Dopamine and boredom

I’m not very easy to bore unless you completely deprive me of stimulation. For example if you only provide me a TV for entertainment im going to be bored. But something nefarious about boredom and ADHD is boredom is its physically painful.

With ADHD our dopamine levels are naturally low, this chemical is responsible for a lot of things including how bored we are, but imagine that sensation being painful. This can manifest in many ways such as doomscrolling social media, hyperfixating on a hobby, listening to a song that gives us dopamine on repeat. But also…

…Also it leads to addiction; using chemicals to fill the deficient dopamine, and when a doctor isn’t providing this, you’re almost guaranteed to resort to self medication. Some ADHD people this is as simple as a coffee addiction, some get hooked on weed in ways people claim isn’t possible with withdrawals and everything, some do cocaine, though I argue cocaine isn’t something that makes you function higher.

The thing about ADHD and addiction is we’re often not even getting high, we’re returning to baseline not suffering. ADHD and getting high is about functioning higher than before, so things like cocaine aren’t very good for ADHD, but maybe something like meth an ADHD person would get hooked on. But the average ADHD person I know uses coffee to function higher when they’re withheld ADHD medication.

The goal is to not suffer; I’d argue i’m not an addict, I’m naturally deficient in dopamine and I’m not even getting high, but without my legal drugs i wouldn’t be able to enjoy anything. It looks like addiction, for sure, but the natural state of my brain is pure suffering when I don’t use, and it’s not fair to compare me to people who party and get wasted until they’re bumbling idiots.