If you have ADHD what are your best tools? Struggling

[AbsentmindedWoman]

I can't take medication until I have been cleared with a cardiologist. Planning on this happening sometime in the summer, if all is well.

Until then - can I pick your brains as to what tips or tricks you have found helpful? What strategies do you use?

I have a lot going on at present (my mother has cancer being the big urgent one, but I do have ongoing serious health issues of my own) and I really find the stress absolutely drains the batteries on my (already rubbish!) executive function.

I found a software thing you could download for ADHD that was supposed to be very helpful, but true to form, I have lost the link and can't find it again

Any ideas at all? If you can share anything that helps, I'd be eternally grateful!

Following with interest. My ADHD is so bad that I can’t even organise sorting out titration for meds. It’s a vicious circle. But it’s overwhelming and I just ignore it. Such is life!

DP and DS both ADHD.
Look up the Pomodoro technique for time management. It breaks up time j to manageable blocks that help to avoid distraction.

Get a notebook and write stuff in it with the date. I know that sounds obvious but if you made a phone call last Wednesday you will know when it was in sequence (NO BiTS of PAPER)

Mostly it's about knowing yourself and when you will or won't be able to concentrate. Maybe a diary of whether first thing or late morning or what part of the day you concentrate best in, do you need to make sure you eat first or remember to eat. Do you need to manage your impulses by being more aware of them.

Do you hyperfocus on stuff? This is a superpower but sometimes needs managing (you can forget to eat or work all night on something you are ultra focussed on) I used to work with DP and he could work all day and night on a project without eating if hyperfocussed- I'd be on the floor!

Medication does really help of course.

Also with the caring for your mum thing, in doing that with my DPs arm. I wrote stuff to do with them in the back of my current note book. I used it yesterday to find which physiotherapist called them in December. Gold dust

Seconding the Pomodoro method, I've got mine set to 15 min 'work' (or cleaning, admin, etc), 5 min break (instead of 25/5) because it means I can hold focus and it actually makes me do stuff.

On good days I can do it at 25/5 and that's even better.

More lists than you could believe, a million alarms on my Google Home for important stuff like the bins going out or appointments (can't ignore that in the same way a post-it note or calendar entry would just immediately become invisible to my brain).

Taking the motivaton when I've got it - if I go hyperfocused on cleaning at midnight, fine, take advantage. If I suddenly find a burst of admin energy at 6am on a Sunday, cool. But on the flip side, if at 10am I'm trying to work and it just ISN'T happening, I walk away. Do something distracting (currently, the game Crash Bandicoot or obsessive checking of my tomato seedlings) for 10-15 minutes, or longer. I'm extraordinarily lucky to be able to work like that though - different if your job doesn't allow it, and tougher I imagine!

(NO BiTS of PAPER)

Hahahha I need this on a tshirt. The amount of incredibly important things I've written on scraps of paper or postit notes, never for them to be acknowledged or even seen again, and then I'm more frustrated because I TRIED and my brain still went "haha no, that's not interesting, sorry".

Following for ideas, especially ADHD and PDA as it's a horrible combination.