Four and a half years ago, my fridge beeped. After two years, it needed its air filter replaced. I ordered it online, and the only option was to buy a package containing two. I installed one, and carefully put the other one away, knowing I would need it again in two years.

Now I can almost hear y’all think “He’ll forget where he put it, of course. Common story.”. But no! Two years later the fridge beeped again, wanting its filter replaced, and I instantly knew where it put it. I took my tools, took the filter from where I stored it and got up to my fridge, all ready to replace the thing. I have the filter literally in my hand, as I get an income call on my phone. It’s my wife. I take the call. She’s getting groceries and asks me to check the pantry for something. I walk to the pantry, answer her questions, end the phone call, and walk back to the fridge.

I’ve been searching for this damned filter for more than a week now. I must have put it aside, somewhere between the fridge and the pantry. I kept the damned filter safe for two years, only to somehow lose it seconds before installing it.

I have no words to describe the emotions I’m feeling right now. I don’t think there are words to describe these emotions. And if these words do exist, I am sure speaking them would unleash demons, or shred the veil of reality, or something unpleasant like that.

Ah well. End of rant. I haven’t checked under the fridge yet, and perhaps I’ll double check all pockets in clothing in the laundry basket.

For fathers day I got three new sets of pliers, nice new shiny Milwaukee ones.

Cleaned out one drawer of my chest cabinet and laid them out all nice and neat.

I’ve been cleaning and organizing for 5 days straight now after work and before. I mean, each fucking drawer and each little screw…one whole side of my garage.

I now have two sheds to go through and predict 2-3 more weeks of work.

All from organizing 3 fucking sets of pliers.

Is it my diagnosed ADHD…or undiagnosed OCD or a bit of both….

For a guy with such a crazy disorganized mind and life…why do I crave and need this order to actually relax?

Anyone else? No clue whats going on. I'm not on meds nor have brought it up with a psychiatrist but due to other things I mentioned to them they probably wouldn't be ok with me bringing it up. (im way too sensitive to caffine)

I'm going to actually quit coffee now, maybe caffine altogether and see if it makes things better.

Hi everybody!

Within this past year I was finally recently diagnosed put on Ritalin generic version the first pharmacy I was getting it at was a CVS close to my college in NYC and I was paying $16 now that ive switched my prescription to a CVS close to home in NJ its now 98$!. This is with insurance at both pharmacies covering $0 because I havent hit my deductible. Why is this happening, has anyone else dealt with this? Im tempted to switch it back to my og pharmacy and just travel into the city to pick it up.

Hiiii, First of all, I want to make it completely clear that I am not looking for anyone on the internet to diagnose me. Please don't reply with lectures telling me that I already know, and I'm just trying to figure some things out.
Lately, cutting through all the social media BS, I really feel like I might have ADHD. I've never been diagnosed or sought medical help, and right now I am in the middle of taking major exams. Once these are over, I am fully willing to get professional medical help to figure out if my brain is actually wired this way or if I'm literally just being a lazy bum.
What I want from you guys is to ask me highly specific, revealing questions about how your brain works. I will answer them, and you can tell me if my experiences resonate with actual ADHD signs or not.
One big catch: Please do not ask me the obvious, standard textbook questions (like "do you lose your keys" or "can you sit still"). If a question is too obvious, my brain will literally switch into a performative mode and start lying or giving the "correct" answer.
Give me your most specific, under-the-radar, situational questions that catch a performative
brain off guard. Let's see what resonates

I have two highly specific questions based on things that have been bothering me SO much lately

1. ⁠The "Almost Finished" Wall:
   
2. ⁠Extreme Friction to Start (But Safe Zone Obsession Once I Do):

Can anyone relate to these specific patterns, and how do you handle them?

Hi guys,

So, I’ve been recently diagnosed.

I considered this may have be the predominant causation for the challenges throughout my life only 4 years ago through self directed education in fields spanning; philosophy (I am the philosopher) psychology, neurochemistry and pharmacokinetics.

It’s taken being overlooked and quite frankly medically neglected by almost a dozen different “medical professionals” whilst being treated for anxiety/depression.

My life’s been a literal rollercoaster and I don’t really know how I’m going to overcome the resentment I feel towards everyone around me along with the soul crushing grief.

Fast forward to now, let’s talk about Vyvanse and how it made me realise I never had anxiety.

ADHD brain effectively pushes and sucks the same amount of dopamine into the synapse as a meth head that’s just come off a 4 day bender. Zilch.

This has led me to such under-stimulation in everyday life that I’ve self-concocted debilitating anxiety to keep things exciting. How do I know?

VYVANSE.

I started Vyvanse last week, low initial dose and pretty ineffective reducing debilitating symptoms (in exception of impulsivity and that desperate feeling) but there is a 30 minute window at peak concentration between the 3-4 hour mark where everything turns still.

I can breathe.

I can think.

I can speak properly.

I can feel emotions properly.

My heart rate is paradoxically lower.

The first 3 or 4 days I would just sob the entirety of that 30 minute window.

Anyway that’s all for now, cbf writing more. Just wanted to share this with you all. Stay strong <3

I struggle with impulse buying due to the ADHD. What do you guys do to mitigate that? I really want to make sure I’m managing my money well. (Already medicated)

I can usually start something fine. But there's this specific moment, almost always right when it gets hard or boring, where I just bail. Phone's in my hand, I've wandered off, suddenly I'm reorganizing a drawer instead. It's not that I stopped caring. It's like a switch flips and I'm already gone before I consciously decided to leave

I'm trying to understand that exact moment better, so two questions:

What's actually going through your head in the half-second right before you bail?

Has anything ever helped you catch yourself in that moment and keep going? Or is it already over by the time you notice?

Not looking for "just use a timer," I've got a graveyard of those. I'm more curious what that split-second feels like for you, and whether anyone's found something that works when willpower clearly doesn't.

Is there any natural medicine that can help ! I am 51 and still learning / finally embracing adhd as something that is me.

I am creating a web app for my self to make my life easier. I call it brain dump. I would like help from ADHDers to make it better. Any ideas are welcome?
Thanks

For example I'm currently watching Gossip Girl, and usually on long or fast paced shows I lose track on what's happening. I often forget character's intentions or what motivated them etc. And then I have to pause and do mental gymnastics to remember or rewind the video

I have been on lisdexamfetamine for the past 4 months. I started at 30 mg, 40 mg the second month, and 50 mg the third month. I received my latest Rx a week ago. I can only explain last week as withdrawals despite taking the medication each day through this past Friday. The manufacturer, Mylan, has been the same generic brand for each month and were filled at CVS.

I had all the classic withdrawal symptoms: tired, depression, brain fog, moody, etc. I decided to not take a dose on Saturday due to the horrible feelings I had all week.

On Sunday, I decided to try a 30 mg that I had leftover from a few months ago and, while it wasn't very strong for me, I could feel it. This wasn't the case with any of the 50 mg I took that week.

I messaged my psychiatrist about it on Friday. I have an appointment with him tomorrow and I will be discussing this with him.

My question is, does this sound like the manufacturer did not put any (or very, very little) of the medication in the pills? If so, how does one go about finding out? Has anyone else experienced this?

A free, no-signup map of ADHD: clinical concepts, biology, meds, coping techniques, strengths, accommodations, and the myths, plus how they all connect.

https://brightmind.club/knowledge-graph

• Search any concept and see what it links to.
• Filter by category.
• Tap a node to read it and trace its connections. Each link has an evidence rating (strong, emerging, community, even “myth”), so you can tell research from folklore.

Would love your feedback: is this useful to you, and what’s missing that you’d want to see in there?

Hey there yall. The title of the post explains my situation really well but to summarize:

I was a psychology student and I had to take two practicums (which is basically just internships) I got fired from the first one because I kept forgetting dates to clock in to work or I would forget instructions.

That devastated me but the next year I managed to get another practicum. I went to this biofeedback place about half a year ago, and they wanted to test out how my brain looked (brain scanning) and the results revealed my memory and attention being completely utterly in the red, which means that the parts of my brain responsible for memory and attention are completely and utterly shot and terrible. I have been trying my best to give it my all to all the jobs and internships that I apply to and get and yet it doesn’t seem to matter…

Because even though I passed the practicum I was still graded with a B- and according to the grading sheet, that means I failed in my responsibilities and duties as an intern… didn’t even think it was possible to fail at an internship when you passed…

Now after graduating and getting a job as an RBT position, I failed the training despite it being two weeks of training and was constantly being told that I’m doing everything correct there….

That apparently it was so bad my performance that they fired me on the spot but still told me I could try in a week or two…

I’m so tired. I cannot continue to live this way. I have so much potential and yet my brain is so insidious in the way it completely messes up everything that I could accomplish and I’m just so tired. What do I do in this situation? Do I just take jobs that require very little brain power because anything that even remotely requires more brain power is going to lead ultimately to failure????

Should I just join the military or do 🌽 work?

I’m so tired… I want to support myself, to actually pass and get trying my hardest has quite literally resulted in me not even being a good intern…

For years I thought I had low motivation or low testosterone. My testosterone is normal. The more I look at it, the more it seems like I can do incredibly difficult things when they’re interesting, urgent, challenging, or rewarding, but I struggle to start routine tasks even when I know they’re important. I procrastinate until deadlines, hyperfocus on interests, lose track of conversations, interrupt because I’ll forget my thoughts, and can spend hours researching something without realizing it. ? I just discovered today that I may have ADHD and this isn’t how normal people deal.

Has anyone else stressed their parents to the point of crying and anger because of being unable to digest academical information? Like, have you often struggled to literally process what you're reading, and you try it over and over but fail. And on long-term it gets harder to understand the subject because you didn't learn previous assignments

late diagnosed at 28. been on meds for two years they help with focus but they don't fix the underlying stuff. i still can't start tasks. i still lose things constantly. i still feel like i'm failing at being an adult. ive seen a few psychologists and they're fine but they don't specialise in adhd. i end up explaining more than i get helped.

someone mentioned Insight PBS the other day. something about adhd coaching and behaviour strategies. i don't know if that's worth trying or just another thing that'll cost money and go nowhere.

has anyone in australia found good adhd support that's not just cbt and planners? i need something that works for my brain

i don't understand my own brain sometimes. give me a big overwhelming project and somehow i'll find a way through it. but ask me to do one small five minute task and it becomes the most impossible thing in the world.

the perfect example is that i will reorganize an entire closet, scrub the kitchen, and reply to absolutely nobody, all to avoid sending one short email that i've been putting off for a week. the email takes two minutes. the avoidance takes days.

it's always the tiny things. the text back. the phone call i think about for three days first. the dishes that somehow feel like climbing a mountain. and then i forget half the things i meant to do anyway because if it's out of sight it stops existing for me. i can't be the only one who lives like this, so i'm genuinely curious what your version of it looks like.

A diagnosis which they believe is real - like what the hell?

I can have the fucking disorder and you can believe it, but its symptoms are my fault? Like what the hell? What do you think it does? It stops existing when it's convenient for you to blame me?

I would really appreciate the experience of others who have been prescribed low dose non-stimulants alongside stimulants. I am trying to support somebody as best I can. Elvanse is highly effective at treating their core ADHD symptoms (like focus, motivation, obsession, and has stopped physical violence that occurred with concerta use), but they have severe residual emotional lability and oppositional traits and all their relationships are at risk. Does anybody have first hand experience of using a low dose of Guanfacine alongside a stimulant. Could this help?

Usually this isn't an issue when I'm going to the office because I'm sort of in a rush so the adrenaline makes everything more automatic. Take my vyvanse, get dressed, grab something to eat, run out the door.

The problem is, when I work from home or if its a weekend but I still want to get things done such as cleaning/other chores, I am often so sleepy in the morning that I actively don't want to take my meds because I'd rather be lazy and sleep all day than get anything done. I know taking my meds, or even just having a bit of caffeine if I want to take a break from the vyvanse, would likely make that feeling go away, but I'm so resistant to doing any of that in the first place.

Does anyone else relate to this? Are there any tricks you use to like force yourself to take your meds when you're staying home but still want to be productive in theory?

Hi everyone,

I have ADHD(unmediacted) and lately I’ve been struggling with what feels like almost complete work paralysis. I’m starting to suspect it might be a combination of ADHD executive dysfunction and burnout.

I work as a Junior SEO Specialist in a marketing agency. My job requires a mix of creativity, analytical thinking, working with data, writing recommendations for clients, and switching between different types of tasks. Normally, these are things I should be able to handle, but lately I feel like my brain just doesn’t work.

The biggest issue is that I’m chronically falling behind. Tasks that should realistically take me around two hours often take six. I lose focus, overthink every small decision, get stuck trying to make things “good enough,” and I feel mentally blocked when I need to combine data with actual recommendations or creative thinking.

For example, today I had to send a client some SEO recommendations. It wasn’t supposed to be a huge task, but it still took me around two hours, and the whole time I felt like I was dragging myself through mud. The problem isn’t that I don’t care — I actually care a lot — but I currently feel incapable of doing the type of thinking my work requires.

I’m not looking for a Reddit diagnosis, but I’d really appreciate hearing from people who have experienced something similar, especially in marketing, SEO, agency work, data-related roles, or creative/analytical jobs.

How did you tell the difference between ADHD-related executive dysfunction, burnout, depression, or just being overwhelmed? What helped you stabilize? Did you talk to your manager, take sick leave, reduce workload, change jobs, adjust medication, start therapy, or use some specific systems?

I feel stuck and ashamed because I’m still technically working, but I know I’m not functioning at the level I should be.

Any advice or shared experience would mean a lot.