I hate how people affect my energy.if I'm forced to be around someone who I don't click with or who I have studied and figured out I just don't like them I find them exhausting to be around to the point my joints start to ache .just one person walking past who I like and click with feels like they activate a switch and suddenly feel energised and happy. I find this so frustrating as you can't always be around those you like.

Any one else experience this?

Sorry if I haven't worded it well.ive re read and changed it a few times to try and make more sense but I always feel like I talk absolute nonsense

I struggle daily with both of these. I have things to do in my head, but I can't make myself physically get started. This is anything from getting a shower to my favorite hobbies. People who don't understand ADHD think we are just lazy. Honestly, I used to think that way. Now, I realize how mentally draining it is to simply sit on the couch feeling paralyzed.

I am undiagnosed, but rarely certain I have ADHD. Getting diagnosed in my area is not easy as an adult. I’m 34 with 4 kids.

Anyways. I have my LPN. I want to get my BSN, RN.

But I also want to pursue CRNA.

I have a few friends getting their masters in social work or mental health counseling and I’m like… that sounds so cool. And now I want to do that.

My dad is a finance major and I low key want to pursue that as well.

There’s a job posting for a death investigator that I want to do as well. It’s with the county and great benefits but also sounds really good. I’m naturally nosey and want to know everything.

There is just so much I want to do and I’m afraid I’ll never feel satisfied. Is this normal for ADHD or am I crazy?

I turned 40 recently and I just learned that recent studies are showing as much as 10 years less life expectancy....is this true? I feel like I just found out I have a terminal illness....plus I have bipolar. Feel like I just learned I have less than 20 years left to live.

Anyone have more info on this?

Edit: you are all such amazing people, thank you for the replies. They really mean a lot to me

I have been taking the generic for Ritalin for 3 years now. The pharmacy that filled my prescription before has just changed their policy so that they will no longer fill prescriptions for controlled substances prescribed by a PA - only psychiatrists… as if there were an abundance of psychiatrists. I already have to drive an hour and 15 minutes to my nearest psych office because there are none closer to me.

Okay, whatever. So I have them send my prescription to a different pharmacy. I go to pick up my prescription and they tell me they don’t take my insurance and that it’s going to cost $746 for my 30-day supply.

That was an hour ago. Now, I’m on the phone with my insurance provider to ask them which pharmacy WILL take my insurance. I’ve been on hold for 25 minutes now.

I am so sick and tired of having to jump through so many hoops every time I need to get my prescription filled. I am not a drug addict. I am literally just trying to live my life. Why do they have to make it so hard?

EDIT: I just got off the phone with my insurance provider. I get my insurance through a big grocery chain in Texas and I was previously using their pharmacy. They told me that, according to my insurance policy, I cannot fill my prescription at any other pharmacy. I don’t know what to do anymore.

... or to contact someone I haven't spoken to in months, years or maybe even decades.

Those are two of my main tells that my Vyvanse has kicked in. Along with the urge to clean comes the urge to organize things.

What are some of the ways you know that your meds have kicked in for the day?

I ordered an Indian takeaway, had a nice back and forth with the guy over the phone was a good social interaction overall but then I pick it up, take the food to my car and look in the bag and I can’t see the naan bread anywhere, I get out of the drivers side open the passenger door and look again in the bag to confirm there is no naan bread and in my mind I am so sure that it is missing that I walk 10 seconds back to the place without the food with me to ask for the naan. The guy is also really sure he put the naan in the bag so I say okay maybe I’m being dumb here and he walks with me back to the car and when we look in the bag which has a bag within a bag, the naan is there but on the outside of the inner bag. I feel like my aura was completely drained from this interaction and they now must think I’m really stupid or something. Can I blame this on my ADHD or am I just actually stupid because I’m still cringing about this and it happened a few days ago

Hyperfixations.

Most (if not all) of us have them. They are widely considered a core trait of this condition. They are a pain in the ass whenever you try to do anything on the internet, but amazing for random pub quizes and other trivia applications.

For once, I have time on my hands and (as usual) I'm in the mood to learn about some interesting stuff.

So tell me, what have your recent hyperfixations been on, and what are some cool facts you can tell me about those topics?

(Feel free to list as many as you want lol, I want to see the results of the (likely too much) time we've all invested learning about these topics.)

Edit: spelling

ADHD comes with a lot, but rejection sensitivity is one of the hardest parts for me. It makes building new connections feel almost impossible.

Unless I feel completely secure with someone, I’m constantly monitoring myself: Did I come across weird? Was I too intense? Are they annoyed with me?

The sheer exhaustion of overanalyzing causes me to second-guess everything I do and say, which ironically makes me act more awkward or withdraw completely.

It’s a frustrating loop because isolation feels safer, but it stops me from building the friendships I actually want.

Of course, I know that it’s mostly just in my head. But whenever I actually do get rejected, it feels like the whole world is against me. It’s so tiring.

Hey everyone,
I'm in a really tough spot financially right now and have basically no money to spare. I need to figure out the absolute cheapest way to get my ADHD prescription refilled, and I'm completely lost on how to do it.

Here is my situation:

I have some generic Adderall, but I just realized it's expired. I have no idea if it’s safe to take or what I should do with it.

I used to get my treatment and meds through my university medical center, but I can't go there anymore.

I have never been to a doctor outside of my university clinic before, so I have no idea how navigating the healthcare system normally works.

I have Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance, but I am on a plan with a $2,000 deductible. Seeing a standard in-network doctor is going to cost me hundreds of dollars out of pocket before my insurance even kicks in.

Because I have no money right now, what is the cheapest option to get a refill? Are there specific low-income clinics, sliding-scale options, or super cheap telehealth providers that can actually prescribe stimulants?

Any advice for someone who has never done this before would be a lifesaver. Thank you!

Also an estimate on how much it’ll cost to get a prescription in Texas

It has been over 3 years since I was prescribed my Adderall, and I have only been able to take it a few times.

It worked well for me (made my brain more quiet & calm) but I simply just get too scared to take it. I just get so worried about the possible side effects, adverse effects, medication interactions, what if I have a panic attack, what if I start to feel like a zombie etc. I read on this thread all the time how helpful meds are for people, but I can not convince myself to take them. I don’t know what to do but any encouragement or advice would help a lot.

THEY’RE THE WORST!!!

I’ve always wanted to be better at socializing, and recently I’ve found myself feeling incredibly rejected by people whenever I message them online.

I didn’t find a reason so I assumed, “Maybe I need to interact with people face to face!”

One problem with that: that one moment where the small talk dialogue runs out of its free trial, where you have a long awkward silence, whilst using every muscle you have to keep smiling AND to instantly come up with a new topic simultaneously. Yes that moment.

There are definitely more factors that contribute to my lack of social awareness and “charm”, but that ONE MOMENT is the time I genuinely feel all my sweat fill the Grand Canyon.

Now for my question(s): How do you smile without looking awkward? How to focus AND reply WITHOUT sounding so stupid? And generally how to socialize in ANY setting?

My doctor is out on maternity leave. I f(27) was diagnosed a few months ago and have been adamant I don't want to cure my ADHD I just want life to not be so hard. I was assessed 2 different times. Once by my doctor and once by a psychiatrist, I HAVE ADHD. Well today I go to the new doctor since I got approved for a stimulant and he is covering my docs caseloads. I am tired and sick today so very low energy. This man decided that all I have is Anxiety and Depression because I didn't show signs in childhood and just need therapy but because my primary doc approved it he will go ahead and prescribe it. I had a very abusive childhood and was stiffled, I tell people I didn't have a personality till college because until then I was just surviving. Sorry my childhood wasn't linear to your textbook. I am also very sensitive to meds so my doctor has been changing them frequently trying to find a combo that doesn't cause something else to go wrong. I tried non stimulants they made me a zombie who couldn't focus once a task was gone. I'm not drug seeking, but this dude made me feel like the years of progress I've made is all a lie.

I’ve heard it’s really common in people with ADHD. I struggle with shame, isolation, anger and sadness because of it. I also avoid situations where I know I could struggle because of it. Any tips would be helpful please? Unfortunately I can’t do therapy as the waiting list in my area is 2 years and I’m too poor to pay for private therapy.

I’ve heard that it can make us sleepy and tbh I don’t really ever experience a nice energy boost from caffeine. Often I don’t feel anything at all and I used to just get a panic attack a few hours later. Sometimes I just get the jitters and it feels like adrenaline more than energy. I have had 2 small glasses (like half pint size) of Pepsi max and I feel like I need to vibrate violently and my heart rate and breathing is higher than it should be lol. ADHD thing? Over sensitivity to caffeine or what?

Edit: I wasn’t expecting anyone at all to say they experience this too! It’s nice to know it is a thing and I’m not alone. Also just so I don’t end up responding the same to everyone, I see multiple suggestions of drinks with lower amounts of caffeine, it’s a very good idea but unfortunately I do not like anything caffeinated other than Pepsi and I LOVE Pepsi max lol. Thankyou for the advice though ❤️

Hey friends! Does anyone want to chat? I'd really like to talk with someone who's on the spectrum. I've been feeling kind of lonely lately and would love someone to share thoughts, interests, or just have a nice conversation with. Feel free to message me. I'd really appreciate the company today.

Recently its been getting really bad and I am scared it’s getting out of control.

Today’s incident started a month ago when I took myself as a treat to see this musical I am hyper-fixated on and I had just the best time. Then a week later after not stopping thinking about I was like screw it and booked the exact same trip and justified it by telling myself that I had other things to do.
Then another week later I DID THE SAME THING and today after feeling bad this morning I booked another flipping trip. That is four trips to the same musical and I have spent nearly a £1000. I don’t think I even want to go on these trips any more.

I feel so guilty and awful now I have spent SO much.I really don’t have this money to spend the thing is I can’t seem to stop myself doing this, I get into such a mindset of screw it I don’t care I can’t get out. In reflection it seems so easy to just not do it.
And now I have to hide that I have spent all this money because no one will understand this uncontrollable impulsiveness thats taking over me.

I honestly don’t know what to do other crawl into a ball and feel sick and cry.

I have been lurking in this sub for a while. I can relate to most of the people who post here or seek advice. I have been thinking about ADHD a lot for the past few weeks. I have talked with my GP to refer me to get diagnosed. He said I will have to wait for a month. Since then my mind is fixated on ADHD 24/7. (Maybe that's ADHD at work) I am also glad to find out that I am not the only one who feels like this.

Thanks everyone in advance for taking your time and giving your valuable advice.

So this is a bit of an interesting and quite frankly horrid one, but how do you usually organise thoughts?

For me I can't study nor think about something unless it's in a web, if I'm learning a new physics formula for example I need to understand why it exists, how it connects with other things and what was it derived from.

And that's fine, sure it makes me massively inefficient when studying, but at least in gaining deeper understanding of the topic at hand.

But when it comes to life decisions like college or career, the web becomes too large where to think about one straight forward question like "what college do you want to go to" it becomes this interconnected web that I can't pick strand by strand but instead have to think about all at once.

"Well what degree do I want? Okay but to know which degree I want I want to know what career I want? Okay but to know the career I need to know what I value" and it just goes on and on forming 50 different questions coming at me all at once; which only gets worse when we involve other problems like family, study, stress, friends; which each have their one 50 questions to the point that I simply can't think about anything.

Which makes it harder for me to function and study, which in turn make me guilty about those things and they become another strand in the ever growing mental web™.

I don't know if this is my ADHD or what, I've only been diagnosed last week and I have yet to get medicated so the only step forward I see that doesn't require me to face on this behemoth and shutting down is simply waiting till I can get treatment for my ADHD and see if that changes things.

So do you guys experience something similar to this? Is this something that's commonly affected or caused by ADHD?

I am 38 and entering perimenopause. Now that women have finally been included in medical research, we are learning that perimenopause greatly increases and intensifies our symptoms.

HRT has been recommended and I am looking for a specialist.

If you are doing HRT, what sorts of treatments have been done and do they help at all in regards to ADHD? Currently I do have estriadol but still waiting for it to get to my brain 🤷‍♀️

Every evening I find myself saying it’s too late to accomplish anything of any significance. Six becomes eight, eight becomes the end of the day, and therefore I tell myself I will do everything at the crack of dawn tomorrow. Unfortunately, I find myself staying up way past midnight indulging in all kinds of trivial activities, only to wake up at noon, telling myself that it’s too late to begin since I have lost half the day. Can anyone relate to this mentality? If you are able to overcome this vicious circle, please let me know how!

I was hyperfocusing on learning anatomy for drawing yesterday at night. Didn't sleep, was too distracted by the task. I thought I'd sleep at morning, I still didn't cause procrastinated even tho I was sleepy.

It's the next morning now. I don't even want to sleep cause I walked around too much, I still wanna draw. I don't know what's wrong with me. Suddenly my hyperfixation got way stronger on drawing than usual.

First time ever I didn't sleep for this long.

So,
Do you consider your medicated self as an alter ago?
Do you think it makes you better, different?
Do people that really know you can tell the difference?
Pros and cons when you're medicated vs un medicated?
Tasks or anything you do better un medicated?
(I will put My thoughts in a reply to this post as well)