How do you deal with ADD?

[Ixchellian]

I don't think so, only because I believe that there are some differences between people with ADD/ADHD and people who don't, on a biological/pharmacological level.

This is my personal opinion, with what we have now (that I'm aware of). I wouldn't be skeptical about what the future can hold, but I wouldn't think it would be possible to have such a thing IMO.

Be that as it may..... and for the majority this is probably so.

But LSD & other psychedelics are still useful (at least from my personal/trip-sitting experiences, & research), even for ADD/HD. But if they're ever implemented clinically in the treatment of such disorders, it'll be vital that they never be used on an out-patient, unsupervised basis..... especially if they induce any form of psychedelia. It's not like they can be handled as standard meds are, at least until non-psychedelic derivatives are discovered & synthesized..... which imho kinda defeats the point.

 

[Arthured]

As far as you should make a schedule for the dieting plan as well as the exercise plan for the good health and fitness of the body.

 

[D n A]

I don't deal with it

Wanna go fly kites?

 

[Snarky91]

You're forgetting that psychological changes wrought by any drug, are still just a symptom of temporary physical changes started by transient chemical processes in the brain. As of right now, there is no way to permanently "modify" a malfunctioning section of brain.... failing a chemical or physical lobotomy. 8)

Changes caused by drugs are rarely permanent (except that pesky side-effect death or the thorazine-shuffle), and once withdrawn the brain will try returning to it's baseline state as soon as possible. Except some drugs are a lot more persistent in the body than others, and the brain heals/regulates at a different rate for everyone.

Classic psychedelics IMHO are either too short-acting, or too powerful/generalized in the targeted use for something like ADD, but they still function amongst the same neurotransmitter systems.
Modern pharmacological science still doesn't know exactly why a lot of chems will have a particular effect; or why a closely related compound which binds to the same receptors, will elicit a completely different reaction.... all they can be sure about is what they do, and the research usually stops there.

As for things like LSD, psilocybin, mescaline, and ecstasy; I understand why they're not normally a good idea for use with ADD.
Like many common psych meds, taking LSD (for example) for ADD would be like using a sledgehammer to drive a framing-nail..... but new, highly targeted, synthetic/substituted phenylthylamines & tryptamines are constantly being developed, so long-term improved focus, an "afterglow", few systemic side-effects, and little-to-no psychedelia during treatment of ADD (or whatever) is a real possibility.

~~~~~~

But to reiterate.... the regular doses of 2C-I which I ingested was either at or below my particular trip threshold; in that the only psychedelia I experienced was an increased vibrancy of color, and a distinct enhancement of existing geometric patterns..... the closest I can describe it as, is that something hit my visual cortex's Sharpen Edges/Increase Contrast button.

The more overriding reality was the fact that I felt level, calm, and focused for between 2-3 days after I dosed..... and that consistently measured & scheduled doses was enough to maintain the same positive effects on non-dose days.
Abrupt cessation didn't result in a crashing depression or crazy withdrawal; my motivation took a ding, my vision went back to blah, and a few weeks later I was back to my old haphazard self.

If you're curious as to more detail of the actual regimen I came up with, I unfortunately can't share (board rules)..... and to be honest; doing something like what I did is hazardous on a lot of levels.... and I just don't trust people.

The psychedelics I test & experiment with are extremely powerful..... but I've been at it for a long time; so am I intimate with my thresholds, and the limits of my knowledge/abilities.

Tinkering with the brain to stop something like ADD is an iffy business, especially as there are apparently so many varieties of ADD. What's encouraging is that for a minority, the dysfunction can be alleviated with far less systemic & psychological harm using select psychedelics, than what would be caused by doping the same minority to the gills with a daily diet of stims or tranquilizers.
The way I see it, a competent psychologist/psychiatrist can easily handle being a trip-sitter, supervising patients in a controlled setting..... much the same as they do for many normal psych meds. And for the first time in a lot of years, the bolder ones are starting to experiment with psychedelics in psychotherapy with the same encouraging results that so impressed Tim Leary & friends (they just took it a bit too far. 8))

Yes, psychological changes are caused by physical processes for all drugs, but psychedelics are little understood (from a biochemical standpoint) and the subjective effects are multifarious, drawing different reactions/effects based on each person; so I think the effects are predominatly psychological in the sense that they vary greatly based on a person's mindset. More to the point, with adhd you have specific cognitive deficits that you're seeking to ameliorate. A good candidate therapy/drug should lend itself to testing on those particular criteria which are of importance to adhd. Psychedelic drugs may well improve the symptoms of adhd through a broad action -- and I think they do work with infrequent use -- but improvement of those symptoms is just one aspect of the overall effects (as you noted) and replicating the same narrow set of desired positive effects time after time is a problem .

 

[severely etarded]

I think green tea has been helping me lots. It's a strong anti-oxidant and seems to give me clarity. I think caffeinated is fine with green tea, as it's fairly low in content and seems to be just the right amount to catch the mildest buzz without any real side effects or powerfully stimulating effects (i.e. I can sleep right after drinking green tea, and it doesn't make me wired.) Theanine is a good calming amino acid.

 

[Ixchellian]

I don't deal with it

Wanna go fly kites?

that I do on occasion. 'specially the zoomy-kind. great clean fun.

 

[DivadNamdoog]

I know this sounds weird, but I find that smoking pot drastically increases my attention span and that's one of the main reasons I continue to smoke it. That being said, most people find that pot makes them lazier; I'm the exact opposite in that it gives me motivation to to do schoolwork.

Me, too. If I smoke a bong, I can actually accomplish more shit than if I was sober. I have ADHD, so the weed calms me down and helps me focus.

 

[snaggs77]

I don't deal.
I dropped out of high school in the 10th grade. I'm in my 20's now.
It wasn't that I was dumb or anything, I'm not. I just could never focus on things. I understood things very quickly but all the bullshit of writing papers or taking tests was just too long and drawn out and monotonous that I couldn't focus...or finish anything. I took my GED test instead, and passed with high scores, without even studying anything.
I know college isn't for me and never will be. I just accepted that and moved on..besides, I don't believe in college doign jack shit for someone's life.
Just my .02


Now, I'm prescribed adderall. They only diagnosed me after I left school. It helps tremendously at work with staying on task and remembering things and not jumping up and walking around every 20 min....but as far as focusing on paperwork and shit in a school setting -- I think I'd need a different drug other than adderall.

I'm in the same boat. I take Vyvanse, which is similar to Adderall, and cannot sit down and write a paper. I put it off as it is a LEARNED BEHAVIOR to procrastinate. The conditioned response to writing a paper or doing homework for someone with ADD that had a previous pattern of avoidance is, well, to avoid and procrastinate, which leads to anxiety and poorer work or lack thereof when the hammer comes down. It will require willpower and confidence. You sound like me, very smart, and doing well on tests with little to no effort put in. That is the hard part of avoidance ADD,(coining that phrase) the procrastinating and avoiding behavior that leads to failure or poor work when the time to crack down comes. You will need therapy and practice to rid yourself of avoidant behaviors. Doing nothing has its consequences, and making no choice, well, that means the choice is made for you.

 

[tocooperate]

Does anyone else think computers and/or cellphones FUEL ADD?

Does with me! I can't even watch a television show, let a lone a movie anymore. Stay up until sunrise.

wow. this is my life inside and out. i used to love TV, movies, video games were my addiction back then. now, it's learning everything i possibly can before the comedown hits.

its a race i'm not winning lately.

 

[bigben202]

As of lately I've become increasingly scattered in my thought pattern. I've cut down quite a bit on how much I've smoked in terms of weed, but I feel like I've overnight become more absent minded and unable to keep even visual focus, as my eyes drift into thought. I've never been extremely concerned with my ADHD and bipolar, at times I was very proud of it for the abilitys it can bring... I have always educated myself on things that effect me or i find interesting, and here and there i will try different experiments to see if they help with the ADHD or bipolar, different teas, meditation, herbs vitamins & fish oils, and to some extent maybe placebo, they might have helped.
Never being one to stick with anything, over the years these attempts trailed off... but now I'm finding my mind doesn't feel like my own. My brain seems to have taken on a new method of working. For one my personality is still here, but much blander. I feel no real excitement for people's bullshit topics nowadays, or their storys. Been really apathetic. I never felt like i was climbing down a hill in life, but that's exactly how it's felt these past months, like knowing you will never get a change or an answer and you just got to suck it up and deal with it cus we all got problems, so grow up and die.

To cope with this, as i saw mentioned in an earlier thread, LSD and other psychedelics have kinda helped me get back to who i was/am, and ime have been more helpful then any of the prescribed medicines that i have taken. I haven't tripped in a while, i will be again soon (next weekend!) but during some of these trips i have been really mentally fucked and on the other side i feel like my brain is with me again. Only the past two years has my brain started doing this 'fade out', i just wanted to share in light of previous posts that psychedelics have helped me.

 

[c91]

I bet you rail it since you dropped out of school in 10th grade. How's life in a trailer park?

 

[hmkey]

I've been there and done that, but I'm still very resentful toward my condition of having adhd (they're looking to do away with the inattention/hyperactivity distinction, because the thought is that they're both flip sides of the same coin). For those of you who don't have adhd and who wish to know more about it, I'd recommend watching http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3d1SwUXMc0 .

I don't agree with everything in the video, but I agree with most of the current understanding that is summarized in the video. Long story short, the crux of it is that people with adhd have deficits in working memory. For a practical demonstration, check out: http://cognitivefun.net/test/4

Other than that, or perhaps related to that, people with adhd have a very bad time with time management, planning, organizing, coordinating, completing tasks, sustaining behavior, avoiding distractions, getting back on task, and other associated responsibilities. People who have adhd have trouble projecting into the future. They have trouble dealing with matters that are not urgent and compelling; they live in the moment and go with whatever takes up their attention at a given time. I have learned all these things through personal experience. I am pretty perceptual to my own level of intelligence, and while it's above average, that merely concealed the difficulties that I would face in adult life. I never took a drug to treat adhd until I was 17-18, at which point I had began noticing that I had a harder time of "simple" things than ordinary people. But if I was less intelligent, others would have probably made the determination that I had adhd much earlier on. I could write about my findings with regard to adhd for a long time, but suffice it to say, my general advice to those who have not yet been able to learn about it for those who have it:

You will have a tough time dealing with abstract math, chemistry, biology, physics, engineering and so on. Don't get me wrong, it's not that you can't learn these things, but it's much harder to assimilate the way of thinking. Drugs can help in the short term, but they won't help develop a talent/affinity for these things. At best, they'll level the playing field. You might have a much tougher time of stability in life, and this extends to all aspects including relationships, career, etc.

At the end of the day, people with adhd will not be as effective in implementing their knowledge and putting it into practice, as they would have been able if they didn't have adhd. Adhd is a performance problem, simply put, which is fucking sad.

Drugs that I have found useful include the amphetamines (as needed... take this very seriously, because they can fuck with your life), modafinil (mood-brightening and uplifting effects and modest improvement in some symptoms), weed (to fall asleep or shift mentality). I take modafinil on half of days when I'm not taking amphetamines for study purposes and I smoke weed most days. One rule I have is never take amphetamine on the weekend or more than twice a week and avoid benzos at all costs. I might add more later.

What is the dose of Modafinil you are taking?
I take 200mg in the morning and 100mg at 13:00, works fine, also I use Paroxetine("Paxil"/"Seroxat") 20mg Seroquel 75mg(3x25mg NON XR!) and 45mg diazepam a day but then again I also take 40mg of Nexium, 400mg of Ibuprofen and I probably forgot some thing as well :/