Hi, I’m an 18 year homeschooled girl. And I think I have adult ADHD.
I’ve really been struggling to complete a lot of assignments and I’m falling behind. I can’t seem to concentrate at all and there are lots of other symptoms that really make me feel like I have ADHD. My mom thinks so too.
She’s told me various things about how I acted as a kid that she never considered as a problem but as I grew older and I recently spoke to her about my problems she seems to be able to connect the dots back to when I was younger.
Aside from that fact I really need help. I can’t get anything done, I can’t sit and study, I can’t submit my assignments and complete topics on time and it’s suffocating. I’m so used to being on time about everything but it’s getting harder and harder as I grow older. The work load is increasing but my efficiency and ability to keep up with all of it is getti g harder and harder.
Academically, I am an all A student, I don’t have struggle understanding concepts of anything, but it’s the concentrating, sitting and studying, the deadlines, the sort of restrictions that come with learning that’s killing me. I have a constant loud string of thoughts distracting me, I’m literally everywhere trying to do everything cause I want to get my hands on everting.
I’ve tried timing myself, making simple to do lists but none of them seem to work or last long. Nothing I try lasts. It seems to end, and the span is usually maximum 1 week.
The only time I truly feel calm in my head
Does anyone have any advice for studying with ADHD? How do I get things done. How do I stay organised? Is there anything I can do to just do anything? Will I ever be able to study? Or learn?
Am I being lazy? I’m so confused and worried that it’ll prevent me from fulfilling my goals
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minamina, I hear your struggle and can tell you that you will be able to fulfill your goals. Have you been able to articulate your goals in writing yet? That could help to clarify what you are thinking and feeling. You should consider doing some rigorous activity or exercise to help you relax each day. This time now is difficult and seems impossible, but that will pass and you will learn organizational skills and how to best concentrate. I would make a few goals for each day and then work to achieve them. Then, you can see that you are not hopeless by any means. Congrats on finding this online community.
thank you so much. I have also come to realize that exercising really helps to clear up my mind and relaxing so I think I will do more of that. And I agree with you on making a few goals daily. I have the tendency of setting too many goals and I overwhelm myself when I can't complete all of them. It also decreases my confidence in getting things done.
Thanks again, and I'm so glad I found this platform.
I too am just coming to terms that I may have adult ADHD.. Exercise is extremely helpful for me!! If I don't do a pretty exhaustive workout at the beginning of the day my anxiousness and inattentiveness is out of control. I would highly recommend starting your day with exercise, especially before any school work, you will find it helps heaps! I would also recommend not waiting until you are done college to seek help. I made that mistake and my grades/relationships/takeaways from school drastically suffered I also make to-do lists for almost everything (but you're right don't make them too big or its overwhelming!) It sounds like you are on the right track - being aware of it is the first step!!
Also- I went through the same thing in college, I thought I was just a lazy underachiever who wasn't "getting" it. I gave myself a really hard time about it as my partner is an extremely overachiever who naturally "gets" everything... The best I can say is we just need to find ways to work with our unique brain, and talk to people who are feeling the same way
I didn’t know I’d feel this better just by hearing other people’s experiences and talking to other people. It’s really reassuring that many people are experiencing what I am and that I’m not alone!
I’ll do my best to seek help from professionals as well but I’ll start taking baby steps on my end!!
You are not alone I have the same problems when my medicine wears off. I have been diagnosed with ADHD. For me it has always been so frustrating to complete assignments and sit still and study. For the longest time I just dealt with it, but recently I am trying something new. I talked to my doctor and he prescribed me medication and so far it works really well. I don't think I really realized how much I was struggling with concentration, remembering things, and completing tasks until I took the medication my doctor prescribed and now I feel like it is so much easier to concentrate on what I need to do. I am not sure if this would be the best option for you or not but it's something to look into. As far as studying goes for now what I do is I just try to sit in a room wear there is very little to no distractions.
Along with regular exercise and minimizing distractions, there are a few things that I find helpful:
1. Meditating just 5 minutes a day can make a big difference, and just taking a minute to breath when you feel overwhelmed or anxious can help an overactive brain slow down
2. maintaining a healthy diet and healthy sleep habits will help long term
3. I like listening to music or white noise while studying or doing schoolwork
- what I listen to depends on my mood, but I try to listen to either something familiar or something without lyrics so I'm less likely to get distracted by it
4. reward yourself when you get something done, no matter how small
- our internal reward system is broken so we have to help it out
- it doesn't have to be big every time and it doesn't have to be food(ie. sweets) ; I find a large amount of joy in just adding a sticker to my otherwise pointless sticker page
I hope that helps. What works for one person doesn't work for everyone, and what works for you might not work every time. So keep trying things and over time you'll get an idea of what tactic works best when.
I was diagnosed as an adult, I was believed to be good academically by no one got how much effort I put in to get there. There are a number of “tricks” I discovered that worked for me and there are a lot of books out there like Tony Buzan, mind mapping , creating stories with keywords, using “peg” systems for memory, using accelerated learning techniques. All of this help with ADHD brain as they are fun, colourful, in motion and not boring, also you get to use your imagination, all of this was like a holiday for my brain and so much fun. Also you can do this in your mind wherever you are, the more you practice the better it gets. One last test for me was after I studied to explain to someone the subject you studied, that way I will explain it to myself and things start to click. I hope this helps , happy for you to DM me
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I also make to-do lists for almost everything (but you're right don't make them too big or its overwhelming!) It sounds like you are on the right track - being aware of it is the first step!! 
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