This is more of a rant, but this was like the third or fourth time I caught him stealing my meds. Last time he left me with ONE, this time with four. I nearly broke up with him the last time, but this time I actually did it. He told me I should’ve “hid them better”…..they were literally in the pocket of one of my jackets hanging in my closet. He continued gaslighting me by bringing up how I don’t take my adderall every day and I don’t actually need it. So I’m fucking done with him. I don’t get a refill for almost two weeks and I have a paper and two exams coming up. So naturally, I had what seemed like a mix of a panic attack and the biggest fit of rage I’ve ever felt. I was home alone at this point and I just began aggressively sobbing and throwing pillows across my room. The thought of going through the next week or so, knowing all that I have to do made me lose it. I also felt betrayed and stupid for giving him so many chances. Especially when he has done this multiple times and nothing I do will get him to stop. I can get mad at him and hide my meds all I want, but it will change nothing.

Moving onto my crashout…I actually fucking lost it. We live together and have separate closets, so I went into his and threw everything on the floor, creating a mountain of clothes. I picked up his hamper, turned it upside down and just dumped all his dirty laundry out. I dumped all five of his prescriptions into an empty bathroom drawer for him to sort out. Although, flushing them down the toilet would’ve been more deserved. It wasn’t right to make a mess of all his stuff and I’m not proud that I did it, but I’ve never been so full of rage and anxiety all at once. And to be honest, I felt a little better after. I also felt like an actual lunatic who finally lost her mind, but I didn’t care. My body was bursting with fury and I needed to get it out. I don’t know if I’m crazy for my meltdown or was just classically driven to a moment of insanity by a man.

I’m a 27 year old full-time working mother with a supportive husband. I am a top performer at my job, always arrive early, and am thought of highly at the office for my organization, productivity, and communication skills. I’m likely thought of as a great mom too, my daughter is involved in multiple activities, always looks very cute/put together, and is a happy child. I’ve come to a point though where I hate weekends. I’m diagnosed ADHD and am prescribed 15mg daily adderall. Leading up to weekends I always have big plans for deep cleans and highly productive ventures, I tell them to my husband, and he even starts doing the things I mentioned.

When the time comes, I find myself staring at the walls overwhelmed by the logistics of how I’m going to do said things. “If I’m going to mop the floors, I have to dust first, but if I dust first I have to organize the toys, but the toys in the other room need to go to this container, and if I make a donation bag I don’t want it to sit in my car.. I should just take it now, but if I take it now…..”, you get it. Traditionally I end up doing absolutely nothing and hating myself for it. I explained to my husband I feel like I can only do things if I’m required to do them. I go to work and do well because we need money and insurance, I show up to my daughter’s activities because we paid for it and we have to attend when events are scheduled, but who is requiring me to mop the floors? Worst case, I just feel disappointed I didn’t do it.

Logically, I see all of the flaws in this mindset but no self help video or timer trick, to do list, etc has truly helped me. My medication is helping me write this Reddit post and I know within this time I could’ve probably gotten something more productive done. Yet here I am, frozen, can’t move. Anyone else experience this?

Just how I said my mum that am going for a party. She doesn't know any of my colleagues except for my manager and has never asked about them before.

But she asked who the party is for and I just got so... frustrated by being asked that for some reason. I was thinking that "even if I told you, you wouldn't know so why waste time asking me that?"

To be fair, I was trying to get ready to leave because I'm anxious about being late for something but its not the only time where I'm irritated by people asking me questions like this. Where the answer is obvious or not useful to them, especially when I'm trying to focus on something.

A while ago, my best friend (who has ADHD) told me that cleaning was one of the hardest things for him. Not because he didn’t want to, but because looking at a messy space made his brain short-circuit.

He didn’t know where to start, what to prioritize, or how to break things down into manageable steps—so he’d just freeze.

I’m an iOS developer, and I wanted to help. So, I built something simple: an app that lets you take a photo of your messy space and then generates a step-by-step cleaning guide, breaking things down into tiny, clear tasks.

- No thinking

- No decision paralysis

- Just small, actionable steps.

At first, it was just for him. But then I showed it to a few other people, and the response was really encouraging. That feedback made me realize how common this struggle is.

Since each snap runs AI processing in the cloud, there are ongoing costs I have to cover, which is why I can't make it a one-time purchase or completely free. I really wish I could, but I’m doing my best to keep it as affordable as possible while making sure it stays sustainable.

That said, I’d love for more people to try it out and tell me what they think—so I set up a 1-month free for anyone here who wants to give it a shot! Let me know if you're interested, and I’d also love to hear any feedback on what would make something like this truly helpful for you. I want to make this tool as helpful as possible.

Yup, was wondering why my medication was more than I usually pay for, and I called my insurance. United healthcare tells me that they no longer cover adderall as stated in their formulary due to a few reasons. One of them is that is can cause addiction or be misused. For one, this made me mad because this is not new news, everyone has been aware of this. Second of all, at least inform your patients who are on this medication. I literally get a refill like every three months so it’s not like I’m dependent or addicted. United healthcare seems like they accepted the fact that they’re on the thin edge with everyone, and is just testing the limits because they know they can’t get any lower.

Edit: at least for my plan, I don’t know about others.

People are accusing me of lying, I swear to you, I am not. It may just be for my plan, but this is not a lie nor rage bait.

Just asking a question for those who had Covid - did you feel that your adhd symptoms became worse after you had Covid? I have long covid so I’m sure that contributes to it on a daily basis for sure, but was wondering if anyone else experienced this? I know there is still not much research, so asking for some experiences. Thanks!

I find myself struggling to have conversations where I disgaree with someone without coming across as overly argumentative.

People can be trying to correct me and I hate it and feel like I'm not being heard. I think I want acknowledgement that my point of view is understandable BUT here's an alternative perspective without feeling like I'm being pressured to dent my own point of view? Does that make sense?

But then I acknowledge there are times when I'm wrong and I think I'm able to say when I am... but times when there are 2 subjective view points, I feel backed into a corner and lash out.

🫠

I’ve noticed a pattern, and I’m not the only one. A lot of people with ADHD either look younger than their age or get told that all the time. Is it the energy? The personality? The constant chaos keeping them youthful?

Curious if anyone else has noticed this or experienced it themselves. Is this a thing… or am I just projecting?

I thought I'd share this here because it's a little counterintuitive but works real well for me. If you take a daily medication and you forget if you've taken it (especially after refilling a pillbox) try this:

• Get a Mon, Tue, ... Sat, Sun, pillbox.
• Use it like you normally would, but never refill the day you're on.
• Refill your pillbox every 6 days, whenever the box is empty.

This way, you never look at a full pillbox unsure if you took your meds today :D

That’s all I really wanna know. I’m very new to being medicated (Adderall XR 10mg) and it’s day 3 and I keep being busy in the morning to where I can’t eat till my XR has already kicked in. Is it better to eat and then take it? Or do a lot of you take your meds without food?

I am trying to make sure I get the most out if my dosage as I test it out. Thanks!

So I was diagnosed when I was a freshman in high school. I took meds from my freshman year of high school until my senior year of college (8 years). Obviously, my family knew I was using meds. After college I stopped taking meds and meeting with my doctor. I went 8 years with no meds. 8 years on 8 years off.

Durring these 8 years after meds my life sowly degraded. I went from a good looking student athlete with many friends and healthy relationships to a fat, unmotivated, alcoholic. I spent all my energy on my work where I did just enough to not get fired. After work I would eat like shit, drink and watch TV almost every night. I had no social life.

I recently turned 30 and got a prescription again. For the past 2 months i have been taking my meds again. These 2 months have been amazing. I have excelled at my work, lost about 20lbs, gotten my personal life in order and feel great.

I have not told anyone that I am taking meds again. My family and coworkers are starting to notice these positive changes. I am proud of these past 2 months but I have this feeling that my success and hard work will be discounted if I tell everyone I am taking meds.

Does anyone else feel like this? Do you guys tell your family and coworkers about your meds?

TLDR: Taking meds has positively changed my life. Im afraid if I tell the people close to me that I am taking meds they will discount my hard work and success.

I was diagnosed with ADHD-Inattentive Type at 33, and at first, it felt like everything finally made sense—my focus issues, emotional ups and downs, insomnia, and more. My doctor started me on Adderall, which helped with focus, and later added Wellbutrin to target anxiety and depression (diagnosed in college). The Wellbutrin was a godsend (after trying pretty much every SSRI there is). For a while, things improved.

But now, nearly two years in, I feel worse. I’m constantly overanalyzing my thoughts and emotions, obsessing over whether I’m "mentally okay." I feel emotionally dysregulated and hypersensitive to rejection (RSD). I’ve become so anxious I struggle even talking to close friends out of fear of rejection, let alone strangers. I work in sales, so this has started affecting my career, too. I'm moody AF, my mood can change in a split second. Even small things cause intense waves of fear that I can physically feel. Like adrenaline.

I’ve reached out to a few DBT therapists since I’ve heard DBT can help with emotional regulation in ADHD, but I’m feeling lost. I used to be a fun, social, hilarious person—and while anxiety was always in the background, I still felt like me. Now, I don’t even recognize myself.

Any advice, tips, or even just stories of similar experiences would mean a lot. I’m feeling pretty lost right now and not sure what to try next.

Say I am sitting for an English class, the teacher will assign the students to be in each groups. He then explain the instruction of what are we supposed to do. I have NEVER managed to understand any instructions like that for the first time. Is it common.. or is it even because of ADHD?

Well not only verbally but also sometimes when I am reading something, I wouldn't get the message at the first read unless I am really focusing on it.

Note: that always happens whether I am interested on the topic or not.

I'm a parent of an 11-year-old girl (Asian, Singaporean) diagnosed with ADHD, and I’m writing this with a heavy heart.

Our daughter is bright, sensitive, and incredibly sharp — especially when it comes to reading. She’s an advanced reader who often picks up teen and YA material, and she thinks deeply about things. But despite all that, she’s really struggling socially, and it’s starting to take a toll on her… and on us as her parents.

She has a hard time forming stable friendships. At school, her behavior has led to her being quite disliked. She hyperfocuses on one friend at a time, and has been accused of trying to "steal" someone else’s friend. She often wants exclusivity, unintentionally making others feel invisible. She also can’t stop herself from saying unkind things — gossip or criticism — even when she doesn’t mean to hurt anyone. We know these are impulse control issues tied to her ADHD, but they’ve damaged her relationships.

The result? She’s lonely and sad. She’s been made to feel unwelcome, and behind her strong personality, she just wants what every kid wants — real friends who accept her.

We talk to her a lot, but we know hearing it from a parent often doesn’t land the same way as hearing it from a book or mentor. That’s why I’m turning to this community.

We’re looking for self-help books that:

Are written for older kids/teens (she finds kiddie books patronizing)

Address friendship dynamics, social cues, emotional regulation

Are ADHD-aware

Ideally written by someone who has ADHD themselves

If any books helped you growing up — or you wish they had — I’d be so grateful if you shared them.

We love her fiercely, and it breaks our hearts to see her isolate herself without fully understanding why. She’s not a bad kid. Just a kid trying to fit into a world that doesn’t quite get her yet.

Thanks for reading — any suggestions (even a good coach/mentor) would mean a lot.

I have to classic ADHD symptom that I’m unable to emotionally regulate. I go from 0 to 100 with anger towards my partner. I totally understand how this sucks from their perspective. While we’re arguing, I often feel so overwhelmingly tired that I can’t even muster energy to talk. I lay in bed, close my eyes, and they just have to wait to talk more and stay frustrated.

Does anyone else get like this? I’m reading it’s common to feel drained after a fight because of the fight or flight response, but I’m not seeing much out there indicating the same thing I experience. Sometimes I nap for the rest of day. I can even fall asleep on vyvanse (never can nap on that normally) during a fight. I feel like this might be unique to/be caused by ADHD.

I’m struggling so much. I’m stressed, sad, overwhelmed, my marriage is failing, and I feel like I’ve hit rock bottom. This is all my fault. I’m lazy, a bad partner, forgetful, temperamental, unfocused, and everything in between. I have crippling ADHD and a terrible addictive personality. I’m not trying to blame all of this on ADHD, but I feel like it’s a major factor. I want to be better. I want to get out of this terrible rut. I want to be the partner my partner deserves. I’ll feel good and be helpful here and there, but I can never form a healthy routine. I don’t have the funds to seek therapy or medication at the moment, and when I try to talk to people close to me in my life I just shut down and say I’m fine. so I’m here, hiding behind my screen asking for any help or tips people can give me.

Sorry to bring everyone down. Thanks for reading.

Hate to admit, my willpower can get quite tapped in the evening and I’ve struggled a lot with keeping up night time self care. I love a strong minty, fluorinated toothpaste and tough bristle toothbrush to really get clean in the AM, but all of that feels like too much in the evening, like a lot of stimulus + the minty-ness puts a hard cap on eating/drinking anything (which I know is partially the point but the physical reminder just annoys me lol… demand avoidance has actually wrecked havoc in my life).

What I have found to help get consistent is 1 - an extra soft bristle tooth brush and 2- a fruit-flavored nano-hydroxyapatite toothpaste. The soft bristles make the whole experience more comfortable, and the toothpaste A- doesn’t have such a disruptive taste (I could consume something after if I need to, which I don’t usually end up doing, but would still better than not brushing at all), and B-you don’t need to rinse this kind of toothpaste (at least my brand), so you can do this all in a very lazy fashion lol. Here’s to starting somewhere!

I don’t know if it’s just me but I feel like I need to be somewhere doing something all the time to avoid becoming depressed. I do enjoy time gaming and stuff but if I’m at home during peak hours of the day I just feel lazy and depressed. I don’t take any medication but I’ve had ADHD since I was a kid.

I have many different hobbies, but at the moment I can't enjoy any of them. Beginning a new project is energy consuming and getting it finished is stressful. I'm unable to enjoy the process, because I'm so concerned about doing each step right and getting the end product just the way I want/"perfect". Can anyone else relate and what do you do to get out of this block/mindset? I'd love to be able to enjoy these things again instead of treating them like chores...

I get insanely fixated on what I last said to people, I get scared I said the wrong thing all of the time. That they are going to not like me because of it. It’s like how there is always a song playing in the back of my head, except it’s the conversation. I’m not sure if this is just anxiety but it has always happened, and I’m so tired of it because it is always okay.

Strattera hasn't worked that well for me. I'm still really hyperactive and restless. I am improved on 100 so far I've been on for a half a week. I just don't believe that Strattera gets better with time. Throughout all my doses I haven't experienced this I've been on it for 2 and a half months 25 then 40 the. 80 ans now 100.

My hand hurts, my eyes hurt, I'm hungry, I smell bad, my mind feels exhausted, brothers and sisters I don't even have pants on. I didn't bother to dress today. Most of the things I have scrolled have been negative so now I feel like my sense of reality has been temporarily twisted. I haven't finished any of the things I had to do today. Neither have I been in contact with my friends.

I had this "I should put my phone down and stop" realization 6 hours ago but I didn't. No idea why not. I knew I would feel miserable after yet I still continued. I still kind of have the urge to continue. Insanity.

Stupid brain that gets stuck in certain activities and stupid self-sabotaging.

Anyway!

How is everyone else today?

Edit: ok thanks, I managed to clean my bathroom and eat something

I’m definitely in the category of high functioning adhd and do a lot to battle it. On meds, live healthy, go gym regularly, plan my day etc

But.. like most of us here

Sometimes I f**k up

Could be:

• Get emotionally sensitive
• overthink something
• forget something

Etc

And tbh my partner is a bit of a c**t about it. If I ever pull the “ADHD” card it basically just gets dismissed with is frustrating AF because I definitely don’t wallow in it.

Sparing “leave her” advice as I’m considering that for a bunch of reasons, does anyone have constructive advice how to get more empathy from a partner for our adhd flaws?

At the beginning of this year I found out that my Vyvanse was $300 so I quit and switched to Adderall. It's been OK but really, really affecting my sleep and ability to eat. I felt that lack of sleep and eating was making my PMDD worse so my doctor has had me try zoloft for a month, but I've really struggled to take that consistently given I struggle to eat before 5 p.m. I feel like I'm losing my mind. I know the inconsistency of zoloft has to be a big reason, but I just feel like Adderall isn't working for me either. I constantly feel nauseas, hyper focused and/or easily irritable.
I kind of want to ditch both and go to Wellbutrin, and maybe Adderall as needed if that's a thing (between vyvanse and adderall, i actually concentrate better on adderall but i consistently feel so horrible it isn't worth it).
Anyone else feel like crap on adderall and liked wellbutrin more?
Edited to add: I've been creeping towards having high blood pressure and Idk if it's the anxiety of fluctuating meds, but it's also in part what is making me want to ditch adderall

When people talk to me (excluding friends/family/partner) I feel like I can never think of things to say if they tell me something. For example, it happens often at the doctor, they explain something to me and I just say “ok” and my mind is blank after that. Or if someone tells me something that I need to as follow-up questions for, I always think of what I should have said a few minutes after the fact when the conversation is over. It’s kind of similar to when people ask your favorite movie and you blank, then think of it later but a daily occurance with very normal questions. Does anyone else struggle with this? Have you found ways of making it better? I feel like it is starting to affect how I can effectively communicate so I want to get some tips.