One thing other people don’t understand…
… is that substance use issues are so often a result of undiagnosed ADHD. There’s a ton of negative outcomes from being undiagnosed – but this is one of the worst. ~40% of those with substance use problems have undiagnosed ADHD.
It’s very often a way of self-medicating, I am not saying it’s a good thing but it comes from a place of desperation. ADHDers tend to be impulsive – we take risks that others do not. Sometimes those risks are inherently detrimental.
I had substance use issues when I was younger. I almost died a few times due to it, but the harsh reality I need you to know here is that without substance use I might not be here – they allowed me to escape when I needed to when I was so low that nothing else could lift me up.
If you ever want to know what it’s like to be a young person who has a depressive drug addiction, who has felt like no one in their life appreciated them or wanted them around, dealing with issues relating to their sexuality, unrequited love, struggling to find meaning in life – Euphoria is an apt representation of my later youth as Rue.
This show really hit home for me – it’s a hard show to watch for anyone who has faced this problem. There are a couple of scenes that absolutely flawed me for their accuracy. When you are in a vortex of addiction – only one thing matters – escaping for longer.
So every time I see someone punch down on someone trying to survive, claiming they have a severe moral failing for trying to relieve the pain of their life. I see their judgement of me too – unless you’ve been in a situation where it felt like there was no escape due to a life time of being abused by different people and at different times – reserve your judgement.
Quite often all we needed was love, acceptance, and a person who could tell us that reality was worth returning to.
The truth is that once ADHDers treat their ADHD they tend to stop this – I did once I had the right medication – and I’ve never abused my stimulant medication, it’s the one thing that has helped immensely – why would I ever ruin a good thing?
Daily blog challenge
October is here usually known as ‘ADHD Awareness Month’ – but IMO we ADHDers deserve more than that – we deserve acceptance. We need to be listened to, we need realistic accommodations, and help. We need to start moving toward ADHD Pride Month. People should be able to feel proud of being ADHDers, because the alternative is shame.
For 31 days I will be writing every day on being an ADHDer using this list of prompts:
- Day 1: Introduction
- Day 2: What I love about being an ADHDer is…
- Day 3: My Identification/Discovery Story
- Day 4: Reactions to Identification
- Day 5: Hobby Graveyard
- Day 6: Supports and Appreciation
- Day 7: The ADHDer Community
- Day 8: Favourite ADHDer Blogs/Comics
- Day 9: Favourite ADHD Owned Business
- Day 10: Sensory Seeking/Aversion
- Day 11: Fidgets and Stims
- Day 12: Favourite ADHD Charity
- Day 13: Family
- Day 14: Order from Chaos
- Day 15: Everyone Should Know
- Day 16: Work/School
- Day 17: ADHD People I Admire
- Day 18: Someday…
- Day 19: I Love it When…
- Day 20: Communication Style
- Day 21: One thing other people don’t understand…
- Day 22: Dispel a myth
- Day 23: Can’t Live without…
- Day 24: ADHD Political Issue
- Day 25: Symbols
- Day 26: Favourite ADHD Book
- Day 27: Identity Language
- Day 28: Dealing with Boredom
- Day 29: Favourite Memes
- Day 30: Hyperfocus
- Day 31: Acceptance Means…
Rory's Reckons 