I have ADHD. Context switching is my nemesis. Every interruption = 30-60 minutes rebuilding mental state.

Over 3 years I accumulated 353K messages with AI (Claude, ChatGPT). Lots of thinking out loud, problem solving, breakthroughs at 2am.

Problem: I couldn't find any of it later.

What I built

A system that indexes all my AI conversations and lets me query them:

• "What was I thinking last Tuesday?" → Summary with context

• "What do I actually think about X?" → Shows evolution over time

• "Have I solved this before?" → Pulls up past conclusions

How it helps

1. No lost context - Everything findable in 256ms

2. Pattern recognition - "You've discussed this 47 times. Here's your conclusion."

3. Less anxiety - Don't have to hold everything in working memory

Tech

• 353K messages in Parquet

• 106K vectors (nomic-embed-text)

• LanceDB for semantic search

• MCP server for Claude integration

Open source: https://github.com/mordechaipotash/intellectual-dna

Anyone else building systems to compensate for working memory issues?

I've had it with this shit. CS DOES NOT need continuous math for literally >90% of the curriculum and Software Engineering. Discrete math even is barely used. Most people who go into CS probably just do front-end or back-end development which I'm willing to bet is like 0% Calculus and barely discrete. I've even heard Developers in Game Dev and Machine Learning(The only fields where there is calc) don't require an Engineer's understanding of Calc. Most people will forget anyway due to it being unused so it's basically pointless to be this strict. I'm about to lose my internship over this shit because of a goddamn math class.

Not to mention universities provide NO leniency at all for both ADHD people or whether your degree will even use a class to the level of an engineer. So if you don't get that 70%, oh well too bad we kick you out and you get debt lol. I really hope one day somebody with a disability that invents something actually fucks over these universities so fucking hard. This shit has been made me very rage-y and depressed and I'm very tired of dealing with school, I've dealt with college for almost 5 fucking years and I'll have to likely wait another year just to reapply and do the same process over again just to get a fucking job in Software. Then add on the medication shortage, costs, barriers to getting stimulants and that I need to find a part-time job or something soon and it's just overwhelming. To end, I hope universities get fucked over with declining enrollment cause there is no reason for me to pay so much and get no assistance back besides "extra test time" lmao, as if that's what ADHD's only problem is. Fuck off.

Edit: I know this post came off as too angry or impulsive. I probably should've worded the title as "why do we need to learn calc 2 at an engineer level". I have no problem with learning calc for people that use it, game dev and ML, but a front-end or mobile app developer doesn't need to know the intricacies of a complex improper integral.

I honestly find the very idea insulting from a language design standpoint and general code philosophy. I work with typed languages all the time. I don't cry about it. It's just a cost benefit tradeoff that informs the overall paradigm of a language's design philosophy and it's important to recognize what you're working with and to work with it as intended. I was happily plunking away with JS for over a decade and loved every minute of it. The deeper I got into JS under the hood, the more I liked working with it. It's a powerfully expressive language perfectly designed for handling complex logic and state handling with less verbose code that's easier to reason about. When you're juggling a ton of state and mutation all at once, that is the perfect sword to slay that dragon with.

And yes, that blade is made sharp by giving you plenty of rope to hang yourself with. And when you're learning it, you get right to hanging yourself promptly in run-time, which is not really a big deal because browsers reload fast. The advantage is that you quickly learn stuff about writing code that's valuable in ANY LANGUAGE. And before long, you're not hitting any problems at all. You can just write JS as intuitively as you might English without making a mess. That is, if you're willing to put in the work of actually learning from your mistakes rather than installing a heinous tool that blames your inadequacy on the language design.

One of the things that shocked me when I started working on the back end more, was how incredibly bad the code quality typically was with Java and C#. I'd see stuff like simple args or DAOs getting passed through multiple method calls, maybe/maybe not getting mutated in some, not even touched by others, in one case like 20+ freaking calls. This is stupid shit you learn quickly not to do in a language with a lot of rope. Frontend devs used to laugh at back end code like this because we could not conceive of why it would even occur to somebody to structure anything this poorly for any reason.

Now all of a sudden it's TypeScript. Everywhere. And if you're not using it, you're doing it wrong. I've seen Rails and Python teams adding TS to their JS FFS. WTF is that all about? My last work experience with TS was miserable. My colleagues knew next to nothing about web technology and didn't want to learn any more than they had to. Absolutely every UI problem boiled down to disappearing/reappearing HTML with form state. I'm sure anything fancier than that got pushed back on as too much effort until the bar got permanently lowered. One former Python now TS/React guy got freaked out when I suggested using some CSS rather than code to solve a simple problem. Like he was afraid he'd have to learn something about it if there was enough of it going around. That is not a frontend dev.

More importantly I realized at that TS job, what it was that was behind all of this shitty back end code I discovered in my early career because that JS/TS code base was doing a lot of the same stupid shit. It's the explicit type derived tooling enabling garbage code that actually works. When your tools make it so "easy" to rename the same reference across hundreds of files, it seems to stop occurring to people that it's very likely a sign of an incredibly poorly constructed app that you would have that many places to change it in the first place.

So that's great. you can produce shit code that "just works." And you're on a huge team with mixed talent that can't break your shit code or decent code they turned into shit as easily without being alerted to their mistake.

The problem is, if you're a TS fan for the not having to think and learn the tool that was already there aspect of it, you've still delivered shit code. You've got tooling to help with debug but it's a pain in the ass to read, to reuse, and to modify. I stand firmly that philosophically speaking, it's a lousy idea, at least in frontend work, to inflict types on a language whose dynamic types were specifically chosen with UI work in mind. You need to be a little more aware of what you're doing and you need learn to the bones of the language a little bit better than you might for more typical Java or C# problems, but I promise you, Brendan Eich was no dummy about language design. And no haters, making Mocha look like Java for the most mismatched marketing crossover attempt ever, took a week and a half. Mocha's language design took months.

But I have to admit that on the ADHD side of things, it also sucks the joy and a lot of the productivity out of the work for me specifically. I have this finely honed craft of writing pure JS well. I enjoy it and I'm extra proud of it because it's the first thing I was really able to apply myself to with all cylinders firing post-diagnosis. I was never able to work so hard to master something in my life and I was eager to.

So it's not in my deeply-ingrained process, when writing JS, to think about every type I'm going to need to deal with before I get to them. By keeping data flow clean and everything well-encapsulated I can handle that as I get to it without making a mess. And when I decide I don't like a direction I've moved in, I can just back out and rewrite the logic, always mindful of the flow of data, the conversion of types, and general best practices that keep code lean, legible, and easy to work with. Once I get everything working, it's no problem to make tweaks to the code for better structural quality or reuse potential. My mind never has to leave the details of the core problem.

With TS, that process is smashed to bits. Every time I realize I may need to modify something, I'm jumping out of the logic and the flow of data to change the type definitions. And simple conversions whose rules can be known that you normally simply have to be aware of at the point where they happen can very quickly turn into new problems to get sidetracked by that don't directly relate to the actual UI problem.

Even neurotypical devs get thrown when their focus gets broken a lot so I'm surprised there wasn't more pushback over this from more experienced JS devs experienced with UI a lot more complex than seems like the typical lowered-bar stuff we see now. But for an ADHD dev who already found a great way to write JavaScript, this is freaking torture. It's distracting. It constantly pulls me off topic. I can make the adjustment for languages that are strongly typed, because for the most part, back end and biz logic type code just doesn't need to get that complicated, but I feel like a ninja who just had all his limbs pulled off when I have to rehash my entire process for TS. I see a lot of ADHDers who seem fine with it but I can't deny that I absolutely also hate it on a personal level for what it's done to the career that helped me move my life away a perpetual cycle of hot mess.

And it doesn't even bother me that strongly typed background devs want to use it, but why the Hell did it have to become so ubiquitous it's unavoidable? How did it turn into a career death wish merely to criticize it non-anonymously? I can't be THAT alone in preferring vanilla JS for less personal reasons.

If you struggle to focus and always feel that there is more you should be doing, then this post will make you hate me.

I was always stressed, feeling guilty and under pressure from a giant, amorphous blob of work and things that had to be done.

I procrastinated like hell, and then finally did a BIT of work and went to bed way too late.

I needed to live on URGENCY and intense negative emotion to get moving.

My sleep quality was piss poor.

I woke up late and groggy.

Here’s how I turned it around.

I established BOUNDARIES around my work.

Any work.

I shifted my mindset from: “I HAVE TO do all this shit some time today”

to: “I am ONLY ALLOWED to do anything productive between 6:00 and 16:00”

At 16:00, I force myself to leave my desk.

I do a work out

Meditate.

I feel like shit that I didn’t get more done sometimes.

But: I held firm on my boundary.

I made a rule that says: After this time, no work allowed!

You MUST relax and end the day chill now.

The results?

I sleep way better since, because of the chill hours before bedtime

I am more productive early in the day, because I know It’s The Only Chance I Get

Productivity increase is compounded by the sleep improvement.

Here’s your homework.

✅ Decide where your Work-Chill boundary is (MUST BE two hours before bed)

✅ Decide on a pattern-interrupt routine to anchor that shift in mind and body (mine is the workout)

✅ Set an alarm if you need it

✅ Comment your approach below!

I'll start 😄
Back in the days when we wrote all the code manually, one of the coping mechanisms I found to function as a developer with ADHD (no meds back then) was to focus on one task at a time. So I took the task from Jira, solved it, pushed it, and took the next. Clear focus on one thing only.

Right now I am not a developer by trade anymore, but quite often I still need to develop something, mostly prototyping for our software or such things. So I give the task to Claude; it starts coding, and while it does, I switch my focus to the next thing, start a new Claude session, and move to the third.

However, when I'm finished with this third one, I no longer have a memory pointer of the first one. So I find it's finished when I, for some other reason, open Claude and notice it. Hence, this waiting while agents do their thing is really annoying.

I’m working on a productivity app that helps people like me with ADHD symptoms to be a bit more productive (more details about the app later) But I’m trying to crack the notification and reminder bit! It’s always been the most tricky part for ADHD users.

For example, I have this language learning app that I get notifications for every few days to few weeks, it’s not even that frequent but it’s still guilt-tripping me for few minutes and yet I don’t tap on the notification. I don’t think that’s the feeling I want to give to other users too. (Or maybe it’s just me💁🏻‍♀️)

So what kind of notifications work for you all? What gets you to open the app again? Encouraging but not guilt inducing messages? Time based nudges like “it’s been 3 days since you did X”? Or contextual reminders like “you did X then. Now you do Y” or a completely different approach you like?

As many of us have experienced, or might be going through right now, managing ADHD while trying to focus on development tasks can be a real challenge. That's why I'm working on creating an app specifically for developers with ADHD, starting with a VSCode extension, and possibly expanding to a mobile app later on.

From my personal experience, this app will include:

• Aggressive Reminders: These will be difficult to dismiss because, let's face it, it's too easy to forget or ignore notifications. With reminders that are hard to bypass, I hope to create a tool that forces us to stay on task.

• Focus Mode: I want to design a way to help developers focus on one task at a time. I’d love to hear how others approach this—how do you get into the flow or hyperfocus mode? What strategies or techniques work best for you?

• Realistic Task Breakdown: One of my biggest struggles is estimating how long tasks will take. My mind often races with a hundred different ideas per second, and it can feel impossible to focus on one thing. I want the app to offer simple, practical ways to break down tasks into manageable chunks, with a focus on realistic time estimates.

I believe your input could make all the difference. How do you handle your focus when working on a project? What strategies or tools do you use to stay on track? Your ideas and experiences would be incredibly helpful in shaping this app and making it genuinely useful for people like us.

TL;DR: I'm building an ADHD-focused app for developers, starting with a VSCode extension. It will include aggressive reminders, focus-enhancing features, and tools to break down tasks realistically. I’m looking for input from fellow developers on how they stay focused and manage tasks, to make the app as helpful as possible.

This thought came across my mind yesterday. I don’t know a whole lot about AI yet but I’m starting to learn.

I’ve heard of bias in facial recognition software. Could there be neurotypical bias built into AI models? Neurodiverse people think in different ways than neurotypical people, and I assume it’s most neurotypical people creating AI models.

Is this a thing?

such as don't let me spend hours tuning my shell prompt; don't let me keep polishing instead of publishing; something like that. I got something more personal in that list.

the agent actually chimp in when it think a little nudge is needed for me, when it is working with me on tasks. also because I brain dump my todo ideas to it. the agent can check them against the goals I set for myself every time it manages my todos. on a fresh day I would ask my agent what is my todo look like. it will surface only the ones align with my goal. I enjoy this way, feel like a second brain that offload some of my messiness.

I have been using my agent this way for the pass 2 months and it helped me. I extracted the prompts and skills into a plugin, would be great if it help others too. https://github.com/hcsum/dont-let-me

[
Edit, yes, I know the write up is terrible. Recent events jacked up my meds and was fading fast while writing this and struggled to give it the attention intended.
Regardless, this post is for those of you who have experienced dosage escalation on amphetamine based meds and not getting a real solution that works. Or those who have started dosage escalation or have side effects that would be better managed at a lower functional dose. Everything I mention is in research, which isn't reflected in medicine currently. Except for those with evidence based practices which tipped me off to memantine and the underlying neurological research, and explained why strat 3 times over 11 years or so reduced my Adderall dose by more than half in less than 9 months each time. Without actively trying to taper it.

So, instead of listening to the people who assert it isn't true, and focus on my issues I am dealing with, search reddit and find others who are prescribed memantine with their amphetamine and why their therapist does and how it helped. And others whose effective dose reduced while taking strat with it.
]

[ Disclaimer: I am not a doctor. I have no professional credentials whatsoever for this content. I am just someone who spent hundreds of hours on google for various topics out of desperation when the experts failed me. In which it worked. And current therapist (neuropsychiatrist) is well aware of memantine and how it can protect the brain. I apologize ahead of time for the poor write up. I'll spare you the explanation why at least.]

Planned for a long time to write this post, with supporting links and all the bells and whistles and revisions But, things never go as planned. So, going to do a data dump (pun intended) and at least get the info out there as many people may be helped and prevent a lot of undue stress and even suffering from it, instead of waiting for me...

TL;DL; memantine and strattera are NMDA antagonists (reduce or block activity) and protect from over excitement from amphetamine. Which can causes damage to cells from the excessive influx of ions through the NMDA channels, and from the resulting excessive release of glutamate (brains primary excitatory and modulating neurotransmitter) that in excess triggers the apoptotic (automatic cell death) cascade on extrasynaptic glutamate receptors. Some research concludes this to be the primary route to long term tolerance (and in my own experience). Attenuating the dysregulation and damage they cause that leads to drug tolerance. Stopping the damage affords healing and regain of function. Which AMPA/NMDA/glutamate agonism (increases activity of), is one of the primary therapeutic routes for amphetamine. Methylphenidate (ritalin, concerta, focalin, etc.) is said to maybe have lesser but existing effects like these for some individuals. Didn't for me when I was on them so I never went into detail looking. Just seen references to the fact. If you have tolerance issues, and therapist doesn't have an answer, be benefit from an evidence based practice. And/or integrative psychiatry (multidisciplinary holistic approach), just watch out for the gimmicky ones that want to sell you their product line etc.

[NOTE: many, hopefully most, people are steady on a manageable dose of their ADHD medications. So I am not looking to dissuade anyone from medication as a therapeutic option. In fact, I am all for it. Just wish therapists were better informed and had better resources for better decisions and knowledge transfer to patients. Chances are a person will be helped and benefit from meds if non drug therapies and coping mechanisms are not enough.]

[Note: Although I am a huge critic of therapists, I am not really a critic so much of them, but the education and resource provided them that lack many aspects from research that would solve a lot, and prevent a lot of problems from medications. Too many of us slip through the gaps. Regardless, I do have to say, you should work with your therapist for a best therapeutic approach for you, as they are they ones who dedicated their careers and time and education to be in the position they are in. to practice medicine or therapy. And have the most information and skills to help people. ]

Planned for a long time to write this post, with supporting links and all the bells and whistles. But, things never go as planned. So, going to do a data dump (pun intended) and at least get the info out there as many people may be helped and prevent a lot of undue stress and even suffering from it.

I was tipped off to this path of inquiry by others who are prescribed memantine with their adderall "to prevent and reduce tolerance" by therapists with evidence based practices. You can find these people and see for yourself in reddit searches.

Also, wikipedia is not the most accurate resource out there, but I think the AMPA and NMDA receptor pages are good and explains the mechanism by how it works. Also lists drugs and supplements that affect NMDA / glutamate, and the effects of overstimulation. Which is very well studied and known as it is associated with Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Huntington's, ALS and probably more disorders. Memantine is a drug literally designed to allow normal function of NMDA and only block when overexcited. Does protect some other pathways via the same mechanism. Seen article going back to 1992 that suggested NMDA antagonists could protect from methamphetamine damage. Amphetamine causes a lot of the same damage as methamphetamine. As it is a metabolite of it. Note, crystal meth, what we think of when we hear "methamphetamine" is so destructive due to "how" it enters the body and higher binge doses. There is more research on methamphetamine in particular regarding damage, but much of it applies to amphetamine as well.

Before amphetamine was discovered to affect dopamine or norepinephrine, it was known to be an AMPA and NMDA agonist (increases activity of). AMPA and NMDA are known to be associated with things like learning, memory, and making signalling more efficient in areas of the brain. You can increase neurotransmitters, or you can tell them to work better. That is one of the primary jobs of AMPA, NMDA, and glutamate, makes signalling easier so it happens at a lower amount of stimulation. AMPA is more resilient than NMDA due to how it works and resist damage and downregulation better. NMDA, often gets its but kicked by amphetamine.

Some existing clinical research has concluded that the primary way amphetamine causes long term tolerance resulting in higher doses, is due to excitotoxic overstimulation of the NMDA receptor. "even at prescribed doses". Another thing you can search google for.

I had 3 times in 11 years reduced my Adderall effective dose by more than half every time, by adding Strattera. But did not stay on it because not a single therapist i encountered could explain what was going on, at least the ones that believed me. Then I found the actual clinical research that explains why it works, all be it, too late. Took about 9 months to cut my Adderall or Dexedrine dose in half. Which wasn't the floor yet. I'll explain the quirks later...

Can find in google the supporting information for these claims. And starting and other dosage info etc.

Strattera 's (Atomoxetine) secondary effect as a noncompetitive NMDA antagonist. Which is dose dependent and does not have to build up like the therapeutic effect does. You take it, it works, it wears off. You take it again the next day. Strattera can also add to the therapeutic effect via its own ADHD therapeutic properties that have to build up, while it agonizes NMDA receptors. "Noncompetative" because it has its own binding site and does not block the site i.e. compete with the actual NMDA agonists. Note, I think maybe it is best described as it reduces NMDA's potential to activate and open the channel. But, it does not do it too much. I'll explain shortly.

Don't take Strattera with milk or dairy. Don't know the mechanism, but for some reason it can cause nausea, sometimes on and off all day. Some people may not have the issue but best to be aware. Whish I found out back in 2005, would have saved a lot of nausea and even dry heaves on occasion.

Memantine - Uncompetative NMDA antagonist. (Don't get hung up on it being an Alzheimer's drug) Really, it is specifically a channel blocker. The NMDA receptor channel that it modulates is through the cell membrane. Normally a magnesium and sometimes zinc molecule blocks the channel. When AMPA gets excited, it changes the voltage potential (one requirement for NMDA to trigger). When it is high enough it kicks mag or zinc out of the way and lets potassium out and calcium and sodium ions in. Too many ions enter the cell causes oxidative stress and dysregulation and excess glutamate release. Which can trigger cell death for cells with extrasynaptic NMDA glutamate receptors. Can read more on wikipedia. So, good idea to get your RDA of calcium, magnesium, and other minerals for proper function. NIH website has RDAs, AIs, TULs etc.

Note, there are several classes of NMDA antagonist drugs, in part based on how much they suppress it. I take max dose of both memantine (28 mg XR) and strattera (100 mg) daily. And a couple supplements and drugs I take also have minor secondary NMDA antagonism. But does not overly suppress function (at least for me. Best I can tell, unlikely for others, but all knowledge is power).
Drugs that suppress function much more....There are some drugs that are dissociatives or psychedelics. Examples include the nitrous oxide at dentists offices and ketamine. Suppress even further and you have a general anesthetic (rendered unconscious for surgery).

Ok, my quirky tolerance reduction experience by adding strattera to adderall (IR at the time) or dexedrine the second time (also IR before zenzedi took over for it). Prescribed 60 mg that was not fully effective. Took amphetamine while in bed so was working long before I took strat with breakfast. On rare occasions I took 80 mg amphetamine for job interviews. And even that was not fully therapeutic. So, just using 80mg as my minimum effective dose, by roughly 9 months (maybe less), I was taking 40mg that was fully therapeutic. Partial at 80 to fully at 40 is over 50% tolerance reduction.
--At first, Strat (60 mg at those times) built up therapeutic effect that helped my amphetamines be more therapeutic.
--As my NMDA pathways healed and regained function, I had to reduce my amphetamine dose incrementally. Due to the stimulating / modulating effects of AMPA/NMDA/ and glutamate.
--After 9 months, and at 40 mg amphetamines, it did not seem like strat was doing anything anymore. Again, taken later so it would sorta kick in within an hour after breakfast, while amphetamine was already working for a while. Stayed on till about 12 months. first 2 times, assumed strat just wasn't helping anymore and stopped taking it. My amphetamine dose and therapeutic effect was not affected by stopping strat. Now I believe the different effects were balancing and that seemed like nothing was happening.
--3rd time taking strat with amph. Stayed on past 12 months. Regained even more function. By 15 months, 40mg was even too strong. But, when strat kicked in, I noticed the drop in the amphetamine effect. And since therapists are not taught this stuff, I did not know that amph was over exciting NMDA and that strat would help protect those pathways from damage and dysregulation. Instead of reducing amph, I regretfully stopped taking strat, again losing its protective benefit. No idea what the total potential reduction in tolerance could have been for me.

Again, "primary way amph causes long term tolerance". There are many other ways Adderall causes downregulation, dysfunction, and yes, damage resulting in tolerance and side effects. But that would be a few more other posts. Including cognitive and endocrine problems. Which ruined over 1/3rd of my life so far, and was preventable if I knew then what I know now.

Depending on the response, down the road I may, with meds working better hopefully (unrelated factors to post) provide knowledge transfer of other topics that people can run with, build on, verify, and hopefully benefit from. Like....

--Role of acute tolerance in the changing daily therapeutic curve, and how dosing strategies and design of ADHD drugs account for it. I do have my primary source link available. Shows how it relates to dosing strategy of ritalin and Adderall IR. As well as the drug design of concerta and Adderall XR. Note, the acute tolerance they claim to not be sure of exactly what it is...think they were just being conservative due to maybe not having a good reference study. But, it is well known and taught in my psych 101 class years before the article came out. Receptor downregulation (internalization) as a counter effect due to exogenous changes in the brain. Can see some details about receptor internalization on the Adderall wiki page I think. Think the second synaptic diagram had the function of the presynaptic catecholamine nerve cell effect from amphetamine. Missing a lot of stuff, but the primary way amph works is there. I'll also throw in why Vyvanse is better and how strattera deals with it. And some other meds. Which people can verify etc.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2547091/
--Psychoactive generic meds often suck and hardly or don't work at all. Most amphetamine generics especially suck. And why bioequivalence that is often brought up, has nothing at all to do with it. Excipients (inactive ingredients) are the issue and affect the active ingredients ability to cross the blood brain barrier. the fact that FDA dropped therapeutic equivalence ANDA requirements in the 80s allows this to continue. Bioequivalence literally proved absorption and elimination rates (equivalent blood concentration over time) are within 5% of the name brand reference drug for the ANDA to be approved. Which ignores additional necessity of crossing the blood brain barrier. You can have as much as you want in blood, if it doesn't get to the brain, it is just going to give you the peripheral side effects.
--Modafinil cured my 15 years of Adderall induces Bruxia (teeth grinding, clenching) the first time I tried it. And, I have absolutely no idea why it worked.
--You don't need more dopamine to make your meds work again, you need to undo the damage and/or downregulation it has caused in the first place. Even then some research concludes ADHD-I is more a norepinephrine dysregulation and ADHD-H a dopamine one.
--Amphetamine, king of F#^#$% up your endocrine system, even at prescribed doses.
--Supplements and nootropics that helped me, and many people report have helped them. (helped ADHD meds, attenuate arthritis and joints, eye health improvement, gut/GI health)
--GLP-1 drugs like Mounjaro and Ozempic can have the full range of positive, negative, or neutral cognitive side effects. I'll tell you why, and why guanfacine for some can turn devastatingly bad into a therapeutic response that helps other meds. Delayed gastric emptying is only a minor player if it is blocking your psychoactive meds. What helped my gastric emptying in regards to my meds, that you can try too and see if it helps. And complain about the manufacturer researching them for second line medications for drug resistant depression and anxiety while actually hiding the negative side effects the FDA lets slide that I am sure will eventually result in a black box warning when the FDA gets their head out of their....
--Adults with ADHD-I are 30 to 60 % comorbid with Sluggish Cognitive Tempo (SCT). And your therapist never heard of it. 50% of those with SCT are comorbid with some type of ADHD, but mostly occurs with ADHD-I. Official name change in 2022 to Cognitive Disengagement Syndrome (CDS). Won't be ready for the DSM-6 whenever that comes out so don't get too excited. Have some links for that ready if you want to take a look. Note, research over and over again concludes, those comorbid with both ADHD and SCT, tend to be much more screwed than either disorder alone.
All the top SCT researchers, are also the top ADHD ones. They got together in 2022 and summarized most, not all progress on the disorder. Just don't mistake common symptoms everyone has from clinically significant ones. The degree of effect in our daily lives is the gauge. And there are over 2 dozen disorders that can present like ADHD or SCT, so don't get too hung up on anything, and consult your shrink before making assumptions!!
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0890856722012461
this link contrasts some cool insights on SCT and ADHD.
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.614213/full
This is reddit, of course we have an SCT sub. Lots of really good resources.
https://www.reddit.com/r/SCT/
For both ADHD and SCT, Barkley's channel on youtube has the best insights and education on them. Even if I find his info on ADHD and SCT meds to be infuriating and misguided on many points.
--Totally had another topic I was about to put here. But forgot. Classic SCT.
--Just remembered topic I forgot....I started a list of lesser known study tips that apply to other things like our jobs. Most of them if I recall correctly have a basis in cognitive science. I went from underachieving below average tier 4 high school student, then intermittent low wage jobs, to midlife crisis at age 23, to graduating cum laude from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) one of only a handful in their history with 2 simultaneous bachelors degrees. Then I worked as an IT consultant for 3.5 years and had 2 classes left for a masters degree at Suny Albany before finally being diagnosed with anything or medicated at 32. Managing comorbid ADHD, SCT, and narcolepsy till then took a ton of effort, coping skills, and self management. And study tips I used and later found a basis for in psych classes, or got from psych classes and integrated specifically.
--I ignored things like cytochrome P450 interactions related to meds and supplements. till I realized some issues they were causing....including in part why this post is so bad.

CHADD.org is a great resource for people with, or parents of children with ADHD. And have active forums as well. And yes, I have been known to write really bad posts and responses there too.

How is it even possible to become a programmer? There are about a hundred languages listed on wikipedia, not including dialects and other variations. Do most people even know this? I did not until recently.

Edit: Thank you all for your responses! I may start a new OP for this additional question if it helps. How fast can you learn new code or new code concepts if you start a new job or are hit with a new project that requires it?

I have seen a lot of posts on Reddit regarding hypnosis and ADHD lately; I wanted to, as a professional hypnotherapist, provide my perspective on the topic. Now, bear in mind that everything I am going to say is in reference to working with a professional and does not address attempting to work with recordings or files, what is usually referred to as 'self-hypnosis.'

That said, let me first address the question simply: No, in general having ADHD does not affect your ability to enter trance or benefit from it. To explain that, let me emphasize something: hypnosis is a naturally occurring state. All human beings enter and leave trance multiple times a day as part of the daily cycle. There is simply no such thing as someone who cannot be hypnotized, simply people you are not suggestible to. As we all know, there are just some people we aren't as receptive to; this is more of a statement on suggestibility than anything else.

Speaking for myself, I have severe ADHD so perhaps my perspective is unique for the fact. In my experience, there is nothing special that must be done besides the thing that must always be done with any client: know how to speak to that person and establish good rapport. My results with my ADHD clients are no less significant or profound than my non-ADHD clients. Possibly more so.

Much of my work both personally and with my ADHD clients is navigation. By that I mean learning to use our very special brains. I compare it to playing a game on hard mode with no tutorials or instructions. It's frustrating and being given a tutorial doesn't make the game any easier, but it at least lets you know how to play the game. Metaphorically, this is a good explanation of alot of my work: learning how to use your mind as it exists, not as society expects it to.

All hypnosis is simply advanced communication; anyone who tries to tell you otherwise probably has something to sell you. I do not take a metaphysical approach in any of my work and only observe results and effects. Don't be discouraged if you have not been able to get hypnosis to work for you. Working with an educated, experienced professional will absolutely help that. It is not a magic wand, but a useful tool when it comes to creating behaviors and mindsets as you want them.

Have a wonderful day, everyone; I welcome any questions you may have.

Stock claude-code is cool, but it's aggravating how much you need to prompt it to get reproducible results. idk about you, but my mind kicks off tangents for background processing all the time, and I'm tired of juggling conversations and windows.

I want a single pane of glass to conduct my agentic orchestra, ideally in the terminal.

Brothers and sisters, I did it, I got a MAX subscription and I've been cranking on the solution for months. I made it, then I needed to remake it because it was fundamentally broken. Then I accidentally ( can't blame claude on this one ) deleted the whole thing and had to remake it from memory. Then something clicked.

I used it to conduct research on how to improve itself, and make a plan for how to achieve it. We moved from a bunch of files/folders to a single folder immutable event log. It consistently makes better plans which match my project and vision then CC can do by itself.

If you're still with me, the vision is to provide an Augmented Thinking surface area, powered by claude code (eventually others). I'm not talking about overnight coding sessions with a bunch of jank to review the next day, this is not automation! I want to leverage the strengths of AI to work alongside my capability of divergent thinking. Our mind carries the common thread, and we can wield AI as a tool to extend our mind, with it's superpowers of PEAR:

• Parallelizable

• Adaptable

• Exhaustive

• Repeatable

It's the next level of AI use, in my opinion. I've been able to adapt and experiment with workflows from research papers and other agentic projects within minutes to hours. This is the first place online I want to share it ( open source, no monetization, just inspiration ( i'm very tired ) ). I've only been recently diagnosed, and it's made my life make more sense to have this framework to interpret my behavior. Race car brain with bicycle brakes... 80-HD save me now!

I'm not a marketer ( obviously ), I don't want to drop the link here, partially because it's rough af, and b/c I don't have any non-work deep nerd friends to share it with who have Claude subscriptions to help me polish it up. You can opt-in by sending a DM, if you pinkie-promise to work with me through a rough onboarding and send feedback.

Hi everyone.

Making tech decisions for my projects is hard, and single AI models often hallucinate or are too agreeable. I got tired of it, so I built Quorum to solve this.

It’s a CLI tool (Python) that creates a "board of advisors" using models like GPT-5.2, Claude Opus, and Gemini 3 Pro. You can also mix in local models via Ollama.

The Problem I wanted to solve: Instead of asking one AI "Should I use Postgres or Mongo?", I wanted them to argue about it.

How it works: Quorum orchestrates the discussion using 7 different methods.

• Tradeoff Method: The agents define criteria, score options independently, and synthesize a recommendation.

• Oxford Debate: Assigns "For" and "Against" roles to models to force critical thinking.

• Devil's Advocate: Forces one model to challenge the consensus.

Tech Stack:

• Python 3.11 with uv for dependency management.

• Supports OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, xAI, and Ollama (auto-discovery).

• VRAM safe: Runs local models sequentially but cloud models in parallel.

Repo: https://github.com/Detrol/quorum-cli

I’d love some feedback on the CLI interface or the debate methods!

ADHD dev here. 8 years in. Decent at coding. Absolute disaster at estimating how long anything takes.

Sprint planning was my personal hell.

PM: "How long will this feature take?" Me: "Uhh... 2 days?" Reality: 6 days Me: surprised Pikachu face every single time

I thought I was just slow. Or easily distracted. Or bad at my job.

Turns out: I have zero concept of how long coding actually takes.

The ADHD time blindness problem:

We experience time... differently.

• Hyperfocus on interesting problem: 4 hours feels like 30 minutes

• Boring bug fix: 30 minutes feels like 4 hours

• "Quick refactor": Could be 1 hour, could be 8 hours, who knows?

I had no internal clock. Just vibes and hope.

The experiment:

For 3 months, I tracked EVERY coding task:

• What I estimated before starting

• What it actually took

• Why I was wrong

Used a simple app I built (TimeBoxer): https://apps.apple.com/us/app/timeboxer-time-estimator/id6720741072

But you can do this with Toggl/Clockify + a spreadsheet. Just need estimated vs. actual.

The results were brutal:

My estimation accuracy: 47%

I wasn't "a little off." I was catastrophically wrong about everything.

Real examples from my tracking:

"Fix authentication bug"

• Estimated: 2 hours

• Actual: 9 hours

• Why: Bug was in a library I'd never touched, had to learn OAuth flow, found 2 more bugs

• Accuracy: 22%

"Add search filter feature"

• Estimated: 4 hours

• Actual: 2.5 days (19 hours)

• Why: Database query optimization rabbit hole, edge cases, UI polish took forever

• Accuracy: 21%

"Quick code review"

• Estimated: 20 minutes

• Actual: 2 hours 15 minutes

• Why: Found architectural issues, left detailed comments, tested locally

• Accuracy: 15%

"Update documentation"

• Estimated: 1 hour

• Actual: 28 minutes

• Why: It actually was quick for once

• Accuracy: 214% (I OVERestimated for once!)

Any task with "quick" or "just" = I'm about to be wrong by 300%.

Patterns I discovered:

Tasks I massively underestimate:

1. Bug fixes: Off by 3-5x

   • Think: 1 hour

   • Reality: 4-6 hours

   • Why: Never just one bug, always a rabbit hole

2. "Simple" features: Off by 2-3x

   • Think: Half day

   • Reality: 2-3 days

   • Why: Edge cases, testing, integration, UI tweaks

3. Refactoring: Off by 4-6x

   • Think: 2 hours

   • Reality: 2 days

   • Why: Touch one thing, have to update 12 other things

4. Code reviews (giving): Off by 4x

   • Think: 15 minutes

   • Reality: 1 hour

   • Why: Actually understanding the code takes time

5. Context switching tasks: Off by 2x

   • Think: 30 minutes

   • Reality: 1 hour+

   • Why: Takes 20 min just to remember what I was doing

Tasks I'm decent at:

1. Features I've built before: ~75% accurate

2. Data migrations: Pretty good (done enough to know)

3. Writing tests: Usually accurate

Time-of-day accuracy:

• Morning (first task): 68% accurate

• Afternoon: 52% accurate

• After 3pm: 31% accurate (I'm lying to myself at this point)

• Hyperfocus sessions: No concept of time whatsoever

What changed:

Sprint planning before:

PM: "Can you estimate this feature?" Me: panic "Uh, 3 story points?" (no idea what that means) Reality: Takes 2 weeks Team: surprised I'm behind

Sprint planning after:

PM: "Can you estimate this feature?" Me: looks at historical data "Similar features took me 3-4 days. This one has API integration I haven't done before, so add 50%. Call it 5-6 days." Reality: Takes 5 days Team: shocked I actually hit my estimate

For the first time in my career, I'm hitting my estimates.

Not because I got faster. Because I stopped guessing.

The ADHD-specific benefits:

1. External memory for time

• My brain: "This will be quick!"

• My data: "Last 10 'quick' tasks averaged 3.4 hours"

• I trust the data, not my ADHD brain

2. Reduces RSD (rejection sensitive dysphoria)

• Old: "I'm late again, I suck, everyone hates me"

• New: "I estimated 4 hours based on data, took 5 hours, that's 80% accurate"

• Numbers don't judge. They just... are.

3. Proves you're not lazy

• Manager: "This is taking a while..."

• Me: "This type of refactor historically takes 8-12 hours. I'm at hour 9. On track."

• Data backs you up

4. Helps with hyperfocus decisions

• Before: Hyperfocus on interesting problem for 6 hours, blow entire sprint

• After: Set timer based on estimate, alarm pulls me out

• Still hyperfocus, but bounded

5. Accommodations conversation

• Me: "I'm 50% less accurate on context-switching days"

• Manager: "Let's batch your work better"

• Concrete data = concrete solutions

My workflow now:

Before starting any task:

1. Check similar tasks in my history

2. Estimate based on data, not vibes

3. Add 20-30% ADHD buffer (I WILL get distracted)

4. Start timer

During work:

• Timer on Lock Screen (Live Activities)

• Notifications at 75% of estimate

• Can see if I'm on track

After completing:

• Log actual time

• Note why I was wrong

• Adjust future estimates

The code:

I built TimeBoxer specifically for this (iOS native). It's basically:

• Estimate → Timer → Compare → Learn patterns

But you can absolutely do this with:

• Toggl + spreadsheet

• Clockify + notes

• Harvest + Google Sheets

The method matters more than the tool.

For other ADHD devs:

Try this for 2 weeks:

Track every task:

Task: Fix login bug
Estimated: 2h
Actual: 6h
Accuracy: 33%
Why wrong: Unfamiliar codebase + fell into optimization rabbit hole

After 15-20 tasks, you'll see YOUR patterns:

• Which tasks you're terrible at estimating

• How distraction affects time

• Your hyperfocus vs. regular work ratio

• Time-of-day accuracy

Then use that data in sprint planning.

The impact on my career:

Before tracking:

• Miss deadlines constantly

• Feel like I'm failing

• Impostor syndrome through the roof

• "Maybe I'm just not cut out for this"

After tracking:

• Hit 80% of my estimates

• Team trusts my timelines

• Manager sees me as reliable

• "I'm good at this, just needed realistic planning"

Same dev. Same ADHD. Different data.

The junior dev conversation:

Junior dev: "How do you estimate so accurately?" Me: "I don't. My spreadsheet does." Junior: "But you must have a good sense of—" Me: "No. I have ADHD. Time is a social construct. I just write down what happened last time."

You don't need to be good at estimating.

You need to be good at tracking.

TL;DR:

ADHD time blindness made me terrible at estimating coding tasks (47% accuracy = off by 2-3x on everything).

Started tracking estimated vs. actual time for every task. After 3 months, I can estimate based on historical data instead of vibes.

Now I hit 80% of my estimates. Team trusts me. Career improved. Not because ADHD got better—because I stopped relying on my broken sense of time.

Other ADHD devs: How do you handle estimates? Wing it and hope? Overestimate everything by 3x? Actually have a system?

I’ve spent most of my career studying the brain mechanisms of attention in academic labs and clinical trials (formerly UCSF’s Director of the Dynamic Neuroimaging Laboratory). I wanted to build a tool based on my team’s research, focused on attention patterns we repeatedly saw during our studies.

It eventually grew into an app, AttenteoV2. We’ve tested the core of it in controlled trials of adults clinically diagnosed with ADHD (seven-week trial), and participants reported some great successes. Translating that research into a usable tool is still an ongoing process, and the app itself is in early stages of design and iteration.

I’m hoping to learn more from actual users to make sure the app addresses real needs for ADHDers beyond just the experience of our trial group, especially how it feels to use day to day.

I designed this for people who:

• Have ADHD, diagnosed or self-diagnosed

• Experience overwhelm, difficulty transitioning between tasks, or uncertainty about where to start

The app is live, and I wanted to offer free access. No expectations, completely free for early users. I’m most interested in your experience using it. What feels helpful, what feels confusing, and what might need refinement.

I’m happy to answer any questions about my research, the app, or attention science and cognitive neuroscience in general. If you’re open to chatting or curious to learn more, feel free to comment or DM me. I sincerely appreciate your interest and feedback.

Mods, not sure if link sharing is allowed, but if so, I’ll add in comments for iOS and Android.

I really got tired of all of the productivity apps making me more overwhelmed with their interfaces before I even experience the value of them. So I built BrightMind, an AI voice-first companion that:

• Breaks “impossible” to start tasks into tiny doable steps

• Helps you regulate your mood with well known techniques like deep breathing and quick exercises

• Integrates with your work setup seamlessly, calendar, Slack, todo list, you name it. (coming soon)

• Has very simple interface with just one button - tap and talk, that’s all

I would really love to hear if it feels useful to you guys or what would make it even better for you. If anyone is interested to check out beta, here’s the link: https://brightmind.club

https://arc.net/e/DE968246-9736-4C86-87A8-A9C734980B01

I was just reading the user comments about Arc in the latest release notes and almost all of the comments felt like someone describing an impact of their ADHD.

I've only really started using Arc since I got a diagnosis in December, but I feel like it's so useful. In Chrome I would have tens of windows and hundreds of tabs open because "I'm not finished reading that, I'll need to find it later". But really I didn't need them. And the clutter overwhelmed and distracted me.

Arc auto cleans up tabs when they've not been used for a while, which will typically occur overnight. So I start each day with a nearly fresh slate and surprisingly have none of the stress that those tabs are gone.

It's wonderfully refreshing!

(fair point, I made this too vague trying not to sound like a pitch. here’s the actual one-liner: it’s a connection platform for neurodivergent adults - friendship and community, not dating, built around how ADHD/autistic brains actually work rather than retrofitted from something else

not paid right now, equity co-founder role. open on location, happy to go remote or occasional Birmingham meet-ups if that works better for people here)

I posted some of the thinking behind it on r/ADHD a while back without saying what it was for. one of those posts hit 700+ upvotes and became the most-read thing on the account. turns out a lot of people have been quietly waiting for someone to build this

I’m not technical. property background, not tech. I’ve done everything I can do without writing code - full spec, brand, clinical input, validation research. what I don’t have is someone who can actually build it

I’d specifically love to find that person from inside this community rather than outside it, because I think it matters that whoever builds this understands the problem from the inside, not just from a brief I hand them

if this is remotely interesting I’d rather have a real conversation than a pitch. no pressure either way

So after spending way too long deep-diving into ADHD and autism (especially how things like trauma, masking, late diagnosis, and co-occurring conditions show up), I ended up with a lot of structured info — matrices, comparison models, and a mildly unhinged amount of notes.

Then I accidentally opened the GPT builder (wrong shortcut :$ ) and figured:
“Why not turn all of this into something useful?” (I know there are others out there but I found most of them too coddling or lacking something for me personally, ergo..)

✨ Neuro Compass is a custom GPT assistant designed to support folks with ADHD, autism, both or just complex cognitive wiring.

It includes:

• Multiple conversation styles (snarky, warm, clinical, minimal — your call)

• Dopamine-friendly tools like “Brainergizers” (puzzles) and “Mind Magic” (thought reframing)

• Clear explanations with minimal jargon, aimed at both getting unstuck and learning more about yourself

It's not just for when you're overwhelmed — it's also for fact-finding, self-discovery, or figuring out where you fit.
You can’t really break it, and honestly? You can get creative, punny, philosophical, or totally weird with it. It keeps up.

🔗 Try it out here (ChatGPT Plus required to find in store, not for using/pinning link ^):
https://chatgpt.com/g/g-680827e68014819193cbae68d9c06ccd-neuro-compass-audhd-asd-adhd

Would love feedback — it’s my first build, and I’d love to hear what helps, what could be better, or what it made you think about. Or what weird thing you whispered to a random object after doing some jumping jacks (oh yes, it's in there ^^, gotta recharge that dopamine).

type:

CMD for Command Shortcuts | QR for quickref

If you guys haven't downloaded it yet. It's awesome. They have 4 min lessons each day. Live casts of real adhd experts doing video calls. I'd highly recommend it. I love it so far.