ADHD/Neurodiversity, how do you live with it?

[akyra00]

Hey! I've been diagnosed with ADHD as a kid but i never took any medication since my parents were strictly against it. That of course lead to some problems i had in my childhood, being seen as someone who has no empathy, bad grades, doesnt want to listen, is annoying and speaks way too much and way too loud, making everyone around me uncomfortable.

I am now 24 and about a year ago i started to look into this matter more again, since i realized it got worse again over time. I felt extremely scattered and couldn't concentrate for F's sake. Not only that, also did i realize im the Clown of the group, making everyone laugh, but as soon as im home, my social battery is as low as it could get, leading to some pretty depressing afternoons/nights, not being able to sleep, binge eating out of frustration, not doing stuff i would usually do (play video games, watch anime or cook) but instead doomscrolling on my Phone.

I had to make drastic changes. I gave it my all and tried my hardest to adapt to a new lifestyle, a lifestyle with way less social media, AI, and distractions but instead more healthy foods, sports and more self-engagement. I switched to a japanese Keitai Flipphone (Sharp Aquos 601SH) with only one third party app on it (whatsapp for messaging lol), deleting all my Social Media (except for youtube), doing more Sports and switching back to older consoles (PS2, Gamecube, Wii, DS etc), not listening to music on Spotify but instead on a MP3 Player or CD Player.

I have to say, i see a very positive effect so far    . Stuff tends to be more exciting, i get bored more often, but that leads to me being more active, which again, helps me alot.

I also decided to take on therapy again, and the doctor prescriped me ADHD-Medication, based on METHYLPHENIDATHYDROCHLORID (DAMN WHAT A WORD RIGHT    )

It definetely does help me a little (The dosis is still low, 10mg, but it will only increase within weeks, i got a plan from the doctor, it should be at 30mg a day in 2 weeks), but the biggest side effect i get so far is having low to zero appetite?

Although the dosis so far is pretty low, i do feel more focused, want to listen to people actually and care more? My Girlfriend really likes that, but also wants me to know that i dont have to take any medications for her to love me.

If you have ADHD (or any other sort of Neurodiversity!!) how do you live with it? Did you change the way you live because of it? And if so, what for example? Thanks for reading !! 

[kenaonline]

 Hey!

I was diagnosed extremely late (at 27), and in the new country I live in.
It was a super weird time because I had this misdirected anger at family and friends for not 'catching it earlier' and wondered how my life could be different if I were diagnosed as a child

One kind of good thing about the lateness is that I have managed to create these incredibly weird lifehacks that got me where I am today. I'm currently in my 2nd year of a PhD which, if you listen to everyone else, is impossible with ADHD. Still, I kinda love my brain now (when it works). I am also on the same medication as you, and it was such a nice break. I always described it as previously my brain was like all the TVs on at the same time in the electronics store, and now most of them have turned off.

Saying that, I still struggle, I have weeks where I just feel paralysed, and it feels like more neurotypical folk don't understand, and put it down to laziness, etc. That can be really shitty.

all of this is to say, we've got you and we understand. 

[starbreaker]

I've been living with (level one) autism my whole life, but didn't get diagnosed until I was in my early 40s. It's been a ride. First, I had to suppress certain behaviors (like talking to anybody who would listen about whatever I was into at the time) in order to "not be weird". Nobody actually bothered to teach me how to make and keep friends; the adults around me figured that if I could teach myself to read books when I was four I should be able to figure out how to read people and relate to them on my own, too. That didn't work out as well as they thought it might, but who needs people as friends? A cat is fine, too.

Of course, this was partly because I was a kid in the 1980s. If you were autistic enough to be diagnosed back then, you were probably autistic enough to be institutionalized. I was just the weird, nerdy kid who was reading Stephen King and Michael Moorcock when he was 10 and had trolled the school shrink by talking about how he might do himself in using a scenario memorized from Bulfinch's Mythology. I got into a lot of fights, too, because this was long before "zero tolerance" and my father had my back as long as I didn't throw the first punch.

I'm still not particularly sociable, and I certainly don't talk to anybody but my wife about shit I'm into; that poor lady is probably heartily sick of all the little details I've noticed in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. But, contrary to RFK Jr's ignorant opinions, I work for a living, I pay taxes, I'm a homeowner, I kissed girls and liked it, I've been kissed by boys (and would have liked it if they had asked first), I've written poems, I've published novels, I've played in bands and orchestras, I've traveled abroad, I spent two weeks in Paris speaking nothing but French, I've given readings at the World Fantasy Convention, and I've even played baseball. I'd rather be lifting weights, though; I only ever want to compete against the man I used to be, and I'm a decent shot with a .38 revolver and a .30 lever-action rifle, too.

I never received "support" as an autistic man. I don't even know what "support" would look like for an autistic man my age, who was diagnosed in middle age, but I suspect that I would find a neurotypical person's notion of "support" intolerably infantilizing; I'm a New Yorker, a veteran of a thousand psychic wars, and I wear my independence like a crown.

I live with autism the way I live with being left-handed or having blue eyes or or being nearsighted or only being 5'7" or being ACAB (assigned Catholic at birth). It's part of the hand life dealt me. I didn't ask to have been dealt into the game, but now that I'm seated at the table I mean to play my cards to the fucking hilt, even if my spread of aces and eights is the Dead Man's Hand. (And don't forget the Joker!)

I'd say God help anybody who gets in my way, but I suspect God knows better than to get in my way himself; he saw what I did to the Buddha when I met him on a midnight stroll through Manhattan. (If you meet the Buddha, kill him. If you meet God, kick His ass too. Don't let phantasms assert squatters' rights over your mind.)

[candycanearter07]

Oh cool, you're left handed too??

Ok, so to be clear, I haven't OFFICIALLY been diagnosed with autism, adhd, or anything beyond a generalized anxiety syndrome and speech impediment (lisp). But, I feel like it's a fair guess to say that I am deeply autistic and maybe adhd too. As for how I deal with it... well, for now, it's not T O O much of an issue? Like, my parents continually drilled into me to complete assignments and how missing one is a grave issue, so I can USUALLY get stuff done? It's mostly 1. really big assigments that span a long time where you have to pace it yourself and 2. studying without an assignment to complete that blast me. I also have a raspberry pi screen on my nightstand that displays a calendar and I think that helps at least a LITTLE? so that. And also, I find pomodoro timers helpful.

[small_cypress]

I was diagnosed with ADHD 20+ years ago, but I was also diagnosed another mental health condition I turned out not to have at all and was way over-medicated. I also have poor hunger cues and chronic insomnia before I started taking stimulant meds for ADHD, so I basically just didn't sleep for more than a few hours at a time during my teenage years, hardly ate, and my teachers were convinced I had an eating disorder.

I tapered off everything at 18, and was convinced my ADHD was a misdiagnosis. I also started drinking at 18, and in retrospect can see it was self-medicating the noisiness of the world. It's loud and distracting in my head!

I quit drinking 4 years ago, and the worst of my ADHD symptoms were in full force. I have chosen to not pursue medication at this time, even though I know there are non-stimulant medications these days. I have notebooks and use Notion to organize my life. I minmize inputs (notifications, screen time, etc) and am off most social media. I am learning to live with my ADHD with the good and the bad, and enjoying letting myself start and stop hobbies and obsess over things and move onto the next. The trick, for me, is to have really good systems so I can uphold my commitments to others and not feel like a mess.