snooggums
Also known as snooggums on midwest.social and kbin.social.
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In my experience it still improved things after the meds wore off because I spent less time kicking myself for screwing up earlier in the day! So it had positive impacts outside of work and school because I could enjoy the more relaxed stuff.
I do use games to help unwind in the evenings, but as long as I do it in moderation it is more like mental meditation/exercise which helps with sleeping and overall mental health. I play games from about 8-10 p.m. nowadays, because it is after family things have settled down and about an hour before bedtime.
Make the best use of your medicated time to build routines for consistency, which in my case helped even after the meds wore off (eventually). Putting keys and wallet in the same space actually stuck after taking meds!
Other than that, do consider that the meds won’t work all day so plan around them. Work and home upkeep while they are working is great, downtime for things like games or winding down after they wear off. It won’t cause motivation to do things you want to do while it is working, but it sure helps with barriers!
What worked for me: Don’t have too much calorie dense and convenient food around. Track what I eat. Assume I ate 20% more calories withiut noticing. Get exercise doing interesting things like long walks in nature because it keeps me from snacking because I’m bored.
Worked for a few years, then of course I thought it wasn’t necessary anymore and started adding weight back. Starting up again, and really the biggest weak point for me is still the impulsive snacking when I don’t keep myself occupied.
Pretty much, yeah. I’m actually pretty successful professionally and have had to temper my excitement about new projects knowing that I’ve dug myself into too much work in the past. I also have to pay a lot of attention to the audience when discussing technical topics to avoid getting too far into the weeds.
Really it just comes down to being self aware enough about my tendencies which is something even neurotypical people would get a huge benefit from. I just have to do it to function in society, so I get a LOT of practice!
I just accepted that getting focused on something is an urge like any other and to avoid spending much money if it reminded me of other times I got sucked into something and it didn’t work out. Basically setting a limit on cost.
Time though, that will be lost anyway and I’ve come to accept it. After a few decades my limitations have sunk in and it is really just coping with the disorder.
Also it isn’t a superpower. Yes, quick and shallow understanding of things can come pretty quickly if I am interested. But that is a tradeoff for the inability to retain most previously gained knowledge.
You can change, but like everything else it takes way more effort to do anything long term with ADHD. You do have to accept the linitations and work with that.
Will everything be clean all the time? No. But I can choose to do something about it when I notice intead of putting it off. Only took a decade to be half as good as my wife, but progress was made and I improved even if it wasn’t instant. Nothing is instantly permanent with ADHD as far as I can tell.
I don’t write code, except for some sql queries used for verification, but do have an understanding of code and have reviewed code with developers when trying to ensure it functions as intended. Have adhd and while I often get praise for being able to understand and convey complex functionality and software concepts, the ever changing code bases is intimidating and keeps me from diving into actual development.
One thing that really helps with reviewing older, especially nested, code is drawing out a simple flowchart. Well, simple unless there is some kind of spaghetti logic that makes it complicated, but frequently just drawing out a loop or indicating when something is changing in the middle of the process can identify where the problem is in a way that is far easier than breakpoints.
I also have some level of aphantasia so I can’t visualize a workflow that I didn’t create, which could be a part of why this works for me, but using it to explain where the code is failing is a lot easier too when you can point at something and say “when the person resets to this step then x, y, and z are reset correctly but when a reviewer resets to that point it is only resetting x and z” because that step needed x, y, and z to be in a particular state.
My wallet goes on my bedside dresser on a yellow piece of cloth that is also where my phone goes to charge. I will walk through the house to put it there whenever I get home. Wallet goes on yellow thing by the bed.
Haven’t misplaced it for over a decade. Misplaced it frequently before that.
Repetition!
If a place is the logical one for me I make sure there is something physically there to confirm it is the right place. A key rack, colorful shallow bowl, a stationary object that I can associate with the tight place after 60 or so times, etc.
A place is only the logical place when I remember putting it there or it is the first place I checked. All other places can be logical, but aren’t the most logical place.
Some things take years for me to find the right place…
Yup.
Make sure to always fill your meds at the scheduled time. If you happen to miss a dose or two treat it as a backup as most meds will have shortages and a bit of padding can be a lifesaver. Last time for me was a three week gap and luckily I had enough backstock for workdays during two of those three weeks.
Only having a week of struggling was far better than three!
People keep telling me I am driven but I don’t think it is that so much as a constant need for stimulation/novelty that drives me forward.
Pretty sure that is what driven means.
Meds didn’t remove the feeling that I should be doing something else, although it certainly helped with focusing on the stuff I enjoyed at work. Made huge strides, but after a decade the people based problems have tended to stick in memory stronger than the positives and I’m getting burned out on people as opposed to the work. Not even terrible people, well meaning people who just have unrealistic wants and needs and too much to do.
Even with meds I can get overwhelmed when there are too many competing goals and I know there isn’t enough time to get them all done. Too much energy is spent trying to mitigate the fallout from the ones that don’t work out.
Zero interaction with the two in my experience, although I rarely even have a drink until hours after the expected duration so it has probably worn off. One drink with lunch doesn’t seem to be any different than before the meds to me either.