Hi all,
I have fairly severe ADHD and I take Concerta (27+18mg) and Ritalin (20mg) daily. I have a bunch of tools I have found helpful for managing my life including the ADHD symptoms and thought I would share some here.
Telegram - I use Telegram as my phone brain, a place I put information so it is out of my brain. I put in meds (I copy and paste almost every time) and because I do it so regularly it is actually part of taking meds now. I therefore know when I took my meds last to within a couple of minutes and can use that to make sure I don’t miss or double up. I also use scheduled messages up to months in advance for things like car registration, booking my psychiatrist appointment, or knowing when to take my cat to the vet.
Alarms - I use a few alarms which are countdowns from when I did something regular. For example, I take my Concerta in the morning, set a 6.5hour timer, then I am reminded to take my Ritalin. I do the same for pain meds or other meds as needed. This means I have a countdown in my tray the whole time which helps to keep it in mind.
Banking - I switched to a digital only bank and was able to finally automate almost all of my major transactions. My pay comes in, rent goes out, money gets sent to various other accounts like savers for specific goals or transactions accounts. By making my fuel always come from the same place every time and making sure my fuel budget always transfers through to there I never have to worry, I just know that I have fuel money there.
Physicality - I need to be physically active. I was working in IT for a decade and it was not so slowly killing me. I now earn basically the same driving a truck and lifting heavy things all day. I am less stressed and I have a clear career ahead of me as I upgrade my licences and competencies. I am happier with more physical activity but trying to fit it in on the weekend or evenings was just a losing proposition for me, I work now for money and health and it is way better.
Anyway, that’s a few thoughts, I hope someone finds them useful.
I have a large cardboard box with arduinos, raspberry pis, and various other electronics. Will they ever get used? If they stay in the box definitely no, but I don’t have a good system for getting them out while not having them just become clutter. That said, Ritalin helps a lot, so maybe with a good sleep and some good meds on board I have a chance.