ADHD

9742 readers

307 users here now

A casual community for people with ADHD

Values:

Acceptance, Openness, Understanding, Equality, Reciprocity.

Rules:

No abusive, derogatory, or offensive post/comments.
No porn, gore, spam, or advertisements allowed.
Do not request for donations.
Do not link to other social media or paywalled content.
Do not gatekeep or diagnose.
Mark NSFW content accordingly.
No racism, homophobia, sexism, ableism, or ageism.
Respectful venting, including dealing with oppressive neurotypical culture, is okay.
Discussing other neurological problems like autism, anxiety, ptsd, and brain injury are allowed.
Discussions regarding medication are allowed as long as you are describing your own situation and not telling others what to do (only qualified medical practitioners can prescribe medication).

Encouraged:

Funny memes.
Welcoming and accepting attitudes.
Questions on confusing situations.
Seeking and sharing support.
Engagement in our values.

Relevant Lemmy communities:

Neurodivergent Life Hacks

lemmy.world/c/adhd will happily promote other ND communities as long as said communities demonstrate that they share our values.

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

MrPoopyButthole

[email protected]

Month-long mood swings? (self.adhd)

submitted 3 months ago by throwaways_are_for_cowards to c/adhd

17 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I was diagnosed in 2019; late in life, mid 30s. One of the biggest issues I've been struggling with lately are these huge cyclical mood swings that can last weeks. I'll be up and active, optimistic, and productive for a week or so, and feel like there's nothing I can't do. I'm excited about everything and often make a lot of overly-aggressive plans. Then the wave of depression comes, and I'll spend a week in bed, crying, and then a week or two basically just disassociating and actively avoiding any responsibilities. The down is always longer than the up, and I feel like I'm slowly losing ground to the depression. I'm not sure if I've always had these issues or if they've just gotten worse lately. My ability to look into the past, especially in regards to my own emotional state, is limited.

My doc says that "cyclothymia" or mood cycles are not uncommon with ADHD, though they are not technically related I guess. That said, I don't see too many people talking about it. Anyone else dealing with this sort of thing?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

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

The grandmother memory loss absolutely hits with me. I don't want to psychobabble and misattribute things but relationships with me tend to suffer that short object permanence effect - if I don't see a friend for a few months they'll often just fall off my radar entirely... until I see them again and the memories will rush back. I have a good friend with ADHD and we meet up maybe once a year - they are an extremely close friend even if that doesn't seem to make sense... but when I walk into a coffee shop and sit down with them we'll talk for hours and usually end up getting kicked out when they close.

This hurts (kind of, it's guilt driven hurt) when it comes to grandparents or other people who have passed away... if they come up in conversation or because of some related strong association I'll think of them and have a little bundle of memories that have weathered the years. But, like, my father passed away only two years ago or so and I rarely think of him - so then I feel guilty for not thinking about him more often and cry (as I am now) but give me an hour or two and he'll completely fly from active memory again.

I have no idea if neurotypical people are being genuine or performative when they say "Not a day goes by when I don't think about them" but that's absolutely not my experience.

[–] throwaways_are_for_cowards 2 points 3 months ago

if I don’t see a friend for a few months they’ll often just fall off my radar entirely…

I've lost a lot of friends, and messed up at least one serious relationship, because of this phenomenon. If someone isn't around, I just don't think about them. When they are around, I'm fully invested, but that's not enough for some people.