I gave myself plantar fasciitis I did it so much. not that I stopped, of course, I just got some arch supports and kept pacing

Dr. Amen seemingly is a very popular "ADHD influencer". Many of his claims surrounding ADHD, however, are scientifically dubious. His main claim to fame is his work with SPECT imaging as a tool for diagnosing mental disorders [11]. Specifically relevant to this community is his advocacy for its purported use in diagnosing ADHD [12]; however, there is virtually no research to support this practice [1]. The only research that does exist (as far as I've been able to find, anyways) is a paper that he co-authored [2]. The paper does appear to show that SPECT can be used to measure observable differences between ADHD brains and the control brains [2.1], but one paper is far from an established body of supportive science for a medical practice that he touts and charges money for [5][10]. In addition to this, he also diagnoses what he calls the "7 types of ADD" [6]. This is not standard diagnostic practice in the DSM-5 [7]. He also operates an online store at brainmd.com where he sells many supplements that he has publicly claimed help with ADHD management [3.1], and he advocates for their use in his practice [4] — this is a conflict of interest; however, the supplements that he advocates for (that I have looked into) do have some research behind them [8][9], but they appear to not be well established treatments. I would also be wary of his research as he has openly stated that he doesn't respect the main body of psychiatric researchers, and that he doesn't wish to listen to their criticism [3.2].

I don't intend for this post to be interpreted as a trashing of Dr. Amen's reputation, nor do I fault him for trying to earn a living. There is simply a large potential for shady behavior given the context as a whole, and I believe that it is wise to be very cautious of his advice. I do hope that his research turns out to be beneficial, and not exploitative — I think that there is great benefit to be had from more accurate diagnostic methods, and improved classifications.

Basically, title

I’ve been thinking about it for a while now, and just realized how weird it is, after trying to explain it out loud to a friend who’s also neurodivergent.

I’m curious to know if it’s a common experience with other neurodivergent individuals.

My mind has three different depths:

• a very conscious one, capable of conjuring images and sounds from the void, capable of manipulating at will said images, morph them, move them… I can think « words » and have them be real in my mind
• a conscious but closed one: I can put words in it but without acting on them, only watching them. This one is the weirdest of all. There is a difference for me when I think about « dog » and just « look at the idea of a dog ». There are some things I don’t want to consciously think about (like things that makes me sad or depressed) so instead of thinking about them I’ll put them in this zone. They exist but it’s very different from having the words out loud in my mind, as if I was thinking inside my own mind. It’s like I’m in a museum watching thoughts behind plexiglass
• the dark zone, where I put things I don’t want to think about at all, things I want to forget. It’s literally a foggy dark place made of some kind of fluid darkness with no thoughts shining in it, I have to consciously want and try to pull things from it

A while ago, I read somewhere that the mere thing of being able to conjure images was « rare », like only 25% of people on earth can do it. Somehow I linked this idea to people being neurodivergent but I have no proof or source and I may just have made things up in my sleep or under the shower.

TL;DR: how does your mind works? Mine is weird

Random urge to share some hacks that I've come up with that have worked for me and might be helpful to others, and encourage hearing some more!

The most generic ones: Reduce decision making, focus on "if this then that" systems, and provide clear visual indicators.

Tl;Dr:

• Flip pill bottle upside down when taking meds to remember you took them.
• Smoothies are a super easy food that can be really nutritious and might bypass stim meds appetite loss.
• Scales for cooking means only needing one tool for measurements and not needing to clean lots of spoons; use non-American recipes or write down conversions once the first time you make something.
• Before bed if you're racing thoughts, write things down in a notebook and put it somewhere you have to pick it up (e.g., on coffee maker).
• Take notes using a non-linear tool like Obsidian canvas to better represent your non-linear train of thought.
• Freeze all of your food and prep more than you need when chopping to freeze it.
• Learn to cook meats from frozen, e.g., in the instant pot, to avoid thawing or meat going bad.
• Keep colourful stickers or sticky notes around so you can place them on things to remind you to look at it and deal with it later when you have time and energy instead of forgetting it when you look away.

Can't remember if you've taken your meds? Visual indicator systems to the rescue! I flip my pill bottle upside down once I've taken it, and keep it visible near my bed or by my coffee table/desk. If it's past 3pm, if I see it, I flip it right side up every time so that I don't leave it upside down overnight and get confused in the morning.

Not eating breakfast? Smoothies. Keeping the Sims metres full is important. I always run into decision fatigue in the morning/afternoon and by then I'm too faded to decide to eat, or Vyvanse has me too not hungry to consume food, or I'll spend forever making food to ignore my work. Bonus: Get a scale for cooking so you dont need to find and clean dozens of spoons and convert your recipes to masses (North Americans).

So smoothies. I ignore work for a day to do a wild research binge, figure out the nutritional value of some different smoothie mixes, experiment, and now I've got a go-to breakfast every morning that doesn't hit my nausea and gets me nutrients. You can also measure out 3-4 at a time and freeze them in small containers, excluding wet ingredients.

BTW my go-to right now is appx. 150g milk, 50-70g sugar free yogurt, 60g frozen blueberries, 70g banana, 25g rolled oats, 25-50g spinach, 7g chia seeds, maybe 30g strawberry if I'm feeling it, maybe a dash of cinnamon if I want. Seems decent in terms of nutrients, and all stuff I've got frozen or on hand anyways.

Bonus: A microwaved sweet potato is better than it deserves to be for 5 minutes of microwaving and pretty nutritious and sating.

Planning tomorrow at bed time? Before bed, I've got tons of thoughts about what I need to do the next day. I write them in my notebook, then put my notebook on my coffee maker (a Clever brewer for easy cleanup, decaf beans) so that I have to pick up the notebook anyways. Not every day, but if anything pressing comes up.

Note taking is tough linearly? My thoughts aren't linear, neither are my notes. Ever since I started using Obsidian for note taking, I find myself using the Canvas option which basically makes your notes into a graph/flowchart. Then I can colour code, link notes to other notes, turn each bubble into an entire page of notes, tag the notes. It even has an option to show you a random note on startup which can be helpful if you take notes and never read them.

Food going bad? Prepping is too much transition to cook? Freeze everything. Prep more than you need. If I'm already cutting half an onion for a meal, cutting a full onion isn't hard - in fact stopping halfway might be harder. Cut one or two, toss it into a sheet, stick it in the freezer, and now you're saved chopping for a bit. Bananas on their way out? Cut them into pieces and freeze them, frozen bananas are a freaking snack. Cutting bell peppers? Freeze that shit. Fresh spinach? I skipped the parboil and just froze it in a freezer bag and it worked great for smoothies and adding into curries. Freeze it all.

Meats going bad? Instant Pot was a saviour. Cooking chicken and sausage from frozen in the instant pot works great for all kinds of things. Slap a premade curry paste onto a frozen chicken, throw in some frozen spinach and frozen peas, meal ready in about 30 minutes. I use naan for everything because it freezes and reheats well; mini-pizzas with frozen pepperoni that's portioned out, naan as a sausage bun, garlic naan with pasta, whatever, it's versatile and freezes well.

Can't do this right now and then you forget? Having the short-term memory of a fly sucks. Have sticky notes or stickers around the house. Then when you notice you need to clean the toilet or refill something or whatever it is and you can't do it right now, just stick something colorful on it so that you look at it at a better time. I don't even bother writing things down on the note, it just needs to draw my attention at a time I can deal with it.

Just a few, might add more if some come to mind, but hoping to hear some other's thoughts :)

My psych wants to take me off Strattera because it isn't helping my ADHD and apparently it's quite expensive.
One thing it is helping me with though is my anxiety – I no longer get the random bouts of anxiety that I used to and I feel like I'm just generally more chill and enjoying the present moment.
What's more, I can actively feel the Strattera keeping me calm at times when my brain would have panicked before, like when approaching girls.
Do you know if other anti-anxiety meds my psych is likely to give me will have this same effect, or should I urge him to keep me on Strattera?

First off I am in England in the UK, so that's the medical system I would probably be using.

I've had significant issues with executive function throughout my life, but especially in the last two years of my integrated masters degree. This includes organization, as well as staying focused. I've had issues with losing things, multitasking, procrastinating, racing thoughts, and other issues in the other areas of life as well. I am thinking of going back to do a PhD or starting my first full time job, and am worried that I will really struggle this time.

I got a diagnosis of Asperger's before you could officially have a dual diagnosis under the DSM. So even though some of initial paperwork said I had significant evidence of ADHD, I couldn't actually be diagnosed with both so I guess Asperger's took precedence. This all happened when I was like 4 or 5 years old.

I am thinking medications or maybe therapy might be helpful, but I don't know if I need the second diagnosis to get those. From what I understand the NHS (UK public health system) has long wait times, and going private might be expensive. Additionally going to a psychologist, and talking about stuff with my family seems scary.

Additionally I have issues with sleeping and waking that probably won't help get all of this organized, and I probably need to get this addressed too. I understand that both ASD and ADHD can cause sleep issues, so maybe getting treatment for those would help.

Sorry for the long post. I hope this is also the right community for this as I wasn't sure where to post this.

Edit: I also have hyperfixation/hyperfocus/special interests out the waazoo, but I didn't know if this was relevant as that's also a part of having autism.

My main problems:

• Inability to stick to lowly stimulating tasks
• Executive dysfunction
• Forgetting what I was doing every 2 minutes
  Bonus mention: random bouts of anxiety
  (Don't know which subtype this amounts to)

Meds I've tried so far:

1. Atomoxetine (extinguished the anxiety but did nothing for the ADHD)
2. Methylphenidate (amplified the ED, essentially gluing me to even boring tasks. This helped for reading but not for my executively intensive physics homework, where I literally had to use my inner voice to guide myself. Did nothing for the forgetfulness.)

Has anyone had a similar response? What ended up working? I'm in the UK so there's no Aderall.

when i was a child, i had a tendency to extremely hyper fixate on various topics for months, so now that i'm older it just feels like i've experienced everything even though I technically haven't. the fixations are becoming much more quick in terms of cycles / how long they (don't) last and i spend most of my time feeling bored and empty, just rotting away and feeling entertained by nothing. lately this has caused me to get really stuck in the past, so i spend a lot of time just laying in bed crate digging my own memories and feeling kind of depressed because i have nothing new to be excited by or interested in. it does not help that i don't really have any long term goals or ambitions either, i just kind of exist.

does anyone else feel like this?

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/16045870

Everytime

But don't mix steroids and ritalin, that was an interesting 22 hours.

Hey everyone!

I really passionate about games but I struggle a lot to finish the storyline for a lot of them. There are some games I would love to finish like Eastward or Sea of Stars, but I feel unable to reasume them. I feel like if the game is not a dopamine trap(League or Civ VI) I can't continue playing it.

Does anyone here has face this issue and have found a way to work on it?

I'd like to know from anyone who is treated satisfactorily whether they have any symptoms that persist and resist treatment, and if so, which ones. Ideally, I'd like to collect enough data to produce some sort of statistics (not scientific, of course). Feel free to use any format and language you like.

For me:

• The urge to fidget
• Attention span, which is better but rarely exceeds an hour
• Hyperfixation and hyperfocus

EDIT: Got hyperfixated, compiling the following JSON from your answers, so feel free if you want to follow the template :)

{ "diagnosis": "ADHD", "treatment": ["fluoxetine", "methylphenidate XR"], "age": "30", "years_in_treatment": "3", "remaining_symptoms": [ "fidgeting", "hyperfixations", "hyperfocus" ], "attention_span": "60", "record_date": "31/05/2024" }

When you're at work, do you ever find yourself fantasizing and being hyper motivated about being home to continue THAT thing you're really excited about or should be doing. But then once you get home all motivation evaporates and you end up doing nothing and feeling guilty about it?

It's time to know your rights!

If you have ADHD, and you come across a website or app that is playing an animation (video or gif, or any other type), and you live in the US (you don't need citizenship), you can complain to your government that someone is breaking the law and violating your rights.

Yes, you could just use ad-blockers, but you can easily help solve the problem too for everyone just by filling in a form online.

The people you complain about might only get nasty legal letters that annoy their lawyers and cost them time and money to defend or fix, but for like 10 mins of effort on your part, that's a pretty good deal. There could also be fines for them, especially if people have complained before about them. You can even complain anonymously!

How?

To be considered a valid complaint, the animation must:

• start without you triggering it (so on page load, not clicking on something)
• last for longer than 5 seconds (yes, looping counts as lasting forever)
• be alongside other content (like videos in articles, not like a video as the main thing on a page)
• not allow you to pause, stop or hide it with your mouse and/or keyboard and/or touch (or whatever else you use to get around).

For your complaint to be most effective:

• both you and the site should be in the same general location. (US located people complaining to the US Government about a US company is always more helpful than trying to do international stuff.)
• you should probably mention that you have a medical condition that makes it difficult to focus when there are distractions
• you could mention they are not following this rule: "WCAG Pause, Stop, Hide (SC 2.2.2)"
• screen recordings are helpful evidence, but don't let this stop you, you can't upload them to the form and they might not request them anyway

Complaining about any organisation that gets government money is bonus points, they have even less room to wiggle out of it. Anyone from big business to small police department or anything in between has to follow this rule. They might also give some extra weight to complaints from US veterans?

If you think you tick all of those boxes you can fill out the online form on the Civil Rights Division site, but you should read first this ADA info about what happens when you complaint.

So if you find yourself getting annoyed by yet another distraction when you're just trying to get shit done in the US online, you now know you have an option to channel that frustration.

EU residents will be better able to channel their frustration June 2025. Some countries do have options now

A little extra info for the intrigued:

• The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines aren't guidelines anymore, they're pretty embedded in a lot of law. It's the list of things websites must do for people with disabilities. It's a bit difficult to navigate if you're new to it though.
• if you want to know more about this particular rule and why it exists here's an explanation of WCAG SC 2.2.2: Pause, Stop, Hide
• The WCAG is a requirement for places which accept government money under the Americans with Disabilities Act Title 2 Regulations while private companies are under Americans with Disabilities Act Title 3 Regulations. Same rule applies to both, so you don't even need to know this.
• a disability is defined as "a person with a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, a person who has a history or record of such an impairment, or a person who is perceived by others as having such an impairment." Using the internet is a major life activity for many of us, and you don't need to identify as being disabled to fill in the form. The US Department of Labor's own website, the Job Accomodations Network lists ADHD as a disability and details employment accommodations though, so, it's not like you have to prove your life experience or anything

Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer, feel free to verify or refute this info with your own hyperfixation

Cross posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/15867363

Often when I start feeling guilty for putting off a task (even if I genuinely didn't have time), the guilt makes it harder for me to get back to it. It's an additional emotion that I have to barge through in order to get started.

What if the person is annoyed with me for still not having replied? What if they've followed up with a strongly worded email that I'm now going to have to suffer through? And I'm going to have to come up with an excuse for taking so long. This would have been so much easier if I'd done it yesterday.

The guilt increases exponentially. How do you dispel it so that it's not in the way of actually getting to the task?
(Alcohol and sleep deprivation does not count)

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/15467370

me_irl

Hi everyone. I don't have ADHD, but someone who joined my family some time ago does (we'll call him T), and is currently going through some trouble which I find quite perplexing.

Some background: T has two daughters (8yo and 6yo) under shared custody with his ex-wife (they spend roughly the same time with each of them during the week). T has had some serious difficulties through his life, some of which are structural and will likely stay with him forever, such as difficulty to hold onto a job or keeping his house tidy (even less so when his kids are home), and others of which are temporary by nature, such as the recent death of his mother.

His daughters had been having some issues for quite some time, including school performance and very frequent misbehaving. I don't particularly dislike kids, but holy shit, the very moment they got used to me, they became imps, almost constant screaming, fighting each other, not attending to reason, and so on. And I've barely seen them a handful of times. Anyhow, T decided to seek the root of these issues, discussed with his ex-wife the possibility of getting them evaluated for ADHD, and the ex-wife refused. T went forwards anyway, and the girls are now diagnosed with ADHD, and assigned to a psychologist who should theoretically have a session with them each month, but in practice, they're given less than 5 appointments a year. In general, T's complaints that he wanted more guidance on what to do with them have fallen on deaf ears.

A few weeks ago, social services knock into T's home, and naturally, they find that the house is a mess, because it always is. They take note of it all, and recently summoned him for a meeting.

T's current partner recently told me how the meeting went: social services claimed that the kids are sometimes late to class and they sometimes don't go at all, attributed all the responsibility to him, and he refuted that, while he's sometimes late when it's his turn to take them to school, they only completely miss class when they're staying with their mother. Social services disregarded this (shouldn't they have the means to corroborate it?), and proceeded to explain that, as a person with ADHD who cannot keep his life in order, he doesn't seem to have the competencies to raise the kids, so they want to impose a change in custody where they would stay with him less than 33% of the time.

What I'm getting from this is that the only thing the administration will take into account when determining whether you should be raising your kids or not is your medical conditions and how disorganized is your house. The kids have some issues, sure (I'm not arguing that they being late to class or missing at all is ok), but if there are two separated parents, and one has an ADHD diagnosis and the other doesn't, is it ok to attribute all issues on the diagnosed parent rather than checking where the problems are coming from? Shouldn't the fact that the kids have ADHD a reason to want to make sure and the parent who does also have it to be more involved in their upbringing, since the one who doesn't will have less experience with it and its difficulties?

I just wonder if it actually did get worse or it just seems like that because as an adult you have a lot more on your plate than you did when you were a kid/teen

And second grade...

And third grade...

And fourth grade...

Sometimes I wonder what the next 40 years would have been like if I'd gotten some help instead of just getting yelled at for being lazy.

Hi !

Just to go straight to the point, my doctor is thinking of trying Strattera in me, since it was recently made available as a generic and I tend to have prevailing side effects with stimulant medication (ritalin, Rubifen, elvanse).

I have some questions that would like to hear from people that are/were on this medication to share:

1. I understand this is non-stimulating and seems to work akin to an antidepressant. Therefore, do I have to take it every day? Even on days I do not need ? With stimulant medication I only take it when doing theoretical work, and skip it when on the laboratory or other minor tasks and would never take it in days I'm not working, because I can't just interact with people and gives me a baseline anxiety the whole day.

2. What benefits did it gave you ?

3. Any prevailing side effects?

4. How does it compare with stimulant medication (after taking it for some weeks)?

For a bit of context:

I've been diagnosed for about 6 years now, and started with Ritalin XR. However, I could only keep using it for some months since it gave seriously side effects that persisted 3-5 months after stopping it. I later switched to Ritalin IR, which worked for some time and gave me less side effects. But it started to be ineffective after some months.

Then my doctor tried Elvanse (Vyvanse), it worked on keeping me focused, but the anxiety and the huge time frame of action of the drug led to me only taking it once or twice a week.

I'm now back on Ritalin IR, but always feel the anxiety and aversion to interact with people that I always feel with these 3 stimulants.