It amazes me the ADHD is considered to be a disability, as I've never viewed myself as being in any way ‘disabled’ by the way that my brain works! In fact, I consider ADHD to be my superpower, but that's probably because of how my ADHD was always explained to me. In our house we refer to my ‘Super Brain’ and ‘impairment’ is not part of my identity.
I don't know what it feels like to have a neurotypical brain but the closest I can get to experiencing that is when I take medication for my ADHD, which dulls down my multiple thoughts. When I was younger, I used to take medication every day, but I dislike the side effects. I took Equasym XL which is a stimulant medication and that affects your appetite and can make you feel quite nauseous. When the medication wears off in the afternoon, I experience a come down, where I just felt irritable and angry. I know the medication helps me to focus on my academic studies, but I dislike the way the medication changed me and my brain. When I take medication, everything feels dull and boring, but on the days when I don't take my medication, things feel fun, exciting and stimulating. I prefer how I feel both physically and mentally when I don't take medication. My life feels more enjoyable and entertaining, and I've learned strategies to manage my attention, concentration and activity levels myself, with the assistance of my family and teachers.
These are some of the things that I find useful because we all know that there are some Executive Function challenges when you have ADHD!
Getting ready in the morning
I can quite happily stand in the shower for half an hour just staring into space and enjoying the sensation of the hot water. However, my mum is slightly less keen on me monopolising the bathroom for the entire morning and using up all the hot water without actually managing to wash myself!
We know that time blindness is an issue for people with ADHD and we can lose track of time, which I would often do in the shower at 6:30am. A strategy that works for me is that I sing a song inside my head and follow the instructions for the song in order to complete an efficient shower routine. The song I sing is, “This is the way I wash my hair, wash my hair, wash my hair. This is the way I wash my hair on a cold and frosty morning!” and I repeat the song using various body parts. The full sequence of the song can have my entire shower routine completed within 5 minutes. I also sing this song when I brush my teeth but the two-minute timer on my electric toothbrush is also really helpful for my time blindness.
Losing items
Everything I own has a sticky label with my name on it and the teachers at my school are well used to collecting my items when they find them and returning them to my form room! My school quickly learned that sending my things to the lost property centre resulted in me spending far too long searching for items, so I greatly appreciate the help of my teachers returning my items to my form room! Losing pencil cases and the entire contents of the pencil case was a frequent occurrence for me in Year 7. It was agreed with the school SENCO that my mum would provide a supply of pens, pencils and stationery to the school and I would be allocated one or two a day and then would go to the SENCO to replenish my stash once I inevitably lost it! I think this strategy probably saves my mum hundreds of pounds each term.
Sitting exams
Due to difficulties with task initiation, planning, prioritisation and time management, exams can be challenging for people with ADHD. I am allocated additional time during exams because it takes my brain a while to get going and to get myself into ‘the zone’. I also sit my exams in a quiet room away from the other student so I'm not distracted by environmental noises. I am permitted to stand up and walk around because sitting still for two hours can be really uncomfortable when your body is screaming out to move. It's really important for me that between exams I get a long enough break for my brain to recover and shift focus. If my exams are too close together my brain is still focused on the previous topic rather than moving on to the new exam. I need at least 30 minutes between each exam in which I walk outside, and I find green space such as walking on grass or being around trees really helps my brain to rest and recuperate so that I can approach the next exam with renewed focus.
Diet and exercise
My mum tells the story of when I was in Reception class, and we went to a party, and I drank orange Fanta. My mum describes me running around the party like a thing possessed and sweating profusely as I could not stop running! I'm pretty certain that was the last time she allowed me to drink orange Fanta! Certain dyes and chemicals in food really affect my brain so I avoid eating junk food. I try to eat a healthy balanced diet with lots of lean proteins, simple carbohydrates and lots of fruits and vegetables. Omega 3 and fish oils are good for me, so I try and eat oily fish at least once or twice a week. I prefer to drink water and avoid sugary drinks as these can really affect my brain and activity levels.
Physical exercise really helps me to regulate. The walk to and from school each day is good for me and helps me to regulate and decompress. I play sports most days such as tennis, badminton and swimming. I also go to the gym and have some basic gym equipment at home. My body craves movement, but the movement is not just good for my body but also for my mind. When I'm physically active my brain seems to calm down a bit and I find it useful to do some intense physical exercise before attempting to do my homework as my brain does tend to work a bit better then.
Focusing on my strengths
Being organised is not my strength. Being able to attend to things that are not neurologically stimulating to me is not my strength. However, I don't focus on these aspects of myself. In my family, we take a light hearted approach to my ADHD and we often laugh about some of the things that I do or have done, so it has never really felt like a major problem to me, just an obstacle to manage. There are some things that I am absolutely brilliant at, and that is because of my ADHD. I can think of things that other people don't even imagine which means I come up with new and innovative ways of doing things. I can ‘think outside of the box’ and my ideas are not constrained by the limitations of my imagination. I can work on 20 different tasks at the exact same time and easily jump from one activity to another without difficulty. I am brilliant at maths and can solve maths problems much faster than most people. I am fun and impulsive, and people enjoy spending time with me. Noone could ever accuse me of being boring! I have endless energy and I get things done. People with ADHD are the innovators, entrepreneurs and inventors within our society. My inability to focus on dull and boring things allows me to hyperfocus on interesting and stimulating activities. When I was six years old, I completed the Lego Millennium Falcon in one day! My brain loves maths, and I can hyperfocus on this subject, which means a career in a mathematical field will see me totally immersed in the subject and probably one of the most efficient and dedicated employees a firm has ever had. Although I may need a treadmill under my desk. . .
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