Comment by ttul

I can’t agree more. I spent a lifetime trying to master every productivity hack, reading books, doing hundreds of hours of therapy (this is not a joke - hundreds of hours), and organizing my desk and using tools and … everything.

And then I did a psychoeducational assessment and found out I have ADHD - and not just a little hint of ADHD, but really quite profoundly terrible ADHD. I learned about how much my brain had short changed me in my personal life too; because real ADHD affects you in many areas of life. It’s not just about “getting things done.”

Medication is a must have to make any progress. If you’re like me, you already tried everything else. Maybe you’re also really intelligent and even managed to get a great job and somehow maintain it. But you can’t ever follow a plan for long and never go to bed on time and always seem to be burning the candle at both ends?

Yeah, this is where you need some help from meds. And good god do they help. That being said, your brain is a responsive self-correcting system. So my advice to anyone taking this journey post-diagnosis is to not give up if things stop working. You may need to pivot, change dose, switch to something else, or add a non-stimulant option.

But, don’t ignore meds. ADHD is neurochemical in nature and it’s a joke to expect anyone will manage it without drugs.