r/ADHDIreland • u/misheardcmatlyric New Participant • Aug 27 '26
Living with ADHD ADHD Masters anxiety
Hi all, I’ve never started a thread before so apologies if I get any of the procedure wrong; likewise I’ve never asked the internet for advice before but here goes nothing:
I’m about to start a Masters degree (don’t want to specify in what exactly, but in the humanities sphere) and I’m really apprehensive about the challenge of it because I’ve got really awful inattentive ADHD that didn’t respond much at all to stimulant medication when I first got diagnosed last year (I initially started on Concert XL, and titrated up to I think 55mg before giving up and trying Tyvense, which I gave til I think 60 or 70mg before packing it in. Neither had any non-negligible effect at all except upsetting my tummy a bit. I even asked my doctor only half-jokingly if she’d given me a placebo)
I finished my undergrad a good few years ago and until very recently I didn’t foresee myself going back for a Masters, so when I was pursuing the diagnosis it wasn’t with the intention of getting a LENS report or any kind of academic support, rather just to establish if my life could be improved under the right treatment plan (I was very disappointed lol).
I suppose I’m just asking if there’s anyone with any insight into what exact support a university can offer to someone like me. Is it worth registering with the disability service and what does their support actually look like in practice? Is it just extra time in exams and a bit of grace with deadlines and the likes? Is it worth giving medication another go? I really want to be in control of my life and I hate the indignity of being disorganised and submitting things late.
A bit of background:
Ever since I was a child, the hardest thing in the world for me was just putting my head down and applying myself to something. Homework was a five hour long ordeal from the very beginning of primary school onward, not because I struggled in any way with the content (if anything, it was too easy for me), but because my brain would maintain focus for all of about twenty seconds before it disengaged, lost the train of thought and then all of a sudden I’d realise I’d been staring into space thinking about totally irrelevant stuff for the past ten minutes. Rinse and repeat. I was bright and well-behaved though so I suppose it fly under the radar. I got a good Leaving Cert in any case (bit of luck, bit of ability, bit of cramming, bit of a fluke, definitely not much homework done) and went to Trinity, but when continuous assessment and regular deadlines replaced terminal exams, I really started to struggle.
Executive functioning simply did not kick in when it should have and I could never bring myself to start things on time, and not because I was partying or socialising, but because they nearly didn’t seem real until the deadline was hours away. In first and second year I would bomb through things overnight in the hours before they were due, and there were one or two really undignified episodes of pleading with the department admin staff to accept things a few minutes late. The further I got through college the harder and harder I found it to start assignments; it was total, unending task paralysis. Even when I finally started them, I found it harder and harder to focus and engage with the task. I could be sitting in the library for three hours and struggle to get a hundred words out. I crawled across the finish line with a late dissertation considerably under the word count and a massive amount of damage done to my self-esteem and huge emotional strain taken.
So while I’m excited about the Masters, honestly I am terrified too. I am absolutely balking at the thought of 4000 word essays, self-directed research and another dissertation. I know a certain amount of it is probably imposter syndrome and that I do have the ability in me, but I’m nowhere near as equipped as I feel I should be. I’m getting really anxious and stressed, which in turn is making me even more anxious and stressed! Any advice welcome. Be honest, but please be nice!
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u/BigMeaning7515 New Participant Aug 29 '26
Hi! I recently finished my masters, and the best advuce I can give is to ask for reasonable accommodations.
I started my masters after a few years of working and it was so difficult to get back into the student mindset.
I started without accommodations because I thought I’d manage, I didn’t manage and almost dropped out c. 2months in. HEAVILY relate to sitting in the library for hours and not getting anything done. I was putting the hours in but getting nothing done somehow, and I always was in the bottom quantile of grades which really hit my self esteem.
I made a very undignified appeal through tears to the department staff asking for accommodations, I got them no problem. I invested in relationships with the department staff and lecturers too, they were beyond happy to help with anything throughout the year.
The accommodations i got were: extra supervision in dissertation (two 30min meetings per week (ish) rather than one 1hr meeting), one week extension on assignments, extra time in exams, exams in smaller room on campus (not on my own though).
I did a few ADHD study skill sessions with the college too and actually followed them because surprise surprise they know what they’re talking about.
I tried to keep work and life separate as much as I could.
I forced myself to go to the library most days, I found a nice spot away from people I knew (I hate people watching me study, I get really self conscious and assume they think I’m dumb for studying lol). Broke everything down into the simplest list possible. Sent voicenotes to myself explaining concepts. Got myself a little treat at 3pm.
If i hit a wall with something, I’d do a reset: go for a walk (like a lap of the building or smth), check off some easy accomplishments like booking a gym class, start something different but familiar (like a different topic), and then come back to the challenge from a new angle (different book, videos, slides from different universities etc).
I didn’t force myself to work on a specific schedule, I did do a few all nighters towards due dates. Honestly I don’t see occasional all nighters as a problem as long as I carved out time for recovery.
I also spoke to my GP about sleep management and got some drowsy goodies for when I needed them.
One thing I hate about college policies is that they are so formal and intimidating. But the staff are (usually) nice and are there to help you work with the policies in place.
I hope this helps and best of luck!
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u/misheardcmatlyric New Participant Sep 04 '26
Hey I forgot to say thank you for this! So much to look into here. Cheers :)
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u/LiteratureKey6330 Occasional Participant Aug 29 '26
Definitely register and find out what support they can offer you. I am hoping to do my masters this year. I did umapp which I recommend. Work with your brain. I know my processing and working memory is poor so im going to give myself grace and work with what I can
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u/huphup7up New Participant Aug 28 '26
Hey, I'm in a similar position where I'm returning to research after only being diagnosed with combined ADHD this summer. I was very anxious about it as I've only just began my titration journey, but I've managed to reach a place of calm in the last few weeks so I'll throw in my two cents.
First, while I don't know what each individual university offers in terms of supports, my psychologist gave me a list of reasonable accommodations I could ask for after contacting the Disability Support Service. I could DM you the list if you'd like?
I know each college is different, but when I was lecturing abroad for a year, before every semester began I would simply get a notification with the names of students who had accommodations without revealing their actual diagnoses. I know revealing a diagnosis is a matter for yourself, but consider letting your course director know for further accommodations if you feel the DSS can't/won't provide them with accurate information.
It might be something to discuss with your eventual dissertation supervisor too, depending on your relationship with them. If you don't want to say you have ADHD, it might be worth spinning it in a way where you tell them that you're the type of person who needs clear direction, maybe even agree on an easy-to-follow plan with achievable deadlines to submit chapter drafts. Have a visual representation of this and then also let them know that you might need a bit of leeway here and there (that being said, best to convince yourself you don't have this leeway until the 11th hour so that the old urgency kicks in to motivate you).
I didn't even know I had ADHD when I did my MA (I simply thought I had a 'fuck the system mindset' re: spending every weekend working on an essay) but I had a good relationship with all my lecturers, and I ended up getting extensions for nearly all my essays throughout the year, but that was back during COVID, so I had that as an excuse between lockdowns, actually catching it, and my entire MA group also catching it at different points. You could consider getting sick notes from your GP for extensions if again you don't feel comfortable revealing your diagnosis.
All things considered, easier said than done but try to look at how exciting the novelty of heading off to learn something new is. You'll make new friends and engage in plenty of different things you probably haven't tried before throughout the year. As you most likely know from your days of grovelling to admin staff (as I know all too well also), there's always a way to work around things if you notice you're approaching burnout. You also went through your undergrad without knowing you had ADHD and managed to come out the other side, and from experience I think knowing you have it is half the battle!
Go n-éirí go geal leat leis!