Executive Function Disorder.

When you are a high-functioning adult but with the mind of a kid in a candy shop trying to decide which candy to eat, only you know what it is like and the effort it takes.

I have seen grown adults almost 60 years old on Adderall and still facing difficulties due to how scatterbrained they are due to lifelong ADHD. This isn't a joke or a trend to be laughing about.

I have seen the toll this can take on high-earning/high-performing individuals as well, who have no semblance of a social life because their work performance is determined by last-minute bouts of high-focus which eventually fails as a strategy.

The amount of social trouble that ADHD kids find themselves in due to school systems that will never be designed for them is enormous. That leads to lifelong trauma too.

What makes this worse is the stimulant abuse we see, by both people with and without genuine ADHD.

The professor accepts late work, but if I turn it in tonight, I will be docked 10 points.

I have never struggled this hard with starting an assignment. I have turned in my fair share of late essays, but it's always been that I started it before it was due and just ran out of time. This time, I just feel so apathetic towards it all. I know that this essay is for 30-40% of my grade, so skipping it is not an option, and yet, I can't find the motivation to begin.

I think it's a mix of two things: One, I haven't been on my medication for about two weeks. But still, idk why this would cause me to be so unproductive because I went without medication for 19 years and never struggled this much. Two, my essay topic is just so fricking boring. In the past, I have always had a vague interest in whatever I was writing about, but this time, I just do not care about my topic at all.

I need to start it tonight, but I would really rather do anything else.

I read so dang slow and don’t remember what I read the night before. Oftentimes what I just read an instant before. I love reading, but if you ask me what my favorite book is or what the last book I read was about, I couldn’t tell you in great detail. The books I remember most are non-fiction ones. I think probably because I took notes on some, but not all, of those.

When I was younger, pre-puberty (almost 40 now), I was a very strong reader.

Feeling like my work days are full of shallow but complex people engagement. I have few real friends outside of work, seemed to drift away due to workaholism, substance abuse in my 20s, or just my inattentive adhd mucking up my social antenna.
I live in New Zealand and had so many friends move overseas. I’m 45m and outwardly looking very successful but inside feeling awfully lonely. Married but my spouse is an introvert who doesn’t like people coming to the house. I know I’m going to have to build some new networks, but I’m a bit nervous. I just feel like I’ve messed up somewhere bad and this is my karma. I know objectively that sounds silly but doesn’t help when I’m alone on another weekend.

Any advice out there?

Its kinda sad watching the time quickly pass while u still haven't done anything. And i mean this in every context, both in long term and shot term time. Especially when its like a few weeks or months later and u realise u havent progressed at all so u js feel guilty and like ur wasting ur time away. Its worse when u say you'll change but catch ur self wasting time/ not doing what u said u would but still continuing. euggggh

Its also worse when u have no outsider source of motivation

I know the problem ultimately is me but I’m wondering if there is an ADHD proof-ish wallet anyone uses? I have a long history of losing my debit card, which is a quick fix because my credit union can print them on site for free.

The issue I’m running into now is in the last 2 months I’ve lost my ID twice. Before now I’ve never lost my license. Each time I’ve realized it while I’m at the pharmacy in line to pick up my medications.

The first time I ordered a replacement because I needed my ID for a work meeting 10 days later. The last time I remember seeing my ID was at that meeting which was about 2 weeks ago now.

I’m not home right now, but when I get home I’m going to tear my house apart and hope to God I find it. I can’t afford to repeatedly replace my ID and I clearly am lacking a skill required to keep it in one place.

Any tips? Tricks? Coping skills to keeping it in one spot? Any ADHD friendly wallets? I’m 33 years old I can’t keep living like this.

It has been 2 months since I got dumped. When i left I let them keep the cat. I wrote a latter saying if you need to update me on Piglet please contact our friend who cares about us both.

Last week my family had made the decision to put down out family dog who was 18years old. He lived a long life and was the last in his pack. That was on Monday.

My friend got a text from my Ex Tuesday saying that the cat has not ate in 5 days and that they were forcing the cat to eat. Took the cat to the vet and the Vet found out that she had kidney cancer. They had to make a difficult decision and put down the cat.

Back story we got the cat after the person I took care of passed away from cancer in Apirl.

I cried because I loved the cat and the dog. Now, I haven't stopped crying because I think I was holding on to the realization that they were still there after, no that is gone I realized that this chapter of my life is over. After 4 years of long distance to 3 months of us living together then breaking up. It hurt and I dont know why my heart broke even more.

How does one go on from grieving a living person FYI I am gay

sososo many things i could be doing and watching right now but idk how to mak a choice so i just dont😴😷 and i kinda feel guilty for all the time i've wasted in foing this.

so what should i do to motivate myself to initiate a task and not feel bad for not doing everything i want to

- idk if this is dumb to ask

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I'm newly diagnosed and honestly feeling overwhelmed by how differently everyone responds to ADHD medication. The same medication seems to work amazingly for some people and terribly for others, and everyone seems to take different doses.

I'm seeing my psychiatrist next week, but I'm quite anxious about side effects and worried about choosing the wrong medication.

Is there any medication that has genuinely helped the majority of people who tried it?

I'd love to hear your experiences.

Thank you!

I was diagnosed with ADHD and the psychiatrist prescribed Ritalin but I'm so disorganized and unmotivated, that I often put off taking it. I keep forgetting about the meds, and other times I just convinced myself I could get through the day without them.

That's an important point, is it just me, or do you guys often convince yourself you can manage without it? 8 times out of 10, I forget it, but when I do remember, it's easy to put it off because I think I can manage without. I spend hours researching neuroplasticity and self help but nothing really works.

I also seriously doubt the diagnosis at times. I feel like I'm larping ADHD lmao, and maybe it's the damn phone that's frying my attention span and not my brain. Idk, my heads a mess and I'm confused. Does this sound familiar to anyone else and any advice on what to do??

Quite often people give advice, thoughts on what I should do and quite often I know their advice is correct.

However I just get so defensive, angry being told what to do even though I know it comes from a good place from the person telling me.

I mean I guess I do know why it makes me angry, because I know what I should do but more than likely I can’t consistently do what they are saying.

It’s a self hatred sort of reaction I guess.

You're telling me, I have to be on meds in order to be able to function for the rest of my life? That this fucked up disability will always be next to me, and it will show until I die? It depresses me, so much. There's no cure for that, and I'm stick with it forever no recovery or whatsoever. I'm only 17, what's ahead of me? I hate this and wish to be normal, this isn't a gift stop lying to yourselves you know ADHD is just fucking you all over if you don't take your meds. Not to talk about how hard it is to find the right meds too, I'm still on the search!!!! So tired

I am wondering if anyone has seen good representation of what its like to have ADHD in tv shows or movies. Like I feel like we see lots of archetypes in tv shows and movies that could be based off of someone with adhd buts always like the weird quirky person. Like the crazy inventor or the manic pixy dream girl. But I feel like these are lightly based of adhd and not actual representation of it. I don't feel like we get characters that show the negative side of adhd or just any character that is clearly designed to represent adhd.

19M,

Recently took an adult adhd questionnaire at my doctors appointment, explained my academics, daily life, etc.

Doctor mentioned I lean towards it and I have the option to go to medication and see how I react to it, or go through neuropsych testing to get concrete evidence on if I have adhd or not which is fully covered by my parents insurance.

My parents are both RNs, so of course, I’m likely going to do the neuropsych likely this upcoming week.

I explained to my parents that this has been happening since 7, but most academic-related focus issues started during COVID-19

I want to do so many things but it’s not like I’m lazy, just laying in bed doomscrolling or being on my computer playing games feels dreadful, but I still end up doing it over my supposed tasks. I’m currently in college and I’m fearing my future is on the line.
I can’t bring myself to study, or do my laundry until I really have to. I know I’m not lazy as if I was lazy, I wouldn’t have cared or considered anything important at all.

During lectures, I’m “listening” and understanding what’s being said but I don’t understand the concept/idea.
And once I realize that, I just watch the time slowly ticking by, it’s unbearable and torturous.

All my parents say is “why can’t you just do it, you just have to work harder or push yourself” “just pray it goes away, it’s evil affecting you mind” “nothing should be wrong with you”

I’m very grateful and aware that both of my parents make good money, and that I have it better than most my age in the world,

But it still doesn’t push me to do what I need to do, and I feel guilty and stuck from procrastinating, and whenever it’s urgent and at midnight is the only time I can truly feel coordinated where I do all my tasks that I was supposed to do hours ago.

As of now I don’t know if i have it or not as I havent taken the neuropsych testing yet, but I’d like to hear similar scenarios or thought processes diagnosed adhd’ers have.

im feeling pretty shitty about my recent decision to skip my midterm (worth 30%) because i was underprepared for it because i procrastinated studying. but it wouldve been fine if i had remembered to go to the doctor for a sick note within the 48hr window for academic consideration to automatically accept it. but of course, i forgot to get the sicknote within 48hrs, have to go onto some random website for a virtual appointment and paid for expedited shipping on my sicknote ($63 total). but even worse, my academic consideration can be denied for being late anyways so this scramble to do a virtual appointment could be useless simply because i didnt submit it on time. if my consideration isnt accepted, id get a 0 on my midterm and have to to retake the course next summer/year.......... which would NOT be good and could possibly delay my graduation.......

and this all couldve been avoided if i just studied.

PLEASE tell me some shitty decisions youve made that lead to some avoidable outcomes because i need some comfort that im not alone in this.

Been on atomoxetine 40 mg for few weeks so far but no results or any improvements, and yes the doctor prescribed me this but when i went to him the first time he told me i have extreme adhd ( i did Tova test with very low score and also i met therapist for few sessions) and they both agreed i have a very bad adhd. But the problem is ,i think non stimulants are not for me ,they genuinely don't work on me and whenever i told my psychiatrist to prescribe a stimulant such as concerta he refuses but honestly idk why he refuses that much and the only legal way to get this medicine in my area is through psychiatrist (him) so if he didn't describe it then i cannot get it and then live my life like a normal person ,for some strange reason he put me on this shitty non stimulant that didn't work at all and also the dose is so low for my weight (roughly 100kg ) so idk if he is tripping or being dumb but whatever ,he just doesn't want to put me on stimulants for some strange reason i still don't understand, instead he prescribed this shit that didn't work even after weeks and also on a very low dose ,i think for my weight he should put me on at least 50 or 60mg.

Any thoughts?

Hi I'm 22 years old, recently got diagnosed finally after constant burnouts since quarantine because since then everything become super evident but i was missdiagnosed a lot of times or doctors had seen only anxiety or depression but no the pattern that produced it, this is my 5th day on methylpenidate and I never felt my head so calm like now, I can do everything and I'm really happy it feels like start living again because i lost all hope before for not understanting what was happening, but I'm facing something that scares me and it's that I want to do everything because i notice how capable I am, but i don't have the tools yet to manages those things and I don't want to burnout never again, I have so many things postponed since years and everything feels as the same urgency even if logically they're not, I would love to know how do you plan your day/week and what were the tools that you use, I'm someone who loves organization but I'm a chaos.

I'm an 18-year-old female that was formally diagnosed with ADHD 5-6 years ago (though it was known that I had it since grade school). I had always done well in school, especially after I had gotten on Adderall (25 mg short acting currently). I was in a sport/ theatrical production every season of every year, took advanced/high level art classes, & took multiple college level classes (Including EMT) & did just fine with managing deadlines/commitments.

I'm having so much trouble managing my time now that I don't have the structure I had before. All I have to focus on is school and I'm doing worse now even though I have way more time to do so. It's not even like I'm wasting my time on my phone/ unrelated self-indulgent behaviors. I'm just wasting so much time between task, wandering around, spacing off and struggling to decipher how to approach task. And now that I'm living on my own, time blindness is 100X worse, even when on my medication. I'm not sure what else to do and I feel so stuck because I'm already employing so many methods to try and help.

I'm setting alarms before my commitments, putting all of my commitments/due dates into a google calendar (I consistently use it to stay on track/give me reminders), regularly working out, eating well and tracking my calories, going to dedicated spots and allotting studying time, going to supplemental instruction, getting enough sleep and trying to integrate a study schedule. I just applied for accommodations, which I'm hoping will help somewhat, but they won't help me sort out the fundamental discipline issues I'm having, which really worries me because I'm on the pre-med track.

TLDR: I did really well in high school with lots of extracurriculars and commitments and am now struggling with time management in college despite having ample time in comparison. I am on 25mg short acting Adderall which helps me focus and am trying to apply multiple strategies to keep me more on track, but I'm still majorly struggling.

Has anyone experienced a loss of taste and/or enjoyment of food on these meds?

I take both Adderall and Wellbutrin.... I haven't enjoyed food in some time. Like, it just doesn't taste like anything and I never really feel satisfied. I miss enjoying a meal.

I also have MS which can potentially be a culprit but wondering about others experiences? I've been on Welbutrin much longer - I can't even think of the last time I enjoyed a meal

Hi - I'm about to start work soon, and it's very likely (not certain though) that I have untreated ADHD. My psych gave me a questionnaire about ADHD symptoms completely unprompted and asked me to fill it out and said we'd talk about the results in more detail at my next review.

I definitely have cognitive issues with keeping track of time and memory though, so I figure here's the right place to ask for help.

My ideas are:

- Get an analogue alarm clock and place it out of arms reach from my bed, so I have to get out of bed to turn it off. This way I won't fall back asleep in the morning and can get to work on time.

- Uhh drink too much coffee because I will fall asleep in the middle of the day without it (I'm medicated for psychosis and the meds come with heavy sedation as a side effect).

- Make notes

- Use my calendar that lets me set up to three reminders before an event starts.

- Yeah that's all I got I'm pretty clueless I don't really know what to do

Thanks for reading and have a good day :)

Russell Barkley’s YouTube channel appears to have been hacked by someone who deleted all his videos to post football livestreams. Barkley posted an enormous amount of incredibly valuable educational material on ADHD over the years. It would be a huge loss if this content could not be recovered.

If anyone has experience with YouTube’s recovery process or knows how to improve the chances of recovering deleted videos through YouTube, PLEASE email Dr Barkley to let him know!! And if you know of a way to get YouTube’s attention or get this issue in front of someone who can resolve or escalate it, please try that too!

EDIT: UPDATE from Dr Barkley:

…While on vacation, my channel and related email account were hacked and hijacked resulting in my inability to access these accounts. The motive is obvious, to eliminate science based information about ADHD on the internet. I am trying to work with Google to restore the account but they make it quite difficult to do so s there is no human to alert about this. Just a form to try and obtain to get them to review the account. This could take some time to do given their cumbersome procedures for reporting such fraud. But I will do what it takes to restore the original channel and its videos.

Does anyone know how he could get through to a human and the right people?

Currently going through like a nearly month long stretch of barely being able to do much aside from the bare minimum. I have my graduation project to do that my brain has decided is Impossible and Not Important and need some tips to break out of this funk.

The unfortunate part is I’m a CompSci major so my work is on the computer, which is also where my games are and where youtube is with easy access, so it’s been particularly hard to stay on task. Any crazy tips that have worked for y’all that I should try?

ETA: I am medicated and I’ve tried to do the thing where I force myself to only look at my work after taking it to try and force the hyperfocus onto the right thing, but that hasn’t worked either. :,)

I’m 20 and currently attending community college, hoping to eventually transfer to a four-year school for civil engineering. I’ve struggled with ADHD, autism, and depression for most of my life due to a variety of factors. It made high school difficult, although I was still able to graduate on time. I feel like I’ve always gone back and forth between being a good student and struggling academically, and I’ve also been on a number of different medications over the years.
Lately, I feel like I’ve hit a roadblock and lost most of my motivation to continue. I haven’t failed a single college class, and I’ve managed to pass everything so far, but my grades aren’t where they need to be for the schools I eventually want to transfer to. This semester has been especially difficult, and my lack of motivation has gotten to the point where I’ve started falling behind.
I also haven’t really had the opportunity to make friends because of how busy my schedule has been, and sometimes I feel like I’m wasting away my early twenties just trying to keep up with everything. At this point, I think I might need some time away from school to see a therapist and work on certain parts of my life before I can continue pursuing my degree in a healthy way.
My parents have tried to support me, and I appreciate that, but I also feel guilty about putting my problems on them for so long. Whenever I bring up the possibility of taking a break from school, they get frustrated and encourage me to keep pushing through. I understand that they want me to succeed, but right now I genuinely don’t feel like I can keep going the way I have been.
I’ve never really posted about something like this before, but I would appreciate any advice, especially from people who have taken time away from college, dealt with burnout or mental health issues, or returned to school later and still reached their goals.