kazooie:

instructor144:

wholesome-dragon-lady:

breelandwalker:

eirenical:

literaphobe:

UH WHAT

UH…… WHAT………

This entire article is eye-opening, even as someone who has ADHD and has read a lot about it already. There’s so much more there than just the bit about the glucose-craving brain. SO. MUCH.

This might have been the bit that hit me hardest, actually:

it would be easy to misinterpret the following scenario as a standoff between two partners: Imagine that your partner asks you to pay the electric bill, and you say to yourself, “OK, I have time to do that today.” But when you sit down to do it, you keep getting distracted. The ADHD brain needs higher stimulation in order to complete this rote task with minimal payoff. Your ADHD brain says, “That task is way too boring, and I refuse to focus on it. Find something that interests me more, which offers me a bigger dopamine reward, and I’ll work with you.” It doesn’t matter that you know you should pay the bill as promised; if your brain won’t engage, it’s an ugly standoff. Perhaps, after a day of procrastination — when your partner will be home in 20 minutes and the bill is still unpaid — there may be enough of an adrenaline rush from a sense of crisis that your brain will engage and you pay the bill.

The ADHD brain and its owner are at odds with one another. It’s difficult to compel a disengaged brain to engage by force of will. In fact, much of the treatment for ADHD involves learning to psych out the brain, so that it will attend to necessary, low-stimulation tasks.

Appreciating the tug-of-war within that pits intellect against neurobiology increases compassion and acceptance for one’s hidden struggle.

I feel SEEN. OTZ

Seriously, though. Read the whole thing. It’s a good one.

I used to straight-up eat stacks of plain bread when I was a teenager. I craved BREAD. Not sandwiches, not toast, not cinnamon buns. PLAIN FUCKING BREAD. And yanno what else? RICE. And NOODLES. No toppings, just butter and salt, and scarf it down.

And suddenly that makes a lot more sense.

ALL OF THIS IS IMPORTANT.

The links between brain chemistry and dopamine uptake is pretty well established. Came across a study awhile back that talked about damage to dopamine uptake, and why some brains crave a lot more food (food is the most potent stimulator of dopamine) than unaffected brains. Two strong markers this particular study looked at for dopamine-uptake dysfunction were abusive/stressful childhood 🙋‍♂️ and long-term drug abuse 🙋‍♂️ . The amount of food that a normal person needs to consume to get that sweet, comforting dopamine pulse (that feeling of “ahhhh, I feel so good after that meal”) wouldn’t even register on the needle for someone whose dopamine uptake system has been damaged. 

When I eat sugary cereal, the whole time I’m like “oh boy! I’m gonna get my life together today! Everything is good!”, then when I’m done I immediately switch to “I’m going back to bed I don’t care anymore”, it’s so disappointing loll