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  • Showing only topics with the tag "adhd". Back to normal view
    1. Feeling lost with mental health treatment

      At 22 years old, after months long assessments, I have been diagnosed with severe ADHD, depression and moderate anxiety. Here is a quick timeline of my experience: May - August : I started CBT...

      At 22 years old, after months long assessments, I have been diagnosed with severe ADHD, depression and moderate anxiety. Here is a quick timeline of my experience:

      • May - August :
        • I started CBT therapy and Sertraline 50mg
        • Gradually I was upped to the a dose of 75mg.
        • In this whole period I did not experience any improvements or side effects, except a loss of appetite in the first few days.
      • September:
        • I started taking Methylphenidate 18mg and went back to just 50mg of Sertraline.
        • From the first day I had felt a sentiment of calmness and control. But it slowly faded away and I still felt I could not concentrate on things or act productive.
        • I also stopped going to therapy as I saw that CBT was not effective for me.
      • October - November:
        • This was a completely different month. I wasn't fully in control of my attention span but it was much better than I've ever been. What was more shocking was how internally I felt at peace and something that I'd describe now as euphoric (as I assume this was just a side effect of the medication). U
        • Until mid november I was actually going around telling people I think I might not be depressed anymore, as I had felt for the first time in a way that I haven't felt since early childhood. I was able to accomplish incredible feats related to discipline and I saw my academic results improving greatly. Unfortunately this sentiment slowly faded away and I was back to my old self by the end of November.
      • December - Now I was upped to 36mg of Methylphenidate and I noticed a much better control of my attention but unfortunately I have not felt that feeling of relief again. And as it seems the effectiveness of the dose diminished from the first few days to now.
        Since December I've had numerous breakdowns, feeling completely exhausted and burnt out. I suffered from classic problems of procrastination starting to work on difficult projects only a couple of days before the deadline and it was all crashing down. I submitted multiple disgustingly low quality pieces of work because I just did not work in time enough but the few days I did work I did incredible amounts of effort and I do feel like the pills helped me stay focused. After this deadline period though I was just met with my normal depression symptoms where I had a long streak of days that I could not even get out of bed or brush my teeth.

      I don't know what more to do. I always knew I was broken and needed help. And for all my life I thought that seeing a psychiatrist is a last resort in case "I can't fix myself" on my own. Now it's been almost a whole year and I am in a critical time period where I need to excel and put in the work but I find myself succumbing to my symptoms while jumping up and down with the doses of some pills that barely seem to have an effect.

      I didn't have many people around me from the start, and many of them would not understand my condition at all (nobody from my family does). But now it seems that even the few that were empathetic I have unfortunately tired out. I've heard my fair share of bad remarks that have gradually demoralised me (ADHD is not real. I'm just lazy. I just like to complain. etc) and due to the fact that I also have codependency problems this has greatly hurt me and made me feel like I am completely alone and nobody cares for my troubles or has my wellbeing in their best interest. Right now I just wish I'd know what to do. I wish there was some clear step by step goal oriented way to "happiness" or at least normality. I don't even know what more to tell my psychiatrist other than how I don't feel well, which is what I've been telling him since the start.

      If you've been through a similar journey, I'd love to hear your experience and any advice you wish you had received earlier.

      33 votes
    2. For those with adult ADHD...how do you get by?

      I've recently been diagnosed with adult onset ADHD. The signs were always kind of there I guess, but without the right people asking the right questions, it's easy for health problems to go...

      I've recently been diagnosed with adult onset ADHD. The signs were always kind of there I guess, but without the right people asking the right questions, it's easy for health problems to go undiagnosed. After seeing articles like this one I realize that I'm not alone. I'm of a similar age bracket to the writer of the article, and at first I was dismissive of the diagnosis because I'd been functional (or at least thought I was) up until around when the pandemic started. I've since come to terms with the fact I have a lot of mental health baggage piling up because of a dysfunctional childhood that I ignored until it finally reached up and bit me. I'm considering going back on medication, but the one they had me on previously (methylphenidate, aka Ritalin) has the effect of making me so intensely focused on something that I sometimes forget to eat for hours at a time. It's a toss-up between being unable to concentrate or being focused to the point of it being a detriment.

      Is there anyone here in a similar situation? What have you done that works for you? Any advice is appreciated.

      63 votes
    3. ADHD friends, how do you organize your clothes?

      I'm failing. My usual tricks aren't working and I don't know what to do with my clothes anymore. One of my ADHD symptoms is that needs to see everything. My "pantry" is open shelves in my kitchen....

      I'm failing. My usual tricks aren't working and I don't know what to do with my clothes anymore.

      One of my ADHD symptoms is that needs to see everything. My "pantry" is open shelves in my kitchen. Everything in the fridge is up near the front of the shelves. I have a giant desk so I can spread out when I'm working. I need to see it all at all times.
      So the issue becomes, how do I do that with clothes. My alligator brain wants them all over the floor so I can see everything. That's not gonna work lol. I used to be good with a closet with no doors, but my new apartment isn't laid out in a way I can do that.

      Does anyone have any interesting clothes storage advice? The clutter is stressing me out, so I need to figure out whatever my new system is going to be.

      27 votes
    4. When did you learn you had ADHD?

      I saw a post on reddit about a guy asking about why his wife changes hobbies so much. He went on to detail her getting super fixated on a hobby, investing a lot of money and learning a lot, and...

      I saw a post on reddit about a guy asking about why his wife changes hobbies so much. He went on to detail her getting super fixated on a hobby, investing a lot of money and learning a lot, and then dropping it. A lot of people were mentioning possibly being adhd.

      I remember that being the first thing that clued me in as an adult who was not diagnosed until later in life.

      Anyone else care to share?

      39 votes
    5. Strategies to manage ADHD

      I figured I would help kick off this new subgroup by starting a discussion on how people with ADHD try to manage it. I had a late diagnosis a couple years ago as an adult, and I have been working...

      I figured I would help kick off this new subgroup by starting a discussion on how people with ADHD try to manage it.

      I had a late diagnosis a couple years ago as an adult, and I have been working with a counselor to develop some behavioral techniques (in addition to medication). Not all of them stick, which in my experiences is the primary challenge of this disorder, but I've had good results when I do use them.

      Primarily, I have a calendar where I put reminders and plan things out. If I have parts of a project I need to get done, I lay those out and assign them to certain days of the week. Working in academia, I live my life a semester at a time and this helps me reevaluate certain goals and it feels reasonable to me to plan out a few months at a time.

      One thing I struggle with when it comes to planning is coming up with accurate estimates of how much time it might take to spend something. This was always a big obstacle in my way when it came to planning things out before - I wanted to know the exact time on how long it took to do something so that my schedule would be perfect. My counselor suggested that I come up with an initial estimate of how long something should take based off my intuition, and then double it (e.g. if I think a task should take 30 minutes, plot it out for 60 minutes of my day). This has been great for me because usually it's a win-win. Often, my initial assessment is underestimating how long something takes, so by accounting for slippage in time I can better chunk out my day. On the other hand, if I do get it done sooner I can pat myself on the back and I now have extra time in the day to get other things done.

      I wanna find better ways of trying to stay on track with habits. I've tried some different apps and none are working too well. Recently I picked up Sunsama which has helped in terms of reviewing the day and looking at subtasks, but as I've gotten busy with experiments I've kind of lost track of that. What are some things that you do to accommodate the way your brains works?

      61 votes
    6. The most frustrating thing about ADHD for me is

      ...When I can't complete a task right now but instead have to wait for some reason. For example: When I have to complete a task list for school, and would love to just blitz through it all, but...

      ...When I can't complete a task right now but instead have to wait for some reason. For example:

      • When I have to complete a task list for school, and would love to just blitz through it all, but have to wait on someone else to fill out some form. Then I get it in an email a day or two later, but have already completely forgotten about the list and things I should do, because something else took over my mind. And I put it off because I have other things to do. Then the deadline comes and goes, and I'm sitting there thinking "Well shit, if I could have done it immediately then it would have been fine."

      • I ask my kids for things they want at the store. I know I need to add it to the grocery list app immediately or I won't remember it, but I'm driving them to camp and can't use my phone. By the time I've dropped them off, I forgot already. Then they're upset with me because I forgot their things, and I'm upset with me because I forgot their things.

      All these little things that just add up to make life a little more frustrating and annoying.

      Anyone else with ADHD, have any tips to overcome these? Frustrations of your own to vent? How do you explain to others that it isn't you being careless or lazy, but instead it's your brain working against itself?

      44 votes
    7. Please criticize my idea for CHORES - a short-term TODO app for ADHD people (and myself in particular)

      Introduction I'm a beginner in programming, but a veteran in film and literature. I know that ideas come easy. Any normal person can come up with a good idea in a matter of minutes. The main...

      Introduction

      I'm a beginner in programming, but a veteran in film and literature. I know that ideas come easy. Any normal person can come up with a good idea in a matter of minutes. The main problem is doing it.

      Besides, I couldn't care less if someone does that before me. I'd probably benefit from their program, and even offer to collaborate. I have a bunch of other ideas in the oven anyway.

      And I'm humble enough to know that such a niche project would never attract the interest of a mega-corporation anyway.

      2. What is CHORES?

      CHORES is a short-term task manager. It's meant to organize nothing more than a few hours or less of your tasks. Month, weak or even your entire day are entirely out of its scope.

      3. Who is CHORES for?

      First and foremost, this app is for my use. But I'm certain there are other people with conditions similar to mine, especially ones with ADHD. I'm also autistic with a compulsive personality, and won't stop until I tinker with every aspect of an object. Not surprisingly, I'm a Linux, i3wm, Emacs and Neovim user. And they're excruciatingly customized.

      What I need is not a full-featured a TODO app like Remember The Milk, Todoist or Org Mode. They're too distracting, I end up just playing with the tools. I need something that allows me to track very short term chores. Thinks like brushing my teeth, taking a shower, eating, walking my dog, washing the dishes and making my bed.

      That's what I intend to do.

      4. What is ADHD

      From the United States National Institute of Mental Health:

      Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a disorder marked by an ongoing pattern of inattention and/or hyperactivity-impulsivity that interferes with functioning or development.

      4.1 Warning

      Please refrain from suggesting that the ones who use such tools just need to make an effort instead. That's a cliche most people with ADHD and other mental health issues probably heard many times, and by saying that you may cause distress. If you need more information, please refer to the link posted above.

      5. Why another "TODO" app?

      People with severe ADHD like myself frequently forget what they're doing, and what they should do in the very short term. I'm talking 2, 3 or 5 tasks from now. To give you an idea of how bad it is, right now I have an Emacs Org Mode file with the following tasks:

      * Now
      ** TODO Take Ritalin
      ** TODO Start chronometer on Ritalin
        - Tells me when the effect wears off
      ** TODO Take a shower
      ** TODO Take the laptop to the living room
      ** TODO Wash the dishes
      ** TODO Study Python
      ** TODO Post on Tildes
      

      But Emacs and Org Mode do a lot more than that, and this can be very distracting (right now I'm writing this post because creating another file from my now.org file was way too easy, for example).

      Considering that I am the main target audience of this program, any space for tinkering is a dangerous avenue for procrastination.

      6. Who is CHORES for

      The primary target of this project are people with:

      1. ADHD (Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder)
      2. similar conditions or personality traits

      In sum: if you have extreme difficulty focusing, remembering and fulfilling your tasks in the very short term, you may find this program useful.

      7. Who is CHORES not for

      The majority of people can concentrate and perform their short-term tasks with a reasonable degree of efficiency. If that is your case, you have little to gain by using CHORES.

      8. Features

      CHORES is a short-term task manager. It's meant to organize nothing more than a few hours: not your month, weak or even your day.

      1. CLI Linux app (Mac, Windows, GUI, and mobile could happen in the future)
      2. Hard limit of ten tasks (with the option to reduce)
      3. Only the very essential configurations available
      • tinkering is a huge time drain for ADHD people
      • because of that, the defaults will have to be extremely sensible.
      1. Started Stopped status clearly marked by character or highlighting

      8.1 What you would be able to do with CHORES:

      1. Add up to ten tasks
      2. Reorder/Start/Stop/Done these tasks
      3. Undo only one operation
      4. See only the last ten completed tasks

      9. Answer to Possible Questions

      9.1 Why Not Keep Using Org Mode? Or maybe Taskwarrior?

      Org Mode and Emacs are wonderful tools, but they're also a perfect playground for procrastinators. It simply does too much. Emacs is like a box of legos, and that's the last thing an ADHD person needs when it comes to tracking short-term tasks.

      Taskwarrior suffers from the same issue.

      9.2 Why Not todo.txt and similar apps?

      This may seem crazy, but for a severe ADHD person, even todo.txt gives way too many options and features. It is, after, an actual TODO app. I can add 1000 tasks todo.txt. It has an extensive wiki, projects, tags, context tags, special value tags. You might just say: just don't use these options. But that

      9.3 Why not use the extremely minimalist t task manager, by Steve Losh?

      I like t very much, and, depending on its license, I'll probably use at least some of its code. But t lacks some features CHORES requires, such as:

      1. Limit task amount
      2. Add tasks to the bottom (t last tasks randomly, or at least something that seem random to me)
      3. Reorder tasks
      4. Undo
      5. Easily view completed tasks
      6. Add Start/Stop status to a task

      9.4 Why not pen and paper?

      This is a very personal anwer, but here we go:

      1. I will lose the paper every 30 minutes
      2. I will lose the pen every 30 minutes
      3. I will forget to look at the paper, it will probably end up crumpled in my pock
      4. Many of my tasks, such as programming and studying, already happen in the computer anyway
      5. One of my medications interferes with my motor skills and my handwriting is hard to understand - even for me
      6. I like computers. The fact that I like computers makes more likely for me to actually look at the tasks.
      7. In the future, I can add alerts. Can't do that with paper
      11 votes