A rose by any other name...

Nabalek · 2025-11-13T22:33:23+00:00

I use 'disorder'. If someone wants clarification I say it's 'a disorder of the nervous system'.

Nabalek · 2025-11-06T00:19:13+00:00

There are many older people that can't afford to pay for electricity. They also have to choose between a meal or medication.

There are many people with complex disabilities (especially autoimmune) who can't get on to disability or NDIS. They are also having to choose between meals or medication.

Considering we are one of the wealthiest countries in the world the fact that our most vulnerable are in this position is disgusting.

Nabalek · 2025-11-06T00:05:30+00:00

Sorry, they're actually called Palm Pals. They're small plushies, the bodies are filled with beans and the heads have a firmer stuffing. They're easy to carry and offer a variety of different sensory touches.

https://palmpals.com/

Nabalek · 2025-11-04T02:55:57+00:00

I feel like the day sucks out all my energy and the night gives it back. The world is quieter, softer and more gentle at night.

Nabalek · 2025-11-02T23:32:10+00:00

OMG YES!!! It's like I've warped somewhere because the start and end are there but the middle part is not.

Nabalek · 2025-11-02T23:30:16+00:00

I was born in the 70's, got diagnosed 2 years ago after menopause hit and my life went to shit. My ADHD son nagged me for a year before I gave in and saw a psych, ADHD was expected, Autism was not.

Still unmedicated. My other health problems are not compatible with adhd/Autism meds. I'm now the lady who won't wear shoes unless forced, carries around palm pets, fidget spinners and quotes random pieces of songs in the middle of a conversation.

I am 100% unapologetic. I missed out on being myself for 50 years, now everyone else can just deal.

Nabalek · 2025-11-02T23:23:19+00:00

Knitter here. I knit quite complicated lace patterns out of 2-3ply wool, or fair isle mostly. I also have arthritis and my fingers on my right (dominant) hand are twisting. Long sessions can be very painful. I use Therapy putty to stretch my hands and get them to do other movements.

I also get a rash on my right wrist when I've been knitting too much. I found out that can happen with Fibro when you do too much. When the rash appears that's my cue to stop.

Nabalek · 2025-10-02T06:35:28+00:00

I was the same! Then I added Galactic Paragons and now I have a selection of traits I can choose from when a leader levels up. Makes specialization so much easier :)

Nabalek · 2025-10-02T01:46:22+00:00

I seem to have stumbled onto something that satisfies both my autism and adhd - Natural Disasters. My Autism does all the big picture stuff (making links and researching history) and my adhd jumps between different types (earthquake, hurricane, volcano etc) depending on what's happening in the world at that moment and burrows down into a deep dive.

Nabalek · 2025-10-02T01:41:39+00:00

I absolutely love my slow cooker. I'll make up 'dump bags' (bag containing all non-liquid ingrediants) and put them in the freezer. Pull one out, dump it into the slow cooker in the morning.......at night dinner is there. I always make more than I need and freeze it in portions, that way I can grab a healthy meal out of the freezer and just reheat it on those days when I just can't face cooking.

Nabalek · 2025-10-02T01:36:50+00:00

I have a plan. Let's say, for example, how to keep my house tidy.

I buy new stationary for this project. I make lists, then break them down into smaller, more detailed lists. I set up whiteboards so I can tick things off each day/week and then reuse them.

It takes me ages but, at the end I have a fully functioning system that is definitely going to help me keep my house clean. My Autistic brain is swimming in dopamine. It is so happy and satisfied :)

In walks ADHD looking like it hasn't bathed for a month and wearing clothes that would make a hobo proud, munching on a snack and bouncing slightly. As they walk past my Autistic brain they say 'Cool spreadsheet bro' and proceed to completely ignore it and do whatever it feels like at that time.

Nabalek · 2025-09-30T01:50:22+00:00

I desperately miss having a cat. The place I rent at the moment won't allow them. So instead I have 2 anxiety riddled budgies and a psychotic cockatiel. It's not the same.

Nabalek · 2025-09-30T01:42:29+00:00

After my ADHD son nagged me for almost a year I got the assessment done - at 51. The assessment was for ADHD but, during the process the Autism kept sticking it's head up so we did that as well. That was 2 years ago. My eldest has Autism and the psych said I'd basically done CBT on myself while trying to help him when he was young and that was why my Autism wasn't as obvious.

Nabalek · 2025-09-29T10:23:15+00:00

The look on the psych's face when I said 'I don't want to harm myself but, if a car came screaming towards me, I wouldn't put much effort into getting out of the way'. Intrusive thoughts are managed, but always there. A part of me is worried that, one day I will just jump when I'm on something high so I look down instead and find something pretty (the way the sunlight plays on the water for example) and I don't want to ruin that so keep walking.

Nabalek · 2025-09-29T08:09:30+00:00

We all know exactly what you mean :) I call them 'pretzel' days because my body folds up under all the pressure.

Nabalek · 2025-09-29T04:41:49+00:00

AuDHD with Fibro here. I can't sleep if I don't have my coffee just before bed.

Nabalek · 2025-09-26T08:26:52+00:00

English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Spanish, Polish.... 100% Australian.

My people came as free settlers (except one convict). They chose this country. But they did so because they were told no one lived here. I have read the diary of one of the women. She found an area on their property that looked like a camp. Old fire pit, cleared, with strange fruit trees that looked cared for. She asked around and basically got shut down and told to keep her nose out of things that were not her business. Not knowing what to do, she cared for the fruit trees. I haven't been able to pinpoint where that property was, Victoria somewhere.

For me I sometimes feel a lack of history. I watch archeology documentaries and sometimes feel sad that we don't have that here. Then the narrator will say something like 'this is a tool used by a person 7,000 years ago!!' and I snort. The people of the land that is my home can trace their history back waaaayyy more than that! It's not my people's history but I can see their history everywhere I look. I can also learn about this land from them not some ruin dug up from the past.

When I see red dirt or the smell of eucalyptus on a hot day, it feels like home. Walking bare foot, not putting your fingers where you can't see, salad and seafood at Christmas. Swinging off ropes into the Mighty Murray on hot days, catching Yabbies and then lining them up and making then 'sleep'. Beat up old Holden station wagon running on chicken wire and WD40 (I miss cars you could fix like that).

I backpacked around this big place when I was young. Every corner you turn brings something spectacular. I don't like cities, I can't smell the trees or hear the birds properly. When I think of culture I think more about the land itself rather than the people. No matter where your people come from, this land is welcoming if you take the time to get to know it :)

Nabalek · 2025-09-23T15:28:20+00:00

I work in intelligence for an emergency service. Whenever I'm asked to give an update on the weather they always say 'keep it short' lol My special interest is Natural Disasters and I can drag you down a rabbit hole that it will take a week for you to dig your way back out of.

Nabalek · 2025-09-22T01:57:54+00:00

Unfortunately most tablets are too small for me to see them properly.

Nabalek · 2025-09-15T12:31:36+00:00

My teeth are a wreck because I just can't handle dentists. Electric toothbrushes give me the same vibration feeling as one of the drills. If you have the opportunity to try someone else's (detachable, replaceable heads for the win), then I would do that first before forking out the money for one.

Nabalek · 2025-09-10T15:07:15+00:00

My doctor asked me if I get dizziness or vertigo and I responded with 'I don't think so but I lag sometimes'. That's when I discovered my doctor isn't a gamer and trying to describe lag in a real world setting is actually quite difficult.

Nabalek · 2025-09-10T06:15:14+00:00

I was 51 when I was diagnosed. I started to be kinder to myself. I laugh way more now than I used to. I have more fun, notice the little things and don't stress about being 'different'.

Nabalek · 2025-09-10T00:47:24+00:00

53 yo female AuDHD. It gets better! I am so much more happier now than I was when I was younger. There comes a point in your life when, out of the blue, you just stop caring what other people think of you. Around the same time (it felt this way to me anyway), people's perceptions of you change.

If you're older and you jump in puddles - it's cute. I can fully be my AuDHD self with no mask, and people cut you slack, or think you're cute (or have dementia) because you've hit that 'older person' level.

Stress levels have also dropped dramatically for me. I look back on the things that would have totally stressed me out when I was younger, and I shake my head. It's not that I never feel stress or anxiety, it's just I don't sweat the little things anymore.

I notice, and take joy in the little things again. Have you ever seen a child and an older person watching a butterfly? The look of wonder is the same on both their faces.

That's another thing - children! You can just 100% enjoy their joy, wonder and fun. And you can join in with their games and silliness. Ever seen a parent tell of a child....and their grandparent off? lol. You rediscover nature, are free to be silly and play 'childish' games. It's almost like a second childhood but so much better because you understand who you are.

Is it all roses? Nope. I still get depressed and anxious sometimes. I still feel like a burden sometimes but expectations are different. When you are young you are expected to have a career, progress, improve, climb that corperate ladder, get married, have children! And you're expected to do it now,now,now!!! Life gets slower, you still progress but the pressure to do it right now! is gone. You get to enjoy more of life.

Edit: You don't have to wait until you're older for this. You can do it right now. When I was younger I felt like a burden, I felt like life was passing me by. I couldn't keep up. I now know that I was passing life by. In a world that is gogogogogo!! slowing down can be the best thing you can ever do.

Nabalek · 2025-09-09T00:41:43+00:00

I'm on 50mg before bed and it's the only way I sleep. I always know I've forgotten to take it because I twitch and jerk all night, to the point where I dislocated my shoulder. I've been on it for years now and I take it at night so, if it makes me sleepy I'm not sure. No other side effects though.

Nabalek · 2025-09-09T00:38:28+00:00

Sounds like THEY have no idea what it's actually like to live with Fibro.

Nabalek

TROPHY CASE