| I've been struggling with this for years and I've made tremendous progress in 2022. Here's what worked for me: - developing a regular aerobic exercise routine. Starting my day with a walk or run makes such a difference, I feel like a different person after I exercise - reducing/cutting out substances. I love cannabis but I recognize that it exacerbates my ADHD symptoms, reduces my desire to connect socially and reduces my cognitive ability. Alcohol disturbs my sleep as well. If I don't keep tight limits on my consumption and take long breaks between use, my mental health declines significantly - find a constructive activity that you love to do. I've fallen in love with painting. It gets me off the screens and relaxes me while giving me a sense of personal accomplishment and growth. It gives me space to appreciate myself and cultivate self-compassion and love. Don't try to make it a side hustle, just something that you enjoy and helps you unwind - practicing a self-care/personal space cleaning routine. I still struggle with this and by no means keep a 100% clean house all the time. But I know that no matter how bad I'm feeling, I always feel a little better after cleaning. If I'm having a really bad day, I try to clean at least one room in my house (and once I do one, I usually feel motivated enough to do more) - psychiatric drugs have not worked for me personally, but that certainly doesn't mean they won't work for you. The key to recovery is making them a part of a larger commitment to your overall health. You cannot simply take a drug and ignore the other aspects of your life. Americans have been conditioned to think that a pill solves everything, but this could not be further from the truth |
Fellow ADHD'er here, and I am starting to realize this too. I made it through more than 2/3 of my life without treatment, but have sought treatment for almost a decade now. In hindsight, I am not actually sure the treatments really helped as much as I thought they did during those times. I sometimes wonder if the psychoactive effects of treatment merely make me perceive like I am more productive than I am in reality.
I believe the treatments obviously had an effect, but the benefits came with their own costs. Therefore, I feel like I have consistently had a net-gain of 0 improvement. Treatments seem to help with more physical symptoms than mental i.e., lessened hyperactivity but not much improvement in executive functioning.
I feel like I was promised a panacea with how doctors, research, and various anecdota describe the effects, but have been left with a more disappointing reality. I have been debating stopping treatment, but I fear there could be negative repercussions as well.