I struggle with consistency and remembering to do stuff / motivating myself to do stuff, and I’m wondering ways to keep myself on track of taking my medication? If you have any suggestions let me know!!

  • Everyone is ofcourse different but what I found that worked for me is that I keep a pen & paper right by my bed so that when I'm going to sleep I can just write down everything that comes to mind.
    And with my Elvanse 70mg I just place 1 pill on my desk next to a glass of water, and set a couple alarms 1-1.5 hours before I actually want to wake up.
    So I wake up from the first alarms only to take my medicine, go back to bed - and then when I actually wake up the medicine is in effect already, So the morning gets so much easier.

  • Hey, i have ocd and ADHD and what my therapist reccomended for me, was to buy a pill organiser. I looked, bought a cute one i liked and not only did it motivate me to take my meds it was also fun to organise my pills into the little slots lol. I just keep it on my table so i see it whenevrr i have breakfast

  • I also suspect I might have ADHD and/or ASD on top of my OCD. My dad was the first one who suggested this(he thinks he also is neurodivergent, he also understands me like no one else). I thought the description didn't quite fit me, even decided to research a bit more(my knowledge of ADHD was still quite surface-level, despite me being obsessed with psychology, and I barely knew anything about Autism), thinking "yeah, it seems it can be very different for different people, but that can't be me, I don't do X and Y, etc.", then forgot about it and a few years later started reading and watching a lot of content about both the ADHD and ASD experience. Started to realise this could explain half of my daily suffering and explain most of my weird behaviors and reactions. I start to relate more and more. But there's always that little imposter-syndrome voice in my head "You only think that because you read and watched too much about it, everyone has certain traits to a small degree, yours aren't strong enough to be considered(even though a lot of people who were convinced they don't have it turned out to have it), you can't possibly have OCD and have this(even though I know having multiple disorders is possible and commorbities are VERY common), you just thought about this too hard. What next? You're gonna read about Bipolar and think you have Bipolar? What are the odds you are such a "weirdo"?! You're not quite that kind of person(even though in it's essence it's different for everyone)! Also you're just undisciplined, lazy and dramatic and probably an asshle, maybe you just are, sugbkrefhyyjjdfyhvk" However, you know what, I think my symptoms are pretty strong and it seems it would explain everything about me – the way I think, the way I talk, the way I write, the friction in basic everyday tasks, the unreasonable annoyance and fight or flight when people tell me what to do(PDA), my procrastination, my *"superpower" to forget about the most important things in the universe, and even why I have OCD. But I'm only diagnosed with OCD. (It's also not quite easy to get an appointment, and I'm still in denial(what if I'm making it up and creating stigma? Aaah, classic OCD overthinking, maybe it's because of my mom, who thinks that mental disorders aren't real, but probably has one herself(don't want to sound stereotypical, but she actually has no empathy and also is convinced our neighbors are out to get us, even though they don't know she exists, she gets so worked up about it and curses them EVERY DAY(also using words that happen to trigger my OCD), I can't take it anymore, this negative atmosphere and she doesn't want to get help, but I love her, but I swear SHE'S OBSESSED with out neighbours, for context, she thinks they're saying bad things about her behind the walls and are intentionally being disruptive, but won't talk to them, mommy, there's no way neighbours from THREE DIFFERENT HOUSES(we moved two times because of her) that NEVER SAW YOUR FACE BECAUSE YOU NEVER LEAVE THE HOUSE(it's unhealthy) hate you to the point they always gossip about you behind the walls, ugh)), and also my dad said I need to get my OCD a bit more manageable(obviously it's a never-ending fight, but he means somewhat manageable) before I test for anything else, because it's gonna be hard to tell if I have something else because of the overlap between the symptoms?!

    Anyway, I think it's very fascinating how OCD and ADHD interact, having OCD is one experience, having ADHD is a different experience, but having both is a whole another experience. It feels like they're trying to compensate for each other. Like how I constantly check everything just in case, because I often do miss something obvious and sometimes it had devastating effects, so it's still not enough, but also takes TOO MUCH time. How I reread the same sentence and rewind videos to absorb or "feel" the information(especially if I'm tired or overstimulated). How I ignore my basic needs going down different rabbit holes. How I hoard thousands of screenshots, browser tabs, bookmarks and anything I can find. How I drown in my mind. How I have a whole system to properly do certain things after going to the bathroom that I need to do in certain order or everything will fall apart, and I will forget or not have the motivation to do it, but hate environment changes. How I stressfully try to control everything and put things in very specific places to remember that they exist and own them and get extremely irritated when someone puts them somewhere else or merely touches then(I must be so obnoxious). My obsession with searching for patterns in everything. How my ADHD makes starting hygiene tasks feel like climbing a mountain, but the dirt anxiety from my OCD makes me unable to do anything else before I wash myself. How my shoes untying or me wanting to go to the bathroom disrupts my day, feels overwhelming and becomes a big barrier to continuation of anything else, because of I'm not ready to touch dirty things and then have to wash my hands or other parts of my body or stuff, because I don't have it in me to start because I know I'm gonna have to do a lot of compulsions and I can't go on without them and oh, gosh, I'm so exhausted. I could go on and on.

    What helps me in making sure I have a consistent habit is attaching it to a different consistent habit and having the object always in sight. Specifically for medication, I know because of school I'm forced to wake up at a certain time, so that's always consistent, so I take pills as soon as I wake up, and they're always on my table so that I see them every time immediately and never forget they exist. Have been surprisingly consistent in taking them. However, my psych recommended to take them with food and drinks and that's very hard because I have to take them in the MORNING, which means breakfsst, which means waking up earlier, no appettite and a big barrier in the shape of an impossible task in the start of the day. But having to take medication is also the only thing that can make me eat in the morning at all. Ever since I quit I never bother to eat in the morning :( Also, everything falls apart on the weekends and the days off school. I also often doubt if I took my medication or forgot, apparently it doesn't work well enough for me to stop doubting... :D

    Ugh, I wrote an essay again...

    TL/DR: I might be just like you. OCD and ADHD both contradict each other and amplify each other. Try attaching the action of taking pills to something that you already do consistently every day at a similar time, and having the environment to remind you they exist.

  • I use the Todoist app. It’s very helpful.