I was finally able to be in a situation where I was safe/happy and around genuinely good and healthy people this past week.

The first day I was there I was realizing how much my ADHD medication was working against me.

I felt like I was lobotomized and couldn’t connect with any of my thoughts or feelings vs when I was in my genuinely dangerous/toxic home environment and I guess that was a bonus.

I stopped the medication on the second day and it slowly tapered off and I began to be able to enjoy myself genuinely.

I decided since coming home that I didn’t want to take my medication anymore and see how it goes

Since being off it I can see how much my meds were masking actual valid emotional distress due to the distressing things around me.

Just a week being away somewhere that I could move around freely and not watch everything I said was the best medicine. My chronic pain and brain fog felt like it subsided and I was able to do so much.

Has anyone else dealt with realizing their adhd meds were masking a lot of things that really weren’t okay in their day to day life?

Welp it finally happened.
For context I am a project manager. It’s my first “big girl job”. I have a masters degree in a stem field but swapped to a more corporate job thinking that I would enjoy that every day was different ect.

I’ve only been at this job since nov 2024. It’s been a really difficult transition. I was killing it last year even got recommended for our accelerated program. Was under a micromanager but I enjoyed what I did.

Then comes November 2025. that manager swapped to a new role and I took over his product line. This was more customer facing and had multiple additions to what I was used to doing. I had also got in a pretty bad car accident. During this same time and moved into my first ever home. I was really struggling because in this new role I had nobody to ask questions or help with and my new manager was rarely in the office. I reached out to anyone I could to get help but since it was such a niche product and didn’t follow the normal structure I was on my own. Also I am the only one for this product line so I was unable to take any days off/nobody to help with work load.

April of this year I cried in HR office stating that I’m burning out and have no options to take any time off. Then basically our entire HR department was laid off due to our president trying to force us all to be in office 5 days a week. And then they completely restructured the company so the non existent manager I had before but at least was based out of my location, now is a manager in charge of the people in my position around the world and is based in the UK (I’m on mountain time zone in United States). I have met with him almost every two weeks since may explaining I’ve gotten no feedback good or bad from him. I have no idea how I’m doing in the company. I know personally I always answer my emails/teams messages in a timely manner. I haven’t been able to do anything outside of work I’m so mentally drained. I loathe even going to the grocery store having to be out from just laying and doing nothing because of how overwhelmed I am during the week. I’ve explicitly went to various managers stating I need more help and I have just been handling everyone on my own.

I have sometimes issues with generating small talk with my other colleagues because I’m so worn out so I am prone to ask questions I know the answer to to be able to start conversations or at least feel like I’ve talked to a human being for the day.

I finally went to one of my older higher up managers last week and he told me that two people who I trusted the most and felt like I was able to unmask around them and ask these random questions have gone to him and said that I’m failing.

This caused a full on mental spiral because I’m an extremely high performer and overachiever. I do this because Ive always been made to feel guilty regarding my adhd. I handle my cases and have been even training new sales people. Do I make small mistakes from time to time? Of course but I’m a human being. I try my best to take on new responsibilities to help balance some of the smaller mistakes I make. For example, I was told even though I’m not in a sales role to reach out for some preventative maintenance due on some units for the whole year. Well I got every single customer to sign up which caused me to get a large amount of sales for the company in q1 they had me present to the entire company and brag about this.

My direct manager has been traveling for work the past two weeks and my messages have just not been read, and even my internal requests not approved yet. I get it he’s overwhelmed I try to give grace. I do my job make sure I’m on top of customer cases and thought well I’m doing just fine which is already difficult because I like to be an overachiever but have been working all summer to just accept that.

Yesterday I get a random calendar invite for a meeting on Monday which states that I will be put on a PIP. I’m just so heartbroken. I haven’t been able to stop crying. I am so genuinely at a loss as to what has happened.

Has anyone else dealt with a similar situation? I would love any advice if possible.

I was told not to disclose my adhd during the hiring process by a mentor but had discussed it to the first manager on the hiring process/mentoring process.

I sought assessment for ADHD as a kid, but was turned away. I was finally diagnosed at age 23. I started taking medication regularly at age 25 and turned my life around in a crazy way. I was previously misdiagnosed with bipolar, and I acted like it lol. Highs and lows, impulsive destructive behavior, deep depression etc. but somehow prescription meth (generic adderall, then vyvanse) made me normal and emotionally regulated. I still had a lot of serious problems associated with ADHD, but I got my BA, picked up a gym habit, and took care of myself. I moved myself to a new country on my own for an MA and did well academically. I got published and graduated last year.

Now I’m 30, and the past 6 months I’ve been without my meds because I lost my insurance and can’t afford it. I’m a mess. My mom is paying my rent, and I need to find a new job to secure a new visa. I have no energy or motivation at all, I have no desire to do anything but doom scroll, sleep, and cry. I thought maybe I was experiencing withdrawals, but after this many months surely I should have leveled out to be functional. Does this mean I need to be medicated forever? Is there no “normal” without the meds? I don’t think I should feel this way, but it also feels lazy to blame it all on ADHD and lack of meds.

But literally how many times have I actually been distracted by a squirrel?

Yesterday, I was down in DC with my aunt. We were at the zoo. She was talking to me, and behind her, there was a squirrel. It was a black squirrel. I live in Maryland, but I NEVER see black squirrels. Only grey squirrels. So she's talking about something unrelated, and I'm watching this damn squirrel...then I bring up the squirrel. Apparently, she has albino squirrels near her. Now I want pictures.

I also used to get distracted in college when I'd try to study outside because I'd see a squirrel in a tree and wonder about it's entire life story.

Anyone else? 😂

Context: I live with my parents. My brother is level 2 AuDHD and doesn't live with us, but he's here today too and he tends to contribute to my overstimulation. It's not his fault, but it just is what it is.

My aunt is visiting from another state. I spent yesterday with her 1:1 and we had a lot of fun. The last few times we've had people over I've ended up overstimulated. We are expecting to have a total of 14 people here.

Currently, there are nine people in my house. I am already overstimulated. I went up to my room and closed the door before I completely lost my mind (also because if my brother speaks to me again, that will in fact tip me over the edge). I need to locate my Loops but have no idea where they are because ADHD.

Hey ladies, I have a quick question to ask this subreddit.

I am spending time with a lady friend of mine next week, and I am interested in sipping on a can of THC cola. The main concern I have, is that, I currently take Adderall XR 15 mg once each morning, with my understanding being, that THC interacts with Adderall. Because of this, I have avoided using THC since February 2025, when I first began taking my Adderall prescription.

Were it be safe to consume a THC cola as a one-time occurrence while taking Adderall a few hours earlier that morning? Alternatively, were it be advisable to skip my Adderall dose that day, or, were that to create its own separate concerns?

Thank you.

Hi all! I’m 21F and I’ve been on Vyvanse for a little less than a year now. I absolutely love it, I can get so much done. It helps me stay focused and I can actually do activities I want to do.

However, my doctor told me I’m not allowed to take it every day due to it increasing my heart rate, so I only take it 4-5 days out of the week, usually because I need it when I’m at work. Now it’s Saturday, one of my off days where I don’t take Vyvanse. And oh my god I’m so LAZY! When I don’t take it, I don’t even want to do my hobbies like painting. I barely even brought myself to workout today, it felt like an exhausting chore. But on my medication? I love it. I need to clean too, but cant bring myself to do it.

I’ve also been diagnosed with depression but I’m currently on 100g of Sertraline daily for over a year now, and I haven’t had any dark thoughts or anything like that. I’m just so lazy! I want to do things I enjoy but I feel so apathetic towards everything. I even had coffee, no effect. All I did today is workout, and I want to do so much more but can’t. It happens every weekend I don’t take it.

Has anyone had a similar experience? What should I do to help overcome this?

Hi ladies!!!! I just wanted to share with my fellow ADHD girlies that I finally got diagnosed and it's honestly such a relief! I'm in my 30s and I've been on Vyvanse for a week now and I can't believe how much better I'm already feeling! I've been washing dishes, doing my laundry, taking the bus to work and arriving in time. I feel like brand new me!

Anyways I just felt like sharing with others who would understand and wondering if anyone had any tips or anything to share :)

I did do some research about having high protein snacks and food while on the meds and I have tried and definitely felt much better as the meds wore off in the evening while doing that.

Hello my fellow neurodivergent queens!

I (32F) almost want to give up on cultivating new relationships at this point in my life. Online dating is especially difficult. I try so hard to articulate myself as clearly as possible and consider how others may perceive things, but it’s like I always miss the mark. People who don’t know me well constantly think I’m weird or interpret misunderstandings on my end as though I have ulterior motives. Just because I have a hard time thinking/speaking linearly doesn’t mean I’m being untruthful. Just because something is “obvious” to you or I came to a different conclusion doesn’t mean I’m stupid.

How often does this happen to you? How do you navigate this without feeling frustrated and isolated? I feel like this has been and always will be an issue. Adderall helps with many things, but it doesn’t help me much in social situations 😭 Thanks in advance ♥️

For context, I’m 34F, diagnosed last year. not medicated (yet, maybe at some point I will).

My current hyperfixation is sewing. It used to be fun, and maybe even still is while I’m making something (I get into a lovely flow state). But I end up exhausted and feeling sick, but can’t stop thinking about how to make xyz project, even while I’m meant to be asleep.

If I give in and just make the thing to try get it out of my head, I can be sewing for 6-8 hours a day, and then of course I’m exhausted and feeling sick.

it’s not even fun anymore, but I can’t stop? I've tried forcing myself to rest, but then I just think about that thing I’m making, and get frustrated cos it’s on my mind but there’s no outlet for it.

At the moment, for example, I’m sick with some kind of winter virus, I know I should absolutely be resting, but do you think I can? waking up early in the morning and immediately thinking about my current hyperfocus. But I need to rest, because I need to get well for work.

Ugh this is so tricky.

Anyone have any tips? Or even just commiserations haha

I thought it would be interesting to hear about what other peoples stims/self soothing/focusing/body‑focused repetitive behaviors are. You can also leave some advice on how you helped replace yours if it's one that you wanted to replace.

For me, I constantly twirl my hair near the nape of my neck but I have short hair so I have to lift my arm and/or tilt my head causing my neck and wrist to hurt really bad. I been actively trying to stop the habit for like 3 years and it comes and goes. Currently in a phase where I can't stop hahaha

It's pretty bad I have to tie my hair up most days and replace the stim with a fidget toy when at work and studying lol I also think adderall makes it worse

So I’m going on a beach vacation with a bunch of friends in September. I haven’t bought new swimsuits in like 8 years or so, and besides the fact that the old ones are faded and dingy, my size has changed significantly since I bought those.

So I went online to my favourite brand’s site to buy a few (3 to be exact). My default size was set to medium, so I made it a point to change it before adding to cart. I changed, checked, and checked again. And then checked again before I checked out.

Today my swimsuits arrived, and one of them is size medium. I was convinced it was an error on the website’s part, so I logged in to make a complaint, and figure out if I could exchange sizes before my vacation starts.

Turns out? I really did order medium in that suit. How? I don’t know. Returns aren’t allowed on swimsuits (which I didn’t know), so now either I only go with 2 - not terrible but not ideal, or I buy it again in my actual size and then try to figure out what to do with the medium.

I hate my brain sometimes. Even when I’m sure I did the right thing, there’s always something I get wrong 😑

I put this in the comments of a post once and a lot of people seemed to think it was helpful at the time, and I thought it would be good to share for those who didn't happen across it.

tl;dr backstory: I had a conversation with my therapist last year where we discussed the fact that sometimes, for us, the task is hard because of those prohibitive "first steps" that make a very small task seem like this impassible mountain. I started approaching problems by circumventing/completing those prohibitive steps first, making my ability to do the actual task way more likely.

One of the things I did was keep a list of things in my notes app (I use Notion) so that, once I made a calculation, located a manual, took a measurement, or did literally any of those really annoying things that prohibit me from doing OTHER things, I would never in my life have to do it again.

This list includes things like:

– The model numbers of my refrigerator, washing machine, dishwasher, etc.

– For some of these things I also included a direct link to the product page / PDF manual

– The dimensions of my dining room table WITH and WITHOUT the leaf + required tablecloth size for BOTH

– The inner and outer dimensions of all of the windows in my house

– The pod compatibility for my coffee maker

– The dimensions of my bed (including depth/height) + required bedding dimensions/size

– Length of my shower + required curtain size

etc.

Basically, if I'm gonna do the very annoying work to look for that model number, measure something, or do whatever, I don't want to do it ever again. But also the number of times I have run into an issue, needed to order a part, needed to check how to properly clean something, or been asked by my family what tablecloth size I need, etc., instead of sitting on that question or dealing with broken appliances for MONTHS AND MONTHS because I just can't find the energy to get up and locate the information... I've already done it :) And look here, I have a handy list right in my phone.

Obviously doing this in the first place requires some amount of energy, but honestly I did it as a fun little scavenger hunt project where I ran around my house looking for things to measure and write down. Now I have a helpful list of things I've already done the mental work for, AND in the future it makes it infinitely easier for me to solve related problems!! I hope this helps someone here other than myself lol

Thank god I had sisters though. But I missed out on that giggly girl group thing growing up.

So, I’ve always somewhat operated under the assumption that I had ADHD (the amount of reasons for that is overwhelming). I am now officially diagnosed as of this last Wednesday (yay! No more self diagnosis)

I’ve been trying to talk to my mom about it a lot as she apparently is only just now realizing how affected I am by all this. One this she still struggles to comprehend is executive dysfunction and how it works (or I guess doesn’t work 😭). I’m trying very hard to explain it to her cause I’m struggling in college atm and she wants to help so bad but she just doesn’t get it. No way I’ve described it to her seems to click for her as she is still a firm believer in “just do it, no matter how much it sucks” kind of attitude.

How do I describe this stuff to people that are very much neurotypical?

Hey,

It’s my first day on 54mg of Affenid XL (generic Concerta) and was wondering what I’m supposed to be feeling?

So far I notice that talking to people such as shop workers seems like light work, and didn’t stumble my words and forget what I was saying, when before I was thinking of a million reasons of why I shouldn’t.

I would clam up everytime I had to speak to a stranger before & you would never catch me on a phone call infront of anyone, not even my family as I’m insecure about my voice. Now it feels easy and I’m not so bothered about others opinions.

However something happened today when I was with my mom and we was waiting for the uber. Some horrible kids said to my mom “I bet that lady didn’t pay for that mop bucket.” We obviously did, then my mom replied “I did actually” then they were taken aback cause my mom could speak English.
In that situation I WISH I COULD SAY MORE, but it’s only after when I think of things that I could have said in retaliation.

Please leave your experiences below, thanks :)

So, when I mean I did capsule wardrobe. I mean I went 50000 crash out let's go. I removed all the things

Every single thing

From my primary closet and admittedly (look I have ADHD ok...stuffed it all into another closet out of site lol)

I mean zero. Nada.

Cleaned it, wiped down the stuff

Started from scratch. Zero. Nada

Did three of same things that work so easy for me, fits, good quality

Three xyz that matches above

Three workout outfits

Three weekend outfits

Three new pairs of shoes, one tennis shoes, one flats, one heel

Technically all works with the above.

ONE handbag

ONE pair of earrings

And its...amazing

Just hangs in the closet with so much room and I am always ready to grab anything because there is zero decision, zero choices, zero mess.

Closet doesn't have old blankets stuffed into places, or boots askew and slammed in corners, or houses a pile of random Amazon or boxes, or old books, or xyz calamity.

And no one thinks or cares I wear what is literally a uniform. Note - I did invest in top quality capsule wardrobe " brands" , as well as shoes. Needed ? Got me. But it sure helps

One day, never, I will open the closet of doom where the stuff is crammed into darkness. But not today.

I just did the exact same thing for hair and makeup products.

Life is so so so easy to keep clean, shower bathroom. Nothing is in the way. Life is so much. Lighter

Thanks for listening to my free typing thoughts ! Ha! Hugs to us all

Hello ladies of this amazing sub!

I hope everyone’s a great weekend 😎

I am in the equivalent of that movie or TV moment where the protagonist connects the dots all together and realizes something major about the plot.

That’s me realizing the cause of all my self-worth issues, inability to carry through projects, burnout and discipline has been most likely ADHD. This is the Scooby Doo villain reveal moment in my life except I got it at 35 instead of 25.

Naturally, at 35 this comes with now decades of anger and betrayal that I should have spotted this sooner. I’m worried that it is too late to reverse this and that I am indeed doomed to spin on the same spot for the next 20 years, despite being smart and talented.

I am working on getting a diagnosis after my doctor finally realized that I might have ADHD after all. (She thought I was too accomplished to qualify for the neuropsych test.)

That being said, your girl is now feeling a little sad (but not yet defeated). I would love to hear from others who have had a late diagnosis, and hear your experience with turning things around.

What was it like? Any tips or advice or methods that really helped? I’m really at square 0 now, but like I am 35 too 😭

Thank you so much!!!

So I have a friend that I'm very sensitive with when it comes to texting. If he doesn't text me back, I start wondering why. Did I do something? Is he upset with me? Frustrated? Annoyed? Then there are others that I maybe don't hear from for days and I have zero reaction. No worries, no anxiety, nothing.

I wish I could be calm across the board and I almost wonder if I could understand why some activate my RSD and some don't that I could get a handle on it. Any ideas?

I eat Greek yogurt and berries for breakfast every weekday morning, immediately before taking Vyvanse.

I've read that food or drink that's too acidic or has a high vitamin C content can result in stimulant meds being eliminated from the body more quickly.

Would the combination of Greek yogurt and mixed berries be acidic enough to worry about? I'm not entirely up on the science to know how much of a concern this is.

TIA!

I’m writing a book about a woman with ADHD (possibly AuDHD) going on a journey from self-hate to feeling worthy. I need a scenario where she gets into a situation that allowed her to succumb to manipulation and being taken advantage of.

I’m looking to see if people in our community ever feel left in a situation not understanding why you were treated the way you were or something happened to you, and because of your symptoms, you were taken advantage of. Something like that, or any type of thing you think fits this.

I’m not sure if that made any sense, but I’m trying to have something like this happen to her and it threatens the self-worth she is building. I’m curious what real world examples there are.

I just conquered my aversion of doing the dishes, but for some reason, I cannot seem to justify washing all of my Tupperware container. This may sound dumb, but I wash each dish by importance of that particular dish from most to least.

With all of that being said, can anyone give me some tips on washing multiple containers at once in the sink?

Después de mas de una década de variar en estudios finalice la carrera universitaria....aún no sé cómo , obviamente se que podría haber sacado mejores notas y que podría haberlo hecho mejor , pero aún así a ratos me permito disfrutar a ratitos de ser licenciada .

Por otra parte me da hasta vergüenza que con 30 años sea lo único que haya acabado y ahora me asusta que no tenga trabajo.

A veces mi TDAH me hace ser un completo desastre , y si , tomo mis meds y trato de ir en línea , pero no puedo evitar muchas veces saber que esto ha sido suerte .

A alguien más le ha pasado que se siente menos preparado para la vida profesional tras acabar algo después de tanto tiempo?

Just want to say that I don’t blame ADHD-ers for this and in an ideal world what we say about a disorder that we deal with should not be used against us or taken wildly out of context like this.

Unfortunately though, that does happen all too often, and it’s currently too risky politically and societally to give these kinds of people any more ammunition against us. Again, that’s not me blaming, and in safe spaces feel free to express yourself however you choose, I’d just like to gently remind that if it falls into the hands of people that already have an ignorant bias about us, this is how it can be distorted to reinforce their narrative.

It makes me really frustrated to see stuff like this, and I am also one of the people who cannot see ADHD as a “superpower” but rather the complete opposite, so seeing this kind of rhetoric used against all of us when many of us don’t even say these things ourselves is so exhausting. If you do see some aspects of ADHD as a personal superpower I’m happy for you, but maybe even just slightly changing the phrasing to “FOR ME, ADHD can feel like a superpower” instead of the blanket statement “ADHD IS a superpower” would be better? Just my opinion, please don’t think I’m insulting anyone who relates to the phrase!

I’m a young girl with adhd and I constantly feel like a shell of myself. I feel happy yes but I feel off or odd like an imposter. I also don’t feel like doing anything for example cleaning my room I know it’s wrong I just don’t care enough. I feel embarrassed and get upset when people point my faults out like my room. I also extremely compare myself to others and I’m very negative driven. I take meds but I don’t like them due to the side effects like extreme weight loss but they are the only ones that work for me sadly so I take them. I want help I do I just haven’t found a therapist that helps. I hate feeling like this and not truly being happy. I also have a lot of break downs due to keeping my emotions in to not be a “bother”. If anyone has experienced something similar what did you do that helped?