Re: Worried that stimulants will exacerbate my anxiety, but desperate for relief

[sdwa]

Just wanted to say the stimulants might not affect you the way you’d expect. When I started taking them, the first thing I noticed was how much calmer and more relaxed I felt. I’m 48 and haven’t had any adverse side effects like blood-pressure issues. You may have to try a few different meds to get the right one.

My house looks like a tornado hit. I can’t do my laundry until every last article of clothing is dirty, so there’s always that one day when I’m wearing something either very formal – or very frumpy. LOL. There’s never any food in the house. We don’t pay our bills until we get the shut-off notice.

I avoid driving because it freaks me out, and I know I’m bad at it. If I have to use the car, I go at a low-traffic time of day on side streets. Before diagnosis I felt shamed of this “fear of driving” but now I actually think I was being sensible and have good instincts for self-preservation – plus I don’t want to hurt anyone! If other people don’t get it, tough tiddly-winks.

I used to stay up very late but since I began going to bed earlier I find that I wake up very early and the beginning hours of the day have a special sweetness no other time period does, so it’s totally worth it.

The wasting the entire day syndrome is familiar to me. All I can say about this is that it’s not worth getting down on yourself about it. Activation is part of ADHD. You might start to notice, the next time you are inspired to get going on some project, what it was that got you started, and then see if you can re-create those circumstances in another situation.

What WGreen says about implementation – I agree. I think it’s kind of dumb every time I see advice about what we should do – because if we could do anything at all, we would have done it by now. But hopefully we can at least learn to understand we’re impaired and should ask for help. There’s no shame in it.

I’ve heard it’s good to post notes and information around, right where I’m going to be using it and where I will see it, and I’ve started to do that. Where our brains fail, we can build a sort of prosthetic-brain environment. I am hoping this strategy will prove to be effective in the implementation category – because forgetting what I had planned is half the challenge. The other half is feeling pressured or self-critical.

Oh – and – I just read that emotion is an important ingredient in getting things done. I notice I can do things for other people, or when I am accountable to another person, that I’d never do for myself. I need feedback. I wish there were ways to automate this, too.

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