ADHD - Should I try medication or get some other help?

Does anyone have any experience with this?

I find it easier to focus on something if I actually have a little tiny bit of distraction. if I have absolutely nothing going on I will get incredibly unfocused because I just need more stimulus. I'll find absolutely -anything- that will fill the space and won't actually get any work done.

You need to cut out things that you know you will get sucked into, like internet and TV (programs like FocalFilter are helpful for this), but you also need to adapt to how your brain needs more stimulus than normal.

For me, the solution is music. Music keeps me engaged and interested enough to work. It's a distraction, but it's not a bad enough distraction that I can't pull myself out of it and get back to the task I need to do.

It also, for me, helps if I make myself accountable. For example, streaming work whenever I can, or making a bargain with a friend that we're both going to do X thing. My bringing other people into the equation and making it so I'll disappoint them or fail my end of the bargain if I don't do something, I make myself more inclined to work.

Keeping a schedule also helps. It takes time to get used to it, but once you've made work a habit, it's easier for your brain to switch gears. It's like the concept of sleep hygeine, only for work.

There are ways to work around it. You need to figure out how your brain works. However, if things like this aren't enough, then you should definitely consider medication. If it's bad enough that you can't treat it through non-medicated means, that means it's bad enough that it's severely affecting your life. The right medication won't change who you are, just give you the ability to function as you should.

Also, if you take medication, ask other people to help you monitor yourself. With a good medication, you oftentimes won't even notice the effect, because it's so subtle that you feel like nothing has changed. But it will have made a difference, and other people will notice.

>>17879620
This is nice. This is what I was looking for. I've tried most of those things in some way, though. Music helps me not get bored as easily, but I have to re-read sentences much more frequently and things like that. Group projevts just make me stressed because I let the others down but I don't actually work better.

My main thing that I get sucked into is internet and phone, but even without those I get stuck in certain thoughts and I start reading things I shouldn't in the book or sometimes just get stuck and can't focus on doing what I should for no reason.

I think a schedule is the best thing, but I haven't really done that properly.

I also have trouble getting to bed on time. I procrastinate really bad.

Thanks so much for your reply!

>>17880078
Try listening to instrumental music if it messes with your ability to read sentences. It's usually the words in songs that do that, since your brain is trying to process language from two sources at once.

When doing stuff that doesn't involve words, music with lyrics is just fine.

Any sort of routine will help you get into the work mode, once your brain start to realize that's what signifies work mode. The same time, the same location, the same snack, the same drink, the same stupid hat, all of these things, when done only when you work, will help your brain switch to work mode once it begins to associate the stimulus with "time to work. it's classical conditioning.

You don't need all of them, but creating and using a consistent habit before and during work time will make your brain eventually learn to switch gears because it uses the signs to recognize it's work time now.

>>17880168
I will definitely try this out. I heard a tip that I shpuld create another user on my PC for work too.

And yeah, when I listen to music and work I usually listen to game or movie soundtracks. Those work fine.

Thanks.