Adult ADHD | Inattentive

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The worst part about my ADD is whenever someone is giving me a series of instructions to follow. I'll be focusing as hard as I can on what they're saying, but half the information just doesn't stick. It's as if the words just vanish the moment it leaves their mouths. Then I have a huge anxiety spike which makes the situation even worse.

I have ADHD. My former employer knew of the disability because it was documented and HR had record of it. I was fired from this job because although I had job modifications, I was constantly getting reprimanded and written up. After several write ups, they made up,other reasons to terminate my employment. I sued them. I won.

As someone with ADHD, I have excellent organizational skills and rarely misplace my car keys because I put them in the same spot every time I get home. The only reason why I don't lose my car keys is because, in the past, I always lost my keys (as an example). I think that ADHD is hard to diagnose in some people because they have good coping skills that masks the negative behavioral traits.

I suffered severe depression and mental disorder several years ago. Was actually diagnosed with ADHD. Not until my wife recommended me to psilocybin mushrooms treatment. Psilocybin treatment saved my life honestly. 6 years totally clean. Never thought I would be saying this about mushrooms.

I think something we don’t talk about enough with ADHD is intellectual exhaustion. For instance, a days work makes my brain exhausted, because it’s a constant struggle to focus, I have NOTHING LEFT at the end of the workday. It is exhausting to do the same amount of work as a Neuro typical person can do and still have energy left over at the end of the day.

A funny ADHD story… my husband has it and it has always been difficult being married to him because he loses everything. I came up with a solution and placed a basket next to the door so he could put all his important daily things in it: his keys, phone, wallet, etc. so, one day we are leaving and he looked confused. I asked him what was wrong and he said he couldn’t find the keys. I told him to look in the basket to which he replied, “Yup, I’ve misplaced the basket.”

They mentioned people with ADHD working harder just to keep up or appear normal. I am a teacher and am often one of the last people to leave my office because it takes me so much longer to complete the work necessary for my job. I have to read my to do list over and over just to stay on task. I finally started meds and am so happy to be able to do a good job and finish on time. It's amazing.

After reading some of these comments , I feel blessed. Both my son and I have recently been diagnosed with ADHD. After speaking with the doctor, we realized that my wife has been setting up systems for us to follow. She has setup Calendars, Alarms, task list, provides verbal reminders, organized common areas for our benefit, labeled everything in out house, and the list goes on. Basically all the things I read that will make life easier, but I know would never get completed or stuck with if it was left up to me. We are truly lucky to have her in our lives!

We get easily BORED… that’s what my biggest issue can be in regard to having to stick to routines. And yet, structure is critical. I crave organization and structure, but have extreme difficulty creating it for myself.

The hardest part about ADHD for me is feeling like I’m CONSTANTLY doing every task twice. Like everything I touch, I end up getting distracted, or losing part of the task, and having to circle right back to it again a few minutes later. “If I go downstairs for the laundry, I’ll grab the vacuum too!” And than I only get the vacuum, when the laundry was the main task, and now I have to go back to get the laundry. “Oh I’ll grab a cup of water from the kitchen and I’ll also switch off the light while I’m there!” And then I end up only switching off the light and realizing I need to get back up to get my cup of water. It’s exhausting!!

Psilocybin saved my life. I was addicted to heroin for 15 years and after Psilocybin treatment I will be 3 years clean in September. I have zero cravings. This is something that truly needs to be more broadly used in addiction treatment.

I was diagnosed with ADHD when I was 41 after seeking treatment for burnout, anxiety and depression. At first, I didn't want to take medication, so I worked with my therapist on coping techniques for over a year, which helped a little, but I was still struggling most of the time. After a year, she encouraged me to meet with a psychiatrist to talk about medication options, and he recommended a low dose of Concerta which has made a huge difference. The first day I took it, I remember my brain was so quiet. I didn't know how to react without all the intrusive thoughts, and I had no idea how debilitating they were until they weren't there all the time.

The most painful overlooked symptom is being socially unaware and missing social cues which end up offending people which in turn alienates friends and potential partners because they don’t understand and think the person with ADHD is just being obnoxious/ thoughtless/ self obsessed.

Thank you so much! One of the most disheartening things about having ADHD is that people don’t believe you are actually trying your best. 💔

I'm 47 and have never been diagnosed, but realised a couple of years ago while reading the symptoms of ADHD that it was a checklist of how I was as a kid, and things still struggle with today. When I was a kid ADHD didn't 'exist' and I was constantly called lazy by my frustrated parents which has caused no end of emotional issues for me. I've somehow managed to end up with a decent job but I still have major struggles with focus and especially attention to detail. I miss really obvious things because my brain just wants to speed through everything that I'm not zoned in on (which is most things). On the other hand, when I'm doing a hobby or something I'm super interested in, I can go all day without eating a meal. It's like falling into a time warp.

I grew up with undiagnosed ADHD and it was hell. I’ve only been diagnosed as of a couple of years ago but instead of taking medication, meditation has helped me be able to focus on one thing at a time when I need to.

I was diagnosed last year the week I turned 60. I suspected that I might have had ADHD as a kid (long before anyone was diagnosing it), but then I dismissed it because I thought I was too lethargic to have this disorder. Then I saw that one of the hidden symptoms in adults is fatigue. I think a big part of the crushing exhaustion I was feeling (greatly exacerbated by a period of unrelenting stress on many fronts that precipitated my diagnosis) came from my brain working like a pinball machine all day, trying to get dopamine, trying to recover after interruptions (a big issue with adult ADHD, I think), trying to corral my thoughts, etc. Attempting to excel in today's overstimulating fast-paced world within this framework and failing then leads to frustration and depression... which only causes more fatigue.

As an adult with Inattentive ADHD, I hate how the DSM-5 explains our symptoms. It does a really poor job of explaining why we struggle. It's really focused on what can be observed or what other people complain about. I hate that it calls us careless, because we care a lot, probably more than most neurotypicals. Also, I've never encountered an individual with ADHD that is fully "cured". People just learn how to mask better as adults.

I have ADHD and autism. One day when I was in high school, my mom told me that she had met a classmate of mine, who told her that I came across as snobby, because people would call out to me, but I wouldn't respond to them. I was really stunned when she told me this, because I wasn't aware of any times in which I had ignored people calling out to me. The only thing I can think is that I was lost in my own thoughts and was oblivious to what was going on around me.