Adderall, ADHD...
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Re: Adderall, ADHD...
With good teachers honesty is the best policy.
1.The problem isn’t ‘ignorance’. The problem is the mind you have right now. (H.H. Karmapa XVII @NYC 2/4/18)
2. I support Mingyur R and HHDL in their positions against lama abuse.
3. Student: Lama, I thought I might die but then I realized that the 3 Jewels would protect me.
Lama: Even If you had died the 3 Jewels would still have protected you. (DW post by Fortyeightvows)
2. I support Mingyur R and HHDL in their positions against lama abuse.
3. Student: Lama, I thought I might die but then I realized that the 3 Jewels would protect me.
Lama: Even If you had died the 3 Jewels would still have protected you. (DW post by Fortyeightvows)
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Re: Adderall, ADHD...
I think you misunderstand samaya if you think that way over taking a prescription medication for a disease. Actually you break samaya every second you are not in the state of your primordial mind. The best we can do is, doing our best, how limited that may be right now.prsvrnc wrote: It is causing me to break my samaya.
I think you should stop indulging in such pointless fantasies about your teacher and what he might or might not say. Go, see him, explain the situation and ask him how he thinks you should handle this.prsvrnc wrote:I didn't take it today and due to the slowness of my mind (out of it, really dragging), my guru and I weren't connecting like normal. I was so hurt... thinking that he only "likes" me on my med, blah blah blah. And then, once I took it again (I don't think he knew), then he said... something about how not to loose the purity of the connection, blah blah blah..
Re: Adderall, ADHD...
LOL, I love the directness. thank you. That is true. Basically, i put too much emphasis on the connection with the teacher instead of the teachings.theanarchist wrote:I think you should stop indulging in such pointless fantasies about your teacher and what he might or might not say. Go, see him, explain the situation and ask him how he thinks you should handle this.
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Re: Adderall, ADHD...
prsvrnc wrote:Basically, i put too much emphasis on the connection with the teacher instead of the teachings.
I think the problem is not the too much emphasis, but that you mix it up with your deluded hope and fear thinking and project your own emotional needs and fears onto him.
In psychology/psychotherapy that effect is called transference.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transference
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Re: Adderall, ADHD...
Like I said, with good teachers honesty, and candor, is the best policy.
1.The problem isn’t ‘ignorance’. The problem is the mind you have right now. (H.H. Karmapa XVII @NYC 2/4/18)
2. I support Mingyur R and HHDL in their positions against lama abuse.
3. Student: Lama, I thought I might die but then I realized that the 3 Jewels would protect me.
Lama: Even If you had died the 3 Jewels would still have protected you. (DW post by Fortyeightvows)
2. I support Mingyur R and HHDL in their positions against lama abuse.
3. Student: Lama, I thought I might die but then I realized that the 3 Jewels would protect me.
Lama: Even If you had died the 3 Jewels would still have protected you. (DW post by Fortyeightvows)
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Re: Adderall, ADHD...
Just one little point: a dharma teacher isn't a mental health professional. I'm not saying that one shouldn't talk to one's dharma teacher about one's problems, whatever they might be, but dharma practice isn't *necessarily* a substitute for straight up mental health care. That goes for depression, ADHD, whatever. Dharma is the medicine for ending the suffering of samsara. It's not the medicine for having synapses and neural connections that might be a little tweeked. I know this from first hand experience. Similarly it's not necessarsily the medicine for heart burn and hives. Just saying.
I'm not trying to be preachy, but I've seen too many people drop their meds or counselling or whatever, to treat themselves wtih zazen or Tara mantras or some such, only to be unhappy and to the have made a negative association with practice because, afterall, it didn't help them.
That was sort of the point of my own sharing above. No matter what course we go down to take care of our mind-body complex be it adderal or Tibetan medicine or siatsu or whatever-- we can still just do our practice on that road.
I get the sense that you might be a bit younger than me, so I'll just share that as you get older and have different expereinces, different illnesses, whaver, you'll see that many things change your mind. As you practice you'll see that having an orgasm changes your mind, eating certain things change your mind, as does fatigue, stress. You just practice through them. It's the same with different medicines. You might have to take steroids for some inflammation, or you might have to take something for asthma-- they might make you edgy. You just practice through it. You might have some really horrid disease, and it may make you feel weak, or tired. You just practice through it.
It's the same with ADHD. You may find you need to change your lifestyle or take some drugs or do acupunture or whatever to feel better. No worries. Just practice through it.
I'm not trying to be preachy, but I've seen too many people drop their meds or counselling or whatever, to treat themselves wtih zazen or Tara mantras or some such, only to be unhappy and to the have made a negative association with practice because, afterall, it didn't help them.
That was sort of the point of my own sharing above. No matter what course we go down to take care of our mind-body complex be it adderal or Tibetan medicine or siatsu or whatever-- we can still just do our practice on that road.
I get the sense that you might be a bit younger than me, so I'll just share that as you get older and have different expereinces, different illnesses, whaver, you'll see that many things change your mind. As you practice you'll see that having an orgasm changes your mind, eating certain things change your mind, as does fatigue, stress. You just practice through them. It's the same with different medicines. You might have to take steroids for some inflammation, or you might have to take something for asthma-- they might make you edgy. You just practice through it. You might have some really horrid disease, and it may make you feel weak, or tired. You just practice through it.
It's the same with ADHD. You may find you need to change your lifestyle or take some drugs or do acupunture or whatever to feel better. No worries. Just practice through it.
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Re: Adderall, ADHD...
With notable exceptions, most ethnically tibetan lamas are not good at personal advice. Our personal problems are our samsara. Their jurisdiction is on how to get past having personal problems, not sorting them out for us.
1.The problem isn’t ‘ignorance’. The problem is the mind you have right now. (H.H. Karmapa XVII @NYC 2/4/18)
2. I support Mingyur R and HHDL in their positions against lama abuse.
3. Student: Lama, I thought I might die but then I realized that the 3 Jewels would protect me.
Lama: Even If you had died the 3 Jewels would still have protected you. (DW post by Fortyeightvows)
2. I support Mingyur R and HHDL in their positions against lama abuse.
3. Student: Lama, I thought I might die but then I realized that the 3 Jewels would protect me.
Lama: Even If you had died the 3 Jewels would still have protected you. (DW post by Fortyeightvows)
Re: Adderall, ADHD...
An ethnically tibetan master may not understand a diagnosis of ADHD. But when you talk on simpler terms like difficulty to concentrate and so on he will probably be able to understand.
My personal approach has been to take small steps. What I can help with is to tell you that there there is strong scientific evidence that shamata meditation will effectively control ADHD symptoms (you can go through scientific articles if you want). Fortunately for us, shamata is the core of any buddhist practice (even when it comes to sadhana practices, if you can't concentrate, it is as good as nothing). The first few days may be meh, but if you have the time to deal with a few days of lost productivity, you'll probably eventually feel comfortable about dropping the medication for good.
If you're on extended release aderall, dose tritation will not be effective, so you'd have to outright stop it if you wanted to drop it. There are some things you can try: see how you react without it, try to manage symptoms using caffeine (I once heard one teacher joking that she believed most people would go to dharma centers only because they have tea and tea has caffeine and will help you sharpen up before meditation, talk to your doctor about swapping to vyvanse (which can be perfectly diluted in water for lower dosages and so more easilly and gradually stopped).
My personal approach has been to take small steps. What I can help with is to tell you that there there is strong scientific evidence that shamata meditation will effectively control ADHD symptoms (you can go through scientific articles if you want). Fortunately for us, shamata is the core of any buddhist practice (even when it comes to sadhana practices, if you can't concentrate, it is as good as nothing). The first few days may be meh, but if you have the time to deal with a few days of lost productivity, you'll probably eventually feel comfortable about dropping the medication for good.
If you're on extended release aderall, dose tritation will not be effective, so you'd have to outright stop it if you wanted to drop it. There are some things you can try: see how you react without it, try to manage symptoms using caffeine (I once heard one teacher joking that she believed most people would go to dharma centers only because they have tea and tea has caffeine and will help you sharpen up before meditation, talk to your doctor about swapping to vyvanse (which can be perfectly diluted in water for lower dosages and so more easilly and gradually stopped).
--Karma Rigpe Wangchuk
"Meditation brings wisdom. Lack of meditation leaves ignorance. Know well what leads you forward and what holds you back."
Shakyamuni
"Meditation brings wisdom. Lack of meditation leaves ignorance. Know well what leads you forward and what holds you back."
Shakyamuni
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Re: Adderall, ADHD...
smcj wrote:With notable exceptions, most ethnically tibetan lamas are not good at personal advice..
Yeah. A really good, empathic psychotherapist or counsellor is better for personal relationship, job etc problems. Though a lama is the right person to ask about dharma practice with a mental illness/condition.
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Re: Adderall, ADHD...
That's not actually how addiction works. Having been an addict I can speak about this from experience. There are two components: compulsion and reaction.The substances used to treat ADHD don't create addiction because they don't give the person taking it a "high". There is no state to be addicted to. It's as addictive as smoking Marihuana that doesn't make you stoned.
The reaction facet is like being exposed to a toxic chemical. For instance, I know somebody that worked in a print shop that used heavy duty solvents. After working there for a long time his body cannot stand to be around any solvents at all. Even being in a room with an open can of paint thinner will make him sick.
In the same way, long term exposure to certain intoxicants can do the same thing. If you give a non-alcoholic a beer and give a true alcoholic the exact same beer they will react wildly differently. This goes equally well for prescription meds as well as street drugs.
The compulsion aspect is what most people think of as "addiction". The compulsion comes from the creation of a kind of deficit. You need the intoxicant just to feel "normal". But it is the intoxicant itself that is creating the deficit. With some there is a physical element, with others it is only mental.
It's like borrowing money from your credit cards to pay the interest on your credit cards. It's a downward spiral. Or, in other words, a cyclic existence whose nature is suffering. Sound familiar?
1.The problem isn’t ‘ignorance’. The problem is the mind you have right now. (H.H. Karmapa XVII @NYC 2/4/18)
2. I support Mingyur R and HHDL in their positions against lama abuse.
3. Student: Lama, I thought I might die but then I realized that the 3 Jewels would protect me.
Lama: Even If you had died the 3 Jewels would still have protected you. (DW post by Fortyeightvows)
2. I support Mingyur R and HHDL in their positions against lama abuse.
3. Student: Lama, I thought I might die but then I realized that the 3 Jewels would protect me.
Lama: Even If you had died the 3 Jewels would still have protected you. (DW post by Fortyeightvows)