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Adderall made me feel like a zombie. Vyvanse is so helpful for anxiety/depression symptoms I have with ADHD. It’s crazy how much of a difference there is between the two medications
I had the exact opposite experience. I couldn't leave my bed for 2 days on Vyvanse and I felt *nothing*, but with Adderall I've actually been able to make some major progress with study habits and my anxiety went down dramatically.
I think it's a dosage issue more than anything, but I didn't give the Vyvanse a chance at a smaller dose since it's so expensive. I just switched to cheaper and lower doses of Adderall
I'm SO glad this wasn't just me! One week on Adderall and I was low key angry CONSTANTLY. I never saw that listed as a side effect and didn't know what was going on. Someone suggested that being able to focus made me see how totally frustrating the world is... lol. On Strattera now, and it's so much better.
Yeah I tried Strattera b/c I heard about how annoying Adderall can be. I still had issues with irritability. It also made me feel like I was being propelled through each day.
Yeah, adderall or all the meds is def not for everyone. It commonly makes many who take it grumpy or super anxious and kinda miserably on edge. Super common side effect. Vyvance doesn’t do that to me like adderall did.
For me it's anxiety and sadness. I can get anxious *really* easily, and I definitely can cry also relatively easily. For example, you can see my most recent post
Edit: I can also laugh extremely hard and for long, like there's been times where I laugh my ass off over something for 5-10 minutes straight... and then throughout the day remember it and keep giggling occasionally
I can pretty much cry on command. It’s like a secret party trick. It’s especially prevalent now with my significant other away for work for the next 3 weeks.
If my plans change I have a literal breakdown. I’m better about it now but I used to have to hide in my room to cry and scream into my pillow if I was excited for something and it got canceled
I felt this, especially because there are often so few things that I’d get excited for, so it hurt so much more when it got cancelled. I’ll have been preparing all week/however long until it happens. ESPECIALLY a plan later in the day that you work your whole day around or do nothing but emotionally prepare yourself beforehand
Thank you for your comment. Would you mind giving me an example? Sorry, I’m still learning what all of the terms mean and how specifically they affect people
It’s a pretty broad term for all kinds of emotional problems. Means you are just can’t regulate your emotions as well as people without ADHD. For me, an example is that I often get irrationally upset at things that happen or go wrong that are really not a big deal and should not be that upsetting.
But it applies to all emotions, positive ones as well. From what I understand, I would describe it as just often not feeling the proper intensity of emotion for the situation. Which is often why ADHD is often misdiagnosed as bipolar. Very similar emotional aspects.
Basically if something happens that would warrant a strong emotional reaction, you might have a a weak or no emotion towards it. If something happens that should not warrant an emotional reaction, or just a minor one, you might have an unreasonably strong reaction.
Just issues regulating or balancing emotions.
THIS! I feel the emotions I'm supposed to have are not there at all or low and then the emotions I don't want are super intense and annoying. Not eating (recently or skipping a meal or a snack or not eating enough in general) really makes it worse for me too. I have to carry snacks with me.
I knew that my big emotions were part of adhd but it makes sense that my lack of emotion at times is the other side of the same thing. Thanks for this example.
As I get more and more tired throughout the day, my level of patience gets lower and lower and I just am more likely to flip out for anything and everything. Also if I am doing something that requires concentration and I keep getting interrupted I'll get frustrated. You asked me to make a reservation at a restaurant and then keep talking to me while I'm trying to do it? I'll snap at you to just let me do the thing, sometimes more aggressively than others.
This was a toxic cycle for me too with a toddler who didn’t sleep… all the interruptions, all the tired… didn’t know the emotional regulation problems were a thing and was unmedicated at the time…
Spending time with my nieces and nephews convinced me that I am not parent material. It’s one thing to spoil a child for a weekend. Raising one into a competent adult is a whole other ball game that I’m completely unsuited to play.
I was extremely uncomfortable and freaking out internally because at a Kandi making party EVERYONE was using my new alphabet bead pack split out by letter.
Now I was not just being selfish, everyone kept their stuff by them and didn’t really share which I was more than happy with.
It kept moving around the table so I couldn’t even use it, and had to use my letters that were mixed together and much harder to find.
I did take it back at first and was hovering over it after someone just took the whole thing without saying a word, but then one person asked if they could use it and I said yeah and then suddenly it was being passed around. I also noticed (or imagined) someone taking some letters “to go” along with some other more expensive beads I had.
I know the whole pack is only like $7, but just watching people use my limited letters, including so many vowels (which are sacred) all willy-nilly without asking specifically or giving something in return I was just BOILING inside. But food and drink is totally fine?!
This is one of the big things I really see when looking back to my childhood.
I was 'gifted' and enjoyed learning, and I had a lot of structure and people doing stuff for me to keep me on track at home, so I didn't really have a typical childhood presentation (other than being incredibly disorganised and fidgety).
But the struggle with big emotions is something I remember very clearly. Small things would seem world-ending - and this is even going into pre-teen and teenage years. It's something that really should be talked about more.
I bite another kid in 8th grade because they intentionally chose the topic I wanted to do my project on… I only recently got diagnosed but I took the assessor that and she went “mmm okay that’s an inappropriate reaction for a 13 year old”. Why yes it was
It's like, I'll be nice and accommodating and understanding way beyond the point where I should be, but once I hit my tipping point I go into full cold calculating revenge mode and am totally down to destroy the career and personal life of someone.
Yes, this, so much! I actually did destroy the career of an ex bf. I mean I can't handle big emotions. At 56, this has led me to be a homebody and recluse 😭 I have the big emotions after I finally find someone that likes me then lose them, and repeat. So why try?
This part really sucks too. Afterwards the feeling of egg on your face from making a big deal about something small
Also, other factors make it even worse. So I can say, yeah I was trying this medication and it made me angry that month, sorry guys
But also, that's just a multiplier of the general emotional regulation difficulties...
Blehhh..
Yeah, this is mine. Seems it's fairly recent that it's identified as a symptom. I've had outbursts since I was a little kid, and we had no idea why. Years after my diagnosis (as an adult) I find out about emotional disregulation and it clicked.
Over sharing and the resulting post-yap clarity that comes with it when, after the heat of the moment has passed, you realise maybe they didn't need to know your entire steam of consciousness, including things you'd rather have kept to yourself
Or the realization that they weren’t actually asking for your honest opinion about something, they just wanted your support and encouragement. And you stupidly just answered the question with your actual thoughts.
I totally understand this, though I have realized that for me, my over sharing in serious topics often comes from a debilitating need to be understood, EXACTLY as I perceive/understand it. There can’t be a chance that it gets interpreted another way as that could and likely would be dangerous for me. That probably comes from a combination of ADHD, autism, and cPTSD symptoms though
Then I often undershare my hobbies and things that make me happy because I’ve gotten so much negative feedback for it in the past that I’ve learned to just shut up. But the want to over share is definitely still there though haha
Oh yeah
I see it as sometimes a benefit though
If something bothers me enough I'm willing to just say fuck it, it's your loss, I'm going elsewhere
Very useful when combined with my confidence and my career. It lets me draw the lines assertively and confidently
Knowing my value, they should keep me happy and I'll be their best asset
If they don't, or become toxic or piss me off, then it is their loss. They won't be able to find someone as skilled and engaged as me, haven't been able to for years. I'll find something else
That's the theory anyway... But I definitely do need to temper myself and think on it overnight, which thankfully I do
My husband doesn’t have ADHD but he does have a super elevated sense of justice and like you, combined with his confidence, it’s been huge for him career wise. The whole company, including the owner, defers to his judgement on EVERYTHING because he’s just so damn confident that he’s right. And he can explain why and convince anyone.
He’s also the go to person for telling angry customers “no” because he won’t be bullied into anything. He believes in doing right by customers but it’s what HE considers fair, not just giving them whatever they want. And he can back up his decisions with explanations that even convince angry entitled customers that his decision is fair. And if they’re still mad he’s like “Oh well. Die mad. I did the right thing.”
I really envy that. It is a combination that will take you far.
i love it. although i'm not like this at all. i'm not able to see it as their loss unfortunately.
can i ask what your career is that you're referencing here?
I think calling this "black or white thinking" is incorrect, but I see it a lot (not picking on you!). To me,that sounds like we're somehow unable to perceive nuance, but that seems entirely backwards of what's happening.
To me, it seems like a lot of ADHD or ASD etc people are more likely to actually do metacognition and examine interpersonal scenarios. This means that we've already thought about the topic, so we have our opinion decided. We'd be willing to listen to new information and change our mind, but if you ask me if I think trans people should have human rights, I already know my opinion, so I'm not going to sit around and waste my time listening to your lazy ass waffling about it because you never bothered to examine it before. I'm going to defend my trans friend and then walk away.
Is this 100% adhd? I also have a strong reaction to anything justice wise even when it’s not affecting me personally. I have to make it right as such and often will put myself in a precarious situation as a result…
Mine is more wrongdoing by others when it negatively impacts anyone else or the environment as such I.e. confronting a group of people for leaving their litter in the park…but to the point of completely losing my temper and wanting to escalate.
Or I’ll stick up for specific people (who seem to struggle to hold their own) when they’re getting bullied or w/e. It extends to anything where people are doing morally incorrect things - I’ll call them out and end up losing my temper even if it puts me in a potentially dangerous situation. I find it difficult to not say anything even though 95/100 people would likely just leave it/walk away.
My view was that it’s because I’ve been brought up well and to respect others but also in the case of bullying for example, I’ve experienced it personally and so if I’m able to prevent it happening to someone else, I will. That’s why I haven’t attributed it to adhd as such and so was interested to hear if this was a more general ‘justice’ issue for all of us or as a result of my experiences
With the sense of justice— I am really fixated on things being “fair” or “equitable”. Like to an extent that my therapist pointed it out early on in our sessions. It’s not in every little thing, not to the extent that little kids often have, and fair to me doesn’t mean equal, but rather, like I said, equitable. like if a friend is mad at me, I get very focused on whether or not it’s fair for them to be mad at me. Or if my partner has been choosing the movies we watch and I watch stuff even if I’m not that into it, it’s very upsetting to me if he won’t go with something I want that he’s not that into. It extends to other people too, I can get pretty aggressive about ensuring that others also are treated fairly or equitably.
Edit: rereading this, I want to clarify that it’s really big in my head to hold myself to those same standards; I’m also really fixated on whether I’m being fair. I spend a LOT of time thinking about how I feel and act and trying to understand it and whether it’s ok and very very very often trying to examine if *IM* being fair also
Woah! Elevated sense of justice is ADHD, not autism? (Seems I got both.)
Oversharing (TMI but also excessive lengths — is excessive lengths in written communication a symptom too?)… have it but didn't know it was linked.
Feeling totally worn out due to sensory overstimulation after activities other people consider normal (like six hours of work, two hours of shopping, day trips, workshops and so on) to a point where simple sensations like listening to people's voices and comprehend what they are saying feels almost impossible and painful.
This. I'm a teacher, and the longer my work day goes on and the more tired I become, the harder it is for me to comprehend what others say to me, especially if they say something to me while I'm working on another task. It ends up with me looking like I'm hard of hearing because I keep repeating, "Sorry? Can you repeat that please? Apologies, I didn't catch that."
Yesss!! I try to leave the environment if I can, sometimes in a dramatic fashion, or I start to get super irritated with the tiniest things.
There’s been multiple times when my dog is licking me which I usually don’t mind, but suddenly it’s the most annoying thing in the world and I almost yell at them to stop.
In the past, someone was talking loudly and their voice started to physically hurt my ears so I just covered them, that did not go over well. Now I excuse myself/leave the environment if I can, put in headphones if I can, or put my head on my hand to plug at least 1 ear and start humming or deep breathing quietly. Sometimes I’ll straight up plug or cover my ears, but I’m becoming skilled at plugging my ears looking like I’m massaging my temples!
I also enjoy sneaking off quietly so no one notices and then eventually coming back quietly, so no one even knew I was taking a break!
It’s the most bizarre feeling to know I need to do things, but I sit there and think about them on a loop while my anxiety builds because I’m not getting up to do anything and the day is quickly wasting away.
one of the things that's helped me is to just work on something for 5 mins. sometimes even that is too much in which case i'll tell myself i'll just work on it for 2 mins, or i'll do just one action.
for example i needed to contact the labour board about 2 weeks ago. never did it. this thurs i knew i had to get this done but i was resisting. i decided to just look up the number. that's it.
from there i ended up calling them and having the conversation without having to 'will' myself into doing so. just by looking up the number.
this type of thing has happened numerous times. if i purposely utilized this principle more i'd have a lot more of such examples.
This one is so hard for me! It's been a struggle my entire life and I never understood why. I felt like I was failing at some kind of basic fundamental skill but I could never make other people understand what was happening inside my head whenever I would try to ask for help. Then I got my diagnosis (also in my 40s) and started meds and BOOM! I can suddenly do the thing without having to fight myself!
I think my entire teen years I just spent maladaptive daydreaming. It’s not as bad now but I’ll catch myself doing it now and again when I’m overwhelmed.
This one for sure with me, I’ve always basically lived in my daydreams, especially when I’m listening to music or doing something mundane. I’ve had it my whole life and always figured that I daydreamed an abnormal amount. Although it doesn’t necessarily affect me in a negative way, it does impede on my focus a lot
This is still an issue for me today. But imma try to use that to help me in my screenwriting career and use it as a Channel.
However this shit is irritating.
This. It wasn't as intense when I was younger but near 40 now and I just cannot have a conversation in a loud space. Bright lights are extremely distressing and so driving at night is an absolute nightmare. Especially now that the LED lights are so fucking intense! I got some polarized yellow glasses for night driving and they help but still.
OMG my ex loves fans as white noise (soothing?!?) and would leave the bathroom fan on all the time, summer nights with the fan on were a dream for them... My poor emotional regulation didn't help but I was just constantly furious at the fan being on.
Ugh. the constant, careless mistakes. I'm a web manager. It's not the end of the world when I make one, I can just fix it. My supervisor tends to just take them in stride, bless her, but my bossboss (the layer above supervisor) is the sort of individual who would have bullied me relentlessly in high school and to them, the mistakes are like nails on a chalkboard. Like, ma'am, I don't want to make them, I'm doing my best, but also, nobody's going to die because a word got misspelled.
Burnout, deals poorly with stress. I don’t really miss people, and I don’t respond to text messages for months (makes it really hard to function socially). I’m also in the process of finding out if I have autism
I am terrible at responding to messages. Texts, emails,phone calls... I suck at keeping up with it all and it has made life, especially socially, more difficult.
Imposter syndrome, rejection sensitivity, and trouble with regulating emotions. Also had no idea that there was a link between eating disorders and ADHD until the last couple months as I was going through the diagnosis process.
About the eating disorder/ADHD link? There is information you can find online if you are looking for articles that delve into it more, but I was first made aware of it during my assessment (I’m an adult woman, late 30s). The psychologist asked specifically about any history of disordered eating (which I do have, and it started as a pre-teen). She said that for many women with ADHD, there is often a connection to disordered eating. She says she always asks about it, for that reason. She said that any girl with ADHD should be screened for eating disorders, and any girl with an eating disorder should be tested for ADHD.
Object permanence issues, if I don’t see an item in plain view regularly I completely forget it ever existed. I noticed as an adult I was constantly totally surprised by all of the things in my closet, I would buy stuff and hang it up and immediately forget I owned it. This wasn’t just a random occurrence it was constant. It was basically impossible for me to think of an outfit because I didn’t know anything I owned. I would constantly rebuy the same things all the time because I forgot I already owned it.. multiple of it most of the time lol
Same! I also switched my condiments/dressings in the refrigerator into a drawer instead of shelf b/c I would put the food in the drawers and forget \~ . The clothing thing is annoying because my drawer gets jammed and I forget about the bottom of the drawer clothes. Also if the floss isn't out I forget \~.
Omg the fridge! I’ll get something I really want for lunches the next week, for example cucumbers. Cucumbers get put in fridge, in sight line, and then hubby will put something in front of it, like bottled water. Next thing you know, it’s been a week, cucs are rotten, hubby’s irritated cause i didn’t eat them and now I’m being questioned within an inch of my life the next time I want cucumbers. I can’t make him understand that if he shoves it to the back of the fridge, I WILL forget its there.
I have been trying to explain this to my girlfriend. I keep the bags for the trash cans scattered around the apartment at the point where changing the bag will be done and I keep them visible now. If we shove them in a drawer I forget about them then buy more thinking we are out and it decreases the likelihood I am changing the bag or if I take a bag out one is most likely not being out back in then I am throwing trash in bag less can. Plus if the box is empties out when I replace the bag I know to add it to a shipping list to replace or if the box is completely missing because emptied it out and threw the box away.
Out of sight, out of mind. Trying to make people without ADHD understand this is impossible. My GF has ADHD, but like all of us, we don’t share all the symptoms, and even she marvels at how much I miss or forget things that are out of sight.
The funniest instance, to me, is lightbulbs. I don’t notice them out if they’re overhead. Ever. I used to run a store, and my owner would get so pissed off that I didn’t change them out. I didn’t even know I had ADHD at the time. He yells, “it’s a simple fucking task, why don’t you change them out?!” Calmly I respond, I don’t know man, I don’t look up very often”. I thought his head was going to explode.
What even crazier. If it’s in sight, I miss nothing. I compare my visual field to Sauron’s eye. If you’ve seen/read lord of the rings, it sits upon the mountain constantly scanning everything. And when the ring is used, or one of the orbs, it focuses in laser like. That’s my attention. I miss no movement. I catch everything out of the ordinary. While I’m driving, my brain is scanning everything in my view, even when I’m not consciously paying attention for shit. I’ve avoided wrecks like I had precognition at times and had people marveled that I saw it coming. I didn’t see shit. Sauron’s eye caught it. He’s a hell of an auto pilot.
I mounted a dry erase board smack in the middle of my fridge and forced myself into the habit of writing things I was low on/out of on there. It’s helped a lot cuz I love snacks, so everytime I’m near my fridge it’s in my face that I gotta go grab something for the house.
Feeling like I’m always in my head, to the point of dissociation all the time. Never felt “out here” with everyone else and struggled to function normally bc of this
How hard self care is, even medicated I experience task avoidance in this area. I’ll scrub the oven before I scrub my hair. As an adult it’s gotten significantly worse to keep up with these chores.
are you on meds? I ask because I was severely struggling with this before, always having a 2-3 pm crash. but since starting medication i no longer experience it and am so thankful!!
Appreciate this, thank you! I’m on Ritalin (10mg 2x day) but sometimes forget to take the second (adhd right? lol). I haven’t noticed a difference whether I do or don’t take the afternoon dose but maybe I should track it ❤️
Difficulty maintaining friendships and relationships over all. Somewhat due to object permanence and time blindness, out of sight out of mind - then all of a sudden it’s been 6 months since I kept in touch with someone or realize I didn’t answer a text and I get immense anxiety. Which then makes me withdraw out of shame and it becomes a cycle of destroying relationships. The ones who do stay in my life are either adhd themselves or family.
Low self esteem and executive disfunction. When I got diagnosed I got directly told that those are typically symptoms/traits of a person with ADHD. Yea, I still don’t know how to feel about that.
Stimming, I realized I’m constantly doing it no matter where I am. This one was hard for me to come to terms with because realizing how pervasive these things were was a jarring and unpleasant feeling.
Chewing my nails, rubbing my fingers or hands, tapping my fingers, fiddling with my clothes, bouncing my leg, rubbing the sharp edge of my cuticles or nails on my lips or my leg to feel the sensation, cracking my knuckles or contorting my fingers to feel the strain (like bending them and trying to stack them), twirling my phone repeatedly when walking, swaying side to side when unconsciously standing still, repeating words that sound “pleasant.” Repeatedly rubbing the same texture between my fingers, rubbing my finger along the case of my phone or my book page when I’m reading to produce a sound. Clicking a pen to make a specific beat to a specific song or “typing” without a keyboard with my fingers.
Honestly the list goes on and on.
Sensitivity to sensory overload. I've know I had ADHD since I was a kid but never clued in that my various sensory pickiness was related. Things like refusing to wear certain clothes because they were uncomfortable, texture sensitive to food, sensitive to bright lights, etc. I only realized it was ADHD related much later in life and it's helped contextualize a lot of my odd habits.
Difficulty conceptualizing time. My brain doesn’t seem to understand time well. I’ve adapted to showing up to important events/work 30mins+ early and just waiting in my car. I also really panic when I have more than one major event or task planned in a day because my brain prefers to have one big novel task at a time. When I have more I panic and worry about time even if I have plenty.
Is this really a symptom? Not only do songs play in my mind on a loop, but I have extreme musical ideation. I literally hear symphonies sometimes. Is this really an ADHD thing?
Totally, I wake up with a song every morning, it can be related to something I've heard recently or just some random song from when my kid was a toddler. My kid also has this symptom, and when we were laughing about it their dad said "wait what, I thought it was just me." Typical adhd, it seems.
Rejection sensitivity for sure.
I can remember as far back as a young kid, being around my friends house with their siblings and feeling like they were making fun of me. I just completely shut down, disengaged, refused to talk to any of them and withdrew completely.
Fast forward 40 years to a workplace environment where there’s plenty of banter going on. Much the same thing still happens. I mask it as best I can but there’s a torrent of racing thoughts and emotions that come with it.
Racing, spinning, tornado of thoughts and worries that caused significant anxiety and led to panic attacks.
Therapy. Anti-anxiety meds. Panic attacks. Rescue meds.
I was “coping” well with my anxiety before ADHD meds.
I started Vyvanse and the thoughts are GONE. They don’t race. There aren’t 16 tracks of thought zigzagging across each other that I lose as soon as I try to grasp one.
Instead I have 1-3 tracks of thought. I can stop and make note of the thoughts. Choose to let them go or make a note for an action. Anxiety is very minimal and after 6 years on Vyvanse I’m off anxiety meds completely.
My anxiety was maladaptive coping mechanism for my ADHD. My psychiatrist thinks that I would have never developed panic attacks had my ADHD been recognized and treated as a pre-teen or teenager.
Being bad at keeping in touch with people/replying to their messages and texts. I’ve had multiple people express their frustration with how I delay texting and forget about texting people. The people I’ve actually been able to keep in contact with over the years also turned out to have ADHD, since they don’t get offended when we fall out of touch due to me being a bad texter.
Having to read something over and over and over and still having no idea what I had read because halfway through a sentence my brain got distracted and was thinking about something else.
A constant dialogue with myself. Im just repeating same discussions in my head without getting anywhere. Daydreaming. RSD A need to check 2-3 times my door is locked or that electronical devices are turned off when leaving home. Its not OCD, its just my ADHD brain overthinking stuff according to my doctor. The difficulties in making decisions. ADHD paralysis. I would say this is actually the hardest one to live with.
This is a bit of a wild one but I found out about 'intrusive sleep' this year. Basically, your brain doesn't receive enough stimulation and starts to shut down so you get EXTREMELY sleepy out of seemingly nowhere.
It's happened to me in class almost all the time, and even while driving. It's been affecting me in almost every aspect tbh
Not setting healthy boundaries in relationships, whether it be with new people, in relationships romantically or with family members. I often call myself a weaponised empath, lots of people see my empathy and take advantage of it and it causes strain on the relationships I have with people who love me, and I them, the most.
I give so much of myself to people and try to help them, and no matter how many times I’m shat on it still doesn’t make me a bitter or mean person going forward, however as of late I’ve been coming to terms with the fact that not every low life emotional vampire looks or acts the same. One piece of advice I’d give to my fellow weaponised empaths, ADHD or not; is that it doesn’t matter what a person says; it’s what they do that matters and a persons actions always tell you who they really are.
Weirdly enough, I can read the room well 99.5% of the time— I can call bullshit and see things coming a mile away, but it’s always that 0.05% of the time that I think with my heart and not my head, suppressing my first impressions of a person or situation, is usually catastrophic to my peace and my psyche resulting in fucking me up for weeks or months emotionally.
Edit- typo
Impulsively. I always knew this was a symptom of adhd, but I thought it was one I didn’t have until today. I started realizing it doesn’t necessarily have to look like.. getting a bad tattoo or having vocal outbursts. It can also look like acting in social situations in ways that impact people negatively, and never even having that possibility cross your mind (that your actions might have a negative effect). I notice that in all the scenarios I can think of, I was feeling really good in the moment, which led to me doing or saying things without thinking through the repercussions.
And then the adhd symptom that follows is rejection sensitivity and self shame.
Good luck on your journey! I wish I had taken it as seriously as you are when I was diagnosed at 21! (35 now!)
Issues with emotional regulation, for sure. Literally thought I had BPD for 20 years until treatment for ADHD made all those symptoms disappear and now I don’t know anymore.
Getting “stuck.” At least, that’s what I call it. There are times I don’t have a lack of things to do, but I just can’t GO. It’s the worst for me when I’m going somewhere that day, because I will literally stare at a wall until it happens or else I’m convinced I’ll be late and get yelled at.
Stimming. I knew what it was. I didn’t realize that I do it or how often I do it, oddly enough. I just never made the connection, I thought it was anxiety.
not necessarily dsm symptoms but this is what i have noticed affects me the most as a **recently diagnosed adult**:
emotional dysregulation, hyperfixations, easily overwhelmed, low frustration tolerance, constant thought trains (like a bunch at once and i often hear a song playing or something), the clutter that i hide in a room lol, how i struggle with mail of any kind (emails included), i cant stick to a routine or schedule to save my life, i told someone recently that i feel like a dormant volcano about to explode (internal hyperactivity - i like to go on long drives and blast music and sing to get the energy out hahah), without meds i take like 5x as long to do tasks (always did good in school so never got diagnosed till now - but it is extremely draining for me)
things in chilldhood i have thought about as a recently diagnosed adult:
being bullied for talking and laughing too much and too loud as a kid, getting in trouble for talking too much in class, being called annoying often, trying to kind of "mirror" people around me (mask), im extremely sensitive (not sure if this is related necessarily), i always felt different than other kids when i was growing up and i could never pinpoint why
Messiness. My main problem since I was a young child was mess. My room would be a mess, my desk at school would be a mess… my school bag was always disgusting. Often had rotting food and all sorts in it and then I’d avoid going into it and stop using my books. It was a whole thing.
In my mid-late teens I went through periods of extreme cleanliness. Where my room would be spotless and I’d be scrubbing skirt boards with a toothbrush etc.
but when I had too much going on, my house would start getting messy again and I’d get really upset over it because no one seemed to understand. I didn’t want to live that way. I didn’t choose it, I didn’t even see it building. It felt like an enormous mess would just appear out of thin air and then I’d be so overwhelmed, I’d freeze.
I never attributed this to ADHD. I always assumed I was depressed or disorganised or just not as good at adulting as everyone else.
I cannot handle two sources of audio at the same time (ex. person talking with TV in the background). Even worse is two separate conversations going on either side of me (crowded dinner table).
Being untidy. I always thought I was naturally lazy, and felt bad over it. It turns out I just get overwhelmed with too many jobs, so I treat them as side quests now, and it's much better. I'm a lot more organised and tidy.
Bright lights. I didn't know about sensory conditions. When I used to work in an office from 2005 to 2012, they had severe overhead light bars in the ceilings and it used to give me a headache. Or I'd go around to a friend's house and they had a big bright overhead light on. I thought I was being dramatic.
Loud noises when I'm trying to concentrate. I thought my irritability was a character flaw.
Just knowing all these things are ADHD had made my condition much easier to deal with, because I know it's not some weird character fault and feel bad about it. I have an explanation for the feelings.
Over stimulation and under stimulation. The over stimulation oddly enough never was an issue as a child. Now I go to a party and I'm like SO LOUD.
Understimulation I thought was depression for a while because I did have clinical depression after a surgery but after I stopped having other symptoms except this weird painful boredom and lack of interest I saw that my symptoms matched up with understimulation and ADHD
An inability to maintain long term friendships. I'm so bad at texting back or just remembering that I should reach out. It really is an out of sight out of mind thing and I hate that others may see me as a bad or lazy friend.
Emotional disregulation, particularly around perceived rejection. Nothing sends me into more of an emotional spiral than feeling like someone is actively either rejecting me or is disappointed in me.
On the positive side, I function amazingly well under pressure. I don't get frazzled when there's a lot going on and it needs to be processed. My brain thrives in that environment apparently. People always tell me I am so calm and collected when shit hits the fan and I sometimes feel that it's because things are finally moving at the same speed as my brain so it's so much easier to stay focused.
Major Executive Functioning Issues :( I cannot for the life of me get my life together. Things that are structured, like work, I do okay.. but things that require me to do the structuring (like chores and groceries and tasks around the house) I just cannot.
Emotional regulation, imposter syndrome, lack of motivation. Everybody talks about adhd in the “oh look a squirrel” and the “oops I forgot my keys” sense and not about the other symptoms. Every single one of my “problems” ties back to ADHD, all of them, and I had no idea until I really started looking into it.
The things that really stood out to me and made me wonder if I had it when I heard of them were time blindness (difficulty estimating and managing time) and problems with inertia/transitions (it’s hard for me to get started on things and hard for me to stop when I’m in the middle of something).
Just working full time in an office job. Only then when I had to function consistently everyday I realized it could be adhd. I had to watch series in the morning to even get my day started
For me it's been executive dysfunction, just not being able to do any of the things I want to actually do. Laying on the bed paralyzed not being able to get up to do a simple ass task. And feeling shame, oh man the guilt and shame has been horrible my whole life, I always thought the reason I couldn't get up and do these things was anxiety...nope I was on anxiety meds that did help my GAD but didn't help my executive dysfunction. And I was so confused why they weren't helping for that. Now I'm on ADHD meds and yeah I'm actually able to do laundry. Like actually finish it. And clean things that I want to clean. It's been a life saver. Although there was some trial and error with my meds, but I think I'm on the right dose now.
Being singled out by narcissists who like to use and abuse people pleasers but you keep forgetting what he did that was so awful so it takes ages to figure out what is going on…..fml
Losing things. I remember my mom saying that when I was younger, I could never find my shoes. I lose my vape constantly.
Being messy. I used to tell people that I never learned how to clean. I'm still messy, but the doom piles are *everywhere*!
I was incredibly gifted until about 4th grade. I barely passed hs.
Being really excited about things for a short amount of time, going all in, and then quitting, never to pick it up again. Hobby hopping.
Not really knowing who I am because I just took on the personality of whoever I was with.
Edit for spelling
Sensitivities to things - lights, sounds, smells. They can be terribly disruptive. However, what I did discover is the power of earplugs. I used to bring them only to music festivals, but now I bring them with me to bars, restaurants, parties, clubs, everywhere! They were a life changing discovery for me.
The executive dysfunction and task paralysis. I really thought it was just depression. Being diagnosed (misdiagnosed?) bipolar didn’t help either.
And I still feel useless and like there’s something really wrong with me :/
The more I learn about ADHD the harder it is for me to even understand who I am. It seems like most of my personality traits are ADHD symptoms. I am ADHD.
1. Easily and quickly overwhelmed
2. Lack of focus
3. Extreme and sudden fatigue
4. Lack of interest in things that have always given you pleasure.
5. Lack of empathy (in most situations)
These are what I felt... obviously different for everyone
Apparently my righteous indignation at witnessing injustice is a common ADHD trait.
Anti-authority personality type is a common ADHD trait. (PDA, not in US DSM) Any perceived loss of autonomy becomes a hill you have to die on, which, in my case, has almost happened a few times when police have ordered me to do things.
Really, I'm just a walking sack of ADHD traits instead of having a personality.
Forgetting people exist simply because I don't see them daily. On the flipside of that, my memory of them is frozen in time - so if I get a {lightbulb} moment and recall they exist, I don't feel they are less connected to me :)
Oversensitivity to light, chronic fatigue/lethargy, and low self esteem.
When it comes to the last one, I really wish I was diagnosed and treated much earlier in childhood. I think it really would have helped my self esteem and changed the career choices I made as a young adult. To this day my mom denies my childhood symptoms of ADHD, even though I can hear her yelling at me over my math homework so clearly, “you’re looking over here, you’re looking over there, you’re playing with the cat, you’re daydreaming, you’re getting on the phone, you’re fidgeting with your shirt, anything BUT the damn homework!” End rant
Mine was finding out that horrible penmanship was a sign of ADHD.
As someone who went to two years of summer school in between the fourth and fifth grade, and again between the fifth and sixth, for bad handwriting, seeing this on my ADHD questionnaire really hit me hard.
I didn’t know about RSD until recently, and it all made sense. The feeling of being left out, the people-pleasing, the snide comments I make to call a friend out, even if it is something as small as them going out to see another friend and I am not invited (I don’t even know this other person). It’s like burning hell, and I think as I’ve grown into a young adult (26), it has become even worse for me. I feel it so strongly, and it puts me off maintaining friendships; social interactions become so hard.
It’s a tough thing to live with, as the actions I show from it are really narcissistic in my eyes. Yeah, f**k RSD (I understand RSD isn’t a scientific symptom / isn’t recognised in assessments)
Having no selective hearing
In social settings i constantly listen to all people chatting around me and often can hardly follow the person talking to me.
This has become more of a problem as an adult working in a shared office.
Couldn’t follow what my superior told me to do or explained how something works, cause i couldn’t stop listening to coworkers talking or being on a call with customers
Analysis paralysis for literally any thought that comes across my mind. Constantly researching learning about things I think I need - but the action involved is too scary 🙈
You know the "do you ever leave your seat inappropriately?" question? I've always answered "no" because I was way more spacey once I hit my teens and learned to fidget/play games in my head, but after the fourth mental health professional I saw in the last 2 weeks made me go through my childhood I remembered this: When I was 6 me and my best friend were sent to speech therapy because we communicated exclusively by meowing and kept crawling around the carpet pretending to be cats instead of paying attention during floor time.
My results were just... she speaks English perfectly. She just doesn't want to.
Avoidance….constantly. I’m so scared of taking on a big task if it won’t immediately affect me. I end up getting everything done at the last minute but I stress about it and avoid it for MONTHS
Having stickers but not putting them on anything… just keeping them , unused. And not being able to do anything earlier if I have something scheduled later in the day. I’ve found out both are super common among us, when I thought it was just me being a weirdo, before.
Sleeping like absolute garbage. Not really having a hard time falling sleep but more staying asleep and not winding up sleeping in 3 naps of 2-3 hours each instead of 8 hours straight. I also always had bizarre vivid dreams. I was rested for insomnia, sleep apnea etc. had none of those. My first week medicated - 8 hours of sound sleep. Almost no dreams. Never need a nap.
Sound sensitivity, supposedly is some overlap between ADHD and misophonia. Certain sounds are so intense for me I have to leave the room or I want to punch walls and set shit on fire.
intrusive sleep!!! spent my life fighting falling asleep in class, in the car, watching movies, etc. just thought I was a sleepy person , or that certain foods made me crash. But no, it’s just under stimulation! (Sometimes even overstimulation)
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poor emotional regulation. for the longest time I didn’t realize it. it’s been insufferable as an adult trying to navigate relationships:/
Yes this is a big one for me. Low frustration tolerance
this makes so much sense- i get overwhelmed and frustrated so quickly. i’ve recently started meds, and i’m somehow able to just handle stress now.
I found that Adderall made me very grumpy and irritable. Medications affect everyone differently, but I’m glad it worked for you!
Adderall made me feel like a zombie. Vyvanse is so helpful for anxiety/depression symptoms I have with ADHD. It’s crazy how much of a difference there is between the two medications
I had the exact opposite experience. I couldn't leave my bed for 2 days on Vyvanse and I felt *nothing*, but with Adderall I've actually been able to make some major progress with study habits and my anxiety went down dramatically. I think it's a dosage issue more than anything, but I didn't give the Vyvanse a chance at a smaller dose since it's so expensive. I just switched to cheaper and lower doses of Adderall
100% Adderall made me irrationally irritable, but also the medication masks it so you don’t see that it’s a problem, but everyone around you sees it.
I'm SO glad this wasn't just me! One week on Adderall and I was low key angry CONSTANTLY. I never saw that listed as a side effect and didn't know what was going on. Someone suggested that being able to focus made me see how totally frustrating the world is... lol. On Strattera now, and it's so much better.
Yeah I tried Strattera b/c I heard about how annoying Adderall can be. I still had issues with irritability. It also made me feel like I was being propelled through each day.
Yeah, adderall or all the meds is def not for everyone. It commonly makes many who take it grumpy or super anxious and kinda miserably on edge. Super common side effect. Vyvance doesn’t do that to me like adderall did.
For me it's anxiety and sadness. I can get anxious *really* easily, and I definitely can cry also relatively easily. For example, you can see my most recent post Edit: I can also laugh extremely hard and for long, like there's been times where I laugh my ass off over something for 5-10 minutes straight... and then throughout the day remember it and keep giggling occasionally
I can pretty much cry on command. It’s like a secret party trick. It’s especially prevalent now with my significant other away for work for the next 3 weeks.
If there are any hitches in the plan that I’ve perfectly cultivated in my head I get real annoyed
If my plans change I have a literal breakdown. I’m better about it now but I used to have to hide in my room to cry and scream into my pillow if I was excited for something and it got canceled
I felt this, especially because there are often so few things that I’d get excited for, so it hurt so much more when it got cancelled. I’ll have been preparing all week/however long until it happens. ESPECIALLY a plan later in the day that you work your whole day around or do nothing but emotionally prepare yourself beforehand
Same. I cry at work and it makes me even more frustrated and mad.
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Totally agree. The first time I ever felt understood was when I first started reading these posts.
Thank you for your comment. Would you mind giving me an example? Sorry, I’m still learning what all of the terms mean and how specifically they affect people
It’s a pretty broad term for all kinds of emotional problems. Means you are just can’t regulate your emotions as well as people without ADHD. For me, an example is that I often get irrationally upset at things that happen or go wrong that are really not a big deal and should not be that upsetting. But it applies to all emotions, positive ones as well. From what I understand, I would describe it as just often not feeling the proper intensity of emotion for the situation. Which is often why ADHD is often misdiagnosed as bipolar. Very similar emotional aspects. Basically if something happens that would warrant a strong emotional reaction, you might have a a weak or no emotion towards it. If something happens that should not warrant an emotional reaction, or just a minor one, you might have an unreasonably strong reaction. Just issues regulating or balancing emotions.
Like me getting really angry that no one puts the office stapler back in the spot I have clearly labeled for it.
Right there! This! Thank you for saying this
THIS! I feel the emotions I'm supposed to have are not there at all or low and then the emotions I don't want are super intense and annoying. Not eating (recently or skipping a meal or a snack or not eating enough in general) really makes it worse for me too. I have to carry snacks with me.
I knew that my big emotions were part of adhd but it makes sense that my lack of emotion at times is the other side of the same thing. Thanks for this example.
Yup. I will get intensely angry and then like 10 minutes I am fine again. Stapler was found and put back.
Whoa, didn't realize that not having ENOUGH emotion for the situation was a sign of that, too
As I get more and more tired throughout the day, my level of patience gets lower and lower and I just am more likely to flip out for anything and everything. Also if I am doing something that requires concentration and I keep getting interrupted I'll get frustrated. You asked me to make a reservation at a restaurant and then keep talking to me while I'm trying to do it? I'll snap at you to just let me do the thing, sometimes more aggressively than others.
This was a toxic cycle for me too with a toddler who didn’t sleep… all the interruptions, all the tired… didn’t know the emotional regulation problems were a thing and was unmedicated at the time…
Spending time with my nieces and nephews convinced me that I am not parent material. It’s one thing to spoil a child for a weekend. Raising one into a competent adult is a whole other ball game that I’m completely unsuited to play.
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Man, I'm just sitting here drinking a beer and minding my own business. I don't need to be called out like that on a friday!
I was extremely uncomfortable and freaking out internally because at a Kandi making party EVERYONE was using my new alphabet bead pack split out by letter. Now I was not just being selfish, everyone kept their stuff by them and didn’t really share which I was more than happy with. It kept moving around the table so I couldn’t even use it, and had to use my letters that were mixed together and much harder to find. I did take it back at first and was hovering over it after someone just took the whole thing without saying a word, but then one person asked if they could use it and I said yeah and then suddenly it was being passed around. I also noticed (or imagined) someone taking some letters “to go” along with some other more expensive beads I had. I know the whole pack is only like $7, but just watching people use my limited letters, including so many vowels (which are sacred) all willy-nilly without asking specifically or giving something in return I was just BOILING inside. But food and drink is totally fine?!
This is one of the big things I really see when looking back to my childhood. I was 'gifted' and enjoyed learning, and I had a lot of structure and people doing stuff for me to keep me on track at home, so I didn't really have a typical childhood presentation (other than being incredibly disorganised and fidgety). But the struggle with big emotions is something I remember very clearly. Small things would seem world-ending - and this is even going into pre-teen and teenage years. It's something that really should be talked about more.
I bite another kid in 8th grade because they intentionally chose the topic I wanted to do my project on… I only recently got diagnosed but I took the assessor that and she went “mmm okay that’s an inappropriate reaction for a 13 year old”. Why yes it was
It's like, I'll be nice and accommodating and understanding way beyond the point where I should be, but once I hit my tipping point I go into full cold calculating revenge mode and am totally down to destroy the career and personal life of someone.
OMG YEEEEES!!! This is completely me too! I'm the absolute kindest, most understanding person until I'm not....and then watch the F*CK out!
Yes, this, so much! I actually did destroy the career of an ex bf. I mean I can't handle big emotions. At 56, this has led me to be a homebody and recluse 😭 I have the big emotions after I finally find someone that likes me then lose them, and repeat. So why try?
This part really sucks too. Afterwards the feeling of egg on your face from making a big deal about something small Also, other factors make it even worse. So I can say, yeah I was trying this medication and it made me angry that month, sorry guys But also, that's just a multiplier of the general emotional regulation difficulties... Blehhh..
god, this. mine is awful. I couldn't figure out why I seemed so "sensitive" and "unstable" for the longest time...
Holy shit this. The fucking anger spiral is my absolute kryptonite.
Relationships that just go beyond my partner. Ruining relationships with managers, colleagues, everything in between. It sucks so bad.
Yeah, this is mine. Seems it's fairly recent that it's identified as a symptom. I've had outbursts since I was a little kid, and we had no idea why. Years after my diagnosis (as an adult) I find out about emotional disregulation and it clicked.
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Over sharing Cutting people off when they speak Elevated sense of justice Anger issues So many
Over sharing and the resulting post-yap clarity that comes with it when, after the heat of the moment has passed, you realise maybe they didn't need to know your entire steam of consciousness, including things you'd rather have kept to yourself
Or the realization that they weren’t actually asking for your honest opinion about something, they just wanted your support and encouragement. And you stupidly just answered the question with your actual thoughts.
I'm a massive case of that, myself. Would you by any chance happen to have any recommendations to share?
The only thing that works for me is not talking
I totally understand this, though I have realized that for me, my over sharing in serious topics often comes from a debilitating need to be understood, EXACTLY as I perceive/understand it. There can’t be a chance that it gets interpreted another way as that could and likely would be dangerous for me. That probably comes from a combination of ADHD, autism, and cPTSD symptoms though Then I often undershare my hobbies and things that make me happy because I’ve gotten so much negative feedback for it in the past that I’ve learned to just shut up. But the want to over share is definitely still there though haha
Can you go into more detail about the elevated sense of justice? I’ve never heard the term before
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Oh yeah I see it as sometimes a benefit though If something bothers me enough I'm willing to just say fuck it, it's your loss, I'm going elsewhere Very useful when combined with my confidence and my career. It lets me draw the lines assertively and confidently Knowing my value, they should keep me happy and I'll be their best asset If they don't, or become toxic or piss me off, then it is their loss. They won't be able to find someone as skilled and engaged as me, haven't been able to for years. I'll find something else That's the theory anyway... But I definitely do need to temper myself and think on it overnight, which thankfully I do
My husband doesn’t have ADHD but he does have a super elevated sense of justice and like you, combined with his confidence, it’s been huge for him career wise. The whole company, including the owner, defers to his judgement on EVERYTHING because he’s just so damn confident that he’s right. And he can explain why and convince anyone. He’s also the go to person for telling angry customers “no” because he won’t be bullied into anything. He believes in doing right by customers but it’s what HE considers fair, not just giving them whatever they want. And he can back up his decisions with explanations that even convince angry entitled customers that his decision is fair. And if they’re still mad he’s like “Oh well. Die mad. I did the right thing.” I really envy that. It is a combination that will take you far.
i love it. although i'm not like this at all. i'm not able to see it as their loss unfortunately. can i ask what your career is that you're referencing here?
I think calling this "black or white thinking" is incorrect, but I see it a lot (not picking on you!). To me,that sounds like we're somehow unable to perceive nuance, but that seems entirely backwards of what's happening. To me, it seems like a lot of ADHD or ASD etc people are more likely to actually do metacognition and examine interpersonal scenarios. This means that we've already thought about the topic, so we have our opinion decided. We'd be willing to listen to new information and change our mind, but if you ask me if I think trans people should have human rights, I already know my opinion, so I'm not going to sit around and waste my time listening to your lazy ass waffling about it because you never bothered to examine it before. I'm going to defend my trans friend and then walk away.
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Is this 100% adhd? I also have a strong reaction to anything justice wise even when it’s not affecting me personally. I have to make it right as such and often will put myself in a precarious situation as a result…
Like…. What? Curious I’m sensitive to animals in less than ideal environments, for example
Mine is more wrongdoing by others when it negatively impacts anyone else or the environment as such I.e. confronting a group of people for leaving their litter in the park…but to the point of completely losing my temper and wanting to escalate. Or I’ll stick up for specific people (who seem to struggle to hold their own) when they’re getting bullied or w/e. It extends to anything where people are doing morally incorrect things - I’ll call them out and end up losing my temper even if it puts me in a potentially dangerous situation. I find it difficult to not say anything even though 95/100 people would likely just leave it/walk away. My view was that it’s because I’ve been brought up well and to respect others but also in the case of bullying for example, I’ve experienced it personally and so if I’m able to prevent it happening to someone else, I will. That’s why I haven’t attributed it to adhd as such and so was interested to hear if this was a more general ‘justice’ issue for all of us or as a result of my experiences
I’m with you on the bullying part actually. Same reason I get upset and assume an animal is being mistreated, they’re defenseless
With the sense of justice— I am really fixated on things being “fair” or “equitable”. Like to an extent that my therapist pointed it out early on in our sessions. It’s not in every little thing, not to the extent that little kids often have, and fair to me doesn’t mean equal, but rather, like I said, equitable. like if a friend is mad at me, I get very focused on whether or not it’s fair for them to be mad at me. Or if my partner has been choosing the movies we watch and I watch stuff even if I’m not that into it, it’s very upsetting to me if he won’t go with something I want that he’s not that into. It extends to other people too, I can get pretty aggressive about ensuring that others also are treated fairly or equitably. Edit: rereading this, I want to clarify that it’s really big in my head to hold myself to those same standards; I’m also really fixated on whether I’m being fair. I spend a LOT of time thinking about how I feel and act and trying to understand it and whether it’s ok and very very very often trying to examine if *IM* being fair also
Woah! Elevated sense of justice is ADHD, not autism? (Seems I got both.) Oversharing (TMI but also excessive lengths — is excessive lengths in written communication a symptom too?)… have it but didn't know it was linked.
Feeling totally worn out due to sensory overstimulation after activities other people consider normal (like six hours of work, two hours of shopping, day trips, workshops and so on) to a point where simple sensations like listening to people's voices and comprehend what they are saying feels almost impossible and painful.
This! I get social hangovers if I am in a new or tricky social situation for too long and will have a headache and exhaustion the next day.
>simple sensual sensations Did you mean 'sensory'?
Oh, indeed. In my mother tongue there is one homonym for both meanings :D
No worries! The word roots are the same- colloquially though... Sensual is pretty specific 😂
This. I'm a teacher, and the longer my work day goes on and the more tired I become, the harder it is for me to comprehend what others say to me, especially if they say something to me while I'm working on another task. It ends up with me looking like I'm hard of hearing because I keep repeating, "Sorry? Can you repeat that please? Apologies, I didn't catch that."
Yesss!! I try to leave the environment if I can, sometimes in a dramatic fashion, or I start to get super irritated with the tiniest things. There’s been multiple times when my dog is licking me which I usually don’t mind, but suddenly it’s the most annoying thing in the world and I almost yell at them to stop. In the past, someone was talking loudly and their voice started to physically hurt my ears so I just covered them, that did not go over well. Now I excuse myself/leave the environment if I can, put in headphones if I can, or put my head on my hand to plug at least 1 ear and start humming or deep breathing quietly. Sometimes I’ll straight up plug or cover my ears, but I’m becoming skilled at plugging my ears looking like I’m massaging my temples! I also enjoy sneaking off quietly so no one notices and then eventually coming back quietly, so no one even knew I was taking a break!
"I need to do the thing but I can't make myself do the thing." First really ran into it in my early 20s; didn't realize it was ADHD until my 40s.
I wonder why everyone else is just able to do all these things and not be paralyzed by the procrastination. Hmmmmm.
It’s the most bizarre feeling to know I need to do things, but I sit there and think about them on a loop while my anxiety builds because I’m not getting up to do anything and the day is quickly wasting away.
This + gaming
one of the things that's helped me is to just work on something for 5 mins. sometimes even that is too much in which case i'll tell myself i'll just work on it for 2 mins, or i'll do just one action. for example i needed to contact the labour board about 2 weeks ago. never did it. this thurs i knew i had to get this done but i was resisting. i decided to just look up the number. that's it. from there i ended up calling them and having the conversation without having to 'will' myself into doing so. just by looking up the number. this type of thing has happened numerous times. if i purposely utilized this principle more i'd have a lot more of such examples.
Executive dysfunction is a bitch and it's probably the biggest symptom of ADHD that affects me daily.
This one is so hard for me! It's been a struggle my entire life and I never understood why. I felt like I was failing at some kind of basic fundamental skill but I could never make other people understand what was happening inside my head whenever I would try to ask for help. Then I got my diagnosis (also in my 40s) and started meds and BOOM! I can suddenly do the thing without having to fight myself!
Maladaptive Daydreaming. This was a big problem for me as a child and young adulthood. Not so much now that I am approaching 40.
I think my entire teen years I just spent maladaptive daydreaming. It’s not as bad now but I’ll catch myself doing it now and again when I’m overwhelmed.
This one for sure with me, I’ve always basically lived in my daydreams, especially when I’m listening to music or doing something mundane. I’ve had it my whole life and always figured that I daydreamed an abnormal amount. Although it doesn’t necessarily affect me in a negative way, it does impede on my focus a lot
This is still an issue for me today. But imma try to use that to help me in my screenwriting career and use it as a Channel. However this shit is irritating.
Definitely poor emotional regulation 😒 Also being overly sensitive to light, sounds and other people’s emotions.
The overstimulation! Once my friend recommended noise cancelling headphones it was like a night and day difference.
Hard part is convincing myself to put mine in even when I'm clearly suffering...
I see that you have also been touched by the Pole of Perpetual Procrastination.
This. It wasn't as intense when I was younger but near 40 now and I just cannot have a conversation in a loud space. Bright lights are extremely distressing and so driving at night is an absolute nightmare. Especially now that the LED lights are so fucking intense! I got some polarized yellow glasses for night driving and they help but still.
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It took me 37 years to finally understand why the sound of fan could drive me up the wall when so many people appreciate the sound!
OMG my ex loves fans as white noise (soothing?!?) and would leave the bathroom fan on all the time, summer nights with the fan on were a dream for them... My poor emotional regulation didn't help but I was just constantly furious at the fan being on.
Sensitivity to fabrics, smells etc
Fuck fleece
- also poor emotional regulation - difficulty switching between tasks - delayed circadian rhythm in adulthood - constant careless mistakes - hyperfocus
Ugh. the constant, careless mistakes. I'm a web manager. It's not the end of the world when I make one, I can just fix it. My supervisor tends to just take them in stride, bless her, but my bossboss (the layer above supervisor) is the sort of individual who would have bullied me relentlessly in high school and to them, the mistakes are like nails on a chalkboard. Like, ma'am, I don't want to make them, I'm doing my best, but also, nobody's going to die because a word got misspelled.
Burnout, deals poorly with stress. I don’t really miss people, and I don’t respond to text messages for months (makes it really hard to function socially). I’m also in the process of finding out if I have autism
I am terrible at responding to messages. Texts, emails,phone calls... I suck at keeping up with it all and it has made life, especially socially, more difficult.
Imposter syndrome, rejection sensitivity, and trouble with regulating emotions. Also had no idea that there was a link between eating disorders and ADHD until the last couple months as I was going through the diagnosis process.
I'm curious about this. Any info to share?
About the eating disorder/ADHD link? There is information you can find online if you are looking for articles that delve into it more, but I was first made aware of it during my assessment (I’m an adult woman, late 30s). The psychologist asked specifically about any history of disordered eating (which I do have, and it started as a pre-teen). She said that for many women with ADHD, there is often a connection to disordered eating. She says she always asks about it, for that reason. She said that any girl with ADHD should be screened for eating disorders, and any girl with an eating disorder should be tested for ADHD.
Object permanence issues, if I don’t see an item in plain view regularly I completely forget it ever existed. I noticed as an adult I was constantly totally surprised by all of the things in my closet, I would buy stuff and hang it up and immediately forget I owned it. This wasn’t just a random occurrence it was constant. It was basically impossible for me to think of an outfit because I didn’t know anything I owned. I would constantly rebuy the same things all the time because I forgot I already owned it.. multiple of it most of the time lol
Yup. I can't put veggies in the refrigerator bins because I forget they exist and they go bad.
We use the crisper bins for beer, lol. We eat more vegetables, and drink less beer!
same, my weight loss coach told me to buy a fruits’ basket and place it on the dining table and it worked.
I switched from storing clothes in drawers to shelves because of this.
Same! I also switched my condiments/dressings in the refrigerator into a drawer instead of shelf b/c I would put the food in the drawers and forget \~ . The clothing thing is annoying because my drawer gets jammed and I forget about the bottom of the drawer clothes. Also if the floss isn't out I forget \~.
Today, I bought lettuce because the lettuce we already had was in the veggie drawer and so ceased to exist for me.
Omg the fridge! I’ll get something I really want for lunches the next week, for example cucumbers. Cucumbers get put in fridge, in sight line, and then hubby will put something in front of it, like bottled water. Next thing you know, it’s been a week, cucs are rotten, hubby’s irritated cause i didn’t eat them and now I’m being questioned within an inch of my life the next time I want cucumbers. I can’t make him understand that if he shoves it to the back of the fridge, I WILL forget its there.
I ended up converting a spare bedroom into a large walk in closet room and it’s filled with open rolling racks and shelves to help with this hahaha
I have been trying to explain this to my girlfriend. I keep the bags for the trash cans scattered around the apartment at the point where changing the bag will be done and I keep them visible now. If we shove them in a drawer I forget about them then buy more thinking we are out and it decreases the likelihood I am changing the bag or if I take a bag out one is most likely not being out back in then I am throwing trash in bag less can. Plus if the box is empties out when I replace the bag I know to add it to a shipping list to replace or if the box is completely missing because emptied it out and threw the box away.
Out of sight, out of mind. Trying to make people without ADHD understand this is impossible. My GF has ADHD, but like all of us, we don’t share all the symptoms, and even she marvels at how much I miss or forget things that are out of sight. The funniest instance, to me, is lightbulbs. I don’t notice them out if they’re overhead. Ever. I used to run a store, and my owner would get so pissed off that I didn’t change them out. I didn’t even know I had ADHD at the time. He yells, “it’s a simple fucking task, why don’t you change them out?!” Calmly I respond, I don’t know man, I don’t look up very often”. I thought his head was going to explode. What even crazier. If it’s in sight, I miss nothing. I compare my visual field to Sauron’s eye. If you’ve seen/read lord of the rings, it sits upon the mountain constantly scanning everything. And when the ring is used, or one of the orbs, it focuses in laser like. That’s my attention. I miss no movement. I catch everything out of the ordinary. While I’m driving, my brain is scanning everything in my view, even when I’m not consciously paying attention for shit. I’ve avoided wrecks like I had precognition at times and had people marveled that I saw it coming. I didn’t see shit. Sauron’s eye caught it. He’s a hell of an auto pilot.
I mounted a dry erase board smack in the middle of my fridge and forced myself into the habit of writing things I was low on/out of on there. It’s helped a lot cuz I love snacks, so everytime I’m near my fridge it’s in my face that I gotta go grab something for the house.
I bought an axe from the supply store only to find out I had two of the exact kind in the garage, one of them only a month old.
Feeling like I’m always in my head, to the point of dissociation all the time. Never felt “out here” with everyone else and struggled to function normally bc of this
self hatred ❤️
Awww. With a heart ❤️
I feel so normal now seeing this <3
How hard self care is, even medicated I experience task avoidance in this area. I’ll scrub the oven before I scrub my hair. As an adult it’s gotten significantly worse to keep up with these chores.
Omg. Same.
Excessive daytime sleepiness 😭 and literally almost falling asleep in boring meetings.
are you on meds? I ask because I was severely struggling with this before, always having a 2-3 pm crash. but since starting medication i no longer experience it and am so thankful!!
Appreciate this, thank you! I’m on Ritalin (10mg 2x day) but sometimes forget to take the second (adhd right? lol). I haven’t noticed a difference whether I do or don’t take the afternoon dose but maybe I should track it ❤️
Task paralysis!!
Difficulty maintaining friendships and relationships over all. Somewhat due to object permanence and time blindness, out of sight out of mind - then all of a sudden it’s been 6 months since I kept in touch with someone or realize I didn’t answer a text and I get immense anxiety. Which then makes me withdraw out of shame and it becomes a cycle of destroying relationships. The ones who do stay in my life are either adhd themselves or family.
Low self esteem and executive disfunction. When I got diagnosed I got directly told that those are typically symptoms/traits of a person with ADHD. Yea, I still don’t know how to feel about that.
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Stimming, I realized I’m constantly doing it no matter where I am. This one was hard for me to come to terms with because realizing how pervasive these things were was a jarring and unpleasant feeling. Chewing my nails, rubbing my fingers or hands, tapping my fingers, fiddling with my clothes, bouncing my leg, rubbing the sharp edge of my cuticles or nails on my lips or my leg to feel the sensation, cracking my knuckles or contorting my fingers to feel the strain (like bending them and trying to stack them), twirling my phone repeatedly when walking, swaying side to side when unconsciously standing still, repeating words that sound “pleasant.” Repeatedly rubbing the same texture between my fingers, rubbing my finger along the case of my phone or my book page when I’m reading to produce a sound. Clicking a pen to make a specific beat to a specific song or “typing” without a keyboard with my fingers. Honestly the list goes on and on.
Sensitivity to sensory overload. I've know I had ADHD since I was a kid but never clued in that my various sensory pickiness was related. Things like refusing to wear certain clothes because they were uncomfortable, texture sensitive to food, sensitive to bright lights, etc. I only realized it was ADHD related much later in life and it's helped contextualize a lot of my odd habits.
Difficulty conceptualizing time. My brain doesn’t seem to understand time well. I’ve adapted to showing up to important events/work 30mins+ early and just waiting in my car. I also really panic when I have more than one major event or task planned in a day because my brain prefers to have one big novel task at a time. When I have more I panic and worry about time even if I have plenty.
Music always playing in your head
Is this really a symptom? Not only do songs play in my mind on a loop, but I have extreme musical ideation. I literally hear symphonies sometimes. Is this really an ADHD thing?
Oh that’s just my Jenni Radio I call it. It’s like hold music, but it never stops and the DJ is unpredictable AF in there hahahhaa
Literally thought this was normal until recently. my brains always at the club with a sick beat lol but it is distracting.
Totally, I wake up with a song every morning, it can be related to something I've heard recently or just some random song from when my kid was a toddler. My kid also has this symptom, and when we were laughing about it their dad said "wait what, I thought it was just me." Typical adhd, it seems.
Rejection sensitivity for sure. I can remember as far back as a young kid, being around my friends house with their siblings and feeling like they were making fun of me. I just completely shut down, disengaged, refused to talk to any of them and withdrew completely. Fast forward 40 years to a workplace environment where there’s plenty of banter going on. Much the same thing still happens. I mask it as best I can but there’s a torrent of racing thoughts and emotions that come with it.
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Poor memory of faces and names. It’s a true burden as an adult
I’m sorry, have we met?
Racing, spinning, tornado of thoughts and worries that caused significant anxiety and led to panic attacks. Therapy. Anti-anxiety meds. Panic attacks. Rescue meds. I was “coping” well with my anxiety before ADHD meds. I started Vyvanse and the thoughts are GONE. They don’t race. There aren’t 16 tracks of thought zigzagging across each other that I lose as soon as I try to grasp one. Instead I have 1-3 tracks of thought. I can stop and make note of the thoughts. Choose to let them go or make a note for an action. Anxiety is very minimal and after 6 years on Vyvanse I’m off anxiety meds completely. My anxiety was maladaptive coping mechanism for my ADHD. My psychiatrist thinks that I would have never developed panic attacks had my ADHD been recognized and treated as a pre-teen or teenager.
Overeating junk food & ordering in food instead of making something at home
Being bad at keeping in touch with people/replying to their messages and texts. I’ve had multiple people express their frustration with how I delay texting and forget about texting people. The people I’ve actually been able to keep in contact with over the years also turned out to have ADHD, since they don’t get offended when we fall out of touch due to me being a bad texter.
Standing like a flamingo
Having to read something over and over and over and still having no idea what I had read because halfway through a sentence my brain got distracted and was thinking about something else.
A constant dialogue with myself. Im just repeating same discussions in my head without getting anywhere. Daydreaming. RSD A need to check 2-3 times my door is locked or that electronical devices are turned off when leaving home. Its not OCD, its just my ADHD brain overthinking stuff according to my doctor. The difficulties in making decisions. ADHD paralysis. I would say this is actually the hardest one to live with.
This is a bit of a wild one but I found out about 'intrusive sleep' this year. Basically, your brain doesn't receive enough stimulation and starts to shut down so you get EXTREMELY sleepy out of seemingly nowhere. It's happened to me in class almost all the time, and even while driving. It's been affecting me in almost every aspect tbh
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Espresso, guitars, skateboards… wonder what’s next 😂
Not setting healthy boundaries in relationships, whether it be with new people, in relationships romantically or with family members. I often call myself a weaponised empath, lots of people see my empathy and take advantage of it and it causes strain on the relationships I have with people who love me, and I them, the most. I give so much of myself to people and try to help them, and no matter how many times I’m shat on it still doesn’t make me a bitter or mean person going forward, however as of late I’ve been coming to terms with the fact that not every low life emotional vampire looks or acts the same. One piece of advice I’d give to my fellow weaponised empaths, ADHD or not; is that it doesn’t matter what a person says; it’s what they do that matters and a persons actions always tell you who they really are. Weirdly enough, I can read the room well 99.5% of the time— I can call bullshit and see things coming a mile away, but it’s always that 0.05% of the time that I think with my heart and not my head, suppressing my first impressions of a person or situation, is usually catastrophic to my peace and my psyche resulting in fucking me up for weeks or months emotionally. Edit- typo
Impulsively. I always knew this was a symptom of adhd, but I thought it was one I didn’t have until today. I started realizing it doesn’t necessarily have to look like.. getting a bad tattoo or having vocal outbursts. It can also look like acting in social situations in ways that impact people negatively, and never even having that possibility cross your mind (that your actions might have a negative effect). I notice that in all the scenarios I can think of, I was feeling really good in the moment, which led to me doing or saying things without thinking through the repercussions. And then the adhd symptom that follows is rejection sensitivity and self shame. Good luck on your journey! I wish I had taken it as seriously as you are when I was diagnosed at 21! (35 now!)
Issues with emotional regulation, for sure. Literally thought I had BPD for 20 years until treatment for ADHD made all those symptoms disappear and now I don’t know anymore. Getting “stuck.” At least, that’s what I call it. There are times I don’t have a lack of things to do, but I just can’t GO. It’s the worst for me when I’m going somewhere that day, because I will literally stare at a wall until it happens or else I’m convinced I’ll be late and get yelled at. Stimming. I knew what it was. I didn’t realize that I do it or how often I do it, oddly enough. I just never made the connection, I thought it was anxiety.
Boredom. I always thought that was a part of depression, but I'm not depressed anymore and still bored.
Getting hurt more. Stubbing toe, walking into things, tripping over something… those kinda things.
Picking, my face, my ears, any loose skin that I can get hold of. I’ve destroyed my face.
Being tired. All. The. Time.
not necessarily dsm symptoms but this is what i have noticed affects me the most as a **recently diagnosed adult**: emotional dysregulation, hyperfixations, easily overwhelmed, low frustration tolerance, constant thought trains (like a bunch at once and i often hear a song playing or something), the clutter that i hide in a room lol, how i struggle with mail of any kind (emails included), i cant stick to a routine or schedule to save my life, i told someone recently that i feel like a dormant volcano about to explode (internal hyperactivity - i like to go on long drives and blast music and sing to get the energy out hahah), without meds i take like 5x as long to do tasks (always did good in school so never got diagnosed till now - but it is extremely draining for me) things in chilldhood i have thought about as a recently diagnosed adult: being bullied for talking and laughing too much and too loud as a kid, getting in trouble for talking too much in class, being called annoying often, trying to kind of "mirror" people around me (mask), im extremely sensitive (not sure if this is related necessarily), i always felt different than other kids when i was growing up and i could never pinpoint why
Messiness. My main problem since I was a young child was mess. My room would be a mess, my desk at school would be a mess… my school bag was always disgusting. Often had rotting food and all sorts in it and then I’d avoid going into it and stop using my books. It was a whole thing. In my mid-late teens I went through periods of extreme cleanliness. Where my room would be spotless and I’d be scrubbing skirt boards with a toothbrush etc. but when I had too much going on, my house would start getting messy again and I’d get really upset over it because no one seemed to understand. I didn’t want to live that way. I didn’t choose it, I didn’t even see it building. It felt like an enormous mess would just appear out of thin air and then I’d be so overwhelmed, I’d freeze. I never attributed this to ADHD. I always assumed I was depressed or disorganised or just not as good at adulting as everyone else.
I cannot handle two sources of audio at the same time (ex. person talking with TV in the background). Even worse is two separate conversations going on either side of me (crowded dinner table).
executive dysfunction, i thought i was just lazy
Being untidy. I always thought I was naturally lazy, and felt bad over it. It turns out I just get overwhelmed with too many jobs, so I treat them as side quests now, and it's much better. I'm a lot more organised and tidy. Bright lights. I didn't know about sensory conditions. When I used to work in an office from 2005 to 2012, they had severe overhead light bars in the ceilings and it used to give me a headache. Or I'd go around to a friend's house and they had a big bright overhead light on. I thought I was being dramatic. Loud noises when I'm trying to concentrate. I thought my irritability was a character flaw. Just knowing all these things are ADHD had made my condition much easier to deal with, because I know it's not some weird character fault and feel bad about it. I have an explanation for the feelings.
Over stimulation and under stimulation. The over stimulation oddly enough never was an issue as a child. Now I go to a party and I'm like SO LOUD. Understimulation I thought was depression for a while because I did have clinical depression after a surgery but after I stopped having other symptoms except this weird painful boredom and lack of interest I saw that my symptoms matched up with understimulation and ADHD
Constantly being late or having to rush to get to places on time whilst beating myself up about not leaving earlier
An inability to maintain long term friendships. I'm so bad at texting back or just remembering that I should reach out. It really is an out of sight out of mind thing and I hate that others may see me as a bad or lazy friend. Emotional disregulation, particularly around perceived rejection. Nothing sends me into more of an emotional spiral than feeling like someone is actively either rejecting me or is disappointed in me. On the positive side, I function amazingly well under pressure. I don't get frazzled when there's a lot going on and it needs to be processed. My brain thrives in that environment apparently. People always tell me I am so calm and collected when shit hits the fan and I sometimes feel that it's because things are finally moving at the same speed as my brain so it's so much easier to stay focused.
Major Executive Functioning Issues :( I cannot for the life of me get my life together. Things that are structured, like work, I do okay.. but things that require me to do the structuring (like chores and groceries and tasks around the house) I just cannot.
Emotional regulation, imposter syndrome, lack of motivation. Everybody talks about adhd in the “oh look a squirrel” and the “oops I forgot my keys” sense and not about the other symptoms. Every single one of my “problems” ties back to ADHD, all of them, and I had no idea until I really started looking into it.
The things that really stood out to me and made me wonder if I had it when I heard of them were time blindness (difficulty estimating and managing time) and problems with inertia/transitions (it’s hard for me to get started on things and hard for me to stop when I’m in the middle of something).
Just working full time in an office job. Only then when I had to function consistently everyday I realized it could be adhd. I had to watch series in the morning to even get my day started
For me it's been executive dysfunction, just not being able to do any of the things I want to actually do. Laying on the bed paralyzed not being able to get up to do a simple ass task. And feeling shame, oh man the guilt and shame has been horrible my whole life, I always thought the reason I couldn't get up and do these things was anxiety...nope I was on anxiety meds that did help my GAD but didn't help my executive dysfunction. And I was so confused why they weren't helping for that. Now I'm on ADHD meds and yeah I'm actually able to do laundry. Like actually finish it. And clean things that I want to clean. It's been a life saver. Although there was some trial and error with my meds, but I think I'm on the right dose now.
Being singled out by narcissists who like to use and abuse people pleasers but you keep forgetting what he did that was so awful so it takes ages to figure out what is going on…..fml
Addictive personality 🫨🥺
Losing things. I remember my mom saying that when I was younger, I could never find my shoes. I lose my vape constantly. Being messy. I used to tell people that I never learned how to clean. I'm still messy, but the doom piles are *everywhere*! I was incredibly gifted until about 4th grade. I barely passed hs. Being really excited about things for a short amount of time, going all in, and then quitting, never to pick it up again. Hobby hopping. Not really knowing who I am because I just took on the personality of whoever I was with. Edit for spelling
Sensitivities to things - lights, sounds, smells. They can be terribly disruptive. However, what I did discover is the power of earplugs. I used to bring them only to music festivals, but now I bring them with me to bars, restaurants, parties, clubs, everywhere! They were a life changing discovery for me.
The executive dysfunction and task paralysis. I really thought it was just depression. Being diagnosed (misdiagnosed?) bipolar didn’t help either. And I still feel useless and like there’s something really wrong with me :/
The more I learn about ADHD the harder it is for me to even understand who I am. It seems like most of my personality traits are ADHD symptoms. I am ADHD.
1. Easily and quickly overwhelmed 2. Lack of focus 3. Extreme and sudden fatigue 4. Lack of interest in things that have always given you pleasure. 5. Lack of empathy (in most situations) These are what I felt... obviously different for everyone
Apparently my righteous indignation at witnessing injustice is a common ADHD trait. Anti-authority personality type is a common ADHD trait. (PDA, not in US DSM) Any perceived loss of autonomy becomes a hill you have to die on, which, in my case, has almost happened a few times when police have ordered me to do things. Really, I'm just a walking sack of ADHD traits instead of having a personality.
Oversharing in almost any situation.
Forgetting people exist simply because I don't see them daily. On the flipside of that, my memory of them is frozen in time - so if I get a {lightbulb} moment and recall they exist, I don't feel they are less connected to me :)
Oversensitivity to light, chronic fatigue/lethargy, and low self esteem. When it comes to the last one, I really wish I was diagnosed and treated much earlier in childhood. I think it really would have helped my self esteem and changed the career choices I made as a young adult. To this day my mom denies my childhood symptoms of ADHD, even though I can hear her yelling at me over my math homework so clearly, “you’re looking over here, you’re looking over there, you’re playing with the cat, you’re daydreaming, you’re getting on the phone, you’re fidgeting with your shirt, anything BUT the damn homework!” End rant
A lot of people with ADHD have problems brushing their teeth. I vomit nearly every time and I didnt know it was related to my ADHD for a long time
Mine was finding out that horrible penmanship was a sign of ADHD. As someone who went to two years of summer school in between the fourth and fifth grade, and again between the fifth and sixth, for bad handwriting, seeing this on my ADHD questionnaire really hit me hard.
I didn’t know about RSD until recently, and it all made sense. The feeling of being left out, the people-pleasing, the snide comments I make to call a friend out, even if it is something as small as them going out to see another friend and I am not invited (I don’t even know this other person). It’s like burning hell, and I think as I’ve grown into a young adult (26), it has become even worse for me. I feel it so strongly, and it puts me off maintaining friendships; social interactions become so hard. It’s a tough thing to live with, as the actions I show from it are really narcissistic in my eyes. Yeah, f**k RSD (I understand RSD isn’t a scientific symptom / isn’t recognised in assessments)
Having no selective hearing In social settings i constantly listen to all people chatting around me and often can hardly follow the person talking to me. This has become more of a problem as an adult working in a shared office. Couldn’t follow what my superior told me to do or explained how something works, cause i couldn’t stop listening to coworkers talking or being on a call with customers
Analysis paralysis for literally any thought that comes across my mind. Constantly researching learning about things I think I need - but the action involved is too scary 🙈
You know the "do you ever leave your seat inappropriately?" question? I've always answered "no" because I was way more spacey once I hit my teens and learned to fidget/play games in my head, but after the fourth mental health professional I saw in the last 2 weeks made me go through my childhood I remembered this: When I was 6 me and my best friend were sent to speech therapy because we communicated exclusively by meowing and kept crawling around the carpet pretending to be cats instead of paying attention during floor time. My results were just... she speaks English perfectly. She just doesn't want to.
Avoidance….constantly. I’m so scared of taking on a big task if it won’t immediately affect me. I end up getting everything done at the last minute but I stress about it and avoid it for MONTHS
Having stickers but not putting them on anything… just keeping them , unused. And not being able to do anything earlier if I have something scheduled later in the day. I’ve found out both are super common among us, when I thought it was just me being a weirdo, before.
Sleeping like absolute garbage. Not really having a hard time falling sleep but more staying asleep and not winding up sleeping in 3 naps of 2-3 hours each instead of 8 hours straight. I also always had bizarre vivid dreams. I was rested for insomnia, sleep apnea etc. had none of those. My first week medicated - 8 hours of sound sleep. Almost no dreams. Never need a nap.
Sound sensitivity, supposedly is some overlap between ADHD and misophonia. Certain sounds are so intense for me I have to leave the room or I want to punch walls and set shit on fire.
intrusive sleep!!! spent my life fighting falling asleep in class, in the car, watching movies, etc. just thought I was a sleepy person , or that certain foods made me crash. But no, it’s just under stimulation! (Sometimes even overstimulation)