AJS
Calm Consistency
Hello Friends!
(this was supposed to be a short post ... welcome to the world of ADHD).
(A tl;dr at the end for my adhd friends who are pissed at me for writing so much )
Intro
I wanted to create a place where people with ADHD can come and discuss how Cannabis is affecting their life for better or for worse.
I would like to open this up to all of the Neurodivergent community as well, so Autism, OCD, etc. are all welcome to chime in, but my main focus will be on ADHD.
There is a very strong relationship between ADHD and Cannabis as ADHD translates quite literally to a dopamine deficiency. This is why stimulants provide such relief, as dopamine is the main neurotransmitter released. This is how a "stimulant" can "slow down" someone with ADHD, which is what most neurotypicals don't understand when it comes to medicating. Once the dopamine is balanced, the symptoms recede (in theory).
There are many possible side effects when it comes to using stimulants which I won't focus too much on here, but can leave people to seek an alternative such as Cannabis. Cannabis is a fantastic substitute for getting that dopamine if classic stimulants don't work well for you.
(Please, no bashing of medication here. It may not be right for you, but there are thousands of people who's lives are saved through classic stimulant medication).
ADHD and Dopamine in general
With that, there are some negatives, or times where it's appropriate, of using cannabis. Just things to consider...
With ADHD being a dopamine deficiency, you may become more reliant on cannabis as your source of dopamine. When you consider the alternative though, if you were medicated, you'd also be reliant on chemical stimulants daily as well, but those aren't quite as mind altering/psychoactive as cannabis.
Also considering the alternatives, ADHD people can seek unhealthy or impulsive behaviors to trigger dopamine if they aren't medicated.
No matter what, someone with ADHD is seeking dopamine at almost all stages of the day. It's up to you to find what's the healthiest way of managing your dopamine levels.
Notice how we've been talking about ADHD, and haven' yet mentioned "distractions" or "inattentiveness". Most people consider this the main symptom of ADHD, but it's actually a sub-diagnosis within ADHD - "inattentive type".
ADHD is not a "deficit" of attention. The name is extremely misleading. It is unregulated attention. Our attention is significantly greater than most, it's just not regulated. This is why ADHD people can function exceptionally well at whatever currently drives their focus, and we're constantly bouncing back and forth between tasks and hobbies, as it's nearly impossible to force ourselves to do something we aren't currently focused on or motivated to do.
This is known as Executive Function. Executive Function mostly relates to having a plan, and doing it. This is extremely difficult for most people with ADHD, as our "plan" is driven by what our brain attaches its attention to.
This is why, if you have ADHD, you've almost certainly been called "lazy" your entire life.
Trying so hard just to accomplish the most basic of tasks that come naturally to other people is anything but lazy.
"Hyperactivity" is also not a very accurate term. Many of us aren't actively hyper, our bodies are just trying to regulate our stimuli. ADHD/Autistic people tend to have a strong sensitivity to stimuli, whether it's too much ore too little, and it needs to be regulated daily.
This is known as "stimming", and is very common through the entire neurodivergent community, especially Autism.
The different types of stimming are:
-Visual
-Verbal/Auditory
-Tactile/Touch
-Vestibular/Balance-Based
-Other
ADHD Symptoms
Many people think of ADHD symptoms as
-Fidgeting
-Distracted
-Hyper
-Talking a lot
Notice these are only visual symptoms. This is what people see. Notice the literal name of the diagnosis is just the parts of us that affect other people.
This is what isn't seen
-Imposter syndrome (big influence from society's view of ADHD)
-Executive dysfunction
-Poor working memory
-Difficulty planning and following through
-Difficulty following directions
-Poor object permanence (something out of sight almost doesn't exist - that vape in your closet that you've been wanting to use but haven't touched in a year).
-Difficulty regulating attention
-Difficulty regulating emotion
-Impulsivity / bad decision making
-Rejection Sensitivity
-Difficulty with daily tasks such as laundry/dishes/hygiene
-Getting extremely overwhelmed when just 1 task is added to the day, regardless of how short the task is
-Difficulty remembering/being on time for appointments (or arriving an hour early to avoid the anxiety of possibly forgetting)
-Interrupting often or difficulty following conversation
-"Bees in the brain"
-Brain fog
-Many more
Someone with ADHD can experience any number of these symptoms with varying degrees of intensity.
ADHD and Cannabis for me:
I start using Cannabis when I was 17 for recreational reasons. It only took a few weeks of use to see how just a small session at night was drastically affecting my life on the daily.
Even my uncle commented after my first few months of a drastic "night and day difference."
I was very much the exact same person, same quirks and weirdness, without the extra elements that were making me a problematic child.
I started to feel much more "normal". Many ADHD people have a sense of "difference" that they experience in regards to others.
I no longer had an overwhelming sense of "doom".
I started doing my homework and started to enjoy learning.
I found Psychology which ended up being a huge drive to further my education.
I was less short with people, I was calmer driving, and I wasn't nearly as impulsive with my decisions.
I had a huge boost in confidence in just being myself.
Just all around lived a more enjoyable life.
All of these effects were while I was not under the immediate effects of Cannabis. It just simply being in my system from the day before helped greatly.
I've often attributed these changes to myself just "growing up" and "growing out of it", but every time I quit cannabis, all of my symptoms return. I always describe it as "I feel how I felt in highschool", when my symptoms were at their strongest.
I continue to use cannabis daily at night (and occasionally in the day depending on what I'm doing), and never consume during work. It does not help me with attention and can make me more distracted. Finding when and how cannabis works for you, and moderating it in that way, is important.
I use it because I enjoy it, and I know it's very beneficial to my daily life.
I use it to make events more enjoyable, to detach a bit in anxiety-inducing situations, or wherever else I see fit.
Outro
ADHD is globally misunderstood, and the symptoms are often invalidated.
ADHD - when you understand the relationship between the brain, motivation, impulsivity, emotion, attention, and dopamine - starts to make a lot more sense.
Motivation is not something that can be forced. It's a relationship between dopamine and the reward center. Your brain won't put energy into a task if it won't feel a reward. Same goes for attention.
I was diagnosed when I was a child, but I never fully understood the impact until more recently. I imagine many others are the same, and late diagnosis can bring about its own range of struggles and trying to understand.
Anger and frustration are common emotions when looking back on your childhood with ADHD, and the many times we were mistreated as a result of it.
Please chime in on your experience with ADHD, and if possible how Cannabis has affected it.
(I'm going to try to add a poll at some point to see which symptoms are managed, unaffected, or worsened by cannabis. We'll see if I get around to it).
tl;dr
ADHD is mostly a dopamine deficiency, and cannabis has a direct relationship with dopamine.
Managing dopamine is a huge deal for people with ADHD, and too little can lead to impulsivity or poor decision making when seeking dopamine, as well as a number of other symptoms.
Many symptoms can be relieved when dopamine is introduced to the brain, hence why stimulants can be so helpful (and cannabis).
Everyone's experience with ADHD is different, as well as the relationship with Cannabis, so feel free to chime in and discuss
(this was supposed to be a short post ... welcome to the world of ADHD).
(A tl;dr at the end for my adhd friends who are pissed at me for writing so much )
Intro
I wanted to create a place where people with ADHD can come and discuss how Cannabis is affecting their life for better or for worse.
I would like to open this up to all of the Neurodivergent community as well, so Autism, OCD, etc. are all welcome to chime in, but my main focus will be on ADHD.
There is a very strong relationship between ADHD and Cannabis as ADHD translates quite literally to a dopamine deficiency. This is why stimulants provide such relief, as dopamine is the main neurotransmitter released. This is how a "stimulant" can "slow down" someone with ADHD, which is what most neurotypicals don't understand when it comes to medicating. Once the dopamine is balanced, the symptoms recede (in theory).
There are many possible side effects when it comes to using stimulants which I won't focus too much on here, but can leave people to seek an alternative such as Cannabis. Cannabis is a fantastic substitute for getting that dopamine if classic stimulants don't work well for you.
(Please, no bashing of medication here. It may not be right for you, but there are thousands of people who's lives are saved through classic stimulant medication).
ADHD and Dopamine in general
With that, there are some negatives, or times where it's appropriate, of using cannabis. Just things to consider...
With ADHD being a dopamine deficiency, you may become more reliant on cannabis as your source of dopamine. When you consider the alternative though, if you were medicated, you'd also be reliant on chemical stimulants daily as well, but those aren't quite as mind altering/psychoactive as cannabis.
Also considering the alternatives, ADHD people can seek unhealthy or impulsive behaviors to trigger dopamine if they aren't medicated.
No matter what, someone with ADHD is seeking dopamine at almost all stages of the day. It's up to you to find what's the healthiest way of managing your dopamine levels.
Notice how we've been talking about ADHD, and haven' yet mentioned "distractions" or "inattentiveness". Most people consider this the main symptom of ADHD, but it's actually a sub-diagnosis within ADHD - "inattentive type".
ADHD is not a "deficit" of attention. The name is extremely misleading. It is unregulated attention. Our attention is significantly greater than most, it's just not regulated. This is why ADHD people can function exceptionally well at whatever currently drives their focus, and we're constantly bouncing back and forth between tasks and hobbies, as it's nearly impossible to force ourselves to do something we aren't currently focused on or motivated to do.
This is known as Executive Function. Executive Function mostly relates to having a plan, and doing it. This is extremely difficult for most people with ADHD, as our "plan" is driven by what our brain attaches its attention to.
This is why, if you have ADHD, you've almost certainly been called "lazy" your entire life.
Trying so hard just to accomplish the most basic of tasks that come naturally to other people is anything but lazy.
"Hyperactivity" is also not a very accurate term. Many of us aren't actively hyper, our bodies are just trying to regulate our stimuli. ADHD/Autistic people tend to have a strong sensitivity to stimuli, whether it's too much ore too little, and it needs to be regulated daily.
This is known as "stimming", and is very common through the entire neurodivergent community, especially Autism.
The different types of stimming are:
-Visual
-Verbal/Auditory
-Tactile/Touch
-Vestibular/Balance-Based
-Other
ADHD Symptoms
Many people think of ADHD symptoms as
-Fidgeting
-Distracted
-Hyper
-Talking a lot
Notice these are only visual symptoms. This is what people see. Notice the literal name of the diagnosis is just the parts of us that affect other people.
This is what isn't seen
-Imposter syndrome (big influence from society's view of ADHD)
-Executive dysfunction
-Poor working memory
-Difficulty planning and following through
-Difficulty following directions
-Poor object permanence (something out of sight almost doesn't exist - that vape in your closet that you've been wanting to use but haven't touched in a year).
-Difficulty regulating attention
-Difficulty regulating emotion
-Impulsivity / bad decision making
-Rejection Sensitivity
-Difficulty with daily tasks such as laundry/dishes/hygiene
-Getting extremely overwhelmed when just 1 task is added to the day, regardless of how short the task is
-Difficulty remembering/being on time for appointments (or arriving an hour early to avoid the anxiety of possibly forgetting)
-Interrupting often or difficulty following conversation
-"Bees in the brain"
-Brain fog
-Many more
Someone with ADHD can experience any number of these symptoms with varying degrees of intensity.
ADHD and Cannabis for me:
I start using Cannabis when I was 17 for recreational reasons. It only took a few weeks of use to see how just a small session at night was drastically affecting my life on the daily.
Even my uncle commented after my first few months of a drastic "night and day difference."
I was very much the exact same person, same quirks and weirdness, without the extra elements that were making me a problematic child.
I started to feel much more "normal". Many ADHD people have a sense of "difference" that they experience in regards to others.
I no longer had an overwhelming sense of "doom".
I started doing my homework and started to enjoy learning.
I found Psychology which ended up being a huge drive to further my education.
I was less short with people, I was calmer driving, and I wasn't nearly as impulsive with my decisions.
I had a huge boost in confidence in just being myself.
Just all around lived a more enjoyable life.
All of these effects were while I was not under the immediate effects of Cannabis. It just simply being in my system from the day before helped greatly.
I've often attributed these changes to myself just "growing up" and "growing out of it", but every time I quit cannabis, all of my symptoms return. I always describe it as "I feel how I felt in highschool", when my symptoms were at their strongest.
I continue to use cannabis daily at night (and occasionally in the day depending on what I'm doing), and never consume during work. It does not help me with attention and can make me more distracted. Finding when and how cannabis works for you, and moderating it in that way, is important.
I use it because I enjoy it, and I know it's very beneficial to my daily life.
I use it to make events more enjoyable, to detach a bit in anxiety-inducing situations, or wherever else I see fit.
Outro
ADHD is globally misunderstood, and the symptoms are often invalidated.
ADHD - when you understand the relationship between the brain, motivation, impulsivity, emotion, attention, and dopamine - starts to make a lot more sense.
Motivation is not something that can be forced. It's a relationship between dopamine and the reward center. Your brain won't put energy into a task if it won't feel a reward. Same goes for attention.
I was diagnosed when I was a child, but I never fully understood the impact until more recently. I imagine many others are the same, and late diagnosis can bring about its own range of struggles and trying to understand.
Anger and frustration are common emotions when looking back on your childhood with ADHD, and the many times we were mistreated as a result of it.
Please chime in on your experience with ADHD, and if possible how Cannabis has affected it.
(I'm going to try to add a poll at some point to see which symptoms are managed, unaffected, or worsened by cannabis. We'll see if I get around to it).
tl;dr
ADHD is mostly a dopamine deficiency, and cannabis has a direct relationship with dopamine.
Managing dopamine is a huge deal for people with ADHD, and too little can lead to impulsivity or poor decision making when seeking dopamine, as well as a number of other symptoms.
Many symptoms can be relieved when dopamine is introduced to the brain, hence why stimulants can be so helpful (and cannabis).
Everyone's experience with ADHD is different, as well as the relationship with Cannabis, so feel free to chime in and discuss