ADHD

Hey Matt
Sorry to hear you are having a rough times these days. I can't say I understand all that you are going through, but I can understand feeling alone.

Take comfort in knowing your family and friends care about you. I've found over the years it's just as easily to feel alone when you are surrounded by people as when you are literally alone.

Remember there are always people happy to listen and offer a friendly smile or at the very least a digital smile.

What is the nature of your job? You may want to look into the possibility of accommodations if they are reasonable and would allow you to perform your job satisfactorily.

Hey Matt

I am sorry to hear that - I don't know what it must be like to have ADHD but I also can follow feeling alone among a whole crowd of people.

I hope that you find support and solace in your family and like Sam says, we are here for you with digital support at least, which is not much I know but I hope it's something.

Claudia

Looking into accommodations.

Just increased the dose of medication.
It is helping, but not enough.

My job is that I pay group benefit claims, mainly dental.

Very monotonous... Not something that is good for someone with ADHD...
Our productivity stats are quite ridiculous too...
The whole office is struggling, but I am struggling alot more than the majority of people.
Staying focused is really difficult, and the smallest distraction can break my train of thought.

Was funny, with the higher dose of meds. I was so focused, I didn't even notice my coworker show up. Of course, it is the first day taking the new dose, so my body has to adjust. Just worried it won't work as well once I do. I think I am going to have to go up one more and then I should be ok.

Strange thing is, that I could do my job really well a few years ago.... they just made so many changes that breaks the pattern of firing off a claim and paying it...
Little things that cause a stop and go style of working.... Me I need the stimulation to be constant in order to really focus. Kind of like a fast paced video game.
With the electronic submissions, this is how it used to be. Before, there was also the fact, that I was unknowingly treating the disorder with a stimulant I was taking for another reason.
So this, along with the previous nature of the job, allowed me to perform well above the average employee.

But since all these changes, and they are stupid changes that just hinder efficiency, and me not taking that previous thing I was taking and not having time to exercise like I used to... (kids really make it much more difficult to get to the gym) It is just all compounding and really affecting my performance.

I finally got a letter to them, so they are off my back now.... but the stress they were causing was making things 20x worse.

I am sure it looked really bad to my employer..... I can understand how. The drop was so drastic, it literally looked like I was sitting there, doing nothing most of the day, when in reality, I was doing quite a lot.... just not what I was supposed to.

Or if I was working, processing information was a long and difficult task. I couldn't quite understand it..... it seemed like everything was just a jumbled mess and made no sense.
I could piece it together eventually, but it would take forever. I was literally starting to doubt my intelligence for a while. Meds have helped a bit with this too. It was difficult for me, because I was a really bright kid. I know I am not stupid... on IQ tests, I have scored between 117 and 133, so I am above average.

Just random thoughts would always get in the way.
I tend to speak really fast as well and I am quite impulsive.

To my employer.... it just looks like I am lazy, which is not the case. I am usually running myself ragged most of the time in an unfocused manner, jumping from thing to thing and never getting anything done. And then I get completely overwhelmed as the to do lists get bigger and bigger and I seem to be getting nowhere fast. My house is filled with little papers everywhere... I feel like that guy from Memento, sometimes. Only my memory isn't messed up... I just have too much that I am trying to remember.

A book I read pretty much summarized ADHD as you tend to always be doing things you shouldn't do, and not doing what you should be doing.

The only reason I managed as a kid was because my mother tried to provide structure in my life. I managed, up until college and it is why it was probably never diagnosed. My IQ and the structure carried me. When I was on my own in College, I couldn't manage at all. Had to have my father come up to where I was staying on several occasions, just to get me organized and back on track.

That is the one common trend with kids with ADHD.... their reports usually say, very bright kid, needs to apply himself or herself. My mother was the one that always kept me on track in school, so that never quite happened to me.

It would have been nice to know I had this before putting my wife through all the crap I did, early in our relationship. Impulsive and alcohol are a terrible mix. I had a problem with both when I was younger. I am sure you can all see what kind of trouble a person can get themselves in, when they don't see the consequences of what could happen.

The medication I am taking is Vyvanse. It is essentially... legal speed, but only obtainable with a prescription and you must go to the same pharmacy and doctor every time to get it. It is sold as a street drug on the black market too. Seems counterintuitive to give a hyperactive person an amphetamine, but it doesn't quite work the same on someone with ADHD as someone with a normally wired brain.

A normal person would get extremely hyperactive and have a ton of unfocused energy and could go for days if they take a lot. A person with ADHD, on the other hand, gets a burst of focused energy. It wakes up the portion of the brain that deals with impulse control and attention. It also causes them to be less figity, where as a normal brain would become more figity.

Anyway, I am just glad work is off my back for now and is going to allow my psychiatrist to figure out the right meds and what my accommodations will be, should I need them.

Sorry for making these posts so long. Figured I could educate and tell what is going on at the same time.

Thanks for listening everyone.

In my experience, to compare someone with a high IQ to someone else is like comparing apples and oranges.

Hehe.

That is one thing I have always noticed.... as the IQ number goes up, so does mental illness and craziness.

Just look at the guy from A Beautiful Mind, just to name one.

Hey mang. Can't fully relate, but I've been a pretty severe case of anxiety, with a modest attention disorder. What counsel I have to share mainly concerns the anxiety part, but I'm so blown away by the events of the past month I feel it could surely help people out there, including you, if ever so slightly.

As I said, I've dealt with pretty heavy anxiety for about 20 years, and never attempted to deal with it until recently. I've been anxious for so long I always figured it was the norm, as I have never really known any other state of mind. It's only last year, after a good talk with a great childhood friend that I've decided to consult. That helped a bit, but I always found my anxiety to be much more of a physical/physiological issue than a fully mental one. Simply put, the nervous system was messed up, a lot more than things relating to personal feelings or the ways I viewed myself and all that jazz. I didn't relate much to what the shrink had to say, except for the fascinating neurological parts. This whole nervous system issue led to some attention disorder, but never to a point where it would affect my work, the way you described. Oddly, work is always where I felt safe, and extremely productive, no matter how unsafe and dangerous my work could get, including a trip in a war zone. It's the rest of my life which was completely paralysed by it.

Anyway, this whole introduction leads to the fascinating events of the past month. For an entirely different reason, mainly dealing with fatigue, skin issues and the beginning of a hair loss problem which could not be explained by heredity, I've spent an insane amount of time doing extensive researches in nutrition. The goal was not to simply eat healthily, but to build a perfect, or near-perfect weekly menu. Profoundly unimpressed by the incompetent nutritionists Quebec has to offer, I've went on this quest alone, doing the most extensive research and counter-research I've ever undergone.

This led to the composition of a rather simple menu, where the how is at least as important as the what, which is the first lesson I learned in this endeavor. Long story short, a week of this has yielded immediate results on the skin and massive fatigue issues, and it took about 3 weeks before seeing visible signs of full hair regrowth.

But the kicker here, the one thing I did not anticipate in the slightest, because little research covered the issue, is the unforeseen, magistral effect it had on the entire nervous system. Basically, the incredibly heavy burden of anxiety, which I've carried for longer than I can remember, and has paralysed nearly every aspect of my life, was lifted in a matter of weeks, both physically and mentally. I'd like to think at least a part of this is placebo, but it wouldn't make sense to believe as much. At no point in this experiment was I attempting, or hoping, to deal with the anxiety issues.

For the past week I've since dug reports related to a combination of Vitamin B complex (which I was diagnosed as heavily lacking) and fatty acids, but nothing out there suggests the kind of results I've been experimenting, let alone the speed at which the changes have occurred, which leads me to believe other food intakes and combinations are at work here.

I realise how far-fetched this whole story sounds, but I'm completely baffled by the incredible life change I've undergone in a little over 30 days, and how things are continuing to improve on a daily basis.

One of the bonus side effect of this has been a palpable improvement in the capacity to concentrate and keep a chain of thoughts, most likely due to the near-complete disappearance of anxiety. Hence why I'm sharing this whole thing in the first place. I do realise it does not replace medication, especially in a case of diagnosed ADHD, and that's really not the idea here. It's just that I have never expected, not a million years, to see this type of mental change occur, following a lifestyle change in nutrition. It's so strange, really, that I'm half-expecting to see this progress taken away from me with each passing morning. So far though, I've seen nothing but improvements, on all fronts, physical and mental.

If this whole thing pans out over the next months, I might have a hard time coping with the idea that the past 15-20 years of my life have been nearly ruined by an issue linked in great part to nutrition!

Step 1: Have anxiety.
Step 2: Eat healthy.
Step 3: Cure anxiety.
Step 4: ?????
Step 5: Profit.

Lemme tell you what step 4 is, Frank. You publish a scientific paper on your findings. Do it! There's profit in them thar hills.

-Fred

I've always known there are links to nutrition and exercise. I try to eat healthy, but the problem is trying to find healthy foods that taste good....
Most of the time, they taste bland and gross. I try to eat for function, and not taste, and I am fine throughout the day, until it is supper time and I have had a long day.

Wife is in charge of making food..... I used to be, but I always took forever, and couldn't handle that on top of other things I was responsible for, so I passed it on to her.

She finds the food I used to make disgusting, and doesn't like to eat it often..
Boiled or steamed vegetables and chicken breast isn't exactly appealing.

So food at night is a struggle. If I was alone and it was up to me, I could do it for a while, but even I think eating the same thing and the fact that it doesn't taste the greatest would get to me eventually.

I always thought one great idea would be if certain spices could be invented to completely mask the taste of healthy food, so that you can't taste it at all. Then you could say, have it taste like Pizza or a big mac or something.

It would definitely solve the obesity problem..... at least in the cases where laziness isn't the issue, but the fact that the food tastes bad is the problem.

Not to mention.... healthy food is bloody expensive too.

If I wanted to encourage productivity, one of the things I'd look into is passing the Affordable Food Care Act.

I'm getting away with an average of 65$ per week, with zero leftovers whatsoever, for five days, on a 3-meal per day average. Saturday and Sunday is "eat whatever $#it you fancy", for sanity's sake! Rarely eat more than breakfast and lunch on those days, though.

Alone or as a couple it's sustainable for a large portion of people. It's family-wise (and this is your case, I know), that it becomes an enormous financial burden. Got to agree with Blair, subsidies for healthy food is a must, for any country's sake.

Back to costs, though, the main thing is to avoid spending money on fruits and veggies which provide you with little to no actual content, as they can be quite expensive without helping out much or at all. Combined with the money saved on take-out, and anything pre-made or pre-transformed, it's surprising how much you can cut from your food bills. At least here.

The money you save on frozen pizzas or whatever transformed products you usually get, needs to be "invested" in as many good quality spices as you can find and afford. Not only do they greatly transform the taste of whatever you hate to put in your mouth, they're also filled with the minerals harder to find in any other food sources. I don't care, and have given no importance, to the studies attributing ground-breaking impacts of one or two specific spices, or anything else, for that matter. The only important part is the raw, calculable and counter-verified content of those spices. And those tests don't lie, they're filled with stuff you don't find anywhere else. Exactly how much they actually help is irrelevant, in light of the overall results the entire menu provides. Chances are, they're doing something.

The same goes for seeds and nuts. They require extra work however, as you can't buy anything factory-roasted. Any money you spend on roasted nuts or seeds, no matter how organic they may be, is a waste. The reason being, the majority of them lose their content when heated over 170 Fahrenheit, or cooked specifically longer than 18 minutes. Factory-roasting involves a form or another of frying, with much higher temperatures.

Alaskan salmon, and most white fish, are easier and faster to cook than a steak, and can taste absolutely delicious, when done properly, even for those not used to eating them.

Back to taste, the thing about avoiding transformed food is it allows you to incorporate the stuff people generally tell you not to use. Butter and salt, for instance. Salt is something your body actually needs, not just in everything you eat (and it IS everywhere). But by salting the veggies and the meat you've cooked yourself, even with every meal, you won't reach the level of sodium generally found in a single bowl of cereals or can of soup. Same goes for butter and oils. I cook all my meat with butter, and never reach the amount of butter found in a single piece of pie, at the end of the week. It all tastes delicious, and it's not killing me.

Won't lie, though, it doesn't always tastes as good as the crap I've eaten for a long time, but the more you learn to cook the greater anything tastes. I was raised by a French chef of a father however, and I realise this is not an opportunity given to everyone. Already mastered all the basics, and a lot of harder techniques, just never used them when it came to my own food.

Did not want to highjack your thread, though. I know telling people to eat healthily is like telling a smoker to quit. We all know it, it's just bloody hard to do on a lifetime basis. But man, I'm just too impressed by what's been going on not to bring it up.

Wanted to chime in here, though not sure how much help it will be...

I don't have any issues with ADHD, but I do have trouble with anxiety. Nothing I've been specifically diagnosed with yet, but that's not to say it hasn't caused me problems. I've always been a more nervous type, but things have picked up over the last few years. I'm particularly sensitive to anxiety when I don't feel 100%. By that I'm not really talking about when I have a cold, but just whenever something doesn't feel normal and I don't know why. It's a vicious cycle too. I get anxious, and it causes mental and physical issues that only make me more anxious.

A few months ago, this culminated in two full blown panic attacks. The first was at work, where I thankfully am surrounded by people I can talk to about it and who want to help. I left early that day and went to my parents house to just relax. Two days later I was out grocery shopping alone and it happened again. Only worse. I felt like I couldn't breathe, my heart was pounding, I had palpitations and my fingers went numb. I seriously thought I was goings to die. I called my parents, who were thankfully near and they called an ambulance for me. Had a whole bunch of tests at the hospital and everything was fine. Regardless, it was the worst experience of my life. I've had a few minor attacks since then, and I've got a prescription for Xanax in case I need to get myself under control, but I've never used it.

I'm not really over my anxiety issues. Not sure I ever will be, but I'm hopeful. I think the most important thing is to talk about it with people who support you, whether they are friends, family or coworkers. I've found it helpful when I'm on the verge of something.

You can try the healthier eating route. It certainly can't hurt. I'm vegan, which incidentally results in a healthier diet than the average North American, and for a couple, I can spend less than $400 a month on groceries. I see you're in London, so I might suggest avoiding stores like Sobeys, Metro or Loblaws, except when necessary. I do virtually all of my grocery shopping at No Frills which is a pretty great store (I'm a bit biased though, I worked there when I was in school). Stock up on cheaper protein... Beans and lentils. Canned or dried (though dried is a little more work). They're filling, healthy and a good meat alternative so that you can cut out a few of your servings a week. Even if you eat them with meat, the fibre in them helps lower your cholesterol. I ate tons of beans before cutting out meat entirely and my cholesterol was really good. I shocked my doctor when he got my blood results

I just made a super easy chili tonight, that tastes delicious and is pretty much just beans, veggies and water. Make an extra big batch and you have lunch for work too.

Not sure if any of this helps, but I thought I'd share. Be well.

Will respond soon.

Been really busy.