Most late aged diagnosed ADHD folks have a bit of a moment where all of a sudden the final puzzle piece is put in place and there’s the ‘lightbulb’ revelation of what has been going on all along. It might be from seeing a video on instagram or tiktok of a list of ADHD symptoms and realising that it was a list of your ‘personality traits’. 

People have asked me when I first had a bit of insight into potentially having ADHD, and the truth is that I can’t really remember. I don’t know whether this was because I kind of always had the feeling that it was there and maybe just pushed it down, or if the burnout from ADHD had become so bad that I actually have memory impairments.
Today’s guest is a bit similar to me in this way. Bridget Hustwaite is an author, presenter and broadcaster. You’d likely know her from her days gracing the airways at triple J, or from either of her fantastic books ‘how to endo’ and ‘figuring out 30’. 

We spoke about:

• The symptoms of ADHD Bridget had prior to diagnosis and what she struggled with
• The ‘internalising’ aspects of ADHD 
• Do we have memory issues or were we just not really present to begin with?
• Our fears of ‘jumping on the bandwagon’ and the trend of having ADHD
• The emotional labour of speaking about ADHD with loved ones
• Comparing the diagnosis of ADHD to endometriosis & why one was more validating than the other
• Emotional regulation and mood & how it’s shifted with medication
• Masking, fitting in and friendships

You can find more from Bridget Hustwaite on instagram 

You can get a copy of Bridget’s new book “Figuring Out 30” here!!

 

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Attention seems to be something that not only us neurodiverse folk struggle with these days. I’ve personally struggled a bit with the whole ‘deficit’ part of the label of ADHD because it doesn’t really seem to be the most appropriate description. For me, ‘unable to control where my attention is focussed’ seems to be more in line but it doesn’t have a ring to it.
Today’s guest is the wonderful best selling author of ‘Stolen Focus. Why You Can’t Pay Attention’ Johann Hari. Johann went on a long journey to figure out why all of us seem to be struggling with attention. Parts of his book specifically questioned some of the more controversial sides of ADHD in regards to the biopsychosocial model and medication of kids. 

In today’s episode we spoke about:

• Why none of us can pay attention anymore
• Why ADHD brains need to be more attuned to the things that can impact focus and attention
• Diagnosis can often be ‘brain or blame’ - either it’s completely biological and there’s nothing you can do about it, or it’s not completely your biology and therefore you are to blame for not being able to pay attention
• How food can impact attention
• How technology is designed to steal our attention
• Whether we can do anything about it
• Why sleep really impacts our attention 
• Some of the reasons behind the controversy of questioning ADHD medication 

You can find all of Johann’s books and further information at his website.

You can follow Johann on Instagram

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How do you go with small talk, keeping the conversation going and not feeling overwhelmed by matches and messages? Do you ever wonder how the people you’re matching with perceive you? I felt all of the above. I hated small talk and found it incredibly boring, I was constantly overwhelmed by the expectation to reply if I hadn’t checked my messages in a little while and I was always worried that I would appear ‘too intense’ to the people I had matched with and I tried to tone myself down so that they wouldn’t be scared off. 

Hinge recently conducted some research into dating and ADHD! They examined over 9000 daters on Hinge across the world with a clinical ADHD diagnosis to get a bit of a read of the room on how dating can affect us. Joining the podcast is Logan Ury; Hinge’s Director of Relationship Science. She’s a behavioural scientist turned dating coach and the author of the best-selling dating book, How to Not Die Alone. 

In today’s episode we talk:

• What people with ADHD tend to struggle with on the apps
• Why small talk is a huge hurdle for people with ADHD
• How to avoid small talk 
• Masking and being scared of being viewed as ‘weird’ or unusual
• Shift vs support responses. What they are and how it will REALLY help people with ADHD
• Analysis paralysis and the paradox of choice

You can find more from Logan Ury at her website 

 and instagram 

You can read Hinge’s ADHD dating report 

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ADHD and feeling overwhelmed, over stimulated and burnout seem to go hand in hand. A lot of us operate under the ‘go, go, go’ type of cadence with our two modes being full throttle or absolutely nothing. This inevitably leaves a lot of us feeling as though we can never get it together, we’re mentally exhausted all of the time and as though everyone around us is sick of our franticness. Joining the podcast today is certified ADHD therapist, who also has ADHD Jenna Free. Jenna refers to the frantic behaviours mentioned above as dysregulation. 

Jenna taught me a whole new way to think about managing my ADHD. Her work focuses on regulation and learning to bring ourselves back to a regulated state. 

This episode is for anyone who feels like:

• They are frantically trying to keep up with a to-do list that never ends
• Your life feels overwhelming while you also feel as though you’re barely getting anything done
• There is never enough time in the day and you’re always racing against the clock
• You ricochet between frantically running around panicking and crashing, zoned out and in a paralysis
  
  

We speak about:

• Jenna’s experience of being diagnosed later in life and the cross over with postnatal depression
• A lot of ‘lifestyle’ treatments for ADHD are bandaids and don’t address the underlying cause of burnout
• Consistently being distracted by tasks while you are meant to be doing a task
• Identifying dysregulation and being in reaction mode
• Seeing time as a ‘vertical’ all stacked right in front of us rather than ‘horizontal’ in a linear way
• How the internal work softens us so we aren’t in survival mode so that we can implement some strategies

You can find Jenna’s website and work 
And her Instagram

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We know that the ADHD brain operates in some different ways to a neurotypical one, but what’s actually going on inside our brains?
We’re joined today by neuroscientist, international speaker, and author of The DOSE Effect, TJ Power. TJ’s work focuses on small, practical habits that can help us regulate our brain chemistry.
Today we dive into:

• How our dopamine levels differ from a neurotypical brain and what this means for our motivation, concentration and attention span
• How dopamine is connected to hyperfocus
• Changing the narrative of ‘disorder’ and ‘deficit’ to ‘difference’
• TJ’s experience with OCD 
• How to find your ADHD ‘superpower’ and flow state
• Task initiation challenges and transition stages
• How dopamine is linked to novelty and impulsivity
• How changing the first 5-10 mins of your morning can affect the whole rest of your day
• The science behind therapies like ice baths and saunas & how they compare to drugs in the brain

We are then joined by clinical nutritionist Georgia Farrar to chat through which foods are best for maintaining focus and attention, which types of foods can exacerbate ADHD symptoms and whether caffeine is good or bad for our brains!

Timestamps:

0:00 - Intro

2:50 - Differences in ADHD brains

4:30 - The problem with the labels 'disorder' and 'deficit'

6:15 - TJ's experiences with OCD

11:45 - Finding your flow state

14:20 - How social media impacts dopamine

17:00 - Task initiation 

19:40 - Dopamine & novelty

21:50 - Waking up and jumping on your phone

30:00 - Procrastination

31:30 - Deliberately reducing our stimulation

39:30 - Ice baths and dopamine

43:50 - Sleep and neurochemicals

46:00 - Nutrition for focus and attention

48:50 - Ultra processed foods

53:20 - Supplements that aid attention and focus

59:55 - Is caffeine good or bad?

You can find more from TJ including his new book from his website
TJ's Instagram

You can find more about ultra processed foods and nutrition advice from Georgia 

 

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One of the things that surprised me the most when I learnt more about ADHD was that we tend to all be people with big feelings. I had always thought that I just ‘felt’ things really deeply and that was just the way it was, but it turns out it isn’t a unique experience at all. Whether it’s a result of constantly being told we are ‘too much’ I’m not sure; but what I am sure about is that consistently being told I was too much left me with a pretty insatiable need for validation. Again, I don’t seem to be alone in that either…

Joining the podcast today is the wonderful Sabrina Zohar! Sabrina is a relationship expert, entrepreneur and podcast host of the Sabrina Zohar show. I was particularly drawn to Sabrina because of her no bullshit, tell it like it is style of communicating. Today we take a big dive into big feelings, our experiences of learning how to accept ourselves and how ADHD has affected our relationships. 

We spoke about:

• Being diagnosed later in life, something really common for women
• Sabrina’s misdiagnosis of borderline personality disorder, and the dangers of misdiagnosis
• How we both found ourselves craving validation from people around us
• How we show up in the dating world when we feel like we are ‘too much’ but also not enough
• Limerence and hyperfixation on people when you have ADHD
• Repetition compulsion 
• How ‘the spark’ can feel different for ADHD brains
• When to talk about ADHD in relationships

 

Timestamps:

0:00 - Intro

4:40 - Sabrina's diagnosis

7:45 - Being misdiagnosed with borderline personality disorder

9:10 - The symptoms of ADHD that Sabrina experienced

12:30 - Where the need for validation came from

15:00 - Worthiness & how the dial shifted for Sabrina

18:00 - How long does 'the work' take?

22:15 - Being 'too much' but also not enough

25:20 - Limerence and hyperfixation on people when you have ADHD

31:00 - Make them a real person

34:00 - Big feelings and Repetition compulsion 

33:50 - How ‘the spark’ can feel different for ADHD brains

37:48 - Dating burn out & chasing 'the highs'

41:10 - Looking for something different in dating

45:30 - When to talk about ADHD in relationships

 

You can find more from Sabrina’s website 

And Sabrina’s instagram

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If you're like me and you've seen a list of symptoms of ADHD and mentally said 'tick' to every one of them, you might be wondering what you're meant to do next. The actual process of seeking out a diagnosis and support can be confusing and it seems to vary depending on where you are in the country!

Joining the pod again today is the wonderful Dr Kieran Kennedy! Kieran previously joined us for an episode about late age diagnosis, how that seems to shift your sense of identity, and the crossover of ADHD and conditions like anxiety and depression. Dr Kieran Kennedy is a psychiatrist who specialises in adult ADHD. Kieran focuses on a holistic approach in managing ADHD.

Today we wanted to dive a little bit deeper into the causes of ADHD, whether medication is the direction some people with ADHD may like to investigate and what those options are and how the process of being diagnosed actually works in Australia.

In today’s episode we speak about:

• What causes ADHD and what’s going on in our brains
• The genetic links of ADHD
• The wives' tale of ‘just try the medication and if it works, you’ve got ADHD!’

• What’s the role of medication, and are there alternative approaches?
• Side effects of medication to look out for
• Flow on effects - changes like reducing alcohol and focussing on sleep as management
• For someone wondering if they have ADHD, what’s the next step?
• Some of the necessary hoops to jump through

Time stamps:

0:00 - Intro

1:53 - What causes ADHD and what’s going on in our brains

4:25 - The genetic links of ADHD

5:30 - What's going on in the prefrontal cortex?

7:00 - Blame or brain

9:15 - History of medication

12:50 - The wives' tale of ‘just try the medication and if it works, you’ve got ADHD!’

14:30 - What’s the role of medication, and are there alternative approaches?

21:00 - Side effects of medication to look out for

29:00 - Flow on effects - changes like reducing alcohol and focussing on sleep

30:00 - The controversy of medicating children

31:50 - For someone wondering if they have ADHD, what’s the next step?

35:30 - Financial impacts of diagnosis

37:30 - Other tests you may need to have done

43:00 - Being honest in the diagnosis process

You can find more from Dr Kieran on his Instagram 

Hosted and produced by Keeshia Pettit

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You might have noticed that there seems to be a lot of women who, just like me, are being diagnosed with ADHD in their late 20s, 30s and 40s. Today we wanted to have a chat about late age diagnosis and how that can make you question a lot about your past experiences. We also speak about the crossover of ADHD and other mental health conditions and why so many of us are diagnosed with anxiety disorders.

Dr Kieran Kennedy is a psychiatrist who specialises in adult ADHD. Kieran focuses on a holistic approach in managing ADHD. Kieran is originally from New Zealand but came across the ditch 7 years ago for a fellowship in Melbourne. He is an author, a regular expert on Australian TV programs and a fitness nut. 

In today’s episode we speak about:

•  The social media explosion—why is ADHD suddenly everywhere?
• Why do so many women get diagnosed later in life?
• The key differences between the different types of ADHD
• Why a lot of late aged diagnosed people are previously misdiagnosed with other conditions like anxiety, depression or even eating disorders
• What are some of the biggest misconceptions about ADHD?
• Many adults feel grief after a late diagnosis. Why is that?
• What is rejection sensitive dysphoria and who do you see it in?

Timestamps:
0:00 Intro and Dr Kieran's experience
5:50 The social media explosion—why is ADHD suddenly everywhere?
7:20 Why do so many women get diagnosed later in life?
10:50 The key differences between the different types of ADHD
14:30 Why a lot of late aged diagnosed people are previously misdiagnosed with other conditions like anxiety, depression or even eating disorders
18:20 What are some of the biggest misconceptions about ADHD?
24:30 What is rejection sensitive dysphoria and who do you see it in?
30:18 A gentler sense of self

Dr Kieran Kennedy will be joining us for an upcoming episode on the diagnosis process and medication options.

 

You can find more from Dr Kieran on his Instagram 

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For a lot of us with ADHD brains, the idea of working a 9-5 job with stable productivity seems like an unimaginable concept. The ways that we thrive in our careers or our work lives seem to be a little bit left of centre when compared to others. When it comes to structure, goals and productivity, is it best that we listen to the ‘expert’ advice, or do we need to go about it in completely different ways?

Mark Manson is a #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fck* and Everything is Fcked: A Book About Hope with 20 million books sold in over 65 languages.
Mark is also a podcaster,  a youtuber, and a zero fuck giver.

Speaking with Mark Manson about his ADHD diagnosis was particularly interesting because in all of the content that he creates, I’d noticed that he had only mentioned it a handful of times. Mark’s relationship with his ADHD brain has evolved over the decades. When he was a teenager, he was medicated and the people around him noticed that his sparkle dissolved and his creativity seemed to dissipate; despite him getting better grades. Mark chose to stop medication, and brute force his way through life. So, how was Mark able to achieve such extensive levels of success despite having a diagnosed attention deficit? 

In this episode we spoke about:

• The ADHD brain and a need for novelty
• The pros and cons of becoming bored easily
• Impulsivity and ‘self medicating’ ADHD with alcohol
• Most goals shouldn’t be accomplished
• Figuring out the best productivity environments and tools that you respond to
• The unconventional strategies to help you be productive
• How to structure your work day, time boxing and to do lists
• Understanding your own mental tendencies and working WITH them

You can hear more from Mark Manson on his podcast “the subtle art of not giving a f*ck podcast” and you can get his books quite literally anywhere in one of the 65 different languages they are published in!

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Welcome to the brand new 10 part mini series Cloud.

Cloud is a podcast series created to discuss ADHD and late age diagnosis. The name Cloud is inspired by the experiences of many late-diagnosed women who describe finally feeling like a “cloud was lifted” after learning more about the different ways that their brains work and how they ‘fit’ into society.

With all of the content about ADHD on social media explaining what the condition is, I’ve been on quite a journey figuring out the difference between what I thought were personality flaws and what is actually symptomatic of this condition. I realised that there was a bit of a gap of what to do next. What was I meant to do with all of this information? Cloud was created to fill that gap. It explores the intersection of ADHD with identity, relationships, career, and well-being so that we can live more fulfilling and more present lives.

Each episode will offer insight into a different aspect of ADHD from guests like Mark Manson, the author of ‘The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, psychiatrist Dr Kieran Kennedy, focus and attention expert Johann Hari and relationship experts Sabrina Zohar and Logan Ury.

Today’s conversation is about emotional dysregulation, shame, masking, impulsivity, self criticism and success. 

We chat:

- Why I was so hesitant to speak publicly about ADHD
- The ‘oversaturation’ of ADHD content on social media 
- How ADHD presents differently in girls and women
- Wondering if I'd have known earlier, would life have been easier?
- How I've changed since diagnosis
- How Britt & Laura feel I've changed
- Rejection sensitive dysphoria, emotional dysregulation, shame, impulsivity and time blindness.
- Am I a chameleon or am I masking?

Follow CLOUD

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