No Claws for Concern
October 18, 2019 1:51 PM   Subscribe

Playing Deadliest Catch: The Game on medical speed. A newly-diagnosed ADHD patient describes writing on a deadline with new meds. Come for the fantastic advertisement of just how great appropriate mental health treatment can be, but stay for the Bon Jovi theme running throughout.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln (20 comments total) 18 users marked this as a favorite
 
This is wonderful, thanks!
posted by showbiz_liz at 2:23 PM on October 18, 2019 [1 favorite]


oh; the temporary superpowers thing. Yeah — fun for a while. Then you realize far less fun is the massive jaw pain from clenching and grinding and you'd really like your rib cage back instead of the birdcage full of fluttering sparrows it's been swapped for. The people you interact with might appreciate you putting spaces between your words again, a 50% reduction in blithering, and a removal of the sudden halts in conversation left by the words that amphetamine tends to temporarily steal¹ for its own purposes. It goes away after a few weeks and then it becomes a useful medication.

This article should come with a warning for the neurotypicals not to try it.

--
¹: mine was ‘vulture’. Not often used, but I did have a context to use it and panicked, because the word was just gone, replaced with a black smoking hole with        s circling above it. Thought I was losing my mind.
posted by scruss at 2:30 PM on October 18, 2019 [14 favorites]


Um, yeah, the idea is for people who've been struggling with "what's wrong with me" for their whole life to try this under medical supervision. Not to just go out and buy some meth.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 2:42 PM on October 18, 2019 [20 favorites]


“I love crabs. And I’m fascinated by the megableak aesthetic of arctic factory fishing. ”

I like the cut of this guy’s jib
posted by armoir from antproof case at 4:07 PM on October 18, 2019 [3 favorites]


I'm sort of nervous to read this. I'm currently awaiting an ADHD diagnostic appointment. After some very pronounced changes in the manifestation of my dyspraxia when my medication was switched to an SNRI, I've started to notice more and more indications that big parts of my impairments are much more strongly connected to attention than I'd ever previously considered. And I'm feeling sort of baffled that I could have gone on so long without considering whether ADHD was a factor, but simultaneously worried about confirmation bias and convincing myself of a diagnosis that may not be right, despite the strong indications from my GP screening in that direction. And I feel frustrated that it's taken my practice months to conduct the screen and make the referral since I indicated that I thought ADHD was a possibility. And they only conducted the screening after I twisted the arm of my CBT therapist into recommending it. I'm fucking grateful for the NHS, but Jesus times are hard.

So I am now waiting and feeling hopeful for a diagnosis and treatment programme that helps me move forward with my life more easily, while simultaneously paranoid that maybe this is just my feckless, lazy self trying to get out of taking responsibility (while also understanding all the reasons why that is nonsense, but... it's a complicated feeling).

So anyway I'll read the article when I feel I can handle the hope!
posted by howfar at 5:52 PM on October 18, 2019 [9 favorites]


I’ve been taking ADHD meds for almost 25 years, as a working journalist in print and broadcast and I sure didn’t have all the drama this guy does. Millions of people read and watched my work. He played a video game demo and wrote about it. Hmmm, white guy takes legal drug and merriment ensues.
posted by Ideefixe at 7:26 PM on October 18, 2019 [9 favorites]


My partner was diagnosed 5 months ago and has been kind of crushed that they haven't had this experience with any of the meds they've tried to far. All they've gotten is sleep deprivation and stomach cramps. After hearing countless stories of how immediately life-changing ADHD meds are, it's been rough. I'm glad it went so well for this guy, though.
posted by brook horse at 7:49 PM on October 18, 2019 [3 favorites]


There's not that much to this, it seems like, but it's interesting to see all those edges blurred--a person doing their job by playing a video game that is a simulation of a job, while taking a medication that you're only supposed to take to be more productive but that people persist in seeing as recreational. I... can hyperfocus on a few things, sometimes, but one of the things I didn't realize was such a problem until I had meds was that I struggle normally to make it through five solid minutes of a TV show.

I think one of the major life improvements that came out of it was being able to better enjoy my leisure time, but I've had psychiatrists to whom I wouldn't even mention that fact, because they would have considered it frivolous.
posted by Sequence at 9:52 PM on October 18, 2019 [5 favorites]


“And most of all, I can choose what to think about.“

Okay maybe I’m an adult lady with undiagnosed ADHD, because this is an UNFATHOMABLE feeling.
posted by Grandysaur at 9:54 PM on October 18, 2019 [4 favorites]


medication that you're only supposed to take to be more productive

Eh, not really. And this is one of the persistent myths about ADHD (probably because it's the symptom that affects other people the most). Sure, I get more done when I'm on my meds, but the biggest relief I get is being free from the constant racing thoughts and ruminations. Being able to, yep, choose what you think about, instead of your thoughts being a TV flipping through channels and no one will give you the remote. It's miserable, and I wish I had learned that not everyone is living like that much earlier in life (I was diagnosed at 41).
posted by antinomia at 3:50 AM on October 19, 2019 [11 favorites]


Hmmm, white guy takes legal drug and merriment ensues.

I find this a slightly troubling response. Many people are marginalised by disability despite gender and racial privilege. It is absolutely the case that intersectional oppression exacerbates the effects of ableism, but intersectionality also requires us to recognise our points of commonality as members of marginalised groups. I'm glad that appropriate treatment for your disability has been a significant part of your life, but it seems a little mean-spirited to begrudge someone their desire to talk about the effects of that treatment when they finally receive it for their disability.
posted by howfar at 3:53 AM on October 19, 2019 [19 favorites]


I've come here to talk about drugs and industrial fishing.
posted by Lipstick Thespian at 6:33 AM on October 19, 2019 [3 favorites]


Disclaimer: I'm a cis het white middle class man, legal stimulants have vastly improved my life, and if you're not interested in that perspective I'll take no offense if you skip to the next comment.

In my experience (diagnosed with ADHD in mid-30's, now taking stimulant medication), it's about so much more than being productive.

I'm a better husband - I can truly listen to my spouse without my attention wandering a couple of times a minute. I can clean things up as I go instead of leaving a trail of mess behind me for them to either nag me about or (more likely) sigh and deal with it for me. I'm a better friend - I can keep track of appointments and commitments and show up on time. I can cook garlic bread for company because I'm confident I can maintain my attention long enough not to burn it. I can fall asleep at night without a hurricane of whirling thoughts keeping me awake.

Certainly it's helped at work too - but the benefit to me isn't that I'm getting more units of work done and maximizing my creation of value for the shareholders. It's that I'm no longer the coworker that everyone knows can't be depended on, so don't ask him for anything important. Being that person, knowing you're that person, and having no way to stop being that person is awful. In my case, the chronic crushing depression variety of awful.
posted by Turbo-B at 8:04 AM on October 19, 2019 [18 favorites]


> while taking a medication that you're only supposed to take to be more productive

One of the times I was prescribed ADHD medication was to help with the recovery from my post-concussion syndrome (you can't rest a whirring brain). All the times I've been prescribed it were while I didn't have a paying job. I've never felt any "now go get to work" pressure from my doctors. If you're getting that attitude from yours, you might want to see a new person.
posted by The corpse in the library at 10:18 AM on October 19, 2019


I've had, at this point, multiple psychiatrists, and I'm very happy with the one I'm currently working with, but if you've never experienced this kind of discrimination in psychiatric care, please consider that this does not mean it doesn't exist.
posted by Sequence at 2:58 PM on October 19, 2019 [3 favorites]


I barely notice the effects of prescribed ADHD meds.
posted by lathrop at 6:08 PM on October 20, 2019


(Super late to the party) One thing about ADHD meds is that the body acclimates to stimulants. So the prescription method is typically to try and find a safe time to take vacations from it. In with a standard 40 hour workweek, that usually means “take it during work hours, and spend the evenings and weekends off”.

Which of course is terrible if you also have to be productive with non-paying labor during those times. I would sometimes skip it on Fridays or mornings to give myself some medicated domestic labor time.
posted by politikitty at 1:58 PM on November 2, 2019 [1 favorite]


Do you know if there are any best practices for that, politikitty? Should it be two days off a week, or one week of a month, or...? (I don't have a schedule that makes it simple.)
posted by The corpse in the library at 2:20 PM on November 2, 2019 [1 favorite]


I would definitely talk to a doctor. Using stimulants for ADHD, where the brain is stable, just not conducive to Modern Living is very different from a TBI, where it sounds like the stimulant is being prescribed to prevent further harm.

I just do a lot of layman’s research in an effort to destigmitize my own brain.
posted by politikitty at 4:03 PM on November 2, 2019 [1 favorite]


I have asked my psychiatrist about it (medication vacations) after seeing it discussed everywhere. He said no, don’t do it.

I’ve heard other psychiatrists say that since it affects social interaction, and those who are untreated have higher rates of car crashes and other accidents, etc, it should be taken consistently.

Personally, I prefer to avoid the dopamine roller coaster from stopping and starting it. I think it would also increase addiction risk since each time you restart (also when you increase the dose) you get a couple days of euphoria, and you’re specifically not supposed to chase that euphoria.
posted by antinomia at 5:39 PM on November 2, 2019 [1 favorite]


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