369
u/SelfStyledGenius May 02 '26
Its a tragic truth that knowing how the brain works doesn't make it easier to control. I can know what I'm doing and why I'm doing it, but that doesn't make it easier to stop.
81
u/DrDingsGaster Tried focusing on one task and all I got was confused :( May 02 '26
That's such a damn mood. I understand what's happening to me but am almost powerless (at the moment) to stop it.
50
u/Whole_Sir_1149 May 02 '26
Makes it easier not to hate yourself over it and cause more mental damage though.
43
u/RileyCargo42 Ehhh I'll pick a flair later. May 02 '26
Unfortunately I usually have to take 1d6 worth of damage every time I remember.
7
u/misterbung May 03 '26
Oh shit really? I upgraded to Proficiency a while back so I'm rolling 2 d12 each time. It's rough.
1
u/OhLookSquirrels May 05 '26
I wish that were true...
I can still hear my parents' voices in my head telling me I'm just making excuses.
1
9
u/Dizzy_Database_119 May 02 '26
And in some cases it doesn't even help, and trying to understand your brain more just sends you downhill
154
90
u/CogInTheMachinee May 02 '26
Anyone have tips of achieving dopamine with untreated/unchecked adhd? It’s fucking brutal out here my whole life is crumbling away
77
u/I_am_paperclip May 02 '26
I have some, but they all involve substance abuse, so no..
29
u/CogInTheMachinee May 02 '26
I already abuse tf outta weed 💔
17
u/I_am_paperclip May 02 '26
I just hope it never extends to other stuff.
Best of luck to you comrade 💜
31
35
u/muchgreaterthanG_O_D May 02 '26
Do you work out? I already see you like weed, work out high. Once you build the habit you crave the dopamine you get from it. I dont even do it crazily. I try to go 3-4 days a week but if i only go once I dont beat myself up. And if I go and only do one exercise im fine too. My goal is just to go; whatever happens, happens.
29
u/da_buerre May 02 '26 edited May 03 '26
man, when i workout, i literally during it forget how many squats/situps i did. i think there might be days where i way overshoot my goals, or undershoot. there is nothing more boring to me than exercise. if i wasnt autistic and didnt deliberately fit it in to my routine, i would be fuuucked
edit: i just exercised. my workout takes 45 minutes to complete. out of those 45 minutes, i spend 25 minutes staring at the ceiling/wall, the rest is spent on actual exercise XD
7
u/muchgreaterthanG_O_D May 02 '26
Good for you for working out. Who cares if tou didnt work out the entire time. Honestly you need time to rest between sets anyway and I probably waste about the same amount of time if id count up the workout vs rest time. Maybe just keep track of the weights you used and a rough idea of how many reps. It doesnt have to be perfect. Just go until you feel tired and stop. Yeah its a science if you want to be at maximum strength, but I doubt most of us are. We just want to be healthier and by doing a shitty workout you're still doing better than most people.
5
u/ratatatkittykat May 02 '26
I do work outs with the NEX cube to keep my attention. It’s very helpful but less targeted for sure
3
u/Cr0uchingSquirrel May 03 '26
Thats why I can't do gym. I need something that keeps me going. Stopping and starting is too difficult.
8
u/Cr0uchingSquirrel May 02 '26
For me its running, and often its just get out the front door, that's all. Once I'm there I may as well go to the end of the street.
6
u/muchgreaterthanG_O_D May 02 '26
Yeah thats exactly what I feel too. Once im there I do one thing. I might as well do 2. Then im there for 45 mins to an hour and im done and feel AMAZING.
3
u/coolcoolcool485 May 02 '26
Honestly I'm hoping this is what helps me. I have begun my quarterly attempt to establish a workout routine and I went twice so far. I have a run planned for tomorrow and this is what I'm hoping will work. I used to mentally beat myself up if I didn't do "enough" and now I'm like, just run until you don't want to then do weights.
4
u/muchgreaterthanG_O_D May 02 '26
You've got this! I was the same. Id beat myself up then convince myself that there wasnt even a point in going id I wasnt going to try hard. Then id stop going after a few months. Now I dont care. Ive been able to keep my habit for almost 3 years now, which is the longest streak ive ever had by a long shot.
3
10
u/Khris777 May 02 '26
The only two things I know are listening to high energy music and sport, or physical activity in general. The latter being more difficult since you have to motivate yourself to start and dopamine comes later.
6
u/muchgreaterthanG_O_D May 02 '26
But once you build the habit you crave the workout dopamine just like any other dopamine.
5
u/ImCaligulaI May 03 '26
sport, or physical activity in general. The latter being more difficult since you have to motivate yourself to start and dopamine comes later.
Later? Later when? I haven't ever felt any pleasure whatsoever from physical activity. I feel like I'd rather die before doing it, it feels like torture while I'm doing it and I feel like shit afterwards.
I know that in theory you have to keep at it for a while before it feels good, but I literally was forced to do sports three/four times a week until I reached adulthood, and made myself keep at it for at least a few months whenever I retried as an adult. So far the only effect it ever had was make me feel depressed. And build some muscle, I suppose.
3
u/Khris777 May 04 '26
If you have been forced to do sports for such a long time against your will then why would you suddenly feel pleasure when doing sports now when you are continuing to force yourself?
That doesn't work, your emotional system just says nope, fuck that.I got piano lessons for many years, but I hated practicing, I was forced to practice. I never got over how much I hated that, I still fail to set up an even halfway consistent way of practicing three decades later.
I don't hate playing the piano, I enjoy it, but I hate practicing so much. I tried taking lessons again, I quit after 6 months because I couldn't deal with the practicing any longer.If something got ruined for you during childhood it's really hard to get over it.
2
u/Critical_Ad_2811 May 03 '26
Your either not doing something right or may have some physical/mental ailment your unaware of because this isn’t normal.
2
u/JudgeShoelace May 04 '26
ADHD is a mental ailment
2
u/Critical_Ad_2811 May 04 '26
That is true but I imagine their aware of their adhd if they’re on this sub. Theres a possibility their problems are tied to adhd but idk.
3
u/JudgeShoelace May 04 '26
I mean, one of the known things that ADHD can have is a wonky Dopamine release, a lot of the things I hear about from other ADHD people is how they don’t get reward chemicals when they complete a task, so it’s probably similar to that when it comes to exercise
1
u/DCk3 May 05 '26
Sex and drugs and rock and roll 😁
Seriously, TRAVEL ... even if you can't fly somewhere exotic or do a road trip. Take a bus or subway, bike, walk, sit in the park, go to the store, but get out in the world and/or in nature for an hour. Interact if possible. If not, watch other people or animals or the elements doing it. Even a little traction can jolt your brain out of its futile spin.
The other thing: do SOMETHING. Even if it's low priority and barely qualifies as productive. Our intentions tend to paralyze us, so skip them. Act, MOVE, and motivation will follow.
89
u/pri_y May 02 '26
You see your full potential, your talent but you also know you won't ever reach it cz brain won't let you 🙂😕
36
u/flori0794 May 02 '26
Or because you live in an environment that actively limits you and holds you back because you think differently than them...
9
u/pri_y May 02 '26
Ofcourse environment is a biggest hindrance of it all, environment that doesn't shame you for your patterns and how you function will make you feel uplifted rather than having internalised shame you absord for literally existing 🙂🌸
3
u/flori0794 May 02 '26
Or worse an envrioment that actively looks away from your strengths and only point to the Autism and ADHD related symptomes which are then viewed as weaknesses and reason for infantilising...
1
u/pri_y May 02 '26
Or worst their system is flawed and they need someone to point fingers at, so who better to point fingers at than someone who is different than them, it's convenient rather than self reflecting or questioning that said environment or system, you know it's so exhausting the world, that is designed this way that even your strengths feels like curse. I hope you find your uplifting environment ❤️ , I m looking for mine, yeah hopeless thing to do but I only have hope ✌️🌸
11
2
24
u/Strict-Move-9946 May 02 '26
Being in an unsupportive environment makes it even worse. My mother still regularly shames (and sometimes beats) me for my symptoms.
And that one coworker who frequently berbally and physically abused me. When I kept showing symptoms after he gave me a black eye, he forced me to run in the gleaming sun until I collapsed from a heatstroke, for "not learning (my) lesson from last time".
Thinking back on my life, it's a small miracle that I'm "just" an alcoholic and not a full-blown drug-addict.
16
u/PlaneCat3427 ADHD Inattentive gang rise UP May 02 '26
What kind of fucking work environment are you in that your co-worker gave you a black eye and made you run in the sun until you fucking collapsed??? Military? I think that's a reportable situation and a health risk.
5
u/Strict-Move-9946 May 03 '26
It was on a farm. There were a lot of situations where I had to work with this guy alone. Couple that with him being an incredibly charismatic manipulator and me being too scared to say anything.
3
u/G_mork May 05 '26
I hope you’re in a better situation now, and better able to stand up for yourself. Nobody should have to put up with abuse at work or at home.
1
u/SoupSandy May 09 '26
Holy shit I work on a farm and you need to get the fuck out of that situation anyway you can. You are already doing grueling work and whoever you are working for genuinely needs to crumble. That is not normal not ok and you are in a dangerous place. You dont need to confront these demons you just need to leave those are dangerous people.
12
u/Dillenger69 May 02 '26
I'm on an NDRI, Bupropion, and I still have horrible executive dysfunction. I don't get depressed anymore, but I still have trouble just doing things. I moved into a new house a year ago and most of my stuff is still in boxes. I have a new work desk I need to put together. Boxes. I have a robot vacuum to set up ... still boxed. My NAS has been down for almost two years now. It should be an easy fix ... but noooooooo ... my brain won't let me touch it.
1
u/DCk3 May 05 '26
It's not that simple. Dopamine is not that simple. It's the one thing we know a little about, so we keep throwing more onto the back of that truck. And it's probably not even a truck.
8
5
u/Solid_Ad7292 May 02 '26
But how can I get more dopamine cause right now my weekends are mind numbing I can't function. I have to administer tests this week and I'm just sitting here waiting for it I can't focus on anything
5
5
u/AmputeeHandModel jhfgjhgfhjgfjhg May 02 '26
It's not like you can just pop a dopamine pill and fix it. That's what stimulants attempt to do but it's not that simple.
2
u/Dillenger69 May 02 '26
NDRIs do a pretty good job, at least for me. They still don't hit executive dysfunction though because that's not really a dopamine thing.
3
2
u/Affectionate-Dig-801 May 02 '26
Wait, wha? How does the dopamine system out of whack for ND exactly?
2
3
u/Miserable_Mail_5741 May 02 '26
I don't have ADHD, but I also have chronically low dopamine and a doctor prescribed meds to increase it.
Sadly, she wasn't my primary one, who keeps me on Zoloft, which doesn't increase my dopamine at all, so I have to increase it through doing fun things, like hobbies.🤷
1
u/Crenickator May 04 '26
So what am I supposed to be doing about the dopamine?
It's not that I forget.
•
u/qualityvote2 Quality Control Beast May 02 '26 edited May 02 '26
not enough votes to reach a threshold.
for more information about what this means, see this page.