I grew up in a rural Utah town. Here are things I attempted to correct my teachers on while in elementary school with the result of them telling me if I continued to disagree with them I’d be sent to the principals office:

• Evolution does in fact exist and “monkeys aren’t turning into humans today” because that’s not how evolution works.
• There are different methods for multiplying numbers (lattice)
• The amount of protons in an atom is equal to the number of electrons not neutrons. Yes for lighter elements they can be the same but isotopes are a thing (yes this actually happened and the next day we watched a bill nye that said exactly what I was saying. Of course bringing up the fact I was right and she was wrong was not a wise course of action.)
• If the earth was a few feet closer to the sun we would not die. The earth actually is closer and further throughout the year on the scale of a few million miles. (Asserting that this was also not proof of god’s existence was similarly not a wise thing for elementary me to do)
• “Foot zoning” has been debunked and you should tell people to see a real doctor when they feel sick
• Those white homeopathic medicine pills don’t do anything
• If we know how disease spreads and it’s due to human action/choices then it’s not gods punishment because he couldn’t control the spread unless he controls those people.

I’m sure there were more seeing as I frequently had to “pull a card” in nearly every class and most times had no idea why what I said was wrong. There were definitely some on global warming but I don’t remember the specifics.

Anyway, it is almost certain that I would argue some things that were wrong, after all, I was like < 12yo and surrounded by people who would constantly tell me the encyclopedias I read were wrong (I didn’t like chapter books and encyclopedias had pictures) but even then, there still definitely were things I was and still am right about.

And it probably would have been better for my mental health growing up if I hadn’t thought “wow if all these adults believe this thing then it must be true and I must just be an idiot” No past me, you were right, they were wrong. Essential oils are bullshit and definitely don’t cure cancer, animals do feel pain and deserve to be treated with respect, and yes the cult you were raised in makes no sense whatsoever. Basically the entirety of your hometown, and most of your family members are just delusional. You’re not wrong and they don’t just not believe you because you’re a kid, they just don’t believe in evidence, and there’s no evidence one can use to convince people who don’t believe in evidence.

Edit: to clarify, this was a legitimate public elementary school not some weird religious institution. Its just the typical education found in small Mormon towns in Utah.

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“Scary door” from Futurama

It’s a play on the twilight zone and it’s quite something.

“A casino where I’m always winning? This must be heaven!” “A casino where I always win… I must actually be… IN HELL!”

“No Mr. smith. You’re not in heaven or hell. You’re on an airplane!”

“Help! There’s a gremlin destroying the plane! You’ve gotta believe me!”

“Why should I believe you?! You’re Hitler!”

For those interested: The Scary Door

Bro are you actually able to plan and make routines? Because I definitely tried this multiple times only to fail repeatedly until I got meds.

I guess everyone’s ADHD is different, so maybe this works for you and will work for OP, but this kind of advice never worked for me no matter how many times or how hard I tried.

One of the effects of me getting medicated is being able to make phone calls and schedule meetings. Do I still hate that everyone would rather I call and stumble over my words and forget what I’m going to say rather than let me write an email that allows me to clearly and concisely ask my questions? Yes, fuck them for doing that. Hell, it’s stupid and inefficient to try and find times your schedules are both open to have a meeting when you could just write a fucking email and reply to it when your schedule allows. But yeah, anyway, now I actually have enough executive function to make those phone calls and meetings when I have to.

Also here’s a reminder to take your meds because I definitely would have forgotten to take mine if I hadn’t seen this post and remembered.

Holy shit I just had a memory flashback. Did anyone else play a game online that had orbs that looked like this that you had to drag through like a maze without touching the walls and avoiding other obstacles?

Edit: found it, it’s literally called “orb” and it is on coolmathgames

Edit 2: yep just as frustrating as I remember

Bro I know the feeling. I’m still in uni, but I’ll have my life put together, getting homework done on time, cleaning regularly etc. and then there’ll be like something wrong with one of my grades and I procrastinate writing the email to my professor for no reason at all and suddenly I can’t do anything and I get overwhelmed by everything I’m not doing and that just makes me dread doing anything.

Anyway, sorry you’re feeling depressed right now. But if you want my opinion, if it’s impacting your life negatively, I don’t think it matters if someone has it worse than you. If your life could be better, that’s what matters.

Honestly, finding a psychiatrist and setting up the appointment was probably the hardest part of getting medicated. I put it off for multiple years even though I knew that I probably had ADHD, but let me tell you, that first day on my meds, sitting in class and realizing I am actually getting information out of the lecture, it was so weird. Like wow people actually learn things in class? I can actually write emails and make phone calls without having to build up the motivation over several days? I regret not doing it sooner.

Anyway, if you feel like medication would help, once you get your “pinball machine” running again, I think getting diagnosed may be worth a try. You deserve to try and make your life better just as much as others do, even if you don’t have it as bad as they do.

Yeah healthcare is fucked (in the USA at least). But yeah I take them as needed. I’ve been taking them most everyday for a while though because I’m making some major life changes right now. Surprisingly they do help with anxiety and depression too ig. Like I get anxious about doing stuff and then I do the stuff and I’m less anxious.

Tasks seem much less stressful when you know you can actually complete them.

Also, I would try out the Strattera if I were in your position even if you don’t think it will work. Worst case scenario you can say “this isn’t working for me” and maybe get something else, and if that doesn’t work it’s not like you’re worse off for having tried it. But best case scenario it could work! Who knows, it’s possible it could be the best drug for you. Even if it only works a tiny bit that’s still better than nothing yeah?

If you can’t get prescribed meds, I’d probably try caffeine pills. I used to use Bang energy drinks before taking tests before I got medicated. Not the healthiest thing, I bet caffeine pills are probably better, but whatever works right?

Speed. lol

Seriously though, I’m on 15mg adderall (dextrin-amp amphetamine) twice a day. I was on methylphenidate originally (started at 20mg ramped up to 60mg) but it made me kind of sick to my stomach and wore off fast. Upping the dose made it last longer but also made it feel worse physically

Everyone warned me that adderall would be much stronger and have a risk of addiction, but that’s mostly been the opposite of my experience. Even compared to 10mg of methylphenidate it seems softer.

It sits better in my stomach, doesn’t make me as anxious, doesn’t give me a high, and I still have to like force myself to take it. Also I haven’t noticed any withdrawal symptoms when I’ve abruptly stopped taking them.

Only issue is that I’m not hungry and if I take them too late in the day it will keep me awake. But that’s definitely worth the ability to actually do stuff lol

If you get prescribed meds, you’ll probably get methylphenidate and it might work for you. My advice is dont be afraid to ask to try different meds if they aren’t working for you. Everyone is different, some people I know take like combinations of different meds throughout the day. Maybe you’ll be like that or maybe the first meds you try will work perfectly.

But you won’t know till you try and in my opinion it’s better to know a medication doesn’t work than to miss out on something that could vastly improve your life.

Also sorry this is long, I’m kind of just writing stuff I wish someone had told me when I started.

I did not like the idea of needing to take meds everyday. I didn’t want to have to become dependent on medication. I was afraid that I’d get addicted or that it’d be detrimental to my health. But honestly, I’m very very glad I tried this.

Basically none of my fears happened. I don’t need to take my meds everyday, I just know that if I do I’ll probably be more productive. So I take them when I know I have stuff that needs doing that day.

I am not dependent on my meds. I have the opposite problem where I irrationally just don’t want to take them or I procrastinate taking them. I’m not addicted at all.

But the positive effects are there. Even on the meds that made me super anxious and kind of sick I was able to go from the lowest 3% in one of my classes to the top 10% last semester.

Also if you get anxiety from your meds, especially the physical symptoms like rapid heartbeat, beta blockers can help with that. I got prescribed propranolol and even 5mg of it when taken with my meds helped mitigate the whole fight or flight anxiety from my meds.

What’s weird is that now I’m on supposedly stronger meds I haven’t really felt the need to take them much.

Anyway, my advice is to try it out, and if the meds don’t work for you, or if they do but they have enough negative effects that you can’t bring yourself to take them, try to find new ones. Try to find meds or med combinations that work and when you do, it will change your life for the better.

Wow. You just made me realize these meds work lol. It doesn’t feel all that different but yeah the past few weeks I’ve not really done this very much at all. Like how in the fuck have I just been doing all my tasks? And how did I not realize it till just now?

I guess it hasn’t worked on all my tasks. I definitely need to clean my room and do laundry but like my academic tasks and other stuff like accomplishing the plans I make has been super easy.

Also, plans? I’ve just been making plans and I actually remember to look at them. Like it just happens spontaneously now. Weird. Weird shit.

Anyway, here’s a reminder to everyone to take your meds today.

You ever seen gattica? Similar concept

Lately I’ve started forcing myself to do nothing during those moments, like literally nothing. I set a timer for an hour and then turn off my phone and computer and lay down or just sit and kind of stare at a wall.

The boredom is horrible but the good news is that by the end of the hour, usually my mind has come up with a few things it would rather do than nothing.

Also, sometimes I can’t make it the full hour doing nothing but I only let myself do productive/healthy things like reading or doing dishes. It’s not really enjoyable but by the end of the hour it does feel slightly good that I was slightly productive.

Idk if it’ll work for you and idk if I’ll be able to keep doing it, but maybe it’s worth a shot. Tell me how it goes if you try it lol.

“Bender, be careful! Thats the ship’s diamond filament tether. It’s unbreakable!”

“Then why do I have to be careful?”

“It belonged to my grandmother.”

Dark Souls remastered. Getting cursed just before reaching a boss and having no money to buy a cure forced me to either give up, grind, or “get gud.”

I beat the boss without getting hit once. I know other people probably do that for every boss but for me that’s a big achievement since I suck at combat and video games in general.

In other news, the game is hard but beautiful and the level design is pretty impressive. I’m looking forward to marathoning the other souls games after this.

Same lol. Had three group assignments last semester, not fun.

Just because I’m an engineer doesn’t mean I’m autistic!

I mean, I am autistic.

But not because I’m an engineer!

Can’t catch me if I’m 5 parallel dimensions ahead of them! (5D chess with multiverse time travel)

Never read The Great Gatsby?