I’d like to know what anyone is using that they really think is helping them that isn’t taking traditional prescription medication for ADHD. Please make sure whatever it is can be found “over the counter” or readily available commercially. Please keep it to simple items that are easily found separately - i.e. a B vitamin of B6, 12 and vitamin C along with Magnesium glycinate or something. If you notice it helping in a specific area, please say what it is.
I have to throw in a couple caveats, just to make sure we can get a decent picture of what is actually helping, so…
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Please nothing illicit or illegal.
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Please no blends or other proprietary herbal combinations. If a blend helps you, great…but we don’t know what is in the blend that is helping, and someone may not have access to that product where they live.
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Please be specific, like making sure to differentiate between magnesium glycinate and magnesium L-threonate.
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Edit: “votes” so far:
1 - Creatine monohydrate - short term memory
2 - Lion’s mane (a fungus) - brain fog
2 - Omega 3, 6, and 9 - brain fog
1 - exercise. Not really a supplement, but it’s a great idea for overall health.
1 - keto diet - brain fog
2 - N-Acetyl-cystein (NAC) - anxiety/hyperactivity
2 - magnesium glycinate - ?
1 - Magnesium carbonate
Stimulants:
2 - Coffee
1 - caffeine (via energy drink)
1 - Guarana
1 - Green tea (caffeine and L-Theanine)
NAC - N-acetyl-cysteine. Psychiatrist recommended it for weaning myself off a THC dependency, but after reading a few PubMed-available research papers I found data supporting further research into its effects on ADHD.
Additionally, I kept researching in an attempt to improve brain fog and sleep issues I suspect are from long COVID. I found studies indicating NAC combined with guanfacine may help those symptoms.
I’ve found better results from 600mg NAC (standard daily dose is 1200mg) taken three times a day, and started 1mg guanfacine twice a day recently with plans to increase to 2mg twice a day in a week or two.
I would love to share the NIH papers with anyone interested. Educating yourself about your condition and its particular manifestation will get you far with an invested care team. I’m headed to bed bit will reply to any and every person interested in the research tomorrow morning.
The message I sent to my psych two days after she recommended NAC contained inline citations referring to the papers I had linked at the bottom. That due diligence communicated my dedication not only to my own care, but also to my dedication and respect for knowledge.
Don’t take random supplements recommended to you on the internet. Discuss their use with a doctor or, barring that, ground your decisions in science.
I personally had phenomenal results with decreased skin picking compulsions after my dermatologist recommended it. May not work for everyone but absolutely worth a shot.
May I ask what dosage you’re taking? I started at 1200mg twice a day for awhile, but ran out and about a week later noticed a worsening of my tics/hand-talking/dropping things issues. Started 1800mg (3x600mg taken morning/afternoon/night) once I bought more, but saw dosages of 2000-2400mg in a study or two.
600 mg/day. I have a history of responding to surprisingly low dosages of everything, though. E.g. I take the lowest available dose of methylphenidate that my pharmacy stocks, and usually split my sleep aid in half unless I’m really wired and need to knock myself out
I’m not a small or very active human, so it’s odd.
I added the NAC, but Guanfacine is prescription, so I’m leaving it off.
NAC without guanfacine improved several of my hyperactive symptoms and the other poster’s skin picking if you’d like to mention that in the post.
Also, I think it’s chelating effect on lead and other heavy metals in the bloodstream is valuable on it’s own since we’re still using leaded AVgas and such. Leaded gasoline is why engineers need history classes; the Romans showed us how great ingesting lead is, and then 2000 years we decide aerosolizing it sounded like a good idea‽
Leaded avgas is so low on the overall reasons to get lead contamination it’s not even worth mentioning. Not all aircraft use 100LL. You’d have to be a fueler at the airfield, spill gas on yourself regularly, and fly aircraft with leaky exhaust to even start to show signs of contamination. I’ve been around aircraft for decades and don’t have lead in blood tests, we all got checked when one of our kids did have it. Come to find out there is still lead in toy paints and “lead free solder” in electronics when manufacturers lie. Far more likely to come into contact with lead in products, house paint, or even plumbing than from any other source.
Thanks for providing context on how NAC might help.
Doesn’t seem to be that much evidence, but I’m in the mood for a new supplement obsession - on it!
I looked back through my NIH history and you’re right about the sparse evidence for ADHD, actually. Looks like my interest in NAC, in addition to weaning off THC, came from the bipolar and autism angle, its ability to act a a lead chelator, as well as some tentative dots I connected between its glutamatergic effects and some reading into a mutation of the MC1R gene as passed down to me by my red-head mother.
Likely also conflated my more recent readings into the guanfacine+NAC combo for my brain fog and sleep issues and misremembered my findings from the initial research. Good catch, and an excellent example of ‘don’t listen to the internet dude.’
Here are some starting points
NAC https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8211525 - NAC review
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0149763415001190
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35316513/
NAC+Guanfacine https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10960163