New to forum - seeking study tips from adults diagnosed with ADHD

[SunflowerShan]

Hi there,

I've never been part of a forum before so I'm not exactly sure how they work.

I have a few chronic conditions (anxiety, type 1 diabetes, CPTSD to name a few) but the thing I am struggling most with at the moment is my ADHD. I was diagnosed when I was 23 and I am medicated. I recently left my job to commence a fully-online university course and I'm continually brought to my knees in tears of frustration because though I want to do the work, I just can't.

I am interested in the topics, I'm quite capable of learning the content and demonstrating my understanding but I just cannot seem to 'sit and do'. I have upped my medication and tried so many tips, tricks and hacks - timers, lists, sit/stand desk, fidgets, concentration music, library study, study buddy, removing distractions, do not disturb sign, headphones with music, headphones without music, turning study into a game/challenge, using a text-to-speech app, being kind to myself, being hard on myself, verbalising my goals/to do's to others, visually displayed my 'why' - and nothing has worked.

I have a support plan from the university which gives me an extra week to complete assignments (thankful!) but I'm really concerned that I'm still not going to make it even with the extensions. My ADHD was manageable in the workplace but this is just next level and I'm not sure what else I can do to help myself.

Please, if you have any ideas or suggestions, I'd be most grateful.

Thank you 🙂

[therising]

Hi SunflowerShan, a very warm welcome to you 🙂

You sound so incredibly frustrated. My heart truly goes out to you as you work so hard on working hard.

An outside the square kind of approach but I can't help but wonder what your imagination's like. The reason I ask involves focus. While some people have a mathematical or calculating mind comparable to a super computer and this computing mind allows for great focus, another's super natural ability may relate more so to focusing on whatever they can imagine. For example, a kid with a brilliant imagination could be sitting there in a 1 hour math class while frustrated, having little ability to calculate what they can't imagine. Kind of like math is just a bunch of figures that make little sense to some degree, a whole other language. Give this imaginative person a somewhat equally complex subject like biology and they may perform like a champion because they can imagine what they're being taught. They can see, in their mind, how everything relates (through imagery). For a hyperactive mind that's intensely bored with a subject, it kind of makes sense for them to be more invested in all the exciting things they can imagine, during a math class. What's more exciting than math may even involve what's outside the window to the left of them. It's like a window through to far more fascinating stuff, like what the fly on the brick wall is doing and imagining how long will it stay there for before it eventually flies off 🙂

If it does happen to be the case, that your imagination is like your super power, does the studying you're doing have the ability to trigger your imagination and you can work effectively through that?

Just a thought 🙂