Reminds me of when people find out I do cocaine and Adderall.

"Oh Michael likes to get high"

No, Michael doesn't have health insurance and has very severe adhd. I can't live a normal life without stimulants and drug dealers are cheaper than doctors. welcome to America.

Alcohol. Before getting formally diagnosed and medicated, drinking was the only thing that would quiet the inner restlessness. It worked but it's not a healthy lifestyle at all.

This is something I like to bring up to people who are hesitant to medicate their kids. Yeah, I know you think Timmy is fine because he's not completely failing in school, but you should at least show Timmy that he has options and that it's OK to talk to a doctor and take medication if he needs it. He doesn't have to rely on Jack Daniels and Folgers to eek his way through life.

I used to drink 4 red bulls or 2-3 rockstar energy drinks per day. This was on top of any coffee.

Now, diagnosed and medicated, I'm down to zero and I rarely drink coffee.

Chewing gum almost every waking moment of the day. People used to assume I was trying to quit smoking, I would joke that I was actually trying to build my way up to starting.

Apparently videogames are a "medication" for my adhd because since i started adderol they don't "pull me in" like they used to.

I miss it a little bit, it's also kinda weird but its also nice to not be compelled to play like before

Recently got diagnosed with asthma and just have an albuterol inhaler till I can see a specialist in 4 plus months, haven’t been able to get an ADHD test despite my doctors referral, just so you have a preface for my story here.

On days I work toward my goals I generally start with a 16 oz doubled tea, gives me stimulants which I can’t get at the moment and I generally am able to focus on my tasks for 2 hour stents or so. I have some days though that despite getting rest and having a dose of caffeine I get real low energy around my first hour. Recently, during one of these moments I was trying to take a break and realized my breathing was quite shallow and I was somewhat short of breath, so I used my inhaler and I had a rush of energy and was able to knock out all my tasks with energy to spare. Turns out most of my low energy days have been actually about my low blood oxygen and the effects of having undiagnosed asthma. This has happened to me several times now and it blows me away each time. I think to myself “So this is how normal people breath and get so much done.”

Wow people that drank redbull have kids in college already, I guess it does make you move quicker

W dad

I think I got this from lemmy?

Nicotine. I started smoking at 16. Vaping now but nicotine and caffeine are carrying me through my unmedicated life

Wait what, I have below average blood pressure and have always leaned on caffeine to focus better. I never had any idea the two might be connected.

Tea. Extremely strong tea, the kind russian convicts drink.

Extreme anxiety.

For the longest time, I couldn't recruit enough concentration to get homework or big projects done until it was this huge looming threat. Frequently, that would involve an all-nighter since it was something due the next day. Other times, it meant cranking out last night's math assignment in home room mere minutes before it was due. It turns out that adrenaline and other stress hormones are great at shoving all the ADHD noise out of the way, however temporarily.

I became a pothead because it made the cacophony of thoughts in my head stfu. I didn't realize that my thoughts were like that because of ADHD, since I was only diagnosed in my 30's (started smoking weed when I was 19).

Similar but Pistachios. The mechanics of opening the shells and eating them allowed me to focus on the college professor's material after an 9-10 hour work shift. If I showed up to class without pistachios or sunflower seeds I was nodding off in class.

When I was younger they gave me Ritalin, mostly to stop me from burning the building down. It worked, because I never burned the school down.. can't say the same for the neighbors shed... plus there was that incident with the bridge, luckily the fire department showed up quickly.

Drinking a litre (~32oz) of espresso every day... ETA: I also have narcolepsy. its rough out here

I'm a heavy tea drinker. When I got diagnosed with ADD at 40 I realized I was probably (lol) self-medicating with the copious amounts of tea.

Still better (and tastier) than meds IMHO. Of course don't take my advice always, ALWAYS, talk to your doctor.

A friend of mine chews nicotine gum. I have another friend that vapes and drinks like 12 energy drinks a day.

✨ alcohol✨

So much fucking coffee. My god it was too much.

This is caffeine acting on brain and unlikely any change in blood pressure per se. You can try measuring bp a few time before and after chugging red bull to see how much it changes.

My dad still swears it was the red bull and snickers and not the medical ...

Wild that someone would think the Red Bull and Snickers are doing it directly without going through the some-ingredients-in-these-products-are-affecting-your-body route.