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Was reading an article about the dangers of certain social media posts perpetuating the stigma surrounding neurodivergent conditions like ADHD, ASD etc. The article was referring to those typical “5 signs you may have undiagnosed ADHD” type content. I would admit I do love the validation it gives me as a person who is diagnosed and with knowledge about medicine and the differential diagnosis of these symptoms. To people who do not have the knowledge to critically appraise these content, it could be very misleading. And when I say this I refer to both neurodivergents and neurotypicals who stumble on those posts. So please don’t misunderstand this as being classist, ableist etc. Misunderstanding the content would cause people to downplay the suffering of neurodivergents because “everyone does this sometime”, when the truth is that it’s more complex than just having a constellation of traits. When assessing symptoms of these conditions, the reason behind the symptoms, life events/trauma, triggers and onset is very important. Both to support the diagnosis and to exclude other medical conditions that mimic them. I have mentioned before that executive dysfunction can be caused by many many many things including emotional stress, hormonal disturbances, autoimmune diseases etc. So the point of this post is to remind everyone that when ND content creators post things online, always verify it first using reputable sources no matter how believable they (me included😆) appear. Social media advocacy still remains the most effective way to spread awareness and we should all do our part to keep it legit. #adhd #adhdawareness #adhdadult #adhdadvocate #neurodivergent https://www.instagram.com/p/CdSGX0YOQ8Q/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Waking up everyday exhausted is the story of my life. It takes me forever to fall asleep and throughout the night I wake up constantly. Poor sleep worsens symptoms of ADHD and up to 50% of people with ADHD struggle to get a good nights sleep. Sleep disturbances are believed to be a mix of neurological and behavioral causes - Increased in hyperactivity and impulsivity leading to higher resistance to falling asleep - poor sleep hygiene around bedtime plays a role. - association with sleep disorders like narcolepsy, sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome and certain sleep phase syndromes Managing sleep issues are tricky because many things cause or influences it. A detailed assessment must be done to determine modifiable behavioral factors and to decide if further investigations (sleep study) are warranted. As much as I hate to admit it, sleeping pills are not magic bullets. Having experienced taking it briefly, I think it’s more of a temporary fix. Personally it did not help me fall asleep any faster but does help preventing me from waking up too many times. You would also need to have time for an 8 hour sleep or else you will wake up with the nastiest brain fog due to the effects of the drug still being there in the morning. Once in a while is okay. But even I won’t willingly take it regularly. Personally don’t feel any effects of melatonin. Tried low to high doses and it didn’t help much. Some people have had some success with it so I guess it’s worth a try. Issues with melatonin is that they are mostly supplements; meaning the bottle may state a certain concentration but there’s nothing to regulate it. So that 5mg melatonin pill may contain anything between 0 and 5mg of actual useable melatonin. Sleep hygiene practices are a 50-50 for me. Having a regular sleep schedule helps me but I went and picked the worst job that doesn’t allow for a fixed sleep schedule🤦🏻‍♀️😅. Using gadgets near bedtime is sometimes necessary to quiet my brain and stop me from my BFRB(something for another post) What are your tips for better sleep? Do share in the comments! #adhd #adhdawareness #adhdproblems #adhdsupport #adhdtips https://www.instagram.com/p/CdNWE5POlqZ/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

When people find out what I do they always ask for study tips. Unfortunately I’m the wrong person to ask when it comes to that. Even I don’t know how I am still surviving. Looking back on my med school years, I was always exhausted by the time I get home from classes so I’d just go to sleep at 7-8pm and wake up at 3-4am so I could study in silence. Most of the time I would sit on my desk and shake my legs for hours while waiting for the coffee to kick in. Thinking I needed coffee to wake myself up but it was actually to slow my brains down. Most days I’d just give up and go back to sleep. Then rely on the fear of last minute to push through. I still do that now after diagnosis and medications but at least I don’t hate myself so much for being like that. People always question the need to diagnose ADHD and ASD especially when you are doing just fine by society’s standards. They forget of the psychological damage it leaves in the long run. The older you are the more difficult it is to change old behaviors. And mending poor self esteem is not an easy task. #adhd #adhdawareness #adhdproblems #adhdsupport #adhdlifehacks https://www.instagram.com/p/CdHtJ93ra68/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

How it felt practicing self help with undiagnosed ADHD😂. #adhd #adhdmemes #adhdproblems #adhdawareness #adhdlife https://www.instagram.com/p/CdCrq8XrNi8/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

I have always wished that I was productive during the time I was procrastinating. But instead I’m paralysed trying to scare my brain into starting something. Task initiation is one of the components that make up executive functioning and it’s something people with ADHD struggle with. For me it’s not only chores or assignments. Even things I enjoy, or things I need to do (like drinking or going to the toilet) are equally difficult to initiate. #adhd #adhdawareness #adhdproblems #executivefunctioning #adhdsupport https://www.instagram.com/p/Cc-g0FSLDrF/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

This is another “I promise it’s ADHD related” post. Haha. Before we proceed these are some abbreviations used in the post: CFS: chronic fatigue syndrome ME: myalgic encephalitis CBT: cognitive behavioral therapy GET: graded exercise therapy I was reading about the PACE trial after learning about it in an article by a person diagnosed with that condition who is also a science writer. https://www.statnews.com/2016/09/21/chronic-fatigue-syndrome-pace-trial/ When the trial was published, there was a lot of dissatisfaction from the patient community especially when they did not improve with treatments. Not only did they not improve, some even worsened. This lead to some advocates challenging the results of the trial results because they were tired being subjected to treatments that didn’t help and gaslit when it didn’t work. While this does paint the research team as some kind of villain, we have to note that the conclusion from trial wasn’t that CBT and GET were amazing in treating CFS/ME. They merely concluded that it was safe and moderately effective. The problem was how that piece of information was used in deciding the guidelines for treatment. Science and medicine is constantly evolving and what we know as truth now could be completely opposite in a matter of months or years. That’s nothing new. For conditions where the line between pathological and non pathological is blurred, advocates could potentially provide useful information to understand the nature of the disease. #adhd #asd #adhdawareness #adhdbrain #adhdadult https://www.instagram.com/p/CcxfF8OLGAH/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

When we talk about Autism, people are only concerned with intellectual functions. They forget that a problem with brain interconnectivity will affect other things more than intelligence. Having a narrow understanding of how Autism affects a person leads to the belief that we are just pathologizing normal human behavior. That’s the problem, it’s not a behavioral problem and seeing it that way would continue to cause people to downplay the condition as something that can be fixed with enough practice and habituation. When a person mentions the word “motor”, the first thing that comes to mind is movement of limbs. But people forget that bowel and bladder movements are motor, speech is motor. It’s not just a matter of not being able to be as graceful as a ballerina. But having difficulty with normal daily activities. I recently watched a video of a speech by an Autism advocate who is non verbal and it struck a cord with me because like him, my motor problems form the bulk of my daily struggles with Autism. While we struggle with the same thing, how it manifests is entirely different. I wrote a post about it on my blog and put the link in my bio for those interested. #autismawareness #asd #aspergers #autismacceptance #autism https://www.instagram.com/p/CcKSUApOTbP/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

A little late to join in on Autism Awareness Week/Month. Was trying to come up with something meaningful and not just a post for the sake of it. Finally hit with an idea while walking to my car on the way home from work😂 ========================== The main reason most people including doctors reject the possibility of adults being diagnosed with autism in adulthood is the fact that most people misunderstand what autism is. Autism is a persistent difficulty with social communication/ social interaction and restricted/ repetitive patterns of behaviors, activities or interests since early childhood. These limitations occur to the extent that these limit and impair everyday functioning. The media often portrays autistic people in a way that highlights the cooccuring learning disorders or the rare savants. This has led people to believe that if you can graduate or hold jobs, you can’t possibly be autistic. And because of this outdated belief, many adults with autism remain undiagnosed despite showing clear signs. And those with a diagnosis are denied accommodations because they seem to be getting on just fine, and “no one has things easy”. Personally I am doing well at blending in with neurotypicals but at a great cost. My sensory and motor symptoms cause me great anxiety going through day to day activities. This month has been particularly tough because of lack of rest and I have had to wash my clothes with body soap because I suddenly couldn’t tolerate the smell of detergents. One of the millions of tiny inconveniences that people would roll their eyes at but these things add up and make daily living just that little bit harder for autistic folks. So my hope for autism awareness month 2022 is that people shift their outdated understanding of autism in order to accept that adults who “thrive” are also struggling. #asd #autism #autismawarenessmonth #autismawareness https://www.instagram.com/p/CcAxBmFrbo_/?utm_medium=tumblr

Nothing is worse than having to defend having ADHD/ASD to people who refuse to update their knowledge. In the olden days people used to blame certain illness on supernatural things. When Dr Ignaz Semmelweis told people in the 1940s that they need to wash their hands to prevent the spread of infections, people ostracized him and ultimately drove him mad. Now he’s a hero for revolutionizing infection control Don’t even have to go back so far in the past. Just a few years ago people were celebrating the benefits and safety of having a glass of wine a day for heart health. In January the World Heart Federation issued a statement saying no amount of alcohol is safe. What we know as “truths” in medicine are always evolving. We should learn from the past and know better than to dismiss people who come to us for help. #adhd #adhdawareness #adhdproblems #adhdadult https://www.instagram.com/p/Cb8ny8Xvl_H/?utm_medium=tumblr

Visual perception is commonly altered in people with ADHD with or without sensory processing disorders. Visual perception refers to how our brain recognizes and processes visual information from our eyes. People with ADHD tend to have a lower visual perception compared to typical developing people. Some of the factors identified as affecting the perception is inattentiveness and deficits in memory. People with low visual perception tend to find it difficult to discriminate subtle differences in text and shapes, difficulties in handwriting and poor left right discrimination. On top of that, doing activities that require visual perception like reading and focusing tends to cause headaches at the end of the day. Long term effects are predictably poor performance in school or work, avoidance of certain tasks and anxiety/depression. I find that I often have days when I feel my eyes straining even when I can see things just fine. Even after testing my refraction or changing glasses, it remains the same. On those days I feel like the images are just skimming the surface of my retina and just wish there was a way for me to just slam it into my retinas. Try telling that to an Opthalmologist 😂. Very little research is available for adult ADHDers with these issues. Most studies are done in people with strokes and brain injuries. Hopefully in the future people would recognize this as something significant because it’s really inconvenient. #adhd #adhdawareness #visualperception #asd #sensoryprocessingdisorder https://www.instagram.com/p/CbkJs-Kr_l4/?utm_medium=tumblr

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This is a satirical post. Haha. Got the idea for that after being so tired yesterday and was thinking how I would always blame my fatigue , body aches and mental fog on not drinking enough water. Knowing full well I’m the same even if I did. Hydration, stress, exercise, obesity adequate sleep. Things people always blame when someone tells them they feel tired or down. It might be true for some people but for people with ADHD, fixing those things don’t fix the problem. Might improve things but definitely doesn’t fix it. So a diagnosis is important not only for access to treatment, but for you to stop blaming yourself for still feeling tired despite not being stressed, being physically fit, exercising, drinking and sleeping enough. #adhd #adhdawareness #adhdwomen #adhdsupport #adhdlife https://www.instagram.com/p/CZ0M5o_vuWY/?utm_medium=tumblr

This topic keeps coming up on social media. More awareness about ADHD and autism in adults has resulted in people noticing their neurodivergence. However, a formal assessment is not something everyone has access to. Could be lack of willingness for the primary care doctor to make a specialist referral, cost of the assessment, or lack of knowledge among healthcare professionals regarding neurodivergence in adults in general. The problem with self diagnosis is that you see a lot of self identified people writing about their personal experiences online and claiming it to be symptoms of ADHD. While it’s entertaining and validating for most parts, being self diagnosed means they are taking the liberty of interpreting things as symptoms. There is so much room for bias and misinformation there. Even as a doctor I have trouble differentiating my anxiety from my ADHD. Let alone people with no formal medical training or access to practitioners who can help place their symptoms into the appropriate category. The human psychology is complex. While self advocacy is good, self advocating in a state of mental distress may not be the wisest thing to do. If a trained professional can misdiagnose people, why would a person who is in distress believe that they could do better? Yes, you know yourself better but you are also not immune to cognitive bias. So instead, let’s advocate to make formal assessments and second opinions more accessible. #adhd #autism #autismawareness #adhdawareness #selfdiagnosis https://www.instagram.com/p/CZfoybRP5ZU/?utm_medium=tumblr

Guess what, the person who diagnosed us didn’t just listen to one symptom and decided we had ADHD. The process took hours of interviews and testing and sometimes took several follow ups over the course of years. So if I tell you I have ADHD because I find it hard to remember things, that’s only one of the thousands or symptoms I have time to tell you during our little break room chat. Kindly refrain from undiagnosing or rediagnosing me with something else. Thank you. #adhd #adhdawareness #adhdmemes #adhdwomen #adhdsupport #adhdlife #adhdisreal #adhdstruggles #adhdhelp #neurodiversity #mentalhealthawareness #mentalhealth #adhdexplained https://www.instagram.com/p/CZBcXbGOm18/?utm_medium=tumblr