Just now, I'm standing on my porch, and I see a bird fly down to the sidewalk. She then walks across the street as fast as her little legs can take her. Once she reaches the other side, she flys off.

I laughed and thought "That's some shit I would do and have no idea why."

I suspect I have ADHD (maybe inattentive).

Never have suspected this to be true until a few months ago - I am 31 years old.

Sadly, I used to think about people who said they have ADHD were making excuses for their poor behavior or work performance. (Sorry I guess)

'Everyone has a little bit of ADHD' 'We are all a little autistic'

How do you folks deal with statements such as these? And is it possible the people saying this are undiagnosed amd projecting (like I think I was)?

Recently when someone says that I simple say 'No, (disorder x, y, z) is a (category i.e. developmental) disorder meaning the person's CNS or psyche has developed incorrectly'

Which simply yields more arguing. . .

My next question---

Background - I have struggled my whole life with life. My apartment is constantly messy save a few weeks out of the year, my insurance goes un updated and I drive illegally, I do not speak to people for days on end (family included), deadlines are almost never met, the phrase 'anything without immediate and serous consequence, is invisible and impossible to do' is very accurate to my entire life.

I have been searching for 31 years (more or less) for explanations as to why I am so much more dysfunctional than my peers

Question: Is ADHD/ADD really this debilitating, or must it be a combination of things?

Because if this ultimately explains most if not all of my difficulties, why isnt this treated as a severe disability? Because I am barely capable of doing anything if there.

Are no immediate consequence - and for many adult things- there are not.

Additional ramble- I initiated an assessment with a psychologist outside of my insurance coverage as it has been too difficult for me to navigate the system so I am paying out of pocket. I initially asked for an autism/ADHD assessment/ but after doing more learning I see autism as less likely in my case although perhaps I dont know.

I am so frustrated that at 31 years old and multiple encounters with psychologist, psychiatrists and other MDs none have ever even hinted at ADHD the most I've gotten is--mild and or moderate depression, general anxiety/social anxiety

6 months ago I was having panic attacks 3-4 times a week. Today it's maybe once a month. Here's exactly what I did.

Month 1-2: Just breathing Started with 5 minutes of 4-7-8 breathing before bed. Nothing else changed. Sleep improved first, anxiety stayed the same.

Month 3: Added morning routine Added 3 minutes of box breathing after waking up. Started noticing I was calmer during the day. Panic attacks dropped to 1-2 per week.

Month 4-5: Breathing during triggers Started doing physiological sighs (double inhale + long exhale) whenever I felt anxiety building. This was the game changer — catching it early instead of waiting for the full attack.

Month 6: Maintenance Now I do it automatically. Morning breathing, bedtime breathing, and quick techniques when needed. Panic attacks are rare.

I used Lunair throughout because I needed something visual to follow — especially during panic moments when you can't think straight. But the technique matters more than the tool.

This isn't medical advice. I still see my therapist. But breathing exercises were the missing piece for me.

Where are you in your journey?

Curious how others experience and cope with that?

How does that apply to relationships/socialnstuff?

Neurodivergent people have always been part of the engineering world. Their creativity, curiosity, pattern‑spotting and ability to hyperfocus have shaped entire industries.

Definitely an improvement over last time when the sink was full of dirty dishes:
https://sh.itjust.works/post/19002111

I dont think ive needed a pseudoephedrine in forever

Hi all! I was formally diagnosed with ADHD in my mid 20's. Currently taking generic Vyvanse and Guanfacine. Getting on meds was a huge quality of life improvement. One thing that I still struggle with is chronic insomnia, which is a common commorbidity with -- or maybe symptom of -- ADHD. The insomnia started around the time I hit puberty and I can count on one hand the number of great nights sleeps I've had since then.

I've tried a lot of environmental changes like:

• Having a rigid bedtime schedule.
• Wearing blue light filter glasses for 3 hours before bed.
• Taking melatonin supplements.
• Minimizing screentime.
• Using a weighted blanket.

Those all seem to help somewhat but not to a huge degree. I still feel sleep deprived most of the time.

Apparently I also occasionally have jerking movements while asleep somewhat consistent with "Periodic Limb Movements of Sleep (PLMS)".

Has anyone else had a similar experience and found any effective treatments?

Like, if its nots public health system its obviusly price-gated for obvious reasons (it can be a commodity or boutique diagnosis for the rich and connected to get their sweet-sweet pharma speed)

I take arguably the sweetest or 2^nd^ sweetest of that sweet-sweet pharma speed on prescription so lets not get into the the whole speed semantics for those of us otherwise inclinced

Edit: some advice- skip your first appointment on accident. It seems counterintutitive but its actually completely intuitive and expected for an actual ADHD person. If I was a psychiatrist I woupd almpst expect or come to expect people who end up diagnosed to do that haha

I obliquely was referring to how insanely priced Dexedrine Spansules are in America and they countered with (unknowingly) that generics are almost always available for basically every med in America. Which, they're not outrageously (seemingly) totally out there but I dont think it totally captures how fucked US prices are for even the staples sometimes

I honestly do not know the difference between and a stim toy and I usually use the two terms interchangeably.

My favorite fidget toys is my flippy chain. I use this thing all the time and take it with me everywhere. And I love that it's discreet and quiet.

What's your favorite fidget toy, or thing yiu like to fidget/stim with?

I'll see about the compost lid some other day I guess.

Crossposted from https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/64470729

It’s called Evil Autism, because it’s a space based on the old subreddit that was so fun back in the day. Please join and help make this new space feel like another safe space for those of who are ND. I hope to see you there!

Join this space on Matrix https://matrix.to/#/#evil-autism:matrix.org

How am I meant to function like this?

Obviously, ADHD is no superpower, it’s a neurodevelopmental disability. ADHD is the hidden disability that ruins the act of living in most conceivable ways.

Hey guess what though? I have it worse than you. Not that it’s a competition friends. But lemme show you how much worse it can be:

On top of all of what we experience with ADHD, I have to some how navigate a brain that’s currently going through a prolonged SSRI taper.

I don’t have the ability to feel empathy anymore due to these SSRI’s, I don’t feel joy, my ability to think critically is essentially gone, the logical and rational part of me is kind of suppressed as well. All that's left is the talking part of me.

All because I was prescribed incorrectly by a doctor mistaking my ADHD for common run of the mill depression. I’m not even sure the taper will fix it, but I have no choice but to invest four to five years of my life weaning myself off of this drug in the hope that it will fix it. The irony is, I have to expend the limited dopamine available to me on this taper! What other choice do I have?

Also, I have a venous compression in my neck that raises the intracranial venous pressure so much that my brain gets squeezed. Because of the state of the healthcare system in my country, I likely won't resolve this for at least another two years, maybe longer. All the while it looks to me like it's encouraging my brain towards dementia.

Also I have obstructive sleep apnea that, while partially treated, guarantees my sleep now involves starving my brain of oxygen and placing it into hypoxia and no matter what I try I can’t seem to resolve it entirely.

And very recently, I’ve been given the gift of hydrogen sulphide SIBO (which is neurotoxic).

Essentially I have ADHD like always have had, but I now have multiple different kinds of brain injury on top of it. All requiring attention and self advocacy, whilst I lack the ability to do said self advocacy.

But, on the bright side, at least I can’t see just how fucked my life is like I used to be able to. The haze, the fog, whilst frustrating, is also comforting ignorance. Also, I can still talk and write reasonably well, so I can at least give the reassurance to those around me that I'm okay, when I'm not. Also, I have a wonderful partner who is still some how putting up with all of this. Amazingly.

It could be worse, but not by much.

ADHD is not a quirk. It is ruining my life. I am disorganized, I am in debt, I am paralyzed. I can't even get help; I have tried navigating the maze of finding a doctor who will accept my crappy exchange insurance but I always end up throwing in the towel. I thought I found one, once, but sike, he's an addiction counselor who refuses to prescribe stimulant medication on principle.

Not that I'm opposed to trying nonstims again, but I was prescribed Strattera in high school and it made me so drowsy I failed chemistry because I couldn't stay awake even with a full night of sleep. Also, bonus, his profile on the site I used to find him lied, and he doesn't actually accept my insurance. Here's a $500 bill for our 45 minute zoom call where I accused you of drug seeking. I got his practice to cancel the charge but still.

ADHD is ugly; ADHD looks like every chair in my apartment being full of clutter (and me subsequently freaking out because I hate clutter). it looks like brushing my teeth every two or three or five days. It looks like being able to hold on to my job as a waiter nothing else. It looks like me having the money to pay my bills, me wanting to pay those bills, and then me getting sent to collections anyway. ADHD looks like ghosting an old best friend because I'm too embarrassed to keep up with him. It looks like my partner shouldering more of the housework than is fair. And I get to look back on all this behavior, identify and accept that I am the problem, and then I get to do fuck all to fix it. ADHD looks like a horizon that gets narrower and narrower every day.

And I feel alone. ADHD is not cute. It sucks to suck.

I have a deadline for coursework this Friday, its only half done and I have an exam on Thursday yet I'm still struggling with having all these little ideas for fun/cool things I could do. Ive only recently gotten meds (elvanse) so I'm on a low dose right now and I wish the titration would go faster ;(

Within the last month or two I learned here that echolalia is an ADHD symptom. Apparently it's not neurotypical to constantly have songs going through your head that haunt you for days on end and they come into your head when you don't want them and you hate these songs like it's raining right now and I absolutely hate that song by the Eurythmics "here comes the rain again" but I fucking hate that song and that Annie Lennox woman with the man haircut who wears men's clothes staring into my eyes from her MTV video, and it's playing in my head. Help please. Is there a way to get rid of these songs in my head. They never end.

I've been on slow release methylphenidate for about a year and it's mostly been a great help with executive disfunction, focus and motivation.

But there's something strange I've noticed: I have a feeling that it's making me crave alcohol (or drugs in general but the only drug I'd take is alcohol).

Before starting meds the number of times I'd drink in a year had already gradually decreased to maybe four or five times and when I started meds I pretty much stopped completely, I've only had any alcohol twice since then.

But I miss it a lot more than I used to and on some days I get an insanely strong craving.

I've read people say that adhs meds helped them with addictive behaviour but has anyone experienced the opposite?

One of them is the increased number of people caring for mental status, but the other one is, we are living in an era that requires long hours of computer usage which is against the living way of an ADHD person. We need to walk, go out, spend energy, but nowadays we have to stay in an office, look at a screen, which is so boring.