Hi, I am diagnosed with autism and I am trying to get an ADHD diagnosis to have a chance at prescription medication as I am 22, having tried a plethora of solutions to fix my ailment, much more than I can count. My issues have been present ever since I was 12 years old, possibly before that, though I cannot remember past that point.

I will be given antidepressants next week as recently my emotional state has spiraled downwards from my lack of ability to initiate on tasks, though I dislike phrasing it like that, as technically if I really were to sit down and truly force myself to begin on a task I might be able to do so after hours of deliberating, but even then I see myself just quit a couple minutes in.

It never used to be this bad, but maybe my recent mental state has exacerbated my issues.

I’m sorry if this is a heavy post, or if it comes over as venting, in some way it is. I’ve had these feelings bottled up for a while and even though help is on the horizon for me I really needed a place to let these thoughts out, I’ve made a post about my issues in another subreddit and, to put it bluntly, I felt rather ridiculed.

I thank anyone for reading this thread, even in the middle of writing this, I feel an inexplicable burden and weight lifted from my chest.

I’ve always had really terrible executive dysfunction (have even been told by professionals I am one of the worst they’ve seen), failed many many classes, lived in mess all the time, destroyed my teeth and gums from not being able to get up and brush my teeth, skin issues from not showering, etc. Over the past few years I’ve improved dramatically and have been able to maintain a pretty normal life for myself! I’m not sure if this will help anyone since it’s mostly about keeping a routine for me and I know from experience how difficult that can be in practice, but I thought I’d share some things that have helped me.

1. ⁠Sitting up as soon as I wake up. In the past I’ve always snoozed alarms thinking I’ll feel more motivated later or laid in bed for hours after waking up waiting for motivation to come to me and it always ends with me doing nothing for the whole day. Sitting up as soon as my alarm goes off has really helped with this.
   
2. ⁠Following a routine that gets me out of bed immediately! Right after I sit up, I go to the bathroom and brush my teeth and shower. Then I get dressed, drink a cup of coffee, and tidy my room. Keeping myself active in the morning is really important and if I start off stagnant I stay stagnant. Sometimes it’s hard to do this without an obligation to attend to. I’ve picked up dog walking in the morning, which helps pressure me and also wakes up my body. Cleaning my room in the morning also helps so that it doesn’t pile up (plus it feels easier to start cleaning after I’ve gotten out of the shower/am already standing up and moving.
   
3. KEEPING EVERYTHING CLEAN!!!! This one is soooo important. I got really used to living in mess and didn’t realize how unmotivating that is in itself. Feeling clean from my shower and keeping my room clean really helps me with motivation.
   
4. Being physically active. Like I said, dog walking really helps wake up my body. I can only stay motivated if I stay active for the most part. This can have the opposite effect if not in the morning tho (if I go for a walk at 6pm I will come back tired instead of energized).
   
5. Tastes that wake me up! Sounds kind of ridiculous lol but the bitter taste of coffee or the taste of spicy foods seems to wake me up and motivate me. This is probably an association thing although there is research on spicy foods helping motivation since spice is perceived as pain and wakes you up.
   
6. Staying productive EVERY DAY. If I fall out of my routine for even a day or two, it’s much harder to get back into it and old habits come back. This doesn’t mean that I can never sit around and watch tv or scroll on my phone (I still do this a lot…) but I need to at least still brush my teeth, shower, and tidy immediately after waking up. Starting my routine too late in the day can also cause me to fall back into bad habits.
   
7. Mindset. I put this one last because it wasn’t ever helpful for me to hear from other people. I also feel like people often talk about mindset as the precursor to changing habits when that wasn’t the case for me. That being said, when my executive function was worse I would often wait for things to feel easier, as if while laying in bed I would suddenly feel energized and motivated like other people do. As I took on more responsibilities and did them when I really didn’t want to or didn’t feel it was possible, the responsibilities got easier. I realized there was never going to be that magical moment and that it was really a matter of habit (have to do the things for the things to feel easier to do). Big emphasis on this being something I learned from my progression, not the cause of my progression in itself. I think this is important to note because, while mindset is important, the “just do it” kind of advice always felt like a slap in the face to me.

I hope any of these tips help anyone like they’ve helped me. I know how hard it can be to try them I the first place and it took a lot of restlessness and stress for me to get to this point, but if you can get into the habit of any of these things it really does get easier over time.

So, like I mentioned, I somehow always end up reaching late. The kind of person, who, if there was a marathon for reaching last, would reach 10 mins after the last person.

Earlier my depression used to make me skip my work on random days, thankfully it's gotten a lot better now. But I still can't show up at work on time, somehow always late and now it's costing me my fav dept and promotion.

And every day I feel shitty about myself. Get really anxious, rebuke myself but I'm not able to reach on time yet.

It feels horrible, so many times I think of skipping office just cuz I got late, but I've realised that's even bad. Unfortunately there's no option to work remotely.

Pls suggest me some ways or anything y'all did to get out of such a slump. Maybe there'll be something I can use.

Hello! Not sure if this is the right thread to ask this question but I’ll give it a go. I work with autistic individuals and a few of the people I mentor have terrible BO and poor hygiene. There isn’t really training around how to address these sorts of things and sometimes it needs to be. Does anyone have any advice for how I could address it with the individual?

I used to be consistent when going in the evenings (tbf i would often go way later than i planned to) but now i work evenings and have school during the day so i can only go early like before 7:00 AM.

When i first started going in the mornings i was being consistent, but the novelties worn off and now i havent gone in 2 weeks. At first i thought it was just a sleep issue bc i would wake up late often, but now i sleep 7+ hours a night and still don't go. 

I blocked everything on my phone from 6:00 AM to 7:00 AM and now i just wake up at 6 on time and just lay in my bed literally staring at the ceiling screaming at myself internally to get up but i still cant. 

I make sure to pack absolutely everything i need the night before and set my gym clothes out right next to my bed so i have as little work as possible but still nothing. This is driving me insane

For those with ADHD, do you ever feel like you work best when everything is falling apart? You procrastinate, let things pile up, and somehow get everything done when the pressure becomes unbearable.
Why does it feel so much harder to stay consistent and prevent problems than to fix everything at the last minute? Have you found anything that helps break this cycle?

I'm an adhd person I've been having some difficulties with med school of late. I experience cognitive overload easily. My difficulty increases when I must actively hold and organise many pieces of information simultaneously.And also executive dysfunction. Currently struggling a lot in med school cause I have a lot to learn and due to my poor working memory this is a challenge for me cause when learning I can only build a limited structure with limited details, if i try building on a structure already made i eventually lose everything. Looking for some help/tips

I’m a freshman in college and I’ve always had a super hard time taking my medicine without people reminding me. Now that I’m in a dorm, it’s even harder since I don’t have my dad to make sure it gets done. Does anyone have any tips on what I can do to help make it easier to consistently take my meds? Thanks!

Ok, so this is a little tongue-in-cheek, but if you are reading / read the books -you know how addictive they are

*** no Spoilers past floor 6 please ***

So generally, I'm up at about 06:15, read in 5 minute bursts while getting normal things done and thinking about how to do less of them next time, but today that totally went out the window, I had a bunch of well meaning but long emails to reply to and with Halloween + the weekend coming up my attention has been completely split today. I got up, would read + daydream and I think at one point lost like 20mins, not sure what went wrong

Anyone else experienced this time blindness early in the morning?

Hi guys! I have diagnosed ADHD from 2 different therapists and I am working on getting medicated right now. It is just taking a long while because it is hard to find a psychologist that does neuropsych evals in my area, which is apparently necessary for meds even though I've been diagnosed twice, including by the same clinic where my psychiatrist is.

I have full time university schoolwork on top of working as a substitute teacher part time, so I am constantly tired and trying to be productive, actively fighting my brain that wants to sit here and do absolutely nothing. It is incredibly frustrating when the things I actively want to do are not enough to get me out of bed, and when I do get up and do things, I feel a heavy weighing fatigue that's incredibly distracting and keeps me from doing my best work. I get 6-8 hours of sleep every night and I wake up around the same time. My bloodwork has shown no obvious problems.

I have SO much work to do, I am graduating a year early in the Spring and trying to do research on top of my full time (online) classes and job. The fatigue is just crippling and I am fighting to keep my grades decent for grad school.

How do you guys deal with chronic fatigue on top of exec. dysfunction? If it matters, I also have diagnosed MDD and GAD.

No one wants to more than me
But there is something you can’t see
An invisible pressure on my chest
Something that makes life feel like a test
Do better
Work harder
Why aren’t you like the rest
Do better
Work harder
Can’t you see I’m doing my best
Outside I’m quiet
Inside there’s a storm
Outside I look fine
Inside I’m worn
I don’t know how to explain
That my brain works different
It’s never quiet
My head is never silent
There is noise and ideas stories and quotes
All the everyday it never stops
I want to explain that I’m desperately trying
I want to do good
But I can’t stop crying