Ask HN: Did ADHD treatment unlock your ability to work on self-directed work?

2 pointsdkarras3mo ago4 comments

I'm a developer in my 40s considering getting diagnosed and medicated for (predominantly inattentive) ADHD for the first time. I've built a career around working with my brain rather than against it - freelancing and consulting where I could choose projects that interested me, constantly switching stacks / languages / domains to stay engaged, and developing an acute sensitivity to maintainable engineering practices (because I knew if code became a mess, I'd be physically unable to work on it even if my life depended on it.)

This approach worked for years. But now I have the resources and experience to pursue projects I now have real potential, and I'm hitting a wall. The problem is that I understand my hyperfocus cycles so well that if I realize a project will outlast my focus window, I don't even start. I have learned to work fast to outrun my focus juices running out but not that fast where I need to do more than development and switch my attention to different needs of a business constantly. It is getting worse for me, not better.

The irony is that avoiding work I "should" be doing made me a better, more versatile engineer - I learned broadly while procrastinating, developed strong opinions about maintainability out of self-preservation, and became genuinely multidisciplinary. But I've never been able to do traditional employment (didn't even try it ever, making myself work on something I'm not intensely interested in is simply impossible, regardless of reward or punishment), and now even self-directed work is slipping away.

I'm curious: has anyone here gotten diagnosed and medicated in adulthood and found it made a meaningful difference specifically for self-directed, long-term projects? Not even mentioning how the rest of my life is a mess because of ADHD. I'm not looking for general ADHD success stories - I want to know if treatment helped people like us who've survived this long through workarounds, but now want to actually execute on the things we're uniquely positioned to build.

4 comments

hirvi743mo ago

> has anyone here gotten diagnosed and medicated in adulthood

Yes.

> and found it made a meaningful difference specifically for self-directed, long-term projects?

No.

I was dx'd in my early twenties and have been treated for over a decade. I would say there is a minor improvement in some areas, but it's not like I became some radically different person. I'm still highly dysfunctional in a lot of domains.

I would say medication provides me a better ability to focus on tasks, but that is about it. Of course, if you start medication, you will likely become a radically different person during the 'honeymoon phase', but if you are like me, there will be a reversion to the mean.

NavinF3mo ago

I'm guessing you're asking this question instead of just trying Adderall and answering this question yourself because you know it takes a long time to get appointments for diagnosis. FYI there are lots of online clinics in the US that will give you a diagnosis and send a prescription for $$$, not covered by insurance. After doing that, you can get refills from your normal Dr/PMHNP and local pharmacy for free/cheap. There's no point speculating about potential results when you can test it empirically.

dkarrasOP3mo ago

Kind of that. I'm not USA based. In my country you can do it through gov. insurance which is a lot of bureaucracy that I can't handle. Will go through the private route (fast) and pay out of nose. This to help my anxious mind and learn through the experiences of others.

ekropotin3mo ago

That’s super interesting, as I’m in the exactly same boat as OP.

Did you by chance went through this process yourself? If yes, would you mind describing the process in more detail?

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