Thread by @2chaoticraccoon

Seems it's #ADHDAwarenessMonth. I already prattle on about it fairly often but I guess if people want to hear my experience with it, my coping strategies, fears, research, and so forth....

One like = one experience? (within reason...)

#1 ADHD isn't laziness. It's main problem is executive dysfunction, where the brain doesn't function as well as it should in the prefrontal cortex. Leads to bad time management, prioritization, poor short term memory, affecting basically every skill one needs to work well.

#2 there's three types of ADHD. Hyperactive, inattentive, and combined. Hyperactive is what most people think of, child unable to sit, loud, roudy, can't wait their turn. I have just inattentive. The daydreamer sort, forgetful, can't focus, prone to distraction.

#3 Everyone who says we all are a little ADHD needs a slapping. My ADHD is a constant, daily struggle with every single thing I do. It affects every area of my life. That data entry i get made to do at work? Literally painful and I have to employ every coping I have to do it.

#4 If anything is remotely boring to me, it's an insurmountable task to make me do it. ADHD is biologically caused by issues with dopamine in the brain. Since dopamine is released by activities your body thinks are 'good to do' (oversimplified), it's torture to try to focus on it

#5 My Adderall only does so much to stem the dopamine problem. It gets rid of the constant noise in my head and enables me to focus a bit better, but I still require other coping tools to function. Music (jazz or trance, patternless lyricless music), isolation, so much is needed.

#6 I was diagnosed at 28 after several doctors said I was simply depressed instead. ADHD shows up as depression and anxiety in adults because it breeds many of the same symptoms. My 'depression' was due to my inability to cope with my ADHD in the work and home environments...

#7 My family doesn't believe I have ADHD despite my younger sibilings all having it, "because you did well in school and graduated college." I only did that because high school was a joke and I'd read the books out of sheer need for stimulation during class.

#8 That became much harder in college where studying is mandatory. I nearly failed calculus because I could no longer read the book to get most of the material down. "Show your work" was the deathknell for me. I only passed because the prof let me retake the final.

#9 Because college assignments had no structure other than a deadline, I always left them to the last minute, and pulled many stress-fueled all nighters to get essays done. I had no help or support from the school since no one thought I had ADHD, just another lazy student.

#10 Even with a diagnosis from three different doctors, I don't have any accommodations at work either. I'm just told to try a little harder. Been here 8 years only for all the grunt, manual IT work to be offloaded to me so everyone else can work on important things.

#10-2 All that gruntwork is mind-numbingly boring, and I've falled behind as a result. There's no less ADHD friendly IT work than manual data entry, scanning images, manual document redaction, and file conversion. I simply can't do it most days for longer than a few minutes...

#11 The stigma of ADHD is brutal. You're expected to function like a normal person, while also having a physical condition that makes it impossible to think like a normal person. People cannot fathom how hard it is for me to be organized, attentive, sit still....

#11-2 It'd be like asking a wheelchair bound person to walk to the store 5 miles away in order to feed themselves, while a normal person is allowed to drive themselves there. ADHD robs me of the tools normal people have to do everyday activities.

#12 My ADHD makes doing home chores much more difficult. I walk by things that need to be done and my brain doesn't register they are there. I'll stretch and jump over things in my room rather than think 'maybe I should pick this up', for weeks on end.

#12-2 I've started to learn I have to manually set aside blocks of time to clean, in order for my brain to switch into cleaning mode. Once it's there, I'm more liable to notice things and clean, but I still would miss obvious things. I generally require help to clean.

#13 Some folks argue ADHD is a superpower, due to the tendacy to hyperfocus on things sometimes. Yeah, I'm able to hyperfocus when I enter the zone. If left uninterrupted, I can remain in the zone for hours and hours. But to enter the zone requires the stars aligning.

#13-2 Entering the zone requires complete isolation, no possible distraction, no pressing deadlines, no people around, a steady flow of focusing music, and homeostasis. Who has that at work nowadays? I wish I could work at home, where I could change my environment to focus better

#13-3 Hyperfocus is not a superpower, because the tradeoff is all the other shit I have to deal with to get it. Executive dysfunction, time blindness, social cue problems, emotional deregulation, anxiety, these are not appropriate trade-offs.

#14 I have to have something in my hands to fidget with to focus when I'm listening to someone. I tend to use forks, pens, my phone, anything that has a varied texture. Without them, my legs begin fidgeting, i daydream, or otherwise lose focus.

#14-2 people seem to think this means I'm not fully listening, but trust me, if I'm looking directly at you, there's a good chance my hands or toes are moving, else I will completely forget what you said. It's the only way I can control my brain from going off tangent.

#15 So many doctors have told me ADHD is the most well-researched and documented disorder among psychology. If that's the case, why do people have less of a stigma of people with depression or anxiety disorders, and just think that ADHD people aren't trying hard enough?

#15-2 I have burnt myself out trying to act like a normal person for most of my adult life. Endless nights worrying about being behind at work, worrying about what people think of me, how it will affect my future, endless anxiety due to other people having little regard for ADHD.

#15-3 It really is a debilitating disorder somedays, where my phsyical inability to keep myself together cascades into a series of mistakes at work that leaves me fretting all night, and unable to sleep, it rolls into the next day. I have to be aware of myself at all times.

#15-4 Else I will cascade into that recurring pit of failure to cope. It's a constant struggle to stay out of that blue screen of death. I know people don't understand things that don't affect them, but given ADHD's prevalence in the population, higher than most other things....

#16 The only singular 'good' thing that's come from my ADHD is my ability to brainstorm on command. Need an idea? Give me a prompt and wait 5 minutes, I'll heckin have something brainstormed by then. In a problem solving world, this is the sole lifesaving trait bestowed upon me.

#16-2 but even that can be a great hinderance when not properly caged. I find myself daydreaming very often without warning, and that ability for my tangental thought train to chug without any hinderance is a great impediment to my working ability. It's...very hard to control.

#17 I have found that regular exercise, and not eating much sugar, can help me control my ADHD a lot better. It's no cure all, but it helps me to control my energy levels and focus easier. Even 2-3 20 minute sessions a week is enough.

#17-2 Caffeine is sketchy. Taken along with my medicine, it amplifies the side-effects of my medication. No appetite, dry mouth, jiterryness, anxiety, stuttering. Adderall causes these, but caffeine really puts them into overdrive.

#17-3 However, without my medication, if I have caffeine by itself, it helps me to focus. Doesn't turn off the noise in my head or calm me down, but if I'm able to contain my caffeine rush of energy long enough, I can focus in that state.

#17-4 BUT, I've also learned that taking Vitamin C with a couple hours before/after taking Adderall can seriously hamper its ability to work. Which throws a wrench in a lot of things, cause I love foods with Vit C, and have to delay eating or taking my meds due to it sometimes.

#18 Video games are the one thing that can capture my attention and hold it indefinitely. Games like Rimworld, Stellaris hold it to a fault, and I find myself in a funk after playing them for several hours. Apex Legends is very good to hold my focus, and FF14 has as well.

#18-2 Games have always been there as my coping mechasim to calm me down and decrease my anxiety after a long day. Not just a game to me, it's my way to destress. I need them or else I start to go insane.

#19 All the daydreaming from ADHD has lead to me having an inferiority complex when it comes to productivity, because I get all these ideas, but no time or way to complete them, while seeing everyone else do awesome stuf.,..

#20 Short term memory problems suck ya know? I forgot to even check back to see the number of likes here to continue posting despite spending hours doing it already.

#21 The worst part of ADHD is the feeling of letting people down constantly and being unreliable. If I had a dime for every time I felt that way I'd be filthy rich. It's one of the main inhibitors of my social skills.

#22 I've tried many different meds for ADHD, but only the short acting stimulants have worked for me thus far. The combination drugs mess me up, usually by giving me insomnia and extreme irritability. Side effects of my adderall: No appetite, hard to sleep if I take it late,

#22-2 irritation, anxiety. But the benefits outweigh those, being able to at least be at the starting line of productivity, even if I have to get myself the rest of the way, is a godsend.

#23 Even now, laying in bed, I have to perform mental gymnastics to bring myself to a calm state for sleeping. No ADHD medication can help me here, I have to corral the thought stampede on my own to sleep, nightly. I have to do breathing exercises and meditation.

#23-2 or I have to put videos on my phone to fall asleep to. I require a fan to drown out any outside distracting noise, and constantly have to reign in thoughts as they get away from me while trying to slow myself down. If I haven't accomplished this task by 3am, I fail to sleep

#24 Seeing ADHD accounts picking this up is interesting to me, didn't think my little rants about my airheaded life would be that relatable? In my time as a furry, I've met more neurodivergent people than not. If any yall researchers out there want a study group, here we are.

#25 One thing I deal with a lot that seems attributed to ADHD is the intense fear of criticism or negative comments made to me being misinterpreted by my brain to be much much bigger than they should be. Small criticism can ruin my mood for days, brain tangenting back to it lots.

#26 Pressure and deadlines are a double edged sword. The fear of failure is a powerful motivator to get things done for me in incredible bursts of productivity, but at the cost of that stress on my health. I've had to do everything in my power to stop that stress lately.

#26-2 My job is very bad about deadlines, but I need help to do things in step by step over time manner. In college I could put out an A+ paper in three hours the night before it was due. Can't do that with work projects. I need more patient structure at work that I don't get.

#27 I've read that my issues with not naturally feeling sleepy until late in the evening could also possibly be related to a link between ADHD and Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome, where the body's clock wants to sleep from 1-3am to 9-11am, which sucks in the working world.

#27-2 I've tried to sleep earlier and to move my clock back many times to no success. It really hampers my morning most days, cause I don't feel rested after my alarm clock gets me up, and makes me even less productive until after I finally fully awake after lunchtime.

#28 Since this seems to be getting looked at still, I'll continue. Time blindness is a real problem when I'm trying to arrange my day. Even things that I know will take X amount of time, I end up thinking they'll take much less time than they should and thus throw everything off.

#29 I've read alot about 'bullet journals' helping to keep people on track, but in my experience, it only helps when you have access to the book at all times. It takes time to fill out, and you must set aside that required time to fill it out, else it's useless.

#30 The 'work now and get a reward later' method of doing things is very hard to adopt for me. Short term is king, and if I don't actively have the long term goal in my head when doing something, it's impossible to remember I need the pain before the pleasure.

#31 Trying to lock myself out of say, games, before a certain time with software, has proven useless to me, as the moment I become bored, I simply unlock the software for that dopamine hit. Having an accountability partner is the key to this sort of approach.

#32 If I can remember to when I have some free time, someone make me compile a list of the resources I've come across to learn about ADHD. There's so many helpful bloggers, videos, books, and much more informed twitter accounts than me to draw from.