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by phishin18 hours ago |
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upvoteby dentemple18 hours ago|
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It's a gift until it's a curse, and ADHD crashout/burnout is an absolute monster to overcome when it arrives.

And for any person who's tasked with any sort of responsibility, it WILL arrive at some point. It's not a question of if, only a question of how well you can prepare for its arrival.

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upvoteby bflesch18 hours ago|
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At its core it has striking similarities with a freeze response, which is overcome by increasing heart rate (e.g. stimulants, exercise, temperature shock). Big overlap with CPTSD symptoms as well.
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upvoteby doo_daa15 hours ago|
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The diagnostic criteria are all about the fact that ADHD is a net negative. If you feel it is a net positive then you shouldn't have a diagnosis. As a fellow sufferer I do understand that in certain contexts I can out-perform and even run rings around "normal" people. But overall, having ADHD is a bad thing and I wish I didn't have it.
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upvoteby dymk18 hours ago|
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Look, I’ve got it too. I’m glad we’ve figured out how to “game” the adhd. But it’s not a gift.
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upvoteby chasd0018 hours ago|
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i have it too and it sucks, I have to take medicine every day for it. Why would an attention deficit and hyperactivity be a gift? Maybe you're talking about something else.
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upvoteby phainopepla218 hours ago|
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Can you explain what about is it a gift? What are the benefits you get from it?
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upvoteby 98codes14 hours ago|
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When you can align hyperfocus with your most beneficial vector of productivity, it's like you can accomplish anything, in half the time thought possible.

Problem is, there is no good way to direct the hyperfocus demon. It likes what it likes, it wants what it wants, and that's that.

Medication helps to save a pile of willpower/spoons/executive function safely from the demon so that we can get things that need doing done.

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upvoteby amazingman18 hours ago|
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I have found both hyperfocus and the ability to quickly "drop" (i.e. distract from) a train of thought incredibly useful.
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upvoteby alwillis17 hours ago|
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Hyperfocus is great until it's not.

People with ADHD have "time blindness"; we don't process time the same way most people do.

We often don't realize 3 or 4 hours have passed and there were other things we needed to get done.

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upvoteby amazingman6 hours ago|
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Sure. These are the other sides of the coin. I've been medicated for years and unmedicated for years. Currently I'm in a ~10yr unmedicated stretch. Do I have frustrating moments, embarrassing easily avoidable failures, and so on? Yes. Do I sometimes lose many hours to a task and forget to eat? Yes. But I'm also kinder, more playful, and more present with my loved ones when I am unmedicated.

If the downsides get too bad and things start to fall apart then I will medicate again. Until then, no way I'm making that tradeoff.

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upvoteby LollipopYakuza17 hours ago|
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I would sum it up as an ability to think out of the box, naturally having creative solutions. Which itself is a double-edged sword...
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upvoteby phainopepla212 hours ago|
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I know a lot of people with ADHD and even more without it. I haven't noticed any correlation between ADHD and creativity or out-of-the-box thinking.
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upvoteby engineer_2218 hours ago|
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fighting that fight right now... was doing great until I got to a level with self directed work
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upvoteby nosmokewhereiam16 hours ago|
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...you don't have it.
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