Undiagnosed ADHD

It’s just a theory, this blog is mainly me just trying to have a collective place for adhd stuff because it’s helpful sometimes

[study-of-chaos]

Books to help you deal with life when you have ADHD (totally not free 👀)

Delivered from distraction

The queen of distraction

The ADHD Advantage

Smart but stuck

Driven to distraction

Driven to distraction at work

Smart but scattered

Finish what you start

Mindset

The Mindfulness Prescription for Adult ADHD

Organizing Solutions for people with ADHD

Self-regulation & Mindfulness

ADHD: A guide to understanding

The disorganized mind

Overcoming distractions

Coaching college students with executive problems

Learning outside the Lines

Faster than normal

ADHD 2.0: New Science

Thriving with Adult ADHD

[shamebats]

[chasm-side]

My therapist, who specializes in adults with ADHD, recently told me that all of her clients need a three day crash period after a big life change. Finish the semester? Crash. Change jobs? Crash. Go on a really cool, really relaxing vacation? Crash the moment you get home.

It's true of literally all of her clients. She works with a lot of them to put systems in place so that their crashes are only three days. This includes the high-powered execs who travel regularly for work. It does not matter how successful or high functioning they are - they have ADHD, and crashing is just part of the process of living with it.

I'm sharing this with all you ADHD friends out there, just in case you (like me) start shaming yourself if your crash lasts more than one day. It turns out three days is kind of the best case scenario. Be kind to yourselves!

[This post has been edited to change "crashout" to "crash". It was causing confusion and/or offense, especially to people who thought I was referring to "crashout" as the term exists in AAVE (also being appropriated into gen z speak right now). I'm sorry about that. Please reblog this version of the post in the future!]

[animentality]

[crafty-butch]

having one of those executive function days where everything is too many steps

[crafty-butch]

by which i mean, like, here's how my brain parses the steps in making coffee

good day:

make coffee

regular day:

put water in coffee maker

put coffee in coffee maker

turn on coffee maker

bad day:

take pot from coffee maker

turn on sink

fill up coffee pot

turn off sink

pour water into coffee maker

put coffee pot in coffee maker

open cupboard

get coffee filter from cupboard

get coffee beans from cupboard

put filter in coffee pot

measure coffee

pour coffee into filter

close coffee maker

turn coffee maker on

anyway this is a "14 steps to make coffee" kind of day

[kieraelieson]

This is actually a really good way of explaining this

[she-waves-at-cats]

I think it needs to become common knowledge that "inability to read social cues" can show up as overcompensating.

You don't know how much misbehaviour is allowed, so you become the perfect child who never tests rules.

You don't know if someone is irritated with you, so you'll be extra generous and self-effacing.

You don't know how much is expected of you at work so you'll kill yourself in a minimum-wage job and not notice that nobody else is working like this.

"Hardworking and quiet" should be as much of an autism red flag as "ignores rules and doesn't know when to stop talking". Or why don't we just start using words to communicate so i can stop tracking everybody's eyebrow twitches, that would be great.

[lildustbunny]

Bear with me the end point of this is an encouragement to anyone, not a lecture :) read the whole thing

Others can help you a lot. They can give you the things you need, the support you need, an environment that is better for you to grow in. But they can’t fix you or solve you or “make” you better. Because YOU have to accept their help, YOU have to decide to improve, YOU have to try, nobody can do that part for you and nobody can fix you without you working WITH them. So. That means. YOU can take pride where you have improved, and you can take pride in the fact that despite ALL the crap and suffering that has fallen over your life YOU still made it to where you are and YOU have been strong enough to keep striving and reaching and trying and it has paid off BECAUSE of YOU. You aren’t JUST lucky you have good friends, you aren’t ONLY where you are because of the things they did for you. They helped you but you RESPONDED in kind. So be grateful but be proud of yourself too, and when you feel like everything is awful sometimes and you need a pick-me-up maybe it’ll help to remember that you have gotten as far as you are by your own power and by your own will. You were the one who was strong enough.

[theadhdgoblin]

[literaphobe]

UH WHAT

UH...... WHAT.........

[eirenical]

This entire article is eye-opening, even as someone who has ADHD and has read a lot about it already. There's so much more there than just the bit about the glucose-craving brain. SO. MUCH.

This might have been the bit that hit me hardest, actually:

it would be easy to misinterpret the following scenario as a standoff between two partners: Imagine that your partner asks you to pay the electric bill, and you say to yourself, “OK, I have time to do that today.” But when you sit down to do it, you keep getting distracted. The ADHD brain needs higher stimulation in order to complete this rote task with minimal payoff. Your ADHD brain says, “That task is way too boring, and I refuse to focus on it. Find something that interests me more, which offers me a bigger dopamine reward, and I’ll work with you.” It doesn’t matter that you know you should pay the bill as promised; if your brain won’t engage, it’s an ugly standoff. Perhaps, after a day of procrastination — when your partner will be home in 20 minutes and the bill is still unpaid — there may be enough of an adrenaline rush from a sense of crisis that your brain will engage and you pay the bill.

The ADHD brain and its owner are at odds with one another. It’s difficult to compel a disengaged brain to engage by force of will. In fact, much of the treatment for ADHD involves learning to psych out the brain, so that it will attend to necessary, low-stimulation tasks.

Appreciating the tug-of-war within that pits intellect against neurobiology increases compassion and acceptance for one’s hidden struggle.

I feel SEEN. OTZ

Seriously, though. Read the whole thing. It's a good one.

[blackwoolncrown]

Add to this that it's not just that your brain says "I don't want to"- the prefrontal cortex literally shuts OFF.

[whydidisavethistomyphone]

Source

[tooattached2fictionalcharacters]

When you just do the bare essentials for keeping a relatively tidy area, and then 11pm go full detail hyperfocus “clean all the things” mode, and you feel like you can attack the gods afterwards

[achromatic-tune]

The autistic/ADHD paradox 2:

I love organising things, but I don’t like my stuff being too organised.

Idk what logic is that. I mean I just like the sensation of my stuffs being organised but I don’t like it too like a room template.

[smiles-advice]

🌼Self Care Tips🌼

* get some fresh air! be it a walk, or just opening your windows, or even sitting in your garden.

* change your bedding. fresh sheets, a new blanket, anything clean.

* empty your bin. if you have a bin in your bedroom, empty it.

* grab a glass of water! it’s boring, but it’s refreshing and cleansing.

* brush your teeth (if you can). or just use some mouthwash, or have a mint.

[illegal-wall-dragons]

Every character i ever write will inevetably be neuro divergent coded because i can not for the life of me figure out how the fuck neuro typical people funktion.

[sharksfood]

trying to be sad on main enough for people to take the hint that im Not Okay but not too dramatic enough as to annoy people or make them think they need to call an ambulance

[soyougotadhd]

Same homie 😅

[cryptcatz]

i hate that i have no volume control. i try so, so hard to reel it in but when im happy, excited, relaxed, comfortable, etc. i talk and laugh loud. it’s as involuntary as laughter. i don’t realize until i get shushed, then i feel like my heart got stomped on. it’s so frustrating because i KNOW it is annoying but can’t seem to help it. getting called on it always takes me from happy to feeling awful in a millisecond

[a-wonderful-use-of-server-space]

it's always fun to have my most intense feelings of happiness and joy tamped down by someone coming into the room and saying "JESUS YOU'RE SO LOUD CAN YOU KEEP IT DOWN THE NEIGHBORS CAN HEAR"

Like shit, I'm sorry me trying to have a good time is inherently disturbing to everyone around me. That feels great.

[adhdxxsdiary]

Me, not talking: Ah fuck, I am being weird

Me, talking: Ah fuck, I am being weird