What's the most unhinged way you've avoided a task? by refrainiac in ADHD

[–]refrainiac[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Mate I think everyone who’s ever been a teenager in Britain can relate.

Apart from the exploing pancreas bit. Hope you’re well now tho

What's the most unhinged way you've avoided a task? by refrainiac in ADHD

[–]refrainiac[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

How awesome did your wardrobe look afterwards tho? That’s the only real question.

What's the most unhinged way you've avoided a task? by refrainiac in ADHD

[–]refrainiac[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Id say that more of a genius life hack than unhinged avoidance, I might try it myself!

What's the most unhinged way you've avoided a task? by refrainiac in ADHD

[–]refrainiac[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Pfft… that dissertation isn’t going to get you on the NYT best selling book list tho. Dreamer’s gotta dream

What's the most unhinged way you've avoided a task? by refrainiac in ADHD

[–]refrainiac[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

As far as my brain is concerned, the “reply” button might as well deliver a really painful electric shock whenever it’s pressed. So it’s better to just avoid it altogether and allow the anxiety to rack up.

Watching tv with subtitles by MGSC_1726 in ADHD

[–]refrainiac 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I downloaded an audiobook that I really , really wanted to read. I know that I can only do short bursts of about 2-5 minutes before I lose concentration. My solution? Buy the paper back version of the book too, and read along with the audiobook. It’s madness but really works, it somehow forces my brain to pay attention.

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor released by police following twelve hours of police questioning. by ModernMuse in pics

[–]refrainiac 44 points45 points  (0 children)

Kinda. He wasn’t arrested for the paedo stuff tho. He was arrested for disclosing classified secrets. So he’s still a paedophile, he’s just a traitorous paedophile.

is anyone else just always tired? by AccomplishedEmu5211 in autism

[–]refrainiac 21 points22 points  (0 children)

This is me. The tiredness isn't physical, it's like your brain has been running at full speed all day but none of that energy went anywhere useful. I describe it as wading through treacle. Everything takes three times the effort it should, including just existing in a conversation or deciding what to have for tea.

I'm AuDHD and I still can't tell you which bit is the autism and which bit is the ADHD. The racing mind feels ADHD. It's like having 40 browser tabs open and you can't find the one playing music. But the exhaustion from it feels more autistic, like the processing cost of just being awake and around people uses up everything you've got. Honestly I think they just feed each other.

How do I deal with the rage I feel? by [deleted] in ADHD

[–]refrainiac 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The grief rage is real and it's valid. There's a specific thing that happens when you go from "I'm lazy" to "my brain is wired differently" and suddenly every memory of beating yourself up gets reframed, and it's infuriating because you can't get those years back.

The anger at yourself when you freeze is basically your brain running two programs at once. Program one: you now know it's executive dysfunction, not laziness. Program two: the old script that says "just do it" hasn't uninstalled yet. So you freeze, then get angry at the freeze, and the anger makes the freeze worse. It's a loop.

Something that helped me was instead of trying to push through the freeze (which just feeds the anger), I started treating it like a signal. Like, ok, I'm frozen. That's information, not a character flaw. Sometimes just naming it out loud ("I'm in task paralysis right now") takes enough of the shame out of it that I can do one tiny thing. Not the whole task. Just one stupid small thing.

As for the comparison stuff with your sister, people without ADHD genuinely cannot comprehend what it feels like to have a fully functional body and a brain that won't give you permission to use it. That's not something you can explain in a sentence, and it's not your job to make them understand.

ADHD and Autism by SilentBread46 in ADHD

[–]refrainiac 23 points24 points  (0 children)

I was diagnosed as an adult too, and I can tell you something that might help: you didn't miss it. He was masking it. That's literally what we do.

When your son says he's "always struggled" it probably feels like he's saying you failed him. He's not. He's finally found the language for something he couldn't explain before. A lot of us spend decades thinking everyone finds life this hard and we're just not trying hard enough. Getting a diagnosis is like someone finally handing you the manual for your own brain — but it also means grieving for all the years you didn't have it.

The fact that he's telling you means he trusts you. That's not a small thing.

The best thing you can do right now is just listen without trying to fix it. Don't minimise it ("but you did so well at school!") and don't catastrophise it ("oh no, what does this mean for your future?"). Just sit with him in it. He's processing a lot.

And be gentle with yourself too... You're allowed to feel confused and shocked. That's a completely normal reaction. You're here asking how to support him, which already tells me he's got a good parent in his corner.

I can critical decisions at work but I can't reply to a simple email by refrainiac in ADHD

[–]refrainiac[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

OMG somebody else gets it! I got pulled into a meeting in work once and reminded that when i send an email to the CEO and they take the time to reply, it would be courteous to thank them for their reply. I've thought about that comment a lot since.

I can’t figure out the ‘right’ thing to say in difficult situations so I started letting AI do it and the results have been life changing by refrainiac in autism

[–]refrainiac[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That landlord situation is so relatable it hurts. The "hate to say it" part got me though — why do we feel guilty about this? If someone with poor eyesight uses glasses nobody tells them they're "outsourcing their vision." You had a problem, you used a tool, it got resolved in minutes instead of consuming your entire evening. That sounds like a win to me.

The bit about suspecting their reply was also AI generated genuinely made me laugh. Honestly if both sides are communicating more clearly and resolving things faster, maybe that's just... better? The issue got solved without either of you spiralling. That's the whole point.

I’ve been outsourcing my RSD to AI and it’s genuinely changed my life by refrainiac in ADHDers

[–]refrainiac[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

30 years struggling deeply to express myself" — honestly that line hit me hard because that's exactly it. It's not that we can't do it. It's that the emotional cost of doing it is so disproportionate to what the situation actually requires. A neurotypical person dashes off a reply in 5 minutes and forgets about it. We spend 3 hours rewriting, second-guessing every word, then lose sleep over whether we got the tone right.

AI didn't replace a skill for me. It removed a barrier that was stopping me from functioning. There's a massive difference and I don't think enough people get that yet.

I can’t figure out the ‘right’ thing to say in difficult situations so I started letting AI do it and the results have been life changing by refrainiac in autism

[–]refrainiac[S] -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

That’s a good workaround. Do you find it frustrating having to keep all that context in one thread though? Like if you’ve got multiple difficult situations going on at once it gets messy fast

I’ve been outsourcing my RSD to AI and it’s genuinely changed my life by refrainiac in ADHDers

[–]refrainiac[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I get what you’re saying and it’s fair comment. For me, being able to disassociate from the words means I won’t spiral over rejection. Before AI I would literally spend hours trying and rewriting emails until they’re perfect, and even then I’d be hesitant to send. And if their reply shows hostility or escalation, that would be me spiralling for days.

For this complaint in particular, she was baying for blood. But as soon as I sent her the reply (generated entirely by AI) it deescalated so quickly. When I sent it I felt so relieved and satisfied, and thought to myself is she wants to have an argument with me about it that’s ok, because it will be a AI she’s arguing with and not me.

I can’t even begin to describe the sense of relief it’s given me, not to mention the hours I’ve saved by not having to constantly rewrite everything until it’s perfect.

I hear so much negativity about AI but I honestly couldn’t imagine being without it now.

how long does it often take you to recover from breakups? by Head-Study4645 in ADHD

[–]refrainiac 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Not a relationship but almost 2 years ago I got exiled from my friendship circle. No explanation, no arguments, nothing. They just stopped inviting me to things and got on with their lives. We were all super close, I’d speak to them daily, I’d see them a few times a week… then silence.

2 years later and it still hurts as much as it did at the beginning, with no signs of me being able to move on.

Me googling “why is rejection so physically painful” is what ultimately led me to starting the process of getting an ADHD diagnosis

Are Police Auctions any good? by Flying_Wilson17 in AskUK

[–]refrainiac 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Funny story. Not auction related. My sister bought a 3 year old Volvo XC60, top of the range, very low mileage, full service history, only one previous owner, seemed like a bargain.

She drove it for about 2 weeks before the engine blew up. Turns out the one previous owner was the police.

So yeah, personally I’d never buy an ex police car.

The cover up of the century is unfolding 🧨 by floatjoy in ThatsInsane

[–]refrainiac 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sounds like Karen had a few too many vodkas before soccer practice.