u/Drawings_Tom2560

So I seem to have had this pattern for 15 + years, including before using ADHD medication. Currently I'm being pretty strict on sleep hygiene, gentle exercise, healthy diet, relaxing exercises, everything I can think of.

What happens is I wake up at 6.30 (I'm trying to keep early starts while I'm off work) I'm fine to get up, do my teeth etc, have breakfast, do some gentle exercise / stretching. I feel fine. Then mid-morning I suddenly get very sleepy. This is with or without medication, caffeine doesn't seem to touch it, or sugar. I can literally get back into bed, although I can't sleep. Today it got so bad I actually dozed while on my medication, which I can't normally do.

Just confused by this pattern. I don't think it's carbs, I'll only have a small amount of oats or brown bread at breakfast. I've tried different breakfasts and it still seems to happen anyway. Also not sugar or caffeine as the strongest I'll drink is a green tea and I don't have anything sweet.

I don't know if it's stress related, like subconsciously my mind is starting to worry about the day, or if it's my mind saying "No" once I'm about to start getting on with boring stuff. When I was working I didn't notice it, but then I'd have been so stressed trying to focus that doesn't surprise me.

Once I've rested for about 1/2 an hour or an hour I can get up and carry on.

Does anyone else experience this?

Hi, maybe a bit of a strange title but will try to explain. I'm diagnosed with ADHD PI and mild CFS. I don't want to disrespect others' struggles with CFS, so will say mine is at the very mild end of the spectrum, but it is there, or something like it is there. So - if I live my life on "easy mode", living with my Mum (I'm age 46) working part-time or not at all, doing some but not all the admin, allowing myself to buy small treats if I'm tired or depressed, like getting food out or buying a book or something, then I can have a somewhat active life. I can do gentle hiking or some gym activity. If I try to have what I think of as a more normal level of activity, so full management of bills, finances, full-time work, some travel, some socialising and late nights, regular fitness classes - it doesn't work and I'll crash.

I take a medium dose of methylphenidate, eat what I think is a healthy vegetarian diet, I'm sober, am pretty strict on sleep hygiene, try to exercise within a window of what's sensible, try to socialise in ways that work - for example going to a sketching group rather than the pub. I do as much ADHD coping strategies as I can but still find admin extremely hard.

Anyway I'm always wondering what can and should I be doing in life? Do I say I'm somewhat disabled and for me I'm doing more than enough? Should I always be pushing to optimise and do more? Should I fight the issues hard even if that means often going too far and crashing? Also how do I support myself going forward? It feels like so many grey areas and so much lack of understanding, and that it's so easy to think that it's just laziness and I could achieve more with greater effort or willpower or something. So - just wondering how other people make sense of this. What do you tell friends or family, what do you have in place so you can support yourself?

Hi, I'm just looking to see if anyone has had a similar experience to me and if what I describe could be mild fibromyalgia or something related.

So - have always had issues with fatigue and was given a diagnosis of mild CFS in my mid 20s. Also have ADHD and have struggled with OCD and depression badly in the past. With my CFS (if it is that) I'm actually able to be quite active, but that's with the important caveat that I'm 46 and still live at my Mum's, and have tended to work part-time in low pressure jobs. So, I'm not working a busy job, socialising and being able to workout multiple times a week. It's more like I rarely socialise, have few responsibilities and exercise as much as I reasonably can, to help with depression.

I have tried at times to build up to a point where I'm training for 45 mins 3 x a week. Doing aerobics, cycling, something like that. What will happen is that I will quickly get to a point where after training I'll wake up with very stiff muscles, at about 5am. Then I'll tend to get tiredness, brain fog, general malaise and so on. It basically means I can't push myself to progress and settle into a solid routine. I do stretch properly after training and I think do all the stuff like hydrating and so on, relaxing after my workouts, eating properly, also sober these days.

Sometimes I'll massage my shoulders which can be very tight and I'll feel a strong release and an urge to stretch, and realise my body was be incredibly tight. The stretching will help somewhat and will be a release, making me feel less tired, although not OK. Professional massage also helps and the person giving the massage is often surprised at how tight my muscles are.

At times I've had bad energy crashes and have had tender and achey muscles. I don't regularly get pain though. Just wondered if anyone experiences any of this, hope is OK to ask on here.