How to deal with ADHD on your own? (If you have to)

Question

This is not an anti-medication or -therapy post. The purpose of my writing is to inquire about the best self-help strategies for managing ADHD. This might be useful for people who don't have access to a therapist or to medication. It would be nice if those strategies are backed up by findings. So without further ado, here are my best ways to deal with this condition on your own:1. Fish oil (EPA should be higher than DHA) [1][3][4] 2. Zinc[1] 3. Lithium (has severe side effects, but seems to be effective)[1] 4. Meditation/Mindfulness & Yoga[2]References: [1] https://www.webmd.com/vitamins/condition-1021/attention+deficit-hyperactivity+disorder+(adhd) [2] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18025249/ [3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4321799/ [4] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4175558/Disclaimer: use your own brain first! Or if you can, listen to your therapist. Again, this is aimed for people who have no access to professional help. I am not an expert in scientific literature.

d33lio · Accepted Answer

For me it's all about routine, sleep and unfortunately accepting that stimulants make my life orders of magnitude more productive and enjoyable. However, my ADHD is also what gives me the ability to think in very creative and obtuse ways / also derive my anxiety into huge decision trees that have unfortunately proven to be very accurate.
As someone who was finally diagnosed by two different neuropsychs (involved days of testing) at 22 it's something I'll regret the rest of my life. Basically, the fact that my parents just thought ADD was a "fake disorder" and struggled through a majority of high school / college.
Frankly, I've also found significant benefits micro-dosing a liquid psilocybin mushroom extract a few days a week.
Please talk to a psych if you think you might have ADHD!

d-1 · Answer

Thank you for your input, gang! :)Okay, to summarize, here are the list of things that might help when you are unable to get medicated or therapy:1. Supplements: Omega-3, Zinc, Lithium (has severe side effects, but it works) 2. Mindfulness: Meditation/Yoga 3. Routines (according to HN answers)Here is the list of things that I personally (!) think that might help:4. Digital organization: Johnny File System, PARA MethodHere is the list of things I am personally (!) unsure about:5. Offline organization/planning: Bullet Journaling 6. General organization: minimalism? Decluttering?The list of things that need also attention:7. Social skills & interpreting social cues correctly 8. Interpersonal skills & soft skills (manners?) 9. Effective "crutches" for things like impulsivitySome more ideas that might help or not - these are rather experimental:10. Fasting (for mood improvement?): https://www.hal.inserm.fr/file/index/docid/789122/filename/F...And remember: use your own brain first don't trust anyone so easily! :) (Except your therapist/doctor, if you have access to one.)Final note: we need a Scott Meyers type of book for "Effective ADHD".

ta_202010061019 · Answer

Tried every medication which is legal in my country. Side effects where always too strong to use drugs on a regular base.What works: - Enough sleep + naps - Sport - Walking - White noise to cancel out distractions - Logging almost everything which happens during a work day in a work journal - Having checklists/templates - Setup work days - Setup free days - Recurring todos for day of week - Coherent breathing works better for me than meditation

companyhen · Answer

Meditation works best for me. 15 minutes when I wake up every morning at a minimum. 25-30 minutes gets me really focused through the day. Started during lockdown, around day 130 right now. Best habit I picked up. Morning works best for me, if I wait until later in the day I don't feel like making time for it.I use the insight timer app which has nice analytics and you can see everyone around the world and your city meditating with you, which is a nice social feature.

godot · Answer

I never actually was diagnosed, though I've taken these online ADHD tests and I've always scored pretty high. Based on my own experience, it would seem I have some level of it as well. I feel like in the past few years, after working a decade in software engineering, I've learned to utilize my ADHD tendencies pretty well. In several companies now I've acted in a role of some kind of lead engineer where difficult problems or live issues get thrown my way (I seem to get myself into such a role more often than not). Juggling several high priority tasks at once lets me focus really well on each in short bursts of time, and after that, I seem to enjoy the context switching way more than most other software engineering peers would (everyone else seems to hate it). I would add that, as an unrelated point to ADHD, I'm a person who can handle stressful situations fairly well, so it definitely helps with being the guy tackling production fires all the time. Not sure if it works for everyone, at least it does for me and I've had a thriving engineering career for 15 years and counting now. I don't use any medication.

logicslave · Answer

Either find something that excites you enough to be really interested in or take medication