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Re:Ask HN: What things do you wish you discovered earlier? by brailsafe on Monday September 09, 2019 @03:35PM (#20921568)
Was going to respond with this as well. At 27 I decided to reflect on my abilities vs test scores and ability to focus and spoke to a doctor. Parents never considered mental health as a factor, and looking back—but without blame—opportunies and growth were missed. Care to expand on your case?

Edit: Saw your response below.

Re:Ask HN: What things do you wish you discovered earlier? by algaeontoast on Monday September 09, 2019 @09:24PM (#20924299)
Glad to hear I'm not alone with my later-ish diagnosis.

Like you, I don't blame my parents. But I do wonder what I would've been able to accomplish academically when I was in high school and a majority of college if I'd had my diagnosis. Many of my friends in college (both ADD and non-ADD) assumed I had a diagnosis and was just distracted by personal projects to perform academically.

How'd you make up for lost time / improve your work habits after your diagnosis?

Re:Ask HN: What things do you wish you discovered earlier? by brailsafe on Tuesday September 10, 2019 @04:40AM (#20926208)
Well, I don't technically have a diagnosis—I don't think. I have been prescribed some medication that I think helps most of the time, as long as I can get started. 27mg Concerta up from 18mg. It's a subtle effect and I don't take it every day. To re-up this prescription, I'm counting on a walk-in clinic being able to do so by using my existing bottle. Aside from that, I'm also only maybe 3 or 4 months in to using it. What I found to be helpful in terms of study habits—I've been meandering through a degree for about 5 or 6 years—is taking physical notes frequently, for anything I do. Over the last few years it seems as though my working memory has deteriorated severely. This could be a result of a concussion or almost anything, but I've been taking B12 and it's improved a bit. Otherwise, I've reflected a lot over the last 3 years on the things I do and how I do them. In short, one thing I need to enforce in myself is only investing myself personally in stuff I can feel is worthwhile and creates value or is otherwise interesting. I can't work a corporate job for long, I'll get fired and become depressed. I do best with disparate, hard, and novel tasks that don't require me to be anywhere for any particular time. That isn't always sustainable though, so I've started grading my days to hold myself accountable towards tasks I don't want to do, so I can get better at that. That's in short. I've been fired or laid off from 6 or 7 jobs, but can think through complex reasoning tasks pretty well and easily fixate on tough theoretical problems that are approachable for my background. I'm extremely ambitious and aim for hard stuff, so I'd like to find a way to leverage that more.