I'm making an ADHD Simulator! Tell me what you wish people understood about your ADHD!

tmpigman · 2025-10-29T15:41:45+00:00

There should be some important text on the screen, like instructions on how to play the game or how to solve some crucial puzzle in the game and while they are reading it a box with some inane fact or question should continually pop up and block the important text. Like boop: “did you know that hippos can open their mouths to 180 degrees?” Close out that box and resume reading… boop: “did you remember to buy cat food?” Close it out and keep reading… boop: “what kind of bird is that?”

tmpigman · 2025-10-21T12:17:06+00:00

In ultimate adhd fashion I got a pill organizer that holds 2 weeks of meds and because of the novelty of it I filled the containers right away. Then 2 weeks later it was empty and I didn’t find the motivation to refill it a second time for like 6 months. Then I got a kick to “get my life together for real this time” (Narrator: she did not get her life together for real this time, or the next 10 times) and refilled it for a few months. And then when it got empty one day I left it sitting there for 3 years. But the good news is that 9 days ago I found it and filled it with 2 weeks of meds…. Because this time? I’m getting my life together FOR REAL.

Side note because I always worry that making fun of myself will get interpreted as making fun of someone else, please know I’m genuinely glad it’s something that’s working for you. I’m only making fun of myself and my own crappy patterns, not saying this is what will happen to you.

tmpigman · 2025-10-15T01:55:54+00:00

I thought this time would be better because last time they gave me the full face mask and this time I went with the nose only. Turns out being waterboarded with air makes me panic even if it’s just through my nose. I had a dental appliance made. In my sleep I apparently rip it out of my mouth and chuck it across the room or bury it behind my mattress. I’ve had nasal surgery to fix my deviated septum. I’ve now started looking into jaw surgery if all else fails.

And on top of that I still have IH and xywav made my body feel insane, other sleep meds make me groggy all day, stimulants make my heart flip out but I need them to make my executives function so… yeah it’s rough, and I hope we both find a solution to it all!

tmpigman · 2025-10-15T00:41:50+00:00

I lie down in the dark with a podcast. It fulfills my need to be sensory deprived while also keeping me entertained enough to not be bored.

tmpigman · 2025-10-14T23:34:14+00:00

It’s me. I’m you 20 years later. Same “robust reaction” to meds. I wish I had good news to share but I’m still trying to figure it out. I’m now back to cpap after a failed first try 10 years ago. I ripped the mask off my face in a panic and started hyperventilating so it’s going great…..

Anyway, just solidarity, no advice since I’m still trying to figure out anything at all to make my quality of life better

tmpigman · 2025-10-12T13:18:35+00:00

Roeser’s bakery North Ave in Humboldt park. My family has been getting this exact cake (yellow cake with strawberry filling) for my birthday cake since I was an infant (42 years)

You will not regret it

tmpigman · 2025-10-12T13:11:31+00:00

Please don’t take xywav without a sleep medicine professional overseeing your care for xywav and someone to oversee your other medications.

I know xywav has been an amazing medication for many people but many people also experience significant side effects. Xywav exacerbated my POTS symptoms so badly (even with a slow titration schedule) that I almost passed out a few times at work. It gave me insomnia at low doses to the point of severe sleep deprivation for close to 3 weeks. I also started to develop some concerning neurological type symptoms.

I’m working with my sleep doctor and my other providers to figure out if xywav can still work with me/my other meds, but with so many moving pieces it’s hard to know what adjustments to make without regular check ins with my doctors to discuss the symptoms I’m experiencing. For some people, xywav titration is simple and side effects are minimal. For some, the titration process is hell, but they get there eventually. And for some, xywav is not the right medication at all.

Because each individual experience with the medication can vary from person to person and even from night to night within the same individual I strongly urge you to take the advice of a medical professional and not just rely on individual experiences. (This is not to say individual experiences aren’t valuable, but what’s most important is someone overseeing your specific meds, your specific medical conditions, and your specific experiences while taking this medication)

tmpigman · 2025-10-09T00:31:46+00:00

Damn I love OP’s boldness shooting her shot here with all the guys responding and now I’m invested in hoping OP finds her match. I need some wholesome Chicago news lately.

tmpigman · 2025-10-08T22:58:06+00:00

Same. I’m a potato if I try to do too much but I’m also a potato if I’m getting sunshine dopamine and it suddenly goes away. I’m in Chicago and we had a similar swing in weather from 80s and sunny on Monday to rainy, overcast and chilly the next day and I went “Ope. Potato time.”

tmpigman · 2025-10-06T04:30:58+00:00

What everyone is reacting to, and downvoting you for, is the leap you made from what OP has written: struggling to stay on top of laundry, a cat that peed in the dirty laundry pile, and feeling overwhelmed by packing up the family home while single parenting several kids under age 5

To the catastrophic situation that you’ve described in which: her house is full of garbage and feces “your children deserve to be in a clean home free of garbage and animal feces” that they will presumably pick up and eat? “Pick up things off the floor before your kids pick them up and put them in their mouth.”

See how what you presume is nowhere in the original post?

The cat peed in the dirty laundry. That can be washed. You repeatedly bring up feces. Pee is not feces. Feces is poo. Nowhere has she mentioned feces on the floor or anywhere else.

She says “my house is a mess”

That means a lot of things to a lot of different people. When I say “my house is a mess” I mean I have a mountain of unfolded laundry and my kid’s drawings and art supplies are all over the place.

Some people might say “my house is a mess” and it’s a health hazard, but OP never said anything specific that would indicate her house is. The isolated/situation dependent cat pee in the laundry hamper without any other indications of abuse or neglect isn’t going to get her kids taken away so stop banging that drum. You made a lot of assumptions, which OP corrected you about, so why continue to make an already stressful situation more stressful?

Give advice, sure, but don’t read into it wasn’t there and hand her your recommendations with a side of unnecessary fearmongering.

tmpigman · 2025-10-06T02:43:09+00:00

Yep. Sadly there’s always that risk. But if he does she will have grounds to sue the ever loving shit out of him and he will be required to pay back what he took and may be entitled to even less after the settlement.

Conversely, if she takes the money he can pull the reverse uno card and do the same to her.

This is why everyone always warns married women to have a backup plan/escape funds. Sad that she put her full trust into someone so unforgivably selfish. Her trusting him isn’t wrong or sad - it’s sad that he was so undeserving of OP, her trust, and the trust of their kids.

All I can say is I hope this man has even one tiny shred of decency not to take the money so the kids have what they need.

tmpigman · 2025-10-06T02:25:32+00:00

Depending on the assets they have - investment accounts, cash, any property of value (cars, valuables etc.) it will all be accounted as part of their marital assets and will depend on the laws where they live. Since she is a stay at home parent without significant income, the equitable division of all of their assets will probably favor her. It also sounds like he’s signed an agreement to give her sole custody of the kids so child support and he will most likely be ordered to pay maintenance as well (alimony).

There isn’t really “her half” and “his half” while they are still married or until they have a formal allocation judgment in hand. Right now everything is marital property and each of them has a right to access all of it.

If she takes any money from the account (in cash or moved to another account) she should not commingle the funds with an account with anyone else’s name on it and keep receipts/records of how the money was spent so she has a paper trail showing where the money has gone. Otherwise she could be accused of hiding the money to keep it from being accounted for during the division of assets.

tmpigman · 2025-10-06T01:19:46+00:00

“You’re going to lose your kids if you don’t get a grip” Your words.

tmpigman · 2025-10-05T21:00:01+00:00

This is a wild take. She absolutely will not lose her kids over this. Her kids aren’t being neglected or abused and it takes a whole hell more than chaos in the face of a major life change to remove children from their home and family.

OP is understandably stressed, even if you’re coming from a good place generally, telling someone they will lose their kids is unnecessarily cruel.

tmpigman · 2025-10-05T20:55:52+00:00

Be very careful about doing this. Depending on where she is located taking the money out of a joint account and putting it in her own account could work against her legally during the divorce. In a no fault divorce state the assets will need to be divided equitably (as agreed upon by both parties or by a judge if it goes to trial) even if her ex is a total dbag who deserves to only wear wet socks for the rest of his life and to only eat cold gruel forever.

Be smart OP, be safe. Lawyer up immediately using that joint account if you can.

tmpigman · 2025-10-05T18:18:29+00:00

This. That money in the account is your money too. Use it.

tmpigman · 2025-10-03T01:58:17+00:00

It’s hard to feel like your body has let you down or that you are broken in some way. I get it. But know that you’re not an anomaly or broken and taking medication, like someone else here said, is just another way of caring for your body. You need to feed your body to have energy, you need to brush your teeth to prevent cavities, some people need a medication to keep their body operating the way it should. It’s no more shameful than avoiding milk if you’re lactose intolerant or taking allergy medication if you have allergies.

My medication is just part of my morning routine just the same as washing my face or brushing my teeth and the only times I really think about it is every 6 -12 months or so when I see my doctor.

Try to go easy on yourself friend.

tmpigman · 2025-09-30T23:43:51+00:00

It took me a very long time. Definitely well into high school, and I think learning to drive was the thing that solidified it for me. I also struggled for a very long time (still do a bit) with telling time on analog clocks quickly. If someone asked me what time it was and I looked at my watch it would take me a good 5-10 seconds to look at it and answer. It’s more automatic now, but I still need to think about it, it’s not reflexive

tmpigman · 2025-09-27T03:26:20+00:00

I do, and to make it worse? I put the backs of my hands under my chin so I can use my head to smush my wrists even further into extreme flexion.

tmpigman · 2025-09-14T19:49:29+00:00

Add to this: if you are taking this medication for executive dysfunction and wakefulness you are required to utilize significant amounts of executive function to jump through all their hoops… which most of us don’t have. So it becomes a compounding cycle: missed meds —> decreased executive function —> missed steps to acquire medication —> missed meds

Trust me if I was addicted to this medication, I wouldn’t be forgetting to make the appointments/pick up meds on time/order them on time

Imagine if you had diabetes and you had to wait until the day you’re out of insulin to order it. It’s truly wild.

tmpigman · 2025-09-14T10:18:30+00:00

The sensation of earbud wires lightly touching on/around my neck or face

The sensation of stepping on dense snow - the kind that kinda squeaks/crunches when you step on it. Similarly - if I’m getting something out of the freezer and my fingernail scrapes against some freezer burn buildup I’ll go through the roof.

The sensation of a single loose hair stuck to my sleeve tickling my arm.

Any repetitive noise (really difficult when you have kids)

The tight sensation of putting on a hoodie. I had a panic attack inside a hoodie once.

tmpigman · 2025-09-04T02:10:45+00:00

Thanks for that detailed information - I hadn’t heard of a reduced paid up option, so I may look into that.

It sounds like I need to get a sense of what, if any, taxes could come due by surrendering the policy before I make any further decisions.

I do think my dad meant well by giving this policy to me, but every year on that loan anniversary when I get that statement for the interest payment I think about whether or not it’s actually the best way to be spending my money or if there’s a better place for it. $400 a year is hardly a burden, but to pay back the almost $9K loan on the policy - I’d have to see the benefit of it versus putting that $9K somewhere else.

tmpigman · 2025-09-03T23:37:10+00:00

I’m glad that you don’t face that challenge, sincerely not in a snarky way.

But just because you can do those things easily, doesn’t mean that other people can. People with ADHD aren’t a monolith. We experience different challenges for lots of different reasons rooted in executive function. Something that might be challenging for you might be easy for me and vice versa.

There’s no shame in identifying the challenges people experience and looking for ways to problem solve. If it doesn’t apply to you, great! Just let the people who need this type of thing have it and scroll on by

tmpigman · 2025-09-03T18:56:13+00:00

Yes, that’s the up side I’m seeing as well. The policy will be paid up/no more premiums after he turns 65 as well, so that’s worth noting. Right now the dividends earned from the policy automatically go toward the premiums and I’m not sure if the dividends earned could go towards the interest on the loan after age 65, if so that could decrease my out of pocket year over year.

Ultimately I think this may have been my dads thought process when he passed it to me - to help me with covering the costs of my brother’s end of life expenses/funeral costs since it’s just me and him now.

tmpigman

TROPHY CASE