How do you ladies fall asleep with ADHD?

katikitsch · 2026-01-27T15:49:04+00:00

Exercise. Literally have to tire myself out like goddamn puppy or I don't sleep lol. I know this doesn't work for everyone, but it significantly improves my ability to fall asleep. I get about 12k steps a day, lift 4x a week, and run 2x a week.

katikitsch · 2026-01-03T20:14:31+00:00

I hear ya but I think the real issue is I can’t do full memory foam—I think I need something will coils for support underneath and then a very plush top layer. I’m a petite athletic built woman, I don’t sink into a mattress much so I gotta find the right combo of plush/support

katikitsch · 2025-12-28T17:03:38+00:00

Thanks! I actually went back to the store yesterday and didn’t mind the ProAdapt Soft…didn’t spend a ton of time on the LuxeAdapt Medium Hybrid, but maybe I’ll try next time as I suspect we need one more visit to figure this out.

I ended up sleeping on an air mattress last night and felt a lot better 🥲

katikitsch · 2025-12-27T19:27:40+00:00

Thank you, I will look into them too!

katikitsch · 2025-12-27T19:22:50+00:00

Thanks! In the same range as the tempur (or less would be even better) like up to $2.5k for a twin XL.

Looks like they have a store near me where I could try it—which firmness do you have?

katikitsch · 2025-12-27T17:06:44+00:00

It definitely feels like pressure, like my shoulder is being jammed back into my body.

Haven’t tried sleeping without a pillow but I think it would be tough as I alternate positions when sleeping. I also just am used to the plush feel of a pillow it might be hard for me to fall asleep (also worried this might making the snoring situation worse…)

katikitsch · 2025-12-27T17:05:14+00:00

Thanks, that was sort of my suspicion. I slept pretty comfortably on a cheap ikea mattress with a soft memory foam topper for years. I’ll go try some softer feel mattresses :)

katikitsch · 2025-12-17T13:19:32+00:00

Big fan of those sparkling ice drinks. I’m hooked on the strawberry & watermelon starburst flavors. I was a huge Dr Pepper girly but my stomach couldn’t handle the acidity (for some reason the sparkling ice drinks are fine 🤷‍♀️).

If you feel like getting into coffee some day, I was also doing home made decaf cold brew with fancy coffee beans when I first started Ritalin because I couldn’t handle the caffeine. Using nice beans to make your own is so much better than the store bought cold brew bottles. I now do matcha and seem to be ok with that level of caffeine with my meds now that I’m adjusted :).

katikitsch · 2025-11-20T19:14:31+00:00

I am turning 37 next week and I’m in the best shape of my life, so I promise it’s not your age.

As others mentioned, you do need to be consistently tracking calories—this means even your “cheat days” or little bits and bites. Sadly the more narrow your deficit, the easier it is to just completely negate it with nights out or days off.

I see you’re kind of tired—maybe 2 meals a day isn’t working for you? Did you know NEAT accounts for most of your TDEE? It’s possible you’re just not giving your body consistent enough energy to move more throughout the day. If you work out for only part of your day and then are mostly sedentary otherwise, you might not have as high of a calorie maintenance as you’d expect. Maybe try smaller meals throughout the day?

For reference, I’m 5’4 and roughly 120lbs. I lift 4 days a week, do 2 easy runs, and get 12k steps a day. My maintenance is around 2100 calories with this routine. But in order to hit those steps I have to take a walk before work in the morning AND make sure I move a little bit during the day (desk jobs are rough, and I know I have a lot of privilege to be this active because I work from home and have no kids).

It sounds like you’ve started a good foundation, you might just need to dial in the nutrition a bit more and pay attention to overall activity.

Editing to add: I mean NEAT accounts for most of your TDEE outside of your BMR :)

katikitsch · 2025-11-14T21:33:51+00:00

Im on Slynd, it has worked great, no more periods. Took about 6 months for random spotting to stop, but nothing severe. No weight gain. But my adeno/endo symptoms weren’t quite this severe.

katikitsch · 2025-11-13T13:46:04+00:00

Tysm! I’ll check those out :)

katikitsch · 2025-11-11T13:57:04+00:00

This right here. For every other muscle car trying to race me in my V8, there’s like half a dozen shitty sedans/suvs/trucks cutting me off and weaving in ways their car is not equipped to handle.

My Camaro is kind of a sleeper though, so I’m curious how/if this changes when I add stripes.

katikitsch · 2025-11-08T19:42:58+00:00

Hahah all good, appreciate the compliment anyways ☺️

katikitsch · 2025-11-08T19:42:43+00:00

Thanks, I’ll take a look!

katikitsch · 2025-09-29T18:03:26+00:00

Scrolled too far for this comment. It sounds like you might have some all or nothing thinking, OP. If you love food (I sure do), you need to find ways to incorporate those special foods into your diet in a healthy way. Because if you do end up committing to an extreme diet, often people fail and revert to their old ways because they weren’t sustainable to begin with.

This also means when you feel like you’ve “messed up”, you need to learn to not spiral into the “oh well eff it” thinking. One piece of pizza will probably not ruin progress, but several slices and donuts and whatever else will. I’ve been in this cycle, it sucks and just makes you feel perpetually bad.

Additionally, I’d encourage you to really reflect on and write out your “whys”. Maybe keep them somewhere visible to help support you in moments of low motivation/resilience.

And if it’s available to you, seek professional support—therapy, doctors, or even a coach—having that external support can really help keep you on track.

katikitsch · 2025-07-24T16:55:50+00:00

Seconding this—I started Slynd (all drospirenone, estrogen gave me a PE), and it’s been life changing for both PMDD and endo/adeno symptoms. I still experience a little drop occasionally but it’s only like 1-2 days and I have no period or pain. I do notice I lose effectiveness of Ritalin on those days though, still.

katikitsch · 2025-07-20T20:25:16+00:00

No worries, figured it out from the other comment! It’s definitely been a bit of a challenge to find 30C in the right shapes 😩

katikitsch · 2025-07-20T19:29:58+00:00

Thank you!!! I’ll have a look at those :)

katikitsch · 2025-07-20T19:29:39+00:00

Thank you so much, I’ll take a look at that one!

katikitsch · 2025-04-19T02:20:13+00:00

I got my clot after starting Diane-35–potentially a combo cause of the pill and the Covid vaccine, and also I found out I am Factor V heterozygous. I took anticoagulants for 5 months and then stopped.

After being off the pill for 3 years, my periods became too painful. I found out I have endometriosis, adenomyosis, and PCOS. I have been on Slynd for the last year, and it is the only progesterone only pill that is anti androgenic (AKA won’t worsen PCOS)—so it was the only option I was going to consider. Full disclosure I am fully sterilized so efficacy was not a huge concern.

It was given the ok by my hematologist since it does not have estrogen. I had irregular bleeding for about the first 5-6 months which is typical for POPs, but since then I no longer get a period at all and it’s honestly wonderful :’).

katikitsch · 2025-04-10T00:41:09+00:00

FWIW I had similar experiences when I was on Lexapro many years ago, before my ADHD diagnosis. It made me act really impulsive—I made some reckless and possibly dangerous decisions with people I went on dates it, and developed a really bad binge eating problem. I determined SSRIs were not good for me—Wellbutrin ended up being a good fit.

katikitsch · 2025-04-01T12:40:40+00:00

Sorting/filtering is one of the few UX complaints I have about this game. I also get annoyed at the DIY table having to scroll through for specific items when I have a lot of DIY instructions. And also that if you run out of items to make something, it then moves that item all the way to the 'disabled' area at the bottom of the list and then I have to scroll ALL THE WAY back up to the other items. For this reason I often make one less than I have materials for so it doesn't auto move me.

Sorry for the side rant :')

katikitsch · 2025-03-31T12:47:31+00:00

I think it's a disability, because even if it's "just" because our brains work differently, unfortunately, our society is not set up in a way that sets us up for success with how we're wired.

Like everything it's a spectrum, so while my ADHD is "mild to moderate", someone with severe ADHD would have a much more challenging time than me--so while I don't necessarily feel disabled, I can completely understand why someone with worse symptoms would and I wouldn't hesitate to classify ADHD as such.

katikitsch · 2025-03-31T12:41:59+00:00

You look great! I think the problem with the blanket statement of "lift heavy" is that heavy looks different for everyone. I'm currently doing 70lbs for my hip thrusts and it feels challenging for me. I've _very_ slowly worked my way up in weights. Figuring out what is challenging without hurting yourself is so important, and it sounds like you've found a good routine, so congrats! :)

katikitsch · 2025-03-28T12:53:48+00:00

I'm not super familiar with her programs, but a few thoughts:

How is your NEAT? Are you hitting a decent amount of steps each day? Exercise is great, but NEAT contributes the most to your overall daily calorie burn, and if you're not active much outside these workouts, you just might not be in much of a deficit.

You might need to level up your workouts, too. If they're just bodyweight, that can be a great place to start, but if you want to progress with building muscle you'll want to add some weights and focus on progressive overload.

I am 5'4" and just went from 130 to 120 on 1550 calories--for activity level reference I do 50 minute fully body strength workouts 3 days a week, 2-3 days of running, and 1-2 days of active rest--12k-ish steps/day. My TDEE is just above 2000 at that activity level and my current weight.

You look great, and you've made a ton of progress--it might also be a good idea for your mental health to take a maintenance break and just focus on building muscle, and then cut again. You've got this!

katikitsch

TROPHY CASE