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.

—————————————————

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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[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago

Magnesium glycinate, +1. It saves my sleep...

[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 month ago (4 children)

Omega 3-6-9 fatty acids. There's been a fair amount of research done on its role in mitigating ADHD, specifically. I take them and notice a decline in mood and overall presence of mind when I've forgotten to take my pills for a while.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4968854/

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago

Interesting, thanks for the paper link, I'll have to come back to that!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Big props for the PubMed link, hard to take anything else seriously.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

I believe in good sources. Thanks for noticing ~

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Could you recommend your supplement? There are a LOT out there.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

I get whatever's on sale.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The best supplement is regular exercise imo

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

Added. It’s not really a supplement, but improving one’s health can do a lot for stress and sleep. That can take some of the edge off the related ADHD issues.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I mean, chelated magnesium helps take the edge off of Adderall but no, I doubt you'll ever find anything otc that is effective as something prescribed.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I wouldn’t expect any supplements, vitamins, or similar to be as effective, but to use your words, maybe some things that help “take the edge off.”

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

Well, the CM takes the edge (jitters) off of the adderall. The supplement does zero for ADHD. There aint a lot of options aside from stimulants. Soooo 500mg+ of caffeine in whatever form is your preference?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month 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

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

Added to the post

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (3 children)

Ketogenic diet helps with ADHD. So it's the opposite of a supplement, you have to take the sugar out of the food

I.e. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0289133 Ketogenic diet ameliorates attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in rats via regulating gut microbiota

Not much research in human studies yet for ADHD specifically, but the anecdotes and n=1 case studies are compelling. Not eating sugar is free, so it's worth a try

Update - Even metabolic mind (the group funding most of the research, says ADHD is still a area of ongoing research.

We don’t have robust evidence demonstrating the effectiveness of ketogenic therapy for anxiety, ADHD and brain fog, but clinical experience suggests that in fact these conditions might benefit significantly from ketogenic and metabolic therapies. Early results from clinical trials for other diagnoses show that improved attention, clarity of thought, and decreased anxiety are common beneficial outcomes.

https://www.metabolicmind.org/faq

But its safe, and free, so worth a shot.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 month ago (3 children)

A keto diet is far from without consequences. It's a very extreme change, that can only be done safely with a lot of care , as it implies cutting out most fruit and vegetables, for instance.

Afaik it's not medically recommended for anything but a few very specific serious neurological disorders.

I wouldn't go around recommending something like that.

If you want to enter a ketogenic state, intermittent fasting is a much less worrisome way to do it.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

That’s interesting, I always said I felt somehow more sharp and sort of “present” when I am ketoing. Though I’d advice anyone considering it to first talk to your doctors. For me, I shouldn’t do it due to problems with my blood sugar and liver, but we figured if it helps, ought to find a way to make it work. So I do keto “periods” alternating with normal periods, which hasn’t, it seems, had much of an impact on my lab results. But this is all to say, it might have consequences you ought to be wary about.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Yes, if your taking any medications changing your metabolism can change how powerful those medications are (going to keto usually makes medications stronger, which could be dangerous)

If you don't mind me asking - What are your blood sugar and liver problems that prevent keto? Keto is well known for improving blood glucose control.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Im not going to pretend to understand or really know, just what my general practitioner told me once I brought up the possibility of testing going keto long-term. I have pre-diabetes, which I suppose convinced the doc to go for it even if in an alternating fashion, since it’s good for my weight which is good for all of the rest. I could ask next time though, maybe mention this adhd connection in lab rats, seems like it changes things a bit more to favor ketoing

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

Ok, I'm happy to provide documentation, medical texts, papers, and the like... But keto is excellent for glucose control, and improves liver function. If your GP was skeptical about keto, fair enough, but I can give you/them the resources to satisfy themselves to the efficacy and safety.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

Added that to the list.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month 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

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

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

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month 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.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month 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.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

Tom Brady poop

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month 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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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

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

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago (3 children)

I find a combination of St. John's Wort and Lion's Mane Extract help with my mood and focus.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

FYI, St John's wart can affect serotonin, which can be dangerous if you're on anti depressants.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

It can also reduce the effectiveness of hormonal birth control.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Lions mane extract seemed to help me, before I knew I had ADHD. Just seemed like when I had it regularly I had less brain fog. I used a few ml every morning in stone water.

I stopped using it because it seemed pricey, and I only bought it from one guy at the farmers market because I know a lot of commercially available supplements dont have what they say they do in the US.

I should try to find another good source to see if it helps now that I have other things as well.

Also black coffee but fresh roasted / fresh ground specialty coffee seems to help way more. Grocery store coffee gives me heartburn

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

Just grow it, to be honest. Not that hard, though might be a little pricy?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

Added to the post

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago (4 children)

Coffee, fasting during mornings, and lowering carbs

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (8 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.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I bet, but unfortunately the legality of weed is still by state, and not legal federally. The rest are by script.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Weed has been legal in my country federally for a decade. What are you talking about?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

Not everyone lives where you do. There’s plenty of the world where it isn’t federally legal.

Maybe let us know that?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

You say states so I assume USA, you can get THC mailed to you totally legally as long as it's below a certain amount per volume.

I just started microdosing THC and CBD (2.5mg each a day) and it's really helping with my productivity! I buy online from a shop called Mr. Moxeys or something like that, they ship mints or gummies to most US states to microdose. Kind of expensive (87 cents a day) but WAY cheaper than Adderall, and less dangerous.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Did you read what I said? I said legality varies by state, and it’s still illegal federally.

That is 100% correct.

Good for you it works.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (3 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.

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