the adhd adult.

[froggiethelesbian]

My back pain was acting up and instead of taking my meds I zoned out and activated my hyper fixation therefore I stopped the chronic condition with another chronic condition

[theadhdadult]

When people say "ADHD is a superpower" this is the kind of stuff I think of.

We don't have superhuman intelligence or shoot laser beams out your eyes but..

We can steal our own attention from the future and condense it into pockets of extreme focus and productivity.

Do we pay for it later? Abso-fucking-lutely.

Does that make it any less awesome?

Probably a little actually, yeah.

[theadhdadult]

ADHD TAX STORY TIME: Christmas Edition

So I left some of my Christmas shopping a tad late (Ok, very late).

I spent WEEKS deciding what to get my partner, eventually deciding on a very nice (and very overpriced) outfit I found online.

Pleased with my decision, I attempt to checkout, only to realize the store shipped from another country and would not make it in time for Christmas. Shit.

I find the items in my country, spread across 3 different stores with a 30% markup. Double shit.

I spend the day tossing up other gift ideas before deadline induced panic overrides my frugal tendencies and I take the plunge. I make all but one order.

Feeling victorious, I take a “Short break” which turns into 3 days of procrastinating while simultaneously AGONISING over the fact that if I don’t HURRY UP their present won't make it in time.

By the time I get around to actually buying the damn thing the price has jumped up, by this point I'm so flustered I don't even care... until my ‘New Customer discount’ code shows up as ‘Invalid’.

So I contact the store, spend half the day waiting for my new code and FINALLY make the order.

And it arrives in time! …Only it arrives twice.

‘They made a mistake’ I think to myself. Do I get to keep the additional set of clothes? Have they emailed me requesting I return them?

I check They did not make a mistake. I did.

I bought the clothes the first time I shopped and proceeded to spend 3 days agonizing over buying a gift I ALREADY BOUGHT.

Guys, I bought the EXACT SAME items of $200 clothing twice.

TWICE! I deadass emailed the store like a disgruntled Karen because the new customer code I had ALREADY USED wasn’t working...

Will I return them in time? Or will they sit in my doom drawer for the next 2 years?

The saga continues.

[iibislintu]

okay so this came to me in a dream and yeah

—

[ID: venn diagram with the words ”Autistics”, ”ADHD folks”, and ”Spice girls”. The following texts are in the different sections of the diagram:

Autistics and Spice Girls: ”so tell me what you want, what you really really want”

ADHD folks and Autistics: ”you wanna get with me, you gotta listen carefully”

ADHD folks and Spice Girls: ”really wanna zig-a-zig-ah”

All: ”now don’t go wasting my precious time”

end ID]

[theadhdadult]

Yessss

[theadhdadult]

[mactiir]

Shoulda realized I had adhd that time I misplaced a two-ton vehicle and didn’t realize for 48 hours

[mactiir]

How to activate executive dysfunction in twenty easy steps:

-be in college

 -drive to cafe to do homework, stay for a while

 -i can’t park at the university b/c parking passes are like 300 dollars, so i leave my car where it is and walk to a building on campus for a meeting. this is important.  normally I walk to and from campus

 -heyimoncampus.jpeg

 -it’s been 2 hours so by now the car has ceased to exist until I need it again

 -walk home 

-life as usual for a few days, I don’t need my car during the week so i don’t notice it’s not where it’s supposed to be

-Saturday. I pack up to drive to see my folks. Got all my stuff in a backpack and i’m ready to go 

-go to parking spot 

- Dude Where’s My Car (2000) 

 -holyfucksomebodystoleitwhostolemycar– waitasecond

-long term memory… loading. loading.

 -oh shit it’s 2 miles away I left it at the cafe on Thursday 

- “who stole my car” me. i did. i stole my own car. from myself

-basically jog back across campus to get there as fast as possible because it’s not like i left it in a rando parking lot for two days already and the 5 minutes i save by exhausting myself will totally make a difference

-holy shit i hope it’s still there

-it is. the god of forgetful assholes was smiling down on me because i don’t even have a parking ticket even though i’m right under a “no overnight parking” sign

- this car had a 50/50 shot of actually turning over on any given day because it guzzled through batteries like some people guzzle la croix so by now i’m freaking out b/c i have no idea what to do if it doesn’t start

-god of faulty car batteries is smiling too

-i am halfway to driving to my parents when i realize i forgot my backpack at home

-somehow it takes five years before anyone suspects i have adhd

-the end

[benevolentbirdgal]

I once left my car at the campus library in a visitor’s spot for three days because I drove there for some reason and there were no student spots there for my type of pass, and I walked back to my apt. like I normally did, and freaked out on the third day because I didn’t know where my car was. A friend drove me around retracing my steps till we found it, and the angel of dumbasses with high-fuctioning-but-then-Undiagnosed-ADHD smiled upon me, because lo and behind, three days in one of the campus police’s favorite places to ticket, with a pass with a number linked back to me and a chief of police who personally disliked me, and there was no ticket to be found.

In Judaism there’s a blessing for everything, but I’m yet to find the blessing for not getting a ticket in the #1 ticketing spot on campus.

[adhdandcomics]

Y’all got off easy I misplaced my car for a WEEK and got 3 parking tickets and when I went to contest them at the campus parking center the guy didn’t believe me when I said I had “forgotten where I parked my car”…. …

[theadhdadult]

Stacie Orrico: AN ADHD CONSPIRACY THEORY

Remember that early 2000's banger More to Life by Stacie Orrico?

Tell me these lyrics don't describe undiagnosed ADHD perfectly .

I've got it all But I feel so deprived I go up I come down, and I'm emptier inside Tell me what is this thing that I feel like I'm missing And why can't I let it go

There's gotta be more to life Than chasing down every temporary high To satisfy me Cause the more that I'm Tripping out thinking there must be more to life Well it's life but I'm sure There's gotta be more Than wanting more

I've got the time and I'm wasting it slowly Here in this moment I'm half way out the door Onto the next thing, I'm searching for something that's missing

Dopamine Orrico, it's dopamine you're missing.

[theadhdadult]

So I let lady ADHD take the wheel this morning.

“I mean, what’s the worst that could happen?” I told myself as I left for kindergarten drop-off 45 minutes late.

100 meters down the road I realized I forgot my phone, so I turned around and went to retrieve it.

As I re-entered my car I became distracted by my leg, my unshaven leg (just the one), and accidentally slammed the door on my hand. After apologizing to my small human for saying a ‘bad word’ I took a deep breath, counted to ten and turned on the car.

Equipped with my asymmetrical shave, my phone at 4% and my aching hand, I began our journey.

I decided to take an impulsive ‘shortcut’ which turned out to be more of a 'scenic route', adding 10 minutes to our drive.

Once we arrived I exited the car and a kind woman informed me my shirt had something on it. It was chocolate, the chocolate I ate for breakfast because without my store-bought dopamine I have approximately no impulse control.

While attempting to wipe off the brown mark I realized my shirt was also on backwards. Once I shimmied my shirt around the right way we went inside. As I hung up my child's schoolbag she turned and asked-

"Mummy, where’s my lunch box?”

“...I’ll be right back”

I returned home once more, changed into an unstained shirt, pants that covered the evidence of my singular sasquatch leg and after 5 minutes of searching, finally found her lunch box in the freezer.

Laughing manically, I tossed out her frozen sandwich and made the executive decision to never EVER attempt a 'no-med-morning' on a weekday again.

..and then I took my meds.

[theadhdadult]

ADHD is not about knowing what to do, but about doing what one knows.

-Russell Barkley

[theadhdadult]

My ADHD brain mid conversation:

1. FERRARI WITH BROKEN BRAKES: Brain feels like it's overheating waiting for the point of the story, which I'm fairly certain I already know... So I interrupt because if I don't my brain may blow a gasket.

2. BROKEN DOWN HONDA CIVIC: Brain stalls mid conversation, nothing computes so I either:

a. Apologize profusely while asking them to repeat themselves a fourth time.

b. Smile, nod and hope like hell no one died.

[theadhdadult]

[theadhdadult]

Conversing with me can pretty much be boiled down to three scenarios.

1. My brain's incessant rambling has drowned out your voice, sorry.

2. I was paying too much attention to the sound of your voice to interpret the content, sorry.

3. Oh no, I have been rambling about for 8 minutes, and now I'm apologizing and interrupting you to do so and I, well, sorry.

[theadhdadult]

ADHD is the most treatable mental health disorder in psychiatry, only you can't treat something you’re not aware of.

ADHD is not just for kids and most adults with ADHD are not outwardly hyperactive.

If you have trouble prioritizing, starting, and finishing tasks, if you tend to be disorganized, forgetful, restless, and easily distracted then please, have a look through the self symptom check.

Adult ADHD is often misdiagnosed, it may hide itself under the guise of depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder and sadly, substance abuse as a form of self-medicating.

Misguided stereotypes and the stigma surrounding it's treatment are costing millions of us a decade of life worth living.

A diagnosis can be life changing.

Click here for more info

[mostlyadhd]

This pretty much sums up my daily life. ‘Nuff said.

[vortexcortex]

Something I find very frustrating is that if I want to actually pay attention to something I can't simultaneously look like I am paying attention.

For example: I can't get what someone says if I'm looking at them in the eye because I'm too focused on doing it correctly and on the discomfort it brings me.

Another example: I cannot, for the life of me, focus on a class if I'm not doing something else simultaneously, like drawing or playing repetitive computer games.

So yeah, I either look like I'm paying attention, or I'm actually paying attention.

[thescholarlystrumpet]

me: I’d like to start working on this thing

my brain: no. you have to wait

me: oh. what for?

my brain:

my brain:

me: maybe I’ll just start…

my brain: W A I T

me: …

[theadhdadult]

Neurotypicals out here giving advice for managing ADHD like: I wAs LiKe ThAt ToO! U sHuD bUy A JoUrNal, MeDiTaTe!

Actual advice from people with ADHD: Every time I have to reheat my coffee, which is often, I race myself to see how many dishes I can clean before the microwave beeps.

[theadhdadult]

If you were waiting for a sign to 'do the thing', this is it.