Lost 😐

[Murdoc4]

Was diagnosed as a kid quit taking med as a teen got married whole family dream but hit a ruff spot in my late 20s shut down just got divorced about month ago just overwhelmed with finding help with this condition any tips

[DefinitionReclaimed]

Hi Murdoc4 . Why did you stop taking your medication as a teen? Do you remember it being effective back when you took it? Assuming it was effective and you didn't have any intolerable side effects, getting back on the medication could be a great first step towards managing your ADHD. Finding a good therapist to help you develop skills to go with the pills could be a great second step (as well as processing any lingering thoughts and feelings from your divorce, etc.).

[Murdoc4 in reply to DefinitionReclaimed]

Some major family issues came up where I basically moved on my own as a teen just stop really felt like a zombie on it so I stop and been smoking weed ever since but it's not helping like it used to but health insurance is a bit steep for my budget and all

[DefinitionReclaimed in reply to Murdoc4]

If the cost of medication without health insurance is the main issue, then perhaps you could look into Patient Assistance Programs (PAPs). These are programs created by the pharmaceutical companies where patients can get their medications for free or at a steep discount. I've used one in the past when I was between jobs, and I was kicking myself for not taking advantage of it earlier.

You can find PAPs for a lot of the ADHD medications out there. Here are a few examples:

* Adderall: needymeds.org/brand-drug/na...

* Concerta: needymeds.org/brand-drug/na...

* Dexedrine: needymeds.org/brand-drug/na...

* Focalin: needymeds.org/brand-drug/na...

* Mydayis ER: needymeds.org/brand-drug/na...

* Strattera: needymeds.org/brand-drug/na...

* Vyvanse: needymeds.org/brand-drug/na...

If you didn't like the way you felt on whichever medication you were on as a teen, you could try adjusting the dose or try a different medication, and then use a PAP to avoid overpaying for it.

[Murdoc4 in reply to DefinitionReclaimed]

Thank you I appreciate it very much just been hard these last couple of years just hate the stigma that's associated with their disorder

[DefinitionReclaimed in reply to Murdoc4]

I completely agree regarding the stigma, and I find it frustrating when neurotypicals don't believe me that ADHD stigmatization even exists. I've cited personal experiences, surveys, and academic articles, yet still been met with skepticism.

What has been your experience with ADHD stigma?

[Murdoc4]

Just the usual it ain't real it's a made up disorder to keep kids quiet I just leave to them be hardheaded

[DefinitionReclaimed in reply to Murdoc4]

If you wanted to fight their ignorance, you could point out that a 2018 large scale ADHD genetics study "identified 12 genomic regions at which people with ADHD differed compared to unaffected individuals, and several of these regions are in or near genes with a known relationship to biological processes involved in healthy brain development.” (sources: genengnews.com/insights/adh... ; pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/304... ). They still might not believe you, but at least you can make them work to maintain their ignorance! 😉

Nature Genetics study results on ADHD genetic differences (doi: 10.1038/s41588-018-0269-7)

[Murdoc4 in reply to DefinitionReclaimed]

Wow... I work as a welder so this might just go right over their heads 😂 but I've been meaning to do my own research on it I believed for awhile it could do it on my own but I'm learning their is nothing wrong with asking and getting help

[DefinitionReclaimed in reply to Murdoc4]

Is there anything in particular about ADHD that you have been meaning to research, but haven’t got around to? When I ran into issues with my boss last year and decided to disclose my ADHD to her, I also started researching my condition obsessively. As in months of hyperfocus, keeping my thoughts and learnings organized in a massive Word document along the way. I'm happy to share what I know if it's something I have looked into.

[Murdoc4 in reply to DefinitionReclaimed]

To be honest just trying how to cope with it and basic knowledge on it

[DefinitionReclaimed in reply to Murdoc4]

Since I have had some frustrating/disappointing experiences trying to get people to understand ADHD, I will take note of any resource that seems to do a good job of efficiently and effectively conveying the essentials of ADHD. (It's kind of ironic that neurotypicals are often the ones with short attention spans when it comes to learning about ADHD, I think!) For example, I really like this chart from reddit user HereIsHere (source: reddit.com/r/Infographics/c... ), which might also help with your basic knowledge if you're just starting out with your research:

Reddit: "An ADHD look at ADHD" posted by u/HereIsHere in r/Infographics

[Murdoc4 in reply to DefinitionReclaimed]

Thank you I really appreciate it... It's nice to know that I'm as normal as the next person just takes a lil bit of work

[DefinitionReclaimed in reply to Murdoc4]

Glad I could help! 🙂 I think that's a pretty good way of thinking about it. I would say that whether you are normal or not depends on who is drawing the boundaries, and on what criteria they are using. You have genetic differences that impacted the way your brain developed, affecting dopamine and executive functions, which probably makes certain things like working memory and emotional regulation to be challenging for you. Someone could look at those symptoms and claim you aren't "normal" because of them. And those differences in the way the ADHD brain works does create some statistical differences in life outcomes, like injuries and deaths from accidents (see: apsard.org/is-adhd-a-seriou... ). But that doesn't mean you can't succeed with the right environment and strategies.

Think of it like a video game, where most people's difficulty settings are 1-2 levels below yours. Sometimes it feels like they're just breezing through every level, while you barely get beyond the opening cut scene before a zombie is munching on your scalp. Taking medication is like turning down the difficulty settings on the game for a few hours. You can also look at the video game walkthrough, and learn strategies like getting up on the balcony and aiming the zombie's head, which can help regardless of the difficulty setting you're on (i.e., if you're medicated or not). In this analogy, would you define someone on easy-mode as normal, and someone on nightmare-mode difficulty as abnormal? If the person on easy-mode pretended like the differences in difficulty don't exist and acted like the person in nightmare-mode is just bad at the game, would you trust their judgement in defining who is normal and who is deficient? You could focus on the additional challenges to winning and say they aren't normal. Or you could focus on their ability to win despite the extra challenges, and say they're normal in that regard. I think you could even argue that when their wins are even more meaningful because of the extra difficulties.

[Fighter84]

No matter how old you were stopping the medications was a decision at the time you made. Do you believe that you should try medication again? Sadly I think most of us want that house with a white picket fence and an undying love. Marriages hit those rough spots and the two individuals decide to part ways. I married at 19 and divorce at 27. It flipped my world upside down. I was now a single mother raising two boys on my own. But my choice was to sink or swim and I am a fighter so I decided to start the swim. This is a huge life changing thing you are going through. It is ok to feel overwhelmed and lost. I’m proud of you for making the first step which is saying you want to find help. Do you know as a child what your official diagnosis was?

[Murdoc4 in reply to Fighter84]

Yeah I had the whole american dream but it was hard to maintain a healthy relationship with running a company and rasing 3 girls just kinda went into copilot mode but I do believe starting back on medication would help ease some of the tension that and some kind of therapy. I don't really remember what my diagnosis was to be honest