Day 115 — How to ADHD (on hard mode) and Comorbidities

I have things which I have on my phone which aren't the BEST things to do on my phone (games and social media), and those are all on the second screen, so I have to make the effort to flip to them deliberately. Every so often I delete Facebook off my phone entirely, so I have to open the web-browser and have a more irritating experience :P This also works well with productivity apps which cut off your phone, because if you do it "except for x, y and z", those can all be in one or two icons on the phone, and so you're not either going somewhere you're not supposed to (and getting yelled at by your app), or forgetting what you CAN do (like studying more python code, in my case). AS for comorbidities...my husband has 'diagnosed' me with autism (he has a bachelors in psychology), but other than having that awareness, I have never officially sought out a diagnosis there, unlike ADHD. ADHD felt like something I could DO something about, and something that was stopping me from doing things. Autism... seems more like how I am, and I have learned so many work-arounds for the things which don't come naturally that I don't know if there is much more TO do. It reminds me of that video you did with your roommate back in the day, where she pursued her dyslexia diagnosis, but not one for ADHD. Sometimes things are scarier when we have the official 'label', and sometimes things are more understandable, when we have that outside confirmation. And that's going to differ by personal experience, I guess :P

LadyGrndr(Lacey S)

I am reading Getting Things Done by David Allen and what you said about accomplishing things by breaking them down and not trying to store things in your head he addresses in his book. Boho Berry has a YouTube video about implementing his techniques using her bullet journal and later a productivity app.

Lisa Williams

I love hearing about co-morbidities. I literally had NO IDEA that this was a thing. I knew I had ADHD, diagnosed and all that, but I always just assumed all of my other "quirks" were just me being weird. I thought I just had all these other weird things about me due to ADHD, which in some cases was the truth. But, the truth is all of my extra sensory issues weren't just due to ADHD. I was actually recently diagnosed (as a 28 year old) with Sensory Processing Disorder; the sensory avoiding type. This is something I've always known, of course but just didn't know it had a name. At this point in my life, I've already developed all the coping mechanisms I need to avoid too much sensory input, but it's nice to have a name for it. It's almost like I can finally explain to younger me why I get so overwhelmed in a loud shopping mall, or why touching sandpaper makes me feel physically ill, or why I can eat what I call "squishy" foods without gagging. As an adult, it's much easier to avoid sensory things I don't like because nobody is forcing me to go places or eat foods I don't like, but those issues still exist.

Kayla Groth

I have a couple of observation, however I just wanted you to know that have the same type of issues. On top of the main ADHD (Hyperactivity-impulsivity), I have issues with anxiety and depression. It seems that the natural progression of the success of HowToADHD is causing you to have to deal with more complex issues. In which case, forces you to develop more complex coping skills. I see it as a good thing because it forces you to develop more skills which lets you see how the complexity one might have over time. This in turn helps you produce better videos. You are doing something I learned at work (i.e. forced to actually do). One get better organized, to plan your work and work your plan. I had to document work that I would be up at 2AM doing in the morning. At first, I was resistant to the idea, but found that when things were quiet I thought of things and made a plan to follow (a checklist). Then when I might be half asleep doing the work at 2AM, I had a script to follow and would not miss an impotent step. I really like your idea of grouping things on your phone. I watch people that have pages of icons trying to find the right one. That was a very good idea. I kind of use it on my work computer. It creates less clutter and distractions, so you are not reacting. You are managing your phone and not let it manage you. The final part is I think you and Edward would make great parents. Staying up with the dog being concerned shows a lot of caring. I put in a lot of sleepless nights as my kids grew up. Now whether they remember it and appreciate it I do not know, but I know it matters.

“Comorbidity R.C. Kessler, in International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 2001 The term ‘comorbidity’ was coined by Feinstein (1970) to refer to the situation in which an individual has two or more physical and/or mental illnesses. Comorbidity is clinically important for three reasons. First, some types of comorbidity complicate diagnosis because presenting complaints are a mix of symptoms of different comorbid conditions. Second, some types of comorbidity complicate treatment because standard therapies for one disorder in a comorbid set are contra-indicated for patients with another disorder in the set. Third, some types of comorbid disorders can magnify the functional impairment and adversely influence the course of other conditions.”

How to ADHD