I was too occupied by the piggy in plastic having a blast to notice the feline vendor

manul

Samesies. I decided to have a short break from adhd meds because they kind of keep me on overdrive. But apparently they also keep me functional. So tired & unable to do anything or even talk today.

(Oops, commented on yesterday’s post :') Well, i guess that’s how laggy my brain is rn)

Well said! I love your metaphor! Surfing is an interesting way to describe the process, and they do bear similarities! Also for both, I suppose, it’s crucial to “read” the environment and weather correctly - or the physical and mental circumstances. If you are already used to it things probably go a lot smoother than if you have to learn it while doing.

I don’t know what would be an equivalent in surfing, but something I’ve also learned the hard way is that the stimulants can also help focus on those unpleasant side-effects or get stuck on thoughts etc, especially when learning to navigate the effects of the drug - like when you are bicycling and there’s an icy road ahead: staring at the road, thinking about losing control and crashing instead of looking forward will most likely end up in you crashing (that’s me at least 😹).

A big risk is being cut off from a drug that works, but the dosage is wrong, just because the doctor doesn’t understand how differently people react to these drugs. For me at least it has taken a long time to find out what dose works for me, how and when I should take it, because I’ve had to find out without professional support. GPs don’t have enough understanding about the issue and complexity to actually give any advice or suggest options, and psychiatrists are really difficult to get to (especially ones that are specialized in neurodivergence).

I’m on Elvanse/Vyvanse and on a regular day I take 25mg, but if I leave home and know the day will be stressful I’ll take 40-50mg (25-30mg in the morning and the rest in a few hours). But if I’m really overwhelmed it may be too little or way too much. The small dose helps significantly with my mood and impulsivity etc but there are some unpleasant side-effects as well as potential risks I wish would be addressed by the doctor - but then again I’ll rather take this suboptimal solution than risk losing the prescription altogether, because at least this works somewhat.

My experience is that the psychiatrist initially prescribed me way too large doses even though I mentioned I’m sensitive to drugs, they just went on with the “regular titration plan”, and I believe that intensified my burnout. Another thing in here is that they’ll basically try 3 individual drugs (with maybe 3 different doses) and that’s it. If there are any issues you’ll easily get cut off the meds, there isn’t much consideration for alternatives. You’ll be lucky to try the actual ADHD meds, especially if you rely on public health care, as many are refused neurological evaluations and are stuck with SSRI’s or similar.

Maybe they live on the other side of the globe

Swap socks with OP to create singularity

There was an interesting theory in a paper: during happiness research they interview people and ask them to imagine what the best life would look like and then estimate where they are compared to it in a scale of 0 to 10.

Well, in Finnish comprehensive schools we use grading 4-10 where 4 is “failed”, so everything under 7 is bad and 8 is merely “ok”. And as we learn this odd scale quite early it’s stuck in our heads. So yeah.

I don’t know any Finnish person that would describe their life as happy. Perhaps we mean to grade our life as merely tolerable when asked and the scale doesn’t take into account this weird system that we use!

!scrungycats@lemmy.world

Why shitpost though?

I’m reading Graeber & Wengrow’s “The Dawn of Everything” at the moment and it has really impressive examples of how people have organized their lives differently throughout history. I recommend that book to everyone.

It’s impossible to imagine a new color, it’s also extremely difficult to seriously imagine and build our lives differently if all we see around is capitalism. Real life stories and examples are so important! Also: realizing that most of our private lives we live in a rather different setting - with friends and family we share resources and support each other equally. Maybe pointing that out might help!

Good that you are getting help from a therapist!

Changes are stressful and they are especially stressful when there’s vagueness/unclear communication around it! That also sounds a lot like an internal communication issue in the workplace, not “just a personal fault” - and those things should be taken seriously.

We neurodivergents learn from childhood to ignore our needs and it takes a long time to relearn to trust ourselves and hear the cues our bodies and minds give to us. It sounds like you are already doing a lot, taking steps and finding new, healthier ways of being. Hopefully your workplace will also find ways to help out in that professional setting!

I’m still recovering, and at the moment going through another stressful period that I try to manage as well as I can, so it won’t completely wreck me.

I realized I need to start changing the way I think and react emotionally to be able to recover (cptsd-related), so I found a couple resources, youtube therapists and podcasts that I’d learn from. I also found it useful to understand more about zen and philosophy behind mindfulness (I’m allergic to superficial “quick fixes”, I need to understand WHY things are supposed to work and what lead to developing the practice). Basically learning how to recognize and listen to my personal needs, what cues the body gives, where stress and anxiety gets “stored” in my body and so on. I realized I wasn’t able to stop and that’s what I really needed to do. I’m used to just forcing myself to do what I think I’m expected to, completely ignoring what’s actually good for me. Plenty of shame and fear to tackle.

I decided I need to do at least light physical activity every day, so I started taking “mental health evening walks” and observing nature while at it. I like to listen to these therapists’ podcasts while I’m walking to calm myself and minimize hearing traffic noise.

All in all learning about my sensory needs and minimizing sensory stress has been important. Also realizing what kind of social situations drain me and being conscious about how much I can take. It’s painful to have to give up on good and enjoyable things because they too drain me.

Then I started exploring what kind of social activities I’d enjoy and tried going to some groups. Peer support has been especially important!

Half a year later I became curious about possible study opportunities and got into one course. Being in a structured (social) setting where I could learn from interesting topics helped me a lot!

For me the most obvious signs that I’m getting better are: less sensory stress, less emotional dysregulation, more battery for social things and not feeling exhausted all the time. The progress is slow though and I think I’m just in the beginning about learning what’s good for me and balancing my life so that it supports my needs.

There is a belief among the people who live near a nuclear test site in Kazakhstan that they’ve become resistant to radiation and in fact leaving the area is more dangerous to them than staying there.

Of course it’s just a coping strategy to these people that live in extreme poverty and have been neglected by the government, but an interesting way to deal with the situation.

Here’s an article if someone wants to read.

I went to the art museum with a friend today!

Where I live the police definitely shows up - to make sure nazi activities can go on undisturbed.

Existential crisis hitting hard, but went to a book fair and found some good books so that was nice. And after that I spent like 4 hours fixing the motorcycle, which I quite enjoy, and it’s also quality time with my partner.

Hey, I only learned everything about horses in primary school (including behavior, breeds, anatomy and feeding…) OUT OF CURIOSITY!

Before this it was anger

32ish when people around me started getting diagnoses and I began looking into it. Got diagnosed at 34 with ADHD. I identify strongly with autistic experience as well. The doctor who did the initial evaluation agreed there probably are autistic traits there too and it might be worth looking into, but they couldn’t help with it in that clinic. It’s really difficult to get evaluated in a public clinic so I’ve decided to let it be for now.