Captain Jack schrieb:

> I've been treated for ADD for about ten years now, and I was simply amazed 
> at the difference when I first started taking meds for it. Oh, how I wish I 
> could go back in time and find that army of school teachers who always said, 
> "Jack's smart enough, he just doesn't *apply* himself."

Hum... how come that all sounds pretty familiar to me?

Maybe I should ask my doctor about it, too.

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nemesis schrieb:

> How much of it would have to do with placebo? ;)

Probably nil. ADD med is pretty mean stuff that you should positively 
/not/ take unless you do indeed suffer from ADD. At least that's what I 
heard from a family who has a child suffering from ADD. Something along 
the lines of, their child's single dose would be enough to get a normal 
adult into some serious and possibly life-threatening neurological mess.

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On 11/19/09 19:52, clipka wrote:
>> How much of it would have to do with placebo? ;)
>
> Probably nil. ADD med is pretty mean stuff that you should positively
> /not/ take unless you do indeed suffer from ADD. At least that's what I
> heard from a family who has a child suffering from ADD. Something along
> the lines of, their child's single dose would be enough to get a normal
> adult into some serious and possibly life-threatening neurological mess.

	I think he was suggesting that what Mike's taking is a placebo...

-- 
I didn't know my husband drank until one day he came home sober.

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On 11/19/09 17:13, Shay wrote:
>> So, I talked to a doctor, he had me fill out a questionnaire and
>> interviewed me about my childhood and how I performed in school. He
>> prescribed some medication, and ... it's like day and night! I cannot
>> believe how easy it is to stay on task, how I can be productive... How
>> I can choose appropriate times for leisure.
>>
>> Anyway... that is, essentially more about me than anyone really wanted
>> to know. Now I have to force myself to eat lunch.
>
> Be careful what you wish for.
>
> I'm curious if you'll be happier in six months or just more
> "productive." Keep us updated.

	I don't think people take ADD medication to be happier. But I guess 
you're referring to being able to do more work may have its downsides?

-- 
I didn't know my husband drank until one day he came home sober.

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Neeum Zawan schrieb:
> On 11/19/09 19:52, clipka wrote:
>>> How much of it would have to do with placebo? ;)
>>
>> Probably nil. ADD med is pretty mean stuff that you should positively
>> /not/ take unless you do indeed suffer from ADD. At least that's what I
>> heard from a family who has a child suffering from ADD. Something along
>> the lines of, their child's single dose would be enough to get a normal
>> adult into some serious and possibly life-threatening neurological mess.
> 
>     I think he was suggesting that what Mike's taking is a placebo...

... and I was suggesting that it probably wasn't ;-)

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On 11/19/2009 11:36 PM, clipka wrote:
> Neeum Zawan schrieb:
>> On 11/19/09 19:52, clipka wrote:
>>>> How much of it would have to do with placebo? ;)
>>>
>>> Probably nil. ADD med is pretty mean stuff that you should positively
>>> /not/ take unless you do indeed suffer from ADD. At least that's what I
>>> heard from a family who has a child suffering from ADD. Something along
>>> the lines of, their child's single dose would be enough to get a normal
>>> adult into some serious and possibly life-threatening neurological mess.
>>
>> I think he was suggesting that what Mike's taking is a placebo...
>
> ... and I was suggesting that it probably wasn't ;-)

Definitely not. As Christoph suggested, the medication is not exactly 
subtle. There are side effects, I'm mostly aware of an elevated heart 
rate, that and I learned that if I take it too late in the day, I will 
not be able to get to sleep.

As for neurological mess? I dunno ... From what I've read is that a dose 
higher than is needed can cause some very strange behaviors and even 
psychosis, but the dosage I'm on is therapeutic.



-- 
~Mike

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On 11/19/2009 5:13 PM, Shay wrote:

>
> Be careful what you wish for.
>

Right ... But this has been a mystery I've struggled with all my life, 
why it seems I can never follow through on anything, why it took so much 
time for me to read

> I'm curious if you'll be happier in six months or just more
> "productive." Keep us updated.

There are a lot of frustrations with being as unproductive as I was. The 
ability to keep my job is a big deal to me. The ability to function 
while doing everyday tasks is also a big deal. The ability to be able to 
follow through on hobby projects is a big deal.

Yes-- productivity does not mean happiness. The goal is to get myself 
functioning properly. if I had been diagnosed in childhood, my life now 
would definitely be different.

Some of my biggest frustrations are that I'm constantly forgetting 
important things. I tend to say I'll do something and never follow 
through. (That is very frustrating to others around me ...) I sit down 
with every intent to do something really neat, and I fizzle out after a 
couple of days into the project. It's why, if you look, you see a lot of 
starts and works in progress, but really no finished projects.

But, I do certainly understand what you're saying. What I hate right now 
is how when the medication wears off, I lack the focus and drive that I 
had during the day, and go back to being completely scattered.

-- 
~Mike

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> I sit down with every intent to do something really neat, and I fizzle out 
> after a couple of days into the project. It's why, if you look, you see a 
> lot of starts and works in progress, but really no finished projects.

This is exactly like me too.  I put it down to the fact that I really just 
want to see if a concept is viable or not, I have no interest in making some 
final polished project, I just need to know if I *could* do it.  Once I've 
satisfied that need then I can't really be bothered to carry on, I'd rather 
be looking at something new again.

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"Mike Raiford" <"m[raiford]!at"@gmail.com> wrote in message 
news:4b06a783$1@news.povray.org...
> On 11/19/2009 11:36 PM, clipka wrote:
>> Neeum Zawan schrieb:
>>> On 11/19/09 19:52, clipka wrote:
>>>>> How much of it would have to do with placebo? ;)
>>>>
>>>> Probably nil. ADD med is pretty mean stuff that you should positively

One theory of the underlying causes of ADD that I've studied that seems to 
have a lot of merit is that people with the condition have a cerebral cortex 
that runs at a different "speed" from the cerebellum. This causes things to 
be out of sync, in a manner of speaking. One thing that I found out is that 
people with ADD often seem to be clumsy. In my case, I run into walls 
sometimes. What happens is that the part of my brain that analyzes changes 
in condition ("Turn coming up here, need to change direction") processes the 
information too fast. So, my body begins trying to turn the corner slightly 
before I get there, while my brain has moved on to the next problem.

Most ADD medications are stimulants, some of them closely related to 
amphetamines (I take Adderall). What they appear to do for us is to speed up 
the parts of the brain that need to be, so that everything is in sync again. 
This leads to a reduction in stress and tension, so most people with ADD 
find that their medication seems to calm them down, counter-intuitively 
(there are those who think Ritalin makes a person sleepy when using it, for 
example). For people without the condition, they'll act like the strong 
stimulants that they are. Unfortunately, there's a lot of abuse of these 
meds... my understanding is that there are schools where it's popular to try 
to purchase ADD medications to help stay awake to get through final exams.

It would be awfully hard (thought it's certainly not inconceivable) to get a 
placebo to work on someone with ADD. I think you'd have to have the 
condition to appreciate how completely it affects your life. I don't think 
you could get a person who's had ADD/ADHD all his life to understand what it 
would be like to be "normal" well enough to get the placebo to work. It 
really is like stepping through a curtain and realizing that you've been 
seeing the world in a vastly different way from most people. :-)

--
Jack

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>> I sit down with every intent to do something really neat, and I fizzle 
>> out after a couple of days into the project. It's why, if you look, 
>> you see a lot of starts and works in progress, but really no finished 
>> projects.
> 
> This is exactly like me too.  I put it down to the fact that I really 
> just want to see if a concept is viable or not, I have no interest in 
> making some final polished project, I just need to know if I *could* do 
> it.  Once I've satisfied that need then I can't really be bothered to 
> carry on, I'd rather be looking at something new again.

I believe it's traditional to utter "RANDEL, GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" at 
this point.

Except that your name isn't Randel.

http://www.bash.org/?22094

(Sorry, man...)

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