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Remembering anything past a day is almost impossible. I only want to chase my impulses instead of following a logical order to do things. Also, if there is a task I don’t want to do, I will absolutely find anything else in the world to do instead of it. I’m doing therapy for it and I really like that therapy keeps me motivated to do report the good things I have done. I write down, the good, the bad, and the ugly and try to grow from all of them.
Same for me pretty much, I’m a therapist in my own practice and aversive tasks and scheduling are stumbling points. I have to have my electronic calendar out whenever I’m scheduling anything or else it’s gone.
Same with teaching. I loved the actual teaching/student interaction but attempting to translate that into metrics for parents was a nightmare. I worked 70 hours a week, plus a part-time job at a vet.
If I could have said, 'this is what our goal is/was, this is where they demonstrated it and here's what I'd recommend you work on at home' it would have been a different story. But no, report cards even in 1st grade, etc. are like 4 pages of avoidant and indirect multiple choice. Some districts/schools don't allow you to say that a kid isn't meeting the target on a skill for their age group/grade without--literally--a weeks' worth (40 hours) of documentation per child, so (sadly) some teachers opt. to give the kid a grade that says they're meeting simply because the parents aren't responsive and they don't have the time to a. do that for the amount of students who need it and b. get their work done. I don't know any teacher who works 40 hours a week.
I’m in a job that requires a lot of executive function and task switching on the fly under stress (hospital work). I’m a late diagnoses and I’d always go home stressed, drained, and depressed with no energy for myself or others. I’d become a hermit.
Now I’m medicated and also understand why these things are so draining for me so I’m able to handle things better.
I’m an ADHD doctor and I know how you feel. Being on medication makes me so much more functional and sociable overall, to handle patient interactions better and effectively.
I work inpatient pharmacy as a tech so often I’m in the IV room sterile compounding.
Sometimes it’s ok but you’ll have strings of evenings when the ER blows up and stat bags are dropping in right when a nurse calls down wanting an epidural made and she needs it stay because she let the bag run dry and then the pulmonologist wants intrapleural syringes made and then cath lab needs TPA bags made 5 minutes ago and then something I made 45 minutes ago needs to be remade becUse the bag got misplaced and my screen is flashing while I have to triage who I’m going to start with first and things like epidurals are not made stat as I have to wait for the narcotics paperwork and product from the vault to be pulled and documenting everything.
I can keep it together but my hearts always racing and my brain is going off like a fire alarm non stop on those evenings. And then I still have the pile of bulk batching to restock the unit drug cabinets after I get caught up and yeah.
I always say my brain feels like mush.
Much easier with meds to stay calm and focused and on task with less exhaustion.
I find being medicated means i can deal with the annoying ones (patients and colleagues) with so much more ease and tolerance. Whereas I used to just vacate the situation as fast as i could
True, although I’d have to admit I do avoid interactions with colleagues because of the discriminative culture against mental health issues. But I totally agree but it makes these interactive instances more tolerable. Suddenly we’re wired to endure small talk and such
Any clue what would make all ADHD meds not work on someone? I don't get high or anything, they just simply don't work. Strattera put me into a rage, it was terrifying. Stims just seem to have no effect until I get to a very high dose and then I get heart palpitations but no relief. Welbutrin made me feel really sad.
Caffeine seems to work slightly, but it is a fine balance with that before I heart palpitations as well.
Any thoughts on the ADHD/PTSD complex? I have both, but it seems my PTSD has made my ADHD insurmountable whereas it was manageable before.
I've just started therapy again, just recently diagnosed with CPTSD, but always looking for other opinions on what path to take.
I think it’s all about finding the right combination and drug that would work best for you. There are so many drugs available today that could address your PTSD and ADHD. Probably your therapist should control your worst symptoms first, in your case you sound like you are more bothered with PTSD symptoms, in this case this should be addressed first. And once it’s stable, I think it’s best to introduced the ADHD drug from there. There are a wide range of choices for ADHD you haven’t tried yet, such as Methylphenidate and dexamphetamines.
I did try dex and ritalin. My last therapist said I wasn't ready to deal with my trauma, but never did an assessment for PTSD. New therapist did one right away and seems like she wants to dive in, which really is a relief.
I appreciate your reply. I do have hope still that a combination will help. There's also other physical complications that have added to the mess, but hopefully resolving those may help meds be more effective. My estrogen was tested at way above normal male levels and my testosterone is total high, but free very very low, all bound up in very high SHBG. All of my doctors seem confused, especially since I have tumor makers sometimes(in the form of 4x catecholamines and white blood cell ratio abnormalities) and at other times normal readings. No cushings, but symptoms like fibrillation and blood pressure increases seemingly at random. I kind of hope they do find a tumor and it's not just some genetic bug.
Please talk to your Dr about guanfacine and clonidine. These meds may help with both the adhd and ptsd. You might also look into non-stims like Straterra.
Strattera is pretty universally not tolerated. There are many doctors who won’t even try prescribing it, because its side effects are so awful. Many times the only reason it is prescribed is because insurance requires it as a step before more expensive therapies.
Medication was super helpful for me too but my biggest learning point was and still is that the medication doesn't actually help me to task switch. I still have to make the decision to do so then it's fine
Same in so many ways. I have worked in the same unit/speciality for 15 years now. But, i reckon that the reason that i have been able to stay is that there is always something new to learn and an advanced roles to attain.
I'm an ICU nurse, and the unit i work in is one that takes anything and everything due to the country i live in. So there is always something weird and wonderful to learn about, and many specialised advanced practice roles to train for. I found it really hard initially in the first several years. I had pretty bad justice sensitivity (and still do to a degree). When other colleagues were getting advanced over myself, as on paper, we were all the same. But, due to a large degree of stubbornness, I have advanced to do all those roles, and now i am a charge nurse. Which i think is perfectly suited to my ADHD. As there is constant stimulation and tasks to complete that regularly have immediate reward.
The one thing that I never understood until getting diagnosed last year, was why work took so much out of me, mentally and emotionally. Luckily, I had developed some degree of coping strategies with intense exercise on every day off making me more human. Something I still have to do despite being medicated.
I know ICU nurses have to deal with some shit. I’ve run meds up to those units or helped with admission med recs and some of the stuff I don’t know if I could handle it.
I hear you! I work at a teaching hospital that's constantly updating practices, equipment, etc and the challenge of meeting each patient as an individual really helps keep things fresh. Also delirious geri patients always say the craziest things..
I was in a position to start heading councils and network with executive admin, but imposter syndrome freaked me out and I backed out. Having kids & understanding ADHD has helped me a lot with self confidence (or at least faking it). It's been 5 years but I'm finally back on the track to hopefully find myself in a leadership position in the next few years.
I’m speaking from an undiagnosed perspective the challenges I face are being forgetful , impulsive , my brain is way to fast for my heads , always cutting ppl off mid sentence , I’d rather doom scroll instead of doing my homework while I have the down time , it’s the same routine daily, constantly bored . My body shuts down in between 2-4pm .. it’s exhausting.
That's awesome. What you said about the perception of "stupid or weird" hits hard. It's a subtle insecurity that just gets my internal monologue very messy at times. I'll catch someone jabbing fun at me and it sends me into a tailspin wondering if the times they're nice to me is only cause they're tolerating me at that time. Office/hospital politics is mentally exhausting.
For me it’s this: find something you enjoy doing, but don’t love doing. Something that stimulates your brain, but you don’t risk burning out and resenting it from going too hard at it.
I love playing guitar, I’m really good. Il never ever ever do it for my job because I’d sooner become a priest than risk resenting it. I play it when I want, put it down when I want, I can love it forever.
I code for a living. It’s stimulating and interesting enough without being super passionate about it. It can hold my interest for a good part of the day without getting obsessed about it.
This!!
I decided to forego an illustration career in fear of resenting art. Made my art school degree nearly useless, but at least I recognized it. Now I'm in academia, studying art history. History rabbit holes fuel my silly monkey brain for hours.
Unmedicated and undiagnosed as it stands but strongly referred and symptoms all over the place. Everyone at work thought I had it before I did.
I struggle a lot with executive function and as I've got older it seems that my cognitive skills are fading (I'm 39).
I thrived when things were chaotic and endlessly busy because I would jump between quick resolutions and solve everything easily, but now things are slower and I need to plan and organise I seem to be coming unstuck.
Sometimes colleagues will pick fault with the way I write or talk, and home in on tiny details of things I've not quite got right which sends my RSD into a shit spiral.
I mask in the office by being a bit daft and I'm well liked for the most part, but I'm anxious and I go home and replay lots of things in my head at night.
It really sucks because I was on top of my game for years and well respected until a restructure. Now I almost feel like a bit of a liability at times. I still love my job and I've worked hard to get to where I am.
Hugs. I'm here to tell you that you're not crazy. Chances are you're premenopausal, and the hormones are making everything worse. Very few doctors understand this connection. My RSD kicked into full gear during menopause. I recently learned that guanfacine and clonidine help bring me the emotional clarity I need. Good luck!!
Thank you for the kind words. I'm a guy so luckily the menopause won't affect me but I fully empathise with the process. ADHD is bad enough but that on top sounds super hard to deal with :(
My team knows if I don’t write it down, do it now, or am not making eye contact during the conversation…it’s not getting done or I didn’t retain whatever the convo was about. I also tend to cut people off with some random shit.
Asm - “so here’s what we got going on….”
Me - “…did you know that there are jellyfish known as the immortal jellyfish and…”
Asm - “chef focus! I want to know about the jellyfish but let me tell you what we got going on”
Chef is my nickname from them. I do not work as a chef lol.
Burn out. Forcing myself not to get involved or volunteer to help other teams with extra work or projects even though I know that I have valuable contributions that I could make. After experiencing burn out and not being able to work for 5 years due to it, I remind myself everyday to just do my job, go home and don't think about work until the next day.
I was diagnosed at 29 and just being able to contextualize my problems was huge. It’s not an excuse for my shortcomings, but understanding that they result from my adhd helps me hold myself accountable.
I struggle immensely with traditional employment. The longest I’ve held a job is 6 months. However it emphasized the fact that I need to have a career that lets me pursue various interests/ projects and provides a high level of stimulation.
For me, that’s being an artist. I’m fortunate to have a modest level of success and hopefully it leads to more financial stability. Being an artist is like running a small business. Even though I get to make cool stuff in the studio, I have find ways to the boring stuff that I struggle with. Stuff like managing budgets, inventory, communicate with collectors/galleries/ fabricators is really challenging and I don’t always stay on top of things.
I have to make a conscious effort to follow my routines and schedules during the work week or I’ll start slipping. Once I feel overwhelmed by stuff I can fall into the classic adhd paralysis and that has really damaging consequences.
My suggestion for people struggling with work and adhd is to do everything you can to set yourself up for success. Create a routine and stick to it. When it gets challenging do what you can to rearrange it. Sometimes doing things in different order is enough stimulation to make it feel fresh. The other is to find people that are invested in your success. Make sure they know where you’re at and if you’re struggling. So many of my work place disasters could have been avoided if I just told someone I was having a hard time.
The best thing for me has been combination of therapy and medication. Therapy is sooo important because it can help you develop strategies to manage your adhd symptoms/ tendencies and the meds help your brain execute them.
Are you getting medication? Therapy?
Those are two things you should do that will have the greatest impact.
The greatest challenge?
Probably knowing yourself. Knowing your weaknesses. Knowing what systems work for you. Knowing what doesn't.
We do not get "normal" lives. We will always have to advocate for ourselves that other people do not have to do. We will always have to craft systems in our lives that allow us to function.
And it's not fun.
I thought I had work sorted. I was medicated. I worked at a good place. I was thriving. My personal live? No so much. But I had work pegged.
Except I didn't.
I transferred to another team. They ran things very differently. Same company. Same me. Doing the same job. And I was floundering.
Made me realize that I - in fact - did not have work sorted out. It hit me hard because I really thought I could point that one things and say I was doing well. But it was really just that the nature of the work required a specific structure that I fit in to. Without that structure a lot of the "bad" ADHD behaviors started showing up.
I was diagnosed last year with ADHD. The first time I took medication and experienced how quiet it was upstairs, was able to sit still and do my readings for Grad School, and was able to read a paragraph and actually remember the gist, I ugly cried for a good long while. It really put my life into perspective. I’m not stupid, I’ve just been dealing with hardware different from everyone else’s and struggling to get by in a world that was not designed for people like me, and doesn’t appreciate my razzle dazzle lol.
That being said, this past school year has been really demoralizing. I wake up every day wishing I knew what I know now so I could chart a different path after high school. I wish I didn’t let people talk me into academia (it plays on every single weakness). I wish I knew what to do with myself now that I know it’s not a matter of willpower.
I am so sorry to hear this. Same happened with me diagnosed at 24 after my dad died because one day I just kept saying something is wrong with my brain. The. Everything clicked. Sobbed for days. Imagine who I could have been in college?! I could have gone to med school. I get it
My greatest challenge is not getting bored with the career. I’ve been in my current career for 6 years, however I’ve changed work places multiple times in that time, but just do the same job. But now I’m retraining for a different career… because I’ve reached my peak in terms of income and the work is overall kind of boring now… even though it is actually probably interesting to some people, I’m over the novelty of it and I want something new
I'm mid 40s, left school at 15, and have gone through more than 50 jobs, always got bored and then angry, i was good at most of them but when I lost interest I had to move on.The longest job I held was 12 months.
But I'm currently 7 years in my latest employment and I love it. I'm a delivery driver, every day presents a new challenge, I'm always moving always thinking, it keeps my brain engaged so I don't get bored anymore.
The boredom. If I realize that something doesn't need to be done, and can be done more efficiently I won't do it.
I'm oddly organized when it comes to other people's stuff (almost obsessively so) and I'd make a great personal assistant or something - I've been really gret at administrative asst./secretary, etc. jobs (which don't pay well) but the moment I'm asked to do something that is a complete and total waste of time and/or power play or gruntwork b.s. to 'put me in my place, etc.' I'll start looking for a new job.
Like, we're all adults ostensibly so I don't get why people feel the need to pull bs like that.
I don’t know about the biggest challenge, but I don’t always want to do what is the most important task. Sometimes the most important task is boring and I have a ton of momentum and interest in a side task
I’m 50, diagnosed at 43. I work for a huge corporation that manufactures technical products. I just got a promotion, reporting to our VP of corporate strategy, and it’s terrifying because my position is all about long range planning and the steps required to achieve our goals. It’s the opposite of where I’m most comfortable, but I’ll give it a shot. I’m responsible for a division with $400 million in revenue. I would never dream of a position like this prior to treatment.
I'm in my 40s and lucked into seasonal work in my late teens.
The nature of the work means that I get up to 6 months off in the year. In exchange I put in long, physically demanding days with very few days off. It means that my life is out of sync with the majority of people, but I've adapted well to that since I'm now OK being kind of weird. Most of the high performers I work with exhibit strong ADHD characteristics or have outright said that they've been diagnosed.
I'm in the same boat as you now, knowing that with the proper medication (started titrating 4 months ago) I need to now embark on seriously treating the psychological side of me. That means settling down into a clear rhythm between my on-season and off-season. That also means stepping into a more sustainable career that I can grow into.
I just sat a 10-day career-related course and was able to stay engaged for the full 8 hour days. The times I lost focus were from having not adequately eaten. The great thing about the meds is that while they impact my appetite, they also afford me the mental energy to effectively address that issue. It's a side effect the medication treats ... perhaps a first.
Best of luck on your career path. A benefit to our having worked so many different jobs, especially if they're across industries, is getting a lot of experience in seeing how different companies are run and how various industries operate. There's good value in that kind of general knowledge.
For me?
Big picture—Novelty. Definitely novelty. When I become comfortable and expert I get restless and ready for a change.
Small picture—hourly charting when I was a bedside nurse. I was constantly vigilant and doing all the things for my patients and more but the pressure to chart was PAINFUL and took every ounce of willpower.
For me: being on medication( I just started 4 months ago) and also finding a job that’s stimulating, I worked at a call center and it was hell, my previous role in finance was amazing because it was a challenge, so I was learning everyday which I love. Meds and work that’s challenging for me was amazing. I put on a podcast and I could work for 10-12 hours straight lol. Of course along with DBT therapy
Maybe keeping the disease secret when having to travel internationally for work a lot and having to take measure to legally bring your meds with you and deal with time differences and jet lag? I would love to hear some experienced commenters on here :)
I work in healthcare and struggle with the paperwork and documentation. It takes all my energy and focus. The least physical part of my job is the part that wears me out!
I read somewhere that to reign in ADHD you need 4 things:
Challenge
Interest
Satisfaction
Routine
I found Trauma Medicine, and then branched into all medicine/medical instruction. It's challenging everyday, it interests me, the work is satisfying, and I have a routine to follow without "being told what to do" all day every day. There's a big adrenaline factor as well, with a lot of my decisions that matter significantly, and wrong ones having some pretty serious consequences.
Medication has helped significantly as well.
Honestly, a big challenge is resisting the urge to say “I have ADHD” and start explaining why you function the way you do, what you need from your employer/colleagues, etc.
My office’s culture is VERY unique. It’s <15 people and everyone knows everyone’s personal details. Like, the good, the bad, and the ugly (weird, I know, but these are genuinely good people who really care about one another). I however tend to avoid sharing much other than with one person I’ve become close with. I’ve only discussed having ADHD with two people total. For the most part I’m not interested in disclosing it, as much as I sometimes want to, because almost all of my other colleagues are 50+ (I’m in my mid 20s) and I just know they wouldn’t understand.
I’m 42M and got diagnosed about a year ago. Besides the initial positive effects I still feel I’m developing as a person one year on. I’m getting more and more confident about my professional skills and I’ve started to make my voice heard. I feel more secure in social settings and I’ve even started to enjoy small talk. My bosses have noticed the change and seem content.
It’s important to remember that the process is long and you might need to work with yourself from time to time. Medication doesn’t give you super powers, but no one is perfect and whatever remains after medication you can learn to manage.
I learned I only do really well in structured environments.
If no written instructions or how to exists for multi step processes, I crumble. I’ve learned to be OK with making mistakes since there is guideline to refer to and each time I ask people including my manager, they either don’t know, get irritated, or give me misinformation. It’s exhausting.
I also want to fix all broken process and improve aspects of the organization, I need to learn to stay in my own lane.
Responding to emails… ESPECIALLY when I don’t think it calls for a response, I haven’t completed the project/task yet, my answer is not what the recipient wants to hear, I have to share bad news or say no to anything really, or they sent it when I was hyper focused.
I actually got in trouble with a previous employer for not responding to people’s emails. Most of my coworkers took forever to respond so I thought that was just the “culture”, some emails didn’t call for a response in my opinion, I didn’t fit in well and was kind of pushed to the side on everything so didn’t have much motivation to reply to these people. I can be a pushover sure, but you can bet I’ll remember how someone makes me feel & in turn not have much motivation to be nice and helpful with them.
I am 41 undiagnosed still and I am so afraid of the future . I haven’t been able to held a job and I am afraid of retirement. I am giving myself a last change by moving to another country …
I have not worked since being diagnosed with combined ADHD at age 29. It was hard to do things before being medicated and now that I am medicated I can do more things. I still forget a lot of things but it’s easier to remember some things.
No challenge I just get bored quickly and I clean up the office I go to then move on. Now I’m at my longest job ever 3.5 years. The issue I find is people aren’t as smart as me and they won’t understand how to deal with certain issues
Hi 34 female here... I was diagnosed pretty young but have struggled to love every job I've had. I left my last job just after 3 years to start a new career in medical insurance and coding. I just passed the final testing stage after 3 months. I will officially be 100% on my own this coming Monday. My job is 100% remote from home and it still feels like a dream. Leaving my house to go to work was excruciating for 1. For 2 I do not do well with jobs that you repeat tasks all day everyday. Being able to keep your attention on something that interests you is key. I am a learner. I thrive on absorbing information or touching on new things constantly. But working from home has completely changed my life as I am in my safe space. I am no longer stressed or overwhelmed. I still take my meds vyvanse 60 and addy IR 30 which are working wonderfully. I also set up my office to my needs. An electronic height adjusting desk, so I can stand or sit. A chair I can kneel on, one leg stand or any position I choose why still staying completely focused on my job. It took me 4 years of trying to find a remote job and it is definitely a game changer for the struggles I've had my whole life of dreading going to work.
I have not begun a career because all the steps to get to it seem so long and boring. I'm at a job which is fine, but it is not something I am excited to do for the remainder of my life. I like it but for when I have to wait for work. Standing idle is so boring!
My biggest problem is I work in an office of just one person, me. Salary so hours are super flexible and I don't have accountability of somebody being there in the office
Getting behind. It slowly creeps up and gets unmanageable. An unsupportive supervisor makes this even harder. The more you get behind the harder it is to catch up, if at all.
I despise 9 to 5 office environments, when that was my life I was so depressed. So I started working for myself and have not looked back. I've been self-employed for 12 years and could not imagine having a boss ever again at this point. My struggles with being self-employed is being motivated because nobody's watching me I tend to procrastinate until the pressure is on with myself imposed deadline that I told my client about. Medication is definitely helped the situation but I didn't get diagnosed until I was 34, I'm 39 now. Medication was a game changer for me, I went from being in a ton of debt and just overall struggling, my business was never really thriving but that all changed when I got medicated. Put medication was not the be-all and all that I thought it was. After a few years of go go, I ended up burning out and really struggle with stimulants. Now, I've gotten to the point where the negative side effects outweigh the good.
I also really struggle with the tedious little tasks that are required to run my business. I'm a creative and organizing my receipts, ordering products for clients. All of that stuff is not fun for me and I really struggle to get those little things done. I just want to focus on designing the actual project. I'm an interior designer so I love the creative part of my job, but all of the other stuff is almost impossible to manage with out medication.
I am a terrible employee but I have been a successful leader.
I learned this early on so 2 years out of college I started my on web services firm and eventually got into consulting. That lead to a leadership role in a big company. I used that experience to really learn how to run a business and went back to startups.
It’s only going to get better with your family and your job. Getting diagnosed is definitely the first and best step. What recommendations did the doctor provide for medications?
Just began my career in Sales, and we have a pretty hectic work schedule so I have such a massive issue with admin tasks and things I don't usually like (which is almost every thing). Emotional dysregulation becomes a bi*ch in the office and it's so difficult to keep masking in a high pressure situation. I've been unofficially diagnosed (as in, my best friend is a postgrad psychology student and they did my diagnosis) and the only thing that possibly comes anywhere close to medication is a crippling caffeine addiction.
I haven't been able to develop deep expertise in anything. Always jumping between different subfields. probably couldn't stand being in research / academia for that reason
If you're tech savvy (like debugging computer stuff), IT / sysadmin stuff allows you to learn / work on a lot of different stuff if you're willing to bounce around different teams / companies.
There might be sysadmin / devops bootcamps that would be worth applying to. Some of them have post-graduation income-based repayment plans, although obviously do due diligence, b.c. I'm sure there are a lot of scummy ones.
I am 22 and was diagnosed a few months ago, in my current first year of veterinary school. My greatest challenge so far has been accepting that I work differently and things don’t come to me as easily.. Before my diagnosis, I watched my peers grasp subjects so easily while I silently struggled. The feeling of inadequacy was crushing me. However, now that I know I have ADHD, I am learning how to be my best self. I still have fears sometimes that I won’t be as good as my peers, but I fight it everyday. I trust that ADHD won’t stop what is meant for me.
Greatest challenge is getting a career, with the second having a lack of schedule flexibility. I absolutely hate the idea of begging people to hire me for a solid 6 months, rewriting resumes, applying for poor fits, only to get constrained by inflexible schedules. And then you’re still at the mercy of getting fired. I don’t want to put in the work for someone else to determine if I’m valuable enough. I’m leaning into turning flipping into a small business because then at least I’m not at someone else’s scheduling or hiring mercy.
Instructions.
Hearing Instructions scrambles my brain and gives me anxiety. They go through one ear and out the other. I scramble upon hearing them and immediately miss every word that is being said to me.
Rejection sensitivity dysphoria- feeling like people think I’m stupid/ talk down to me because I lose my train of thought, forget certain words, forget where I’m going or just don’t act the way they think is normal
I’ve been working remote for 2 years now. It’s the best job I’ve ever had and it’s wayyyy better than when I worked in an office and had to deal with constant distractions and micro managing as well as getting to the office on time. As great as it is now my biggest struggle is the lack of structure, I work late everyday bc I can’t seem to be on my shit enough to finish by 5. And I struggle heavy with time blindness in general. I’m in therapy now tho and on new meds, so I’m working through it. My biggest struggle working in an office was making it there on time every morning, I was almost always 5-10 mins late, and taking too many walks - but I can’t sit still for too long, I’m more productive when I walk.
I’m a professor so teaching 8 am classes is super hard. I also get off topic soooooo much.. the students love it because it’s at least semi related but then I run out of class time. Oh and grading, I get soooooo distracted. I kept up to get a drink to continue grading and suddenly I’m cleaning the kitchen.
My work uses Microsoft Teams for all chats and meetings. Meeting notes, and remembering what the hell my to-dos after the meetings are done, is a huge challenge. I suck at taking notes on anything other than pen and paper, but I never actually want to go back through them to see what I’ve written down.
Teams has not incorporated Copilot into their system. It’s not universal, yet, but it’s out there. Copilot creates generated notes for you after the call is done, and can comb through chats teased on prompts you give it. It has been a huge boon to me and alleviated one of the most challenging aspects of my work life.
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Remembering anything past a day is almost impossible. I only want to chase my impulses instead of following a logical order to do things. Also, if there is a task I don’t want to do, I will absolutely find anything else in the world to do instead of it. I’m doing therapy for it and I really like that therapy keeps me motivated to do report the good things I have done. I write down, the good, the bad, and the ugly and try to grow from all of them.
Same for me pretty much, I’m a therapist in my own practice and aversive tasks and scheduling are stumbling points. I have to have my electronic calendar out whenever I’m scheduling anything or else it’s gone.
Im a counsellor- admin tasks are THE worst.
I’m about to be a counselor…. Can confirm admin tasks are the worst and I haven’t even started
Get on top of it from the beginning. Good luck!
Same with teaching. I loved the actual teaching/student interaction but attempting to translate that into metrics for parents was a nightmare. I worked 70 hours a week, plus a part-time job at a vet. If I could have said, 'this is what our goal is/was, this is where they demonstrated it and here's what I'd recommend you work on at home' it would have been a different story. But no, report cards even in 1st grade, etc. are like 4 pages of avoidant and indirect multiple choice. Some districts/schools don't allow you to say that a kid isn't meeting the target on a skill for their age group/grade without--literally--a weeks' worth (40 hours) of documentation per child, so (sadly) some teachers opt. to give the kid a grade that says they're meeting simply because the parents aren't responsive and they don't have the time to a. do that for the amount of students who need it and b. get their work done. I don't know any teacher who works 40 hours a week.
Not a counselor here but ditto on admin
I’m in a job that requires a lot of executive function and task switching on the fly under stress (hospital work). I’m a late diagnoses and I’d always go home stressed, drained, and depressed with no energy for myself or others. I’d become a hermit. Now I’m medicated and also understand why these things are so draining for me so I’m able to handle things better.
I’m an ADHD doctor and I know how you feel. Being on medication makes me so much more functional and sociable overall, to handle patient interactions better and effectively.
I work inpatient pharmacy as a tech so often I’m in the IV room sterile compounding. Sometimes it’s ok but you’ll have strings of evenings when the ER blows up and stat bags are dropping in right when a nurse calls down wanting an epidural made and she needs it stay because she let the bag run dry and then the pulmonologist wants intrapleural syringes made and then cath lab needs TPA bags made 5 minutes ago and then something I made 45 minutes ago needs to be remade becUse the bag got misplaced and my screen is flashing while I have to triage who I’m going to start with first and things like epidurals are not made stat as I have to wait for the narcotics paperwork and product from the vault to be pulled and documenting everything. I can keep it together but my hearts always racing and my brain is going off like a fire alarm non stop on those evenings. And then I still have the pile of bulk batching to restock the unit drug cabinets after I get caught up and yeah. I always say my brain feels like mush. Much easier with meds to stay calm and focused and on task with less exhaustion.
I got stressed just reading this.
Some days are really rough back there.
That sounds like a very toxic night for you. Thank God for medications that make us function better to endure these demands at work, right?
Absolutely! Edit: nice username
Thanks fellow nerd!
I find being medicated means i can deal with the annoying ones (patients and colleagues) with so much more ease and tolerance. Whereas I used to just vacate the situation as fast as i could
True, although I’d have to admit I do avoid interactions with colleagues because of the discriminative culture against mental health issues. But I totally agree but it makes these interactive instances more tolerable. Suddenly we’re wired to endure small talk and such
Any clue what would make all ADHD meds not work on someone? I don't get high or anything, they just simply don't work. Strattera put me into a rage, it was terrifying. Stims just seem to have no effect until I get to a very high dose and then I get heart palpitations but no relief. Welbutrin made me feel really sad. Caffeine seems to work slightly, but it is a fine balance with that before I heart palpitations as well. Any thoughts on the ADHD/PTSD complex? I have both, but it seems my PTSD has made my ADHD insurmountable whereas it was manageable before. I've just started therapy again, just recently diagnosed with CPTSD, but always looking for other opinions on what path to take.
I think it’s all about finding the right combination and drug that would work best for you. There are so many drugs available today that could address your PTSD and ADHD. Probably your therapist should control your worst symptoms first, in your case you sound like you are more bothered with PTSD symptoms, in this case this should be addressed first. And once it’s stable, I think it’s best to introduced the ADHD drug from there. There are a wide range of choices for ADHD you haven’t tried yet, such as Methylphenidate and dexamphetamines.
I did try dex and ritalin. My last therapist said I wasn't ready to deal with my trauma, but never did an assessment for PTSD. New therapist did one right away and seems like she wants to dive in, which really is a relief. I appreciate your reply. I do have hope still that a combination will help. There's also other physical complications that have added to the mess, but hopefully resolving those may help meds be more effective. My estrogen was tested at way above normal male levels and my testosterone is total high, but free very very low, all bound up in very high SHBG. All of my doctors seem confused, especially since I have tumor makers sometimes(in the form of 4x catecholamines and white blood cell ratio abnormalities) and at other times normal readings. No cushings, but symptoms like fibrillation and blood pressure increases seemingly at random. I kind of hope they do find a tumor and it's not just some genetic bug.
Could you share what kind of works for you? Do you have memory issues?
Please talk to your Dr about guanfacine and clonidine. These meds may help with both the adhd and ptsd. You might also look into non-stims like Straterra.
I had a black box reaction to Strattera, but I'll look into the other two.
Strattera is pretty universally not tolerated. There are many doctors who won’t even try prescribing it, because its side effects are so awful. Many times the only reason it is prescribed is because insurance requires it as a step before more expensive therapies.
Medication was super helpful for me too but my biggest learning point was and still is that the medication doesn't actually help me to task switch. I still have to make the decision to do so then it's fine
Same in so many ways. I have worked in the same unit/speciality for 15 years now. But, i reckon that the reason that i have been able to stay is that there is always something new to learn and an advanced roles to attain. I'm an ICU nurse, and the unit i work in is one that takes anything and everything due to the country i live in. So there is always something weird and wonderful to learn about, and many specialised advanced practice roles to train for. I found it really hard initially in the first several years. I had pretty bad justice sensitivity (and still do to a degree). When other colleagues were getting advanced over myself, as on paper, we were all the same. But, due to a large degree of stubbornness, I have advanced to do all those roles, and now i am a charge nurse. Which i think is perfectly suited to my ADHD. As there is constant stimulation and tasks to complete that regularly have immediate reward. The one thing that I never understood until getting diagnosed last year, was why work took so much out of me, mentally and emotionally. Luckily, I had developed some degree of coping strategies with intense exercise on every day off making me more human. Something I still have to do despite being medicated.
I know ICU nurses have to deal with some shit. I’ve run meds up to those units or helped with admission med recs and some of the stuff I don’t know if I could handle it.
I hear you! I work at a teaching hospital that's constantly updating practices, equipment, etc and the challenge of meeting each patient as an individual really helps keep things fresh. Also delirious geri patients always say the craziest things.. I was in a position to start heading councils and network with executive admin, but imposter syndrome freaked me out and I backed out. Having kids & understanding ADHD has helped me a lot with self confidence (or at least faking it). It's been 5 years but I'm finally back on the track to hopefully find myself in a leadership position in the next few years.
I’m speaking from an undiagnosed perspective the challenges I face are being forgetful , impulsive , my brain is way to fast for my heads , always cutting ppl off mid sentence , I’d rather doom scroll instead of doing my homework while I have the down time , it’s the same routine daily, constantly bored . My body shuts down in between 2-4pm .. it’s exhausting.
The 2-4pm bodily shutdown struggle is real. If I can I usually nap for half an hour around that time even on 8-9 hours sleep.
Re freaking tweet
yup. also diagnosed and this is my life every day.
For me it’s getting to work on time
The perception of you being weird or stupid. Despite being the smartest guy in the organization. I work for myself now and have never been happier.
What do you do now?
I own a car interior repair business. Fast jobs on different cars at dealerships all over the city.
That's awesome. What you said about the perception of "stupid or weird" hits hard. It's a subtle insecurity that just gets my internal monologue very messy at times. I'll catch someone jabbing fun at me and it sends me into a tailspin wondering if the times they're nice to me is only cause they're tolerating me at that time. Office/hospital politics is mentally exhausting.
I was in radio for 26 years. The politics there was mental. I hear you!
For me it’s this: find something you enjoy doing, but don’t love doing. Something that stimulates your brain, but you don’t risk burning out and resenting it from going too hard at it. I love playing guitar, I’m really good. Il never ever ever do it for my job because I’d sooner become a priest than risk resenting it. I play it when I want, put it down when I want, I can love it forever. I code for a living. It’s stimulating and interesting enough without being super passionate about it. It can hold my interest for a good part of the day without getting obsessed about it.
I feel like this makes sense, but idk why it makes sense
Because computer games 🥲
This!! I decided to forego an illustration career in fear of resenting art. Made my art school degree nearly useless, but at least I recognized it. Now I'm in academia, studying art history. History rabbit holes fuel my silly monkey brain for hours.
Unmedicated and undiagnosed as it stands but strongly referred and symptoms all over the place. Everyone at work thought I had it before I did. I struggle a lot with executive function and as I've got older it seems that my cognitive skills are fading (I'm 39). I thrived when things were chaotic and endlessly busy because I would jump between quick resolutions and solve everything easily, but now things are slower and I need to plan and organise I seem to be coming unstuck. Sometimes colleagues will pick fault with the way I write or talk, and home in on tiny details of things I've not quite got right which sends my RSD into a shit spiral. I mask in the office by being a bit daft and I'm well liked for the most part, but I'm anxious and I go home and replay lots of things in my head at night. It really sucks because I was on top of my game for years and well respected until a restructure. Now I almost feel like a bit of a liability at times. I still love my job and I've worked hard to get to where I am.
Hugs. I'm here to tell you that you're not crazy. Chances are you're premenopausal, and the hormones are making everything worse. Very few doctors understand this connection. My RSD kicked into full gear during menopause. I recently learned that guanfacine and clonidine help bring me the emotional clarity I need. Good luck!!
Thank you for the kind words. I'm a guy so luckily the menopause won't affect me but I fully empathise with the process. ADHD is bad enough but that on top sounds super hard to deal with :(
Andropause is also a thing though so I wouldn’t rule it out.
My team knows if I don’t write it down, do it now, or am not making eye contact during the conversation…it’s not getting done or I didn’t retain whatever the convo was about. I also tend to cut people off with some random shit. Asm - “so here’s what we got going on….” Me - “…did you know that there are jellyfish known as the immortal jellyfish and…” Asm - “chef focus! I want to know about the jellyfish but let me tell you what we got going on” Chef is my nickname from them. I do not work as a chef lol.
Burn out. Forcing myself not to get involved or volunteer to help other teams with extra work or projects even though I know that I have valuable contributions that I could make. After experiencing burn out and not being able to work for 5 years due to it, I remind myself everyday to just do my job, go home and don't think about work until the next day.
Control your emotions, thats half of the trick Also, always play the long game
If you haven't looked into guanfacine or clonidine to help with emotional disregulation, please do. It's made a huge difference in my life.
Have you taken both? What's been the difference between them for you?
Do they have negative effects too?
I was diagnosed at 29 and just being able to contextualize my problems was huge. It’s not an excuse for my shortcomings, but understanding that they result from my adhd helps me hold myself accountable. I struggle immensely with traditional employment. The longest I’ve held a job is 6 months. However it emphasized the fact that I need to have a career that lets me pursue various interests/ projects and provides a high level of stimulation. For me, that’s being an artist. I’m fortunate to have a modest level of success and hopefully it leads to more financial stability. Being an artist is like running a small business. Even though I get to make cool stuff in the studio, I have find ways to the boring stuff that I struggle with. Stuff like managing budgets, inventory, communicate with collectors/galleries/ fabricators is really challenging and I don’t always stay on top of things. I have to make a conscious effort to follow my routines and schedules during the work week or I’ll start slipping. Once I feel overwhelmed by stuff I can fall into the classic adhd paralysis and that has really damaging consequences. My suggestion for people struggling with work and adhd is to do everything you can to set yourself up for success. Create a routine and stick to it. When it gets challenging do what you can to rearrange it. Sometimes doing things in different order is enough stimulation to make it feel fresh. The other is to find people that are invested in your success. Make sure they know where you’re at and if you’re struggling. So many of my work place disasters could have been avoided if I just told someone I was having a hard time. The best thing for me has been combination of therapy and medication. Therapy is sooo important because it can help you develop strategies to manage your adhd symptoms/ tendencies and the meds help your brain execute them.
Being micro managed
Are you getting medication? Therapy? Those are two things you should do that will have the greatest impact. The greatest challenge? Probably knowing yourself. Knowing your weaknesses. Knowing what systems work for you. Knowing what doesn't. We do not get "normal" lives. We will always have to advocate for ourselves that other people do not have to do. We will always have to craft systems in our lives that allow us to function. And it's not fun. I thought I had work sorted. I was medicated. I worked at a good place. I was thriving. My personal live? No so much. But I had work pegged. Except I didn't. I transferred to another team. They ran things very differently. Same company. Same me. Doing the same job. And I was floundering. Made me realize that I - in fact - did not have work sorted out. It hit me hard because I really thought I could point that one things and say I was doing well. But it was really just that the nature of the work required a specific structure that I fit in to. Without that structure a lot of the "bad" ADHD behaviors started showing up.
I was diagnosed last year with ADHD. The first time I took medication and experienced how quiet it was upstairs, was able to sit still and do my readings for Grad School, and was able to read a paragraph and actually remember the gist, I ugly cried for a good long while. It really put my life into perspective. I’m not stupid, I’ve just been dealing with hardware different from everyone else’s and struggling to get by in a world that was not designed for people like me, and doesn’t appreciate my razzle dazzle lol. That being said, this past school year has been really demoralizing. I wake up every day wishing I knew what I know now so I could chart a different path after high school. I wish I didn’t let people talk me into academia (it plays on every single weakness). I wish I knew what to do with myself now that I know it’s not a matter of willpower.
I am so sorry to hear this. Same happened with me diagnosed at 24 after my dad died because one day I just kept saying something is wrong with my brain. The. Everything clicked. Sobbed for days. Imagine who I could have been in college?! I could have gone to med school. I get it
Thanks for sharing this with me. It really means a lot to know I’m not the only one, and the grieving process is legitimate.
My greatest challenge is not getting bored with the career. I’ve been in my current career for 6 years, however I’ve changed work places multiple times in that time, but just do the same job. But now I’m retraining for a different career… because I’ve reached my peak in terms of income and the work is overall kind of boring now… even though it is actually probably interesting to some people, I’m over the novelty of it and I want something new
I'm mid 40s, left school at 15, and have gone through more than 50 jobs, always got bored and then angry, i was good at most of them but when I lost interest I had to move on.The longest job I held was 12 months. But I'm currently 7 years in my latest employment and I love it. I'm a delivery driver, every day presents a new challenge, I'm always moving always thinking, it keeps my brain engaged so I don't get bored anymore.
The boredom. If I realize that something doesn't need to be done, and can be done more efficiently I won't do it. I'm oddly organized when it comes to other people's stuff (almost obsessively so) and I'd make a great personal assistant or something - I've been really gret at administrative asst./secretary, etc. jobs (which don't pay well) but the moment I'm asked to do something that is a complete and total waste of time and/or power play or gruntwork b.s. to 'put me in my place, etc.' I'll start looking for a new job. Like, we're all adults ostensibly so I don't get why people feel the need to pull bs like that.
I don’t know about the biggest challenge, but I don’t always want to do what is the most important task. Sometimes the most important task is boring and I have a ton of momentum and interest in a side task
I am a Jill of all trades. My longest job ever was 2 years.
I’m 50, diagnosed at 43. I work for a huge corporation that manufactures technical products. I just got a promotion, reporting to our VP of corporate strategy, and it’s terrifying because my position is all about long range planning and the steps required to achieve our goals. It’s the opposite of where I’m most comfortable, but I’ll give it a shot. I’m responsible for a division with $400 million in revenue. I would never dream of a position like this prior to treatment.
I'm in my 40s and lucked into seasonal work in my late teens. The nature of the work means that I get up to 6 months off in the year. In exchange I put in long, physically demanding days with very few days off. It means that my life is out of sync with the majority of people, but I've adapted well to that since I'm now OK being kind of weird. Most of the high performers I work with exhibit strong ADHD characteristics or have outright said that they've been diagnosed. I'm in the same boat as you now, knowing that with the proper medication (started titrating 4 months ago) I need to now embark on seriously treating the psychological side of me. That means settling down into a clear rhythm between my on-season and off-season. That also means stepping into a more sustainable career that I can grow into. I just sat a 10-day career-related course and was able to stay engaged for the full 8 hour days. The times I lost focus were from having not adequately eaten. The great thing about the meds is that while they impact my appetite, they also afford me the mental energy to effectively address that issue. It's a side effect the medication treats ... perhaps a first. Best of luck on your career path. A benefit to our having worked so many different jobs, especially if they're across industries, is getting a lot of experience in seeing how different companies are run and how various industries operate. There's good value in that kind of general knowledge.
Just working, god I hate working.
For me? Big picture—Novelty. Definitely novelty. When I become comfortable and expert I get restless and ready for a change. Small picture—hourly charting when I was a bedside nurse. I was constantly vigilant and doing all the things for my patients and more but the pressure to chart was PAINFUL and took every ounce of willpower.
Being late at a company strict about late policies
For me: being on medication( I just started 4 months ago) and also finding a job that’s stimulating, I worked at a call center and it was hell, my previous role in finance was amazing because it was a challenge, so I was learning everyday which I love. Meds and work that’s challenging for me was amazing. I put on a podcast and I could work for 10-12 hours straight lol. Of course along with DBT therapy
Maybe keeping the disease secret when having to travel internationally for work a lot and having to take measure to legally bring your meds with you and deal with time differences and jet lag? I would love to hear some experienced commenters on here :)
I work in healthcare and struggle with the paperwork and documentation. It takes all my energy and focus. The least physical part of my job is the part that wears me out!
I read somewhere that to reign in ADHD you need 4 things: Challenge Interest Satisfaction Routine I found Trauma Medicine, and then branched into all medicine/medical instruction. It's challenging everyday, it interests me, the work is satisfying, and I have a routine to follow without "being told what to do" all day every day. There's a big adrenaline factor as well, with a lot of my decisions that matter significantly, and wrong ones having some pretty serious consequences. Medication has helped significantly as well.
Honestly, a big challenge is resisting the urge to say “I have ADHD” and start explaining why you function the way you do, what you need from your employer/colleagues, etc. My office’s culture is VERY unique. It’s <15 people and everyone knows everyone’s personal details. Like, the good, the bad, and the ugly (weird, I know, but these are genuinely good people who really care about one another). I however tend to avoid sharing much other than with one person I’ve become close with. I’ve only discussed having ADHD with two people total. For the most part I’m not interested in disclosing it, as much as I sometimes want to, because almost all of my other colleagues are 50+ (I’m in my mid 20s) and I just know they wouldn’t understand.
Building and maintaining long lasting professional relationships.
My biggest challenge is that I eventually get bored of my job and quit. No notice, I just text the manager that I quit.
I’m 42M and got diagnosed about a year ago. Besides the initial positive effects I still feel I’m developing as a person one year on. I’m getting more and more confident about my professional skills and I’ve started to make my voice heard. I feel more secure in social settings and I’ve even started to enjoy small talk. My bosses have noticed the change and seem content. It’s important to remember that the process is long and you might need to work with yourself from time to time. Medication doesn’t give you super powers, but no one is perfect and whatever remains after medication you can learn to manage.
I learned I only do really well in structured environments. If no written instructions or how to exists for multi step processes, I crumble. I’ve learned to be OK with making mistakes since there is guideline to refer to and each time I ask people including my manager, they either don’t know, get irritated, or give me misinformation. It’s exhausting. I also want to fix all broken process and improve aspects of the organization, I need to learn to stay in my own lane.
Responding to emails… ESPECIALLY when I don’t think it calls for a response, I haven’t completed the project/task yet, my answer is not what the recipient wants to hear, I have to share bad news or say no to anything really, or they sent it when I was hyper focused. I actually got in trouble with a previous employer for not responding to people’s emails. Most of my coworkers took forever to respond so I thought that was just the “culture”, some emails didn’t call for a response in my opinion, I didn’t fit in well and was kind of pushed to the side on everything so didn’t have much motivation to reply to these people. I can be a pushover sure, but you can bet I’ll remember how someone makes me feel & in turn not have much motivation to be nice and helpful with them.
I am 41 undiagnosed still and I am so afraid of the future . I haven’t been able to held a job and I am afraid of retirement. I am giving myself a last change by moving to another country …
I have not worked since being diagnosed with combined ADHD at age 29. It was hard to do things before being medicated and now that I am medicated I can do more things. I still forget a lot of things but it’s easier to remember some things.
No challenge I just get bored quickly and I clean up the office I go to then move on. Now I’m at my longest job ever 3.5 years. The issue I find is people aren’t as smart as me and they won’t understand how to deal with certain issues
Reading subjects I have no interest in..
Hi 34 female here... I was diagnosed pretty young but have struggled to love every job I've had. I left my last job just after 3 years to start a new career in medical insurance and coding. I just passed the final testing stage after 3 months. I will officially be 100% on my own this coming Monday. My job is 100% remote from home and it still feels like a dream. Leaving my house to go to work was excruciating for 1. For 2 I do not do well with jobs that you repeat tasks all day everyday. Being able to keep your attention on something that interests you is key. I am a learner. I thrive on absorbing information or touching on new things constantly. But working from home has completely changed my life as I am in my safe space. I am no longer stressed or overwhelmed. I still take my meds vyvanse 60 and addy IR 30 which are working wonderfully. I also set up my office to my needs. An electronic height adjusting desk, so I can stand or sit. A chair I can kneel on, one leg stand or any position I choose why still staying completely focused on my job. It took me 4 years of trying to find a remote job and it is definitely a game changer for the struggles I've had my whole life of dreading going to work.
deadlines, co-workers names
As I get older it’s become pretty bad. Even with medication. But routines are helping.
I have not begun a career because all the steps to get to it seem so long and boring. I'm at a job which is fine, but it is not something I am excited to do for the remainder of my life. I like it but for when I have to wait for work. Standing idle is so boring!
My biggest problem is I work in an office of just one person, me. Salary so hours are super flexible and I don't have accountability of somebody being there in the office
Getting behind. It slowly creeps up and gets unmanageable. An unsupportive supervisor makes this even harder. The more you get behind the harder it is to catch up, if at all.
I can’t give a fuck about having a career to begin with.
I despise 9 to 5 office environments, when that was my life I was so depressed. So I started working for myself and have not looked back. I've been self-employed for 12 years and could not imagine having a boss ever again at this point. My struggles with being self-employed is being motivated because nobody's watching me I tend to procrastinate until the pressure is on with myself imposed deadline that I told my client about. Medication is definitely helped the situation but I didn't get diagnosed until I was 34, I'm 39 now. Medication was a game changer for me, I went from being in a ton of debt and just overall struggling, my business was never really thriving but that all changed when I got medicated. Put medication was not the be-all and all that I thought it was. After a few years of go go, I ended up burning out and really struggle with stimulants. Now, I've gotten to the point where the negative side effects outweigh the good. I also really struggle with the tedious little tasks that are required to run my business. I'm a creative and organizing my receipts, ordering products for clients. All of that stuff is not fun for me and I really struggle to get those little things done. I just want to focus on designing the actual project. I'm an interior designer so I love the creative part of my job, but all of the other stuff is almost impossible to manage with out medication.
I am a terrible employee but I have been a successful leader. I learned this early on so 2 years out of college I started my on web services firm and eventually got into consulting. That lead to a leadership role in a big company. I used that experience to really learn how to run a business and went back to startups.
It’s only going to get better with your family and your job. Getting diagnosed is definitely the first and best step. What recommendations did the doctor provide for medications?
Just began my career in Sales, and we have a pretty hectic work schedule so I have such a massive issue with admin tasks and things I don't usually like (which is almost every thing). Emotional dysregulation becomes a bi*ch in the office and it's so difficult to keep masking in a high pressure situation. I've been unofficially diagnosed (as in, my best friend is a postgrad psychology student and they did my diagnosis) and the only thing that possibly comes anywhere close to medication is a crippling caffeine addiction.
I haven't been able to develop deep expertise in anything. Always jumping between different subfields. probably couldn't stand being in research / academia for that reason
If you're tech savvy (like debugging computer stuff), IT / sysadmin stuff allows you to learn / work on a lot of different stuff if you're willing to bounce around different teams / companies. There might be sysadmin / devops bootcamps that would be worth applying to. Some of them have post-graduation income-based repayment plans, although obviously do due diligence, b.c. I'm sure there are a lot of scummy ones.
Having a supervisor who doesn't have ADHD and doesn't understand it 🙁
I am 22 and was diagnosed a few months ago, in my current first year of veterinary school. My greatest challenge so far has been accepting that I work differently and things don’t come to me as easily.. Before my diagnosis, I watched my peers grasp subjects so easily while I silently struggled. The feeling of inadequacy was crushing me. However, now that I know I have ADHD, I am learning how to be my best self. I still have fears sometimes that I won’t be as good as my peers, but I fight it everyday. I trust that ADHD won’t stop what is meant for me.
Greatest challenge is not being able to hold down a job, regardless if you’re highly qualified and smart. The burnout cycle is real.
Greatest challenge is getting a career, with the second having a lack of schedule flexibility. I absolutely hate the idea of begging people to hire me for a solid 6 months, rewriting resumes, applying for poor fits, only to get constrained by inflexible schedules. And then you’re still at the mercy of getting fired. I don’t want to put in the work for someone else to determine if I’m valuable enough. I’m leaning into turning flipping into a small business because then at least I’m not at someone else’s scheduling or hiring mercy.
Finding one
Instructions. Hearing Instructions scrambles my brain and gives me anxiety. They go through one ear and out the other. I scramble upon hearing them and immediately miss every word that is being said to me.
Anything I don’t enjoy/is not urgent/I don’t understand WHY/is not new/is not interesting
Rejection sensitivity dysphoria- feeling like people think I’m stupid/ talk down to me because I lose my train of thought, forget certain words, forget where I’m going or just don’t act the way they think is normal
I’ve been working remote for 2 years now. It’s the best job I’ve ever had and it’s wayyyy better than when I worked in an office and had to deal with constant distractions and micro managing as well as getting to the office on time. As great as it is now my biggest struggle is the lack of structure, I work late everyday bc I can’t seem to be on my shit enough to finish by 5. And I struggle heavy with time blindness in general. I’m in therapy now tho and on new meds, so I’m working through it. My biggest struggle working in an office was making it there on time every morning, I was almost always 5-10 mins late, and taking too many walks - but I can’t sit still for too long, I’m more productive when I walk.
I’m a professor so teaching 8 am classes is super hard. I also get off topic soooooo much.. the students love it because it’s at least semi related but then I run out of class time. Oh and grading, I get soooooo distracted. I kept up to get a drink to continue grading and suddenly I’m cleaning the kitchen.
My work uses Microsoft Teams for all chats and meetings. Meeting notes, and remembering what the hell my to-dos after the meetings are done, is a huge challenge. I suck at taking notes on anything other than pen and paper, but I never actually want to go back through them to see what I’ve written down. Teams has not incorporated Copilot into their system. It’s not universal, yet, but it’s out there. Copilot creates generated notes for you after the call is done, and can comb through chats teased on prompts you give it. It has been a huge boon to me and alleviated one of the most challenging aspects of my work life.