Eating Habits Caused by ADHD
Lauramh31
Posts: 95 Member
I'm new to this group. I hope people still post here 
Anyway, I've been thinking recently about how my adhd affects my diet/exercise and here is a list of things I've realized about myself and the things I plan to do to address them! What are some things that affect you and how do you address that? I'm hoping we can find common ground in some of these things and also learn some tips/tricks from each other!
- Hyperfocus: When I start a new eating style ("clean" eating, healthy eating, gluten free, etc.) I'm excited and it's new and novel so I'm able to stay interested in it and stick to it. Then after a while it's not new and exciting anymore so I get bored and my other bad habits creep in, like impulsivity... I want to start training for a 10K - a goal like that helps me keep my interest and focus, at least for a few months, and then hopefully it'll be enough of a habit to keep it up and/or I can start training for another race!
- Impulsivity: I tend to make bad choices by impulse. I will have all intentions of not eating any sugar or no gluten or keeping w/in my calorie goal, but then I see that cookie in the kitchen or the candy on the secretary's desk and I grab it and eat it. I know what I'm doing and I decide in the moment that it is "ok" or I don't care. But then a few minutes later I regret it and realize it was an impulsive move. It's so hard to get control of this though because impulsiveness is one of my bad adhd issues and in the moment I do know what I'm doing, it's just that I decide it is ok or that I don't care... How I try to resolve this: no junk food in the house or I'll eat it. But that doesn't help when someone at work asks me to lunch and I impulsivly get the burger because they are too, etc.
- Restlessness: I'm not able to sit and watch tv or a movie and just watch. I have to be doing something - either doing something on my iphone or on my laptop or eating. Eating is my preferred activity if I want to actually watch and pay attention to the show/movie because surfing the web on my phone or laptop causes me to pay attention to that and miss things in the show/movie. It's like I really CANNOT just sit there and watch. It sounds like a silly problem, but there are some shows I really enjoy watching and an hour or two of tv at night helps me relax and unwind from the day before bed. I HAVE to figure out a way to break this habit and find something else to do w/ myself so that I can unwind to my favorite show while not having to sit still! The easy answer is not to watch tv, but in the evening when I'm unwinding sometimes I don't want to read a book/magazine because I spend all day on the computer and/or reading documents at work and often I just don't wnat to read words anymore!
- Give up: In many areas when I hit a road block or a difficult patch I tend to give up and lose interest. Like if I finally feel motivated to work out or eat healthy and then I realize I forgot my gym shoes at home and have to stop there before going to the gym after work, I give up and just think "well i'm already home, i'll go tomorrow..." or with food I'll want to eat healthy but then after work I think "I'm tired and don't want to cook" or "I don't have anything thawed" so I'll just grab something fast/quick and unhealthy. I do this with other things too like if there is a house project I reall have been wanting to tackle and then I try to get started and realize I don't have a tool I need or can't find x, then I get annoyed and discouraged and the project seems SO much tougher/longer than I thought and so I give up and think "I'll just do this later". Perhaps I'm struggling so much to find the motivation to do something in the first place that then I use any excuse that comes my way to not do it.... hmm, that is probably exactly it. :ohwell:
Anyway, I've been thinking recently about how my adhd affects my diet/exercise and here is a list of things I've realized about myself and the things I plan to do to address them! What are some things that affect you and how do you address that? I'm hoping we can find common ground in some of these things and also learn some tips/tricks from each other! - Hyperfocus: When I start a new eating style ("clean" eating, healthy eating, gluten free, etc.) I'm excited and it's new and novel so I'm able to stay interested in it and stick to it. Then after a while it's not new and exciting anymore so I get bored and my other bad habits creep in, like impulsivity... I want to start training for a 10K - a goal like that helps me keep my interest and focus, at least for a few months, and then hopefully it'll be enough of a habit to keep it up and/or I can start training for another race!
- Impulsivity: I tend to make bad choices by impulse. I will have all intentions of not eating any sugar or no gluten or keeping w/in my calorie goal, but then I see that cookie in the kitchen or the candy on the secretary's desk and I grab it and eat it. I know what I'm doing and I decide in the moment that it is "ok" or I don't care. But then a few minutes later I regret it and realize it was an impulsive move. It's so hard to get control of this though because impulsiveness is one of my bad adhd issues and in the moment I do know what I'm doing, it's just that I decide it is ok or that I don't care... How I try to resolve this: no junk food in the house or I'll eat it. But that doesn't help when someone at work asks me to lunch and I impulsivly get the burger because they are too, etc.
- Restlessness: I'm not able to sit and watch tv or a movie and just watch. I have to be doing something - either doing something on my iphone or on my laptop or eating. Eating is my preferred activity if I want to actually watch and pay attention to the show/movie because surfing the web on my phone or laptop causes me to pay attention to that and miss things in the show/movie. It's like I really CANNOT just sit there and watch. It sounds like a silly problem, but there are some shows I really enjoy watching and an hour or two of tv at night helps me relax and unwind from the day before bed. I HAVE to figure out a way to break this habit and find something else to do w/ myself so that I can unwind to my favorite show while not having to sit still! The easy answer is not to watch tv, but in the evening when I'm unwinding sometimes I don't want to read a book/magazine because I spend all day on the computer and/or reading documents at work and often I just don't wnat to read words anymore!
- Give up: In many areas when I hit a road block or a difficult patch I tend to give up and lose interest. Like if I finally feel motivated to work out or eat healthy and then I realize I forgot my gym shoes at home and have to stop there before going to the gym after work, I give up and just think "well i'm already home, i'll go tomorrow..." or with food I'll want to eat healthy but then after work I think "I'm tired and don't want to cook" or "I don't have anything thawed" so I'll just grab something fast/quick and unhealthy. I do this with other things too like if there is a house project I reall have been wanting to tackle and then I try to get started and realize I don't have a tool I need or can't find x, then I get annoyed and discouraged and the project seems SO much tougher/longer than I thought and so I give up and think "I'll just do this later". Perhaps I'm struggling so much to find the motivation to do something in the first place that then I use any excuse that comes my way to not do it.... hmm, that is probably exactly it. :ohwell:
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Oh and another one: You know all of those "tips" for people to get motivation to work out like "tell yourself you'll buy x if you lose 5 pounds" or "tell yourself no tv unless you're watching while on the treadmill" or "if you eat healthy all week you can splurge on the weekend"? I'm amazed that works for some people. Internal things like that just do not work for me because I'll buy that x anyway or watch tv anyway. I need some actual motivation like training for an event I'm excited about or just realizing how much better I feel when I'm eating healthy and exercising and wanting to keep that up or fitting into my "skinny clothes" - that motivates me to keep going...but doesn't motivate me to start. To combat this I like to go to classes at the gym like spinning or a weights class because then my competitive streak kicks in and I don't want to be the loser that stops pedaling or takes a break in weights class so I keep going even though my muscles are killing! On the other hand, when I workout alone I think "i'm tired, it's ok if I quit", etc. So external pressure/reward is really what motivates me and gets me going.
Is this the same for others - needing hte external motivation and not finding it internally? How do you change that and find internal motivation/discipline? I don't think it is a "willpower" issue because I really want to do it, but then things get in the way like giving up when something gets hard (i forgot my shoes at home, or my musles are tired) or impulsivly deciding to change my plan and eat the cookie or skip the gym to do something else.1 -
i know how you feel; usually i'm so distracted by everything else that i don't pay attention to what i'm eating/what i'm /not/ eating.
especially because of my medication (i'm a student in college and without it i'd flunk) some days i just don't eat.
because it's such an appetite suppressant
but from the looks of things you're doing really well so keep at it.
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Lol, that is me exactly!
I do find that motivational posters or list of reasons why I am doing x plastered all over the house does help sometimes, because while I still have the impulse, I do t completely forget why it was important to me in the first place. I have so many reminders, checklists , and charts in my house, it probably looks like a preschool.
I find really immersing myself in my chosen project helps me maintain focus. I have to be all about it, balance and fitting things in just doesn't work for me. I also make really ambitious goals, and spend a lot of time visualizing the event. I can't get excited about being at a healthy weight and watching what I eat, but a Muay Thai fight, figure competition, or crossfit games challenge would totally get me going. I may never actually do all of those things, but 'training for a fight' is way more fun than boring old diet and exercise. It has to be something exciting and cool for me to make the effort.
One last tip is to try to get people interested in what you are doing and tell them your goals, so you feel some social pressure to keep it up or look like a poser. I think if I hadn't told everyone I knew about my first fight, I probably would have quit training when it got hard and backed out. I kept going to avoid the public embarrassment. It may be shallow, but whatever works.1 -
Lol makepeas - do you still "see" the reminders though? I find that I use post-its or other visual cues to remind myself of things but then after they've been there for a little while I just don't "see" them anymore if it's like a post-it saying "pay bill on tuesday". On the flip side, without other visual cues I forget things - like my adderall and birth control - if they aren't sitting next to my purse or for some reason the first time I go to my purse in the morning I delay taking them...it's over, I will forget until I realize I'm really tired or not able to focus and then i'm like "oh S* i forgot my pills". Same for things like my packed lunch or things I want to bring to work - if it's not sitting next to my bag, by the time I head out of the house I will have so many other thoughts rolling through my head that I've forgotten....until i'm halfway to work!
I tend to set super ambitious goals too! I think it's largely needing the excitement but also partly this mentality that nothing is ever good enough. Like this thought in my head that training for a 5k or 10k isn't very exciting because "anyone" could do that, so i'm training for a 1/2 marathon or this morning when I had that stupid dunkin donuts muffin (600 cals - yowzer), I beat myself up about it like "if you were really serious about losing weight you wouldn't have eaten that." I realize these are not helpful thoughts and that everyone deserves a rest day, a treat now and then, etc. but at the same time there is this voice in my head saying "nope, it's true you shouldn't eat that. why do you get a treat when you're bummed about your pants being too tight". Do any of you all do this?
I've been thinking that maybe it is an add thing - not that all add people think this way, but rather that it was caused by my add being undiagnosed for 30 years, and myself and other people just thought/said things like "try harder" or "pay attention" or "think first before you speak/act/etc" for all kinds of things I couldn't help because add was causing me to be distracted and forget, imulsive, etc. So now after 30 years of being told those things by myself and others, I believe those things and I don't forgive myself for "normal" slip ups - almost like I've lost the ability to recognize what I should scold myself for and what I shouldn't bc I'm so used to being "in trouble" for things I couldn't help or didn't know how to change/help bc I didn't know it was add.
timidunicorn - I miss the days when my adderall made my appetite go away
That only lasted a few months for me. It was actually my downfall. But when I started adderall I wasn't hungry and had to make myself eat so I stopped working out too thinking that if I wasn't eating much I shouldn't also be exercising and burning more cals I wasn't eating. So then I started eating bad high calorie junk again because I was only eating 2 meals a day. It was fine for a while, but it sneaks back up on you and before you know it you're hungry all the time and now you're addicted to sugar and fatty french fries, etc. that you've been eating for months. :grumble: So my lesson to you so you don't have to learn it the hard way - don't use not eating as an excuse to stop working out or to eat crap when you do eat. If I did it over agian I would MAKE myself eat regularly, even if just a 150 cal greek yogurt or a banana w/ almond butter, etc. then you get cals, but they're healthy and when you start getting hungry again bc the adderall loses it's strength you won't have bad habits to remedy! 1 -
Laura, are you involved in a treatment program for your ADHD? The majority of the time, it's really the only way to lead a productive and gratifying life with this disorder. Even after finding a medication/dose that works for your symptoms, there's still a lot of behavioral stuff to address (cognitive behavioral therapy). Even if you're not in therapy, you can check out "Mastering Your Adult ADHD," client workbook. I've been working through it with my therapist. It's tough, but rewarding. I reckon you could get some good out of it on your own even (I don't think I'd have the motivation myself, though). The authors are Safren, Sprich, Perlman, and Otto.
You're on the right track with routine and reminders. I have my bag in the same place every night before I go to bed, and I double-check (night and morning) to ensure everything is in there that I need (including Adderall, of course). For effective reminders, use smartphone apps. I use a time tracking/loggin app called "aTimeLogger" that I've set to give an alarm every 15 minutes to pull me back into time, keep me on task, or just remind me what I'm supposed to be doing. You can use timers to remind you when to take your meds also. I also use the physical day planner/notebook method. No slips of paper or Post-It notes allowed. All appointments go directly into the day planner and anything I think of, but may forget, goes into the notebook (it's really small, and fits in my pocket), along with shopping lists, and things that eventually need to go into the day planner. I've trained myself to consult the day planner at least once per night and morning (when I get home, I immediately open it up and put it on my desk). Some people can do this with smartphone apps, but I can't. If it's not occupying physical space (or time) in close proximity to me, it doesn't exist.
Anyway, hang in there! I can tell you from my experience that effective treatment of the symptoms leads to significant improvements in health and every other area of life (since ADHD devastates all domains of adult life). It's not easy, but it is feasible, through practice.2 -
I'm new to this group. I hope people still post here Anyway, I've been thinking recently about how my adhd affects my diet/exercise and here is a list of things I've realized about myself and the things I plan to do to address them! What are some things that affect you and how do you address that? I'm hoping we can find common ground in some of these things and also learn some tips/tricks from each other!
- Hyperfocus: When I start a new eating style ("clean" eating, healthy eating, gluten free, etc.) I'm excited and it's new and novel so I'm able to stay interested in it and stick to it. Then after a while it's not new and exciting anymore so I get bored and my other bad habits creep in, like impulsivity... I want to start training for a 10K - a goal like that helps me keep my interest and focus, at least for a few months, and then hopefully it'll be enough of a habit to keep it up and/or I can start training for another race!
- Impulsivity: I tend to make bad choices by impulse. I will have all intentions of not eating any sugar or no gluten or keeping w/in my calorie goal, but then I see that cookie in the kitchen or the candy on the secretary's desk and I grab it and eat it. I know what I'm doing and I decide in the moment that it is "ok" or I don't care. But then a few minutes later I regret it and realize it was an impulsive move. It's so hard to get control of this though because impulsiveness is one of my bad adhd issues and in the moment I do know what I'm doing, it's just that I decide it is ok or that I don't care... How I try to resolve this: no junk food in the house or I'll eat it. But that doesn't help when someone at work asks me to lunch and I impulsivly get the burger because they are too, etc.
- Restlessness: I'm not able to sit and watch tv or a movie and just watch. I have to be doing something - either doing something on my iphone or on my laptop or eating. Eating is my preferred activity if I want to actually watch and pay attention to the show/movie because surfing the web on my phone or laptop causes me to pay attention to that and miss things in the show/movie. It's like I really CANNOT just sit there and watch. It sounds like a silly problem, but there are some shows I really enjoy watching and an hour or two of tv at night helps me relax and unwind from the day before bed. I HAVE to figure out a way to break this habit and find something else to do w/ myself so that I can unwind to my favorite show while not having to sit still! The easy answer is not to watch tv, but in the evening when I'm unwinding sometimes I don't want to read a book/magazine because I spend all day on the computer and/or reading documents at work and often I just don't wnat to read words anymore!
- Give up: In many areas when I hit a road block or a difficult patch I tend to give up and lose interest. Like if I finally feel motivated to work out or eat healthy and then I realize I forgot my gym shoes at home and have to stop there before going to the gym after work, I give up and just think "well i'm already home, i'll go tomorrow..." or with food I'll want to eat healthy but then after work I think "I'm tired and don't want to cook" or "I don't have anything thawed" so I'll just grab something fast/quick and unhealthy. I do this with other things too like if there is a house project I reall have been wanting to tackle and then I try to get started and realize I don't have a tool I need or can't find x, then I get annoyed and discouraged and the project seems SO much tougher/longer than I thought and so I give up and think "I'll just do this later". Perhaps I'm struggling so much to find the motivation to do something in the first place that then I use any excuse that comes my way to not do it.... hmm, that is probably exactly it. :ohwell:
I think this sounds like me in a nut shell. LOL!0 -
Oh and another one: You know all of those "tips" for people to get motivation to work out like "tell yourself you'll buy x if you lose 5 pounds" or "tell yourself no tv unless you're watching while on the treadmill" or "if you eat healthy all week you can splurge on the weekend"? I'm amazed that works for some people. Internal things like that just do not work for me because I'll buy that x anyway or watch tv anyway. I need some actual motivation like training for an event I'm excited about or just realizing how much better I feel when I'm eating healthy and exercising and wanting to keep that up or fitting into my "skinny clothes" - that motivates me to keep going...but doesn't motivate me to start. To combat this I like to go to classes at the gym like spinning or a weights class because then my competitive streak kicks in and I don't want to be the loser that stops pedaling or takes a break in weights class so I keep going even though my muscles are killing! On the other hand, when I workout alone I think "i'm tired, it's ok if I quit", etc. So external pressure/reward is really what motivates me and gets me going.
Is this the same for others - needing hte external motivation and not finding it internally? How do you change that and find internal motivation/discipline? I don't think it is a "willpower" issue because I really want to do it, but then things get in the way like giving up when something gets hard (i forgot my shoes at home, or my musles are tired) or impulsivly deciding to change my plan and eat the cookie or skip the gym to do something else.
I find that if I brake down a goal into baby steps (make it into multiple goals) it helps.0 -
New member here. On meds for ADHD after 45 years not knowing I had it. Meds are working well but side effect is no appetite.0
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Steve__McD wrote: »New member here. On meds for ADHD after 45 years not knowing I had it. Meds are working well but side effect is no appetite.
Diagnosed last year at 34. One year working with doc "testing" meds. Still no luck. You said meds are working, what's that like?1 -
Steve__McD wrote: »New member here. On meds for ADHD after 45 years not knowing I had it. Meds are working well but side effect is no appetite.
Diagnosed last year at 34. One year working with doc "testing" meds. Still no luck. You said meds are working, what's that like?
TL;DR: Getting up early, with time to get ready properly, and getting everyone to work/school on time on a regular basis with minimal stress and effort has been HUGE for me. HUGE.
The Long Version:
I have been recently diagnosed. Started with a trial 2 week dose of 25 mg of Vyvanse (half a 50 cap) and 1 mg of Guanfacine 2x a day (doc said he may kick that up).
My new refill is for 50 mg a day, but I am not jumping to that so quick. I am taking 2/3 of the capsule right now and will work my way up as I feel it out.
Anyway, I am officially about 3 weeks in. My first couple of weeks I had a stretch of bad medication days because of recent dental / bone surgery and effectively went from taking zero medications to five in less than a week's time.
They ended up not interacting well, but I could not stop taking any of them (the ADHD meds, a heavy duty steroid, antibiotics, codeine 3 - ugh). I thought I was being productive at work, but communicated a lot of bad information on several projects over several days. It was stupid.
Now that things are back to (mostly) normal, for me, the meds working translates into being able to think more clearly and putting plans and new ideas into place and real action.
Some are super simple, but my mind has been such a cluster of information and start-stop thinking that I had major difficulties executing beyond the minimum that would get me through the day.
One huge (for me) example: While sleep is still not great, I am consistently waking up and am OUT OF BED reliably early now (that in itself is an AMAZING fete). I then get my kids up with time to spare and gave my 9 y/o the responsibility and tools to get himself ready and down to wait on the school bus and clean up the floor of toys before he exits. I ***COOK*** them and myself breakfast, pack the oldest lunch, and get myself out the door (with HAIR DONE, MAKE UP on + a semblance of a real work outfit vs. wet hair, a ballcap, and what's close + reasonably clean). I arrive at work between 8-8.30am now vs. rolling in a rushing mess hoping my boss' car wasn't there between 9.30-10.45am!! While I am doing my 3 y/o's daycare drop, the oldest texts me that he is downstairs, and then once again when he is on the bus so that I know he's on track. (The phone is a privilege so he knows he's got to be on point with that.)
Thing is, I only got so far in thinking and planning to get the extra phone so that he would text me when he got on the bus at the school day's end. Prior, I would forget to pick him up and leave him stranded at the house (I work 10 mins away, pick him up, and finish my workday). Even when I would set my phone alarms, I would get distracted with a work call or interruption and forget. It happened enough to where I had to do something.
Hell, the week before I started the meds I sent him downstairs to catch the bus while I was trying to stay on track upstairs and he said the bus did not come. I yelled at him about not paying attention and playing on the phone. Drove him to school riding his *kitten* the whole way about making me EXTRA late. When I got to the campus, there was no one there. Happened to look over at the school marquee sign and it said Spring Break and the dates. There was no bus and there was no school. First day of Spring Break.
Add to that, not enough time for a good breakfast for any of us so I would place quick, unhealthy crap in front of them to eat and I would catch up (badly) later, misplacing my keys and phone, finally getting out the door and into the car and then having to go back and get my phone (or something else that was important). Then you're off, late already, and you notice the gas light is on or it comes on mid-drive. I swear, every morning was either a disaster or a huge struggle to avoid disaster on the regular. Starting your day with daily peak stress does not lay the groundwork for the promising prospect of a productive rest of the day.
To most neurotypical people getting up, getting ready, and to work early or on-time is a no-brainer. It's just what needs to be done and they do it. For me, having kids and adding their doings into the mix, just raised the stakes to Level 1000 and the real world play out was JUST. NOT. GOOD.
Anyway, the ultimate point is that I never seemed to have the consistent clarity and focus before the meds to implement a sound, workable, and most of all, SIMPLE plan in this particularly longrunning and debilitating area of my life.
There are a few other things I can point to, but this post is quite long enough.
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TL; DR (additions re: Success22's comment):
- Finally recognized the life skills / independence level potential in my kid
- Better parenting skills being established
- ACTIVELY taking steps to improve and build my financials
- ACTIVELY figuring out a strategy to rebuild my reputation and work product at my job to secure a large raise (sooner rather than later)
- OR have recent / notable markers on my resume (as a result of the above) to be able to seek a new/better job with low prospects of being fired
Long Version:
Meant to add my newfound mind clarity allowed me to register that my oldest was ready for, and excited about, his new morning responsibilities. He feels like a "big kid" now being trusted to get his things executed, with his own set of keys, and personal communications device. :-)
There are times when he's done a really good job of his toy/floor pick (half the mess is his little brother's) and I have tossed him a surprise $5.00 here and there over the last couple of weeks, so that makes him extra happy. It's so great to walk in the door and see the floor cleared up, you don't even know. I got him to hang up all his personal laundry the other day, too. And all of the laundry got put away in general. So it looks like the meds just might be making me a better parent as well.
Since many ADHD people suffer from financial and health issues in relation to the condition, and I am no stranger to suffering in both areas as well, I have also kicked off making some genuine financial improvements:
2 years ago the high necessity of a new vehicle and no savings forced me into a used car dealer. I was surprised to see my credit score was not as deep down in pipes of the toilet as originally thought (my last check years back found me in the 400's!!).
Because several years had passed, and the only things I was really doing was work and keeping my small children alive, it resulted in a lot of negative things falling off my credit report. ADHD inaction finally got me somewhere for a change - floating on the surface of the water of the toilet with an improved ~515 credit score! Now THAT was exciting. :-) While the interest rate wasn't great (an unfortunate, self-imposed ADHD-tax), I had the presence of mind to put down a large down payment due to a tax refund and that kept my payments low.
Recently realizing I had 2 years of manageable payments under my belt, I contacted a loan officer at a local credit union last week to see about consolidating my car loan at a lower rate, along with a couple of credit cards I got to further build my credit (cards are no longer at the 0% interest promo rate).
Loan officer did a soft pull and said my score was at ~675 now and things looked good with the exception of a bank account / check charge off I was not aware of (does not show on my credit bureau). Paid that yesterday and will follow up again in the next month or two and try to get my score at 700 before officially applying to qualify for a better rate.
I was also looking up local financial planners last night and I think I found some I want to seriously check out. Before this new focus, my surefire savings and retirement plan has been adding to the $10.00 in my savings account (maybe...) and my current poverty-level social security benefits. On yeah, and playing the lottery. Truth! XD
In order to get to the financial planner hiring / extra play money-level, my urgent goal now is to get my existing work product up so that I can either ask for a hardcore raise (+$10K minimum, no *kitten*) or finally make a jump to a new company for more money AND benefits with no-to-minimal fear of getting fired.
My current employer offers no benefits, paid time off, vacation, or retirement of any kind - just ADHD tolerance and flexibility. I pay for my own health and dental insurance out of pocket through the exchange and the only reason I can afford Vyvanse (my insurance does not cover it for adults) is because I got approved to get it for free based on my current income through the pharma company's patient assistance program. Otherwise it would be ~$374 a month out of pocket and that's close to half my rent.
Or who knows what else will come work or money-wise? Maybe a new and viable entrepreneurial idea will come up again and finally stick.
Anyway, I hope that all offers concrete examples of what might happen when your meds are working / taking effect. I really hope I get a solid run because it would be a terrible prospect for me otherwise.
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You're on the right track with routine and reminders. I have my bag in the same place every night before I go to bed, and I double-check (night and morning) to ensure everything is in there that I need (including Adderall, of course). For effective reminders, use smartphone apps. I use a time tracking/loggin app called "aTimeLogger" that I've set to give an alarm every 15 minutes to pull me back into time, keep me on task, or just remind me what I'm supposed to be doing. You can use timers to remind you when to take your meds also. I also use the physical day planner/notebook method. No slips of paper or Post-It notes allowed. All appointments go directly into the day planner and anything I think of, but may forget, goes into the notebook (it's really small, and fits in my pocket), along with shopping lists, and things that eventually need to go into the day planner. I've trained myself to consult the day planner at least once per night and morning (when I get home, I immediately open it up and put it on my desk). Some people can do this with smartphone apps, but I can't. If it's not occupying physical space (or time) in close proximity to me, it doesn't exist.
Anyway, hang in there! I can tell you from my experience that effective treatment of the symptoms leads to significant improvements in health and every other area of life (since ADHD devastates all domains of adult life). It's not easy, but it is feasible, through practice.
I really like these suggestions, thank you. As I am just getting the basics down and staying consistent, this helps with "systems improvement". Will look up the "Mastering Your Adult ADHD" workbook.
I recently purchased a pill holder with a timer because I am finding I am forgetting to take my 2nd dose of Guanfacine on time and a couple of other supplements that are time-of-day dependent.
One thing I just noticed is that I need to set up my mornings / eating routines for the weekend when things are more loose and I am not set to go off and take care of something outside of the house. I got up early, took my dose, but then tried to find some quick info on the computer, got sidetracked with my open tabs, found this thread, didn't eat, and now a raging headache is setting in over 4 hours later. I hope I have not rendered myself useless for the day at this point. A definite note to self.
Nutrition-wise, aiming for more protein in the morning has been more helpful than a quick bagel with cream cheese to get through the day. If it weren't for organic smoothie concoctions, real-food nutrition would probably be very limited right now.
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Thanks all for your wonderful comments
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Great article from ADDitude Magazine on how to eat for our dopamine-starved brains:
https://www.additudemag.com/healthy-eating-habits-adhd-adults/1 -
I keep forgetting it's my ADHD brain causing cravings for carbs, sugar and booze. So I've come on here to see how others manage. I am trying to get to a healthy weight and I need to lose around 1st. I do well for a few weeks with strict calorie counting, daily yoga and walking to meet my step count goal. Then I just have a slump and eat too much, drink too much and lose motivation. I'm just tired now! Will look at my diet to make sure I'm getting what my brain needs.
I am usually very organised and have the minimum of 'bad things' in my house so it doesn't tempt me. I can eat a tube of Pringles in 10 mins...0
