ADHD memes

Extreme anxiety.

For the longest time, I couldn't recruit enough concentration to get homework or big projects done until it was this huge looming threat. Frequently, that would involve an all-nighter since it was something due the next day. Other times, it meant cranking out last night's math assignment in home room mere minutes before it was due. It turns out that adrenaline and other stress hormones are great at shoving all the ADHD noise out of the way, however temporarily.

My exam trick was no coffee for two days before the exam, then a couple cups the morning of. Worked great. In other news, holy crap, do I have ADHD??

I'm a heavy tea drinker. When I got diagnosed with ADD at 40 I realized I was probably (lol) self-medicating with the copious amounts of tea.

Still better (and tastier) than meds IMHO. Of course don't take my advice always, ALWAYS, talk to your doctor.

Started with caffeine as a child and never really stopped. School was a problem and I sought solace in cannabis as a teen. Eventually cannabis became toxic to my mental health and I quit it in my twenties, and alcohol somewhat filled the void. A ten year hiatus from all substances ensued but I hated my job and went back to education to retrain and this is where I really got into it with drugs.

Motivating long and boring tasks is ADHD kryptonite, as I'm sure many here are familiar. This particular motivational mountain was a PhD thesis and my weapons of choice were opioids, cocaine, amphetamine and benzodiazepines. Opioids are great for motivation, stimulants sharpen the concentration and benzos let me sleep. I was unaware of ADHD at this time but I knew something was wrong and that this cocktail was completely unsustainable.

Fast forward three years and I finally learn why I seek these things, it's ADHD, duh. Now I have the correct medication and therapy I never think about drugs. I'm happy and productive, I can work on undoing forty years of pretending to be someone without an attention deficit.

Similar but Pistachios. The mechanics of opening the shells and eating them allowed me to focus on the college professor's material after an 9-10 hour work shift. If I showed up to class without pistachios or sunflower seeds I was nodding off in class.

When I was younger they gave me Ritalin, mostly to stop me from burning the building down. It worked, because I never burned the school down.. can't say the same for the neighbors shed... plus there was that incident with the bridge, luckily the fire department showed up quickly.

So much fucking coffee. My god it was too much.

This is caffeine acting on brain and unlikely any change in blood pressure per se. You can try measuring bp a few time before and after chugging red bull to see how much it changes.

My dad still swears it was the red bull and snickers and not the medical ...

Wild that someone would think the Red Bull and Snickers are doing it directly without going through the some-ingredients-in-these-products-are-affecting-your-body route.

I think I got this from lemmy?

I became a pothead because it made the cacophony of thoughts in my head stfu. I didn't realize that my thoughts were like that because of ADHD, since I was only diagnosed in my 30's (started smoking weed when I was 19).

ADHD, self-medicating behaviour from childhood in the form of candy seeking. Impossible impulse to control and occurs when experiencing a dip in concentration/boredom. It helped me focus for very brief moments.

Alcohol. Before getting formally diagnosed and medicated, drinking was the only thing that would quiet the inner restlessness. It worked but it's not a healthy lifestyle at all.

This is something I like to bring up to people who are hesitant to medicate their kids. Yeah, I know you think Timmy is fine because he's not completely failing in school, but you should at least show Timmy that he has options and that it's OK to talk to a doctor and take medication if he needs it. He doesn't have to rely on Jack Daniels and Folgers to eek his way through life.

Reminds me of when people find out I do cocaine and Adderall.

"Oh Michael likes to get high"

No, Michael doesn't have health insurance and has very severe adhd. I can't live a normal life without stimulants and drug dealers are cheaper than doctors. welcome to America.

Mini thins (gas station speed) and Red Bull. At least that’s what I did in the 90s before I was diagnosed. Oh and pulling all nighters since my tired brain worked more like a normal brain.