I have had a LOT of public and private feedback on this topic. People who have been diagnosed with ADHD and/or ASC, and people considering it. It’s been incredibly validating to my decision to write this up. 🙏
What do you do when you run out of spoons? I mean: how do you spend this time when you no longer have the resources for any meaningful action and before you regenerate them?
I'm really struggling with this one, and I'd love to know how you deal with that time.
@SuryMi I hear you! In theory, when you are out of spoons, you definitely need your rest... but brains do not always agree (for me, it's for sure an internalized ableism and a lot of should-ing myself). And when you feel guilty, it only gets worse - both doing and resting are out of reach 😞
I'm glad naps sometimes work! 💚
Have you tried short yoga nidra? They call it deep rest (and it's just laying and listening), so I think maybe it would work - I didn't try it as a spoon antidote yet though.
I can't read. I know how.
It's BOOKS I can't read ( #ADHD End of Story)
At risk of sounding like a broken record... #Audiobooks are a breakthrough for me
I'm completing this book now, worth a read/listen #Recommended#Reading#Listening
The #1 New York Times Bestseller that shows why slowing down is the key to getting ahead
@Pierrette In case you are late to my storytelling, I freak people out, knowing things they forget they mentioned publically. People think I have a fantastic memory, but I take notes.. It's how I deal with my #ADHD. I don't need to reread them sometimes, if I write them once. I learned the first 3 verses of the Robert W. Service poem, The Cremation of Sam McGee, having heard it only once, and wrote it down. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45081/the-cremation-of-sam-mcgee Decades later, I got the reading again for fun
@jose_suweeet Sometimes things don't work as well on the improved. Good example ACDC photo software. Worked flawlessly, used 3.1 until 3 new versions came out, until they made it free, and the features were gone, and the old one didn't run on newer OS. MS Photos is pissing me off, all the video and photo editing, they went online to do it with ChimpChamp. I can't even access that online, I block Microsoft links like BING and forced Microsloth bad choices. Now I have no current editor, 3rd party
Hi 💜 I'd like peoples opinion on this topic and I'll try to keep it as short as possible. The question I want feedback on is:
Am I in the right to believe something is off with me and want help, or am I trying to find excuses?
A very broad question I know, but if you want to stick around for a minute here's some background info condensed into bullet points
(Also my esteem/confidence is like zero so posting this makes me deadly anxious, very sorry if I'm too lengthy, I have no other way of expressing this)
Been in the medical health system since 2020 for depression after failing my master's thesis work
I told them maybe it's ADD/ADHD or similar because some family members has it, but they denied that because:
• I'm being treated for depression, it would be impossible to tell them apart (That's fair)
• I've made it through school/higher education on my own (The part I'm not buying, reoccurring argument)
I ask my family about it, which is a taboo topic apparently, and they say I don't have it because:
• My younger brother has a ADD diagnosis and his needs are more severe (dyslexia)
• I've made it through school/higher education on my own
(Also, I should stop finding ways to excuse my laziness)
NOT DEPRESSED anymore according to my doctor and myself, but my issues still stands, which is why they finally in 2022 started putting me in queue for a diagnosis
• For the record, I've had medically treated depression at five occasions throughout my life so far, and they all seem to happen when there's been a major change in life or I've stressed out about the future
-// Things I feel correlates to having potential neurospice or similar
Executive difficulities
• I can't for the life of me organize anything, and if I try I die inside midway through and gives up (turning a big pile of things into smaller piles that I then put back into the big pile)
• There's always something that seem more important than organizing, even if the chaos at home contribute to me feeling like a complete failure
• Can't keep track of things in my head. If not noted down they're gone immediately
Dreams big -> Huge plans -> Burning passion -> Burnout -> Feeling like a loser -> Repeat
The few times I focus on something, my body hurts from sitting in some awkward position working on it for 6-8 hours without rest (And it feels like 20 min, wait it's dark already?)
-// Things that might not have any correlation
The greater half of my friends that have stuck around is official neurospicy, including my spouse (they just seem more real to me)
Sheep 💜 (I just really like them and I've realized they've become my fixation for the last couple of years)
-// Things that would "deduct credibility points" (?) (It's basically me gatekeeping myself)
I have no issues with eye contact and I prefer seeing people IRL (Although I get awfully tired after prolonged sessions of it)
I can sleep throughout the night (Quite the gift imho), although I never really wake up rested
There is obviously way more to this but it's already become an essay and still only scratching the surface
If you made it to the end of this, congrats 🎉
If no one ends up reading or responding, it's still a win for me, because I have something to refer to if I get asked and put on the spot
Thank you for your time, have a nice day 💜
a) 100%
b) many (most?) autistic folks think we're doing eye contact well. IMNSHO That is 100% self-delusion. Just because we do it well enough that people aren't commenting on it doesn't mean they aren't reading it as being "off". They attribute it to being "shifty" or "untrustworthy" or other BS assumptions or they don't have words for it but they feel something's "not right".
I'm just finishing up a novel. I've been writing screenplays & other story-led narratives for decades. Classic structure has been drummed into me. But then, when I was diagnosed as neurodivergent, I thought, 'Hold on, maybe the traditional story model is actually a neurotypical device...'
I decided to let my #ADHD/ #autism write my novel. In doing so, I have developed a new revolutionary storytelling model. You're welcome. @actuallyautistic #writing#amWriting #amserious
@Richard_Littler@actuallyautistic
"And then our hero exited the story because they developed a fleeting fascination with the cuisine of the 19th century Italian Reunification, and left to go to pastry school"
@masukomi@Smingleigh In clinic exam room yesterday snapped pics of GP’s laminated guide for patients. Missed the mental heath one as she entered the room.
the part of the brain that cares that there is a puddle of water on the table and has to wipe it away activated in me a few years ago. no intervention was necessary on my part. just some brain cells coming online out of the blue. this happens with #ADHD a lot. stuff you didn't do like normal people for your entire life suddenly activates when you're like 35...
@thor Yeah, I may have AuDHD and that is why I am getting tested. I am on a low (20mg) dose of extended-release Ritalin, which works OK for me.
There are days where I still can't get my brain into gear, or have anxiety that just paralyzes me.
Overall, it has helped. But what has helped more is just accepting that I don't fit in the "box" of expectations that people have for things. My brain just works differently, and that is OK.
@academicchatter@lulu_powerful@udl@zenforyen@theADHDAcademic The problem with this approach is that we don’t know how many students are disclosing their ADHD or haven’t been diagnosed. I’d suggest best practice is to design an exam that accommodates neurodivergence.
@kischtrine Personally for me, it’s a tendency to constantly be playing with words, sometimes distracting myself from their meaning. It’s like I’m constantly scanning for the possibility of a dad joke in there.
Something occurred to me earlier, and it’s twisted my melon, but in a good way.
I was diagnosed with #ADHD in 2019, and have been on medication since. I have a huge problem with imposter syndrome, that somehow I tricked a professional into giving me speed. It’s not as bad as it used to be, but there are still some things that eat away at me a little.
@TheBreadmonkey
Yeah, there's a shortage of some ADHD meds at the moment. I don't know the details as mine aren't affected. @DJDarren do you know more?
@PetraPhoenix@TheBreadmonkey Yeah, basically there’s only one company that has the trademark for Elvanse, and they done fucked up. So there are now ADHDers across the globe who are having to phone around all the pharmacies in their area trying to find the medications they need.
Trouble is, it’s had a knock-on effect to other medications, because people who can’t get their Elvanse are being prescribed different ones, increasing the demand on them.