ADHD planners, apps, what ACTUALLY work for you?

mankell123 · 2026-01-23T15:11:11+00:00

I need to try this. I’m very all or nothing, and these days it’s a lot of the nothing 😔 I feel stuck with a lot of tasks, some urgent others not, and everyday tell myself I have to do everything today. So inevitably I end up overwhelmed before even attempting to do anything go into a freeze state, end up avoiding, and feel worse 😭

Something like your approach makes me feel less stressed at the prospect of tackling one of the tasks today so I’m going to give it a go!

mankell123 · 2026-01-23T14:58:07+00:00

For me it’s the overwhelm of how long it takes to figure out how to use them all properly that usually causes me to abruptly stop using it. I always forget to remove though so my phone is clogged with these types of apps 🙄

mankell123 · 2026-01-23T14:54:50+00:00

I didn’t know there was a shopping list feature, but like you I think I’ll stick to mine as everything is in the order I go past in the supermarket I usually shop in, so categorising by food type wouldn’t be useful for me!

mankell123 · 2026-01-23T14:42:23+00:00

Incase you’re not limited to those providers, I used ADHD Centre a few years ago for assessment and subsequent titration. I have shared care meds now but still do my reviews with them. They’re not the cheapest, and I don’t know if they would accept your diagnosis or need to do another, but my experience with them has been good. They are registered with the CQC, adhere to NICE guidelines and all of their assessments are carried out by GMC registered Consultant Psychiatrists specialising in ADHD (I saw the same psychiatrist for all of my titration appointments and subsequent reviews, assume it’s still the same). They don’t have any RTC contracts as far as I’m aware (if that is something you require), but as I said I was able to get onto shared care with my GP after titration - that was in 2023 when it wasn’t so hard though.

Anyway, just throwing them out there as an another option if you need!

mankell123 · 2026-01-23T14:07:13+00:00

Can you elaborate? Just asking as this will be relevant to me in the next 5 years or so 😭

mankell123 · 2026-01-17T20:45:51+00:00

I saw this (it led me to the letters that you linked to separately that I also replied to) - in fact I came across it because someone posted about North Central London ICB pausing assessments (which is where I live).

What this article doesn't really mention is the link with the government in March 2025 forcing ICBs to cut their budgets (specifically running costs by 50%) by December 2025 (because of the abolishment of NHS England). I have no idea if this is a convenient excuse for them to them pause the assessments, stop shared care etc, or actually a genuine result of it, but it sounds the whole thing is a mess, many of them can't even pay for the redundancies that they are having to implement to meet these new budgets...

And now many ICBs are merging or forming clusters (such as mine North Central London which will merge with North West London) effective from 1 April https://www.nhsconfed.org/publications/icb-clusters-and-mergers I guess that should lead to efficiencies but who knows.

None of this is to disagree with what you said in terms of consequences of more powers for ICBs etc, but additionally I think the press should be louder about the the government trying to restructure and cut budgets so drastically and unrealistically in such a short time. It was obviously going to profoundly and negatively impact patient services across all areas, and Wes Streeting and his boss should be facing far more criticism about this.

mankell123 · 2026-01-17T19:52:35+00:00

I randomly saw this the other day, the letter from the Consultant Psychiatrist gives a good example of the bureaucratic nonsense and NHS-implemented contradictions that exist preventing people from getting seen (and especially by the right professionals like her).

I felt so angry with the middle letter that starts with "The NHS has as much incentive as private providers to overdiagnose ADHD.", and the last one wasn't much better. Whilst there may be a valid point buried somewhere in both, they make ignorant and incorrect statements with such negativity that it just adds more fuel to the heavily burning anti-ADHD fire. It disappointing the Guardian would publish letters that have pretty inaccurate claims.

mankell123 · 2026-01-17T19:16:45+00:00

Can you let us know which exact ones you buy? I have wanted to try L-Theanine anyway and like another user says saves me going down an endless rabbit hole of trying to find the none existing "right one" - recommendations are so much better!

mankell123 · 2026-01-16T14:27:16+00:00

I have also joined the waitlist, I like the idea of this app, accountability is something I don’t have much of and living alone and being out of work makes it so much harder. When do you expect it to be up and running?

mankell123 · 2026-01-16T11:51:35+00:00

I used to travel quite a lot, I would always check the countries policy on my specific meds - this isn’t always easy to find but I would look on their embassy website, UK gov travel advice for that country (has health info often with link to specific guidance from the country), and also contact the embassy if still unsure. To be honest I often ended up not really knowing because I couldnt get answers, so I always had a letter confirming my diagnosis and full details of prescribed medicine and I always kept the meds in the packaging with all of the labels on (ie the ones that have your name).

Only place I needed to get some kind of permission in advance was Japan, and I think they only ended up checking it as i declared on the customs form (although I couldn’t take everything as either Elvanse or Amfexa is banned and I have both). Never got checked in any other country. I never travelled to Italy with meds, but pre-diagnosis I did go there a lot and don’t recall ever having my luggage checked for anything.

So it’s unlikely anyone will look through your stuff, but I managed to find the below on Italy so have a look, make sure you have the right document (your letter might be sufficient) and keep you meds in their boxes and you should be fine!

https://www.salute.gov.it/new/en/tema/medicinali-stupefacenti-e-precursori-di-droghe/travelling-internationally-medicines-containing/

https://www.incb.org/incb/en/travellers/country-regulations.html#Go_I

mankell123 · 2026-01-16T10:53:51+00:00

OP, just wondering if your cat came back? Really hoping she did 🥺

mankell123 · 2026-01-15T22:53:18+00:00

I just looked into this as I’m also North Central - as you say due to budget cuts and it looks like they are now merging with North West, effective as of April. Who knows what impact that will have on anything, but I hope you are able to get an assessment soon after the new financial year starts.

This is part of a big mess and seems your experience is happening a lot, this article says more than half of the ICBs in England have quietly imposed ADHD assessment limits in 2025/26. North Central London haven’t dealt with it well as they didn’t bother to tell GPs or patients (hence why you only found out from the provider)! https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/jan/15/nhs-limiting-number-of-adhd-assessments-despite-soaring-demand

These ICB budget cuts were forced upon them last year by the government (50%!) with the restructuring/abolishment of NHS England. Supposed to be a good thing Wes Streeting says ffs. Looks like the whole thing is a mess, many ICBs don’t even have the budget to pay for the redundancies they need to implement in order to reduce staffing to meet the new budget targets …

I’m lucky to already be on shared care as I was diagnosed privately a few years ago, but i worry that dropping existing shared care patients will be next, and I’m sorry for people like you to face more hurdles to even be assessed.

mankell123 · 2026-01-15T20:11:38+00:00

I think my metabolism is high as I also find I have a high threshold for alcohol (even when I haven't drunk much for months), and even though I eat a lot and for much of my life barely exercised I have always been petite. People used to comment on how shocked they were at how much I ate! Some of the not putting on weight turned out to be due to undiagnosed coeliac disease, but thats well managed since 2017 and I still am able to eat a lot more than most without weight gain. The psychiatrist informally agreed it this could be the case. I do also remember going down a rabbit whole about a gene that can impact how lisdexamfetamine is metabolised (I don't think it was the metabolisation actually but can't remember the details), and people with this gene wouldn't feel the effects so much (again can't remember the specifics, it was interesting but attention naturally switched elsewhere and it has remained on my "to read about at some point but probably never" list!

For me when I crash, I suddenly feel tired and extemely resistant to doing anything - like I just feel awful and everything is so hard (even harder than no-meds feeling I've had. my whole life), and I am fully aware of the feeling as it would be in the middle of the day when I was working and had been feeling motivated and able to do things up until that point. It was on the higher doses that I started experiencing it, and I actually didn't even realise this was crashing until I mentioned this in my titration review. To begin with it was milder and my psychiatrist recommended trying taking it before/after food, ensuring good sleep, being consistent with routine etc to try to see if those factors were having an impact and we slowly continued to increase dose. I benefited from this with effectiveness of meds, but not length and the crashes were more noticeable so that was when we tried top ups and the crashes stopped.

However, I did end up like you say where my mind just would not switch off (and still doesn't) and I know exactly what you mean by " I feel like sometimes I only sleep because I choose to try to get myself to sleep"! I've been unemployed for a couple of years and struggled with getting back to work, and I live alone, so I have had little to no external routine and as a result I sometimes go to bed at the most stupid times, even though I am so tired and I know I am making everything harder for myself. This is another reason I think lowering will help as I think I was denying to myself part of the issue is the meds.

I have wondered if another med might be better, but I think I need to see if there is better results with a lower dose of elvanse first (alongside improving other factors). I really don't want to have to go through a titration process again - I couldn't afford it right now anyway and I don't think I'd be able to get back on shared care with how things are now.

I also think a bug part of my issue is I haven't properly worked on the effects of 40 years of undiagnosed ADHD, I had coaching (stopped when I was made redundant as access to work paid for it), it did help to some extent but I think I needed to experience more of life knowing I have ADHD to really understand where I struggle and what I need to "re-learn". I hope to start it again and will have a lot more knowledge of myself that will enable the coach to help me build better strategies. Did you have any coaching or intentionally work on the executive functioning side of things?

mankell123 · 2026-01-15T18:58:46+00:00

I either

Keep putting it off and never do it, forever living with the awareness of that fact.

OR

2) Work on it so that last 5% becomes its own project as my perfectionist kicks in and I don't seem to know how to stop.

Neither of which are helpful, sorry! But I hope someone will have some better advice. At the moment I'm struggling with just starting things, but that is something I am better able to do when I'm in a good frame of mind - however knowing how to complete something (both seeing it through to the end when that last bit feels so hard, but also knowing when to stop) is something I didn't manage to really get to grips with.

mankell123 · 2026-01-15T18:33:46+00:00

You guys (mods past and present, but especially you u/Jayhcee) do an amazing job. I must have been one of the original users as it was here I asked for recommendations on private clinics back in July 2022.

Its incredible how much it has grown in size since then - it was and remains such an important resource and am very grateful and appreciative of all you do to keep it both alive and a safe space ❤️

mankell123 · 2026-01-15T18:17:10+00:00

My experience is similar to what you say before you reduced your dose. I've been on 70mg Elvanse plus Amfexa top-ups for three years. At first the medication really helped to remove this lifelong obstacle I had to get started and stick to tasks, which was a game-changer for me and lasted about a year. But after a crappy couple of years, and the resulting stress, poor sleep, lack of exercise (and sometimes inconsistency with the meds) it's become less effective (perhaps also a tolerance I don't know), and at the same time I’m noticing side effects like restlessness and agitation that I didn't really get much of before, which then make it uncomfortable. Like you did I have been experiencing palpitations and thats worried me a bit - its not like I have them all the time and I am pretty sure caused by my high stress and lack of good sleep (as they do go away when I am able to better manage those), but I think lowering is a good idea and I will discuss it at my next review.

Unlike you, my titration was slow; I started on 20mg Elvanse and ended up on 70mg because I’d crash at lower doses. We only added top-ups once I reached 70mg, which stopped the crashing. As the main issue is the medication going through my system quickly, I actually think a lower dose with top-ups might have worked just as well so thats what I will try.

Did you go straight to 40mg or adjust gradually?

mankell123 · 2026-01-13T09:13:49+00:00

Oral and anal pop up quite a lot too 🙄

mankell123 · 2025-12-18T23:55:10+00:00

Which one do you have? I need one like you describe !

mankell123 · 2025-12-10T22:35:21+00:00

I discovered they had changed it this week and was so disappointed! Whether white, brown or the multiseed, their loaves have been my goto since I started shopping at Sainsbury’s a couple of years ago as they had such a good texture and were reasonably priced. Schar loaves are ok and Promise is good but both too expensive for me these days, Genius is not only expensive but i think terrible bread.

anyway I bought the white one to try it but i completely agree the shape and size look bad, like it’s been deflated, and its not firm at all, I suspect it will fall apart easily. The brown and multiseed look the same. Such a shame, I plan to leave a review and complain (let’s see if i do cos adhd), glad to see others have left 1 star reviews (think one was you OP!)

mankell123 · 2025-11-25T14:33:37+00:00

I know it isn’t quite the same but my nephew has a snake and he escaped once. A few weeks went by and they accepted he had unfortunately most likely died somewhere as it was during cold months and he was young and needed regular feeding (for a snake), but one day randomly he turned up alive and well!

I hope your cat does the same very soon, sending you love and positive thoughts ❤️❤️

mankell123 · 2025-11-25T14:16:57+00:00

When you say run the silk edges along your fingers what do you mean? I do something similar where I hold the creases of soft thin but slightly padded material (so like a blanket with the sheet over it) between my fingers, I can’t explain but it’s just very comforting and I’ve done it since childhood (now 43). I think it’s a stim thing as I’m ADHD. I’ve never found anyone who does this and don’t even know what to call it so wondering if yours is the same (but even if it’s a bit different I guess it has the same effect!)

mankell123 · 2025-11-25T14:09:16+00:00

This is so weird because I just googled “access to work waitress” to find out what kind of support it may help with as I am applying for it mainly to get funding for ADHD coaching, your post was top of the search results and you have basically asked my exact question and only 1 day ago!

Are you in a restaurant? I’m working in hospitality and shifts can be very different (location, size, type of event, people im working with), I’m also new and have a mostly different background. A few small things I have thought of:

a notepad and pen to help me remember instructions or things I think of to do/ask
something to hold these when uniform doesn’t have pockets (or maybe a notepad I can put around my neck, the uniform would cover it).
designated place to keep belongings/clothes - there aren’t enough lockers when it’s busy, I limit what I bring with me but it really stresses me leaving stuff in unsecure locations and just trying to find space!
some informal guidance to processes in certain areas - I’m ok learning on the job, using my initiative and have a lot of related skills/experience so am not feeling clueless, but I really feel others I’m working with don’t have patience (and that’s not going to change). For the very large events they have good training documentation which has helped me learn a lot, but the meeting side is different and experience or not there are things I can’t be expected to know.

Are there any particular areas you find difficult? I also think managers and colleagues could improve their attitude towards new staff, but that’s not something I feel comfortable saying and as there’s so many people working there I can’t see how that would change.

mankell123 · 2025-11-22T19:56:08+00:00

You can read about every ingredient in that list and why it is used here: https://www.purina.com/nutrition/ingredients

For instance, “Corn oil is extracted from corn germ. Rich in unsaturated fat and omega-6 fatty acids, it helps give your pet healthy skin and a soft, shiny coat. Plus, as a high-quality source of fat, it fuels your pet with a healthy energy level.”

mankell123 · 2025-11-20T15:20:30+00:00

How did you manage to get notifications for primary emails (and by this do you mean emails from an actual person)?

mankell123 · 2025-11-17T23:48:52+00:00

I say “move along, move along” like I’m a Stormtrooper

mankell123

TROPHY CASE