I've decided that the list of potential ADHD co-morbidities is just damned depressing. Anxiety, bipolar disorder, depression...all of these mental health conditions and more can co-exist with ADHD. My own personal co-morbidity side-car is anxiety. Officially, we're still trying to sort out if it's caused by the ADHD or if it's inherent within me in and of itself. Personally...I don't think it's just the ADHD causing it. When I take my Vyvanse, I actually feel a lot of my mental anxiety just whoosh away as my mind settles...but there's still that ambient anxiety in my body...
Anyway...there are so many other things that "co-exist" in my life alongside my ADHD that I am compiling a new list of ADHD co-morbidities.
Style...there's nothing saying ADHD can't co-exist with style/design/artistry. I could be the Holly Becker of ADHD! (Holly Becker is the blogger/force behind decor8, a most fabulous design blog...). I can give advice on how to dress yourself by pulling clothes out of piles on the floor, and without ironing, but while still managing to look uber chic. I do it everyday after all (*pose* *pose* *pose*). Special section would include helpful hints, like how to radiate confidence after you realize you're not wearing any deodorant because you forgot that it even existed that morning (because your boyfriend insisted on putting it "away"...wtf does that even mean "away", to me it may as well mean "on motherf*cking Jupiter".)
Cooking: I'll write the ADHD cookbook. If I started it THIS month it would be all about how to make the best stoner munchies when your Remeron makes you wanna sautée your own leg because you're so hungry. This would also involve a special section about convincing your significant other to make a run to the store for you...because you might die if you don't get your hands on a jumbo bag of Doritos and a jar of liquid cheese to dip them in...and you can't drive because your new meds are making you dizzy. If this book had been started LAST month, however, it would be all about "the ADHD Diet". That involves getting up in the morning, taking your stimulant meds and then forgetting to eat for the next 8 hours...and playing catch up after work with a bowl of ice cream and every topping you can think of, in the name of keeping your weight in the triple digits.
Cats...yeah, ADHD and cats. Um. Cats.Anyway...there are so many other things that "co-exist" in my life alongside my ADHD that I am compiling a new list of ADHD co-morbidities.
Style...there's nothing saying ADHD can't co-exist with style/design/artistry. I could be the Holly Becker of ADHD! (Holly Becker is the blogger/force behind decor8, a most fabulous design blog...). I can give advice on how to dress yourself by pulling clothes out of piles on the floor, and without ironing, but while still managing to look uber chic. I do it everyday after all (*pose* *pose* *pose*). Special section would include helpful hints, like how to radiate confidence after you realize you're not wearing any deodorant because you forgot that it even existed that morning (because your boyfriend insisted on putting it "away"...wtf does that even mean "away", to me it may as well mean "on motherf*cking Jupiter".)
Cooking: I'll write the ADHD cookbook. If I started it THIS month it would be all about how to make the best stoner munchies when your Remeron makes you wanna sautée your own leg because you're so hungry. This would also involve a special section about convincing your significant other to make a run to the store for you...because you might die if you don't get your hands on a jumbo bag of Doritos and a jar of liquid cheese to dip them in...and you can't drive because your new meds are making you dizzy. If this book had been started LAST month, however, it would be all about "the ADHD Diet". That involves getting up in the morning, taking your stimulant meds and then forgetting to eat for the next 8 hours...and playing catch up after work with a bowl of ice cream and every topping you can think of, in the name of keeping your weight in the triple digits.
Fabric: ADHD made me buy enough that it's worth having its own category for.
Oh here's a good one...sleep...ADHD and sleep...because my yawn just kicked in because the Remeron I took a little while ago is working its magic...
I share the cooking comorbidity. (Last night's dinner was Chicken Marsala.) Having multiple steps, multiple pans, boiling water (for pasta), etc., seems to be the externalization of the internal chaos of the A.D.D. Mind.
ReplyDeleteI would add to the list:
Seasonal Affective Disorder: My Wellbutrin took care of this one. But boy, when winter came along...I would go into shut down. It was like a four-month long depression.
Passion: I'm passionate about politics. I'm passionate about music. I'm passionate about...well...passion.
Damn...I think I shared YOUR S.A.D. co-morbidity when I was younger because...dundundunnnnn...I grew up in the Seattle area. It's not so much that it rains ALL the time, but it IS overcast all the time...many many months out of the year...and when I lived there I had way bigger problems with depression. Since leaving an overcast geographic location? Suddenly, depression is not one of my biggies! And I'm thankful because depression, by definition, is no fun. And at least when a person can't just switch geography "just like that" there's saviors like Wellbutrin :)
ReplyDeleteYes, PASSION...I think that's just a subcategory of ADHD though rather than a co-morbidity...at least for those of us lucky to experience the joys of mental hyperactivity! I always say that life for me is always exciting and every day is full of discovery and of course, it's close friend passion! HAHA...
Now politics...Jeff, don't even get me started...it's ONLY MY FAVORITE TOPIC EVER. I tend (for better or worse) to be some kind of weird social libertarian hybrid...but I work for a self-proclaimed classic conservative gun-nut...we talk politics alllllll the time, I love it. At home, me and the dude are always debating and devil's advocating the night away with politics...lovelovelove politics. And really, I think my biggest joy in that arena is having respectful political critiques with people I would never agree with in a million years! That's the best...the kind of common ground you find in those discussions is so much more meaningful.
On another note: YUM, chicken marsala...sad to say here it was Doritos with nacho cheese...but it was damned tasty...the Remeron made me do it, that stuff is nuts, it turns you into a total stoner, culinarily speaking...