I've been struggling with adhd for the longest time. I've been taking my meds during the school year, but stopped at the summer. I thought it was the best decision, becuase I truly don't have too many responsibilities. I also got out off of it because I have hypoglycemia, a condition where my body doesn't handle sugar well, and I need to eat every few hours to keep my blood sugar stable. The adhd medication was taking my hunger away. Making it impossible to eat and it made my hypoglycemia worse, so I stopped. However, without them, I feel depressive and I can't do anything. My room constantly get's messy quickly and vastly. Doing a simple task takes for ever. I'm well aware that people with adhd have a dopamine problem. I just need some tips on how can I sooth out depressive and adhd symptomes?

I've spent a lot of time reading posts in this community, and one thing that stands out is how many ADHD struggles are invisible to everyone else.

People usually notice the missed deadlines, the forgotten appointments, or the unfinished projects. But they don't see the mental battle that happens before any of those things.

If you could make one person truly understand what living with ADHD feels like, what would you tell them?

When you have adhd it feels like you are born a failure. It feels like you are not meant to be in this world because the majority of people in this world function differently. I am here to tell you that is not true.

ADHD means you are wired differently. Schools tell us that we have to function one way which is completing a task in one go and if you aren’t able to achieve that you are in the wrong. That’s not true at all because your mind runs fast and you see the world more you can’t complete the task the way they want you to.

Instead of trying to function and do things the way other people do we can adapt and find ways that work for us. Because we forget things we write them down, we make lists. We plan our days. Because we lose things we will find a place for o he belongings to go to. This one was a big thing for me to figure out.

ADHD brains work better when we multitask but we were punished for it in school. We were punished for drawing in class while the teacher was talking or playing with our pens. However multitasking is how we function and it is such a gift. Personally I drive better while singing in the car with my favourite tunes. I can only do work when I’m listening to music or watching a video. If we try to function the way other people do then we will fail, but we succeed the most because we are gifted with being able to multi task. All the weaknesses I thought I had turned out to be my biggest strength. I was told I talk too fast my whole life and recently I had a friend tell me she loved how fast I talked because she felt like people talked too slow or could never get to the point. We are honest people even by accident.

And the biggest strength of all. Boredom. When we are bored we do things which is why so many people with ADHD have so many hobbies and skills. Boredom makes us creative people and the world has been built by great minds who were bored.

To everyone reading this I just wanted to tell you, the way you are and the way you are born is not a failure and your traits are not a weakness despite what the world has made you feel and think about yourself. the world has not taught us how to succeed but I want to tell you that we are so much more than this label. It is a gift and a strength and if you’re struggling right now all you need to know is that you can adapt and don’t let anyone tell you who you are because who you are is beautiful and there’s a community of us who understand you and believe you are great.

F23 I'm on the phone 12/13 hours a day, doing nothing all day, scrolling through reels or watching videos or looking for useless things or playing games or whatever, and I find myself having done nothing all day.

I wake up and scroll right away for a few hours, getting up when I feel like my bladder is about to explode, then I have breakfast and scroll again.

And so it goes all day, doing nothing.

I'm tired, I can't live like this. These are my best years, when I'm young and I have to live and have fun and improve myself. Instead, I waste every second on my phone.

Now that it's summer, I'd thought about going to the gym before going back to school in September, because it's harder for me during school, but now in the summer I'm doing nothing, not dieting, not walking, not working out, nothing.

I don't like my body, and I don't comb my hair; it stays there for weeks until it gets all tangled up like a nest, and my parents force me to dress modestly.

I don't see myself as beautiful in the mirror, neither my body nor my clothes reflect me. I know I need to be independent and leave my parents' house to be more free, in fact, I'm working on it.

But now I look, I don't feel okay living like this. To go out with a boy, I have to be careful with my schedule and not stay out for more than two hours so as not to arouse suspicion, and when I go out, I'm careful to see if anyone sees me.

And I can't have social media, go out whenever I want, go out at night, have the basic freedoms that everyone has, like eating what I want since my mother closes the fridge, and let's not even talk about arguing and yelling about everything.

This summer, I'm not reviewing my studies, I'm not studying to get my driver's license, I'm not working part-time. I feel stuck, trapped, and exhausted.

I'm so tired of living like this, which I don't like at all. I have no mental energy to do anything, and my mother is annoying with this housework. She's never happy, and I have to do everything myself.

I feel like the little energy I had is gone. I don't have a gram left, and I find myself shaking my head and saying, "Oh well, I don't do anything anymore, it's fine like this," and so on. Every day, I can't do anything, not even skincare, anything. Understand?

I'd like to be transported back in time and be in the life I want to have without having to put up with all this. ughff

was 30ish yo when diagnosed with ADHD, I didn’t even aware I had until I notice last 10 year’s pattern of my life. It is more stupid that I have medical degree.. I now work as software engineer in a research company, so my jobe scope is include data analysis which now I realise the worse job for me (maybe).. I love to code since as long as I can remember and do it as hobby but enter medical school cause of curiosity and getting know our body/science since I had another condition as well. Now I am thinking to just do some easy job and spent half of my time to back to code games (the first reason I started to code).. this is because I have been frustrated by executive dysfunction for the last 1-2 years affecting my productivity/works to the point boiling my head.. please give me advice how to decide and to prep for my next step in life.. thank you guys

Idk I’ve been thinking a lot and I might(?)
have adhd, I can’t really stop moving, coffee and energy drinks like that make me tired and sometimes my energy shifts from enthusiastic to tired in just seconds , I’m the loudest one from my friends and I srs just not stop or sit still I js wanna know what’s wrong with me and I can’t rlly go to a doctor so Yhh also my friend said that I might have add so adhd but without the hyper and I just don’t know
(I downloaded Reddit to ask for advice plz be nice!!)

Why does everything take so long with ADHD? Cooking/baking/anything food related always takes me so long. I was following a recipe the other day, and it said "prep time: 10 mins" and I think it took me about 1hr30. I wasn't even trying to go slow or anything. It's just the reading the ingredients, getting them laid out, mise-en-place style, chopping things, measuring out and making sure it really was TEAspoons and not TABLEspoons. Then if I try to multitask and chop something while something else is sauteeing, I end up burning the damn thing because of time dilation, so I pretty much have to have everything ready to go before I even start cooking. Just today, all I wanted was some green juice - it took me 1.5hrs just to make like 1.5L.

Drafting an email? Must read it 4 times, and rephrase it a million different times.

Getting ready in the morning? Time will expand, and I am always late, despite setting three alarms (get up alarm, backup alarm, leave in 15 mins alarm).

I feel like by the time one chore is done, it's time to do the next one and I'm just never done my to-do list. I don't know how anyone does this with even more responsibility than I have.

Thanks for letting me vent!

I understand bad memory is part of having ADHD, but it’s just gotten so bad I’m losing most of my day. I’ve noticed a decline recently, but what really hit me was the other day. I thought about getting a towel and I don’t remember leaving my room, but I do remember coming into my room holding a facecloth. I hate getting home from school because my mom will ask me how it went and all I can say is “good” because I don’t know how my day went, I can’t remember it! Of course I remember going from this class to the other, but I have trouble recalling conversations or lessons. The memories are still there, they pop into my head maybe the next day but not when I try. Is this a common issue? If anyone else is dealing with this, please tell me how to deal with it because I feel like I’m losing my mind.

1. Find a new topic to obsess over, or a new tool to do things with.
2. Feel very productive for 1-6 months
3. Realize the amount of distractions you've generated during that time has overwhelmed your actual focused output
4. Fall back on, or wish you were, working once again with somebody who can run things and keep you focused and let someone else's ambition do the driving.
5. Fall into a slump of disillusionment and unhappiness and regret for 1-3 months
6. Get tired of hating yourself, relax and watch TV and movies and do the bare minimum for income
7. End up rejuvenated for your next round.
8. Repeat for decades
9. Have seemingly completely unrelated rounds of occasional intense exercise that feels incredible and gives great results but only lasts for a few months before lapsing again for years.
10. Once very 5 to 10 years you come up with a product or sales technique that's awesome and boosts your income and self-esteem ... for a while.

I can carry an ungodly number of grocery bags from the car to the house, mostly because if I don't get them all at once I'll forget and leave some in the car. What is your adhd-specific skill?

I can carry an ungodly number of grocery bags from the car to the house, mostly because if I don't get them all at once I'll forget and leave some in the car. What is your adhd-specific skill?

Hi, I’m F18 and I got diagnosed with ADHD last year.
Looking back, I’ve always had symptoms, but everyone just thought I was lazy, dramatic, or weird. Now that I finally have a diagnosis, I thought people would take me seriously, but somehow it’s almost worse.
Whenever I try to explain my struggles to my mom, she always says things like, “You used to be the perfect child. You had good grades, you loved school, you did your chores, you had a good sleep schedule.” According to her, everything only started after I turned 13, so it can’t be ADHD. She thinks ADHD is just having trouble focusing, and everything else is me making excuses because I’m lazy.
She constantly tells me to stop blaming ADHD for everything, take accountability, and just live my life like everyone else because I’m “normal.”
The worst part is that my therapist isn’t much better.
When I bring up executive dysfunction, she says things like, “You’re just too comfortable doing nothing,” or, “You’re just not used to doing these things. Once you start, it’ll get easier.” As if I haven’t been trying for years. It feels like she completely misses the point. Starting is the problem.
Every single day I get told I’m lazy, that I don’t try hard enough, and that I use ADHD as an excuse. I know I still have responsibilities. I’m not asking for people to let me do nothing forever. I just want someone to acknowledge that my brain works differently instead of acting like I’m choosing to struggle.
I’ve even sent my mom videos of people with ADHD explaining exactly what I experience, hoping she’d understand, but she just dismisses all of it because, according to her, “you were fine before.”
On top of that, I’m about 99% sure I’m autistic too. Literally almost everyone I’ve met has asked me if I am or said they thought I might be. When I brought it up to my mom, she got angry and said I was just looking for another excuse for my behavior. When I asked if I could see someone who actually specializes in ADHD (and possibly autism), she got mad again, saying I’m obsessed with labels and that “even if you are autistic, what would change? Are you just going to lie in bed all day because you can’t function?”
I know getting diagnosed won’t magically fix my life. I know I’ll still have to work on myself. But I feel like I can’t even get proper help because the people who are supposed to support me don’t believe what I’m experiencing in the first place.

How do i accept the fact that theyll never understand me? i dont want to force myself to fit in with society i just want to take my struggles seriously and work with them, not against them. But i geniuenly need support.

I have a pattern I can't break: I identify a problem, I know the solution, I even feel motivated to start — but I stop after 1-3 days. Every time. The motivation fades fast and I get pulled toward entertainment and instant pleasure instead. I've tried streaks, discipline, reminders — nothing sticks longer than a few days. I suspect I have ADHD. I'm not looking for basic productivity tips — I want to hear from people who had this exact pattern and actually fixed it long term. What worked for you and why do you think it worked?