Thread by @randomlychad

Have been wanting to do a thread on #ADHD, as I was diagnosed earlier this year. As with the condition itself, which seems to fairly binary in its expression--off or on, in or out--there's little balance in how folks seem to respond. They're either accepting, or telling me 1/x

it's not an excuse. <--And these are thr folks who typically try to sympathize by highlighting their own periodic forgetfulness... As if that's all there is to #ExecuiveDysfunction. The most basic analogy I've come up with is it's kinda like the first Astromech droid Owen & 2/x

try to buy from the Jawas in #SWEp4; if you recall, it moves a few feet, halts, and sparks fly out of its head. It's said to have a bad motivator. And that is what's at core of #ExecutiveDysfunction--shoddy motivation. While holding that in mind, also consider something I 3/x

term the #ClashConundrum: based upon the classic song, it fairly well describes the daily experience of people with #ADHD: "Should I stay, or should I go now? If I go there will be to, if I stay it will be double." Should I stay here & keep doing what I'm doing? Oh, crap! 4/x

I'm late for work (again)! It also speaks to the choice paralysis people with the disorder experience. Should I stay or should I go? I can't make up my mind! Too many choices! I can't decide on a major... Etc, etc, etc.

One of the biggest misunderstandings is that any of 5/x

foregoing is voltional at all. Those of us with #ADHD didn't ask to come into the world this way. And we're not stupid, lazy, or crazy, either. And we're not med-seeking, either. In fact, a lot simply forget to take their meds. Does that sound like addiction? Another thing: 6/x

These are laboratory-produced medications; meaning the highest purity standards, and thay they are manufactured, and prescribed, in therapeutic doses; these are not street drugs of questionable provenance. Only a few of them are actually chemically identical with 7/x

methamphetamine, and even those are prescribed in therapeutic doses. According to my provider, the rule of thumb is to boost an #ADHD brain's bioavailability of neurotransmitters to about 80% nominal, or 80% of a neurotypical brain's amount. And they're very effective while 8/x

they last. According to Dr. Russell Barkley, this is akin to gene therapy, e.g., a genetic conditon is being treated at its root... The fact of the matter is that, for those who that medicate (and whose brains and respond to it) the studies show far less incidence of 9/x

addiction, increased productivity, and better adjustment overall. Now, pills don't teach skills, but they do treat about +/- 80% of #ADHD symptoms; for the rest--the 20%--there's therapy. Because if one of like me at all, one has gone a lifetime without knowing the fight one 10/x

is in, and consequently one masks, and/or one builds up quite a stable of maladaptive behaviors and beliefs. <--Pills can't change negative self-talk; that's the province of DBT/CBT.

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The foregoing saud, the stats on those who are missed, who don't get 11/x

diagnosed are not encouraging. Frequently, females are missed altogether, and often folks are misdiagnosed with anxiety and/or depression. And a lot of kids end up experiencing suicidal ideation, and usually because they don't understand why they feel like they don't fit in 12/x

and get all manner of negative messaging:"What's wiring with you? Why can't you get it together? You're so lazy! Don't you ever try? You had so much potential; what happened?"

These kids are already feeling like failures and beating themselves up over it.. The last thing 13/x

they need is for someone to come long and affirm that negative messaging. Trust me on this. #ADHD is hellish enough without an hour extra helping of guilt and shame.

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Those of us with the condition don't need your condemantion--we need your understanding & 14/x

compassion. Even if this series of tweets doesn't foster greater understanding compassion is still far, far kinder than judgment & presumption.

Thank-you for your time.

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