ADHD advocate, former certified peer recovery specialist (specializing in suicide ideation when comorbid with neurodivergence.)

I don’t usually pay attention to whichever instance I’ve drifted into from all, so if you see me in a weird place, that’s why!

  • 9 Posts
  • 204 Comments
Joined 6 months ago
cake
Cake day: December 6th, 2024

help-circle


  • I can’t say yours can. But mine was.

    Let me clarify; by getting on a medicine to regulate my sleep (I have delayed sleep phase, and of course I was depressed not sleeping) and getting on an ADHD med to help me with… all this, after a few years of working with my doctor and providing monthly feedback, I was able to fix the things that caused my depression.

    I like to warn people it’s not overnight. And it’s a process. And it takes time. But I went from constant, high-key, wish I was dead, tried to die a couple times… to happy. Capable. Well-rested. Looking forward to the rest of my life. Because even if some things are hard, making myself get up in the morning isn’t anymore. I find joy in things. Even small things. I can do the fucking laundry. And I only rarely get so overwhelmed with the idea of doing all the stupid stuff I have to do to live!

    When you’re as depressed as I was, just the thought that maybe, one day, even if it’s years away, it wouldn’t suck every single moment felt so close to something like hope that I needed that. I know I’m not alone. I know other people need that now.

    So I try and tell people every single day (I do most of it in person but I try to do it online), if you’re willing to put in the effort just a bit… things already suck right? May as well suck with an option they might not later.

    But if I could go back in time I would absolutely tell myself, prioritize the sleep first. Make sure you get something that helps you sleep, but doesn’t make you sleep too long, and you can wake up without being a zombie. Everything else went much better and faster for me after that one thing was figured out.







  • flicker@lemmy.dbzer0.comtoADHD memes@lemmy.dbzer0.comFwends
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    50
    ·
    10 days ago

    This is my hourly reminder that common knowledge was that girls “don’t get ADHD” until fairly recently, so all the symptoms we developed trying to mask or as a result of abuse from our behaviors can often be identified first.

    Which is why my treatment resistant major depressive disorder, which ruined my young suicidal life from age 9 to 34, has almost entirely resolved as a result of treating my ADHD.

    I apologize if you’ve seen me say it before, but Selective Seratonin Reuptake Inhibitors can’t work if there’s no Seratonin to Inhibit!! SSRIs can’t RI if there’s no S!





  • Drugs!

    But the more helpful answer is; I break it down into as many steps as possible in a document or on a piece of paper. Then, when looking at all that is overwhelming, I take the first few steps and put them on their own document. And then I plan a break after those.

    And at the end of the break I take the next few.

    Now you might be wondering- “flicker, what if I look at that list, and I still can’t figure out where to start?”

    And my answer is, if I made the list of steps and it still seems like too much, I try making a list for those steps.

    But I also treat it like an addict does kicking their addiction.

    This huge list might seem like a lot, but even if I can’t do it all, even if I can’t do much? I can do this one thing. I put on music to make it easier to tolerate, or TV in the background, or both, and resolve to do just one thing.

    Because there’s times when one thing is too many. So if I do one, I beat that record.

    If I do the one thing, I might do another? But that’s to decide after the one thing. Just doing one is a big deal. We will start there.