I can't do it.
I'm not going to tell you that happy thoughts and a motivational poster will fix you. I will say that once you get past the stage you're in and have the ability to make those big life changes, this part will happen less often and you'll find it easier to break through. When you're generally healthy, it's easier to recover when you're sick. Applies just the same to mental illness as it does to an infection.
Unfortunately, you're in the hardest part. Or at least it feels that way in the moment. I don't have any good advice other than to seek help and do whatever gets you to the next day. Try your best to make small improvements when you can. It is okay to not make progress every day, but you also have to not let that be an excuse. You really have to push yourself. It might be the hardest thing you'll ever do, but you aren't the first to have done it.
Sorry all I have is the same pithy nonsense you get on Facebook. At the core, it's good advice, but you have to know the limits. There are some battles you can't fight. Sometimes you are in a truly impossible situation. No internet comment can help you with that, but you can find help if you can bring yourself to ask for it.
> I don't have any good advice other than to seek help and do whatever gets you to the next day.
Well... I did seek help, and ended up on dextroamphetamine, which helps me more than any routine possibly could. It's just that my tolerance got bad enough in just 3 months that now I can't take it more than once every few days, or else it completely stops working.
I can't take more because my body already requires a dangerously high dose (30mg/day) and raising it any further causes heart issues. (I tried)
I'm also on dextroamphetamine and have been for ~10 years now, with some breaks. When I get off it, I always make sure to taper down the dose. Otherwise I'll be miserable for no reason. I also skip doses on the weekends, which gives me body a chance to reset and keeps the tolerance cliff from growing higher every week. It does come with the tradeoff of sleeping most of the weekend, but if my body needs it, then who am I to say no?
Regarding inability to get out of bed: I empathize completely and have been there, even while on medication. There's not really a magic solution, but if you are getting off medication, you just need to give it time and eventually (could be months) your dopamine levels will return to normal.
Also, I think it's important to recognize the difference between motivation and willpower. If you have ADHD, I'm probably preaching to the choir here. But for me, "motivation" is a long term drive more akin to ambition, whereas willpower is a short term muscle that I have trouble exercising. That's what makes ADHD so frustrating: I have an abundance of ambition and motivation, but a dearth of willpower. I know what I should be doing, but I just can't do it. This is a distinction that someone suffering from ADHD will recognize immediately, but a neurotypical person can only understand in the abstract, if at all.
Getting out of bed is about willpower, but it can also be about motivation - it's worth examining your life trajectory to see if you're moving in a direction you're happy with, because if the cause is lack of motivation, then pills will hardly help (other than a desire to take them driving you to get out of bed). Pills can fix a lack of willpower, but no pharmaceutical can give you motivation. That's a long term drive that you need to seek for yourself.
I don't, that's why I keep taking them... but I've had periods of time where I lived abroad or didn't have easy access to the medication, so I had to taper off it. It definitely sucks, and especially after you stop using it, you'll feel especially slow and groggy. You'll also gain a lot of weight. But after a few months you'll feel pretty "normal," at the cost of having all your ADHD symptoms return.
