this post was submitted on 01 Jun 2025
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ADHD

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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…

  • Please nothing illicit or illegal.

  • 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.

  • 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)

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[–] iPlayTheKazoo@feddit.nl 6 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Creatine monohydrate helped for me. It's usually taken by athletes and gym-goers but there's a study saying that it may improve short term memory and intelligence/reasoning

Added to the post

[–] double_quack@lemm.ee 3 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Coffee, fasting during mornings, and lowering carbs

[–] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 1 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Another upvote for coffee!

[–] JGrffn@lemmy.world 1 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Coffee makes me crash, I don't understand how it works for you guys. I fucking love it still, but boy can it send me back to bed in a jittery mess as soon as I get a strong morning cup of if I haven't eaten breakfast.

[–] Avg@lemm.ee 1 points 3 days ago

Before taking meds, I'd drink it twice a day pushing the crash until after work. Now that I'm taking strattera, it's just too much and I can barely handle one cup without going mad with anxiety.

[–] double_quack@lemm.ee 1 points 5 days ago

I make it rather mild, one table spoon (fairly loaded) of light roasted coffee for a liter of water.

[–] SplashJackson@lemmy.ca 3 points 6 days ago (7 children)

Weed helps, in edible form, when taken with ritalin and adderall

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[–] theneverfox@pawb.social 4 points 6 days ago (3 children)

Magnesium glycinate. Made every difference in the world for me - I still need my meds to perform at my best, but I can muddle through without them with magnesium and a good night of sleep

[–] voidspace@lemmy.world 2 points 4 days ago

I used take other forms of Magnesium, but recently found Glycinate has made a massive improvement in my sleep.

Best sleep I've had in years.

[–] StopSpazzing@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I’ll apply your “this” as a second person using it.

[–] UniversalBasicJustice@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (6 children)

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.

[–] janus2@lemmy.zip 1 points 5 days ago (1 children)

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.

[–] UniversalBasicJustice@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

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.

[–] janus2@lemmy.zip 1 points 4 days ago

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.

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[–] ImmersiveMatthew@sh.itjust.works 3 points 6 days ago (2 children)

I hyper focused on my gut microbiome and the results are very interesting. No more anxiousness, amazing sleeps, and way better ment focus. Almost never forget things now. There is a lot of scientific support here too as the microbiome really does play a large role in our mental state.

[–] loonsun@sh.itjust.works 5 points 6 days ago (2 children)
[–] ImmersiveMatthew@sh.itjust.works 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

It was not one thing but months of things starting with a 7 day water fast then on to rice porridge and then onto streamed sweet potatoes and carrots and over time more and more options. It was brutal but my circumstances dictated such extreme measures as I had developed a severe histamine and glutamate sensitivity. AI was amazing at navigating it all, but it is not perfect so I used 2 AIs and many other sources to validate each step of the journey. I am honestly shocked it worked so well.

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[–] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

It sounds like you’re improving your overall health. That’s always valuable.

[–] Son_of_Macha@lemmy.cafe 1 points 5 days ago (1 children)

What does this do? Do you have any research indicating this has potential benefits?

[–] janus2@lemmy.zip 1 points 5 days ago (1 children)

NOS brand energy drink seems to work better for me than any other brand, so it may be worth looking into its ingredients list for things that potentially have a synergistic effect with caffeine

A quick look at the NOS ingredients shows caffeine, taurine, and l-carnitine. Caffeine is a stimulant, so I’ll add that ✅, taurine isn’t mentioned anywhere to be any specific benefit to concentration or mental ability, and l-carnitine seems to just be used to make the stimulant hit faster.

[–] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Adding my own, and I just started these a month or so ago so I’m not entirely sure that the effects are correct, but they seem to be helping slightly.

Magnesium Glycinate

L- Threonate (1/2 dose, found it made me sleepy too early at full dose)

D

Standard multivitamin (no “extreme” values, everything is 100% or less)

Omega 3

I have absolutely noted a better sleep. Far less mind-churning time when trying to fall asleep. I would guess a little less brain fog and stress, but I don’t know if memory is any better. Having a little less anxiety does help a bit, because you’re not focusing on the stressful thing and have a chance to remember what you were supposed to. The last three I was taking anyway for general health reasons. The magnesium and L-Threonate I picked up just to see if they might help with ADHD.

[–] AddLemmus@lemmy.ml 1 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Magnesium, D and Omega 3 are, as far as I know, all things where you gain a lot if you have a deficit that they compensate, otherwise nothing.

I too took shots in the dark, as I didn't find a doc who was willing to do some more tests. But recently I found out that in some countries, you can just go to a lab directly and they'll draw the blood.

Currently on Magnesium, too (Carbonate though), paused the D due to long times in the sun recently, Omega 3 currently through engineered staple foods & rape oil.

[–] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 2 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Added.

It’s super hard to “OD” on D, so probably not much need to stop it other than just not consuming the $ as fast. Added to the list.

[–] AddLemmus@lemmy.ml 1 points 5 days ago

afaik, 25µg D3 in combination with 20µg K2 should cover it in theory, even when there is hardly any natural source. Some supplement nerds have some reasoning for 100µg, which is near the upper bound of "harmless".

Much more than that can be quite dangerous, though! One drop of the stuff I have is 25, so it's not just theoretical.

EDEKA are the ones where too much is harmful.

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