I’ve struggled the exact same as the poster above, and I’ve been reading up on ADHD. It seems to fit so many issues I have, but I really don’t want to take stimulants, which seem to be the drug of choice for ADHD
Yeah, I think there's a large subset of people with ADHD who have some kind of alternate circadian rhythm. Mine seems to be 36 hours; for almost 35 years my peak working hours have been 4pm to 5am, with the ability to hyperfocus until I collapsed if I'm really into what I'm doing. Not for lack of trying to have a "normal" schedule...oh god I try really hard multiple times a year. It's just not natural.
You should know that stimulants are only one type of approach for treating ADHD. Your best resource, you may have discovered, is Russell Barkley; I cannot recommend him enough. Also check out the YouTube channel How to ADHD.
Fair warning: You may discover some of the things you've done for your whole life without second guessing are actually typical ADHD symptoms. And if you're like me, this might thoroughly shake your snowglobe.
> [...] I’ve been reading up on ADHD. It seems to fit so many issues I have [...]
If you're feeling like that I strongly recommend that you consider consulting a competent medical professional with experience diagnosing ADHD/ADD and undergo an evaluation.
While your concerns around pharmaceutical-based approaches to assisting people to live with the affects of executive function related disorders (such as ADHD/ADD) are understandable, such decisions are a step beyond where you currently are.
ADHD/ADD is known as a disorder where (unlike most) simply having a diagnosis can have a significant positive impact on a person's ability to deal with it. This is in part because a diagnosis provides a new lens/perspective through which to view one's life and because the negative secondary effects (e.g. shame, guilt, depression, interpersonal & employment difficulties) of living with un-diagnosed ADHD/ADD have so much impact.
My understanding is that a combination of medication & therapy has been shown to be the most effective tool in helping most people live with the effects of ADHD/ADD but medication is by no means the only option--and there are some non-stimulant options also.
But with regard to "stimulants", the word itself & people's understanding of how they work leads to a lot of moralizing, misinformation & misunderstanding. To some degree the effect of a "stimulant medication" is similar to that of water to a house plant: if the plant has insufficient moisture in the surrounding soil then "stimulating" it with additional water from a watering can brings it up to a level of moisture required for a fulfilling life--but if the plant already has sufficient moisture then adding additional water may cause negative effects. But being "underwatered" is not a positive state of affairs.
If you would like to read further about ADHD/ADD (particularly the under-diagnosed "Primary Inattentive" subtype) I recommend considering "Driven to Distraction (Revised/Second Edition): Recognizing and Coping with Attention Deficit Disorder" by Edward Hallowell and John Ratey. One of the aspects I particularly appreciate is how much emphasis they put on the importance of a precise & accurate diagnosis as a starting point--e.g. they spend a chapter each on "things that are misdiagnosed as ADHD/ADD but are actually something else" & "things that are misdiagnosed as not ADHD/ADD but are in fact ADHD/ADD".
Good luck!
Edit: Oh, yeah, two other things:
* "Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria" is a common but less discussed aspect of ADHD/ADD.
* If comics are more your style, you might find a read of ADHD Alien enlightening: http://adhd-alien.com/
I'm unsure, I certainly show the symptoms, but never got myself diagnosed as I was investigating the possibility of a military career. Thinking about it, quite a few of my family members also have ADHD.
