#ADHD tips and tricks

[rockpapertheodore]

Fun tip for my friends who have issues keeping their cars clean:

If you have an issue with just fuckin... not taking trash out of your car, start stuffing it into your old takeout/fast food/shopping bags. That's Step 1.

Step 2 just becomes practicing taking one of them out of your car every time you go to the gas station or the store. There are trash cans specifically there for you to put your car trash in, between the pumps at the station or the doors to the store.

They are there for you to use.

They are not top secret special trashcans for use by qualified personnel, and the clerks and other customers are not judging you for using them.

Nobody thinks you're a slob for carrying a knotted plastic bag or two full of trash and stuffing it into the trashcan by the door. In fact, a majority of people are grateful that you put your trash in a can instead of throwing it onto the ground!

Companies put these trashcans out specifically because they realized it was a lot easier and cheaper to clean up a bunch of trash cans instead of having a dedicated trash pickerupper guy cleaning the lots constantly. You are allowed to use them.

[crowbraincoin]

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[ivyblossom]

Hi m'lovely, I hope you're doing well! It's so nice seeing you around here again <3

I've been meaning to ask you for a while if you'd be willing to talk more about the prompts (voice assistant and other) that you've mentioned setting up to help with your ADHD? I've tried to do similar things myself, like buying smart lightbulbs set to turn off at 11 and remind me to go to bed, but I still find I have a tendency to ignore them or for them to stop being helpful if my schedule changes at all. How do you make yourself stick to prompts that are easy to ignore?

@glitterarygetsit! Beloved! Most delightful of humans!

Yes, I hear you, I have this problem as well. Once routines become routine, they get easier to ignore or work around. I have not solved that yet, not completely, but I have a few suggestions.

The first thing is to think of future yourself as a beautiful puppy just here to have a good time. We don't want to hurt the puppy! The puppy is not being naughty on purpose, puppies are going to puppy, that's all! We embrace the puppy. But the puppy is stubborn and is really focused on having a good time, so we need to insert a variety of nudges leading to the key result.

When's bedtime? Are you switching the lights off at 11 beacuse you want to go to bed at 11? Your environmental nudges need to start quite a lot earlier, because the puppy is not paying attention and wants to keep playing puppy games. When the lights go off, the puppy can just switch them back on again.

Maybe it's better to think about the environmental controls as a way to indicating the passage of time more than just a message that means "go to bed". I need a variety of prompts to remind me that it's getting late, and I need them all. Your lights switching off, your audio signals, aren't just telling you to go to bed. They are interrupting what you're doing. One of the reasons we struggle to stop one activity and pick up a different one is because we are hyperfocused. Once you break the hyperfocus, you can make a different choice. Without it broken, you're stuck in a loop even if you want to get up and go to bed.

I also would like to be in bed at 11, so my nudges start at 9pm. I have the lights go off in succession: first one, then another, until there's just one left. When the first one goes off, I think, oh, it's getting towards time. Well, okay, but I want to do this other thing first. And then the second one goes. Oh boy, soon I'm going to be sitting in a dark room. Better finish this thing off. At 9am, I also have a bedtime playlist start to play. I almost never listen to it, but if I want to shut it off, I have to stop and do that.

I also follow that up with a series of other good ideas. Why not make yourself a night cap? (I make a lavender latte at bedtime.) What's for dinner tomorrow? What are you wearing tomorrow? lay out your clothes! Here's tomorrow's weather forecast! Have you washed your face? You know what would be nice right now? Wearing pajamas!

These prompts are things I would like it if I did, but they're also interruptions. I'm basically annoying myself out of whatever hyperfocus I'm in.

But also: let's not forget pleasure! The puppy likes things! That's why I introduced the night cap. When I remind myself that I could make myself one right now, sometimes it truly does tempt me, and then I'm in the routine loop. Add lovely things to your routine and treat yourself to them. Appealing things are easier to get yourself to do.

I create routines in strings, so I can adjust the timing on them pretty easily, I just adjust the start time. I do that more in the mornings than the evenings.

I think we probably need to schedule times to adjust the routine, or add fun new things to it. The best addition I've made to a routine recently is to start my morning one 10 minutes earlier and have the speaker tell me I can ignore it for 10 minutes. Strangely enough, that really helped.

Anyone else have suggestions?

I love you, @glitterarygetsit!

[capricandoitall]

ADHD Tip:

I have a "missed Rx" bottle. Any time I forget to take my meds (and realize it), I put the pills I should have taken into this bottle. I treat these like they don't exist, which is why I don't leave them in the original bottle (yay for adhd object impermanence). This helps prompt me to get my refills on time.

THIS IS NOW MY EMERGENCY STOCKPILE of medication - particularly for my Adderrall.

If I don't/can't get my refill in time, if there's a shortage, if there's some kind of weather event or other emergency that prevents me from accessing a refill, etc, I have this. For controlled substances prescriptions, there's no other way to have a backup that I know of.

I occasionally swap the "forgotten" pills out 1:1 with new pills so they don't expire - I try to do it when I pick up my new prescription.

----------------

The rest of this became my personal manifesto regarding access to ADHD stimulant medications. Sorry, not sorry.

Anyone with ADHD who is lucky enough to be medicated knows that suddenly being unmedicated can be life destroying. And that's not an exaggeration - life-threatening accidents go up, risk of being fired for ADHD-related performance issues go up, interpersonal/telationship conflicts increase, etc, not to mention the increase in anxiety and depression for many while it feels like the very structure of our lives is decaying, and it's ALL OUR FAULT.

So, needless to say, med compliance is really important for stability. But getting med refills can be a chronic problem for people with ADHD.

Most ADHD medications are controlled substances, so we need a new script every month. For various regulatory, legal and ethical reasons, the onus is on the patient to initiate a refill with their doctor rather than the doctor's office being able to provide any kind of proactive support. In a lot of cases, we need an appointment every month, and at a minimum we have to remember to contact our prescriber to ask them for the refill. It's hard to remember to do that, especially to do it in advance so that they can submit the refill in time so we do not miss days. It's particularly hard to do it in advance vbecause we can't request the refill too soon because they're on guard to ensure we only have exactly the number of pills we need and not a single one more. Because we all must be abusing our medication.

In addition, pharmacists can only fill our new prescription the date they show we will run out based on the pick-up date and not a minute earlier. Sometimes a day in advance if we're lucky. Because, again, thw system assumes we must be abusing these medications.

To say the least, the timing of getting a refill is very exacting - for people who literally struggle with exactly this kind of challenge.

On top of all of this, there have been amphetamine supply shortages over the last few years. This is because the DEA restricts the amphetamine market for pharmaceutical companies, but does it in a way that leads to hoarding, exporting, and other market inefficiencies. The DEA will determine that there's enough of the ingredient available to meet patient demands, and won't give pharmaceutical companies additional allotments, even though the companies actually manufacturing the medications don't have the ingredient they need to meet demand. While this has improved since The Year We All Ran out of Pills, the issue is chronic and systemic so shortages still pop up occasionally.

Thus, even if we do everything perfectly to get the prescription, our pharmacy may not be able to fill it when it's time. This can often happen the day before we're going to run out (see above re timing of refills), often the evening before, in fact, because a large number of folks pick up their meds after work.

This then means people with executive dysfunction need to call around for a pharmacy with available pills, and we have to do it RIGHT AWAY because we are going to run out of pills today/tomorrow. Quite often, though, we have to do this while unmedicated, because in the moment we may not have time for the process (and it takes time - I've spent an hour on the phone with pharmacies before) or the pharmacies may not be open. And that assumes we're lucky enough to have access to an alternate pharmacy. Then, even if/when we can find a pharmacy that can help, there's another hurdle: pharmacies often can't transfer prescriptions for controlled substances (even from store to store within the same chain/company), so now we have to coordinate getting a NEW refill from our doctor (and don't get me started on the mess that is partial refills of controlled substances). Fingers crossed that it's our doctor's office's business hours (it never is).

Because forgeting tasks and difficulty with motivation due to executive disfunction are KEY SYMPTOMS of ADHD, this can trigger a (sometimes long) period of without medication, which can be dangerous (see above). AND SO, I have my baby emergency stockpile of pills.

There's not a lot of sympathy for the problems this causes for people with ADHD, which means getting support through this process is challenging. In fact, there's still a lot of stigma. I've personally been treated with suspicion and doubt by a pharmacy assistant while panic-crying because I couldn't get a refill. I've heard comments about how people trying to get refills act like drug addicts. I have thick skin and a supportive community, so those experiences didn't stop me from pushing for what i needed, but I know there are people who would give up after an encounter like that.

There is no political will to improve the system. In fact, there's more political will behind increasing restrictions on and further limiting access to stimulant medications. This comes from the narratives that 1) ADHD isn't real ("everyone forgets things" "everyone gets distracted" "it's trendy to have adhd" "stop making excuses"), 2) ADHD is overdiagnosed and/or overmedicated ("you should just try harder" "why are you so lazy" "have you tried using a planner" "o knew someone who..."), and 3) ADHD medications are being widely abused recreationally.

During the pandemic, the FDA started allowing doctors to prescribe controlled substances via telemedicine, which has increased access to treatment and improved patient ability to actually attend appointments (from decreased time commitment, lack of need for transportation, lack of need for much advance planning/remebering, etc). Add to this the increase in adult diagnoses, particularly for women who went undiagnosed/untreated as a result of systemic social issues when we were children, and the result is a general and not insignificant increase in patients being effectively treated for ADHD, including being prescribed ADHD medication. However, if you doubt ADHD or the effectiveness/importance of medication in treating ADHD to begin with, the increase in stimulant prescriptions is an indication of drug abuse, over diagnosis and over medication, NOT better access to care and decrease in missed diagnoses due to bias. Nevermind pretty solid science around the prevalence of untreated ADHD, medication being the single most effective and life-improving treatment for ADHD, and the very reasonable conclusion that telemedicine improved both access to healthcare as well as ADHD patient appointment attendance.

Which is to say, the FDA keeps pushing to revive the requirement for in person appointments in order to received prescriptions for controlled substances, like stimulants.

[lachiennearoo]

How to Make Friends

A more-or-less clear guide on social interactions

Growing up with heavy ADHD and generalized anxiety, it was always a bit hard for me to make friends and socialize. Despite my yearning for friendship, I was always "the quiet one" and "a loner", simply because I didn't know how to approach certain social situations, and it made any friendship I had extremely unstable (except for my sister @vive-le-quebec-flouffi, who was so extroverted and friendly it was literally impossible to escape her clutches of socialization)

As I grew older, I learned through a lot of trial and error what makes a good friendship.

Or, rather... what's the best way for someone to WANT to be your friend (without being superficial or hypocritical.)

Now, obviously, this doesn't work for everyone. But this is what I found helped me the most in social circles (especially online) and I hope it can help others too

LET'S BEGIN!

1 - Be yourself

Now that sounds very cliche and cringe, I know, but hear me out, because my opinion on this is not the same as all those feelgood inspirational movies and ads.

"Being yourself" isn't as simple as it seems. Because after all, what does "self" imply? If someone is, say, a criminal, would "be yourself" mean that they should embrace their sinful side?

No, obviously not.

"Be yourself" is a bit more nuanced, but I'll try to boil it down for you.

It just means "be unashamed of your qualities which you think are flaws". For example, "be yourself" would apply to someone who sees themselves as ugly, or maybe someone with an odd yet unharmful hobby, or a weird sense of fashion, or someone with say a handicap, a speech impediment. "Be yourself" is a sentence for the specific people who have genuine good in them, but are afraid to show it to others because they have been persecuted in the past, or are scared to be. It does NOT mean to accept genuine flaws. "Be yourself" does not include say violent anger issues, an addiction, a recent crime committed, or a generally unpleasant personality. Those are obviously not things to encourage. You can understand they may be a thing that happen to you, and accept it in your life, but that's different from being proud of it or encouraging it.

Speaking of personalities... let's talk about that

2 - Be kind

Now when some people hear that, they think it means "always smile no matter what, always look happy and positive, always agree with everyone just so you don't hurt their feelings, and never cause any drama", like you're Deku in My Hero Academia or Steven Universe in his titular show.

But that's... not quite that.

Obviously, kindness is something you use to help people feel better, to cheer up, and feel happy, and obviously to be kind, you need to have compassion, heart, empathy, and always put yourself in other people's shoes regardless of who they are. But it is not necessarily all-encompassing.

There's a rule that I think anyone learning kindness must learn. It's that sometimes, kindness means to be firm.

Not mean, of course. Not judgmental, not insensitive. Don't insult anyone, don't belittle or patronize anyone or make them feel inferior to you. That's still very rude and that's not what you want.

But what I mean is that sometimes, if you know that a person's actions towards something are wrong, especially if it's towards someone else, you must be able to point it out, and act accordingly. Don't just stand there and agree with them just because you don't want to hurt their feelings. You must still be able to know right from wrong. Kindness just means you won't be an ass about it, it doesn't mean to stay silent.

Hey, that brings me to point three!

3 - Show your own opinions

If there's one thing people hate just as much as meanness, it's those who stand by and do nothing about it.

Regardless of if you agree with them or not, if you say absolutely nothing when genuinely bad behaviour is happening, out of fear of "starting a fight", you are actively making the person who is being attacked feel alone.

I remember myself, when I was bullied in the first two grades of secondary school (11-13 years old for those who don't know) for "being ugly", I was told by my mother (who was friends with other kid's parents) that some of the kids "didn't hate me" and "didn't agree with the bullying". And I asked her "if they don't hate me, why won't they talk to me?" She never managed to answer that one. And it broke my heart, because outside of my sister, I had no one else.

Don't be like that. You may be scared of acting, but you know who would be grateful if you did act? The victims. And isn't their opinion of you much more important than the opinion of someone who acts with hatred and bigotry?

If you see someone suffering injustice, or even just hear someone who has a rather harmful opinion, don't be scared to tell them that you disagree. Obviously don't be an asshole about it, stay civil, but if you voice out your opinion, you will be seen as someone who stays true to their beliefs and is brave enough to stand up for them if the opportunity comes.

There's obviously much more that comes with social life (nonverbal cues, sense of humor, timing and mood), and I don't know everything (I'm just some random québécois girl on the internet). But I hope this was a bit more helpful. I did have fun writing this, at least. So I guess that's better than nothing!

[writing-with-olive]

ADHD task completing tip

okay so growing up i was usually told "do the hard thing first and then you get to do the fun thing." and generally that's reasonable.... if you've got decent executive function. but for those of us who don't, this is a thing i've been using to get through school/work/general human functioning. It's still using hard thing/fun thing, but it interweaves them WAY more

first step: find something that sparks some dopamine quickly. i usually use short-timer online chess or mobile games. if you pick scrolling social media or something that doesn't have a clear endpoint, make sure you have an easy way to set a timer. On apple phones, there's a timer setting that says "stop playing" instead of playing a sound. I love this because it'll take you to your lock screen so you can't accidentally dismiss the timer and keep going. Do NOT make this movement or taking care of bodily functions; eating/hydrating/going to the bathroom/moving around are things you can and should do when your body tells you. take care of ya self

second step: look at your task and break it up TINY. If you have to write a paper, don't break it up by paragraph. break it up into something like fifty words. Cleaning a room: ten items put away. Close reading: 1 page. Really you want something that if your executive functioning was playing nice you could do in 1-4 minutes. I recommend NOT saying "work for x minutes" however, since that's a really quick way to sit there watching the clock. You wanna tie progress to completion not time spent.

third step: estimate how many levels/games/etc of your dopamine source it takes to last 1-5 minutes. Ideally you will already have a sense of this. I'd advise not "testing it out right now" and procrastinating that way.

fourth step: get to work. every time you complete a tiny task, you can do one unit of the dopamine thing. If you get some momentum, you can stack rewards, so if your tiny task was 50 words for one mobile game level, 150 words straight would be three levels. If you are having a really hard time getting going, you can start with 1-3 units of your dopamine thing to kinda jumpstart the process, just decide how many you're doing first so you don't lose hours to it.

note that this ONLY WORKS if you don't ignore your timer/level cutoff. The idea is to get dopamine levels up and use that to power through the next tiny task.

[anthroamazed]

tips for stem majors in math and science courses (spoonie + neurodivergent friendly)

hi y’all! my nameis lila and i’m a 28 year old physics and anthropology major who’s about 2 years through college (in the US)! as we’re coming up on the start of the fall ‘23 college semester, i thought i might share some really solid hacks for fellow STEM students taking science and/or math courses that i’ve basically built my college academic career on. and! these study tips are spoonie and adhd friendly! as a matter of fact, a lot of these are tips/methods that specifically work for me as a neurodivergent spoonie (i have pretty severe adhd, as well as POTS and ME/CFS), but that i think non-disabled/non-spoonie and/or neurotypical students could also benefit from using! so with out any further ado, here are my 7 tried and true study hacks for college math and science classes…

1) discover your learning style and tailor your studying towards leveraging it.

you’ve probably heard of visual, audio, and kinesthetic learning styles, but did you now there’s actually way more learning styles than just those three? i’m personally a “social learner,” meaning i learn best through discussion and socialization with 1+ other people to interact with. this could look like teaching other classmates concepts and methods that we’ve learned or discussing ideas with classmates and/or professors until i fully understand the concepts at play and how they connect and can reflect them in performing analysis and application, etc. honestly, figuring out my learning style was hands down one of the most helpful things i’ve done in college. it has allowed me to choose professors who i will mesh better with in terms of how they teach, as well as to adapt materials and methods to my style of learning in order to master them quicker and more effectively.

2) rewrite your notes after lecture, for the love of god.

this tip actually comes from my high school IB Math HL teacher, who told me to do this when i originally left high school for college. even if you think you’ve mastered the basics of the topic covered during the lecture, rewriting those notes after lecture helps really hammer in the knowledge that you’ve already established and also helps to get the wheels turning on pieces of information you might have less of a grasp on. try tp set aside at least 30 - 40 minutes after class to just rewrite your notes and try to really digest the information.

3) body doubling is one of the most beneficial things ever to be invented even if you’re not adhd, and i WILL die on that hill, thank you very much.

“body doubling” or “having an accountabilibuddy” are interchangeable terms in the adhd community that mean you have one or more consistent study buddy/buddies who you do all the homework and/or studying with in person on a regular basis, even if you’re just working next to each other in total silence. this does a couple of things. first off, it forces homework/assignments/studying to become a concrete social obligation you need to regularly show up for, rather than a nebulous obligation based on an invisible deadline. second off, it gives you 1+ partners to work out your problems concerning course topics with. third off, it allows you to build a network of peers where you feel comfortable helping each other with course material (this is especially great because it’s likely you and your classmates have different strengths regarding course content). tbh, body doubling is the other method that i, personally, have found most useful in college and i highly recommend trying it, even if you don’t have adhd.

4) teach others/your classmates the analysis and application methods you’ve learned, even if those methods aren’t 100% solidified for you (trust me on this).

the goal of stem courses is never memorization, but rather being able to understand a topic well enough to analyze a similar situation and apply the what you’ve learned creatively. this is where teaching others comes in. in order to teach others a concept and its related analysis and application well, you have to have at least a fraction of a decent understanding of these things yourself, and, further, often time in teaching these things you also learn to grasp the concepts/aanalysis/applications even better than you did before with each new teaching session. basically: teaching others is a creative way of also teaching yourself. you get the benefits of repetition, of thinking about a concept/technique/analysis and application in a new way, and of getting to apply the concept/technique/analysis and applicatioin to a new scenario each time. plus, you’ll typically make friends quickly in the process! there’s really no downside to this tip imo ;-)

5) utilize your college’s tutoring center/program(s), even when you don’t think you need to.

usually colleges have either set up a general “tutoring center,” on campus where you can find tutors for all different kinds of topics and courses available during regular hours for walk-in sessions and/or appointments free of charge or departments will hold regular weekly (or twice weekly) free on-campus tutoring sessions for specific courses. regardless of which of these options your college has, i highly recommend attending at least one tutoring session/appointment (ideally with the same tutor if/when you eventually find one you click with) every single week, even when you don’t feel like you’re struggling with the topic(s) covered in that week’s lecture. this will help you review topics and techniques covered in lecture, deepen your understanding of them, and, if nothing else, it’s an excuse to get homework out of the way while having someone else there who can help you if/when you get stuck. attending at least one session weekly also helps you get into a habit and routine of keeping up with your assignments, so you’re not left scrambling at the last minute before they’re due.

6) if you have accommodations, request access to record lectures. if you do not have accommodations, ask your professor if you are allowed to record lectures. IF YOU RECORD LECTURES, DO NOT FORGET TO REVIEW THEM!

okay, so first up for my fellow spoonies and neurodivergent peeps: when you apply for/renew your accommodations, make sure that “recordinng lectures” is on your MOA (memorandum of accommodations), because so long as it is, your professors legally cannot deny you permission to record lectures without risk of themself and the college being sued for an ADA violation. also, make friends with a classmate and ask them to record lectures and send them to you if/when you are absent (let the professor know that you’ve asked this classmate to record and send you the lecture if you are absent)

now, if you aren’t disabled, a spoonie, and/or neurodivergent, you aren’t guaranteed permission to record lectures. however. ask the professor if you can have their permission to audio record lectures (be sure to also let them know that such a recording would be for personal use only and that you don’t plan on distributing the recordings). i’ve found that many professors don’t mind you having an audio recording.

even if you aren’t an audible learner it can be really useful to have these recordings to review at a later point. oftentimes reviewing lecture recordings can be useful if you glazed over and missed a section of the lecture and/or if you can’t remember what a professor taught during a section of a lecture.

7) last but not least, on a related note, if you have accommodations, also request access to your professor’s lecture notes. if you don’t have accommodations, check if your professor posts their lecture notes for students to use.

having your professor’s notes can be extremely useful for review purposes, but they can also help you understand where your professor is going with course content and what they want to stress as important.

[actuallyadhd]

any tips on how to study as a student who suffers from adhd? i'm going through my academic downfall rn (┬┬﹏┬┬)

Sent March 1, 2024

Studying is hard! A fair bit depends on what is tripping you up, but I can at least offer some general suggestions/tips.

Copy out your class notes by hand. The physical act of writing actually helps information stick better.

Make sure you know which chapters of your text book you're supposed to review. Then take notes on those chapters. Reread and copy out by hand.

If the subject is something like math, find a textbook at the same level and work through the applicable chapter(s) for more practice of the concepts and methods you're supposed to be learning.

I'm actually working on a section about this for the workbook I'm putting together, and hopefully it will be ready soon!

Followers, what are your best tips for studying?

-J

[god-sent-gender-bent]

So this is a weird ADHD trick that I didn't realize was a trick until I was explaining it to my friend because I've been doing it my whole life:

Learn to read an analog clock.

It came to my attention that they're not really teaching kids how to do this anymore with the popularity of digital clocks.

The problem with this is that time blindness is a Very Real Thing™️ when it comes to ADHD. But you know what our brains love? Chunking information.

With digital clocks, time just... Isn't real to me. "Oh okay..it says 8-4-5 cool. Oh now it says 1-0-3-0. Cool. No idea how much time has passed." (Like, logically I know it's like and hour 45 or so, but my brain just... Doesn't get it.)

An analog clock provides a visual display of how much time has passed. And it shows it in chunks. So I look up and see 8:45, then I look up and it's 9, I can physically see that I've spent 1/4 of an hour doing something because the hands have moved.

This has been a life saver to me when it comes to gauging how much time I have to do something like leave the house or clean something up. Almost a visual progress bar of sorts. But yeah. I'm wayyyyy less late when I have analog clocks in the house instead of digital ones.

But yeah let me know if you youngins need a clock reading lesson, I'm cool with being the squirrel-brained mom on here.

[that-dam-heartstopper-fan]

This might not help everyone but for some people it might. Essentially if you are neurodivergent.

if you are having trouble doing a chore or cleaning, body double

what’s body doubling? I’m glad you asked, basically get someone, probably a friend, and have them there just to hang out while you do that task. If also can work FaceTiming them too. They are there to keep you company, keep you on task, and have a little fun

[everyonehasamnesia]

I am about to say something so heinous to the ADHDers but it’s the truth:

If you need to do things at a specific time (like taking meds? Perhaps? Meds that manage your symptoms??) and you keep not doing it and you’re like “well alarms don’t work for me” you are doing alarms wrong. You have to leave them on until The Task is done.

“I just turn them off and forget instantly again so alarms don’t work” no. Turning off alarms before you Do the Task doesn’t work. Leave. The alarm. On.

“That’s so annoying, the sound is a thorn in my side and makes me want to commit war crimes” I know. That’s why it works. It is a negative stimulus to make you Do the Task. Do you want to live in alarm-free bliss? Do the Task.

“What if I’m in the middle of something I can’t stop?? Huh??” Is it possible for you to take your meds? Are you home or in a location where your meds are? Leave the alarm on. You’d be surprised how many things you actually can stop for a few minutes if there’s an alarm going off until you do.

“What if I can’t take my meds because I don’t have them with me, etc?” Then BEFORE TURNING THE ALARM OFF you have to program in a new alarm at a later time when you might be able to take your meds. Only THEN can you turn the current alarm off.

“I don’t like this and it feels constrictive and punitive.” me either!! Hate it! But it works. If you don’t want to do this, invest in another system where you are not consistently missing medication or other specifically timed events. If you have a method that works, why would you ever read this far?

Since I started doing this I have forgotten my meds exactly never. I have held my beeping phone and experienced all the stages of grief because I did NOT want to stop things to go take my meds and it made me gnash my teeth and wail and curse God but then I took my medication and I felt a lot better.

This is also a part of self-care.

[cissyenthusiast010155]

Just a reminder for anyone who needs it, you are valid and you matter. It’s important to take care of yourself, even if you are alone. Self-care is the best care♥️

[alvinmichaelmurphyseville]

“Another rough school day, but I persevered and made it through.”

“Feelin’ pretty darn confident about the two big AP exams coming up tomorrow.”

“I’ve decided not to use meds or sugar and see how I can do relying on all the techniques Jeanette’s taught me for honing my focus.”

“I’m gonna redirect my thoughts by imagining them as airplanes, drink some iced tea before the exam, double check my answer key, practice controlling my internal radio, and work through the problems while giving myself breaks to close my eyes and re-calibrate my brain.”

“Let’s DO THIS! Wish me luck!”

“Gonna crack the books tonight and study study study!”

[alexclaain]

I wish people would understand that it's such an incredible useless time investment to stress about wether you really have the diagnosis™ - you don't have to proof anything to be allowed to use the ressources shared online in the respective communities to help yourself get through life. I promise you, you're not "appropiating" or "faking" anything, symptoms tend to overlap between a vast variety of diagnoses and thus tips and tricks that can work do too.

I understand wanting to find the definite answer, but that road can be long and time intensive and exhausting - you don't need to suffer through it all without trying any of the ressources people with the diagnosis™ are already sharing online.

[tonsofbees]

I love using one use paper plates and wooden forks instead of "normal" ones.

I don't trust myself enough to be able to keep up with the dishes and just the thought of them gathering in the sink is enough to make me avoid eating all together.

Single use stuff makes it easy and stress free to just exist and basic stuff like keeping up with my needs.

same goes with paper straws. They don't deserve the hate :(

[rtgrl]

Cleaning Strat that is working well for me lately:

Find whatever garbage in the house fills up fastest (kitchen here) and just monitor that one. When it gets to about 80% full, take the bag out and collect garbage from the other places around the house. This works because:

- no more “eh I can still fit more stuff in there.” instead of reason to let garbage pile up, that’s now the point where I find more stuff and throw it out

- reduced “this isn’t full yet” delays on low use garbages, dump it in the mostly full bag. If it’s tissues or whatever I don’t even replace the bag

- I can hit up the litter box and scoop litter directly into the garbage.

- scratches efficiency itch: Save Money On Bags With This One Weird Trick

- I can stop at one very full bag and just prioritise whatever garbages most need emptying. Something gross in the bathroom garbage? bye

- it’s just that little bit more interesting: “where can I find more garbage??”

- Easy way to find more garbage is by emptying the vacuum cleaner, which leads to *using the vacuum cleaner so I can get a little bit more dust*

- usually I also end up finding a bunch of recycling and taking that out with my one bag of garbage

- requires almost zero planning and forethought, just see a mostly full garbage and begin the scavenger hunt