I can relate to your distrust of chemical treatment, given your circumstances, but I would have a question of you: Did you have any chemical habits prior to getting placed on stimulant ADD meds? The fact is that lots of ADD sufferers, especially adult ADD sufferers, tend to medicate themselves because it's not considered okay to have this. The stigma attached to ADD due to thousands of underachieving parents who place their unruly kids on Ritalin unnecessarily has affected the ability of those of us who actually suffer from ADD (be it a disease, disorder, whatever) from getting effective treatment.
I know that my ADD meds (I take a form of methylphenidate, the same active ingredient in Ritalin) made me very anxious and nervous at higher dosages. With my doctor's help, I backed my dosage down and added an anti-anxiety med at a low dosage. This has helped the anxiety, but I can't say that I'm any better when it comes to sticking to my work. It's not that I find my work uninteresting, either. In fact, I love it. I have trouble concentrating on books that I love (I probably read LoTR about 4 times as an adolescent, but the differences in adult ADD versus child and adolescent ADD are significant, and so when I tried reading it again just before the movies came out, I found it nigh impossible), coding (which I love), or even sticking to projects that I develop at work, which I want to do, and which I find to be an exciting challenge. So the argument that ADD is a result of boredom or lack of interest is ridiculous, I think.
That being said, if I could find a way to get off the medication, which in my case is only of minor help, I would love it. Not all ADD cases become addicted to medications, and while your case is certainly regrettable, I'd be more likely to blame the doctor that prescribed it to you than the medication itself. Did (s)he follow up with you on a regular basis? Was it an actual psychologist with experience in treating adult ADD (not just child ADD, but specifically adult ADD)? Did your doctor work with you or refer you to a specialist to help you develop routines that would help you avoid the distractions? I have found that by deveoping routines, things that simply don't change, I am much less likely to get distracted. I set timers for myself for things that I might otherwise hyper-focus on. Yes, folks, while it might seem counterintuitive, ADD sufferers can concentrate on things, in fact we can hyper-focus on some tasks to the exclusion of all else. Ever met someone who doesn't hear their name the first 5 times you call it while they read, watch TV, play a video game, or even watch the squirrels in their back yard? That's hyper-focus. Sometimes (and I love it when this happens) I can even hyper-focus on things that I want to get done. This, my doctor tells me is a result of the sister-malady of ADD, obsessive compulsive disorder, which can be exacerbated by many ADD meds.
As for Einstein's probable ADD diagnosis, well, anything is possible. It's tough to diagnose a dead guy. But nonetheless, Albert was able to get his work done, and therefore was not likely to require medication. Those of us who have trouble getting done the things in our everyday lives that we are required to do, well....different story.
I would simply say to folks not to discount ADD as an imaginary malady. It's gotten a bad rap, and those of us who do suffer from something that causes us to not be able to manage our lives like 'normal' people, to get things done, to not be the super-coworkers, super-dads, or super-moms that everybody seems to believe we should be.....well, we're not all lazy, we're often more intelligent than the average, and we just need some way of helping ourselves get through the day.
To the gentleman who asked the question in the first place: If neural feedback is what works, and is proven through clinical studies, I say try it. In fact, I plan to ask my doctor about it. But don't let people tell you that your daughter is just going to have to deal with it.
I also speak from experience. I have had ADD all my life (note I did not say ADHD, as hyperactivity has not been one of my particular symptoms). Until I was 29 years old, I never got it diagnosed, although I suspected I was affected by it. Some children grow out of it. Some don't. I think that ADD has gotten so little acceptance because parents find doctors willing to diagnose their behaviorally problematic children with ADHD so that they can just medicate them rather than having to actually discipline them. Hey, if Mommy gets Paxil, why shouldn't baby get Adderall, or Ritalin, or Concerta?
The fact is that there are many of us out there who had ADD or ADHD as children who never did grow out of it. I wish I had. I could hyper-focus on some tasks without even realizing I was doing it, and later something else that I was actually interested in would make me fall asleep. My doctor says that many adults with ADD tend to fall asleep easily when engaged in non-interactive tasks, such as listening to college lectures, reading, or even driving. She tells me that many young adults with ADD who are undiagnosed tend to turn to alternatives for relief, such as alcohol, marijuana, or cocaine. Cocaine helps avoid the sleeping, and alcohol and marijuana slow down the complete blur of thoughts going through our heads which prevent us from actually focusing on the tasks which we want and need to focus on.
I love my work as a sytems administrator. But I found that managing my tasks, meeting deadlines, reading documentation, and other rather important tasks to someone in my job field were practically impossible. I tried making better use of calendaring and task-management software, but those only work if you actually look at them. I tried a PDA. I turned it on once every 3-4 weeks. For a while I'd get better with those, but then it'd fall apart the minute some monkey wrench got thrown into my routine, like, say, an on-call week where I wind up working half the night and sleeping most of the day. In those instances showering, brushing my teeth, and a variety of other seemingly routine tasks could be forgotten, let along dentist appointments, con calls, and meetings with my accountant at tax time. And making mental notes was practically a useless effort. In fact, the straw that broke the camel's back and made me finally go see a doctor about all of this was the fact that I had a 'mental note' for three weeks, and a note in my calendar for two weeks to go shopping for a first anniversary present, or at the very least, a card for my wife. I take full responsibility for the fact that she got nothing from me but an apology for our first anniversary, but I decided to check and see if there was a way that I could prevent this from happening again.
My doctor currently has me on 40mg of Metadate CD, along with 1mg of Klonopin to counter the anxiety that the Metadate causes. I don't want to be on these drugs. My wife and I are working to find some routines to help me be more productive without them. But in the meantime, I'm meeting my deadlines, functioning better in my job generally, remembering tasks and actually completing them much more effectively than before, and for the first time in years now, I've been able to read books without falling asleep after 3 pages. I was a voracious reader as a young person. I finished a Tom Clancy novel in two days, once, because I was so hyper-focused on it, that I don't even remember eating during that time. For about 9 years, I haven't been able to read much of anything, somtimes not even books that I'd read before, and loved. Since being on my meds, I can read again.
I know you might be doubtful of ADHD. But my experience tells me that it exists, and that I have it. ADD and ADHD are behavioral disorders, not behavioral traits. Just because we don't know what causes it doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. If you think that it does, then you've read too much Nitsche. We don't know what causes Alzheimer's, but we know it exists, too. I have ADD.
I can't agree with this policy on any level. I paid for my college education practically on my own, receiving very little aid from my parents. I took out loans, worked my ass off, and still, I didn't have anything close to the money to purchase a computer of any sort, let alone a laptop. I don't care how much people say that this is a great example of how people are moving forward in the information age. I say it's an example of how some people are getting left behind in the information age.
This is a flat out misconception. The federal government has actually been in a pattern of returning power to the states over the past 10 years or so. MANY federal powers once usurped from the states during the 40's and 50's, and even the 80's, are being returned to the states. Many grants are shifting to block grants, rather than having federally mandated spending patterns. For evidence, I submit the eratication of AFDC Act, and the institution of the TANF program across the board, in which the states are given federal money, and told to develop their own unrestricted plans to distribute the block grant. It doesn't need to go to people, it can go to companies to subsidize workforce outgrowth, or to state health insurance programs for the underprivileged, or to any other thing that the states want to put it towards. To say that the federal government is gathering power on an overall basis is just ludicrous. I can be said that in some areas the federal government is taking a leadership role is true, but in most cases this is defensible Consititutionally. There have been VERY few federal powers mandates stricken down over the past 5 or so years by the primarily conservative Supreme Court.
And anyway, this particular expansion or inclusion of federal power is easily justifiable, as Internet commerce does, more often than not, flow across state lines, and therefore falls under the Interstate Commerce clause of the Consititution, the very document which guarantees state powers in most cases.
Questions, gripes, and wisecracks welcomed.
Re:Slashdot - News for hits, Cash for founders
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Behold the Lizardman
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· Score: 1
Why is it that anytime people do the same thing that they've always done, but suddenly start getting paid for it, they're suddenly labled 'sellouts' by people who would do the same thing in an instant, given the opportunity?
I think that people are missing something fundamental here. Porting Win32 apps to Linux would not make Linux applications extinct. In fact, the groundswell of support for native Linux apps that we're seeing here indicates that. The Open Source movement can't be crushed so long as there are coders out there who are willing to distribute their source. So what happens when Office 2000 is available for Linux? Well, it still costs a bundle. One of the biggest reasons for the Open Source movement was to counter the overpricing of software by the big software companies, such as MS. So Office2K is now available on Linux. Now what? Well, it still costs more than most people can afford to pay out of pocket. So, then what? Well, hopefully, a gleefully stubborn but talented coder out there gets to work, and codes his/her own office productivity software, and distributes it for free. So maybe its not as pretty as Office 2000 for a little while, but people like me will use it, because it's either free or cheap.
Mickeysoft isn't going to put Open Source in its grave. We Linux enthusiasts out there are too bullheaded to let that happen. They might make it difficult, but it's tough to stop a revolution, even if you are Mickeysoft. People will still code, and still distribute their source, and with luck, someday Open Source, Linux-native apps will have to be ported to Win32 platforms, too. Don't look at this as a defeat, but exploit it as an opportunity to infiltrate.
Okay, so I'll finish the flag waving here, but let's face it: This isn't the end of the world, and if it's used correctly, it could mean that we take over Redmond. Hey, its possible. And wouldn't you just LOVE to see a Penguin flag flying outside the Mickeysoft HQ?
Slashdot Mirror
I know that my ADD meds (I take a form of methylphenidate, the same active ingredient in Ritalin) made me very anxious and nervous at higher dosages. With my doctor's help, I backed my dosage down and added an anti-anxiety med at a low dosage. This has helped the anxiety, but I can't say that I'm any better when it comes to sticking to my work. It's not that I find my work uninteresting, either. In fact, I love it. I have trouble concentrating on books that I love (I probably read LoTR about 4 times as an adolescent, but the differences in adult ADD versus child and adolescent ADD are significant, and so when I tried reading it again just before the movies came out, I found it nigh impossible), coding (which I love), or even sticking to projects that I develop at work, which I want to do, and which I find to be an exciting challenge. So the argument that ADD is a result of boredom or lack of interest is ridiculous, I think.
That being said, if I could find a way to get off the medication, which in my case is only of minor help, I would love it. Not all ADD cases become addicted to medications, and while your case is certainly regrettable, I'd be more likely to blame the doctor that prescribed it to you than the medication itself. Did (s)he follow up with you on a regular basis? Was it an actual psychologist with experience in treating adult ADD (not just child ADD, but specifically adult ADD)? Did your doctor work with you or refer you to a specialist to help you develop routines that would help you avoid the distractions? I have found that by deveoping routines, things that simply don't change, I am much less likely to get distracted. I set timers for myself for things that I might otherwise hyper-focus on. Yes, folks, while it might seem counterintuitive, ADD sufferers can concentrate on things, in fact we can hyper-focus on some tasks to the exclusion of all else. Ever met someone who doesn't hear their name the first 5 times you call it while they read, watch TV, play a video game, or even watch the squirrels in their back yard? That's hyper-focus. Sometimes (and I love it when this happens) I can even hyper-focus on things that I want to get done. This, my doctor tells me is a result of the sister-malady of ADD, obsessive compulsive disorder, which can be exacerbated by many ADD meds.
As for Einstein's probable ADD diagnosis, well, anything is possible. It's tough to diagnose a dead guy. But nonetheless, Albert was able to get his work done, and therefore was not likely to require medication. Those of us who have trouble getting done the things in our everyday lives that we are required to do, well....different story.
I would simply say to folks not to discount ADD as an imaginary malady. It's gotten a bad rap, and those of us who do suffer from something that causes us to not be able to manage our lives like 'normal' people, to get things done, to not be the super-coworkers, super-dads, or super-moms that everybody seems to believe we should be.....well, we're not all lazy, we're often more intelligent than the average, and we just need some way of helping ourselves get through the day.
To the gentleman who asked the question in the first place: If neural feedback is what works, and is proven through clinical studies, I say try it. In fact, I plan to ask my doctor about it. But don't let people tell you that your daughter is just going to have to deal with it.
The fact is that there are many of us out there who had ADD or ADHD as children who never did grow out of it. I wish I had. I could hyper-focus on some tasks without even realizing I was doing it, and later something else that I was actually interested in would make me fall asleep. My doctor says that many adults with ADD tend to fall asleep easily when engaged in non-interactive tasks, such as listening to college lectures, reading, or even driving. She tells me that many young adults with ADD who are undiagnosed tend to turn to alternatives for relief, such as alcohol, marijuana, or cocaine. Cocaine helps avoid the sleeping, and alcohol and marijuana slow down the complete blur of thoughts going through our heads which prevent us from actually focusing on the tasks which we want and need to focus on.
I love my work as a sytems administrator. But I found that managing my tasks, meeting deadlines, reading documentation, and other rather important tasks to someone in my job field were practically impossible. I tried making better use of calendaring and task-management software, but those only work if you actually look at them. I tried a PDA. I turned it on once every 3-4 weeks. For a while I'd get better with those, but then it'd fall apart the minute some monkey wrench got thrown into my routine, like, say, an on-call week where I wind up working half the night and sleeping most of the day. In those instances showering, brushing my teeth, and a variety of other seemingly routine tasks could be forgotten, let along dentist appointments, con calls, and meetings with my accountant at tax time. And making mental notes was practically a useless effort. In fact, the straw that broke the camel's back and made me finally go see a doctor about all of this was the fact that I had a 'mental note' for three weeks, and a note in my calendar for two weeks to go shopping for a first anniversary present, or at the very least, a card for my wife. I take full responsibility for the fact that she got nothing from me but an apology for our first anniversary, but I decided to check and see if there was a way that I could prevent this from happening again.
My doctor currently has me on 40mg of Metadate CD, along with 1mg of Klonopin to counter the anxiety that the Metadate causes. I don't want to be on these drugs. My wife and I are working to find some routines to help me be more productive without them. But in the meantime, I'm meeting my deadlines, functioning better in my job generally, remembering tasks and actually completing them much more effectively than before, and for the first time in years now, I've been able to read books without falling asleep after 3 pages. I was a voracious reader as a young person. I finished a Tom Clancy novel in two days, once, because I was so hyper-focused on it, that I don't even remember eating during that time. For about 9 years, I haven't been able to read much of anything, somtimes not even books that I'd read before, and loved. Since being on my meds, I can read again.
I know you might be doubtful of ADHD. But my experience tells me that it exists, and that I have it. ADD and ADHD are behavioral disorders, not behavioral traits. Just because we don't know what causes it doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. If you think that it does, then you've read too much Nitsche. We don't know what causes Alzheimer's, but we know it exists, too. I have ADD.
I can't agree with this policy on any level. I paid for my college education practically on my own, receiving very little aid from my parents. I took out loans, worked my ass off, and still, I didn't have anything close to the money to purchase a computer of any sort, let alone a laptop. I don't care how much people say that this is a great example of how people are moving forward in the information age. I say it's an example of how some people are getting left behind in the information age.
And anyway, this particular expansion or inclusion of federal power is easily justifiable, as Internet commerce does, more often than not, flow across state lines, and therefore falls under the Interstate Commerce clause of the Consititution, the very document which guarantees state powers in most cases.
Questions, gripes, and wisecracks welcomed.
Why is it that anytime people do the same thing that they've always done, but suddenly start getting paid for it, they're suddenly labled 'sellouts' by people who would do the same thing in an instant, given the opportunity?
I think that people are missing something fundamental here. Porting Win32 apps to Linux would not make Linux applications extinct. In fact, the groundswell of support for native Linux apps that we're seeing here indicates that. The Open Source movement can't be crushed so long as there are coders out there who are willing to distribute their source. So what happens when Office 2000 is available for Linux? Well, it still costs a bundle. One of the biggest reasons for the Open Source movement was to counter the overpricing of software by the big software companies, such as MS. So Office2K is now available on Linux. Now what? Well, it still costs more than most people can afford to pay out of pocket. So, then what? Well, hopefully, a gleefully stubborn but talented coder out there gets to work, and codes his/her own office productivity software, and distributes it for free. So maybe its not as pretty as Office 2000 for a little while, but people like me will use it, because it's either free or cheap.
Mickeysoft isn't going to put Open Source in its grave. We Linux enthusiasts out there are too bullheaded to let that happen. They might make it difficult, but it's tough to stop a revolution, even if you are Mickeysoft. People will still code, and still distribute their source, and with luck, someday Open Source, Linux-native apps will have to be ported to Win32 platforms, too. Don't look at this as a defeat, but exploit it as an opportunity to infiltrate.
Okay, so I'll finish the flag waving here, but let's face it: This isn't the end of the world, and if it's used correctly, it could mean that we take over Redmond. Hey, its possible. And wouldn't you just LOVE to see a Penguin flag flying outside the Mickeysoft HQ?