ADHD

Often I end up closing the list and immediately turning to self-soothing. And because there's no way to know in advance if a task on the list will give me anxiety, this often results in my list being not just unusable but unreadable, preventing me from doing or even remembering the non-anxiety tasks on the same list.

Originally saw this posted by The Picard Maneuver. I can’t figure out how to tag him on Voyager.

I've been diagnosed by my former therapist but I feel things are getting worse these days.

I mean, I have my vape in my hand, and one second later it's nowhere to be found. Maybe it's in the bedroom where I swear I haven't been in the last 5 hours. Maybe in a bathroom cabinet. Maybe on the table but I wouldn't tell because my fuckin brain is incapable to discern any object in the middle of clutter.

Is there a strategy to remember where I've put something I was holding? It's gotten to the point that I'm getting preemptively mad when something I'm looking for is not where it's supposed to be because I know I'll have to turn the flat upside down just to find it, just to lose it again a few minutes later and/or do the same song and dance for the next thing I need.

It took ~5 minutes and there was ZERO pain.

I even anticipated this. There was no reason to think it would be hard in any kind of way.

Why am I like this?? Why is my brain such mush when it comes to my executive functioning while several other parts of my mental being are more than fine or even slightly supercharged (when I'm not depressed or out of mania)

The kicker? The appointment isn't for a doctor or a dentist or something else that would be "normal" to dread.

It's an appointment to pick up a brand new company car. A 2023 Mercedes EQA to the tune of 50K€. Most people would JUMP at that kind of opportunity, but not me. No, I sit there contemplating whether I even deserve a car that costs twice my annual salary, and that I'm just deluding myself into thinking I'm a valued part of society, that someone will realize they made a mistake and such a car was never meant for me (or "anyone like me").

This after a double dose of 15mg ritalin, by the way. Without it I would never have been able to push myself over that limit to begin with.

Fuckin' a...

I need some help when it comes to clearing out, organising and sorting my stuff.

My house is basically full of stuff and things right now and I really don't think it's helping me out with my health (mental or physical)

I mostly suffer with getting hopelessly distracted, mess blindness, never wanting to get started, and getting overwhelmed with the scope of the task.

One of the reasons I want to get tidied up is because my main hobbies (electronics, drones, and DIY) mean that I've got tons of stuff I need to keep around, but it's also lots of small stuff with lots of different categories and storage requirements so it's really not easy to sort without needing tons of boxes or bins so I still haven't been able to find a good way to store it.

I also don't have much out-of-sight storage in my flat so it's kind of everywhere.

Any tips on storing and sorting would be massively appreciated especially from people who have been through this already and have/are working towards getting clean!

Thanks!

I dont mean depression or anxiety (this feels different), I mean feeling like you never really recharge, like youve never gotten time off ever. Which I think is partly due to a tendency to put literally 100% into something until you feel fried, move on to the next thing rinse repeat. Even "down time" doesnt really feel like down time because I am stuck between either boredom, working on yet another thing or thinking about things in general.

I appreciate the fact that some employers recognize that some of their employees struggle with cognitive disorders. But, asking someone with ADHD to click through a very boring presentation about neurodiversity is almost peak irony. Not to mention, trying to distill such complex disorders down to one sentence is practically guaranteed to fail.

Props for trying I guess.

Exercise is hitting. My brain gives up way before my body does. Even when I try and listen to music or watch shows while exercising, I just can't keep at it.

Has anyone found an ADHD friendly way to exercise?

Started reading this book by an ADHDer YouTuber I’ve been watching, and I think it’s really good so far. Only stop reading at page 42 cuz my wife turned off the lights for bed.

Anyone else reading it?

In case it’s not clear in the image: “How to ADHD” by Jessica McCabe

I am not sure if I have a Treatment Resistant Depression, but I sure have been on multiple SSRIS for the last 10 years.

I honestly don't feel any of them have "really worked" besides being numb.

I want to stop taking them eventually, wondering if Ketamine would open me in therapy and make it more meaningful/impacting.

I'm a really anxious person, so the thought of trying Ket or psychedelics always gets me nervous, like permanently making my anxiety worse or wake up some schizophrenia (I have no signs, nor I have relatives)

I know that attentiveness and dopamine regulation won't improve with ket, but has anyone else been able to treat the depression and anxiety that comes with ADHD?

I've been taking 70 mg Vyvanse for years. It generally works well. Although there are occasional days where I feel like maybe it's not quite as effective as it should be. That probably has more to do with outside stressors and diet than anything. By this point I've built up some tolerance to it. I know a lot of other people try to take breaks from their stimulus occasionally to try to help with the tolerance.

Well, I've learned that that is not for me. I tried taking breaks two Saturdays in a row and holy shit, the anvil-on-chest anxiety is more than I can take. Feelings of dread that I have not felt in years come bubbling right back to the surface.

This is something that I have, in the past, tried to explain to parents who are apprehensive about putting their kids on stimulants. For me, the worst part about ADHD isn't the poor short-term memory, it isn't the inattentiveness, It isn't even the "inner restlessness". It's the emotional dysregulation. The fact that it makes me feel anxious and depressed all the time and I can't just shrug it off. It's like a dark cloud hanging over you and no matter how much you wish it would go away, it never does. And, if you don't want your kid to kill themselves or develop substance abuse issues, then you need to try to help them get a handle on it while you can.

It took me 28 years and becoming a borderline alcoholic to get the help that I needed. I guess if I didn't get anything else out of my experiment, I got a reminder to not take what I have for granted. Getting my meds dialed in dramatically improved my quality of life.

Some call it simple the lucky who do not struggle with each little thing

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panel 1: homer simpson posing proudly, looking skinny and healthy, marge looks impressed. caption reads "Dinner is ready and dishes are clean when my partner gets home"

panel 2: showing homers back where heaps of excess skin are held back by ropes and clamps. caption reads "did like 10 minutes of work in my fulltime job"

I'll be honest, I feel like Dexedrine is the best and its also cool to have such an obscure med aha. Why did you settle wherever you did and share your thoughts on the comparative basis

After years of suspecting ADHD (and two decades of struggling), I decided that maybe I have ADHD. While I wait for an answer from the psychologists, I decided to take an online ADHD self-diagnosis questionnaire out of curiosity.

I found myself mousing over and highlighting the text in one of the questions over and over, thinking about something my girlfriend told me the other day, struggling to actually read the question. When I finally read the question, it was:

How often are you easily distracted by external stimuli, like something in your environment or unrelated thoughts?

Safe to say I started laughing out loud. Starting to feel pretty certain that I'm one of you :P

(I am still mid questionnaire)

I've experienced burnout throughout work and education since I was sixteen. Usually around once every 12-18 months. I've accrued a lot of associated trauma.

For context, burnout for me is extreme depression and executive dysfunction lasting for months at a time to the extent I stop all work and social activities.

A little into about me. I'm in my mid-forties, I live in Ohio, USA, and am on Medicaid. I suspect I have either ADD or ADHD but I can't get diagnostic testing covered by Medicaid. What can I do to get testing or treatment? There are lots of "in-network" providers, but every time I get the focus to try and make an appointment no one answers their phones, or they're not taking new patients, or they're not in network after all. I'm so so so tired

I was introduced to the potential for ADHD as an adult, and now at 33 I have my official diagnosis! Severe ADHD / Innatentive Presentation I've never been relived to get a diagnosis of severe anything before, but I feel like I can finally feel sure about why I've struggled with these symptoms for so much of my life. Now I can start learning how to deal with and accommodate my symptoms, rather then trying to wrestle this many-limbed thing in the dark of ignorance.