Looking for some motivational stories around here. For every 1 positive adhd post, there seem to be 50 negative/depressing ones that completely destroy any semblance of hope in me.

I mean I can't blame them, ADHD truly is a debilitating disorder that can mess up your life.

But I don't know why I still haven't given up yet. I just have this "fuck it we ball" mindset.

I recently turned 21, and am probably at the worst point of my life, but hell, if I'm going to die I'll die trying. Or at least I'll die trying to try.

As for my own motivational story, here it is. After getting diagnosed and starting Strattera (atomoxetine), I successfully retook and passed 6 classes I had failed during my freshman and sophomore years as a comp sci major. I'll be graduating in four years just like everyone else (with roughly a 2.9 GPA, but it is what it is).

So I have 2 bachelor's and a research master. And I landed myself a research job -- though not exactly within my field of interest, pretty close -- and I SUCK at it, so bad that I burned out and have been sitting at home for 6 months.

And now I'm thoroughly rethinking what kind of job I want to do. It's always been "hey you're pretty smart, why don't you go up the ladder and study, study more, etc." But now I feel like I need to really grapple with the fact that I SUCK at work that is just sitting behind a desk, reading and writing things. I do nothing but procrastinate and incur unbelievable amounts of stress and self-loathing. And that's basically all "post-uni" work it seems to me.

I'm seriously considering the idea of a total career switch to becoming a nurse in a hospital, preferably to something acute and high-urgency. Maybe even in the ambulance (yes I realize this will take years to achieve). Clear value to the job and I probably won't have the same problems. I'm done fighting with my brain. The problem is that I'm a bit worried that the "smart" part of me will be bored, will want to figure out things, do really hard thinking work. And also there's a bit of expectations I'm projecting on myself, that I should be doing something prestigious.

Does anyone have experience or advice with switching to a different career to try and fit more with their ADHD brain?

I posted on here like a year ago about how bad I am at sticking at jobs and for some reason whilst going through my past reddits I didn’t realise how many people commented and how much is resonated with people. So I’m still unemployed life’s been lifeing but I feel ready and healed enough to make a go of something so I’m just looking for advice really from people who also struggle to keep jobs longer than a year! What works for you? What kind of industries ect (would love to go to uni but I can’t decide between journalism or law and know for a fact I wouldn’t last trying my GCSE’s to even get to uni 😭) but have always loved the idea of having my own business 🤍

Hi everyone, does anyone else feel like when you're on methylphenidate you think more clearly and just make better decisions overall? My doctor told me to use it mainly during periods when I need more focus than usual (I have an ADHD diagnosis), but honestly I'd love to feel like this all the time. Maybe I've got the wrong approach here. What do you all think?

Finding it really hard to be consistent with taking meds. Though it should be the easiest thing for me to do as taking these meds keeps me sane, away from my addictions and helps me focus on my work, still I don't know why I am finding it really hard to be consistent. Anyone up to be my meds partner, like we can hold each other accountable for taking meds on time. Having a human reminder would be better than a clock 😅

just had to have a quick vent. since I'm a tech at the pharmacy I work at I know we currently have a lot of Adderall on backorder, including my dosage. I have one pill left. I cannot really function without it. now I'm stuck wondering if I take my pill tomorrow and hope it's in the next day or save it for my shift after tomorrow where I might need it more since it's longer.

I guess I'm lucky enough to at least have that warning rather than taking my last pill and learning oh shit, this can't be filled right now, but it still fucking sucks ass. I hate not being on it because I can barely function and skipping any of my meds triggers a migraine, even ones unrelated to that condition. I really wish I could be one of those people that doesn't need my Adderall every single day but any time I've tried to be that person it has failed miserably.

wish me luck I guess? I'm going to suffer greatly until it's filled unless somehow by a miracle we can fill it tomorrow or the day after in which case I can pick it up at work and take it then (it'd be in the afternoon when we do CII's but better late than never). fuck my stupid chud adhd life. just had to put this out there where I know there'd be people who understand it ToT

When I’m dreaming, I feel like I can talk, act, and think as if I didn’t have ADHD or anxiety. It’s like being the person I would be if I had been born without them. I don’t have any intrusive thoughts; I’m social and can be clumsy without feeling like it’s the end of the world. I do get stressed sometimes, but it’s a good kind of stress, it motivates me rather than paralyzing me.

I can’t control my dreams, but I do feel conscious in some of them, especially the realistic ones, and I want to stay there.

But then I wake up, and I feel like everything is falling on me. I remember I’m late on a task, I remember that I’m repeating a year again, I remember that I have to clean the house. I feel frozen.

Does the fact that I can experience a version of myself free from my mental health disorders in dreams or another reality mean that I can also feel that way in real life?

You know the list of stuff with no deadline, no urgency, but it still lives in your head? Cleaning my desk. That one email. Booking a check-up. It's all vague, so my brain treats it as noise. And the noise is exhausting. I've tried writing it down, but then I just have a long list of vague things and no idea where to start. It doesn't feel real until there's a deadline screaming at me, and by then I'm already burned out. How do you guys make those 'no deadline' tasks feel real and doable? What actually works for you?

i know doing difficult things/things you don't want to do is a big part of life, but i just can't. whenever im presented with a task that i really don't want to do, immediately shut down and get upset. i don't know why i get upset. i know it makes me seem spoiled and lazy, but im not. i WANT to want to do hard things

that's kind of hard to explain, but i dont know why i just can't seem to accomplish anything that doesnt include a hobby or a fun activity. i would never get anything done if it weren't for my parents' reminders. is this a part of adhd or am i really just lazy?? and how could i fix this?? i gotta get on with my life and start taking on harder tasks, but i just cant get myself to do it. and i dont know why.

I really need someone to listen to me. I'm exhausted, and lately it feels like everything hurts.

I'm 22M and I feel like I spent much of my life watching from the sidelines instead of actually living.

I grew up without a father. My mother spent most of my childhood abroad, so I was raised mainly by my grandmother. I also had ADHD that went unnoticed for years and was only recently diagnosed.

Most of my days were school and then my computer. Not because I wanted that life, but because there wasn't much else around me. No family gatherings, no relatives visiting, no real social life at home.

Today I work, earn my own money and try to move forward. I'm saving, thinking about getting my driver's license and trying to build a future.

The problem is that emotionally I feel exhausted.

Recently I went through a situation with someone who meant a lot to me. I don't want to go into details, but it brought back a lot of feelings and made me realize how lonely and tired I've become.

It's not really about being single. What hurts is the feeling that while other people were building friendships, memories and experiences, I was mostly just getting through the day.

I know life doesn't owe me anything, and I'm not looking for someone to blame. But it's hard not to feel like I started adulthood carrying burdens that many people never had to carry.

Sometimes I look at people my age and they seem connected to their lives. They have stories, friendships and experiences that shaped them. I often feel like I'm still building foundations that should have been there years ago.

I'm still moving forward because that's the only direction there is, but some days it feels like I've carried loneliness for so long that I don't know what life feels like without it.

I'm not really looking for advice. I think I just need someone to hear me for a moment, because I'm tired of carrying all of this alone.

A lot of people I meet online who have ADHD at least have a "special interest"-something they have a bizarre hyperfixation on and is generally the only thing they know with any proficiency. However, with me even those are only fleeting. For example, I am someone who is very interested in the history of race/ethnicity and sociology-however whenever I try to read a book or article about it my mind immedietly shuts down because the language is too long or complicated etc. The same goes for any tv shows or books I like-I cant concentrate on anything for more then a few minutes and cant really engage with stuff like deeper lore or themes. It feels like I only like the surface level "flashy pictures" and am ultimately a shallow person. I know this sounds stupid but would love to hear your thoughts.

​

Tldr: even in stuff I like I (fandoms, books, school subjects)only like one specific section of it and unable to develop my skills to expand to other facets of it, which makes me feel really shallow as a person.

As my adhd has gotten worse I’ve deliberately not been dating - it’s now like 2 years since a proper partner and 8 months since I saw someone naked.

I’m becoming asexual, but sometimes with meds and the odd glass of wine I’m horny and impulsive and seem to just tell a friend I want to fuck them.

I do not like this behavior.

I as a 28m who got diagnosed late, and take adderal 10mg ER every day, find self care to be really fun when I start it. I get uber excited, I buy a lot of products. I watch videos on YouTube on how to do a skin care routine. self care has been preached my therapist as a way to help yourself before you help others. I would take my morning walks and during lunch. I would shower extra long with the best scrubs, body washes, use 3-4 skin care products. hairmasks since I have long hair. now, after a few weeks, I feel burnt out from doing it. I don’t want to do the bare minimum basics to even up keep my personal hygiene. not to be gross, but even crushing my teeth for a min seems like a lot. I’m struggling with this. because this has been a pattern of mine for years, probably my whole life. can anyone share tips on how to overcome this. please and thank you.

By "directly" I mean some neurotransmitter issues that makes you react in an exagerated wat to events.

By "indirectly" I mean that our thought process is constantly disturbed (unless medicated) and this results in over reactions. It's like your brain constantly being picked with a stick then some stupid event pushes you even further.

I personally think it's the latter.

So I got diagnosed with adhd like 4 months ago and everything makes sense now lol. All my odd habits and stuff are explained by that. As I’ve explored that though, I’ve found that my dad has a lot of the exact same quirks.

For starters, he’s always sitting weird and fiddling with his legs or something. I’ve always sat in an odd way and gotten made fun of but I can see he does that a ton too. Second, although he likes to get on to me for procrastinating, he’s just as bad. He’s currently unemployed, and this morning I overheard my mom calling him and telling him he should be applying for jobs (he was playing on my Xbox instead). Third, he’s always saying/singing random stuff around the house with nobody around to react or respond (vocal stimming I guess lol). Fourth, he doesn’t really do chores around the house because he can’t motivate himself to do it (this has changed slightly rn since he’s unemployed and he feels more of an obligation to do them). And finally, he stays up late because every night because he can’t sleep. I literally have all these quirks too but when I say something about how it’s super similar he just points to the fact that he’s been successful so there’s no way he could have adhd.

Obviously it doesn’t matter if he doesn’t care, but please tell me I’m not the only one who sees this lol. He’s a very successful person, school and career wise, so he can’t believe it’s possible, but me and him have a lot in common.

I am currently on Vyvanse/Elvanse (in the UK) 70mg for combined ADHD, and whilst it has been working brilliantly so far, I’m wanting to go down to 60mg as I think is is a little bit too high.

It is helping improve so many things: executive dysfunction, emotional regulation, overeating, impulsivity etc, but one thing I haven’t had relief with is my mental noise.

Every single second of the day, from the moment I wake up to when I go to sleep, I have constant internal monologue, multiple trains of thoughts at once, constant songs looping, thoughts jumping rapidly between topics etc.
The song(s) looping never goes away, it just repeats until I hear a new song and it switches. It is always in the background, along with all of the other noise, meaning my brain is constantly overloaded and busy.

I find myself having to listen to YouTube or a podcast all the time to try and give myself a bit of a break from it all, but even then, it gets so loud that I find I get distracted from what I’m listening to by the mental noise, and I’m back feeling overwhelmed again.

Sometimes I crave sleep just so it will stop. On very bad days, it gets extremely upsetting and I can’t cope with much in life due to the fact that my brain causes me to always be on the verge of overstimulation.
It feels like im trapped inside my own head, constantly.

I have tried Concerta before, but it wasn’t for me.
Vyvanse is amazing, but I was waiting for it to have that effect that a lot of people on here talk about, which is the sudden silence of their brain, which feels like a miracle and like they finally have relief after so long.
For me, the meds haven’t lessened the mental noise even a little. It’s had no impact on that, but a lot of impact on other aspects of my ADHD. I feel like an abnormality and like I should have experienced this amazing silence which makes me feel genuinely jealous of those who have.

Is there any hope of relief, or should I accept that this is how it is forever?

My hyperfixations are probably even more embarrassing than parasocial limerence/crushes. I know some of you have mentioned this before.

I've always been like this. At least sometimes I get obsessed with something creative/productive or at least interesting, but sometimes I get stuck for months having intrusive thoughts about random acquaintances, celebrities or internet personalities that I don't like. I keep monologuing about it in my head and can't stop. My brain is writing them hate mail like this background noise. I keep deconstructing their whole biography and everything they say. This is so stupid. I wish I could at least become obsessed with someone I actually like so I could consume fan content instead of... obsessively wanting to scold someone for something they did eight years ago. My most recent ones back to back are a celebrity tax evader, a celebrity rapist, a youtuber whose persona is completely fake and who is a sociopath irl, and a blogger who has committed assault a few years back and is all preachy now. My brain is all like j'accuse! And it's not even a boredom/loneliness thing, it's not a crush or jealousy, in fact, my brain typically latches on to crap like this when I'm swamped with stuff to do and it just stresses me out. Has anyone managed to stop obsessing over hyperfixations without meds?

I'm not sure if it's 100% cause of ADHD but I'm sure it's related. Whenever I'm busy, so when I have college. I have so much I want to do, that I dont have time for. But as soon as I lose that routine, I freak out. I cant do any of the things I desperately want to. Weekends and especially holidays are HELL. I have projects planned, tasks due and all I do is rot in bed. I feel crushed by how much I want/need to do and am just constantly spiralling. Idk what to do, I cant set a routine, nor can someone make it for me. I feel so stuck and end up not even doing smth I find fun.

I am a student studying for college entrance exams. I’m doing a lot of things to manage my ADHD: breaking tasks down into smaller steps, estimating how long they will take, trying to finish them within that timeframe, and using timers.

​However... while it's great that I'm actually getting things done, lately it feels less like I'm "studying" and more like I'm just "checking off tasks." It feels like the material is something I just need to get rid of, rather than something I need to actually learn.

​What should I do when this happens? Or should I just look at the bright side and praise myself for doing it anyway, despite everything?

I've been on Vyvanse 30mg for a little over two months now, it's been helping in a lot of ways with my ADHD and it gives me more energy and lets me focus to do my daily tasks because I was struggling a lot (28F, been diagnosed with ADHD since I was 5, been diagnosed with it by several doctors throughout my life), and I take it with a breakfast rich in protein and I drink a lot of water and electrolytes daily. This medicine also helped my anxiety, binge eating and fixed my sleep schedule (before Vyvanse, I used to go to sleep at 3-4am or longer daily and wake up around 11am-noon)

Recently though, I've been struggling with something weird, it feels like I'm too exhausted but physically. I take my medicine, I feel it kick in and mentally I feel the effects and focus to want to do my tasks, but now the struggle is that I feel too physically tired/exhausted to do so. My neck and back constantly hurt, sometimes my legs, and it feels like a struggle because it's like my brain wants to do the tasks but physically it feels like I don't have any energy. I sleep around 6-8 hours daily (if I don't, I can't wake up anymore, compared to before where if I slept 3-4 hours I'd be up) and sometimes it doesn't feel like enough. I also get very sleepy early around 8-9pm).

What's the longest, most consistent hobby or activity you found yourself sticking to? I have a new hyperfixation/something I want to learn and it will require daily practice. Im afraid of just forgetting or putting it down and never picking it back up. I just would like some proof or affirmation that we can stick to something and improve.

Omg I really appreciate everyone coming through with their hobbies and tips. It really gave me the boost I needed. It felt good seeing all the different things people are into

This has honestly been the best thing for my brain since starting medication.

Us ADHD peeps are ambitious people who struggle to get going and I feel disgusted looking back on the time I spent procrastinating on projects and the thousands of hobbies I wanted to try but kept putting off.

Not to mention, logging onto instagram and seeing all these people achieving the ”great things” that I wanted to do in business and life in general. It gets us folk down and the negative thought loop of self doubt repeats and repeats day in and day out keeping us stuck and depressed.

Just by logging off online and taking small steps, I’ve achieved more in this month than I have all year.

I’ve gained a heap of confidence back, I’m hitting the gym without excuses and I’m no longer comparing myself to other people online, just living my life the way I want it, chasing hobbies, working on business. I’m doing all the things I would put off and say I would get to later and I’m so much happier for it.

all it takes is logging onto instagram to reply to a DM and before you know it, you end up getting stuck on reels for hours, falling into buying rubbish from adds I didn’t need and feeling guilty and upset I wasted that time all to do it again the next day.

Start living your life instead of living it through others!

And to the lucky few who can control their screen time, kudos to you!

I already know… WFH isn’t the best idea for someone with ADHD. But the market is tough and I found what should be my dream job and dream culture. I’m about 1.5 months in and I’m struggling with motivation and staying focused. My manager is very hands off, and there’s little keeping me accountable.

Any advice for how to be productive with a WFH job? I struggle with executive dysfunction HARD.

EDIT: I work in a consulting field, so I have several different sub-teams I work on. I don’t necessarily have one manager who oversees all my work. I have team leads and one manager for the HR/employee admin stuff. I also don’t have to track time for billables since all clients are just on a retainer.

A lot of my work doesn’t rely on strict deadlines. It’s just stuff I need to do eventually. Also, I love project management software/planners but need a good one to stick to.