u/Audhd35

Our toddler’s (2.5 yrs) teacher told us today that we might want to have more play dates because she doesn’t seem interested at all in interacting with other kids at school. We love her teacher and she probably thought that’s something we might be concerned about, but I already feel pretty certain that my kiddo is AuDHD and gifted (I am also, partner is ADHD and gifted) and so I’m not very surprised or concerned by this behavior. She’s very social with adults and loves to play and we have tons of adults who love her and are in her life regularly, but she has never been very interested in engaging with other kids. That’s normal for young toddlers but as she gets closer to 3 it’s becoming more clear that it might be her personality and not age. She can be pretty controlling of her environment and play and needs space, quiet, etc at times to stay regulated.

I’m curious if other parents of neurodivergent kids experienced this and how was it for your kiddo being in school when they weren’t interested in other kids / socializing? How did it change as they got older? How did you support them and/or challenge them to grow in this area?

I know it can be pretty typical for gifted and neurodivergent kids to connect more with adults, and I imagine as she gets older she will find kids she connects with more, and I want to respect her social boundaries if she isn’t interested in other kids right now, but I’m wondering about how to advocate for her in this way to her teachers and classmates as she gets older.

I feel so uncomfortable in my body since gaining 30ish lbs after having a baby. Pregnancy and breastfeeding were so overstimulating for me and I haven’t slept for 3 years (have a low sleep needs but high needs likely AuDHD toddler who never. Stops.) and have been in burnout for over a year which has dialed all of my sensory sensitivities wayyyy up. I also run my own business and have been under extreme financial stress all year. Existing in my body feels so hard and I’m largely disassociated all the time. Consistent exercise has felt so difficult because I’m so deeply exhausted. I am struggling more than I ever have with ARFID type stuff, and eating healthy has been really difficult.

The main thing that makes me feel better is getting high and resting (cannabis is the only thing that gives me a reprieve from constant anxiety), and cannabis helps me feel like I can eat more easily… problem is it also makes me want to binge eat everything. It definitely feels like sensory seeking / under stimulation because I want everything crunchy spicy salty sour sweet over and over again, it feels so soothing. But then I wake up the next day and feel like total shit, and I keep gaining weight, which makes me feel MORE overstimulated and uncomfortable. I feel like I’m stuck in a cycle that I can’t seem to break. And the food noise right now is CONSTANT. I think about food from the moment I wake up until I drug myself with melatonin and pass out at night. I feel like I’m just barely surviving every day.

So my question is… what else do you do to satisfy oral sensory seeking? What are your best healthy binge snack foods? How do you binge less while consuming cannabis? How do you consume less cannabis or have fewer existential meltdowns when you’re deep in toddler parenting boredom / under stimulation, depression, burnout and anxiety? How can I lose some weight fast to get rid of some of this discomfort / overstimulation in my body? I feel like my body and mind are on fire non stop. Anything else I haven’t thought of here? Any and all suggestions welcome.

I’ve been in severe autistic burnout for over a year (and in chronic long term burnout / survival mode for years before that) and I know that I need a ton of rest and low demand time to recover.

I have a 2.5 year old and run my own business and am the primary financial provider for my family (partner also has ADHD and is an artist and does his best but my autism generally carries the executive function load of our household) so rest and low demand time is hard to come by, especially since my daughter has low sleep needs and I haven’t slept well in 3 years.

Being so burned out (and also broke and so exhausted I can barely function), my ADHD hyperactive energy has nowhere to go and most days I feel like I’m buzzing so hard that want to chew my own arm off. In the past I would divert that energy toward starting businesses and doing home remodel projects and researching things of interest, but most days right now I can barely feed myself and drink water.

I’ve been using cannabis a lot to force my ADHD brain to turn off (or at least get sluggish and foggy) enough to rest and get out of total hyper vigilance. But I’m gaining weight and it makes me really tired all day which is hard with an active toddler.

What tools and tricks do you use to manage your ADHD mental hyperactivity and keep your ADHD self engaged or mellowed out enough to function without feeling absolutely crazy all the time when your autism is overstimulated af, burned out and hanging on by a thread?

(I have tried Prozac and Wellbutrin and both caused nightmare side effects that made things way harder so I’m hesitant to try medication but still open to it as an option)

I’m a 40 year old AuDHDer. 1.5 weeks into trying Wellbutrin. So far I’ve experienced really bad insomnia, and now my anxiety is spiking.

I’ve heard that these symptoms may only last for the first few weeks, so I’d like to push through and see if it gets better. But I had a panic attack today and I have a 2 year old so I can’t really afford to let the side effects get too crazy.

I’ve been in autistic burnout after years of sensory overwhelm from pregnancy and having a baby, and severe sleep deprivation. I thought Wellbutrin might balance out my dopamine a little so that I could access more rest by treating my ADHD (which is constantly burning me out). I’ve been treating this with cannabis but I’ve gained a lot of weight from uncontrolled eating and it makes me really sleepy.

Would love to hear if any other Audhders had success with Wellbutrin after pushing through these side effects, or if anything else helped to calm your ADHD while trying to recover from chronic autistic burnout.

I’m a 40 yr old AuDHDer. 1.5 weeks into trying Wellbutrin. So far I’ve experienced really bad insomnia, and now my anxiety is spiking.

I’ve heard that these symptoms may only last for the first few weeks, so I’d like to push through and see if it gets better. But I had a panic attack today and I have a 2 year old so I can’t really afford to let the side effects get too crazy.

I’ve been in autistic burnout after years of sensory overwhelm from pregnancy and having a baby, and severe sleep deprivation. I thought Wellbutrin might balance out my dopamine a little so that I could access more rest by treating my ADHD (which is constantly burning me out). I’ve been treating this with cannabis but I’ve gained a lot of weight from uncontrolled eating and it makes me really sleepy.

Would love to hear if any other Audhders had success with Wellbutrin after pushing through these side effects, or if anything else helped to calm your ADHD while trying to recover from chronic autistic burnout.

My likely autistic + adhd toddler is really struggling with big transitions, mainly things like going to school and coming home from school. Every single time it is either a huge meltdown or it takes hours of waiting and negotiating to get her to leave.

Mornings are so hard getting her clothes on and in the car seat, she says she doesn’t want to go to school. We typically spend 30 mins to an hour sitting outside after picking her up from school because she isn’t ready to go home, and if we make her leave it ends in a huge meltdown (more of an autistic nervous system meltdown than a typical toddler tantrum) and her screaming that she doesn’t want to go home.

We just left the dentist where she did great but she didn’t want to leave. I had to go to work so we had to force her to go before she was ready and she had a huge meltdown screaming I don’t want to go home and biting and hitting herself the whole car ride home.

Just wondering if anyone else has experienced this intense struggle with transitions and what helped?