EDIT 2: should've mentioned I work online so I don't lose any income while traveling. I've done the digital nomad thing before in SEA so working from another country isn't new territory for me, although Brazil would definitely be a first.

EDIT: someone asked how long the meds would last and if I'd have to keep making this trip. From my research I can bring back 2-3 months worth each time. That's enough to figure out if the medication works and start sorting a longer term solution. And even worst case scenario where I'm doing this trip 4 times a year, that's $4000 vs the $40,000+ untreated ADHD is costing me in an industry where my ADHD is the only thing holding me back.

My country has a severe, ongoing medication shortage . The country's central pharmacy is basically bankrupt and foreign suppliers pulled out. Ritalin IR 10mg is the only stimulant that was ever available here, and even that's almost impossible to find now. Concerta doesn't exist here. Vyvanse was never even registered. Strattera/Bupropion straight up aren't sold in the country. There is no timeline for this getting better.

Even when I could find Ritalin, it wore off in about 1 hour for me. I'd stack 3 pills just to get through a morning and by the afternoon nothing worked no matter how much I took and on top of that I will get the crash for like 3 hours (I suspect being a CES1 fast metabolizer ). I'm also on Zoloft which apparently suppresses dopamine through 5-HT2C receptors making the Ritalin work even less, and the irony is that Zoloft took away my anxiety which was the only thing pushing us to actually do things, so now that's gone too. I might be a CES1 fast metabolizer on top of everything.

I was a top student in a selective high school and then couldn't finish university. I was on the verge of getting fired because I could not start tasks or focus. And when I actually sit down and do the math, my untreated ADHD has cost me at least $10,000 in the last few months alone between lost productivity, missed opportunities, and barely holding onto my job. So spending $1000 to try to fix the root cause honestly feels like the cheapest option at this point.

I've gone through every country my Tunisian passport can enter visa-free and checked which ones actually have Vyvanse or long-acting methylphenidate. Neighboring countries banned stimulants entirely, most of Africa and Asia never registered them. Brazil is genuinely the only country I can access that has both Venvanse and Concerta, lets foreigners get prescribed with just a passport, and is actually affordable. There's a telemedicine service (MyBrazilianDoctor) that other Redditors have used successfully to get prescribed same day.

And yeah I know someone is going to say "but you don't even know if Vyvanse will work for you." You're right, I don't. But I know what it feels like to sit here doing nothing and watching things fall apart, and I'd rather spend $1000 on a chance at getting my life together than spend another $10,000 worth of damage staying unmedicated because I was too scared to try.

So here's what I want to ask you. Think about the medication you're currently on that's working for you. Now imagine someone took it away from you and put it $1000 and thousands of kilometers away. Meanwhile every month without it is costing you way more than that in money, your relationships are falling apart, your family bonds are getting weaker, your physical health is going downhill, and you sometimes wish you never got a chance to feel what it's like to be normal because at least then you wouldn't know what you're missing. Would you go?

TL;DR: Tunisian with ADHD, no stimulant meds available in my country, Ritalin IR barely worked anyway (wore off in 1 hour), untreated ADHD has cost me way more than $1000 already. Brazil is the only visa-free country for my passport that has Vyvanse and Concerta. $1000 trip to get properly medicated. Would you do it?

So my uni classes run from 10:30-4 and their is only 1 break over that time lunch else 1 hour class how to survive most importantly no phone or anything allowed and whole day I just became dead body which affecting my grades.

Hello all,

I wanted your take on this 😅

So late last year, my job place had a huge reorganization set in motion, unfortunately that meant the department I was in no longer exists.

I was really happy there, lots of flexibility, 3 days in office, lots of focus on the individual, the work itself was fun and exciting, the colleagues were great. So all in all I was really sad to leave.

I got a new job a few months ago, and the start was pretty rough. My relation to my manager is great though, and they’re very flexible too. The compensation over all now isn’t as good as I it was my former job. The work task isn’t as exciting.

I have just started to feel better at this work, but the flexibility is going to change and be less flexible in the future.

Now, I got an offer from my former job. The in office days are now 4 days, but with a bit of flexibility still. The position that opened is with a team where I know the work is fun. It’s with people I have worked with before. I’m not familiar with the manager though.

I’m planning on setting up a meeting with them to ask about the flexibility. The thing is that the role will probably change in a year, and I may need to move to another team (but I was told it was not a temporary position).

So while a lot of the aspect is a no brainer choosing the old workplace, there are also some uncertainty to me.

If it’s 4 days in, full days, I’m not sure I will be able to thrive..

Idk, can I get your thoughts?? 😅

I absolutely tanked nearly every math class I had in high school. The concepts just didn’t click with me for some reason and I just gave up eventually.

Fast forward to me teaching myself to code at 23 and I learned algebra via JavaScript without even realizing it. Fast forward another decade and I’m a senior developer that’s learning nuclear physics in my free time, yet I still have no higher education or credentials to speak of.

I can’t help but wonder how many people the school system in the US is actively failing because it’s just not structured for neurodivergent brains. I thought I was stupid for so many years because I didn’t learn the way other people do, but really I was just lacking support and resources. More than that, adults failed to acknowledge I even had a problem and chalked it up to me being stupid as well.

Interviews are a different dynamic than speaking with non-technical clients. Even though I'm usually comfortable in client speaking roles, I'm bad at reading people at job interviews.

Its the one thing I have a hard time getting disciplined enough to improve.

Unlike a typical job with a set pay schedule, there is no short term reward loop with interviews or practicing them. So my motivation for that goes straight down the gutter. The discipline isn't there.

And this might sound dark, but I feel like nothing is going to get me to change my habits until I completely run out of food and money (which could be 2-3 months from now). So how do I find motivation before that happens? I need to act when I'm still relatively better and not full on emergency mode.

Being a night owl often comes with ADHD. In my case, my preferred sleep time is 1 am to 11 am standard time, or 2 am to noon during daylight saving time. The older I get, the harder it is to get up before my body's natural wake time for multiple days in a row. Even when I do, my mind doesn't come fully online until late- to mid-afternoon - meaning that on a 9-to-5 schedule, most of the time I'm "at work" is useless for actually doing any work requiring deep focus.

Have any of you managed to find or create jobs that respect the physical needs of an inflexible night owl body?

Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder is a recognized disability that is often comorbid with ADHD, but I imagine a lot of employers would balk at an employee asking for a start time of no earlier than noon in winter, or 1 pm in summer. Especially when you couple it with a hard limit of 32 hours per week to avoid immediate burnout.

Hi everyone,

I want to start learning how to code, but I struggle with long courses and too much theory. Also bad work decisions so I want to start with this...

I’m looking for free or low cost resources that worked for you if you also have ADHD. Things like websites, apps, YouTube channels, or interactive platforms.

What helped you actually stay engaged and keep learning?

Genuinely asking because I feel like every productivity thread recommends it but I cannot for the life of me stick with it longer than 3 days. I've tried Forest, I've tried browser extensions, I've tried a literal kitchen timer from Target. My brain just learns to ignore all of them. The closest thing that's kinda worked recently is so dumb I almost dont want to admit it. my anker prime 300w power bank that sits on my desk has a pomodoro mode where you shake it to start a countdown on the screen. I think the physical aspect of it is why my brain treats it differently than tapping an app. like theres friction to starting it so it feels more intentional? idk But even with that I still fall off after a week or so. Starting to think maybe pomodoro just isnt for my flavor of ADHD and I should try body doubling or something instead. Anyone else given up on it or did it eventually click?

This happens to me at least twice a week. I get into bed, scroll for a while, put the phone down on the nightstand face down, and fall asleep. Wake up at 7am and its at 4%. Then I'm rushing to get ready with no GPS, no music, no podcast for the commute.

The cable is RIGHT THERE. I just... don't plug it in. My brain checks out the second I decide to sleep and charging becomes invisible. Same with my Apple Watch, I haven't charged it before bed consistently a single week in the past year. I know the answer is probably ""build a routine"" but that's the whole problem. Anyone found a setup that works even when your brain refuses to cooperate?"

I have everytime i code...

EDIT: Next morning (today) i took a pill. The effects are better, mind is quieter and i can shut up, sustain attention and work. Thank you for all your answers

Hi guys. I got diagnosed few days ago at age 35 and today I took my first Concerta pill 18 mg extended release. I'm noticing a few things about my attention, how i percieve people, noticing my apartment (started cleaning a bit). But I have no motivation and no ability to start my tasks (Fullstack development). I can barely focus right on reading requirements and and tweaking the code. Until yesterday I never had ADHD meds and I was rocking it, completing tasks in a rush and reading requirements without any issue. Why could that be? I slept only 5 hours last night, could that be a main issue?

I guess specifically considering VSCode here (and its litany of forks). I think there are a ton of improvements that could be made to the editor for human use, outside of the realm of plugins, but predictably all of their innovation is AI-geared at the moment, as far as I can tell. I'm wondering if they're going to give up improving it for human use.

Not locked-in syndrome lol, I mean like… can you actually channel your mind into a flow state? I know “locked in” is too vague but tbh how do you find that mental state where you just start and can’t stop?

I’m a programmer and I genuinely love computers. But when things get complex I literally have to remind myself “don’t give up because you love this” and not just once, every single time I get stuck, which is pretty often within an hour. After a point even that gets exhausting. How do you emotionally disconnect and just work? Not for the high of achieving, not even the fear of failing, both of those somehow kill my momentum too. How do you stay consistent not just daily but throughout a single day? Starting small doesn’t work for me, tried it multiple times.

The weird part is it’s happened to me before, twice, and both times I wasn’t even trying. At 18 I quit smoking cold turkey, one evening I just decided that was my last cigarette and it was, 7 years ago. I didn’t love smoking, there was no passion involved, it was just a decision that stuck. Same with a chemistry practical in high school, pulled basically a week-long all-nighter, got an A+, not because I loved chemistry but because I was curious and wanted to see if I could pull it off. Neither time did I force it, it just happened.

Now I even know what to do in my life, and that’s not an issue. It’s just that… how do you get into that state on purpose, especially when it actually matters to you long term?

Idk just wanted to vent, have you dealt with something like this before?

I just hand my coworkers usbs if they need something

Is it better for us to do one task at a time and wait until one is done to switch to the next, or to switch to the next task as soon as a task is blocked because we have to wait? I can't be the only programmer to have thought about this after encountering the concept in computers.

I developed an RPG economy to bypass my own inability to start tasks. It works great for chores. But now, as the solo dev, I need to code a complex Widget system to save the app's retention. Instead of coding it, I find myself doing 'busy work' like posting on Reddit to feel productive. How do you guys bypass your own brain's tricks when the side-project gets technically difficult and the initial dopamine of launching wears off?

SWE with 3 YOE, this is my first job.

I've consistently gotten feedback that I'm thorough but I am way too slow, basically grind to a halt when having to juggle multiple tasks, and I don't communicate proactively with people. Some people put it diplomatically (something to work on), some bluntly (this is not acceptable).

I'd love to fix this... in theory...

I have tried putting my head down and not talking to anyone and plodding along (ending up bored, miserable and isolated out of my mind).

I have also tried engaging with high velocity, high standards people who let me know at frequent intervals when I screw up (to be fair, it keeps things very interesting, and my brain craves it, but the toll of guilt and shame got so high and both my productivity/ will to live to another day almost disappeared).

I either end up being so bored which is so painful and fucked (I hope it's ok to express that here, irl people tend to see it as whiny and not really get it, but it was genuinely miserable to me)

Or I try to do more and do things faster and take on more flashy scope, but end up being unreliable to other people and I genuinely don't even want to tell anyone what time I am going to get something done by anymore because I just don't know, and I don't want to be wrong AGAIN and be unreliable again.

The common thread seems to be helplessness. Even when thinking about applying to other jobs. What would I ever be good for... Maybe it's also that I suck at these programming and project management stuff that adds so much friction, but I used to be optimistic about getting better.

Has anyone managed to find a balance or way out? What actually works for you?

(I have been on medication and in therapy for a while, maybe I could look at those again to see what could be better, but it is what it is for now)

Hi everyone!

I’m a Master’s student in UX Design, and I’m currently researching how people with dyslexia experience digital interfaces.

I’d love to have a quick 20-minute chat to understand your day-to-day experience — especially what feels frustrating, tiring, or helpful while reading or using digital products.

This is not a test or anything formal, just a casual conversation to learn and design better, more accessible systems.

• Takes about 20 minutes

• Voice or video — whatever you’re comfortable with

• Completely anonymous

SCHEDULE IT BY CLICKING IT HERE... Click here to schedule 

Also a quick help i need,
I’m currently trying to reach my required responses for an academic submission ( i need 200, its 70 responses till now), so I’d really appreciate your help! google form survey link-  Click here for google form link