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PaperclipPerfector  8mo ago (text post)   2440 thread views

Wellness Wednesday for March 13, 2024

The Wednesday Wellness threads are meant to encourage users to ask for and provide advice and motivation to improve their lives. It isn't intended as a 'containment thread' and any content which could go here could instead be posted in its own thread. You could post:

  • Requests for advice and / or encouragement. On basically any topic and for any scale of problem.

  • Updates to let us know how you are doing. This provides valuable feedback on past advice / encouragement and will hopefully make people feel a little more motivated to follow through. If you want to be reminded to post your update, see the post titled 'update reminders', below.

  • Advice. This can be in response to a request for advice or just something that you think could be generally useful for many people here.

  • Encouragement. Probably best directed at specific users, but if you feel like just encouraging people in general I don't think anyone is going to object. I don't think I really need to say this, but just to be clear; encouragement should have a generally positive tone and not shame people (if people feel that shame might be an effective tool for motivating people, please discuss this so we can form a group consensus on how to use it rather than just trying it).

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I have ADHD, though I need the meds primarily so I can even force myself to open a textbook. It does help with normal day to day stuff, but the experience on Ritalin is unpleasant enough that I don't bother most of the time.

I'm not embarrassed in the least by it. Studying, on top of work, is something I can't dispense with at this stage of my career, so it is what it is. I did have problems focusing on studies as a kid, but personal tutors keeping me under their gaze handled the worst of it, unfortunately it turns out that in their absence I won't study unless my life depends on it, and such last minute grinding doesn't get you anywhere when the books could kill a toddler if dropped on them.

Evidently the meds work for you. Try a lower dose and see if that keeps you functional without a "high". But if it makes life more bearable and you suffer without them, longterm use is warranted as far as I'm concerned.

Did you use to take meds back in India as well? If so, which ones?

the experience on Ritalin is unpleasant enough that I don't bother most of the time

this would seem to sidestep any potential longterm issues of dependency, tolerance, etc. right? I guess I'm more concerned about daily use.

Use it long enough and you'll develop a tolerance, but that's what cycling and drug holidays are for.

But beyond that, there's no significant harm in daily use at therapeutic doses.

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