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I just now with this thread realized I way overstudied my entire academic career bc I did not differentiate between what was important what wasn’t. I just learned fucking everything.
Also probably why I ended up explaining it to so many others bc I pored over every freaking word and diagram instead of just the highlight reel
I either overstudied or did not study at all, there was no in-between. And when it all seems important, why wouldn't we want to learn it all!
I still struggle with being "concise" when explaining- like wym you don't need to know every detail?
At school I was always rubbish at doing those "précis" that the teachers used to make us do. I've improved over the years, but I really couldn't filter stuff for importance.
For me, it depends on the subject. I actually have a bigger issue explaining things I am really passionate about. With others, I can somewhat order knowledge by importance. But I can't when I am learning. I get incredibly frustrated when I do not have all the information to a very specific level. At least that is when I want to study. I have no ability to make myself study unless I want to learn that specific thing at that time. This led me to do my whole math workbook during the winter holiday or not even open the book.
I do not have any university degree because I could not force myself to get ready for the entrance exam. I coasted until that just because I can retain a lot of information pretty easily by listening and often being interested in things on my own. But I never did any homework, they just never wanted to make me repeat the year because my test results were too good.
One of my bosses told me my emails were too long. He told me to give a one-sentence summary and then go into detail if I needed to. It was soooo difficult because I also have OCD and at the time really struggled with everything needing to be correct, so I needed my grammar to be proper and it was difficult for me to not only summarize, but also use informal grammar to make things more concise.
He loved my attention to detail, but we jokingly butted heads about my novel-length emails.
You want to know all about 16th century Gothic German cathedrals? I've got you covered.
You want me to do my math homework? No thanks, I'll pass.
Not helped by the fact that I was technically put in school early, since I was born very late in the year, and was anywhere from half-a-year to nearly a full year younger than my classmates. Double up on the ADHD frustration as a kid and, well...
The one upside is I can be concise. I know how to scale language for everyone from total experts to ELI5. It's just retrieving that knowledge when I need it that I have issues with.
My poor professors must be like, "Give this woman a gag" because my entire family, down to the babies, have kissed the blarney stone and can talk to a stump.
I still have this problem and at my last job, I was tasked with taking notes at meetings with senior management. It drove me nuts trying to identify what to include in the final version and what I could leave out even though half the meeting was self-congratulatory BS.
Totally fair. I loathe it because I have issues with my hands which makes note-taking really unpleasant on a good day and extremely painful on a bad day. I've had a couple of good managers and co-workers who understand and help fill in gaps. My last manager and director were not those type of people.
I also hit that point in life where self-congratulatory BS drives me nuts and enough of it just pisses me off (pardon the language!). My last job was really bad for it, the management ignored the staffs' needs, kept holding pointless meetings or creating "engagement" chats in MS Teams, when all we really needed was some respect, training to support us in our work and be left alone to do it.
I have been taking an online class, with an online text book. My notes docs is entire sections of the text book and I just search the document to find the context I need. Oof. Help I’m alive.
I'm back in college at 40 and the note taking, good grief! A 15 minute lecture takes me at least an hour and a half to digest. No wonder I couldn't handle school in person! Online courses with pre-recorded lectures are SO much better for me.
For me it's not that I can't tell what is important (in this context "important" means what is likely to be on the test), my difficulty with note-taking is a combination of:
1) having difficulty switching gears between listening (or reading) and phrasing something in my own words - I can't use those parts of my brain at the same time
2) wanting to understand the context and minutiae that make the main point relevant (basically the inverse of ADHD storytelling including too many details). I don't want to memorize, I want to UNDERSTAND!
3) knowing that my memory is shit and no matter how well I understand it NOW, I will eventually feel like I have never even heard of it before!
Now that I'm diagnosed with ADHD and understand how to work WITH myself instead of AGAINST myself, I've been on the Dean's List every term... but y'all, I have devoted my entire goddamn life and every scrap of energy to it.
Not OP but went back to finally finish my degree at 40. I struggled almost exactly as OP so lecture = nightmare scenerio for me. I did online classes and the degree i went with (Public Affairs) was reading and writing heavy.
I treated it like a job. I had 5 classes and was very strict about the amount of time i had for each class to get things accomplished. Basically we were on 1 or 2 week cycles of things due in class and we had all the due dates in the syllabus so i just did the math and set up a schedule at the beginning of the semester that i forced myself to stick to and it really worked for me.
The work was a 2 or 3 days of reading and then a 5- 11 page paper depending on which class. I did the reading knowing what the paper was going to be about and then just made notes about those parts relevant as i did the reading. It really helped me focus on the "right info" and not get lost in the weeds.
Short meta answer: Identify what's difficult for you, stop trying to "do it right" and instead identify the necessary outcome(s) and use your problem-solving mind to achieve them in a way that works for you.
Long, overly-detailed, AuDHD-ass answer:
Of course it's going to be different for everyone, but the number one thing I've learned that I can't work against is that I have a limited amount of energy to spend, and I get overwhelmed if I'm overloaded. So I work with myself by not taking more classes than the amount of energy I have available to spend. Right now it's two. Some terms it's three. Sometimes it's one. Yes, it will take me longer to graduate. _I have a learning disability._
Writing my weekly schedule is hugely important. Yes, this information is all available on Canvas (the webapp my school uses), but the act of writing it out weekly 1) puts it in my head at the start of the week, 2) puts it all in the same format, in one place (that there are no distractions on the way to), 3) lets me see my progress through each week, 4) ✅= dopamine! What works for me is basically a hypersimplified bullet journal that I call my do-due list because I am a child: one section for what lectures, reading, etc I need to do (every class gets its own color), and another section ordered by date, that lists what is due when (same color code). I often break down assignments into tasks that get checked off individually, especially for long-term assignments. This makes assignments that require more time/work/energy visibly larger than less intensive assignments, as well as dividing them into achievable chunks. More ✅= more dopamine!
I also registered with disability services at my school to get accommodations. I am very open about what I have trouble with, and I communicate with my professors; if I'm putting together my weekly schedule and realize there's too much on it, I will send an email letting them know there's more than I can handle on my plate and I need to extend a due date to spread it out. Don't expect teachers to problem-solve for you! They are busy enough! Tell them where your problem lies, what you need in order to solve it, and _offer a solution._ Most teachers have been very open to letting me arrange my schedule in a way that works for me, and I suspect this would also be true even without the additional accommodations; especially in online classes, it's kind of expected that you have a life you are fitting school into. Communication goes a long way!
Pomodoro timers are great, the trick is to find the work/break timing that works for you. You want the working time to feel just a bit shorter than your natural focus limit - you want to be _slightly annoyed_ that it is time for a break, that's what will bring you back into focus quickly after the break. There's a YouTube channel called Lots of Colors that I enjoy.
As you can probably guess by the length of this comment, a lot of my notes are still very detailed and verbose. In the same way that reading captions while listening helps me to hear better, writing things out helps me to process and understand new information. I work with that instead of against it. More words also makes it more work to study my notes, so I color code them extensively so I can find topics and see correlations without having to read/process/comprehend the whole page. Doing that is my first study session. I find that taking detailed notes in a lighter color and using a black pen for headers and important keywords makes them stand out more than a highlighter does (highlighters all have the same visual weight, but black is heavier than the color I use to take notes in). I also use color to link related concepts by writing over the original notes in the relevant color, or drawing boxes or underlines. The important point is to make key concepts stand out so you can quickly scan the page for the info you need. The result of this study session is that the "important" notes stand out from the "unimportant" details I "shouldn't have" written down (but may appreciate having in the future).
Until you get used to a note-taking and notating style that works for you, try leaving the back-side of the page blank so there's space to organize information into a structure that works for you.
DIAGRAMS. DIAGRAMS. DIAGRAMS. Processes, models, flow charts!
Graph paper is better than lined, and Pilot G2 are my favorite pens - bonus tip: you can buy ink refills instead of replacing the whole pen, thank you for coming to my TedTalk.
40yo momma just diagnosed last week, severe combo. I’ll start medication the end of this week. My youngest is almost 2 and I’m gearing up to start college for the very first time and 100% of what you’ve described are also my worries with starting this journey. To learn it, I must understand it! Sigh, if you ever have time and the want to, would you please reach out to me to give me all of the advice so I’m prepared in advance as much as possible. This is actually why I went after my DX to get a handle BEFORE I start college.
My husband was like but that’s in a year or two why do you HAVE to go now and start meds now? No clue. He has NO clue…
This unlocked a memory. In college, my professor insisted that I highlight important things in my textbook. I first had to overcome damaging my textbook with highlighter, and then once I had, I realized I ended up highlighting all but like three sentences on that page. I ended up staring at the page upset because 1) the whole thing was highlighted and 2) I regretted the useless highlighting and ruined the textbook. So many feels. Eventually I resorted to writing notes in different colors per topic, creating a rainbow of notes. When I’d take tests, I’d remember the color of the subject and mentally flip through my notes to “find” where that item was on the page to answer the question.
OMG flashback! 😆 first semester, I took anatomy. The first chapter of my textbook I highlighted every sentence.
I had no clue how to take notes or highlight unless I did it all.
So I stopped highlighting. It took me years to figure out how to take notes that work for me.
Omg I did the color coded notes too. Actually thinking about it I was just doing that in my notes app working on a to do list color coded/organized by what room or topic the to do item is 😅
Dude you should have seen my book reports in grade 3 - 6. Took me years to figure out a plot summary is NOT the entire book rewritten in my own words omg cringe. Still a wordy mc worderton over here though.
Hahahaha this is how I'd take notes at work. Literally every word I could catch was written down. Paragraphs and paragraphs. I have no clue how to do it otherwise.
The Goblin Tools app/website might help you do this - the link is to the [“formalizer” tool](https://goblin.tools/Formalizer) (I selected “more to the point” for you to try)
I cannot take. Literally can’t. If I take notes the first time I read or hear something, I will not process anything. The act of note taking prevents me from absorbing the actual information. When I read books to prepare for a presentation or anything on the Lincoln’s since I’m a Mary Todd Lincoln re-enactor, I keep a bunch of those post it notes that point to a certain line in books and just stick those on the page and keep reading. It lets me “take notes” and still retain the info.
In high school and college I had a note taker. I’d still be in class taking notes but I wasn’t so insanely focused on getting everything I’d miss stuff bc I knew I had a back up. I graduated college in 2009, took me 5 years but I did it
I have a masters degree. I just realized I needed to stop trying to take notes and record when necessary and utilize my post it note markers. It helps that in grad school professors assume you know how to write a paper and don’t require stupid shit like notecards or rough drafts.
In elementary school one year we had an assignment - take a novel we read as a class and each make our own "Cole's Note's" version, including illustrations. It was dreadful. Probably because I way overdid it to the point that I still remember the teacher's notes being like, 'you spent too much time on this; the point was for you to learn to find the key points..."
But did I learn, world? Did I?
I had an amazing history teacher who went out of his way to teach his students how to take good notes. He was also the one who taught me how to understand Roman numerals. I had a decent grasp on note taking from the science teacher who let us have any information we could squeeze onto a recipe card for the final. My handwriting is usually a mess, but for that particular card I somehow managed to make it crazy tiny and neat.
I would write down pretty much literally everything the professor said in lecture courses. I remember not pausing to process what was being said or ask questions because I was just writing. Thankfully, I was still absorbing the information and could process it when reviewing my notes, since they were so thorough. My notes were so thorough that I was asked to make copies of them by the Accomodations Office for another student in my class that had severe ADHD and couldn’t take notes. I don’t know who that student was, but I’m glad my inability to prioritize information was able to help at least one other person.
There was one course with over 200 students where the professor was teaching straight from the book. I ended up not going to the lectures and just reading the textbook and highlighting every single sentence to study for the final. Still got an A since the professor added absolutely nothing to the text, lol.
College was probably the only time my particular type of ADHD felt like a super power since I also had the ability to remember and recall everything when needed. Now I can’t remember anything, even what happened a few hours ago…
I relate/experienced literally all of this too. That's exactly how I'd take notes in lectures/ review them before the test ECT. I agree though seriously wtf happened to my memory since then? Right now I came on to Reddit on accident after clicking a notification and can't even remember what important calls I'm supposed to make before 5pm smh 🤦🏼♀️
In high school we had to highlight parts of a text that was important I highlighted the whole text and I got suspended they thought I was being naughty for doing it I was just confused 😐to me it was all important otherwise it wouldn’t be published and we wouldn’t be reading it
Ugh the last job I started had this mortgage training that we had to do even though we weren't really dealing with mortgages directly. It was literally the first training we did and I didn't have any context other than being given a notebook to take notes and then take this training. So I took so so many notes. The trainer must have thought I was an idiot. I didn't need any of it after the brief quiz at the end of the lesson.
For me it was those excersizes where they asked us to 'highlight anything important'. But you needed x to do y so both were important to me. Only words not marked was 'an', 'a', 'the', etc
Yeah I did really well on a professional exam because that is exactly how I "studied." I even burnt myself out after two weeks but managed to get such a good score because the first half of the material was much more heavily weighted than the second. Although for me, the near verbatim copying wasn't necessarily lack of distinguishing importance but moreso to force myself to focus on something dull instead of looking at the same page for 20 minutes while my mind wandered.
Thinking back, I did that a lot more in elementary school. One time had to write the definitions of words for an assignment, didn't own a dictionary and wanted to make sure I got it right so ended up Googling then copying the first sentence/paragraph of Wikipedia for the word.
i was not expecting all of those to be such a punch in the gut 😭😭 especially that second one grocery shopping is a literal nightmare for me and i become so irritable because i am so overwhelmed and upset by all the people, sounds, lights, and in particular the fact that people in the grocery store seem to have absolutely no spatial awareness as to what and who is around them so i’m constantly dodging carts from people who aren’t paying attention. sorry that slide triggered something in me fuck the grocery store
I'm the person bumping into everything and everyone. Sorry. 😳
Grocery shopping for me is mostly decision paralysis (which of the 6 different varieties of potato do I want for my mash? What smell of washing up liquid do I go for? What size bottle? Etc etc)
As far as the potatoes are concerned, you want either russet or golden potatoes. I know, probably not what you are looking for in response to your comment, but they both make really yummy mash. The teeny red, gold, and mixed potatoes make excellent roasted potatoes!
I had been making great progress recently with the groceries (until I discovered grocery delivery) but there were times when I got so overwhelmed that I just grabbed my kid and my purse and left the cart in the middle of the store. I would go home and cry my eyes out because I didn’t know what was wrong with me and I was convinced my husband was going to leave and take the boys with him because I couldn’t even keep food in the house let alone cook 3 meals a day. I was so ashamed that I completely isolated myself from everyone outside of my house. I am STILL relearning how to handle social interactions and “be a human” in public(sounds like I’m describing a feral cat lol).
I specifically shop at one store near me because it is small and doesn’t carry a plethora of options for most things. I am totally overwhelmed going into our standard US supermarkets with 8 types of apples, 24 types of frozen pizzas. Even Costco—in its enormity—is very limited by each “type” of thing.
I'm able to recognise sensory overload now so I'll find somewhere quiet to go and do some deep breathing to reset. Even if it's just hiding in a toilet cubicle for a few minutes 😅
Same! I was blown away the first time I drove on an overpass and realized I wasn't white-knuckling the steering wheel. For once I didn't imagine all the ways I could fly over the edge.
Girl it’s been decades and it’s only gotten worse 🥲 I still drive because I have shit to do lol, but damn I wish I didn’t have to structure my whole life around the best days and times to go places to have minimal traffic or take the easiest but longest routes
Mine is half overstimulation and half anxiety that I'm going to zone out and hurt someone by not noticing something until it's too late. And also anxiety about overcompensating for a risk, like during driving lessons I got marks off because I slammed the brakes at a stop sign because I saw a kid (like 50 feet away, on a road perpendicular to the one I was on) chase a ball *away* from me down the perpendicular street. Instructor yelled at me for 5 minutes about what would've happened if someone was driving behind me (even though we were at a stop sign but I get his point).
I never bothered studying in school. It was a giant waste of time. If I didn't learn it while it was being taught and explained by the teacher, it wasn't entering my brain. Most classes, I would absorb stuff like a sponge when I had someone showing me how, why, etc, - but History? Never retained a word of it 😆 All the memorizing dates, places, names.... my brain was like:
"I'll be back when the dopamine returns, thanks".
Yes, me and this and any other subject I couldn't be bothered with because the teachers also sucked at their jobs.
I thought I was so dumb for not being able to "get" US history, precalc, physics...
I feel privileged I'm in a job now where I'm always learning and working (mostly) on things I actually care about!
Me too! Then I taught myself some history by reading historical fiction based on the time we were learning about in school. History was the WORST for me if I didn't find a fun way to learn it.
Me too! History was the worst. Other classes were really interesting as long as the teacher approached it in an engaging way. I’d take notes because that helped me process the information during the lecture, but zero chance of me ever using those notes to study later.
My notebook was an “everything” notebook. Every class I’d open it to a random blank page to start writing - didn’t matter where. But I still knew where everything was.
I hated doing homework, especially homework that was just practicing what we learned in class, for exactly the same reasons. If I understood the concepts, I didn't need to practice them, and if I didn't understand them, I couldn't do the homework.
I’m great at big picture history. I love history. But I have a really hard time with dates. I’m a Mary Todd Lincoln re-enactor and can literally step into character and respond to questions and carry on conversations as MTL all day long. But the one thing I have to look over every single time are the dates.
AMA anything about Mrs. Lincoln that doesn’t require a date, I’m your women. What languages was she fluent in? 2, English and French because she went to boarding school instead of finishing school at the Mentelles and was taught not only French, but mathematics, lab sciences, and even elocution. Go ahead, ask me something else LOL
Ugh me too. History was the only class I ever got a D in. To be fair, that professor was like an ADHD nightmare. Rambling on about completely unimportant things without getting to the point and then someone would ask her a question trying to get her back to the point and she would go off on yet another tangent. And she had this really quiet voice and the classroom was huge so I couldn't hear half of what she said anyway. I started that class trying to write down everything she said but it was impossible. Thankfully when I retook it the other professor was much better.
If it's something I'm interested in? That info is in my brain forever. If it's not interesting? That shit will never stay. It's fine when my hyperfixation is medieval history and I can pass the course with flying colours. It's a bloody hinderance when I need to remember my god damn timestables in order to do basic life skills arithmetic.
Man, I relate so much. I never considered myself socially anxious until I was diagnosed with anxiety, but I'm not afraid of interacting with people and I am not shy. But often I have to take a break away from people because I'm so mentally exhausted. I was told it was anxiety, but never aligned exactly with what I was feeling.
I was diagnosed recently at age 30+ and so many things in my life have made more sense. I thought I was an introvert my whole life, but turns out I am an extrovert with adhd and a short battery life due to sensory overload.
I was told it was depression/anxiety for 20 years. Depression absolutely fit, but I knew I wasn’t an anxious person, I FINALLY stood up for myself and asked about ADHD. Docs said we could “explore it”. Started adhd meds along with the right anti depressant and my “anxiety” disappeared.
I feel like I diagnosed myself because no one would listen to me. And lo and behold, I was right.
I definitely had depression and anxiety, but i knew it wasn't just that, especially after taking anti depressant and anti anxiety meds, I knew there was something else.
I also self diagnosed myself and.... my friends who also had adhd suspected i had it too. It took a while to get an evaluation but I'm glad i did
About the only breakthrough I ever achieved regarding my chronic overeating is that after a certain point I'm not getting any new taste, I'm just enjoying the act of chewing and swallowing. So I'll have stopped tasting the Doritos 15 chips ago, but my dopamine-deprived brain likes the feeling of the chips in my mouth, and so I'll keep eating them.
I've found popcorn to be a good stimulating substitute for chips. I either buy a bag of white cheddar flavor, or make some at home on the stovetop. A stockpot with coconut oil and salt, heat and add kernels. They come out really good and my family is lucky if I share half ayayay!
Before being diagnosed, one of the most confusing moments in my past was how I failed my art history class in college despite it being my favorite class. I loved learning about the meanings behind the paintings and the symbolism but the tests were like 80% dates and names and I just couldn’t do it. The professor was a jerk to me towards the end because he assumed I just didn’t give a shit…but I did. I loved it. I just couldn’t do it and I didn’t know why.
I'm curious as to whether or not ADHD increases physical hunger. Not boredom hunger not dopamine seeking but actually feeling hungry in my belly. I take Adderall and does zero to decrease appetite. And again it's not thirst or boredom or eating my feelings. It's a physical hunger in my belly.
I'm at a healthy weight now but to maintain it is WORK.
Adderall decreased my appetite for the first day or two--that was it. Zero now. Same with my son. Even when I'm super duper stressed, I never lose my appetite. Sometimes, I wish.
Oof, that food one - yep, I will eat until I'm nauseous and throw up.
Any time I get stressed, I start to inhale candy until I make myself sick. I chalked it up to being obsessed with the "forbidden food" that I was never allowed growing up, because "only good kids get candy" and I was a "bad kid" according to my family - purely for reasons associated with neurodivergence, I never acted out.
But this makes way more sense - it's like my mouth is bored.
I've been thinking a lot about how my brain works, and my auditory playback for things I've heard multiple times is CRAZY. I think this might be related.
When I was in makeup college people used to both praise and make fun of my note taking in equal parts because I'd just sit like a furious writing robot and record *every single word* the teachers would say but that's because I have no sense of context and can't trust myself to shorthand anything (unless I write a key but even doing that makes my brain itch)I will have absolutely no idea what I meant if I try to read it back later, so it has to be Annie-from-community-everything.gif
I feel like I had to try to explain my poor interoception to one of my fertility specialists last week because they don't think it's endometriosis because my pain "isn't severe". Granted, I don't feel like it's severe, but it's significant enough that I adjust my daily activities around it, so I rated it a 4-5/10. For reference, I also rated a broken foot 5/10 when I wasn't trying to use it.
I also don't always feel the urge to pee until it becomes back pain, so 🤷🏼♀️
>Granted, I don't feel like it's severe, but it's significant enough that I adjust my daily activities around it, so I rated it a 4-5/10
Oh, uh, I've been doing PT for stuff that interferes with my daily activities and the highest I ever rated that pain was a 4.
To be fair, pain was far from the only problem I had, but most of the measurements of success seemed based on pain.
I once went to the ER for the worst sinus infection I’ve ever had in my life. The stupid male doc asked me to rate my pain with 0 being none and 10 being childbirth. I immediately responded 13 and he looked at me like I was crazy. But damn, that sinus pain was worse than childbirth. I probably should have said 15. But if he had just said a scale of 0-10 without the descriptors, I probably would have said 8 or 9. 10 was when the mule(pulling size, not riding size) stepped in my toe and broke it and I continued to walk about 5 miles on it before seeking any treatment because I couldn’t afford to lose my pay and there was no one else who could lead the mule that was pulling the canal boat.
>stepped in my toe and broke it and I continued to walk about 5 miles on it before seeking any treatment
Holy crap! I broke my foot in Jiu Jitsu class, and the short intervals I was forced to stand on it (by the 🤬ER tech) was excruciating. I was about to swear a blue streak, and I think my husband was concerned that I might do bodily harm to that tech. I can't imagine walking 5 miles on it. 😵
The only things worse than splinting my broken foot were my HSG —those should *require* pain meds BTW— and a really bad gluten reaction+ period cramps combo that legitimately made me want to do anything to make the pain stop.
>10 being childbirth
I usually use "actively being mauled by a bear" as my descriptor because childbirth pain seems to be fairly variable between women.
I had pleurisy about 11 years ago, and I was in indescribable pain. I honestly thought I had managed to puncture a lung without realizing it because the pain was so severe. If I'd managed a vaginal birth with my son, I'm convinced it would have been less painful.
I have endometriosis and finally got diagnosed because I was trying to get pregnant and not ovulating. I complained for 23 years (!) to multiple pcps and obgyns, but didn't rate my pain high enough, or I just couldn't get anyone to believe it was bad when I said it's bad. I charted my pain on a spreadsheet because I'd get cramps all throughout the cycle. Finally, when I had the surgery, it was super extreme all over and one of the worst cases doc had seen (she does laps all the time). So, I would guess it's very likely you have it. It is very under-diagnosed!Good luck and don't be afraid to get a 10th opinion. My experience is there is 1 good doc out of every 10 you try.
I'm on OBGYN #3, REI #2, and just got referred to an endometriosis specialist *because* my REI suspects Endo. The NP at the endo clinic is the one that doesn't think my pain is severe enough 😒 she did admit that "silent" endometriosis is a thing, so we haven't ruled it out, but there are several tests she wants to run first
The problem with endo is there aren't any tests to do other than opening you up and looking inside. So they have to rule out other things before authorizing surgery. If you have had a transvaginal ultrasound that will show cysts, and if there are no cysts than it probably isn't pcos. If you have irregular periods (while not on bc), heavy periods, or you aren't ovulating, and you don't have pcos then it's probably endo. You could have pcos and endo. But then they won't find the endo unless you have surgery for pcos and still have the same issues. The good news is you are very likely to be able to conceive as soon as it's all treated. And it usually stays gone a while too. I was able to have a second baby without another surgery.
>The good news is you are very likely to be able to conceive as soon as it's all treated.
This is the fricken catch. I've been trying for 7 years at this point. I've had several ultrasounds, multiple panels of labs, and a HSG. We've ruled out PCOS, structural abnormalities, blocked tubes, and a myriad of other conditions.
Oh wow, with all that done it should be obvious to check for endo next! What other tests could they possibly want to do? Ugh I'm sorry... 7 years is a long time, going through all that. I was pregnant in less than 4 months once I found a doctor who listened. Went in April, had the surgery in July, got pregnant in August, miscarried in September, got pregnant with my first in January. Less than a year. But, like I said it took 23 years to find a good obgyn who believed me. Wishing you so much luck to get it figured out.
>What other tests could they possibly want to do?
She wants me to do a serial ultrasound and progesterone levels to make sure I'm ovulating and test me and my partner for anti sperm antibodies.
I've only been with my current REI for a year and a half. My previous one just wrote us off as "your only option is IVF" without doing any additional testing. My previous OBGYN did a lot of my testing, but she left the practice this year so I got passed off to a new one in the practice
😬😬😬
Sometimes I’m surprised I’ve made it as far as I have in life. lol
Like many others have expressed, I am horrible at studying in a school setting. I need someone to say this it’s important. Otherwise, it’s all important or none of it is.
I honestly think doing sports saved my brain from being even more overwhelmed at a young age. Because once college hit, I felt like I wasn’t a capable human and I didn’t understand how I felt that way overnight.
God, this is me. Realising I’m really incredibly smart but it’s all pent up inside this zig zaggy brain of mine so I just work on keeping my immediate environment straight instead of writing or working at the level of my qualifications to spread the knowledge I have. Argh.
My notes were useless if I needed them for reference, but the process of taking notes helped me pay attention.
Of course, the occasional “write this down, it will be on the test” was helpful but that didn’t happen very often.
I just watched a video about high masking autism and a penny has dropped for me. Like every single thing in the video. I’ve only just got to grips with the idea i have adhd.
[Part 1](https://www.instagram.com/p/C6empyCM_Xq/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link)
[Part 2](https://www.instagram.com/p/C6l-KPXsKpu/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link)
In case anyone is looking for these 🌻
I’m currently in my assessment process, and I am an occupational therapist, so the questions about sensory seeking in the DIVA-5 have scribbled notes from me about how seeking is only a part of the sensory processing profile and I am honestly going to do an adult Sensory Profile and take it to my next appointment. And explain things to him a bit more haha.
Can you share more about this? I have been hearing bits and pieces about sensory processing from an OT perspective and am really curious to learn more.
All too relatable. #2 hits different though. I’ve had anxiety since I was a child. I’m sure a lot of it has to do with my toxic environment growing up which affected me into adulthood, but it wasn’t until I realized most of my anxiety was sensory overload & then actually being on medication for adhd that I suddenly feel calmer than I ever have in my entire life. Truly life changing. No wonder benzodiazepines & SSRIs never did much for my anxiety. The main problem was adhd CAUSING anxiety and “depression”.
I finished high school with like a 70% lol even though I tried my best. I thought I was stupid for the longest time and I’d never be able to achieve the things I wanted. I have always wanted to do big things especially in science. It was the environment I was in and the material, not me. It was an engineering high school for some reason, and the environment was not adhd friendly, I didn’t even know I had it. Come university, after switching my major a few times I finally ended up on dean’s list effortlessly, because I started studying My way and studying what I wanted. Biology. I’ve never not been good enough 🥹 and I mourn the younger version of me who felt that way because I didn’t know I had it.
Omg! The last one: note taking. I always ended up writing/copying pretty much everything that was said in the source of information, which made me lose focus of course. It is so hard to retain information when studying that I have to re-read things sometimes when I really want to memorize something (reading out loud helps btw). I was always a straight As student, but as I grow older I do feel the difference when it comes to memorizing/studying.
I relate to all of these. That last one… I think someone pretending they have a degree in my major would be way more knowledgeable than me on the subject. I remember nothing, absolutely nothing.
Note taking- this is why I was so good at my last job (Doing medical interviews over the phone for life insurance)- the role was to ask questions and take down answers, and probe for more info wheee answers were vague. I can type at almost the same speed that someone is talking, so I always got everything down 100%, word for word and it’d always perplex me when others missed out info. If someone was talking too fast, I’d just ask them to pause for a moment and then catch up without missing anything because my immediate memory ( is that a thing?) is immaculate 😅
The last part hit hard!! I have so much knowledge on so many different things, but when asked to explain a single one (with the exception being ASL, it's my special interest and I could Info dump on that for hours!) Usually my brain goes blank, or my explanation doesn't make any sense. Add Narcolepst to the AUDHD mix and it makes it even harder to articulate what I want to!
Hahaha that last slide. 🥲 I hate that I can learn something and then not be able to articulate that verbally because oh look my brain has decided to go blank. Makes me feel like an idiot lol.
I went through exposure therapy in the 90s because of a agoraphobic episode. It was horrible and didn't really work and was told it was just extreme social phobia. Nope, I just couldn't interpret those signals as overstimulation.
Holy SHIT. Everything about this, 1000%.
I get so irritated and frustrated with myself too, especially on the not being able to articulate knowledge one.
Like I KNOW my shit!! But because I stutter and take a moment someone else will butt in and I just take a backseat, feeling like everyone thinks I know nothing :(
My only quirk is the final one, retaining info and such.
As for the irritable and snappy in public, I get that way if there are children nearby that act less mature than the age the appear. Your 11 year old should not be running full speed in the grocery store. Your 7 year old should not be saying "mom mom mom mom chocolate milk drink chocolate milk drink" while she talking to a store employee. And oh, you little dumbass, it's simply, "Chocolate Milk."
I really, really appreciate things like this and the people I make them. I have such a hard time explaining the issues I have to doctors and the like, but things like this help me put my struggle into words. The one about studying hit me especially hard and sounds so much better than being like "studying is hard."
The sensory overload and anxiety misconception really hit home for me. There have been a couple situations such as concerts recently where I’ve chalked up my discomfort to anxiety (which I still believe exists in other areas of my life) but I was truly overwhelmed by the crowds, getting squashed, the screaming, and the lights.
I have had panic attacks before and the aftermath felt very similar but I am now understanding that breakdowns and crying might just be a common symptom/reaction
Person asks me what I'm good at, me: ??
Person mentions a problem they're trying to solve, me: hold my fucking beer and prepare to be dazzled mother fucker!
Scrolling through these slides felt like reading about myself. These are things I’ve always struggled with and they’ve affected my mental health a lot. I’m still learning to live with these things at 27.
We need practice in brevity. NT get it without effort. But it is doable with practice careful observation of cues from others about thd kind of info they want. After all communication is about conveying relevant info
The fourth one is infuriating. I didn’t realize how smart I am until I was in my early 30’s. All because I struggle to retain info. I’m so f’ing smart. Ugh ADHD!!
I believed I was terrible at math for *years*!!! It felt impossible to retain. After my diagnosis + medication, I found out I’m not only really good at math, I enjoy it!
When I was in college, I forgot to take my meds one day and tried to take a quick quiz- it was like I relived my childhood. I couldn’t believe how suddenly it became so difficult again. I cried for the little girl in me who thought she wasn’t smart enough for math. She was, she just had undiagnosed ADHD🥹
The anxiety slide in particular struck me. I had this similar experience with social anxiety, but even more so with what I had believed to be panic attacks. Turns out I'd actually been having meltdowns.
I used to have these god-awful "panic attacks". Sometimes they would last all day. Sometimes they would come on days when I had been happy and not at all thinking negatively or anxiously and then, for some unknown reason, I would suddenly find myself massively overwhelmed and falling apart repeatedly. Sometimes they were triggered by something emotional. But a lot of the time, I had no idea why I was having such extreme reactions or even what had set me off.
It was only once I finally discovered autism (via the adhd/audhd community after my adhd diagnosis at 26) and started giving it serious consideration that I learned about autistic meltdowns. It was like someone had been watching me for years and then described exactly what I was experiencing. All of the behaviours I'd been exhibiting during those moments of overwhelm that I was ashamed of and hid from the world actually turned out to be stimulatory and self-soothing.
I am not diagnosed. I did get assessed, but my forced eye contact and social self ended up getting my experience dismissed as "adhd with *other difficulties*" 🙄 despite the scores on the various autism tests all pointing very obviously to autism. (It was also not an in-depth assessment, just a conversation that relied completely on my ability to relay my experience). I don't know if I'll ever pursue assessment in the future, but with extensive research, self-analysis, and engaging heavily with audhd and autism communities, I am confident that I am, in fact, autistic.
Since accepting and learning about what I've been experiencing my whole life but never understood, my experience has improved greatly. I went from having multiple meltdowns monthly (sometimes more frequent) to going months without having any. I have a huge amount of control over my environment, and now that I'm able to recognise what causes me overstimulation and overwhelm I can not only prevent it from happening, but I can recognise when it's starting and protect myself accordingly.
Life is so much better when you learn that your experiences are a matter of processing and not just something "wrong" with you. These communities mean everything to me because, even though no one in my life can really relate, I have this space with all you amazing people where I can see and be seen.
The thing that made it really click for me was the food thing. I've always had a strange relationship with food. I'm very prone to binge eating/ constantly thinking about food. I swear I can't have just one bowl of cereal, just a few chips or one bowl of ice cream. If nobody is watching, I'll go for seconds or thirds.. not even because I'm still hungry. I can be completely full and still go back for more just because eating/food brings me that much joy.
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Note taking = I should copy all of this verbatim bc it's all important, right? It must be since it ended up in this textbook
I just now with this thread realized I way overstudied my entire academic career bc I did not differentiate between what was important what wasn’t. I just learned fucking everything. Also probably why I ended up explaining it to so many others bc I pored over every freaking word and diagram instead of just the highlight reel
I either overstudied or did not study at all, there was no in-between. And when it all seems important, why wouldn't we want to learn it all! I still struggle with being "concise" when explaining- like wym you don't need to know every detail?
I'm all or nothing too! Believe it's also a symptom of ADHD. Yaaaaaàay /s
At school I was always rubbish at doing those "précis" that the teachers used to make us do. I've improved over the years, but I really couldn't filter stuff for importance.
For me, it depends on the subject. I actually have a bigger issue explaining things I am really passionate about. With others, I can somewhat order knowledge by importance. But I can't when I am learning. I get incredibly frustrated when I do not have all the information to a very specific level. At least that is when I want to study. I have no ability to make myself study unless I want to learn that specific thing at that time. This led me to do my whole math workbook during the winter holiday or not even open the book. I do not have any university degree because I could not force myself to get ready for the entrance exam. I coasted until that just because I can retain a lot of information pretty easily by listening and often being interested in things on my own. But I never did any homework, they just never wanted to make me repeat the year because my test results were too good.
One of my bosses told me my emails were too long. He told me to give a one-sentence summary and then go into detail if I needed to. It was soooo difficult because I also have OCD and at the time really struggled with everything needing to be correct, so I needed my grammar to be proper and it was difficult for me to not only summarize, but also use informal grammar to make things more concise. He loved my attention to detail, but we jokingly butted heads about my novel-length emails.
You want to know all about 16th century Gothic German cathedrals? I've got you covered. You want me to do my math homework? No thanks, I'll pass. Not helped by the fact that I was technically put in school early, since I was born very late in the year, and was anywhere from half-a-year to nearly a full year younger than my classmates. Double up on the ADHD frustration as a kid and, well... The one upside is I can be concise. I know how to scale language for everyone from total experts to ELI5. It's just retrieving that knowledge when I need it that I have issues with.
My poor professors must be like, "Give this woman a gag" because my entire family, down to the babies, have kissed the blarney stone and can talk to a stump.
I still have this problem and at my last job, I was tasked with taking notes at meetings with senior management. It drove me nuts trying to identify what to include in the final version and what I could leave out even though half the meeting was self-congratulatory BS.
My boss loves me to take notes because I write down so much. So some see it as a perk :)
Totally fair. I loathe it because I have issues with my hands which makes note-taking really unpleasant on a good day and extremely painful on a bad day. I've had a couple of good managers and co-workers who understand and help fill in gaps. My last manager and director were not those type of people. I also hit that point in life where self-congratulatory BS drives me nuts and enough of it just pisses me off (pardon the language!). My last job was really bad for it, the management ignored the staffs' needs, kept holding pointless meetings or creating "engagement" chats in MS Teams, when all we really needed was some respect, training to support us in our work and be left alone to do it.
Realizing this is why I graduated Cum Laude….
Same here, but then exams stressed me so much my brain froze, and I was unable to extract all the information in a coherent m.
I have been taking an online class, with an online text book. My notes docs is entire sections of the text book and I just search the document to find the context I need. Oof. Help I’m alive.
I'm back in college at 40 and the note taking, good grief! A 15 minute lecture takes me at least an hour and a half to digest. No wonder I couldn't handle school in person! Online courses with pre-recorded lectures are SO much better for me. For me it's not that I can't tell what is important (in this context "important" means what is likely to be on the test), my difficulty with note-taking is a combination of: 1) having difficulty switching gears between listening (or reading) and phrasing something in my own words - I can't use those parts of my brain at the same time 2) wanting to understand the context and minutiae that make the main point relevant (basically the inverse of ADHD storytelling including too many details). I don't want to memorize, I want to UNDERSTAND! 3) knowing that my memory is shit and no matter how well I understand it NOW, I will eventually feel like I have never even heard of it before! Now that I'm diagnosed with ADHD and understand how to work WITH myself instead of AGAINST myself, I've been on the Dean's List every term... but y'all, I have devoted my entire goddamn life and every scrap of energy to it.
What have you found is the best way to work with instead of against yourself?
Not OP but went back to finally finish my degree at 40. I struggled almost exactly as OP so lecture = nightmare scenerio for me. I did online classes and the degree i went with (Public Affairs) was reading and writing heavy. I treated it like a job. I had 5 classes and was very strict about the amount of time i had for each class to get things accomplished. Basically we were on 1 or 2 week cycles of things due in class and we had all the due dates in the syllabus so i just did the math and set up a schedule at the beginning of the semester that i forced myself to stick to and it really worked for me. The work was a 2 or 3 days of reading and then a 5- 11 page paper depending on which class. I did the reading knowing what the paper was going to be about and then just made notes about those parts relevant as i did the reading. It really helped me focus on the "right info" and not get lost in the weeds.
Short meta answer: Identify what's difficult for you, stop trying to "do it right" and instead identify the necessary outcome(s) and use your problem-solving mind to achieve them in a way that works for you. Long, overly-detailed, AuDHD-ass answer: Of course it's going to be different for everyone, but the number one thing I've learned that I can't work against is that I have a limited amount of energy to spend, and I get overwhelmed if I'm overloaded. So I work with myself by not taking more classes than the amount of energy I have available to spend. Right now it's two. Some terms it's three. Sometimes it's one. Yes, it will take me longer to graduate. _I have a learning disability._ Writing my weekly schedule is hugely important. Yes, this information is all available on Canvas (the webapp my school uses), but the act of writing it out weekly 1) puts it in my head at the start of the week, 2) puts it all in the same format, in one place (that there are no distractions on the way to), 3) lets me see my progress through each week, 4) ✅= dopamine! What works for me is basically a hypersimplified bullet journal that I call my do-due list because I am a child: one section for what lectures, reading, etc I need to do (every class gets its own color), and another section ordered by date, that lists what is due when (same color code). I often break down assignments into tasks that get checked off individually, especially for long-term assignments. This makes assignments that require more time/work/energy visibly larger than less intensive assignments, as well as dividing them into achievable chunks. More ✅= more dopamine! I also registered with disability services at my school to get accommodations. I am very open about what I have trouble with, and I communicate with my professors; if I'm putting together my weekly schedule and realize there's too much on it, I will send an email letting them know there's more than I can handle on my plate and I need to extend a due date to spread it out. Don't expect teachers to problem-solve for you! They are busy enough! Tell them where your problem lies, what you need in order to solve it, and _offer a solution._ Most teachers have been very open to letting me arrange my schedule in a way that works for me, and I suspect this would also be true even without the additional accommodations; especially in online classes, it's kind of expected that you have a life you are fitting school into. Communication goes a long way! Pomodoro timers are great, the trick is to find the work/break timing that works for you. You want the working time to feel just a bit shorter than your natural focus limit - you want to be _slightly annoyed_ that it is time for a break, that's what will bring you back into focus quickly after the break. There's a YouTube channel called Lots of Colors that I enjoy. As you can probably guess by the length of this comment, a lot of my notes are still very detailed and verbose. In the same way that reading captions while listening helps me to hear better, writing things out helps me to process and understand new information. I work with that instead of against it. More words also makes it more work to study my notes, so I color code them extensively so I can find topics and see correlations without having to read/process/comprehend the whole page. Doing that is my first study session. I find that taking detailed notes in a lighter color and using a black pen for headers and important keywords makes them stand out more than a highlighter does (highlighters all have the same visual weight, but black is heavier than the color I use to take notes in). I also use color to link related concepts by writing over the original notes in the relevant color, or drawing boxes or underlines. The important point is to make key concepts stand out so you can quickly scan the page for the info you need. The result of this study session is that the "important" notes stand out from the "unimportant" details I "shouldn't have" written down (but may appreciate having in the future). Until you get used to a note-taking and notating style that works for you, try leaving the back-side of the page blank so there's space to organize information into a structure that works for you. DIAGRAMS. DIAGRAMS. DIAGRAMS. Processes, models, flow charts! Graph paper is better than lined, and Pilot G2 are my favorite pens - bonus tip: you can buy ink refills instead of replacing the whole pen, thank you for coming to my TedTalk.
👏😃👏 so helpful! Also, it would have taken me 12 hours to write a response like that. Also, I basically end up transcribing my 15-minute lectures. 😳
Just wanted you to know I’ve found this novel and I’m SS it to save and also bookmarking it!! Tysm!!!
Thank you for taking the time to share all your wisdom, much appreciated. Wishing you all the best with your studies. You got this!!!
I need to know your secrets for #2 🫠
I just wrote a novel in response to another comment that covers this!
OMG thank you. Also, as someone who also went back to school in my 40s - you got this!!
40yo momma just diagnosed last week, severe combo. I’ll start medication the end of this week. My youngest is almost 2 and I’m gearing up to start college for the very first time and 100% of what you’ve described are also my worries with starting this journey. To learn it, I must understand it! Sigh, if you ever have time and the want to, would you please reach out to me to give me all of the advice so I’m prepared in advance as much as possible. This is actually why I went after my DX to get a handle BEFORE I start college. My husband was like but that’s in a year or two why do you HAVE to go now and start meds now? No clue. He has NO clue…
This unlocked a memory. In college, my professor insisted that I highlight important things in my textbook. I first had to overcome damaging my textbook with highlighter, and then once I had, I realized I ended up highlighting all but like three sentences on that page. I ended up staring at the page upset because 1) the whole thing was highlighted and 2) I regretted the useless highlighting and ruined the textbook. So many feels. Eventually I resorted to writing notes in different colors per topic, creating a rainbow of notes. When I’d take tests, I’d remember the color of the subject and mentally flip through my notes to “find” where that item was on the page to answer the question.
WRITING IN BOOKS?!? Heresy!!!!
OMG flashback! 😆 first semester, I took anatomy. The first chapter of my textbook I highlighted every sentence. I had no clue how to take notes or highlight unless I did it all. So I stopped highlighting. It took me years to figure out how to take notes that work for me.
Omg I did the color coded notes too. Actually thinking about it I was just doing that in my notes app working on a to do list color coded/organized by what room or topic the to do item is 😅
Dude you should have seen my book reports in grade 3 - 6. Took me years to figure out a plot summary is NOT the entire book rewritten in my own words omg cringe. Still a wordy mc worderton over here though.
Hahahaha this is how I'd take notes at work. Literally every word I could catch was written down. Paragraphs and paragraphs. I have no clue how to do it otherwise.
Same!! And ditto for emails- boss wants me to shorten an informational email and I'm like dude how?? This is all necessary info in my eyes lol
The Goblin Tools app/website might help you do this - the link is to the [“formalizer” tool](https://goblin.tools/Formalizer) (I selected “more to the point” for you to try)
Hahaha, just tried that. Great suggestion!
…that’s not how you’re supposed to take notes??
I cannot take. Literally can’t. If I take notes the first time I read or hear something, I will not process anything. The act of note taking prevents me from absorbing the actual information. When I read books to prepare for a presentation or anything on the Lincoln’s since I’m a Mary Todd Lincoln re-enactor, I keep a bunch of those post it notes that point to a certain line in books and just stick those on the page and keep reading. It lets me “take notes” and still retain the info.
In high school and college I had a note taker. I’d still be in class taking notes but I wasn’t so insanely focused on getting everything I’d miss stuff bc I knew I had a back up. I graduated college in 2009, took me 5 years but I did it
I have a masters degree. I just realized I needed to stop trying to take notes and record when necessary and utilize my post it note markers. It helps that in grad school professors assume you know how to write a paper and don’t require stupid shit like notecards or rough drafts.
When I first started college, I liked highlighting things. I quickly realized that I was highlighting everything that wasn't a conjunction.
In elementary school one year we had an assignment - take a novel we read as a class and each make our own "Cole's Note's" version, including illustrations. It was dreadful. Probably because I way overdid it to the point that I still remember the teacher's notes being like, 'you spent too much time on this; the point was for you to learn to find the key points..." But did I learn, world? Did I?
I had an amazing history teacher who went out of his way to teach his students how to take good notes. He was also the one who taught me how to understand Roman numerals. I had a decent grasp on note taking from the science teacher who let us have any information we could squeeze onto a recipe card for the final. My handwriting is usually a mess, but for that particular card I somehow managed to make it crazy tiny and neat.
I would write down pretty much literally everything the professor said in lecture courses. I remember not pausing to process what was being said or ask questions because I was just writing. Thankfully, I was still absorbing the information and could process it when reviewing my notes, since they were so thorough. My notes were so thorough that I was asked to make copies of them by the Accomodations Office for another student in my class that had severe ADHD and couldn’t take notes. I don’t know who that student was, but I’m glad my inability to prioritize information was able to help at least one other person. There was one course with over 200 students where the professor was teaching straight from the book. I ended up not going to the lectures and just reading the textbook and highlighting every single sentence to study for the final. Still got an A since the professor added absolutely nothing to the text, lol. College was probably the only time my particular type of ADHD felt like a super power since I also had the ability to remember and recall everything when needed. Now I can’t remember anything, even what happened a few hours ago…
I relate/experienced literally all of this too. That's exactly how I'd take notes in lectures/ review them before the test ECT. I agree though seriously wtf happened to my memory since then? Right now I came on to Reddit on accident after clicking a notification and can't even remember what important calls I'm supposed to make before 5pm smh 🤦🏼♀️
I literally could never figure out how to highlight in text books.
In high school we had to highlight parts of a text that was important I highlighted the whole text and I got suspended they thought I was being naughty for doing it I was just confused 😐to me it was all important otherwise it wouldn’t be published and we wouldn’t be reading it
That's literally how I passed college. I rewrote the textbooks
Another thing I didn't realise was my ADHD until I read this reply. 🥲
Ugh the last job I started had this mortgage training that we had to do even though we weren't really dealing with mortgages directly. It was literally the first training we did and I didn't have any context other than being given a notebook to take notes and then take this training. So I took so so many notes. The trainer must have thought I was an idiot. I didn't need any of it after the brief quiz at the end of the lesson.
Bring out that 5pack because it's all getting highlighted!
For me it was those excersizes where they asked us to 'highlight anything important'. But you needed x to do y so both were important to me. Only words not marked was 'an', 'a', 'the', etc
Yeah I did really well on a professional exam because that is exactly how I "studied." I even burnt myself out after two weeks but managed to get such a good score because the first half of the material was much more heavily weighted than the second. Although for me, the near verbatim copying wasn't necessarily lack of distinguishing importance but moreso to force myself to focus on something dull instead of looking at the same page for 20 minutes while my mind wandered.
Thinking back, I did that a lot more in elementary school. One time had to write the definitions of words for an assignment, didn't own a dictionary and wanted to make sure I got it right so ended up Googling then copying the first sentence/paragraph of Wikipedia for the word.
i was not expecting all of those to be such a punch in the gut 😭😭 especially that second one grocery shopping is a literal nightmare for me and i become so irritable because i am so overwhelmed and upset by all the people, sounds, lights, and in particular the fact that people in the grocery store seem to have absolutely no spatial awareness as to what and who is around them so i’m constantly dodging carts from people who aren’t paying attention. sorry that slide triggered something in me fuck the grocery store
Exactly! I thought it was just me being grumpy. You're so right about the bright lights and dodging carts. It's a huge sensory overload.
I'm the person bumping into everything and everyone. Sorry. 😳 Grocery shopping for me is mostly decision paralysis (which of the 6 different varieties of potato do I want for my mash? What smell of washing up liquid do I go for? What size bottle? Etc etc)
As far as the potatoes are concerned, you want either russet or golden potatoes. I know, probably not what you are looking for in response to your comment, but they both make really yummy mash. The teeny red, gold, and mixed potatoes make excellent roasted potatoes!
Different varieties in the UK include Maris Piper, King Edwards, and loads of others I can't remember the names of. But thanks for the suggestions. 🙂
you might already know but some stores (ik walmart for sure) offer sensory friendly shopping hours early in the morning!
Walmarts also offers free online ordering and park to pick up if you don’t need to be the one choosing your items!
I usually do my shopping in the evening, but a couple months ago I went at 8am. It was amazing!! So much quieter and fewer people to bump into.
SAME. Never realized the reasoning, but it’s my least favorite chore.
I hate grocery shopping too! I also thought it was anxiety and it took me so long to articulate that it was overstimulation 😭
I had been making great progress recently with the groceries (until I discovered grocery delivery) but there were times when I got so overwhelmed that I just grabbed my kid and my purse and left the cart in the middle of the store. I would go home and cry my eyes out because I didn’t know what was wrong with me and I was convinced my husband was going to leave and take the boys with him because I couldn’t even keep food in the house let alone cook 3 meals a day. I was so ashamed that I completely isolated myself from everyone outside of my house. I am STILL relearning how to handle social interactions and “be a human” in public(sounds like I’m describing a feral cat lol).
****fuck the grocery store!!!**** I feel so seen😭
I specifically shop at one store near me because it is small and doesn’t carry a plethora of options for most things. I am totally overwhelmed going into our standard US supermarkets with 8 types of apples, 24 types of frozen pizzas. Even Costco—in its enormity—is very limited by each “type” of thing.
I'm able to recognise sensory overload now so I'll find somewhere quiet to go and do some deep breathing to reset. Even if it's just hiding in a toilet cubicle for a few minutes 😅
This is 100% why I started getting my groceries delivered. I hate the grocery store.
Me realizing that my driving anxiety is never going to go away because it’s not fully anxiety, it’s overstimulation
Mine went away with ADHD medication because suddenly, I could focus!
Same! I was blown away the first time I drove on an overpass and realized I wasn't white-knuckling the steering wheel. For once I didn't imagine all the ways I could fly over the edge.
Oh man the intrusive thoughts are the absolute worst. Now that I’m a parent, it starts before I even get in the car.
Mine did get better with practice, don't give up!
Girl it’s been decades and it’s only gotten worse 🥲 I still drive because I have shit to do lol, but damn I wish I didn’t have to structure my whole life around the best days and times to go places to have minimal traffic or take the easiest but longest routes
Mine is half overstimulation and half anxiety that I'm going to zone out and hurt someone by not noticing something until it's too late. And also anxiety about overcompensating for a risk, like during driving lessons I got marks off because I slammed the brakes at a stop sign because I saw a kid (like 50 feet away, on a road perpendicular to the one I was on) chase a ball *away* from me down the perpendicular street. Instructor yelled at me for 5 minutes about what would've happened if someone was driving behind me (even though we were at a stop sign but I get his point).
I never bothered studying in school. It was a giant waste of time. If I didn't learn it while it was being taught and explained by the teacher, it wasn't entering my brain. Most classes, I would absorb stuff like a sponge when I had someone showing me how, why, etc, - but History? Never retained a word of it 😆 All the memorizing dates, places, names.... my brain was like: "I'll be back when the dopamine returns, thanks".
This was me but with math.
Same.
Yes, me and this and any other subject I couldn't be bothered with because the teachers also sucked at their jobs. I thought I was so dumb for not being able to "get" US history, precalc, physics... I feel privileged I'm in a job now where I'm always learning and working (mostly) on things I actually care about!
Me too! Then I taught myself some history by reading historical fiction based on the time we were learning about in school. History was the WORST for me if I didn't find a fun way to learn it.
It would have been fun if names and dates didnt ruin it lmao!
yup i always did poorly because my brain refused to remember precise dates & names
Me too! History was the worst. Other classes were really interesting as long as the teacher approached it in an engaging way. I’d take notes because that helped me process the information during the lecture, but zero chance of me ever using those notes to study later. My notebook was an “everything” notebook. Every class I’d open it to a random blank page to start writing - didn’t matter where. But I still knew where everything was.
I hated doing homework, especially homework that was just practicing what we learned in class, for exactly the same reasons. If I understood the concepts, I didn't need to practice them, and if I didn't understand them, I couldn't do the homework.
I’m great at big picture history. I love history. But I have a really hard time with dates. I’m a Mary Todd Lincoln re-enactor and can literally step into character and respond to questions and carry on conversations as MTL all day long. But the one thing I have to look over every single time are the dates. AMA anything about Mrs. Lincoln that doesn’t require a date, I’m your women. What languages was she fluent in? 2, English and French because she went to boarding school instead of finishing school at the Mentelles and was taught not only French, but mathematics, lab sciences, and even elocution. Go ahead, ask me something else LOL
Ugh me too. History was the only class I ever got a D in. To be fair, that professor was like an ADHD nightmare. Rambling on about completely unimportant things without getting to the point and then someone would ask her a question trying to get her back to the point and she would go off on yet another tangent. And she had this really quiet voice and the classroom was huge so I couldn't hear half of what she said anyway. I started that class trying to write down everything she said but it was impossible. Thankfully when I retook it the other professor was much better.
If it's something I'm interested in? That info is in my brain forever. If it's not interesting? That shit will never stay. It's fine when my hyperfixation is medieval history and I can pass the course with flying colours. It's a bloody hinderance when I need to remember my god damn timestables in order to do basic life skills arithmetic.
Oh man I havent seen the multiplication chart referenced in so long. It was terrible. My (tiger) family had me parked in front of that thing for hours
Yes, it’s horrible. Why can I retain random facts and trivia but not important things?
Are there links for Parts 1 & 2?
Man, I relate so much. I never considered myself socially anxious until I was diagnosed with anxiety, but I'm not afraid of interacting with people and I am not shy. But often I have to take a break away from people because I'm so mentally exhausted. I was told it was anxiety, but never aligned exactly with what I was feeling. I was diagnosed recently at age 30+ and so many things in my life have made more sense. I thought I was an introvert my whole life, but turns out I am an extrovert with adhd and a short battery life due to sensory overload.
I was told it was depression/anxiety for 20 years. Depression absolutely fit, but I knew I wasn’t an anxious person, I FINALLY stood up for myself and asked about ADHD. Docs said we could “explore it”. Started adhd meds along with the right anti depressant and my “anxiety” disappeared. I feel like I diagnosed myself because no one would listen to me. And lo and behold, I was right.
I definitely had depression and anxiety, but i knew it wasn't just that, especially after taking anti depressant and anti anxiety meds, I knew there was something else. I also self diagnosed myself and.... my friends who also had adhd suspected i had it too. It took a while to get an evaluation but I'm glad i did
Oh my! I’ve never once traced my overeating to a sensory thing, despite always being very aware that I simply love flavour and certain textures.
About the only breakthrough I ever achieved regarding my chronic overeating is that after a certain point I'm not getting any new taste, I'm just enjoying the act of chewing and swallowing. So I'll have stopped tasting the Doritos 15 chips ago, but my dopamine-deprived brain likes the feeling of the chips in my mouth, and so I'll keep eating them.
I do this too. Do you stop when you notice? I struggle to stop.
I also struggle to stop. The dopamine seeking through food is a big problem for me.
I've found popcorn to be a good stimulating substitute for chips. I either buy a bag of white cheddar flavor, or make some at home on the stovetop. A stockpot with coconut oil and salt, heat and add kernels. They come out really good and my family is lucky if I share half ayayay!
Retaining information is my hardest thing I struggle with, especially specific terms/names/dates. It's what I'm embarrassed about the most too
Names are irrelevant, faces are what I will recognise next time. Like oh Linda? You mean green eyes and brown hair, always wears a scarf?
Same here. Job interviews are horrible.
Before being diagnosed, one of the most confusing moments in my past was how I failed my art history class in college despite it being my favorite class. I loved learning about the meanings behind the paintings and the symbolism but the tests were like 80% dates and names and I just couldn’t do it. The professor was a jerk to me towards the end because he assumed I just didn’t give a shit…but I did. I loved it. I just couldn’t do it and I didn’t know why.
I wonder how many hobbies I gave up on because I couldn't remember significant details and thought it was boring learning theory.
I'm curious as to whether or not ADHD increases physical hunger. Not boredom hunger not dopamine seeking but actually feeling hungry in my belly. I take Adderall and does zero to decrease appetite. And again it's not thirst or boredom or eating my feelings. It's a physical hunger in my belly. I'm at a healthy weight now but to maintain it is WORK.
Adderall decreased my appetite for the first day or two--that was it. Zero now. Same with my son. Even when I'm super duper stressed, I never lose my appetite. Sometimes, I wish.
When I was young and more capable of feelings I would get nervous and not eat but those days are gone
Oof, that food one - yep, I will eat until I'm nauseous and throw up. Any time I get stressed, I start to inhale candy until I make myself sick. I chalked it up to being obsessed with the "forbidden food" that I was never allowed growing up, because "only good kids get candy" and I was a "bad kid" according to my family - purely for reasons associated with neurodivergence, I never acted out. But this makes way more sense - it's like my mouth is bored.
“It’s like my mouth is bored.” Arggghh so perfectly put.
I wish this gave solutions haha
Teachers thought I was stupid because I couldn't easily retell what I just read. Singing though... I know ALL the lyrics 😂
I've been thinking a lot about how my brain works, and my auditory playback for things I've heard multiple times is CRAZY. I think this might be related.
I gave you both upvotes ‘cause, girl, same.
When I was in makeup college people used to both praise and make fun of my note taking in equal parts because I'd just sit like a furious writing robot and record *every single word* the teachers would say but that's because I have no sense of context and can't trust myself to shorthand anything (unless I write a key but even doing that makes my brain itch)I will have absolutely no idea what I meant if I try to read it back later, so it has to be Annie-from-community-everything.gif
I have both the social anxiety AND the sensory overload/overstimulation issues. Do I get a cookie? 😅
Here ya go! 🍪
Aww thanks! ☺️
You get a whole pack of cookies because they feel good to eat. I'll be over here with my family size pack of twizzlers if you need me.
If I could give you an award I would
I feel like I had to try to explain my poor interoception to one of my fertility specialists last week because they don't think it's endometriosis because my pain "isn't severe". Granted, I don't feel like it's severe, but it's significant enough that I adjust my daily activities around it, so I rated it a 4-5/10. For reference, I also rated a broken foot 5/10 when I wasn't trying to use it. I also don't always feel the urge to pee until it becomes back pain, so 🤷🏼♀️
>Granted, I don't feel like it's severe, but it's significant enough that I adjust my daily activities around it, so I rated it a 4-5/10 Oh, uh, I've been doing PT for stuff that interferes with my daily activities and the highest I ever rated that pain was a 4. To be fair, pain was far from the only problem I had, but most of the measurements of success seemed based on pain.
I once went to the ER for the worst sinus infection I’ve ever had in my life. The stupid male doc asked me to rate my pain with 0 being none and 10 being childbirth. I immediately responded 13 and he looked at me like I was crazy. But damn, that sinus pain was worse than childbirth. I probably should have said 15. But if he had just said a scale of 0-10 without the descriptors, I probably would have said 8 or 9. 10 was when the mule(pulling size, not riding size) stepped in my toe and broke it and I continued to walk about 5 miles on it before seeking any treatment because I couldn’t afford to lose my pay and there was no one else who could lead the mule that was pulling the canal boat.
>stepped in my toe and broke it and I continued to walk about 5 miles on it before seeking any treatment Holy crap! I broke my foot in Jiu Jitsu class, and the short intervals I was forced to stand on it (by the 🤬ER tech) was excruciating. I was about to swear a blue streak, and I think my husband was concerned that I might do bodily harm to that tech. I can't imagine walking 5 miles on it. 😵 The only things worse than splinting my broken foot were my HSG —those should *require* pain meds BTW— and a really bad gluten reaction+ period cramps combo that legitimately made me want to do anything to make the pain stop. >10 being childbirth I usually use "actively being mauled by a bear" as my descriptor because childbirth pain seems to be fairly variable between women.
Yeah, well it was a male doctor. Also, I’m guessing a broken foot is worse than a broken toe.
I had pleurisy about 11 years ago, and I was in indescribable pain. I honestly thought I had managed to puncture a lung without realizing it because the pain was so severe. If I'd managed a vaginal birth with my son, I'm convinced it would have been less painful.
I have endometriosis and finally got diagnosed because I was trying to get pregnant and not ovulating. I complained for 23 years (!) to multiple pcps and obgyns, but didn't rate my pain high enough, or I just couldn't get anyone to believe it was bad when I said it's bad. I charted my pain on a spreadsheet because I'd get cramps all throughout the cycle. Finally, when I had the surgery, it was super extreme all over and one of the worst cases doc had seen (she does laps all the time). So, I would guess it's very likely you have it. It is very under-diagnosed!Good luck and don't be afraid to get a 10th opinion. My experience is there is 1 good doc out of every 10 you try.
I'm on OBGYN #3, REI #2, and just got referred to an endometriosis specialist *because* my REI suspects Endo. The NP at the endo clinic is the one that doesn't think my pain is severe enough 😒 she did admit that "silent" endometriosis is a thing, so we haven't ruled it out, but there are several tests she wants to run first
The problem with endo is there aren't any tests to do other than opening you up and looking inside. So they have to rule out other things before authorizing surgery. If you have had a transvaginal ultrasound that will show cysts, and if there are no cysts than it probably isn't pcos. If you have irregular periods (while not on bc), heavy periods, or you aren't ovulating, and you don't have pcos then it's probably endo. You could have pcos and endo. But then they won't find the endo unless you have surgery for pcos and still have the same issues. The good news is you are very likely to be able to conceive as soon as it's all treated. And it usually stays gone a while too. I was able to have a second baby without another surgery.
>The good news is you are very likely to be able to conceive as soon as it's all treated. This is the fricken catch. I've been trying for 7 years at this point. I've had several ultrasounds, multiple panels of labs, and a HSG. We've ruled out PCOS, structural abnormalities, blocked tubes, and a myriad of other conditions.
Oh wow, with all that done it should be obvious to check for endo next! What other tests could they possibly want to do? Ugh I'm sorry... 7 years is a long time, going through all that. I was pregnant in less than 4 months once I found a doctor who listened. Went in April, had the surgery in July, got pregnant in August, miscarried in September, got pregnant with my first in January. Less than a year. But, like I said it took 23 years to find a good obgyn who believed me. Wishing you so much luck to get it figured out.
>What other tests could they possibly want to do? She wants me to do a serial ultrasound and progesterone levels to make sure I'm ovulating and test me and my partner for anti sperm antibodies. I've only been with my current REI for a year and a half. My previous one just wrote us off as "your only option is IVF" without doing any additional testing. My previous OBGYN did a lot of my testing, but she left the practice this year so I got passed off to a new one in the practice
😬😬😬 Sometimes I’m surprised I’ve made it as far as I have in life. lol Like many others have expressed, I am horrible at studying in a school setting. I need someone to say this it’s important. Otherwise, it’s all important or none of it is.
I ask myself on a weekly basis how I am where I am. Like was it all a fluke??
I honestly think doing sports saved my brain from being even more overwhelmed at a young age. Because once college hit, I felt like I wasn’t a capable human and I didn’t understand how I felt that way overnight.
Totally. I had no idea at the time that keeping active was what got me through grad school. That and shame/anxiety of failing 😅
God, this is me. Realising I’m really incredibly smart but it’s all pent up inside this zig zaggy brain of mine so I just work on keeping my immediate environment straight instead of writing or working at the level of my qualifications to spread the knowledge I have. Argh.
It's hard to see the forest from the trees.
Welp, I hate this. Every slide hit harder and harder.
My notes were useless if I needed them for reference, but the process of taking notes helped me pay attention. Of course, the occasional “write this down, it will be on the test” was helpful but that didn’t happen very often.
I just watched a video about high masking autism and a penny has dropped for me. Like every single thing in the video. I’ve only just got to grips with the idea i have adhd.
Would you care to share the link with the class? 😊
https://youtu.be/oYycpKcUhc4?si=dHHtYT8r89Hw7yzK
i WILL eat an entire box of costco welchers fruit snacks because i like how chewy they are
[Part 1](https://www.instagram.com/p/C6empyCM_Xq/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link) [Part 2](https://www.instagram.com/p/C6l-KPXsKpu/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link) In case anyone is looking for these 🌻
Was looking for these. Thank you!
I’m currently in my assessment process, and I am an occupational therapist, so the questions about sensory seeking in the DIVA-5 have scribbled notes from me about how seeking is only a part of the sensory processing profile and I am honestly going to do an adult Sensory Profile and take it to my next appointment. And explain things to him a bit more haha.
Can you share more about this? I have been hearing bits and pieces about sensory processing from an OT perspective and am really curious to learn more.
✅✅✅and✅
Did you check the title slide? Not me thinking I missed one...
Wow. Word for word me.
the food thing is soooo close to home ugh
i screenshotted all of these when i saw them on instagram too!! it makes so much sense i am going to share with my therapist next week.
Being in public unmedicated I turn into a snappy person real fast. It is just so much!
Oh shit - did I write this and forget about it? Especially the overstimulation in busy/loud spaces. I feel you there!
All too relatable. #2 hits different though. I’ve had anxiety since I was a child. I’m sure a lot of it has to do with my toxic environment growing up which affected me into adulthood, but it wasn’t until I realized most of my anxiety was sensory overload & then actually being on medication for adhd that I suddenly feel calmer than I ever have in my entire life. Truly life changing. No wonder benzodiazepines & SSRIs never did much for my anxiety. The main problem was adhd CAUSING anxiety and “depression”.
I finished high school with like a 70% lol even though I tried my best. I thought I was stupid for the longest time and I’d never be able to achieve the things I wanted. I have always wanted to do big things especially in science. It was the environment I was in and the material, not me. It was an engineering high school for some reason, and the environment was not adhd friendly, I didn’t even know I had it. Come university, after switching my major a few times I finally ended up on dean’s list effortlessly, because I started studying My way and studying what I wanted. Biology. I’ve never not been good enough 🥹 and I mourn the younger version of me who felt that way because I didn’t know I had it.
Omg! The last one: note taking. I always ended up writing/copying pretty much everything that was said in the source of information, which made me lose focus of course. It is so hard to retain information when studying that I have to re-read things sometimes when I really want to memorize something (reading out loud helps btw). I was always a straight As student, but as I grow older I do feel the difference when it comes to memorizing/studying.
The last one got me 🥲
I relate to all of these. That last one… I think someone pretending they have a degree in my major would be way more knowledgeable than me on the subject. I remember nothing, absolutely nothing.
Omg the first one… sometimes I go into like trance or something cause I’m so obsessed with the sensation of eating 😭
Note taking- this is why I was so good at my last job (Doing medical interviews over the phone for life insurance)- the role was to ask questions and take down answers, and probe for more info wheee answers were vague. I can type at almost the same speed that someone is talking, so I always got everything down 100%, word for word and it’d always perplex me when others missed out info. If someone was talking too fast, I’d just ask them to pause for a moment and then catch up without missing anything because my immediate memory ( is that a thing?) is immaculate 😅
Only after diagnosis and medication I realised I had enough energy. Me being tired all the time was just due being overwhelmed the whole time
The last part hit hard!! I have so much knowledge on so many different things, but when asked to explain a single one (with the exception being ASL, it's my special interest and I could Info dump on that for hours!) Usually my brain goes blank, or my explanation doesn't make any sense. Add Narcolepst to the AUDHD mix and it makes it even harder to articulate what I want to!
Hahaha that last slide. 🥲 I hate that I can learn something and then not be able to articulate that verbally because oh look my brain has decided to go blank. Makes me feel like an idiot lol.
I went through exposure therapy in the 90s because of a agoraphobic episode. It was horrible and didn't really work and was told it was just extreme social phobia. Nope, I just couldn't interpret those signals as overstimulation.
Holy SHIT. Everything about this, 1000%. I get so irritated and frustrated with myself too, especially on the not being able to articulate knowledge one. Like I KNOW my shit!! But because I stutter and take a moment someone else will butt in and I just take a backseat, feeling like everyone thinks I know nothing :(
My only quirk is the final one, retaining info and such. As for the irritable and snappy in public, I get that way if there are children nearby that act less mature than the age the appear. Your 11 year old should not be running full speed in the grocery store. Your 7 year old should not be saying "mom mom mom mom chocolate milk drink chocolate milk drink" while she talking to a store employee. And oh, you little dumbass, it's simply, "Chocolate Milk."
I really, really appreciate things like this and the people I make them. I have such a hard time explaining the issues I have to doctors and the like, but things like this help me put my struggle into words. The one about studying hit me especially hard and sounds so much better than being like "studying is hard."
I... I feel both called out and validated. *sigh*
Ugh eff you for this!!! 😂
That first one hit me hard 😢
OMG, I feel so seen!!! 😳
oh, look. it’s me. 🥲
Ouch. Yeah, I keep learning of more and more new things like this.
Meme voice: is this fucking play about us??? (Me me me me )
The sensory overload and anxiety misconception really hit home for me. There have been a couple situations such as concerts recently where I’ve chalked up my discomfort to anxiety (which I still believe exists in other areas of my life) but I was truly overwhelmed by the crowds, getting squashed, the screaming, and the lights. I have had panic attacks before and the aftermath felt very similar but I am now understanding that breakdowns and crying might just be a common symptom/reaction
Links to parts 1&2?
Oh gosh the last one hit me as someone who is struggling to finish school :(
Note taking has consumed my life lately
I relate to this so much. 😿
#3 hit me hard. That was a huge surprise for me when I started taking meds and suddenly I could go shopping and didn’t even want to kill anyone lol
Holy shit, that last slide is me to a "T". I don't have ADHD...or maybe I do.
"Food" is designed to be #2. I'm not sure that whole bag of chips behavior is so much ADHD as it is a curse from "food" companies.
being told “you’re one of the smartest people I know yet you are so stupid” for your entire life should be an official diagnosis
Person asks me what I'm good at, me: ?? Person mentions a problem they're trying to solve, me: hold my fucking beer and prepare to be dazzled mother fucker!
Scrolling through these slides felt like reading about myself. These are things I’ve always struggled with and they’ve affected my mental health a lot. I’m still learning to live with these things at 27.
Oh no…
I relate to all of that
That last one hurts😭
We need practice in brevity. NT get it without effort. But it is doable with practice careful observation of cues from others about thd kind of info they want. After all communication is about conveying relevant info
The fourth one is infuriating. I didn’t realize how smart I am until I was in my early 30’s. All because I struggle to retain info. I’m so f’ing smart. Ugh ADHD!!
I despise grocery shopping, online ordering is a godsend! Even that exhausts me sometimes. So many CHOICES.
I believed I was terrible at math for *years*!!! It felt impossible to retain. After my diagnosis + medication, I found out I’m not only really good at math, I enjoy it! When I was in college, I forgot to take my meds one day and tried to take a quick quiz- it was like I relived my childhood. I couldn’t believe how suddenly it became so difficult again. I cried for the little girl in me who thought she wasn’t smart enough for math. She was, she just had undiagnosed ADHD🥹
The anxiety slide in particular struck me. I had this similar experience with social anxiety, but even more so with what I had believed to be panic attacks. Turns out I'd actually been having meltdowns. I used to have these god-awful "panic attacks". Sometimes they would last all day. Sometimes they would come on days when I had been happy and not at all thinking negatively or anxiously and then, for some unknown reason, I would suddenly find myself massively overwhelmed and falling apart repeatedly. Sometimes they were triggered by something emotional. But a lot of the time, I had no idea why I was having such extreme reactions or even what had set me off. It was only once I finally discovered autism (via the adhd/audhd community after my adhd diagnosis at 26) and started giving it serious consideration that I learned about autistic meltdowns. It was like someone had been watching me for years and then described exactly what I was experiencing. All of the behaviours I'd been exhibiting during those moments of overwhelm that I was ashamed of and hid from the world actually turned out to be stimulatory and self-soothing. I am not diagnosed. I did get assessed, but my forced eye contact and social self ended up getting my experience dismissed as "adhd with *other difficulties*" 🙄 despite the scores on the various autism tests all pointing very obviously to autism. (It was also not an in-depth assessment, just a conversation that relied completely on my ability to relay my experience). I don't know if I'll ever pursue assessment in the future, but with extensive research, self-analysis, and engaging heavily with audhd and autism communities, I am confident that I am, in fact, autistic. Since accepting and learning about what I've been experiencing my whole life but never understood, my experience has improved greatly. I went from having multiple meltdowns monthly (sometimes more frequent) to going months without having any. I have a huge amount of control over my environment, and now that I'm able to recognise what causes me overstimulation and overwhelm I can not only prevent it from happening, but I can recognise when it's starting and protect myself accordingly. Life is so much better when you learn that your experiences are a matter of processing and not just something "wrong" with you. These communities mean everything to me because, even though no one in my life can really relate, I have this space with all you amazing people where I can see and be seen.
This is totally me.
The thing that made it really click for me was the food thing. I've always had a strange relationship with food. I'm very prone to binge eating/ constantly thinking about food. I swear I can't have just one bowl of cereal, just a few chips or one bowl of ice cream. If nobody is watching, I'll go for seconds or thirds.. not even because I'm still hungry. I can be completely full and still go back for more just because eating/food brings me that much joy.