I've been diagnosed with ADHD and Autism and I'm pretty familiar with the difficulties and increased anxiety/depression in day-to-day life.

Overall, I'm doing pretty well now. If people talk to me, they would not know I experience any difficulties in life. (Although I'm currently not working). I'm not really that stressed in general, I'm doing much better socially, capable of getting things done everyday, and not feeling terribly tired every day anymore.

But sometimes, seemingly unannounced, I get these bouts of severe discomfort. It feels to me like anxiety, but it's not preceded by any worrying thoughts. (as far as I can tell).

When I feel this, I usually have to lie down or I might start coughing and vomiting. And I will not be able to get myself to do anything anymore. (not even just do something I usually enjoy.)

This can last for an hour, but sometimes it's almost a whole day. Afterwards, I seem to be perfectly fine again.

Is this something that anybody else experiences? Or is there something else going on? Everytime I go to the doctor to explain this, they don't seem to be worried and tell me that it's probably fine.

But fear for having this happen again (And it seems to happen quite frequently), is what is keeping me from making any commitments in terms of my life or work.

Hi all

It's quite common for people with adhd (and autism) to have problems with executive functioning and working memory. Which can influence a bunch of things like being able to follow steps, remembering where you left things, being able to follow a conversation, concentrating on some task, etc...

I've been diagnosed for both (autism more recently) and got to know that based on the tests of my assessment that my working memory is quite heavily impaired, but the rest of my mind works quite normal.

In day to day life, this can be rather bothersome, but I usually find some way to deal with it. But when sick, or when I had a bad sleep, suddenly I become almost incapable of basic tasks. Unable to prepare food, make appointments, or work in any way.

It's quite normal that this impacts your working memory in a negative way. (Even for neurotypicals, it's the same). But there seems to be this threshold where things become almost impossible. Where you start forgetting things you have to do only moments later.

I'm looking for ways to cope with these moments. Obviously when sick, you need rest, and eat enough. So I'm not looking to force myself to be able to work while sick. But sometimes it's so bad that I even forget to rest, forget how to cook, forget how to order food online, forget how to take care of myself. Which usually results in me being sick and worse off for a much longer time.

Things I've found that help me:

• Meditation (Incredibly difficult when sick, but every bit seems to help)
• Medication (ADHD meds seem to help a bit, if I'm using them at the moment, I seem to feel much better, even when it's mostly physical discomfort. )
• Committing skills/knowledge to long-term memory (This is difficult because usually it requires extra time and calm moments where you can focus on it. It helped me a lot for cooking. Practicing the basics makes it much easier to get cooking even if I feel terrible)

Any other suggestions as to what might be good ways to improve working memory and make sure that I stay functional to make sure I can take care of myself?

I recently moved to a new city and don’t know anybody here yet.

I want to try out some things and meet new people and avoid sitting at home all day (but sometimes is ok)

My ideas are hiking, volunteering and reading. What would you recommend? Any good ideas?

This is the reply:

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