Just because my drugs aren't prescribed by a doctor doesn't mean they don't work.

Got diagnosed at 45 and got some meds, absolutely life changing

That is until your pharmacy runs out and you have to call 10 other places to find it while falling back on your old coping techniques that are way more work than you realized

Ain't life grand

More and more lately, it's seeming like I might be audhd. 100% agree with meme. Caffeine and a fiery, passionate hatred for the evil world we live in has taken me far

Me until a year ago when I started seeking medical help (still no meds tho)

Ironically I have primarily inattentive ADHD (previously ADD) so youd probably find me spaced out rather than angry

Spite. Don't forget the spite.

I raw dogged for 40 years before getting the help I needed

In my early 20s I was told I was too high functioning for drugs. Now in my late 40s I tried again as I was struggling at my new job, still won't prescribe me drugs unless I'm actually failing at life.

...🤦...

I just got my meds TODAY! After 7 years of trying to get on them again. I miss normal life. Gonna go get it.

Caffeine? For ADHDers? Idk about the rest of you, but that doesn't help me accomplish anything. Anger in the other hand ..

In my 20s, I decided that ADHD wasn't real and I didn't need my med. I also went through eight cups of coffee and a pack of cigarettes a day. Went back on my meds in my thirties, it's easier and cheaper.

I didn't know about ADHD growing up and neither did my parents, grandparents or my teachers apparently so my first 2 years in school meant that if i was unruly in class then me and anyone else would be pulled up by our sideburns in front of the whole class by a 70 year old fat whore which i still hate to this day and then there was also a possibility i would face the wrath of the belt when i got home.

This was in the Balkans and being a kid around some of the rednecks there in the 90s was a fucking nightmare.

Some of you may think i am being harsh on them but nah fuck off, the only thing i got from that was self loathing and suicidal thoughts and even though they tell me now that they are proud of me and how i managed to get a good life together i still have the same thoughts as i did back then that i am a worthless piece of shit that they should have strangled when i was born and when life gets tough i think about slitting my throat or some other suicidal shit to CALM MYSELF DOWN because that means i would be free of this shitty existence and the worst part is i have gotten used to that.

Live with your demons until they kill you.

Also i don't smoke, drink or take meds.

Next year i'll be 40, wonder how long i can keep bulldozing my way through life like this.

THC and nicotine for me.

As a pharmacy worker who also has ADHD, I simultaneously feel bad for every fellow neurodivergent who relies on prescriptions - especially the controlled ones - and am so resentful that our system (US) makes getting meds so difficult that, crippled as I am, I find it better to go without prescription treatments than to rely on something that I know is going to be full of disruptions.

I also made the executive decision years ago to avoid prescription dependence after hearing about all the reports of Occupy protesters having their medications confiscated by police. Our healthcare system is weaponized.

Doctors won't prescribe me uppers because of my heart problems. Unfortunately nothing else has worked.

Oh yes, I rage

I say neurotypical people should be on drugs so they are more tolerable to interact with. Then i can do less drugs.

What, does this not work going the other way? Interesting...

Possible? Sure. Easy? Hell no.

My kids say I am ADHD self medicating with coffee. But I have held a job for decades, and figure the line for medication is when you have distress. I am not really distressed, or wasn't until I read that untreated ADHD was a risk factor for dementia, which was sort of distressing.

It's hard to get diagnosed old though, and I can't do Adderall, like my kids do, because I had restrictive eating disorder young and really like speed. Yes, probably because it "fixed" me but I am afraid I'd abuse it, and very certain that wrecking my appetite would be a mistake. Too easy to feel virtuous about not eating and unfortunately midlife eating disorder is pretty common, I have mixed feelings about the more womanly and bigger body I got at menopause. Everyone else tells me I am in great shape, but I miss tall skinny angular build.

Anyway, in short- I do have personal reasons to avoid the meds. So usually coffee at 10 and 2 (14). Strong coffee. But not strong enough I forget to eat.

ETA: Coffee and Niagen, actually, Nicotinamide Riboside, a B vitamin thing - the Niagen really clears my thinking. I started it because it was said to improve physical recovery time. I didn't get that, but from the first dose, it was remarkable how much clearer my mind was, it felt sort of like putting on glasses. So I have also taken that at lunchtime for about a dozen years.

Doesn't use medication

Five cups of coffee a day

:-/

Story of my liiiiiife