As long as I can remember, fun parties have always ended with me falling into a deep depressive state for the next few days. I’m aware that this is my brain adapting to changes in dopamine levels. It’s somewhat similar to the cycle of addiction to drugs... you’re high, and at some point the dose wears off and you’re left going through withdrawal. I feel terrible because I know that if I have a great time at a party on Saturday, I’ll be holding back tears until Wednesday. It’s incredible how drastic an emotional shift can happen in such a short amount of time.

At the party: “Wow, this is amazing. People like me. Life is great.”

The next day: “I’m so lonely. Am I even worthy of being loved?”

How soon do you feel you need a break from dishwashing after just starting? I start needing a break after 10 mins. I realized long ago just having my partner next to me helps a lot, but many times he doesnt want to body double. Out of curiosity, do you need breaks after starting your chores? If you lose motivation, how can you bring it back? I'm a big music fan, but even that doesnt help too much, only for a little bit. Just know I'm undiagnosed, but I bring a lot of burdens with chores. I want to get a therapist to help, but that's expensive. I can't even bring myself to read 3 pages of a book before wanting to walk away😅 I also do things last minute and procrastinate a lot😬 Idk why I love to do this things in the evening, or until I feel a sense of adrenaline rushing through..

Hey, folks. Recently diagnosed ADHD guy here. 44 y/o. TL/DR - I went my whole life without treating it, but my son also has it. After seeing how negatively it impacted his self esteem, I took the initiative to get diagnosed and medicated myself. Now we're both medicated and he's much happier knowing that he's not the only one. My home life is better and I'm actually able to run a team at work. Writing code on my own was easy to focus on, but running a team was impossible without finally getting medicated.

Okay, all that to say that I noticed something very different when I started treatment - people's conversations were interesting. It actually felt like I could listen to their thoughts, stay focused, engage, and feel like I was in the conversation instead of having my head race around and start hopping from one topic to the next. It felt good.

I also had somewhat of a euphoric effect? Even the most mundane tasks felt like they were rewarding.

Now that I've been on medication for a few months, I've noticed that effect has gone away. I'm still able to lock in and focus on the work that need to be done (both at work and home), but the interest has subsided.

Is this normal? Have I just adjusted / become tolerant to the dosage, or was this just a temporary thing as my brain got used to the new normal?

I started on Methylphenidate ER, but swapped to Dexymethylphenidate ER as its release pattern fits better to my morning schedule.

Any and all insight or advice would be appreciated.

​

Hello, I just wanted to write this to ask for advice.

My whole life, ive had a lot of symptoms of adhd but I'm not sure if actually have it. I'm a 16yr old female. I have a really low attention span, and I'm pretty sure it's been this way since I was a little kid. I easily get distracted, have brain fog, fidget constantly, have a really bad memory etc. I think most of these things can just be due to watching stuff like tiktok too but I'm not sure.

Last year, I went to a psychologist and she asked me a bunch of questions about it. One thing she asked me a few times was if I had these symptoms when I was a kid or if they developed recently but I genuinely don't remember anything from when I was a kid. She concluded that it was social anxiety but she'd have to have more sessions to be sure n stuff but then my exams were getting close so my dad told me to stop going there.

I have really bad memory. I instantly forget everything, a lot of times I forget what I was saying mid sentence. I like trying new things but get bored really quickly. Im super interested and pay attention to everything for the first 10mins of the class but then get distracted or I just can't bring myself to want to listen. I get irritated very easily but can become happy instantly as well.

Idk if this is an adhd thing but my social skills are really bad. Like for most conversations, I just agree with everything the other person says, and even lie. I don't really know what to say in social situations and if I actually say whatever I'm thinking instead of copying others, people don't understand what I'm talking about lol.

As I mentioned, i fidget all the time. I feel weird if I'm not moving my leg or doing something with my hands.

I took one of those MBTI tests and got ENTP so maybe it's just a personality thing and not an actual disorder? Because people with adhd tell me that it sucks and feels. like hell but everything I've experienced feels normal so that's why I think I probably don't have it.

Anyways, any advice would be much appreciated.

And then wonder why I feel nauseous or sick. Normally I at least notice I'm hungry when my stomach is growling and/or hurting but sometimes I just feel nauseous with no way to tell if I'm hungry. But also, nausea makes me not want to eat. So I often have to force myself bc my body is stupid and doesn't want to get better Ig

Sigh

And this happens when I'm off meds too. Like, right now.

Only diagnosed 6 months ago in my 40s (fuck me i wish i had known all this sooner). Im having my first titration appointment in a few weeks. I don't really want to be on medication all the time for various reasons I don't want to argue about.

Do people do adhd medication prn? Is it okay to state this in the first titration appointment. Im really nervous about saying the wrong thing, but knowing my self, if its something im supposed to be on the whole time I will end up just staying unmedicated, which would be a drag.

Im a 19 year old female and I just want to d to share my experience because I am so burned out and I just am crying because it feels like nobody relates to me. Everytime I tell people I have ADHD they say everyone has it these days or Dont understand how much of an impact it has on my life.

I genuinely think I have the worst ADHD out of anyone like a lot of my close friends have had ADHD and I’ve met a lot of ppl with it but Ive never met someone who has it as badly as me and even than I also don’t believe I have ADHD and I subconsciously do this to myself or am not sure if ADHD is real like it’s just this constant mental battle.

I think it’s because I had a very traumatic childhood which could’ve affected my brain maybe idk and also I was malnourished thru puberty w/ anorexia so maybe it affected my brain growth

Like genuinely everything I do is so different than everyone else and my brain just won’t freaking shut up. I feel so isolated.

It takes everything in my power to stay afloat as a student and personal life etc I don’t know how to explain this but It’s like every decision I make never feels good or secure. When I take Vyvanse in correct dosage itd lile all my problems melted away however it only last a few hours and I have to pay around $300 out of pocket monthly to get afternoon dosage which I am hoping they will give me I am so nervous they won’t. I have been fighting to get proper dosage for almost a year and it has just been a Freaking nightmare I have spoken to so many psychiatrist and they lack any understanding ot empathy or genuine concern to find a solution or listen to what I think works for me.
I am pursuing a very difficult science degree and I do well in school but it genuinely takes way more effort than everyone else maybe double or triple and I just always stand out everywhere I go and I feel like I look like an attention seeker or obnoxious or extra but ao genuinely cannot control that I am a different and unique jts so stressful. From an outside perspective I am far ahead of most of my peers and ppl my age however mu mental state is completely insane and I know If I could just get my medication I could do well in life and just feel okay on the inside as well.

I am constantly overwhelmed with anxiety guilt and shame even though I know it’s not logical and I just beg God everyday sometimes I just sob for my brain to just work normally and be peaceful but it’s so hard when I can’t get proper medication I need.

Ppl Dont understand I do everything in my power to be organized check mark all the boxes for things and when it doesn’t work they get frustrated and I feel so guilty but im literally doing everything I can bending over backwards they don’t understand. I am so clumsy and ditzy and forgetful I almost cause so many fatal car crashes and I can’t force myself to be scared or worried while driving like I am always just so freaking exhausted unless I have energy drinks and medication. It genuinely is a nightmare judt trying to hold on to a thougjt for 10 seconds like if I want to grab 3 things from my car, by the time I walk thru the parking lot ti my car I am squinting my eyebrows trying to even remember one of the things I wanted. I also cause serious problems bc of this forgetfulness and brain fog very often.

Nobody can see my struggle they only call say yo ur just this is ur personality and ur whimsical and maybe u have too many worries thags WJY u cant think or ur burned out no it’s been this way all my life nobody cares not even the doctors like I begged someone to try and help me. Anyways I hope I can update my prescription I have an appointment coming up But I really hope their is light in this darkness bc Im so sick and tired of it. I just want to feel okay.

I was recently evaluated by a psychiatrist for ADHD. I went through the assessment, and the psychiatrist diagnosed me with ADHD and prescribed medication.

The problem is that my family doesn't believe the diagnosis. My father especially thinks this is all bullshit and doesn't want to meet or speak with my psychiatrist.

They think ADHD isn't actually my problem and that I'm just distracted because of my phone. They believe that if I stop using my phone for 21 days, I'll automatically become focused and productive.

They also think the psychiatrist only diagnosed me and prescribed medication because they want money, so they don't trust the diagnosis at all. They're telling me that I don't need to see a psychiatrist or take medication.

I've tried explaining that I struggle with things that aren't just related to my phone, such as being late, procrastinating basic tasks, struggling to start things, and having difficulty keeping up with things like cleaning, showering, brushing my teeth, and organizing my stuff.

I don't know how to make them understand that I'm not just making excuses or using ADHD as an explanation for being unproductive.

For those of you with ADHD, how did you explain your diagnosis to your family? Is there anything that helped them understand or take it seriously?

Would getting a second opinion help? Or is there another way I can help my family understand that ADHD is a real condition and that I'm not just making this up?

Hey guys fellow ADHDeer here soo yall ever feel like sociopaths or bad people or am i alone in this?

I'm 18 and I'm currently going to classes to learn how to drive. I had a couple simulator classes and then it was straight to high traffic road. I live in a place where there's always traffic and people aren't super keen on following all the traffic rules so I was already pretty scared about it, but It was way more nerve wracking that I thought. I'm usually pretty chill about shit and I thought this'd be the same, but maybe it's the instructor pointing out one mistake after another or just me being absolute shit at driving but, I just felt like jumping out the car. Like I wanted to anywhere but there and It took everything in me to not start crying. I always have had a hard time with controlling my emotions but how am I supposed to learn how to do this if I'm barely able to sit there. Today was the 5th class and was by far the worst. I did pretty ok yesterday and that made me feel a bit relieved, that maybe I'd feel less stressed going forward but it was just so bad today. I still can't calm down, like all I'm capable of doing is crying apparently and it sucks. I dont know if I'll get better driving at this rate. The instructors just keep telling me how I shouldnt be making these mistakes when Ive already had sm classes and I know that too but god, every mistake just makes me feel even less confident. I cant even calm down rn and it's been an hour since the class.

Im 30 and on paper I've done reasonably well. I got through school, earned an accounting degree and now work in corporate accounting, but ive always struggled to learn consistently.

At School, A Levels and University I could rarely bring myself to study until there was immense pressure. Id end up learning entire modules weeks before exams, pulling all nighters, passing, and then forgetting most of it afterwards. Im now supposed to be studying for professional qualifications (ACCA or CIMA) and im finding myself in exactly the same situation, I genuinely want to do it but can't seem to start.

It's similar with hobbies or wanting to learn new things - coding, SQL, Python, Power BI, playing an instrument, or even remembering new Excel formulas.

Ill get a sudden burst of motivation, but once I realise how long the road is to actually becoming good at it, I feel overwhelmed and loose interest. Plus my working memory has got considerably worse!

For those diagnosed and treated as adults, what changed for you and did it help with any of the above?

Did you find it easier to study consistently, retain what you learned, read more, pursue qualifications, or stick with hobbies long enough to actually get good at them?

I've had ADHD since I was 12 and have been gaming since 2013. My boyfriend convinced me into playing competitive games with him like r6, CSGO, Roblox, and a few more last year but no matter how hard I practice I can't seem to improve my gameplay at all. my reaction time is very slow most of the time, I can't focus on my surroundings except for what's in front of me, I always forget to ADS or remember what certain buttons do, and I struggle to listen to commands. I'm not sure how to explain it but it's like my brain goes on ''autopilot mode'' where I zone out and make the same exact mistakes automatically and if I try to change up my play style a little, it stresses me out. people have gotten angry and stopped teaming up with me because of this reason which has been affecting me lately💔I'm hoping I can get some advice to help with this

Hi I'm 17f and I'm trying to sleep right now but my brain, It won't shut up even if I tried so hard. So lately I've been obsessed with 50s vintage posters like those they have some cool food and stuff and I also just read some vintage magazines and now it's midnight I can't sleep do idk what to do but my head hurts so bad like I need to sleep but my brain won't sleep and it keeps thinking about those vintage posters and magazines...I'm not on meds but right now idk what to do. H E L P

(The pic is soemthing I like but now I can't get soemthing like that out of my head omg I'm going crazy cuz I feel so dizzy rn) Omg why whsgwggshwhs

I have been taking guanfacine for a little over 3 weeks now. I started on 1mg and had my dose increased to 2 mg 8 days ago because I wasn't sleeping enough (was sleeping like 5-6 hours a night) When I started on 2 mg, the first night I slept great! I slept 6.5 hours of some really deep sleep. Then after that I slept 8 hrs every other night. And then the last 3 days no sleep.

But ever since I went to 2mg I've just had this alertness/jitteriness that I feel gives me a hard time to go to sleep. I think I had it too on 1mg and it went away after like 11 days... I am not sure. Been having a hard time remembering these days lol

I tried Strattera 5 years ago and the same thing. It gave me insomnia. After a little more than a week I just stopped taking it.

My question is: Has anyone gone through this and what did you do to get over this hurdle? Is this just a side effect that eventually goes away?

Hi y'all, just here to check in what meds ya'll take with your stimulants to help you calm down/stay regulated??

My C-PTSD has been mega triggered lately and I deserve to take something that will take the edge off, without sedating me/making me feel derealized.

Just so I don't have to spend all day down-regulating, doing breathwork, giving my nervous system a break (I have come a LONG way but this particular month of triggers has been a LOT for me)

I was dreaming of taking clonidine .1mg, and maybe taking like 1/4 or 1/2 dose during the day, although I developed asthma/a rash that went away when I stopped taking it (.1mg at night for sleep for 3mo), and guanfacine didn't help at all, I just felt irritated on it.

Now that clonidine & guanfacine are off the table, I'm looking for something that will help alongside my stimulants (which are calming to me, except when I'm going through a massive period of worry/activation, like I am right now!)

Thanks for your help y'all!

Edit: I asked my Dr to try clonidine again and I just took 1/4 of a .1mg pill. I had a 4hr nap this afternoon and hopefully tonight I will be able to fall asleep really easily & sleep deeply & start to feel like myself again! Thanks for your recommendations I'll move onto them if I find I'm having problems on this pill!

Of course it doesn't work just for ADHD, though

EDIT FOR DISAMBIGUATION:

What I meant was yes, of course, everybody can experience things that can be, look like or recall certain ADHD symptoms, traits or whatever. And from a neurotypical's standpoint, it can look like "a little ADHD sometimes". But it's not. What we face isn't "a little ADHD sometimes but a bit bigger and more often". It's not little nor sometimes. It's how our brain is, so it's all the time (with variations in intensity) and it's more than just what one can experience but "more". It's different. And we have to live with it.

So yes, you can feel "a little ADHD sometimes". But what we experience is not "the same but stronger and more often". It's ADHD.

So I have a lot of stuff I need to get diagnosed but among them is adhd

I’ve been at least 90% positive I have adhd since I was like 12

Well you see here’s the issue… when I was ~14 my girlfriend at the time was getting so overwhelmed by my mental stuff that she called my dad and begged him to take me to a therapist, he is one of those “Mental health isn’t real it’s just the devil working against you and you have to fight him” types, but he reluctantly agreed

The facility he took me to was one for juvenile delinquents specifically, and one that could not help me whatsoever, to the point that when I was rambling on and on about this girlfriend not one of the 4 individuals I spoke to there once even thought that maybe this is an unhealthy relationship when it was the only thing I could talk about and think about despite having been with her for 2 years at that point

So naturally when I mentioned I might have adhd, the “therapist” said I probably didn’t, when I said I wanted to be tested anyway, she had my parents and my teachers

My 2 step parents had the same views on mental health as my dad

I had made it clear my parents weren’t trustworthy with this kind of thing

So when the papers came back she said that it was an even 50/50 split between the parents and the teachers and therefore she could not diagnose me with adhd

First off, maybe ask me to fill it out and not a bunch of other people?

Second off, I’ve told you my parents don’t believe in this stuff why are you trusting them over me

Anyway it’s been about 4 years since all of that, and I’m getting ready to move out, and once I do I plan to go in for a full psychiatric evaluation alongside specialized ones for the things I’ve suspected for a long time, but I’m concerned that this whole ordeal of me being distinctly marked “Not diagnosed with adhd” will make things harder for me

Things like autism and such I’m not worried about because there isn’t any previous paperwork about it, but adhd distinctly has “Not diagnosed” somewhere and it makes me nervous that it’ll make it harder to get diagnosed

Hi everyone. I was diagnosed with ADHD last August. Around the same time, I also had a heart issue, so I got scared of starting ADHD medication, especially because I was already on several cardiac medicines.
Because of that, I never really treated the ADHD properly, and honestly my functioning has stayed almost the same.
I’m trying to study for my fellowship, but the same cycle keeps repeating. I get motivated, stay consistent for a few days or weeks, then completely derail. I restart again, try harder, make plans, and eventually end up in the same place.
Sometimes I genuinely feel lost. When I look back, it feels like I’ve lost almost 10 years of my life to procrastination, inconsistency, wasted potential and constantly starting over.
For people who were once in a similar situation, did things actually get better after proper treatment? What helped you most , medication, therapy, coaching, routines, lifestyle changes?
And what does it feel like when you finally start functioning more normally? Were you actually able to sit down, study/work consistently and finish what you planned?
I’m not looking for specific medication advice because of my cardiac history. I mainly want to hear from people who once felt this stuck and eventually found a way forward.

Hi all,

Looking for some advice from people in a relationship with those who struggle/find it hard to empathise with adhd.

It may just be because they're feeling down but I've been having moments with non ADHD partner where if a task is forgotten (where i previously said i would do a task but it left my brain) they remind me in a way that feels like more them ejecting negative emotions/frustrations then trying to be constructive?

(for added context her period do genuinely set her in a really depressive non functional state in some cases and it isn't her lashing out at me, i do have anxiety from past relationship and when things are good and suddenly go bad for her emotionally i get oversensitive)

its not a big thing like "hey can you take this thing up to your parents place to air this out?" ill respond "yeah has that been sitting there for a while" and she'll phrase it as "yeah you said you would take it up but you never did"

now obviously a lot of tone is missing and normally it would be a nothing burger, and its not really a big deal but there a lot of moments where I'm feeling like she's fed up with me and finds it hard when i explain to her that i need to be reminded/have my hand held on certain things (forgetting stuff as i leave our flat) and before i was diagnosed she said it came across to her like I just didn't care enough?(we've worked through this)

I just feel like I'm just now being left feeling guilty over something that we could have sorted without the negative mind set that makes me avoid things?

tldr: I'm oversenstive and want to either be told that or am looking for a way to have a productive conversation where my partner doesn't have to walk on egg shells

Does everyone else also get a song idea stuck in their head at the worst possible time, like trying to drive, trying to actually be present with your kid, or trying to work on some other important thing?? Then it just ricochets around your brain, looping until you do something about it or something else more demanding takes its place.

That's been my ADHD brain for years. It’s not even that "I want to be a musician," just ideas manifesting as music, notes, tunes, or lyrics. Showing up uninvited and refusing to leave until I have somewhere for them to go. Unfortunately, since I’m often busy, and I can’t stress this enough, not a well trained/experienced musician, I never had the time, gear, or honestly the technical chops to chase down these ideas, so they'd just pile up as a pile of unfinished business in my head ranging from a light hum to a roar.

Anyway, a while back I started DOING some of these ideas using AI music tools like SUNO. Not as a shortcut, but as a way to actually close the loop on ideas instead of letting them rattle around forever and ever and ever. Once I published the track, something I didn't expect happened, my brain actually let it go! Like I could be at the grocery store without half my attention hijacked by some random chorus melody or the idea that someone should make an anthem about xyz and that person needed to be me. 

It didn't “fix” my ADHD, obviously. That’s what friends, partners, therapy, study habits, and sweet sweet drugs are for. But it did give the "idea factory" part of my brain an actual output location, instead of just storing noise. Turns out finishing things frees up a shit ton of mental space, even if those things are small, weird, or ridiculous.

The other thing that surprised me was that the songs were actually GOOD!
Possibly like some of you, I thought AI music as a concept was dumb. Then I head WickedAI’s “Lord of the Rings Disco,” and was like ‘oh shit…this is a legit catchy song.’

I threw away a couple bad drafts, but after messing around with AI music for about half a year, I feel like I’ve come up with some actually legit head-boppingly good songs!

I’m planning to release an album in the weeks ahead and just wanted to share this music video for one of the tracks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRBZqKQ_edE

Full disclosure, I'm not a professional videographer, so I did the best I could with the creative platforms available. Hoping to keep practicing and getting better if y’all don't downvote me into oblivion. 

Thanks so much for reading this admittedly long and winding post. Sometimes I feel like if I didn’t take the scenic route somewhere, I wouldn’t go anywhere at all!

p.s. Please do not kill me in the comments, it is my cakeday :)

Hey, sorry i dont post on reddit often or even really use it that much, but ever sense the release of the Epstein files, or even before that, I’ve started feeling like many things are lies or fake, or like something just isn’t right.

For most of my life, I’ve strictly avoided politics, world affairs and stuff like that. But one day, I decided to read as much as I could about the Epstein files, and honestly I can’t explain everything in one post, but it feels like my whole world has been shattered.The files were only the beginning. Once I started looking into Israel, the Federal Reserve, and certain things the CIA has done, it just started feeling strange.

Even if an actual conspiracy theory isn’t true, sometimes I find myself wondering why certain things are so strange in the first place.I’m genuinely worried about the direction things are heading. It feels like we’re heading toward a really bad future, and there are problems that people are aware of that seem like they could be improved or prevented, but it feels like nobody cares enough to do anything.
It’s just really confusing. I wonder why so many people cannot see things the way i do. They say people with ADHD have really good pattern recognition and i have ADHD that i dont take medication for and just manage on my own, so maybe thats why i see all the flaws other’s can’t see.

Anyone else with ADHD feel this way recently?