For me, it was because I had plenty of parental structure around me, and I had a good response to fear which would put me back in place, until the next time.

I was also not in an environment or culture where ADHD was a diagnosis being considered. It was just good kid vs bad kid. Plus, I was smart enough to get good grades when necessary.

I was diagnosed with ADHD in my 40s, and it's strange how much more sense certain things make now.

I've spent years working in senior management, juggling staff, budgets, deadlines and endless responsibilities. From the outside, you'd probably think I had everything fairly well organised.

But behind the scenes, the amount of mental effort it sometimes took to stay on top of everything was something else entirely.

Looking back, I wonder how much of my personality, habits and ways of dealing with pressure were actually connected to ADHD without me realising it.

It's also made me question whether I've spent years pushing myself harder than I needed to just to keep up.

I'm curious about others who were diagnosed later in life.

Did getting diagnosed change how you viewed your past, your career or even yourself? And did it actually make life easier going forward?

Would genuinely love to hear other people's experiences.

I ran out of my Vyvanse today so I had to take a leftover generic from when I wasn’t getting name brand Vyvanse, and my goodness the difference is stark.

The TEVA-made generic feels dirty. Came on fast, and intense, and with a jaw clenching that Vyvanse never gives me. It also makes me overwhelmingly horny.

It genuinely feels like I took a cheap street drug.

I’m not opposed to generics in principle, whoever manufactured the generic I had access to in Wisconsin did a great job, but TEVA seems to be the only generic lisdexamfetamine available near me here in Ontario and it suuuucks (which is my doctor here has a “name brand only” note on my lisdex prescription now).

Picking up my Vyvanse refill after work today, thank goodness.

Have others encountered a noticeable difference using generics?

I have 2 big ones right now. I'll be doing anything and randomly the intro "I~~~" from All I want for Christmas by Mariah Carey plays, sometimes up until the first chorus. I haven't even listened to that song since last year. Next is "Thanks Alfonso!" from DWTS but in the most nasally voice possible. What's yours?

As the title says…Doesn’t matter if I get enough sleep, doesn’t matter if I get too little, doesn’t matter how much coffee I drink, or how much I work out. I just never get over the feeling of being tired.

It was bad enough when I was in high school that I made my mom take me to a doctor. I got a blood test, was told nothing is wrong and it was just because I was bored (I went during summer break) and the doctor wouldn’t listen to me when I said it was constant.

I tried again after college and went to see a sleep specialist and he wouldn’t even give me the time of day. Just told me to join a sleep group therapy session that met during my work day 30 minutes from where I worked.

The only time in my life I felt rested for consecutive days was after my first year of college. I went home and didn’t have a job or any homework so I just slept, read, and did yoga for 3 months. Obviously couldn’t live like that forever.

So would love to hear from anyone else…is the sleepy thing ADHD? Are there tips to feeling more awake during the day?

I have auADHD, i'm 19 years old, and i'm feeling completely stagnant in life, my psychologist say it's laziness, but i'm not so sure of it myself, it's a lifelong thing, i never accomplished anything, never felt proud of myself for anything, i really tired of this, i want a way out, but the medication is really expensive so like, i dont know what to do man... there's also lots of advice that i try to apply and fail, so many abilities, so many things to master just to be able to act like a normal human being, i feel stuck, don't know what to do man.

Someone on here posted a detailled tool for executive dysfunction local on your computer and not online. It had a brain dump functionality, made sure your tasks were split up and it also had this really cool feature of a “now what?!” or “what now?!” button, where the tools helps you to prioritize your tasks and eliminates executive paralysis. I am going insane because I KNOW i saw it and want to try it, but I just can’t find it anymore.

Did any of you see it and can please help me?

EDIT: THIS IS NOT A DRILL! WE GOT IT!!! Shoutout to the absolute legend u/lysdexic_waffle for keeping that tab open when I wasn’t strong enough! Here it is: https://github.com/jameynakama/whatnow

(I love how all our silly adhd heads came together to solve this - thank you so much! Also you won’t believe how many variations of “now what” , “what now” , etc. I searched for in my browser history, reddit, github, it was just gone - thank you for saving my sanity haha)

"Everyone has a little ADHD" no, you don't get it. You don't know what it's like to be trapped in your own body, to be screaming at yourself for hours upon hours. You don't know what it's like to constantly feel uncomfortable in your skin, to constantly crave something and never being satisfied. You don't know what it's like to watch yourself destroy your life over and over and feeling powerless to stop it. You don't know what it's like to be judged, made fun of, told something is wrong with you your entire life over something you can't control. You don't know what it's like to wake up every day and think "this is the day I change" and failing every single time, and hating yourself for it.

It is such a shame how little education there is about what people with disorders have to go through. It is daily torture, it is completely life-changing. You can't "just have a little" because having a little of it would still be impacting every facet of your life.

When people teach about disorders, I think instead of just listing out symptoms, its time we make it clear how much suffering is caused by them, it's time we talk about the actual impact on a person instead of just the scientific explanation.

Edit: To clarify, I am not hateful toward people who say these things. I understand they mean no harm. I am more upset with social media, education, and all the bigger systems that fail to spread awareness.

I was diagnosed at an early age, whereby they said I had ADHD - combined, then forced interventions at school. My parents didn’t get involved at all much and if so, it was more of a forcing/panic situation. That said, I never came to terms with it and never really acknowledged having it. Just dealt with the lows, and struggling enjoying life when everything had such a high cost. I would envy others who could complete their Bachelor’s and not spend 95% of the day afraid of their work and could socialize with others without the impact on their self-esteem. This feeling has extended in so many other domains of life - work, travel, etc. whereby the day-to-day cycle seems so natural for people and I am jealous I cannot express my full potential because of the limits of ADHD/Executive Functioning issues.

That said, I’ve come to deal with depressive feelings which I think is grieving the missed opportunities that I knew I could have enjoyed so much more and done better, if I hadn’t been so upset with the torture of ADHD causing me so much anxiety about writing an essay, for example. Now I’m 29 and looking to live a better way…I don’t want to grieve and want to be happier in daily life, and stop this painful cycle.

To note, I’m not medicated - I’ve tried but again never committed to the therapy + medication path. Kinda scares me.

Any tips? Suggestions? Food for thought?

Hey guys, I'm a work from home software developer 3 days a week and I've built up a terrible habit of doomscrolling during my entire shift.

I find I wake up, take my meds, and am super motivated about everything except for my work. I want to talk to others, engage in hobbies or habits, but instead I'm working. And I'd say I've just lost all motivation for work in general. I end up just scrolling Instagram all day and trying to lock in for that final hour.

And this whole cycle brings me so much guilt and drains me so much that by the time I hit 4 PM, all my energy I was describing before is gone, and I just feel empty and without direction.

I know I'm comorbid with depression and anxiety which is 100% factoring into my loss of energy, but I just feel like I need a solution now. I can't keep stealing these hours from my company and still feel like shit afterwards. I just want to break the cycle but don't know where to even start

Went down the "do I have ADHD?" rabbit hole and realised most of what's online is either vague or straight-up wrong. So I made a guide using actual clinical sources (NIMH, NICE, DSM-5): what counts as ADHD, the childhood-symptoms rule, lookalike conditions, and how to get assessed (with India-specific options)

Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uxrL32SiNh-5Xnbm2shK2wacJg7bxrP0/view?usp=drive_link

Not a diagnosis, just a better starting point than TikTok. Sources linked at the bottom. Happy to fix anything people spot.

Quick rant:

Hearing this is so beyond fucking annoying, my supervisor thinks that by saying that to me its helpful and she acts like she knows everything about me... my issue is i hear like the first half of the instructions and not the 2nd half leading to incomplete work and its so fucking frustrating, im on vyvanse for 2 weeks its helping me but she just refuses to understand the way i process information

Anyone else?

I struggled so much mentally and socially as a child/ teen/and in my 20's, I wonder if anything was missed.

I desperately wanted friends but had terrible social skills, isolated to avoid rejection, fantasized constantly, felt constant anxiety and depression by age 10, pushed so many feelings down, got good grades by studying constantly, but felt very inferior when it came to ability to learn any life, creative, or social skills. Always lacked confidence, and it showed. Thought I had to get good grades because I couldn't do anything else. Felt so burned-out by the end of high school. Got through college with good grades, but it was mentally rough and exhausting. Have had limited success as an adult.

I think a bit like a poet, don't have difficulty telling what others are feeling, always just wanted inner peace.

Ok so I have adhd and autism and I guessing this is normal but I have a horrendous sleep schedule well a lot of the time I have class in the morning and I am exhausted but obviously caffeine doesn’t really work it makes me more tired dose anyone have any alternatives that actually work to make me a little less tired

I’m here to vent and ask for advice because I honestly don't know what to do anymore.

It happens to me a lot that I want to do things, like painting, watching a series, playing video games, learning something new, or whatever, but when I try to do them, I simply can't. I don't know where to start, I get overwhelmed, and having so many piled-up ideas makes me end up doing nothing. I spend the whole day thinking about 20,000 things just to end up accomplishing nothing.

The worst part is when I want to start a new hobby. Instead of actually doing it, I end up watching a bunch of videos on how to do it perfectly, techniques, and all that stuff. By the time two hours have passed, my brain is already exhausted and I do nothing.

Even with video games it happens to me. I can spend weeks wanting to play something, but from overthinking and accumulating ideas, days go by and I never open the game. Then my whole day goes by scrolling on TikTok and I don't like it. In the end, I leave a lot of things pending under the guise of "not having time," when in reality I just can't bring myself to start.

How do you guys manage to actually get things done? How do you turn off that noise and, instead of just thinking about 20,000 ideas and doing nothing, finally get yourself to do just one of them?

1. I got fired from a previous job because I couldn't pay attention. Ex. I still don't know how I input a 10 LG pizza order as a 5 MD pizza order.

2. I should've gotten fired at another job because of how often I was short as a cashier. Ex. I got so distracted by a gnat that I gave back a customer the $50 she gave me and her $20 change.

3. I've locked one of my cats on the balcony more times than I can count on one hand. Hopefully not two. God forbid.

4. I'm unable to eat/drink/sleep/pee when I'm hyperfocused. I would stay awake for days playing a video game or nearly piss myself while painting, on a regular basis.

5. I had to put all my card information in my phone, with pictures of my ID and health insurance card because I'd lose my wallet for weeks/months, find it, then lose it again the following week. Even medicated, it's currently missing with my glasses (I'm moving apartments)

6. Forgetting to take my medication for my comorbid disorders, for sometimes weeks at a time.

7. Memory of a hampster. I'll annoy people for repeating myself, or asking the same question over and over, or forgetting to do a task over and over.

8. I made my boyfriend feel like he doesn't matter because I physically couldn't pay attention when he'd tell me about some of his interests that I wasn't also interested in, while often interrupting him and/or changing topics.

9. Task avoidance of responsibilities. Ive gone through a few cars because of my inability to keep up with maintenance. "I'll do it tomorrow," -> Hampster memory -> "I'll do it tomorrow," on a loop.

10. Even though I'm medicated, I originally had 10 reasons and accidentally refreshed the page. There are 10 reasons, I just can't remember all of them.

Even though my meds don't fix all my symptoms, (I still need my sticky notes, digital reminders, timers, body-doubling,) I still haven't locked my cats out on the balcony and I haven't been short money ONCE. Recently, I got a raise!

Im 34M and have been in a relationship with a 30F for almost two years. On paper she's amazing. Shes cute, she's helpful, she's extremely intelligent, I know she'd make a fantastic mom. I dont really believe in ticking boxes, but if I did, she'd tick them all.

My issue is that I can tell I'm taking her for granted currently. I don't ever lash out at her, but I find myself getting annoyed by her a little easier than I did at the beginning of the relationship. I also find myself not being into her sexually the last few months.

For context, I was with my ex fiance for 3 years who withheld sex from me and i found myself starved for attention but seeking her hard like some kind of game. Now I have this amazing women in front of me and I find myself self sabotaging. I have that shiny penny in front of me but its dulling and my brain is seeking that thrill/chaos we're known for.

Maybe im a bad person, maybe I'm just human, I dont know.. any advice?

I was diagnosed with ADHD in my mid 40s, and it's strange how much more sense certain things make now.

I've spent years working in senior management, juggling staff, budgets, deadlines and endless responsibilities. From the outside, you'd probably think I had everything fairly well organised.

But behind the scenes, the amount of mental effort it sometimes took to stay on top of everything was something else entirely.

Looking back, I wonder how much of my personality, habits and ways of dealing with pressure were actually connected to ADHD without me realising it.

It's also made me question whether I've spent years pushing myself harder than I needed to just to keep up.

I'm curious about others who were diagnosed later in life.

Did getting diagnosed change how you viewed your past, your career or even yourself? And did it actually make life easier going forward?

Ik heb een tijdje bij een psycholoog gelopen voor mijn adhd onoplettendheid type (add) Nu ben ik in dit traject ook bezig geweest met medicatie omdat ik dat graag wou, om iets meer uit mn hoofd te komen, minder stemming wisselingen en voor de focus. Nu hadden ze met methylfenidaat kort voorgeschreven, dat werkte enorm slecht, werd er een zombie van. Ook Dexamfetamine kortwerkend(tentin). Dit werkt redelijk maar niet helemaal geweldig. Nu heb ik dat zo besproken en zeiden ze dat medicatie niks voor mij was als deze 2 niet bevallen. Nu vraag ik me af, er is toch veel meer op de markt als deze 2, wat zijn jullie ervaringen?

I think everyone knows that the need of constant stimulation is a big problem in today's society especially in young people and I think many of us have been accused of being part of those who are addicted to their phones even tho we just have Adhd (I've even been dismissed a diagnosis once because my screen time was too high). But I'm wondering if it's helpful to practice dealing with less stimulation because I'm tired of needing background noise, food, something to keep my hands busy and another thing I can switch my focus on just to journal. It's hard to differentiate between ADHD needed stimulation and "Genz phone addiction" and obviously putting ourselves trough situations without stimulation when we're craving them is way harder for us than for people without Adhd. So I'm wondering if it's worth practicing to be able to deal with certain situations better or if it's just unnecessary torture I would put myself trough because I can't practice away my neurological issues.

Has anyone made experiences where it helped?

I'm going to prepare for the uni exam in my country, but because of how bad my past academic experience was I'm afraid of failing. I also have comorbid Bipolar which means I can't use any ADHD medication. Here are the ways you could help me on my journey to build an actual, functioning adult life for myself:

1. I'm looking for book recommendations that will serve as practical guides on developing skills such as keeping up motivation long term, remembering and staying on tasks, doing away with procrastination, etc.

2. Because I keep forgetting my tasks and automatically silencing my alarms without looking at them, I'm planning on getting a smart watch and downloading ADHD apps on it. What would your advice on bıilding this set up be? Additionally, which apps would you recommend for this set up?

Any other advice is greatly appreciated. I'm already far behind my peers (26 yo without a degree) but am willing to put in the effort.

Thanks in advance.

ho sempre sofferto d’ansia (anche se leggera, ma a volte molto pesante), non mi sono mai riuscito a concentrare nel fare delle cose per me noiose e ripetitive (tipo la scuola) l’ho abbandonata a 15 anni per poi intraprendere uno studio privato che non richiedesse un minimo di impegno.
sin da bambino sono stato iperattivo…ma andando avanti col tempo mi sento sempre “peggio” credete sia il caso di parlarne con uno psichiatra e farmi prescrivere dei farmaci?

i have adhd and cant find what i LOVE to do besides working out i want to get better hobbies i skate too but not as much since i got a job and i recently found out i had adhd not diagnosed but my cousin told me i had it and was diagnosed at birth and that explained why i was on meds as a kid but not anymore anyways back to my question i can’t find what i enjoy doing i seen people on instagram hiking and mountaineering and military edits as a lil i imagine be cleaning or sweeping a house idk if that’s the right term but i wanted to become a CCT but due to the current state of the country i dont wanna enlist but i also like being in the mountains and stuff but cant really go there cuz im 18M with a job i bearly started and trying to get my license and a car so anyone else with adhd recommend me anything i might like and sorry for the long caption