I have some powerful coping mechanisms. I can manage my ADHD on my own. But earlier this year, I finally got around to working with a doc who prescribed me meds. It's amazing how much extra mental energy I have now that I'm not expending so much of it on those coping mechanisms.
It's great to learn how to get by without meds. That's important, and the meds aren't a magic wand that will miraculously make you happy and productive without any lifestyle changes. But oh, wow, what a difference those meds can make!
I'm happy you found a good balance for yourself - I've been medicated since I was about 14 and I've definitely noticed a difference whenever I've been forced onto a break. I think one thing that puzzles people observing us from the outside is that we're talking about stimulants and from the outside it looks like the meds are filling us full of energy to complete a task - but most[1] people with ADHD actually "come down" when on stimulants and rather than the medication boosting my energy level upwards, for me personally at least, it makes the constant distractions less important and vital allowing me to concentrate my energy on a single task.
Brains are complicated stuff so everyone is going to find a different ideal treatment path - some people can manage with exercise alone and have a strict morning regiment, some people find medication to be the perfect pills - others use a mix of both. Trying to train yourself to not be ADHD and maintain completely through self-discipline is indeed hard mode.
1. There are some people that respond terribly to normal ADHD meds and they were part of the reason that ADHD used to be divided into the ADHD and ADD labels with the older version of ADHD labeled persons usually responding poorly to standard medications like methylphenidate.
What kind of things does the meds help for, and what kind of meds?
A good friend almost certainly has ADHD (I say that as someone on the spectrum) which impacts their daily life in a negative way, and I'm just curious if meds could help.
Of course would need to get a diagnosis first but they haven't pursued that yet, and I'm wondering if this could serve as motivation.
I had the worst time with procrastination. I knew I needed to do a thing. I wanted to do the thing. I seemed pathologically incapable of actually doing the thing before it was in crisis mode.
Now I can see that a thing needs to be done next week, and hey, I don’t have anything else more pressing at the moment, so I’ll go ahead and start on it.
Unless you’ve experienced both sides of that, it’s hard to understand how people on the other side of it go through life. Me: “Am I the only person in the world who can’t just go what I’m supposed to do before it’s an emergency?” Everyone else: “He had 3 weeks to do this thing. How lazy must he be?”
I think there's some important things to say about neuroscience and ADHD, but I don't think Ray Peat is the authority you want to quote about this subject.
Thank you for this comment and the text. I'm also curious about where this text comes from, I'd love to read the rest of it.
And yes, I agree. ADHD is not a "mental" problem, and cannot be "coached" away. ADHD Coaching is one part of a greater pie (e.g. I personally use both medication and ADHD coaching, and a mix of productivity tools). What ADHD Coaching uniquely offers, is to work with what you have, create systems around you and your life, and to get support from someone who gets it.
However, as you mentioned, it doesn't "solve" ADHD or "coach it away", that is not the purpose for sure!
I can personally (and our members too) attest to the fact that there definitely are benefits, perhaps not for every single person and every single coach out there. For me, I've become more productive as I work to manage my energy, align my days with my circadian rhythm, I've learned new techniques around time blocking, my coach has kept me accountable to things that are hard for me to pull through on, and my general quality of life has improved. Could I have gotten this a different way, on my own? Sure, most definitely. Tons of alternatives including self learning and experimentation! That route was just personally very hard for me.
I think it's just poor value for money and time. One should focus instead on ways of eliminating the brain energetics disorder to obtain true freedom.
It's like being sober versus being attached at the hip to Narcotics Anonymous. Sure, it helps people, but it's much better, if possible, to not even need it.
Where does this come from? I'd like to read more of the quoted text.
Also, can we take the next step? If we do now treat ADHD as a brain energetics disorder, how do we treat it? Are drugs like Adderall or Ritalin sufficient based on this view?
The book "Mind and Tissue" by Ray Peat, available on LibGen (and amazon, for $200 used).
>Are drugs like Adderall or Ritalin sufficient based on this view?
From the text,
> the observation that drugs which stimulate the sympathetic or adrenergic nerves (ephedrine or caffeine, for example) will relieve the symptoms,
So yes, stimulant drugs can treat ADHD insofar as they cause a greater supply of energy to be delivered the frontal lobes. Needless to say that stimulants wear you out over time though. A more sustainable solution is to optimize for brain/body bioenergetics generally. You can read more on his website, raypeat.com.
I'm not a shill, the man is dead, I just think this information is far too important not to share vigorously. It's how I resolved my lifelong depression nearly effortlessly.
The somewhat higher rate of mental illness among higher-IQ people (according to some studies), to me, also points to an insufficiency of brain energy as the principal cause. A more energy-hungry brain will fail more readily under an even slightly faulty energy supply.
Appreciate this; curious your perspective on best-in-class solutions (aside from stimulant drugs) for insufficient brain energy? I'm always looking for holistic solution sets.
Also some of our members (for various reasons) can't or won't take medication (which is a whole other conversation) so any behavioral or natural solutions I love to be aware of.
I have some powerful coping mechanisms. I can manage my ADHD on my own. But earlier this year, I finally got around to working with a doc who prescribed me meds. It's amazing how much extra mental energy I have now that I'm not expending so much of it on those coping mechanisms.
It's great to learn how to get by without meds. That's important, and the meds aren't a magic wand that will miraculously make you happy and productive without any lifestyle changes. But oh, wow, what a difference those meds can make!
This.
I got meds with 37.
Did a degree in CS and was successfully self-employed for years until that.
Everything worked out okay-ish, but meds are a game changer. It really felt like I was playing "life" on hard mode until then.
I'm happy you found a good balance for yourself - I've been medicated since I was about 14 and I've definitely noticed a difference whenever I've been forced onto a break. I think one thing that puzzles people observing us from the outside is that we're talking about stimulants and from the outside it looks like the meds are filling us full of energy to complete a task - but most[1] people with ADHD actually "come down" when on stimulants and rather than the medication boosting my energy level upwards, for me personally at least, it makes the constant distractions less important and vital allowing me to concentrate my energy on a single task.
Brains are complicated stuff so everyone is going to find a different ideal treatment path - some people can manage with exercise alone and have a strict morning regiment, some people find medication to be the perfect pills - others use a mix of both. Trying to train yourself to not be ADHD and maintain completely through self-discipline is indeed hard mode.
1. There are some people that respond terribly to normal ADHD meds and they were part of the reason that ADHD used to be divided into the ADHD and ADD labels with the older version of ADHD labeled persons usually responding poorly to standard medications like methylphenidate.
You were. I'll give you how much of a handicap it may have been.
I was 50th percentile on the CAT in 2nd grade, unmedicated.
I was 90th percentile on the CAT in 3rd grade, medicated.
Figure out how much catch up and passing I did in 1 year... 1 year.
I've gone on to have a nice successful career and life. But without meds and help... No way.
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Can I ask which meds did you get?
2 replies →
Resonate.
What kind of things does the meds help for, and what kind of meds?
A good friend almost certainly has ADHD (I say that as someone on the spectrum) which impacts their daily life in a negative way, and I'm just curious if meds could help.
Of course would need to get a diagnosis first but they haven't pursued that yet, and I'm wondering if this could serve as motivation.
I had the worst time with procrastination. I knew I needed to do a thing. I wanted to do the thing. I seemed pathologically incapable of actually doing the thing before it was in crisis mode.
Now I can see that a thing needs to be done next week, and hey, I don’t have anything else more pressing at the moment, so I’ll go ahead and start on it.
Unless you’ve experienced both sides of that, it’s hard to understand how people on the other side of it go through life. Me: “Am I the only person in the world who can’t just go what I’m supposed to do before it’s an emergency?” Everyone else: “He had 3 weeks to do this thing. How lazy must he be?”
You don’t worry of long term side effects?
Not especially. I know what the long term effects of not having it are.
100%
> It's amazing how much extra mental energy I have now that I'm on amphetamines
You don't say.
Brilliant, kid. Do you have any other advice for the world, like “have you tried not being sad?”, or maybe “just have a normal thyroid, LOL”?
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ray_Peat
I think there's some important things to say about neuroscience and ADHD, but I don't think Ray Peat is the authority you want to quote about this subject.
Thank you for this comment and the text. I'm also curious about where this text comes from, I'd love to read the rest of it.
And yes, I agree. ADHD is not a "mental" problem, and cannot be "coached" away. ADHD Coaching is one part of a greater pie (e.g. I personally use both medication and ADHD coaching, and a mix of productivity tools). What ADHD Coaching uniquely offers, is to work with what you have, create systems around you and your life, and to get support from someone who gets it.
However, as you mentioned, it doesn't "solve" ADHD or "coach it away", that is not the purpose for sure!
I can personally (and our members too) attest to the fact that there definitely are benefits, perhaps not for every single person and every single coach out there. For me, I've become more productive as I work to manage my energy, align my days with my circadian rhythm, I've learned new techniques around time blocking, my coach has kept me accountable to things that are hard for me to pull through on, and my general quality of life has improved. Could I have gotten this a different way, on my own? Sure, most definitely. Tons of alternatives including self learning and experimentation! That route was just personally very hard for me.
Surely coaching could help develop better coping mechanisms for various issues that arise from living with a brain energetics disorder?
(To be clear: I'm not recommending Shimmer; the fact that they mention positive psychology is a red-flag for me).
I think it's just poor value for money and time. One should focus instead on ways of eliminating the brain energetics disorder to obtain true freedom.
It's like being sober versus being attached at the hip to Narcotics Anonymous. Sure, it helps people, but it's much better, if possible, to not even need it.
Can you expand more on your perspective on positive psychology?
Much of what I have encountered in Positive Psychology (with a capital "P"; i.e. the relatively young field) falls into two categories:
1. Incorporating things from previous research that are relatively uncontentious (e.g. flow
2. Tainted by academic fraud (e.g. Critical Positivity Ratio)
Given that you can have #1 without defining a new field of psychology, I associate the field of Positive Psychology with #2.
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Where does this come from? I'd like to read more of the quoted text.
Also, can we take the next step? If we do now treat ADHD as a brain energetics disorder, how do we treat it? Are drugs like Adderall or Ritalin sufficient based on this view?
>Where does this come from?
The book "Mind and Tissue" by Ray Peat, available on LibGen (and amazon, for $200 used).
>Are drugs like Adderall or Ritalin sufficient based on this view?
From the text,
> the observation that drugs which stimulate the sympathetic or adrenergic nerves (ephedrine or caffeine, for example) will relieve the symptoms,
So yes, stimulant drugs can treat ADHD insofar as they cause a greater supply of energy to be delivered the frontal lobes. Needless to say that stimulants wear you out over time though. A more sustainable solution is to optimize for brain/body bioenergetics generally. You can read more on his website, raypeat.com.
I'm not a shill, the man is dead, I just think this information is far too important not to share vigorously. It's how I resolved my lifelong depression nearly effortlessly.
The somewhat higher rate of mental illness among higher-IQ people (according to some studies), to me, also points to an insufficiency of brain energy as the principal cause. A more energy-hungry brain will fail more readily under an even slightly faulty energy supply.
Appreciate this; curious your perspective on best-in-class solutions (aside from stimulant drugs) for insufficient brain energy? I'm always looking for holistic solution sets.
Also some of our members (for various reasons) can't or won't take medication (which is a whole other conversation) so any behavioral or natural solutions I love to be aware of.
3 replies →
Is this the same Ray Peat that claimed Mexican Coca-Cola could cure almost any medical emergency?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KE-PEJ9Uu50
The same.