Image not quite for ADHPeeps but I feel this sort of thing happens regularly for us as well.
Apparently videogames are a “medication” for my adhd because since i started adderol they don’t “pull me in” like they used to.
I miss it a little bit, it’s also kinda weird but its also nice to not be compelled to play like before
Videogames weren’t a medication, they were just something you were drawn to.
Oh i absolutely use(d) games to calm my anxiety, “straighten out” my chaotic thoughts and silence the intrusive ideation.
It’s like a soother, but it doesn’t help the actual cause so not medication.
Ok
They suck me in easily, that’s why I stopped playing completely
Did you ever get the “brain feels weird, like the waves are a different shape” after a long deep dive in a game? Only games and books do it to me, books being a less janky, more smooth but definitely different sensation.
God please say yes it’s not only me right? what’s up with my worm-meat?
I don’t underdtand, rephrase the feeling please
Yeah i got a bit weird with my description haha… After a long session of hyperfocusing (on a game you’ve been sucked in by for example), do you ever feel odd for a few minutes after disconnecting from that focus?
Usually for me it ends on me going to bed because I played for 5 hours and haven’t done anything that I needed to do, which makes me sad and sleepy at the same time so I just go bed. But since I stopped playing games and went to the gym it has gotten a lot better, I recommend you to go to gym even if you are not a big fan of it
Thanks!
Yes! I get this if I stay up too late doomscrolling. But by the time it happens, it’s too late to do anything about it. It also makes me vaguely…nauseous? I’m not sure if that’s the correct word, but it makes something in me physically uneasy as well.
Your brain is dopamine deprived, video games are designed to get our dumb monkey brains to squeeze out all the happy juice. Adderall floods your brain with dopamine so the video games just don’t hit like they used to.
I used to be the one weirdo who could shoot an 8 ball of coke and be perfectly calm, at least for a few minutes until it started to wear off. That was a long time ago, and I was just diagnosed a couple years ago.
Tea. Extremely strong tea, the kind russian convicts drink.
Recently got diagnosed with asthma and just have an albuterol inhaler till I can see a specialist in 4 plus months, haven’t been able to get an ADHD test despite my doctors referral, just so you have a preface for my story here.
On days I work toward my goals I generally start with a 16 oz doubled tea, gives me stimulants which I can’t get at the moment and I generally am able to focus on my tasks for 2 hour stents or so. I have some days though that despite getting rest and having a dose of caffeine I get real low energy around my first hour. Recently, during one of these moments I was trying to take a break and realized my breathing was quite shallow and I was somewhat short of breath, so I used my inhaler and I had a rush of energy and was able to knock out all my tasks with energy to spare. Turns out most of my low energy days have been actually about my low blood oxygen and the effects of having undiagnosed asthma. This has happened to me several times now and it blows me away each time. I think to myself “So this is how normal people breath and get so much done.”
My sympathies as a fellow asthma sufferer, but congrats on the medication at least. It’s really crazy how much easier everything in general is when you can breathe!
Dang a pug with ADHD. I’m glad you have it somewhat sorted, though.
Too accurate lol.
What were your oxygen levels?
For my own research purpose, would you be able to test your oxygen levels with those check oxygen meters that we get or may be one of those inbuilt Oxygen meters in smart watches?
I’m too poor to own a smart watch, maybe an idea for when I can.
You could get one of the fingertip sensors, they’re not terribly expensive.
Thanks for the suggestion.
✨ alcohol✨
I used to drink 4 red bulls or 2-3 rockstar energy drinks per day. This was on top of any coffee.
Now, diagnosed and medicated, I’m down to zero and I rarely drink coffee.
I was clearing three, sometimes even four Rockstars per day not too long ago. Just got to where they didn’t even affect me much, and cracking open fresh ones throughout the day just made me feel alert and good. I got it back down to just one every morning around 5 or 6am, with maybe a second in the afternoon once per week – usually on a Saturday or Sunday when running errands and trying to survive parenthood. I’m in my late-thirties now, and need to find an effective alternative, but coffee makes me feel poisoned… almost like there’s toxic metals coursing through my veins.
Tried pairing coffee with taurine to counteract the negative side-effects of the caffeine, but it doesn’t work quite as well without whatever witch’s brew they throw in with it in energy drinks.
I love redbull and I have Gamersupps powder that is basically energy drink in a powder. It’s a good replacement for when I don’t have a redbull handy. Very very similar effect on my body
Try caffeine pills instead of coffee.
Caffeine pills gave me heart arrhythmia for like 2 months. I had to wear a monitor and everything.
Pill form is so much more potent, and I was splitting them, effectively bypassing the coating that helps it dissolve slowly. Your body is just not meant to absorb 150mg of caffeine instantaneously. Crazy I know.
Wait what, I have below average blood pressure and have always leaned on caffeine to focus better. I never had any idea the two might be connected.
Reminds me of when people find out I do cocaine and Adderall.
“Oh Michael likes to get high”
No, Michael doesn’t have health insurance and has very severe adhd. I can’t live a normal life without stimulants and drug dealers are cheaper than doctors. welcome to America.
The “bad guys” are bridging the gap!
Free market capitalism… fuck this place
Kind of off topic but when people say “capitalism is evil” it reminds me of the people who say “socialism never works”
The rebuttal is always “well REAL socialism hasn’t been tried. Soviet Russia was a bastardization of the system!”
I feel that way about capitalism. America isn’t a capitalist system. It’s a corrupt oligarchy and that’s the issue. If we had REAL capitalism I wouldn’t be having this problem. Not saying life would be perfect I’m just saying corruption is the reason I can’t afford a doctor, not capitalism.
Of course it is. Visiting a doctor is cheaper elsewhere. It’s the particular mix of regulation, subsidies and market that makes it so bad.
Option C: capitalism is neither good nor evil, just an economic reactor core that must be properly harnessed to deliver on its promise (market efficiency) and avoid its peril (oligopoly).
The primary means of keeping the reactor core healthy (full-market efficient) is to keep it cool (evenly distributed) by pruning and recirculating capital via taxes. This amounts to redistribution, of course, which many have taken to calling “socialism.” But the reality is both are needed to maintain balance in the people’s economy.
The sooner we realize that, the sooner we can fix the damn reactor core.
You nailed it. I fall into the insurance gap in my state. I make too much for free healthcare but not enough to qualify for discounts on healthcare. The Fed thinks I should be helped by my state, my state disagrees.
what state?
I’ll give you a hint with a fake headline…
“Man attempts to marry racoons but refuses to sign the racoons pre-nup”
What state is it?
Tennessee? lol. thats rough I’m sorry.
Florida lol
eheh, oi! you have my sympathies.
Damn mate, that’s really rough. I did see recently how US companies are taking advantage of the made-up scarcity to scalp people with ADHD to the point where the black market is more affordable. I only you know what you’re doing vis-a-vis risks from tainted batches.
It’s a problem with the categorization. They’re treated like oxy legally so they aren’t allowed to manufacture over a certain amount.
I do worry about getting a hot batch and dying but that’s just the state of America today. Women will be getting dangerous back ally abortions as well soon.
please test your pills! fentanyl test strips are cheap and widely available. you can also use reagent tests to confirm what is (and isnt) in them. DanceSafe is a great resource for this: https://dancesafe.org/
Cocaine bad for mental health. Even with ADHD cocaine is so cut and stepped on its not reliable enough to get anything done.
It falls into the “better than nothing” category for me. I’m aware it’s absolutely not a good idea.
I’m sorry your government failed you so badly. That’s a tough place to be in.
Thank you Mr poopybutthole
Eh, cocaine seems kinda too much. I understand lots of adderall.
BTW, where I am normal ADHD medication is illegal, unless you get it and the recipe in another country. As you might imagine, that is kinda expensive to do every few months.
Why the combination? I have no idea about either.
It’s not a combination. I’d try to buy Adderall which is what a doctor would prescribe but there is an Adderall shortage because… Well because people sell their meds to drug dealers so the FDA clamped down.
So if Adderall isn’t available or too expensive I buy cocaine and use small amounts to combat my condition.
Caffeine is a very good stimulant for treating adhd symptoms as well. It has a very similar wake up affect to cocaine when taken sublingually or snorted. Take this with a grain of salt, as it needs to be carefully dosed still to avoid heart damage, so much more so when taken in those ways. Not recommending it as a substitute for real prescription meds of course, but it is a world better for you long term than cocaine.
Wow people that drank redbull have kids in college already, I guess it does make you move quicker
Red bull was invented in ’87…
Big if true! Would’ve never thought red bull was older than me!
I definitely haven’t drunk it this millennium
True, but it depends on their country. Wasn’t brought to the UK until '94 and the US in '96. And on top of that when did they become widespread in their respective country?
Very well could be true, could be an anachronism, or could be someone who refers to all energy drinks as red bull.
But the real irony is doing this research for an ADHD meme.
Or I’m old enough that I was drinking red bull when it came out, in college in the early 90’s and stopped by about 2000 when I was in uni because it was what gave me the worst hangovers… sometimes “research” is just remembering things
Sorry, I meant my research not yours.
Chewing gum almost every waking moment of the day. People used to assume I was trying to quit smoking, I would joke that I was actually trying to build my way up to starting.
I used to love chewing gum until a dentist scared me away from it. As a result, my undiagnosed grinding destroyed most of my teeth…
I am thankful that my dentist talked me into switching to a sugar-free brand years ago. Probably saved me a couple teeth so far.
I’m sorry. If you can still chew, ice breakers has Xylitol which is good for teeth.
What’s “ice breakers”?
A brand of gum and mints.
Nicotine. I started smoking at 16. Vaping now but nicotine and caffeine are carrying me through my unmedicated life
I read somewhere that nicotine decreases the half-life of caffeine in your system, allowing you to consume more caffeine and feel fewer effects from it.
This would explain the common trope of people smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee.
That being said, this is pulled out of my memory and I would have to spend quite a while trying to find any evidence of it, although everybody I know that smokes are consumes nicotine also consumes quite a bit of caffeine.
Got curious and looked it up, you’re right!
I would hazard that’s less unmedicated and more self medicated.
You’re not wrong haha. Can’t wait to be able to afford proper medicine
looks awkwardly at the next administration
All I need is one prescription bottle with my name on it and then it’s all onions from there
Same, nicotine is the only reason I can hold a job.
A friend of mine chews nicotine gum. I have another friend that vapes and drinks like 12 energy drinks a day.
My daily Monster and blue flavored nicotine and weed air is working a lot better and some how has less side effects. Although, longevity is outside the scope at this point.
blue flavored nicotine
Alcohol. Before getting formally diagnosed and medicated, drinking was the only thing that would quiet the inner restlessness. It worked but it’s not a healthy lifestyle at all.
This is something I like to bring up to people who are hesitant to medicate their kids. Yeah, I know you think Timmy is fine because he’s not completely failing in school, but you should at least show Timmy that he has options and that it’s OK to talk to a doctor and take medication if he needs it. He doesn’t have to rely on Jack Daniels and Folgers to eek his way through life.
This one surprised me, too.
I had a nasty habit of waiting until the evening to do my papers in college, because that was when it was acceptable to have some wine or whiskey while I wrote. But it was amazing just how much easier it was to stay on task after having a drink, and during finals - or after college when i was on deadline - i would alternate between liters of coffee in the morning and several drinks in the evening.
Now that I’m medicated both coffee and alcohol are just occasional indulgences… well, alcohol is at least. But I didn’t expect it to help curb my impulsive consumption habits like it has- it’s been a game-changer.
I’ve been cutting back on caffeine finally because I thought it was my medicine giving me anxiety, and I’m pretty sure it’s the caffeine. Now I’m usually at about two cups of coffee in the morning (the mug I have is American large, and I always seem to fill it up).
Neurotypicals think they have this superior discipline and attitude to “get on the task”, and I believed them, too! Now, medicated, I realise that they only work on these constant dopamine micro rewards in their prefrontal cortex. Which I now get, too.
Drinking a litre (~32oz) of espresso every day… ETA: I also have narcolepsy. its rough out here
What was your experience finding out you had narcolepsy. Does your narcolepsy come in cataplexy flavor? I’m sorry that you’re dealing with that. It’s not fun.
I’m basically mainlining caffeine too though I don’t think it really helps, lol. I can sleep 6-20 hours and still be ready for a nap. I fell asleep driving once. The only time I ever feel normal is when I take Adderall.
My doctor referred me to a neurologist but I can’t get an appointment until next summer.
Not saying I have narcolepsy but I worry that I have some kind of untreated sleep disorder. I know someone who was diagnosed with narcolepsy but he also suffers from cataplexy.
I do suffer from cataplexy as well, yes.
I actually found out I had narcolepsy by doing a sleep lab for sleep-apnea as an adult. It kind of came as a shock since everyone else in my life thought I was just lazy as fuck. The ADHD diagnosis came years later.
I’m not an expert, but narcolepsy isn’t the only outcome for what you describe. It could also be hypersomnia, I think
How did you pursue the sleep lab? Hypersomnia is still ruining my life…
I just scheduled an appointment with my GP and told him I needed a sleep lab. Insurance covered most of it, I think. I’m a little fuzzy on the details since it was a long time ago. If you’re in the US, you’ll likely want to make sure you get the details from your insurance company (assuming you have insurance; if not they can get pretty pricey). If you’re elsewhere, they’ll likely be free or cheap
Thank you, that is reassuring. I guess I will bring it up to my physician at the next appointment.
