Random rambly stuff

[alias_sqbr]

First, a plug: Fanart Remix Exchange now has a dreamwidth mirror at fanartremix and fandom nominations are currently open!

barbeauxbot has been talking about her recent ADHD diagnosis and it's got me wondering if my own absent mindedness and concentration issues (which the cfs has made harder to cope with, but they predate it) is due to something similar. And research has shown that adhd meds are apparently sometimes good for cfs/me even if you don't have adhd...but are bad for anxiety even if you do. Urgh. So I will discuss it with my psychiatrist and see what he says.

Read The Suffragette Scandal by Courtney Milan today and it was super fun. A bit...fanficcy, almost, including both the good (lesbian (very) background pairing!) and the bad (a bit too much emphasis on fun moments over a coherent whole) but the female protagonist is a dauntless suffragette journalist and the hero, despite claiming to be an untrustworthy scoundrel, spends the whole book being supportive and thinking she's THE BEST. Since she's basically perfect the only real angst and character growth involves his manpain, but at least he's not too much of a jerk about it.

Currently watching Free, Sailor Moon Crystal, Love Live, and Fresh Pretty Cure, the only one I'm not SUPER enjoying is Sailor Moon but it's still fun. Am paused on Arrow, I seem to be in more of an anime place right now.

Comments

[shehasathree]

Interestingly at the Hypermobility Conference i've been attended during the weekend, one of the speakers (who spoke on her personal experience with debilitating fatigue) told me that she's recently been put on stimulants for ADD (which she didn't realise she had until in her 30s) and as well as helping with fatigue and depression, it has actually helped her anxiety, partly because she's able to focus better.

[sami]

I was diagnosed with ADHD at 28. I take dexamphetamines, and they help tremendously with my anxiety as well.

The best analogy I've come up with for the feeling of them kicking in is the moment in Star Trek where the ship drops out of warp and the stars stop streaking by and suddenly are just serenely beautiful. Everything just slows down, but at the same time comes into focus.

It's an incredible relief sometimes.

[alias_sqbr]

Yeah, the "it makes anxiety worse" thing seems to be very variable.

[hebethen]

:<

What happens if you have AD(H)D and anxiety?

[sami]

*waves*

In my experience, ADHD meds help spectacularly with anxiety.

I have a tendency to start a day having slept badly and therefore overtired but also agitated and extremely anxious, take my 20mg of dexamphetamines and then calm down, crash out and have a nap. Then I feel much better.

[alias_sqbr]

For some people the ADHD meds apprently make the anxiety worse. But as sami pointed out, for some people they make it better. Here's hoping I'm one of them, assuming I do have ADHD in the first place.

[sami]

I would just like to say that as someone with an anxiety disorder of my own, ADHD meds are absolutely NOT bad for anxiety for me.

I find them very calming. My brain stops being all jittery, for one thing, and if I am anxious about something, I can maintain the coherent thought stream all the way through reasoning out why no, it's not a big deal, and if I'm still anxious, asking for and receiving the reassurance I need, or at least directing my focus to something else. (Because distraction is comforting.)

So while I can't guarantee your reaction would be the same, obvs, I argue very strongly *against* the notion that ADHD meds are "bad for anxiety".

[alias_sqbr]

Ok, thanks. I will edit the post appropriately. And feel more hopeful :)

[kerravonsen]

I'm undecided about the fanart remix exchange...
* it's a cool idea
* nooo! I'd never be able to figure out how to remix anything!
* I probably don't have enough qualifying stuff - nothing recent, anyway.

[alias_sqbr]

It doesn't have to be recent! Though obviously older fandoms may be harder to match unless you dragoon a friend with the same fandoms into signing up. Remixing can definitely be a challenge, I have some examples in the faq if that'd be helpful. If you're undecided you could follow the comm and see what others do, then join in next year if (a) I run it and (b)you decide it does seem like your sort of thing after all. Or just tell us all how great our art is :)

[kerravonsen]

Yeah, well most of mine is non-recent in both senses - an old fandom and stuff I did a long time ago. But... I've been having a lot of fun the last couple of years making symbolic fannish jewellery... which might not qualify under your rules, because it is non-representational. 8-(

[alias_sqbr]

Yeah, sorry! Someone should definitely do a fannish craft exchange, seems like there'd be interest.

[mooreeffoc]

I'm wrestling with the ADHD meds/anxiety research question myself - already diagnosed with GAD, am heading for a probable ADHD label in September. From what I've read, people whose anxiety is in large part a result of their symptoms often seem to have better experiences with stimulants.

[alias_sqbr]

Yeah, I'm hoping I might be one of those people! Certainly there seems to be a link between my anxiety level and how much ability I have to pay attention to things, though I've always seen the causality flowing the opposite way.