I feel like I’ve done everything, and this is getting in the way of my life so much, that I can’t do it anymore. I’m scared of starting yet another medication and damaging my health and yet I don’t know what else to do.

What I’ve done to treat my ADHD

I didn’t realize I had ADHD until I was an adult. I had significant executive dysfunction that only worsened over time. But this was assumed to be my significant mental health issues, eating disorder, and autism. But as a young adult, it’s been a huge barrier.

I’ve done most things I could think of:
* strict gluten free diet for 6 years
* strict dairy free diet for almost 6 years, now some high quality dairy
* no artificial food dyes, artificial colors, artificial sweeteners, preservatives
* generally a clean ingredients diet with the exception of natural flavors
* I eat more regularly to avoid blood sugar dips
* decreasing screen time, significantly but not as much as I should
* I go running, walking, do strength exercises, I’m moderately active
* I’ve tried nervous system regulation, I’m trying to get back into that
* emotion regulation, limiting overwhelm and overstimulation
* reading more
* I tried at home Neurofeedback, but I haven’t stuck to it regularly enough
* caffeine before tasks or assignments
* regularly meeting with the disability services office at my college
* therapy with a neurodivergence specialist

And every behavioral strategy too. You would not believe how many alarms, reminders, calendar events, alarms to check my calendar, hundreds of notes, visual reminders. An automations app I downloaded to automatically open my notes and calendar at certain times. Checklists, timers, breaks, everything. To do lists on an urgency/importance level chart.

Supplements I’ve tried:
All at the same time. Only mild improvement with regular use.
* Bacopa
* Citlocholine
* Coffee fruit extract
* L theanine
* L tyrosine
* Omega 3 fish oil + vitamin D
* Cordyceps
* Ginseng
* Rhodalia
* Licorice root extract
* HPA Adapt (an adaptogen complex)
* GABA

And didn’t get much results from Gingko

How it’s affecting my adult life

Where do I even start? When I was 18, 19, 20, it was really bad. I got fired from my first job in part due to being late all the time and not finishing tasks. I almost didn’t graduate high school. I missed appointments. I got lost when taking the bus. I had no money management skills. I didn’t remember to do anything.

I had a constant sense of urgency, constant sense of being too far behind, and yet I could never catch up. I still sometimes feel that way.

It’s not that I haven’t significantly improved. I have, but it’s just not enough to get me to even the minimum of functioning.

I’m 22 now. I’m trying to get a job and I’m terrified of losing it or not performing well. I’m taking only 2 college classes and I’m failing one of them. I can only pass classes where I can turn in late work, because at least half of my work is late, and the other half is last minute. I miss doses of meds and supplements. I have like 12 alarms a day for various things. I wear the same clothes because I put off doing laundry until I can’t anymore. I leave dishes in the sink and can’t force myself to do them. My hygiene is literally bad because of my ADHD. I don’t shower often enough, I hardly brush my teeth, I neglect my hair. I don’t even change my clothes every day. I’ve spent years trying to get an AA degree.

I don’t have many responsibilities. I’m a part time community college student. My health takes up a lot of my time and day. But I manage everything very poorly. I’m so stressed and overwhelmed even with doing the bare minimum of what’s expected of me.

Yesterday, my parents sat down with me and said they can’t keep supporting me as much as they have.

Having ADHD is spending your whole life putting in twice the effort to get half the results. It’s like everyone has a barrier to doing things, but ADHD is a barrier on top of a barrier. It’s looking like you don’t even try when it takes so much out of you to do even half of what you are supposed to. It’s looking lazy while white knuckling through everything.

My other conditions and health

I have a pretty significant health load that has only gotten worse over time. Outside of significant ADHD I have:
* autism
* mood disorders (mental health issues used to be significant, now moderate)
* long term eating disorder
* gastroparesis (now mild)
* significant IBS
* adult onset celiac disease
* interstitial cystitis
* PCOS
* pelvic floor disorder
* past hypothyroidism (not active)

I’m in a functional medicine program and got lab tests (GI MAP, HTMA, DUTCH, OAT). I’m already on 8 medications (including long term psych meds) and at least 20 supplements. I follow a restrictive diet to manage my IC and IBS. Multiple food intolerances.

Everything with executive functioning just got worse when my IC was so severe that it disabled me for about a year. I couldn’t work or do school or anything. My whole days were just managing pain and medical appointments. I fell out of what habits and momentum I had built up by that time. I’m now much less debilitated but still can’t get back on track.

I’m just at a loss, I don’t know what to do and I can’t keep living with such a significant barrier.

My partner also wants to try ADHD medicine. I’ve been holding him back from taking daily stimulants, asking him instead to try it 1-2 times a week as needed. He hasn’t tried as much as I have but it’s really getting in the way of his life too.

This is my last ditch effort. I want to know:

* if there’s anything I haven’t tried before trying medication
* the harms and long term effects of medication I may not know of that I should consider
* what else I can do
* and how to minimize harm if it’s the only option

I’m looking for a dietitian that is familiar with the pro metabolic approach, (and a functional/integrative lens would be a big bonus).

The reason I want it to be a dietitian is because I want to see if it’s possible to go through insurance or get reimbursed.

Does anyone have any recommendations or personal experiences with nutrition professionals they would recommend?

**TW**: calorie numbers, specific detailed behaviors, self-invalidation of ED

So I’m really confused about what’s going on and I was hoping someone could explain to me, physiologically, how this could happen.

Basically, I’ve been taking a harm-reduction approach to recovery, meaning rather than full recovery, I reduce the harm of my behaviors as much as possible.

I have been losing weight (slowly) for some time now, but am not underweight. Recently, I had a 3-4 week “break” where I ate almost a normal amount of calories, like >!almost 2000 ish!<.

After not losing weight, and actually gaining >!a couple pounds,!< I’ve gone back to my usual semi-restriction: >!1600-1700 calories!<. This excludes once a week when I have a large >!binge purge episode!<, and once a week when I >!fast until 5 pm!<.

I know I’m not supposed to feel good while losing weight. I know. But lately it’s been pretty bad. I haven’t felt this bad since eating >!1200 calories!< for a long period of time and losing >!a ton of weight!<. I feel dizzy, out of it, hard to concentrate, lightheaded, and when I go walk or go on runs, I feel even worse. It’s getting harder and harder to finish my runs, I get out of breath, dizzy, and need to take breaks (and no, they’re not *super* long runs, they’re usually about >!20-50 min!<, >!a few times a week!<.)

The thing is, I recently got my labs back and they were all normal, electrolytes and everything, except vitamin D. My weight loss has been slow and I’m not underweight and don’t have low body fat. I get a period despite PCOS and my ED. I have slightly low blood pressure.

This might be my invalidation towards myself, but it just doesn’t medically make sense to me. It’s not even *my* normal to feel this bad on this many calories (based on experience), and in my mind, most women my size could eat >!1600 calories!< and not feel this bad. Tired? Sure. Irritable? Yeah. Dizzy and weak? No, not really.

I know many people with EDs have fast metabolism but I’ve gotten my BMR and muscle mass tested multiple times and I actually have a slow metabolism, as in my body burns less calories than expected for my size.

# TLDR:

Harm reduction approach to behaviors. Losing weight slowly. Recent refeed for a few weeks, almost >!2000 calories!<. Back to >!1600 average!<. Feel dizzy, lightheaded, out of it, bad. Exercise intolerance. Normal labs, not underweight, normal body fat, get period. Slow metabolism, not fast.

Why do I feel *this* bad, and not just a little tired or irritable like most people on this amount?

TW: calorie numbers, specific detailed behaviors, self-invalidation of ED

So I’m really confused about what’s going on and I was hoping someone could explain to me, physiologically, how this could happen.

Basically, I’ve been taking a harm-reduction approach to recovery, meaning rather than full recovery, I reduce the harm of my behaviors as much as possible.

I have been losing weight (slowly) for some time now, but am not underweight. Recently, I had a 3-4 week “break” where I ate almost a normal amount of calories, like >!almost 2000 ish!<.

After not losing weight, and actually gaining >!a couple pounds,!< I’ve gone back to my usual semi-restriction: >!1600-1700 calories!<. This excludes once a week when I have a large >!binge purge episode!<, and once a week when I >!fast until 5 pm!<.

I know I’m not supposed to feel good while losing weight. I know. But lately it’s been pretty bad. I haven’t felt this bad since eating >!1200 calories!< for a long period of time and losing >!a ton of weight!<. I feel dizzy, out of it, hard to concentrate, lightheaded, and when I go walk or go on runs, I feel even worse. It’s getting harder and harder to finish my runs, I get out of breath, dizzy, and need to take breaks (and no, they’re not super long runs, they’re usually about >!20-50 min!<, >!a few times a week!<.)

The thing is, I recently got my labs back and they were all normal, electrolytes and everything, except vitamin D. My weight loss has been slow and I’m not underweight and don’t have low body fat. I get a period despite PCOS and my ED. I have slightly low blood pressure.

This might be my invalidation towards myself, but it just doesn’t medically make sense to me. It’s not even my normal to feel this bad on this many calories (based on experience), and in my mind, most women my size could eat >!1600 calories!< and not feel this bad. Tired? Sure. Irritable? Yeah. Dizzy and weak? No, not really.

I know many people with EDs have fast metabolism but I’ve gotten my BMR and muscle mass tested multiple times and I actually have a slow metabolism, as in my body burns less calories than expected for my size.

TLDR:

Harm reduction approach to behaviors. Losing weight slowly. Recent refeed for a few weeks, almost >!2000 calories!<. Back to >!1600 average!<. Feel dizzy, lightheaded, out of it, bad. Exercise intolerance. Normal labs, not underweight, normal body fat, get period. Slow metabolism, not fast.

Why do I feel this bad, and not just a little tired or irritable like most people on this amount?

I’m excited and curious to learn more. I can’t link pictures or cross post here, so I’ll link the original post with the pictures down below:

https://www.reddit.com/r/NaturopathicMedicine/s/7Owj311ua8

Near Ralph’s on El Toro and Olivewood Elementary. All the sudden I hear a police helicopter telling someone to pull over their car and surrender. And then we hear 5 big BANGS. Like a gunshot? I look outside and right down the street and there’s flashing police cars, seemingly surrounding a car.

Does anyone know what’s happening??