What did you expect here?

Well you're gonna get ADHD, Autism, Canada and mushroom posts (he/him)

[thecanadianmushroomnerd]

Day 1 on ADHD meds and I finished my homework on time for the first time, and felt eerily in control of my thoughts

I thought I'd get more anxiety but I actually had less than normal

[thecanadianmushroomnerd]

Update: i lost them after a week and completely forgot I even took them in the first place lmao

[thecanadianmushroomnerd]

ADHD time blindness feels like someone hit a time stamp on a YouTube video... almost as if I was at 8:00 and someone jumped me to 9:22 instantaneously

[thecanadianmushroomnerd]

Neurodivergent and struggling with interoception

⚠️CW: Disordered/inconsistent Eating

For context, I have ADHD and am possibly Autistic too.

I didn't realize I had difficulties with interoception until relatively recently.

I would feel nauseous randomly for no reason, I would feel my stomach churn. I would frequently go 6+ hours without eating because I forget to eat breakfast and lunch (dinner is made for me, so I remember to eat it) and I'd randomly feel extremely fatigued and lightheaded late in the day

It wasn't until a few days ago that I put 2 and 2 together and realized that the nausea and dizzyness I was feeling was actually hunger.

Does anyone have tips for how to make sure you eat properly when you don't recognize those signals from your body?

[thecanadianmushroomnerd]

ADHD studying tips from someone who actually has it

• Put something heavy on your lap to discourage you from standing up and walking away. Weighted blanket, Pencil case, large wooden cutting board, you name it!

• Use a blank piece of paper to cover the problems you aren't working on.

This will reduce the number of inattentive mistakes you make, and make you less likely to get distracted by other things on the page

• Chew gum or suck on a lozenge/lollipop

To stop keep your mouth busy, and reduce the likelihood of you checking the fridge... again

• Have an extra pen to write down ideas

If you get distracted by your own exciting ideas, write them down on your hand or a notepad so you don't forget them. This will make it so you don't spend all your time worrying about forgetting them

• If you need to do research, do it on a computer

If you do it on your phone you're 100% guaranteed to fall down a tumblr rabbit hole. This isn't a perfect fix, but it's slightly easier to break away from a Wikipedia page on Shrimp fried rice on a laptop, than a social media app on your phone that is wired to keep you hooked.

• Don't interrupt your hyperfocus

This one is just my personal experience. If you're hyperfocused on a project you need to finish, don't use a timer to schedule breaks (ex: Pomodoro technique) because once you break out of hyperfocus, it will be infinitely harder to start working again when you're no longer in hyperfocus

This is not a comprehensive list! Feel free to add more of your own and good luck studying! :D

[thecanadianmushroomnerd]

Oh boy...

[thecanadianmushroomnerd]

Day 1 on ADHD meds and I finished my homework on time for the first time, and felt eerily in control of my thoughts

I thought I'd get more anxiety but I actually had less than normal

[thecanadianmushroomnerd]

Instead of arguing over whether the Liberals or Conservatives will win and which ones will fuck us over more, can we all collectively team up to vote in a cat as our Prime Minister? I think Canada would be better off

If we currently get a choice between:

White male performative activist who does nothing good with 6 years in office and a majority government

White male who is right wing, will send us back to like the 1970s and bring in two-tier healthcare in the middle of an extreme healthcare worker shortage... the economy may do well I guess 🙄

Not white male whose ideas are great but plans for execution make not much sense and streams videogames to get school kids on board. Bernie supports tho so hey 🤷

Dunno, I just feel like a cat would be a better fit for all of us

[thecanadianmushroomnerd]

When it comes to the patriarchy forcing women to shave, the argument against it usually is boiled down to "why should I" and that's true.

But people often forget that there's also a million other personal reasons why someone can't

These include but aren't limited to:

Ingrown hairs to the point where its painful and you have to spend hours pulling them out

Skin conditions that get irritated by razors or other forms of hair removal

Some people have trichotillomania which is a hair-pulling impulse disorder (search BFRBs) and having stubble triggers the impulses to pull the hair for hours on end

People with autism and/or sensory processing disorder often find the feeling of stubble and ingrown hairs itchy and painful

It can also become an OCD compulsion for certain people

People with depression and ADHD are often left out and perceived as gross/lazy if they are unable to routinely do things like shave/shower/brush teeth, even though body hair doesn't have anything to do with hygiene

And many more.

Between adhd, sensory processing and trichotillomania, it's almost impossible for me to shave.

And a person who can't (or just doesn't want to) remove their hair should be supported rather than told they're dirty, unhygienic, lazy, gross, compared to animals, etc.

[thecanadianmushroomnerd]

French has got to be fake

Shallow: "a little deep"

And a lime is a green lemon:

On a similar note, this one feels like an English speaker bluffing their way through French

"Lion of the sea"

[thecanadianmushroomnerd]

Yooo lookit what I found!

Lycoperdon perlatum puffball mushrooms!

[thecanadianmushroomnerd]

I forgot the best part! They *POOF* out their spores when you poke them :D

[thecanadianmushroomnerd]

Yooo lookit what I found!

Lycoperdon perlatum puffball mushrooms!

[thecanadianmushroomnerd]

I FINALLY got to make an appointment with my family doctor for a referral to a psychologist for ADHD and I told her everything in as much detail as possible

As soon as I mentioned that I have good grades her attitude changed and she said "all of those things can be caused by anxiety" (even tho doesn't explain a lot of my symptoms) and made me schedule another appointment for a month later with another doctor.

I'm lowkey devastated from not being believed, since I had to fight with my family to even consider the possibility of ADHD in the first place.

Has anyone else had adhd dismissed as something else?

[thecanadianmushroomnerd]

I've had this thing since I was a kid where on a checkered tile floor I can only step on the vertical tiles

Eg:

If the tile is horizontal I simply cannot step

I'm 18 and I still can't walk at grocery stores properly lmao.

Anyone else have an unwritten rule with the tiles?

[thecanadianmushroomnerd]

When I was a kid I thought that ketchup was a national Canadian food.

My reasoning?

1. Canada's colour is Red, and so is ketchup

2. I knew that ketchup chips aren't a thing in the USA (and were therefore exclusive to Canada ofc)

So I pieced 2 and 2 together and proudly made the assumption that ketchup must be Canadian.

I somehow believed this until I was 11

[thecanadianmushroomnerd]

Does this image give you dopamine or are you normal?

Jetpunkers unite

[thecanadianmushroomnerd]

Adhd is like riding a bike without having control of the gears:

Sometimes you'll be in a hard gear going uphill, and it's nearly impossible to climb it or turn the pedals

Sometimes you'll be in a gear that's too easy and you are pedaling faster than the bike will actually let you travel

Sometimes the gears will be just right, everything goes smoothly and you get from A to B with the appropriate amount of effort put in.

Some people may say "oh but we all have hills to climb, you just need to pedal harder" which is true to an extent, however what they don't understand is just how much harder it is for you.

Some people may say "you could climb the hill last time, why can't you do it again?" not knowing that your gears changed making it near impossible.

My point here is, don't beat yourself up if you don't perform consistently, or linearly. You're being held to NT standards that only work for, well... NT people. There are times when they just won't understand and that's ok. You're valid and your ease in navigating life and your "productivity" don't define your worth.

Anyway, this is just an analogy that I found helpful for describing what life can be like with ADHD or other neurodivergences :)

[thecanadianmushroomnerd]

Found a mushroom, does anyone know what kind it is? A chanterelle of sorts?

Pls help me it looks so cool and I need to know what it is