I love my ADHD. in many ways, my ADHD makes me a better person. yep, I said it.
what do you value about your ADHD? what aspects do you celebrate, find strength in, or claim as superpowers? here are some of mine, please feel free to share your own!
my restless desire to live with interest, catharsis, creativity, fulfillment
200% of my efforts put into anything that captures my heart or genuine interest
my ability to connect seemingly disconnected ideas, fields, problems
my resistance against western traditions of linear thought, argument, narrative, time
my empathy and consciousness for those who don’t fit ableist norms and paradigms
Finding out my ADHD diagnosis just this past November was a relief, but also left me with so many ‘what if’ questions. I’ve lost jobs, friendships, had issues keeping my spaces clean, doing homework, among so many other things and it left me feeling depressed. I kept wondering why I couldn’t just do things that so many others could do with ease and why I just never could live up to the potential others saw in me. Professionals diagnosed it as depression/anxiety, but really, there was more at hand if they had just looked further beyond the surface to see where it stemmed from. My depression was a mask for a root cause of undiagnosed ADHD.
I can’t say that I’ve got a full handle on all my symptoms, but it is getting better to manage with medication and unlearning harmful coping skills. I also still deal with self-doubt in being able to complete or start tasks because of the standards I was held to previously. I know people had good intentions in trying to motivate me to achieve the potentials they saw in me, but maybe if I had a different backpack earlier on, it may have been easier for me to succeed.
This is why understanding how ADHD can present in AFAB individuals is so important. Because a lot of current diagnosing standards are understood from the viewpoint of AMAB individuals, whereas the inattentive type, that I have, can go under the radar for years. I also hope that there can be better tools and resources made available for adults who get diagnosed later in life because there may be things that need to be unlearned in order to develop better strategies to manage our symptoms. Things to deal with shame, guilt, rejection sensitivity, time management, following through on goals and tasks, hyperfocus, executive dysfunction, relationship management, let alone all the other ways ADHD affects people.
I hope this comic resonates with many of you who were also diagnosed later in life and that you’re able to feel less alone. Thank you @adhd-alien for inviting me to be part of this and allowing me to share my story.
The memory issues ADHD causes are some of the scarier and more frustrating parts of living with it - so here’s a set of reaction doodles that all my fellow ADHD peeps are welcome to use whenever anybody decides to comment on your forgetfulness ^
ADHD nukes your working memory.
If it isn’t part of a hyperfixation its hard to store the details.
It gets especially bad for routine things, because you can’t tell if your memory of doing the thing was from today or yesterday or last week, and that can lead to some dangerous situations such as, say, skipping/overdosing on medication. I have to write down the date when I take my meds in the morning because the first time my memory messed up my medication I was terrified, I had to go with risking skipping because risking overdosing can get real bad real fast
OMG the medication thing I do that all the time.
I actually risk overdosing because I can’t drive behind the wheel without my medication.
My zone outs are more akin to black outs.
Like I’ll completely zone out and not only not remember what I did but there will be a complete time skip between when I first zoned out and when I came back to reality.
And sometimes I’ll do weird shit on auto pilot during these.
Like I once stuck a bag of lettuce in my bed, had no memory of it.
Went to sleep and my foot touched something wet and I flipped the fuck out till I realized it was lettuce.
I dont experience that when I take my ADHD meds.
The memory thing really messes with you.
HOLY SHIT THAT’S WHAT IT’S CALLED MY WORKING MEMORY IS SHIT I JUST THOUGHT I WAS STUPID IM CRYING
Okay this is my second attempt writeing this because I accidentally reblogged it to the ectoberhaunt blog and had to delete it.
But no you are not stupid.
Your brain is wired diffrent.
ADHD is a disorder of the frontal lobe.
It affects all of these listed areas.
It’s not just “not being able to focus or being too hyper”.
It’s also a dopamine deficiency.
You can’t make tonic dopmine.
In laymen’s terms.
You can only get dopmine in short spurts by doing certain things.
This is why so many people ADHD struggle with Addictive personalities and turn to drugs or alcohol to self-medicate.
It broke my heart that so many people with ADHD reblogged my posts not even realizing we have a month.
You deserve to understand you have a disorder that drastically impacts your life.
You deserve access to medication, and good doctors, and good resources, and managment skills.
You deserve to understand that you have probably been horribly abused or gas lit by the people in your life that dont understand your struggle because they never stopped to try too.
You deserve to understand that you are not stupid.
You were never stupid.
lest we forget the mysterious concept of Delayed Gratification and how that’s Not A Thing for ADHD
Delayed Gratification is not stimulating now therefor we will be hard pressed to work toward it. Exercise for healthier bodies? too long, don’t care. Work now, paid when you’re done? too long, don’t care. Work first, play later? No, play now, work & regret later. Do x for y minutes and then you do z as a reward? Too long, don’t care, also I can just do z now? who’s gonna stop me, me?
Honestly it was a revelation when I found out that ADHD brains just DON’T GIVE THE SAME REWARDS for doing things. Like you mean I’m not just lazy and being like this to make people’s lives harder? My brain actually works differently? It’s depressing to know that I will basically always have a brain that is jonesing for a dopamine fix, but it’s also incredibly validating.
I wish we could call it by a name that’s more accurate to what it’s like to have the disorder, rather than being named after two of the things that annoy our parents and teachers about it, but maybe someday.
I CANNOT reblog this enough. So. Much. This. It affects EVERYRHING in your life. Everything.
“I wish we could call it by a name that’s more accurate to what it’s like to have the disorder, rather than being named after two of the things that annoy our parents and teachers about it”
I’ve been wondering if the name is meant to be read “Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder,” i.e the attention is eitherdeficientor it’s hyperactive, with no in-between?
@mooncustafer this is partly why we now categorize: ADHD-I for Inattentive Type, ADHD for Hyperactive Type, ADHD-C for Combined Type. We’re looking into other types as well as ADHD as a cousin neurology to autism, often seen as a twin to many autistic clustered traits.
Idid not know about the suicide statistics. That’s absolutely staggering. And I really think it has a lot to do with
1) the fact that so few women are diagnosed, especially so few diagnosed at an early age and
2) that women in particular tend to feel such a burden to “be enough” in so many ways and to live up to other people’s expectations and needs.
I do think for me specifically, it didn’t have much of anything to do with my ADHD, but I’m one of those women who’s had suicidal thoughts. I never made any sort of attempt, but the state of mind existed.
Seriously, if anyone needs someone to talk to, I’m here. I will listen. Is a therapist a better idea? Holy heck, yeah. But sometimes, we just need an ordinary person to just listen, and if I can save a life just by being there to listen, I will do it every freaking time.
There are a lot of misconceptions about ADHD, from “it only affects children” to “it’s not real”. ADHD affects between 4-5% of adults and is very real. It is also very serious; sleep problems, financial struggles, lower life expectancy, difficulty maintaining relationships, comorbidity with anxiety + depression, and social stigma are just a few of the realities people with ADHD have to live with.
Fortunately, with support and medication it is very manageable, but that doesn’t make it easy to live with. ADHD is challenging enough on its own, but you can make it easier by learning a bit about it.
October is ADHD Awareness Month, and Orange is our color.
![adhddddddd: adhighdefinition: October is ADHD Awareness Month! • [click to enlarge] [source] Preach](https://64.media.tumblr.com/71ee7448e6d1555fb3e282a171ac28b6/tumblr_ox86xnh6Ao1s26inko1_r3_1280.jpg "adhddddddd: adhighdefinition: October is ADHD Awareness Month! • [click to enlarge] [source] Preach")
