That’s not the case for me, I can start doing stuff while talking with someone that is sitting, watching TV, or whatever.

I think having someone near your serves two purposes:

1. It helps your brain produce happiness juice (dopamine), that makes doing stuff easier.
2. They act as an anchor, helping you stay at one place and focus on what you should be doing, like a physical reminder.

If other people negatively impact your ability to get things done, I would suggest looking into it. Maybe you are subconsciously copying them, or you feel same shame doing stuff while others are not. I am not trying to invalidate your experience, just suggesting that it’s possible you can gain a better understanding of it if you dive deeper.

I am stealing that phrase, thanks 🙏

I find it helps navigate certain quirks and get the help I need to thrive. For example, after disclosing I have ADHD, people are much more open to move when I am affected by background noise.

Weed can be addictive for people with ADHD, it’s one of most common of forms of self medicarion but in the long run it probably going to make things worse.

Source: I was addicted for 3 years, at first it did wonders for my sleep issues and increased my productivity. At some point, I had to smoke daily or I would get headaches and huge cravings, my tolerance would constantly increase, and then it didn’t help with my sleep issues anymore.

Now, I am only using it recreationally once every few months. It’s fun but I have to be careful otherwise I know things can turn sour really fast.

We should create a list of adhd resources… Wondering if we can get a sticky from the mods.

YOU MONSTER DONT LEAVE ME IN AGONY 😂😂🤣

Seriously though, I wanna know what happened!!!

Have you tried the thing that has been on your mind for the last month (or more) but cannot get around it?

When I am in a rut, unable to do anything for over a week, usually there is something that I am stuck on…

Never tried not-stimulants but I have read some studies that suggests that a combination works best for some people.

Out of curiosity, what side effects are you experiencing with stimulants?

You guys have options? In Greece only concerta, Ritalin and Strattera are approved…

I know the struggle, I hope you can find a combination that works for you 🙏

(insert confused Carl meme with caption “you guys can get ahead??”)

I feel you, I have been facing the same issue pretty much my whole life, the last 3 years I have been able to identify it and make some progress. I am not in a perfect state, not even a good one, but I am making progress and I am happy with it.

For me, the problem was trying to catch up. My pattern involved the following cycle:

1. I would feel I am “behind” and the guilt would start to build up.
2. The guilt would get so bad that I would start doing the things.
3. As I was catching up, the guilt would decrease, and I would start feeling the exhaustion building up.
4. I would try to power through until I would crash and go into a state of depression.
5. Repeat from step 1.

In other words, I was exhausting myself while trying to catch-up, when I was finally ahead the guilt wouldn’t be enough to motivate me anymore, and I would crash.

Changing my outlook helped a lot. Instead of trying to catch-up, now I am aiming for consistenxy. This is really hard, as it involves taking a break when I need to even if it means “getting behind”. When I changed my outlook my productivity decreased considerably and it took a few months to get at an acceptable state. I tried to be patient, keeping records helped a lot as I was able to see the improve from one week to another.

Recognising my rest needs is really hard, I just don’t feel it untill my brain goes absolutely numb. Keeping a journal has helped me analyze my behaviours and recognise my limits. I try to respect those limits by being proactive and schedule rest days before I crash.

Ultimately, this is my experience and yours may be different. Some general guidelines would be to try to take things one step at the time and rely on your journal because your memory is not a reliable source of information.

PS I fucking hate journaling, it’s the worst things ever, and having to rely so much on it drives me crazy.

I feel you, it’s hard to get things done, it’s hard to track every thing that needs to be done, it’s hard to maintain a balance when things are difficult at work.

The past I have pursued an ADHD diagnosis, and gotten medication. It helps a lot, it provides emotional stability and the ability to focus on something without getting distracted all the time. Task initiation is still difficult though…

I don’t anybody has a perfect solution but there are things you can try:

1. Prioritize your mental health and not your work. It sounds difficult, I get it, if I don’t get paid me and my sister aren’t going to have food on the table. But, having a balance helps you be productive, which in turn helps you maintain a job.
2. Make lists, your brain will forget. Also, having things written sometimes helps with anxiety (though seeing the volume of things to be done can be intimidating)
3. Routines help a lot. It’s hard to establish one, but once you do it make things easier. Remember to make them interesting, but don’t depend on that. Your brain will get used and get bored easily, but you got stick to it, until you no longer have to think about it.
4. Remember to take a break. It doesn’t matter how productive (or not) you were, you get tired from all this anxiety. Just allow yourself to be free a few hours every once in a awhile.

The last year I noticed a lot of frontier research was being done by Chinese teams, so I assumed the opposite. Thanks for educating me.

I am sorry for your trouble. I am wondering if it’s as regulated as here?

For example, here in Greece the government health organisation controls the stock of ADHD meds (Concerta, Ritalin and Strattera only) and decides which pharmacies receive deliveries and when.

I would say fuck to-do lists but I need them to remind me to hate on them… btw you may want to look into PDA.

I cannot focus long enough for meditation, do you have an app that works for you? Any insights for someone trying to get into meditation while having ADHD?

I occasionally start reading a book, but either I get too into it and stay sleepless until it’s finished, or I get bored, drop it and then feel guilty for not reading. Overall, it kinda works for me but it’s not sustainable for me.

Insomnia sucks, I think I have a longer circadian rhythm (many people with ADHD do) which sucks when you try to maintain a routine. But, having severe insomnia, I cannot imagine what you are going through…

I liked the colour book idea, I will give it a try, I always thought these are for children but fuck standards, maybe it works for me too. 🙏

fuck😳

Russel Barkley has a few videos on emotional self regulation.

https://youtu.be/trIm6S8nv3U?si=aViMzGPXFSamSggM

ADHD 2.0 on goodreads for anyone interested.

Also, I am wondering if Taking charge of ADHD (2nd edition) is any good. The first edition has mixed reviews on goodreads .

btw, I am scared of books, I haven’t been able to complete a bunch of them without intense dedication. Any tips are appreciated.

I am trying to get started on a treatment at the moment. This made me anxious.

I had to reread the whole thing 5 times to make sure there water isn’t one of the labels.