ADHD

Is there anything that can help with ADHD beyond the standard medications doctors prescribe? Anything that can help with the root causes? Or is life as a drug robot the only option?

You have a normal human brain that's incompatible with industrial society. If you were able to fit into this cursed rotten society, you'd be cursed as well.

>>1596 The first thing I want to ask is: do you have any hobbies or interests?

start running, like put shoes on, get a water bottle and go for a run

>>1599 Try a bunch of sports / activities and see what you enjoy most... hiking, rock climbing, martial arts, team sports, whatever you can get lost in enough to properly exhaust yourself.

Ask yourself "Is there something that I do and don't get distracted doing?" If the answer is yes >>1597 is dead on the money. If the answer is no, you might consider medication. Just don't be one of those who swallow without investigating it deeply first. Know what you're on.

>>1601 >>1598 >>1597 I know you guys are right, but to thrive in this life you need to sit at a desk 8 hours a day and program. I need to find something that lets me do that. >>1599 >>1600 Recently I have started running and it has helped a lot. I can now do about 4 hours per day of good work, but I need to double it somehow if I want to work a job.

>>1602 intenser running/ working out, do 3k sprints

>>1603 yep this, high intensity running should activate the same soykaf any adhd "medicine" does.

>>1600 >Workout >Work a physical job >Attend uni >Still fuarrrked B^)

>>1596 For me, it seems that life as a drug robot is the only option. This may not be the case for all, however. The root causes are very poorly understood, and "common sense" notions about this condition may not be as accurate as one might like to think. Believe it or not, ADHD is certainly a real condition, regardless of the fact that misdiagnosis is a problem (as a straightforward diagnosis method has not been developed). To answer your main question OP, self discipline is really the best I've got on days where I don't take medication (as if I had any self discipline). You may also want to consider alternative medications, especially if you haven't used any of the stimulant medications, as they tend to be more effective. The only other thing is that maybe you can function just fine if you find a job that you enjoy, and find engaging. That's a pretty rare luxury to have though. >>1597 This is most likely wrong according to what I've read. I don't remember the citation, however I do remember a study finding that individuals with ADHD have smaller amounts of grey matter in their brains (on average). Generally there are differences in the effectiveness of endorphins as well. Please correct me if I'm wrong as I may have that part wrong. If you want to better understand ADHD medications, then read the attached pdf.

>>1596 meditation (unironic)

>>1610 apparently running is the same as injecting a marajuanas https://cen.acs.org/articles/93/web/2015/10/Exploring-Molecular-Basis-Runners-High.html After a nice long bout of aerobic exercise, some people experience what’s known as a “runner’s high”: a feeling of euphoria coupled with reduced anxiety and a lessened ability to feel pain. For decades, scientists have associated this phenomenon with an increased level in the blood of β-endorphins, opioid peptides thought to elevate mood. Now, German researchers have shown the brain’s endocannabinoid system—the same one affected by marijuana’s Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)—may also play a role in producing runner’s high, at least in mice (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 2015, DOI: 10.1072/pnas.1514996112). [+]Enlarge Structure of anandamine. The researchers hit upon the endocannabinoid system as possibly being involved because they observed that endorphins can’t pass through the blood-brain barrier, says team member Johannes Fuss, who’s now at University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf. On the other hand, a lipid-soluble endocannabinoid called anandamide—also found at high levels in people’s blood after running—can travel from the blood into the brain, where it can trigger a high. “Yet no one had investigated the effects of endocannabinoids on behavior after running,” Fuss says. To explore how endocannabinoids are involved, the team familiarized a group of mice with running on an exercise wheel regularly. Then the researchers split the group into two sets of mice: one that would run for five hours and one that would remain sedentary. Soon after their five-hour run, the rodents in the first group displayed far less anxious behavior than the sedentary set when exposed to a so-called dark-light box test. In this test, a mouse’s anxiety is measured by the frequency with which the animal darts from well-lit areas into the dark to hide. Similarly, mice in the running group had a higher tolerance for pain than those in the sedentary group, as measured by their tendency to jump or lick their paws when placed on a hot plate. Finally, the researchers performed these same experiments on mice that were given endocannabinoid and endorphin antagonists—molecules that block cannabinoid and opioid receptors in the brain, respectively. The endorphin antagonists did not significantly affect results, but mice treated with endocannabinoid antagonists and mice genetically engineered to lack endocannabinoid receptors were still anxious and sensitive to pain despite having run for hours.

>>1617 >>1604 Ok I've been doing power exercise for a couple of days, it really does seem to be working, kind of. I feel better but it is still a constant struggle to get anything done. I can work like 6 hours a day but I only get a bit of work done, I feel so stupid without my meds.

>>1620 I usually take a 5-10 minute break every hour and just power lift light weights or do pushups, the adrenaline also helps

Well update time. I tried the exercise thing, it worked great! Then I busted my foot and got asthma from the pollution. Now I'm back to square one. What are some exercises I can do that will get my heart rate up without having to use my foot.

just become bane >start wearing a mask (for the pollution) >wear heavy boots to protect feets >lift weights all day just kidding, swimming is good for leg injuries since it is easy on the joints. alternatively, try breathing exercises and core workouts (things where you need to control your breathing while putting stress on muscles. planking on your elbows for long periods of time while breathing is an example. you can do arm workouts in a chair. try a rowing machine or going on a boat

alright, i'll be the only fuarrrking one to actually recommend you substances (wow, let's cut to the chase here) that you can take instead of amphetamines or methylphenidate. in order of effectiveness: 1.) phenylpiracetam 2.) semax nasal spray 3.) bromantane 4.) noopept 5.) caffeine 6.) uridine + alpha gpc + fish oil (look into mr. happy stack) your welcome.

I once heard that some (not all) ADHDs find taking modafinil (when not tired) helps a bit. Aparently the hard stuff like Ritalin etc. makes in hard to sleep at night when taken later than early morning. Modafinil removes tiredness but does not excite.

I use kratom. It helps me to relax or to be more focused and concentrated when i want to learn or get soykaf done. It also helps with depression, but then i had to take it daily and that would lead me to addiction.

Gingko Biloba and fish oil

>>2700 I'm seconding ginko. It helped me when I was doing crappy jobs that required me to stay on top of 12 individually mindless tasks, which combined were a real mess if you let something slide for too many minutes. Can't speak to fish products of any kind; I'm deathly allergic.

I've found that microdosing LSD can actually help quite a bit, and has less negative side effects than stimulants. Once every other day or so seems to work best. Only thing is, it's easy to take too high of a dose and suddenly the walls are breathing, you feel like you've dropped into "super first-person," and it's hard to be in a public place without freaking out a bit. YMMV.

>>2703 What dosage were you taking? Are you still doing this? After reading this piece http://www.gwern.net/LSD-microdosing I find it hard to believe this can be a long term solution for self medicating, but I'm still interested in trying it myself.

>>2703 ive been messing with microdosing/threshold dosing psys recently and i found it doesnt really help me enough for it to be a suitable replacement for stims. but i only take stims when absolutely necessary so it has a use for me when im not taking stims.