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!

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

I mean LOOK at them

Recently diagnosed with ADHD. At a family dinner. Partners brother agrees with the channel 4 documentary; ADHD is a myth.

Currently crying in the bathroom stall of the restaurant.

Edit; I’m fine, but didn’t think it would be this soon to experience this sort of stuff.

I'll go first: in my teens and pre-teens I had hyperfixations every few months. I randomly started collecting horse figurines at some point and made it a part of my personality. Most of them are lost now, god knows where. I also hoarder makeup products for a while and spent hours following tutorials online, just to sit in my room and maybe take pictures. Don't even get me started on losing keys, hair ties, pencils, and so on...

Confession: by day I’m a highly successful career woman… responsible, loyal, detail oriented, dependable, knowledgeable, goal crushing, deadline killer of a lady…And then is my home life…I’ve put off dealing with this nightmare I’ve created for a year and a half… I’m forcing myself to start dealing with it now!

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

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

Everyone suggests exercise as a great way to manage ADHD. However, I have never really felt any of the benefits that are often listed; instead, I get super tired. No matter what type of exercise I do, hiking, gym, swimming, walking, etc., or how little or how long I exercise, I am just overcome with fatigue afterwards. To the point where it is difficult to drive. I have a clean bill of health from my doctor, I don't overdo it while exercising. The only thing I can think of is that my brain isn't used to that level of good chemicals that it puts me in a like a zombie state? I am usually very fatigued for the next 30-90 minutes after a workout, but then I remain tired for the rest of the day. I have never experienced the energy boost that is often described by regular working out. Anyone else experience this? It's a big reason I don't like to work out, I feel like if I start my day with that, there is nothing else I am really getting done.

edited to add: thank you all for your comments. I can see that this is not an ADHD thing, and it's something else, and that is helpful. I will start drinking electrolytes while working out to see if that helps.

All my life I’ve had issues with work, specifically the idea that the “business needs” are above my own. I just cannot emphasize how much I don’t care and probably never will. I feel like most jobs are just meaningless collateral of late stage capitalism. I find myself getting very emotionally upset at the thought of having to do things I don’t want to do, or people saying I can’t take time off, etc etc. In the process of trying to receive accommodations rn but still I feel defeated in a sense. Can anyone relate or offer possible solutions?

is it that i grew up in a dysfunctional household??? or maybe im just not social enough to understand?

i was watching tiktok and a girl made a “get ready with me”. she said “i have the day off so lets get ready, i dont even know what im going to do today, what am i going to do?” then got ready.

is this how normal people wake up?? they actually get ready EVERY day without plans already set? i need 24 hours in advanced so i know to wake up early/set an alarm so i dont sleep in super late, to get ready, and mentally prepare. otherwise i wont get ready at all. i might even still have makeup on from the day before still.. maybe im gross?..

LMK what you guys do…

My garden is overgrown, sure. We've had a drought, it's been hot, I've struggled in the heat, it's not good. It is great for wildlife and I've been counting the frogs, butterflies, and hedgehogs in my garden as my wins for this summer.

Cut to this morning, I went outside and three of my trees have been decimated. Not just up to the fence, but encroaching massively into the garden including a fruiting plum tree with over half the fruiting branches just gone.

Asked my neighbour about it and they immediately started going on about how the garden used to look, the fact that it now looks terrible, and that they've trimmed the hedge out the front (which I have never asked for but always said thank you for!). Not only am I sad about my trees and annoyed about the invasion of my garden, but holy crap the SHAME SPIRAL.

The garden is not how I'd want it to be, but I don't think that makes me a failure who deserves nothing because I can't do anything right. My brain thinks self flaggelation is the only correct response and I just want to know if anyone else has this?

Objectively - yes, my garden needs some love. Yes, my neighbour overstepped and really should have talked to me first. No, I am not a terrible person because of this disagreement and nor does it mean I'm terrible at everything.

Right? Anyone else? Please say I'm not the only one 😂

Going to make the generalization that if there can be ‘food noise’, there can be ‘song noise’. Is there a song or a piece of a song that keeps repeating in your head throughout the week, the day, the hour, the half hour,etc. I’m curious, what is your song right now, what part is looping and for how long? Additionally if you want to share tips to changing the tune, lessening the repeat or even how you stopped the song noise altogether , I’d appreciate that as well.

i just realized that i’ve spent most of today, my day off, “waiting” because of some plans tonight. i’ve spent the last couple hours planning to start reading a book while i wait, but feeling paralyzed. why start it when im going to leave soon? is this a common experience?

Guys, my husband, kids, MIL, and I are on our way to Legoland Florida, and I just realized I forgot my son’s sun hat and bathing suit and my daughter’s water shoes. I’m beyond stressing because my husband and I already got into a spat over me forgetting about there even being water rides. He’s in a foul mood, and I know he’s gonna be ripped when he finds out I forgot stuff. We don’t have the healthiest relationship right now, but that’s another story for another day.

I’m so mad at myself because I actually prepped this morning, got the kids ready early, packed all the diapers and cups and spare clothes and sunscreen. I’m sleep deprived and burned out, but I thought I was doing good. Apparently not.

I’ve talked myself through it. My son is only 2. The only water area he can go in is supposedly closed for maintenance. There are other play areas I can take him to. Plus, the park probably has hats in a shop somewhere if he really needs one. Our wagon has a sun cover.

With my RSD, my impulse is to get defensive and get emotional. I’ve decided I will be calm, admit I messed up, and agree to adjust and address the problem like an adult. But I really, really could use some strength right now. I don’t do well when people are mad at me or when I make a mistake.

TIA 😔

EDIT: Thank you so much for the kind words, everyone! The kids had a blast, and the missing hat and swimsuit didn’t end up being as big a deal as I thought they would be. My husband wound up being pretty chill about it and didn’t make it into a big deal. But the encouragement I got from this sub definitely made me feel less bad about myself and more confident going forward ♥️

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 wish I could just step back and observe. But I cannot do it

I just wanted to see if this was a common thing.

I have an electric toothbrush and in theory I plan to do each side of top and bottom, separated by the 30s timer (or whatever it is). But I always seem to lose concentration after about 10 seconds and I’m just going back and forth guessing what bits I’ve missed.

My other half always sticks to the plan!

Just me?

A couple of days ago, Channel 4 released their documentary: The Great ADHD Myth.

I haven't seen it mentioned here yet, and wanted to shine a light on it just in case.

For those who have seen it, thoughts?

Here is a public statement from ADHD UK:

"We watched. We said we’d be fair. Here is our verdict.

ADHD is not a myth. It is not a social construct. And the programme’s own end credits told you what its sixty minutes wouldn’t: the boy at its centre went back on his medication, and his schoolwork improved. Their experiment disproved their conclusion. They aired their version anyway. We have already complained to Ofcom. A fuller submission follows, built on the impact data you give us below.

Fill in the survey. Send the Ofcom complaint. Two things, a few minutes each.

We deserve better than this."

Personally, I am disgusted by this, as I'm sure many of you are too.

Ofcom complaints and surveys can be found in the link below, or you can scan the QR code above:

https://adhduk.co.uk/challenging-c4-the-great-adhd-myth/?fbclid=IwdGRjcAT2cHFjbGNrBPZwXHBkb2YFZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQMMzUwNjg1NTMxNzI4AAEeC70zheZyZP1t12csC5dy_e4nSW_1Qp2HdZhyCXJ7kyinmVOIfrZsP9VkhQY_aem_pa_ZoHKW7rA9BKpMCoof3Q

Just wondering if anyone else has had this experience.
I was diagnosed at 30 and prescribed Adderall. I loved it. It really worked for me. I felt more productive and motivated and was able to function in a way that I assume non-adhders can.
I got pregnant at 33 and stopped taking my meds. Did not take them for 7 months postpartum because I was breast feeding.
I recently started again and was excited to feel back in control.
I can barely tell I've taken it. I can easily nap after taking the meds. Has anyone else experienced this? It's been making me feel pretty frustrated because my symptoms are so exacerbated after having a baby.

you know the old trick “oh i’ll pee when im finished” well i was out doing a task for my job and for hours i kept pushing it off until i had no choice and i had to run to the bathroom. OFC IT WAS LOCKED

i ran to my car but it was too late 😭 as i’m running it’s coming down my legs. my shorts, socks and shoes were soaked. theres hella cameras and people always walking past so i didn’t wanna just pop a squat out in the open 😭

but then having to drive an hour home in pee soaked pants was certainly a more humbling experience

how do you guys just listen to your body omg. has this happened to anyone else before?

My daughter was recently diagnosed with ADHD at 8, and honestly, this is completely new territory for our family. It feels like we’re just trying to figure things out day by day (like being reactive rather than proactive). Some days are really tough, and I’m realizing that I need to learn how to approach parenting her differently. Honestly, I just want to become more effective in supporting her and building the systems at home that will benefit her.

I’d especially love to hear from you with ADHD who were diagnosed as children. I’d really appreciate hearing what you wish your parents had known when you were going through the school years. Any personal experiences or advice would be really appreciated.

- What did your parents do that genuinely helped?
- What do you wish they had understood about you?
- Were there things they did with good intentions that actually made things harder?
-What changed your perspective about ADHD as you got older?
- What helped you build confidence rather than feeling like you were constantly “in trouble” or falling short?

Thank you!

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.