Questions About ADHD
How To ADHD creator Jessica McCabe and TotallyADD creator Rick Green got together to answer questions about ADHD. Find out:
To see all of our videos featuring Jessica McCabe and Rick Green together visit HowToADHD and TotallyADD Together!
How Did We Find the Courage to Talk Openly About our ADHD?
Jessica McCabe found out she had ADHD when she was 12 and didn’t consider what could happen if she told people about her ADHD. Her cool aunt had ADHD and she thought it was like being part of a cool club. Jessica still had shame about things she struggled with, like not being able to keep her car clean, or anything clean, but she never felt like she shouldn’t talk about it. Jessica was surprised when she started talking about it on the How To ADHD YouTube channel that people were calling her brave.
Rick Green created a documentary about ADHD and disclosed the heck out of it. You want to consider the risks in declaring you have ADHD. Once you have said it you can’t un-say it.
How Did Learning About Our Brains Change Things for Us?
Jessica was emotional after understanding how ADHD effected her, she cried, a lot. Reading research and understanding why she couldn’t make friends in 4th grade was upsetting but also helpful. Her research helped her understand what her struggles were and why she struggled. Understanding that she wasn’t just terrible at life, she just had specific challenges that she needed to find strategies for. Now that she understands how her brain works there is always something she can try
How Did Being Diagnosed With ADHD Your Kids?
Rick Green found out he had ADHD when is son was diagnosed with ADHD. Rick looked at the list of ADHD symptoms and said “If this is a list of ADHD symptoms I have ADHD symptoms.” Finding out there was an explanation for why my son struggled was huge, he was struggling in school but the doctor was able to give him a set of strategies that helped him graduate and get his degree.
What Did It Cost Us To Be Open and Honest About ADHD?
Rick found that being open about his ADHD diagnoses saved his life and gave him new opportunities. That said, disclosing you have ADHD is a risky move and not something he recommends.
How To Spot The Moment You’re Ready To Stop Taking ADHD Meds
How To ADHD creator Jessica McCabe stopped taking ADHD meds because her really smart boyfriend told her they were bad for her (you should ALWAYS talk to a doctor first) Jessica gained 30 pounds in 3 months, lost a job, and made bad decisions. Eventually Jessica realized that the side effects of her untreated ADHD were so much worse than the side effects of the medication she was on and went back on her medication, she says “I get up I put glasses on, I get up and take my meds, this works for me.”
Rick Green has stopped and started ADD meds many times and talks about his story of taking ADD medication here.
What’s in Our ADHD Toolboxes?
Jessica McCabe is a big fan of brain dumps and has more strategies in her toolbox than she can use in a day.
Rick Green is a big fan of start small, start badly, and set a short time limit. Rick talks about this more in The Procrastination Game video. Just starting turned out to be a huge success in helping Rick do work he needs to do. Clean the house? Too much, not happening, clean a few dishes? Perfect, it’s not overwhelming and often leads to doing more work.
What is a Brain Dump?
If you are overwhelmed and can’t organize everything that’s in your brain while it’s in your brain then take the following basic steps:
- Write down everything that’s on your mind onto individual pieces of paper.
- Group the pieces of paper into categories
- Prioritize the pieces of paper and categories
- Do one thing to get started
Still not sure? Check out How to Get Started With Brain Dumping
What is Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria?
Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria is not an official term. Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria is a term specific to Dr. William Dodson so if it you mention it to your psychologist or psychiatrist they may not understand what you mean. Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria is a reference to the emotional sensitivity that we feel.
What Were Some of Our Earliest Symptoms of ADHD?
Rick Green was always distracted and unable to stay focused on his work, grade 1 report card said he was shy and introspective. When Rick started to play with something he did not like being interrupted.
Jessica lost everything and regularly came home without her jacket and even her shoes! She accepts that she loses things and tells people if they buy her anything don’t buy anything that they will be upset if she loses, because the odds are she is donating it to the world.
I Have Limited Resources. What Do We Suggest?
If your doctor won’t give the ADHD diagnosis you can see another doctor, however if that is not an option the best step is to educate yourself as much as possible and learn strategies to treat the symptoms. Don’t sit around waiting and suffering. Look at the ASRS and learn about the symptoms, look for tools and try them, if they work, great! You don’t need the diagnosis to start learning and trying strategies that can work for you. Medication is a very effective tool to treat ADHD, but it is not the only tool. You may also try a holistic approach to ADHD.
Using ADHD as an Excuse
To say you are not responsible for an action is to use ADHD as an excuse ‘I forgot my wallet again? Oh well I have ADHD’ that’s an excuse. You can accept that ADHD limits your ability to remember something like your wallet and then come up with strategies to remember it.
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