My simple explanation of ADHD, emotions aside: I'm obsessed with what I am interested in, and have great difficulty with literally everything else.

Women with ADHD, from your experience how do your hormones affect your ADHD symptoms? And do you notice the effectivity of your meds on your symptoms change with your hormone cycle?

My work involves a lot of problem solving and a lot of it tends to be common issues. Today, I solved an issue I've solved tens of times before and I found myself feeling so happy :) I'm currently unmedicated (damn shortage), so I'm also happy I'm not struggling a lot.

Negative childhood experiences with ADHD can really scar you deep. Even now, after having been in my company for 3 years, and doing quite well, I get awed at my own ability to do things competently AND consistently. Not at doing well, but the daily consistency! It's magical!

Reading for folks who are interested: https://t.co/dhwXpIG8Ri

Women with ADHD, from your experience how do your hormones affect your ADHD symptoms? And do you notice the effectivity of your meds on your symptoms change with your hormone cycle?

It still affects me strongly in some aspects though.. like I just struggle to dance. I have this anxiety of looking stupid or this fear of people laughing at me. It's definitely an internalized shame thing but I'm slowly unlearning it.

Now I'm less anxious/ shameful about feeling that way. I'm more comfortable saying things without highly policing myself or stressing after wondering of people misunderstood me. A lot less RSD due to a stronger sense of self and a lot less anxiety and shame.

I used to be very quiet when I was younger, for that reason. I was afraid of saying or doing or just being perceived as stupid or being hated for it. I'd always felt different but didn't know how.. but you always feel it yknow?

Again, I wanna stress that it wasn't malicious on their part and no one has brought it up again (despite it being 2 weeks ago). Just silly, work appropriate banter. The RSD would come from internally, with me feeling ashamed, like I made a fool of myself by opening my mouth.

I said something unintentionally silly during a work call with my team and made everyone laugh, and some of them were teasing me. It was 100% good natured, and they were definitely not laughing at me, but this would have spiralled me when younger. But now, no RSD!

Ok, I'd seen it as a screenshot and had to do a bit of digging to find the original cause I hate not giving credit to the original poster. They have ADHD too it seems, which is why it aligned perfectly for ADHD. https://t.co/OnES9a5iIK

Saw this post on Tumblr and it essentially sums up my approach to coping with ADHD (and coping in general really). We shouldn't try to force ourselves to do something like NTs. Essentially try find what works for us, no matter how odd others might find it.

Off meds, you can find me hyperactive or hypoactive and lethargic. Well I'm PI, so I lean more towards the latter but it can swing between the two. I'd say that ADHD is a struggle to manage an equilibrium, a balance.

ADHD can seem contradictory and paradoxical but really, our struggles are just different sides of the same coin. For example, hyperfocus and inability to start focusing are just the two extremes of being our difficulty to manage our focus.

On the meds bit, I see meds as allowing us to do what we want to do in the first place. So unmedicated, if I want to go out, it'd still be hard. On meds, there'd be less friction. But if I don't want to do something or I don't have a 'reason' (motivation), it's still hard.

I still struggle to go out unless I have a 'good reason', even when medicated. So if I don't have a 'good reason', I stay in, which makes me feel worse and makes it harder to go out. But then every time I'm coaxed out, I immediately feel better. Every damn time.

My biggest RSD issue was with perceived rejection. Essentially, growing up with constant failures meant I had very low self esteem and I perceived even neutral things as rejection/ criticism. And I'd easily presuppose my effort would be wasted, so I wouldn't want to do stuff.

We ADHDers find it easy to do things when we like/ enjoy something. If we don't like something, the effort requires is increased. We put our hearts and souls into what we do. Getting rejected about these things would be even more painful.

I saw a tiktok of someone saying they got their rejection issues under control by exposure essentially. They said they applied to lots of jobs and asked out a lot of people. But the sheer fucking effort of it, damn.

Rejection sensitivity is awful and makes you not want to try things. With my inattentive ADHD, there's also the aspect of feeling like it was wasted effort. RSD doesn't burn me as much/ as long anymore but I still struggle shaking off the feeling that I just wasted my energy.