I have ADHD. I also have a daughter with ADHD. I think being able to see it from the point of personal experience and from a parents perspective has been helpful in some ways. I was officially diagnosed at 28. I wish I had been diagnosed as a child. I have never been outwardly hyperactive but aside from that, the signs were clearly there.

Instead of outward physical hyperactivity, I have what I have heard called “inner restlessness”. It feels like an inability to relax. I can’t just sit and do nothing. It’s an insatiable need to constantly feel like I’m doing something productive, every waking minute of every day. It doesn’t sound that bad but in reality it’s a tremendous source of misery. Humans aren’t built to work constantly without rest but my ADHD brain will not let me turn it off. Meds help with this a lot.

One of the challenging things about having a child (or even maybe being a child) with ADHD is that physicians often like to focus on school performance as the primary barometer of “success”. In fairness, that’s somewhat understandable when kids are young and lack the self-awareness to analyze how they’re feeling, much less communicate their feelings in a meaningful way.

The goal should be to help the child have a happy and fulfilling life with school performance as a component of that.

People with ADHD are significantly more likely to experience mental health issues throughout their lives, especially if they’re untreated. That can often lead to “self medicating” (AKA substance abuse). As someone who experienced severe difficulty regulating their own emotions – often a symptom of ADHD – from an early age, and spent most of his 20’s binge drinking as a form of self medication, I wish someone would have asked if I needed meds when I was a kid.

ADHD symptoms can change as the brain develops. It’s perfectly normal to make adjustments to medications to deal with that and keep everything dialed in.

I think what’s really important is teaching your son the importance of looking after his mental health and that having an ongoing dialogue with his doctor about his disorder is a positive thing.

I can do one thing every day and check it off, as long as it is on a list.

Always good to see a fellow “relentless box checker.”

I totally get this. We have to figure out what we can and can’t control. I decided, a long time ago, that I did not want to be the kind of father that my father was. Thankfully, I was able to let go of the anger that I was brought up with. I’m far from perfect but I decided the cycle of abuse would end with me and I ended it.

I still can’t remember what I was about to do or where I put something 90% of the time. I wish that weren’t the case. I wish my stupid pinball machine of a brain worked like a normal one. It doesnt. That’s outside my control.

But, I was able to change something that really mattered by dealing with something I could control.

Nearly every time I ask ChatGPT a question about a well established tech stack, it’s responses are erroneous to the point of being useless. It frequently provides examples using fabricated, non-existent functionality and the code samples are awful.

What’s the point in getting AI to write code that I’m just going to have to completely rewrite?

There is truth in the expression, “Success is a lot of small decisions stacked on top of one another.”

It can be hard for us to embrace because it often doesn’t provide the immediate reward sensation that we crave and don’t get enough of. That said, if you can find a way to focus on one area of improvement at a time, your chances of success are much higher and it will help keep you from feeling overwhelmed by your larger goals.

Freud, which also makes Diablo, has quite a few good options. Go for something with less teeth (like a 24T) which will give a smooth cut without overloading the saw. The 113 should handle hardwoods over 3/4" just fine.

How else are you supposed to keep score? Half the time there’s a few spares sitting in the golf cart.

“Dad, you better quit taking those blood pressure meds. You might become dependent on them.”

For me it’s not fear. It’s having to power up my “extrovert persona”. I’m happy to do it. I enjoy talking to people but it’s also exhausting.

Mañana.

My former doctor: “Ya. You probably have ADHD but you’re fine. You’ve learned to cope with it.”

Me: Drinking half a bottle of Jim Beam every night to “cope”.

Side note: nice seeing you around again Stamets. The meme quality was suffering in your absence.

Because it was replaced by cheap garbage.

Saved you a click. The video was pretty informative though.

“Doctor, anywhere I take my baby, things keep exploding violently. Like in a way that seems excessive and dramatic. What do I do?”

“Oh dear. Well it seems your baby has Michael Bay Syndrome. I wouldn’t expect the explosions to stop any time soon but it’s not life threatening. Other symptoms usually include misogyny and negative reviews on Rotton Tomatoes.”

It’s important to keep a sustained elevated heart rate. So just take your stimulants with a couple of energy drinks.

This kind of highlights the difference between correlation and causation.

The root cause of ADHD is not currently fully understood but it’s unlikely that it’s a vitamin B deficiency. People with ADHD also routinely have an iron deficiency in their brains during childhood – which scientists theorize could be a contributing factor – as well as a genetic anomaly, which appears to be hereditary. It’s still not known if either of those things actually causes ADHD. Unfortunately, by the time symptoms are present, the damage is already done.

Taking vitamin B supplements won’t necessarily hurt any but I don’t know that it would help much either, outside of giving you an energy boost.

My experience was more like:

Then there’s the small group that just throws everything into Excel

Interesting. Excel is certainly capable enough but I would think data set size limitations would be a frequent issue. Maybe not as frequent as I would have thought though.

15 years in IT OPS before switching to programming. Can confirm most IT infrastructure is held together with duct tape and the occasional prayer meeting in the data center.

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.

Lol that’s a rookie mess. You need to start way more projects that you’re “going to finish any day now” and let them all sit for about 5 years.