I Could Not Visualize Code Until I Stopped Treating My ADHD With Stimulants

Fred Grott
3 min readSep 3, 2022

One of the hardest things about ADHD, is that if we do not have it under control, we have problems visualizing.

Now, despite the name of the term visualization; it’s not referring to visual perception with our eyes. Instead, we are talking about something in meta-land, how our brain connects memories together in an organized manner. In fact, one of the common symptoms of ADHD is lack of visualization.

For example, musicians’ as they learn to play an instrument can hear a piece of music for the first time and go to their instrument and play it all the way through on the first try. Or some describing word wise how some physical shapes fit together would frustrate even me with my controlled ADHD as I am not able to visualize it.

Yes, even the art form training that students in art and design schools go through never worked for me, as that visually seeing the different physical forms combined never went past my visual cortex.

And, in coding it’s just as bad as I have trouble even translating UML diagrams to code form. I cannot even recall code at all that well, either.

The problem arises due to not having the brain executor working properly in its role of setting down memories. Specifically, nonverbal working memory. This can be fixed with nootropics. But, throwing stimulants into the mix is more problematic.

When I say stimulants, I am referring to those things that are higher in levels of effects than those things at act as positive or negative allosterically on neurotransmitter receptors. Adderall, Caffeine, and the illegal stuff of cocaine, heroin, etc. all work on some form of the g-protein of neurotransmitter receptors and hence them being addictive.

Whereas, ECGC which can be found in decaffeinated green tea is a negative allosteric antagonist of adenosine. That translates to me being able to take 16 green…