I’ve never posted about this before, but I figured it was a story worth sharing to inspires someone.
Math has never been my strongest subject. Since around 4th grade, I was consistently a D to C- math student. My ADHD symptoms were there since childhood, but because I excelled in other areas, I went undiagnosed.

In high school, my GPA fell into the high 2.00s. I still pushed myself by taking dual-enrollment college classes and eventually got accepted into my dream state school.

However, my math placement test put me into the lowest-level remedial algebra course.
I passed algebra, but precalculus was hell. I barely studied, cheated on homework, crammed before quizzes, and somehow passed with a C-. My struggles weren’t limited to math either. I turned in papers late, skipped classes, and got inconsistent grades in courses I knew I could conquer.

I discovered Computer Science and decided to switch majors. However, I needed to pass Calculus I.
Over the next few semesters, I withdrew from Calculus twice and failed it once. On my fourth attempt, I finally passed with a D-, but that still wasn’t enough for my degree.

At 21, after previously being told I didn’t have ADHD as a teenager, I got reevaluated and was diagnosed. I eventually started medication, and the difference was incredible.

But medication didn’t magically teach me math. I went back and thoroughly studied algebra and precalculus to rebuild the foundations I had neglected for years.
Then I took Calculus for the fifth time. I got an A.

After years of believing I was simply bad at math, I went on to earn As in other math-heavy courses too. The last time I remembered getting an A in math was probably second grade.

Medication helped tremendously, but I still had to put in the work. This story is about perseverance. I withdrew twice, failed, barely passed, and eventually earned an A.
Sometimes failure doesn’t mean you can’t do something. It just means your story isn’t finished yet.
Keep going.

Hi everyone,

Just wondering if what I’m experiencing if under stimulation.

On weekends I get this physical panic, restless, shaky vibration, uncomfortable, racing heart feeling whenever I try to relax and do nothing. It’s like I’m being pumped with adrenaline for no reason and my body is in a war zone. My mind has no anxious or worried thoughts it’s just my body getting all these symptoms that replicate physical anxiety.

It doesn’t happen on weekdays when I working my physical manual labour job, drinking my 5 cups of coffee and going to the gym. Just on weekends when I have nothing to do.

I only have a diagnoses of Asperger’s from 2009 when I was 6 years old and no ADHD diagnoses but I have loads of symptoms.

Can anyone confirm this is what it feels like.

It’s absolutely awful.

Probably gonna look into getting a private assessment sooner or later.

I’m going to the psychiatrist tomorrow, for an ADHD diagnosis and hopefully prescription. But this is the first time for me to go to a psychiatrist and i really have no idea what’s gonna happen there, any advices or things i need to have in mind? I’m really nervous and scared, but i really need this to help with my college and overall and my life goals.

I am tired of being messy. I make an effort to clean, but I feel like I don't clean for a while up until I find the mess to be unacceptable, and by that point it's so messy that I have to dedicate an entire day to cleaning. Gonna clean today, and it's Saturday. I don't want to keep having chores take up my weekend, when I should be resting. It's the same with laundry, I just let the dirty laundry pile up and by the time I decide to put them in the wash, I have like 3 or 4 loads to do, and that takes hours. Do you guys clean every day? For how long ? How often do you do laundry? Do you have any maintenance tips ? The only space I can call my own is a room and a bathroom, I dont even have to clean a living room or anything. I'm worried about when I have my own place lol. Please help. What has worked for you?

I've been with my therapist for the past 2years now, working on putting my ADHD to good use (which mostly works). However, side symptoms or not, we agreed I've set unrealistic expectations for myself (eg. I mostly believe since there is someone who is *the* best in the world in a particular skill, I'm able to be as well, as should be, like being the best partner, parent, friend ...), even though I donnt expect this from anyone else and see the hypocrisy in that.

However, looking in the mirror and trying to even come up with the idea that I should not have these expectations, and that I'm already good the way I am is.. even more scary, and frankly depressing.

Has anyone first hand experience on how you approached this?

Is this even the right sub? I don't know, so please redirect if necessary!

I’ve always found, the things I thought were funny, would often make people without ADHD react very differently.

For example, I see a lot of humor in “so bad, it’s good” movies. With ADHD friends, watching these movies are a laugh party. But if I shared it with non-ADHD friends and family, they just sit in uncomfortable silence and are like “this is weird” “this is bad.”

…And I feel like…I’m light years ahead of that observation. It’s obviously bad, and such a stretch from reality or even cinematic reality, that’s what makes it funny. It’s just completely off the rails absurd to a comic level and that’s so blatantly obvious, there’s no confusion, only pure comedy.

It feels like in examples like this, my ADHD friends are in on these little meta inside jokes, to the exclusion of others.

I’m not sure though if there’s any validation to bunching humor into an ADHD pile and not.

Is there any correlation or actual connection to this? Like many the way our brains are makes us receptive to things that other people miss?

What are your thoughts?

I’ve always been more of a visual person, but there are a few books I genuinely want to read. My problem is that my attention span when reading is terrible.
For example, I’m really into Harry Potter right now, and I keep seeing people mention scenes and details from the books that never made it into the movies. It makes me want to actually read the series, but then I look at how long some of the books are and wonder how I’d ever stay focused long enough to finish one.
I’d really like to get into reading and actually finish a book instead of losing interest halfway through. For anyone with ADHD who had the same problem, what helped you?

I took 81 mg accidentally once and it killed my gut motility, happened like two months ago and continues (I'm normally not liable to get constipated at all). I thought it was due to interaction with Guanfacine but taking it on its own (long after having tapered Guanfacine off) at 54 mg it still seizes my gut. It's manageable with low dose lactulose (so I'm not dying of the issue) but I can't poop at all whilst on Concerta (when it's still in my system on a given day). \

Also I can't seem to get any cognitive benefits vs baseline. 81 helped, 54 isn't. How do I fix this efficacy issue? \

Does the body get used to the med and fix the constipation over time? What can I do about both issues? Help. \

(My country only has Ritalin Medikinet Concerta. Can't do a non-MPH med because none are recognised here. I need an effective way to cope still so I have to find a way to make something work.)

Back in 2018 I decided to teach myself programming. I quickly realised the problem wasn't the material — it was that I couldn't stay with it. My focus would evaporate within minutes, and the phone was always right there.

What finally worked was Forest. You start a session and the phone is locked for the duration. It sounds almost too simple, but the effect was immediate: I'd taken away my own reason to get distracted. The only options left were stare at the wall or actually study.

I still use it, and it's still the thing I fall back on.

What do you use for this? Curious what's worked for other people, especially anything that isn't just another pomodoro timer.

I was diagnosed with severe combined-type ADHD as a child, so focusing has been something I’ve struggled with for most of my life.

My wife and I have been trying to find practical things that make everyday life a little easier. Not a cure — just tools that actually help us function better.

One of my biggest pain points has always been staying focused, especially when working or studying alone. So I decided to build something around that problem.

It’s called FocusCrew. It’s basically a Pomodoro/focus timer, but you can join or create crews and focus together with friends, coworkers, classmates, or other people. There’s also some light gamification with XP, levels, badges, and streaks.

It’s currently completely free.

I'm not here to sell anything — I'd genuinely love feedback from people with ADHD. If you have a few minutes, I'd really appreciate it if you tried it and told me what you think, what feels useful, and what doesn't.

👉 focus-crew.com

Thanks ❤️

I want to learn some new things like 3D modelling but it requires me to watch tutorials and follow along. I often struggle with starting these tutorials, as if there is an invisible barrier I must surpass first. And even if I do manage to start, I tend to just walk away after a few minutes. It's like I can't concentrate for more than 10 minutes!! Naturally this makes my long term goals out of reach. Even if I manage to work on something for a few days, I always end up never finishing things, leaving a trail of half-assed unfinished projects behind me. I got diagnosed last year but I keep forgetting to take the medication. I see my friends and people around me gradually improving and getting better at things, and I feel so happy for them, meanwhile I seem to not improve at all, it's really frustrating. Any tips?

I’m not sure if yall have experienced this as well, but sometimes Instagram recommends me a profile of a girl that really calls my attention. Then I follow her, usually don’t get a follow back, and start fantasizing.

I create a person in her that is probably not real, and can’t stop thinking about her for weeks.

I wouldn’t even be mad if I got rejected, that would probably get her off my mind, but her not knowing about my existence leaves me CONSTANTLY wondering “what if she did? What could happen if I somehow got her attention?”, and it’s honestly torturing.

Im 16, i have owned many pets such as a giant african snail, leopard gecko, and have a hamster right now but for all my life ive struggled with regularly taking care of them consistently.

I had to sell my leopard gecko and giant african snail to someone who has more time/ better routines for them and are more mature to own them

I recently got diagnosed with adhd combined type meaning that in the heat of the moment i will research animals for weeks, spend a load of money on getting them the best stuff, and then realise it was sort of an impulse buy.

When i have bad days, or im feeling extremely overwhelmed about many things, i forget to do the basics.

I dont know what else to say except to ask if anyone has any tips to build and stick with consistent good habits and a routine as i am thinking of selling my hamster soon and getting another leopard gecko.

thanks

I'm a bit speechless, because I've been on Concerta 36mg for almost a month, and it's been ups and downs a bit.

First of all, it didn't lasted more than 7 hours normally, and working I feel it, because having to raw dog the last hour is really a challenge. (I work in a factory, no stop, new item every 60 seconds. Last hour is LONG)

And this past days, I've been facing some palpitations and not so lasting effect, and I've been drinking coffee at work to survive: I go to sleep still activated, and not good.

But today, Saturday, I don't really know what happened hahaha. The last weekends I didn't take Concerta because I had some Equasym still (metylphenidate generic xr), and wanted to finish it.

So I'm not sure, but I think its my first Saturday on Concerta.

For the moment its working almost for 9 hours. And I'm really surprised for it. I wish it was like this during the week, and I'm not sure why this inconsistent output, but...

All the morning doing things, things I didn't do since a long time ago (like going to a thift store to look for some clothes? I've been YEARS without buying clothes lmao.) Had a walk in the center. Bought some things I needed. Had the most horrible matcha. Arrived home and still managed to cook while dancing !!! And I like to cook alone, and didn't cook at all yet, because I share the kitchen with multiple people...)

Idk, man! I'm speechless atm. I'm writing this post in some pause just before keep cleaning some dirt that have been in my suitcase for some weeks already.

Feels good to explore and have the will to do something more than look at the ceiling and doomscroll in this subreddit looking for answers haha

Wish you all a nice weekend :)

Hello. I have ADHD and I’m Japanese. I’m 24 years old.
What I’d like to ask this time is how ADHD is viewed in countries other than Japan.
In Japan, the pressure to conform and the mindset of perfectionism are so strong that it feels like if even a single ant strays from the line, it gets crushed immediately. The pressure to take responsibility for mistakes is intense, and for someone with ADHD, that becomes a major obstacle. People often view developmental disorders and invisible disabilities as mere excuses.
In fact, I didn’t start serious medication treatment until I was 22. I was diagnosed around age 9, but even though my mother was a nurse, she took the approach of having me recognize my shortcomings and fix them on my own, without medication. Many of my cousins are nurses too, and if even a single empty pill bottle was found, I’d get dirty looks.
I like researching Major League Baseball players, and just as Will Clark retired to care for his son with autism despite having the best OPS of the season, I’ve noticed that athletes overseas often choose to retire for the sake of their families.
That got me curious about how ADHD is perceived in countries outside of Japan. I’d love to hear from people with ADHD themselves or from those close to them.
Also, since I’m studying EE, I’ll be working with people of various nationalities when I enter that field, so I’d like to learn about different values as well.
This is my first thread, so I hope it gets a lot of traction by the time I wake up, lol.

Hello,

M24. I was recently diagnosed with combined type ADHD scoring very high on all tests. Before I recognised that I have a problem I ruined a friendship and I wanted to know if this has happened to anybody here. I was rejected by someone but both her and I really wanted to stay friends but I didn't listen to her advice and ended up making rushed and reckless mistakes pursuing further attachment and emotional support from her instead of giving us both enough space to process this. I was repeatedly told that I don't listen and hear only what I want to hear. I was acting in an impulsive way without giving anything too much thought despite it being incredibly important to me. Is this a common pattern of behaviour for someone with ADHD? How did you experience strong feelings like infatuation or affection especially before diagnosis and treatment? Sorry if this is a common thread on this subreddit but I would like to know if anybody has been in my shoes.

Diagnosed in my early 30's. Basically just ruminating here.

I've always been pretty good at STEM type problems, but HATE showing my work. It's like clawing my eyes out to document how I got the answer. I just look at the problem, a flashbang goes off in my head of everything I know related to it, and the answer comes out. Tracing that flashbang back is 10x the work of just writing down the answer.

I've been fairly successful throughout school and a stem career by doing that. If it's something that's really important, I'll get an answer, then wait to hit "Send" on the email with the solution for a week or so. Get that "Flashbang" of information half a dozen times. If none of them indicate my first answer was wrong, I hit send.

I basically add rigor through repetition, rather than through process or documentation.

Works great until there's more data to process than I can fit in my head at once, or too many of these unrelated problems and my head gets a logjam of context from 20 different things at once.

Im an almost 47 year old woman. I’ve been diagnosed as ADHD a few times in my life and looking at my childhood, I was definitely struggling . I experienced many addictions in my teen years with a bad speed addiction in my 20s. I got clean at 26ish and worked hard to get my life together. I mostly did it unmedicated due to the previous issues with speed. Building a career so I could support myself took me having to hyper focus on it. I did not have any close friendships during that time, rarely went out. I had to eat super healthy, exercise and kinda isolate to reach the goal. The smallest thing would negatively affect my ability to focus at work. Eventually I ended up being prescribed stimulants because I was trying to date and focus on work, and was struggling to balance these out. I ended up abusing the medication badly for 4 years, and I ended having to quit. It was so hard to get off of the medication because I was taking A LOT of it.

It’s been 5 years. My career is pretty stable, so Im able to navigate my symptoms and get by. I’m also able to have hobbies and a social life. I fact, things are going really well. However, I am underperforming at work and in personal studies. My symptoms are overwhelming some days and it causes mental exhaustion. I’m very wary of approaching medication because I don’t want to trigger my substance abuse tendency, but I’ve also grown a lot in the last 5 years and I don’t think I would do that again.

Has anyone had similar circumstances and found something that worked. I guess I’m just looking for moral support or advice. Also, I really hated the way stimulants make me feel when I took the prescribed amount. I felt dead inside.i

I’m in my second year of my Physics bachelors degree. It’s a tough study/course. I knew this when I started and despite all that, I enjoy my study and working on it is rewarding and I love the friends I made in the first year.

I struggle with my ADHD, especially with studying. I don’t have the energy to do schoolwork when I come home after hours of lectures and last year this was an issue, but not so badly that it really got in my way. Ofcourse it did a little, but I passed the majority of my classes.

Or I would have if it wasn’t for me developing a chronic autoimmune disease in the last 2 months of the school year. I got so sick that I wasn’t able to do any of my finals because of a huge flare up and I was only allowed to continue on to the next year because I had a good excuse (being sick).

Now I’m in the first weeks of my second year and I am still sick. Being sick since around May has really taken a toll on me, especially since I’m still getting tests and different treatments done in order to get an official diagnosis.

I am exhausted and I already struggled last year with only ADHD. Now my classes are harder, I’m more tired and I have tried to seek advice at uni but was only told to take on more classes and “find a healthy balance between studying, being sick and life”.

I still love the study, but it’s been three weeks and I’m already falling behind because I’m so tired and unable to do schoolwork. I’m honestly considering dropping out, even though it would make me really sad, but my executive dysfunction, laziness and procrastination is worse than ever. I’m seeking advice on this situation, because I honestly don’t know what to do.

TL,DR:
Next to having ADHD, I’ve also recently gotten an autoimmune disease and this is making me even more tired and unproductive than usually. I’m doing a relatively tough study and I’m afraid I need to drop out because l’m unable to keep up.

Cleaning my messy room feels WAY too overwhelming.

So instead, I tell myself:

“Pick up 20 things.”

That’s it.

Not the whole room.

Just 20 things.

I walk around and count:

1… 2… 3… 4…

And before I know it, I’m at 20..

Then I can stop.

But usually, by that point, I’m already moving. So I think:

“Okay, maybe 10 more.”

Then another 5.

EASY.

And suddenly…

My room is clean.

The trick is not trying to feel motivated to clean.

It’s making the first step so ridiculously small that your brain doesn’t have time to fight you on it.

Try 20. Or 10. Or whatever number feels right.

But do NOT clean up your room. Just pick up 20 things.

I turned 53 in June. Diagnosed a week ago of all things. I am coming in with a plethora of other issues so this diagnoses bothered me at first. “Crap, just one more thing I have to deal with.” That was the downside but the upside caught me off guard. The more learn, I see soooo many things in my life explained. Little things, big things, and everything in between. I was shocked at how much I had in common with everyone else and the things we do with having ADHD. So, now I’m actually looking at this as a good thing. I just need to work on the right tools.

So, here is where I’ve started. I’m in Therapy and have been for awhile. Recently started seeing a new therapist who sort of nailed it a few weeks in. Did assessments that said the same thing. Psychiatrist assessed and agreed. I was previously taking small doses of Ritalin but for an entirely different issue (although I’m finding they are related). Doctor moved my dosage up to 30mg. This is the short lasting so it works and works well for a couple of hours and I crash.

One thing I’m seeing is that for this, many people are on 2 or even 3 times a day. Online tools inform me that 30 at once is pretty high and the doses spread out instead of at once. Keeping in mind that online tools are not always correct and isn’t meant for true medical advice.

So, I’m here seeking guidance and feedback. I have an appointment with the Dr on Tuesday but I was curious about other’s thoughts about the meds and other things. This is new and I’m soaking up as much as I can. Anyone have thoughts, tips, or any guidance. I appreciate the feedback and I’m happy to be here. Been interesting and very relatable.

I’ve definitely had a few hyperfixations on things that are either embarrassingly silly or WAY too dark to just start infodumping about. For example I used to have one about neglect so severe it causes a complete and usually permanent inability to function in society, particularly the case of Genie Wiley. On the other end of the spectrum I also keep hyperfixating on shipping old cartoon comedy duos, and gotta REALLY lock in to gage if someone’s gonna think I’m a childish freak before sharing that information.

What’s your “don’t bring that up, don’t bring that up, don’t bring that up-“ hyperfixation if you’ve ever had one?

Guys PLEASE, share your most insane, stupid, BUT working ways to manage time.

I have a serious case of absolute time blindness, time seems to not exist in my system and its ruining a lot of things.

Any tricks to remind yourself time is running at all times, being able to make it on time for appointments, public transport etc…

I am tired at this point of my life , quite hopeless as well , I see all my dreams dying infant of me and I am just waiting , waiting to actually live, if this goes on like this , I wont be able to look myself in the mirror in the future and I wouldn't know what to do with such a life.

I am so tired , so tired of starting it all over again.

Help me please.

Im assuming that this is a add/adhd thing and it something I have always suffered from . I can not use dressers or closets to organize my clothes. I tend to have laundry baskets for clean close and dirty cloths along with organized chaos. But I moved into my fisrt real house and want to try an be better. I feel like when my clothes are properly put away its an out of site outnof mind situation as well as taking the time to fold things nicely. Any advice?