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.
I want to read your experiences before being diagnosed with adhd? How did you realized? How did you feel?
Me:bitch . I have adhd and I need therapy and meds
Family member: bUt dO YoU waNt tO bE laBeLed???
Me, timidly: um…. no…..
Me, in my head: guess the internet’s my only safe place for mental health huh
i was diagnosed at 4. i had no idea until a school counselor accidentally broke the news when i was 17. assignments that took my friends an hour took me three. i almost never finished my tests. half of my homework was late. my mom tried to get me into assisted study hall and i refused. my counselor gave me countless planners and checklists and i could never keep them for longer than a week. my mom sent me in to get signatures from my teachers so i could prove i talked to them about my 0’s.
my twin sister had been in accelerated school programs since we were 9. i wanted to be like her so bad. i hated help, hated admitting i needed help, would rather fail than ask for help, because nobody else seemed to need it. i wanted to be able to do what everyone else was doing and i was desperate to prove it, because i didn’t know i had adhd and thought everyone else had just diagnosed me with stupid. my mom insists i knew. i didn’t.
fast forward to now, i’m a grown woman and i’m still finding out day-to-day more and more of my behaviors that are related to my adhd. i have the sense of self awareness i was denied for most of my childhood. i’m still stuck in the depression that stemmed from leaving my adhd untreated for so long. i’m experimenting with different medications and i’m doing well. but i still feel like i’m the only one in my life who understands how i work.
please tell your kids what’s happening inside their brains. talk to adults with adhd and ask them what their childhood was like. stop reading those adhd parenting books that were written in the 90’s. they’re not relevant anymore. i always wonder what my life would look like now if i didn’t burn out three years before i graduated high school, if i’d understood what was going on, if i had someone else who understood looking out for me.
i know i’m preaching to the choir here, but i needed to get that out there. it may have seemed like a minor issue when i was a kid but maybe if i had been treated properly i wouldn’t want to die today.
