Hold On, What Was I Saying?

It's 1:47am, you've got work at 8, and you're deep in a video essay you stopped enjoying ages ago. This week we're talking ADHD and sleep.

We cover the science (people with ADHD release melatonin later), why bad sleep and ADHD symptoms feed each other, revenge bedtime procrastination, how hormones and the luteal phase make everything harder, and why every business idea arrives between 11pm and 1am.

Plus the strategies that actually help: working with your body clock, sunrise lamps and dim lights, the bedtime brain dump, and lowering the bar on the "perfect" night's sleep.

We're not doctors. If sleep is really affecting you, please speak to your GP.

Leave us your best ADHD sleep tip in the comments, and follow so you never miss an episode.

ADHD and driving: crashes, zoning out, road rage, and failed tests.

We share our worst driving stories and dig into why ADHD brains genuinely struggle behind the wheel, plus what the research actually says about crash risk.

Relatable, chaotic, and validating for anyone who's ever "come to" three miles from where they last remember driving.

We hope you enjoy it - remember to follow and leave a review if you enjoy our episodes xx

Spent years thinking you're too lazy, too much, too sensitive, or just not good enough? You're not alone—and it's probably not you, it's your ADHD. In this episode of Hold On, What Was I Saying?, Megan and Emily break down 10 realistic, actually-doable strategies for rebuilding self-esteem after decades of masking and internalized criticism.

If you were diagnosed with ADHD later in life, you've likely spent years absorbing messages that your struggles are character flaws. That narrative doesn't disappear overnight—not even after diagnosis. This episode validates that loss while offering a practical roadmap for reclaiming confidence as a neurodivergent person in a neurotypical world.

What They Cover:

• Rename the symptom, not yourself — How to catch negative self-talk in the moment and reframe executive dysfunction as a symptom, not a personality trait
• Track wins in a format that actually sticks — Why gratitude journals fail for ADHD brains and what works instead (voice memos, photo folders, running notes)
• Build your proof list for hard days — Combat success amnesia and have concrete evidence of your achievements when RSD hits after rejection
• Find your people before you need them — Why ADHD can be isolating and how to build relationships with people who truly understand you
• Audit who gets access to your unmasked self — Learning which relationships require masking and which ones let you be authentically yourself
• Redefine productive on your own terms — Stop comparing yourself to neurotypical Instagram routines and create a definition of productivity that works for your neurodivergent brain
• Grieve the years — The bittersweet reality of late ADHD diagnosis and how to process grief while moving forward
• Separate "I forgot" from "I don't care" — How ADHD forgetfulness isn't evidence that you're uncaring or lazy
• Lower the stakes on systems — Treating trial-and-error as data, not personal failure
• Know when it's bigger than mindset — When to seek professional help for depression, anxiety, and persistent hopelessness

Why This Episode Matters:

If you struggle with ADHD rejection sensitive dysphoria (RSD), perfectionism, or internalized shame, this conversation offers validation without toxic positivity. Megan and Emily aren't here to tell you to "just do Pilates and manifest"—they're here to acknowledge that rebuilding self-esteem after years of masking is genuinely difficult, and sometimes you need professional support.

Perfect for anyone who's been called lazy, dramatic, unfocused, or "too much"—and then realized it was ADHD all along. Ideal for ADHD women, neurodivergent adults, recently diagnosed people, and anyone exploring the intersection of ADHD, mental health, and self-compassion.

Perfect if you search for:
ADHD self-esteem | ADHD confidence | ADHD podcast | ADHD women | Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria | RSD ADHD | Neurodivergent mental health | ADHD coping strategies | ADHD tips and tricks | Executive dysfunction | ADHD diagnosis | Late diagnosed ADHD | ADHD masking | Self-compassion ADHD | ADHD anxiety | ADHD depression | Building confidence with ADHD | ADHD girls podcast | Neurodivergent podcast | Mental health podcast

About Hold On, What Was I Saying?:
The ADHD girl guide podcast exploring life, mental health, and navigating the world as a neurodivergent person. Raw, relatable, and unapologetically honest.

Channel 4 just announced a documentary asking one question: is ADHD a myth or a social construct?

In this episode, we unpack why that framing is not just wrong — it's harmful. We talk about the science behind ADHD (including its 75–80% heritability rate, the highest of any neurodevelopmental condition), why underdiagnosis — not overdiagnosis — is the real story, and why late-diagnosed women in particular are pushed to doubt their own experience every time a headline like this drops.

We get personal about our own diagnoses, the family members who "joke" that ADHD is just too much McDonald's and screen time, and why scrutinising assessment quality is fair — but denying the condition exists is not. If you've ever second-guessed your own diagnosis after seeing a headline like this, this one's for you.

🎧 New episodes every week. Follow so you don't miss the next one.

Welcome back to another ADHD Girl Guide! This time we're talking diagnosis, one of the biggest and most misunderstood parts of the ADHD conversation.

We went through two completely different routes to get here: NHS Right to Choose and a private assessment, and we're breaking down what each one actually looks like, the waitlists, the costs, and the workarounds nobody tells you about.

We dig into the self-diagnosis debate (spoiler: it's valid, but it's a first step, not a final answer), why "over-diagnosis" isn't the problem people think it is, and how other conditions can overlap with and mask ADHD symptoms.

Plus, our top 10 tips for anyone starting the process - from picking the right assessor to what we wish we'd known before walking in — and the advice we'd give our younger selves if we'd been diagnosed sooner.

If you've ever sat there thinking "maybe I have ADHD, but what if I'm not X enough for it to count" — this one's for you. You deserve the answers.

Disclaimer: we are not medical professionals. This episode is based on personal experience, not clinical advice.

This week we're diving deep into attachment theory — anxious, avoidant, disorganised, and everything in between — and how ADHD makes it all so much more intense.

We get brutally honest about our own most "unhinged" moments in relationships (hello, retroactive jealousy 👀), the fear of rejection that shapes how we love, and why chasing "secure" love can feel scarier than the chaos we're used to.

We talk childhood roots, why your attachment style isn't a life sentence, and the one relationship that matters more than any romantic one: the one with yourself.

If you've ever wondered "why do I do this in relationships?" — this episode is for you.

In this episode:

• Anxious vs. avoidant vs. disorganised attachment
• Our most unhinged relationship moments (we're not proud, but we're honest)
• How ADHD intensifies attachment wounds
• Retroactive jealousy and where it comes from
• Learning to accept secure love when you're not used to it
• Why healing starts with your relationship with yourself

Grab a glass of wine and settle in — this one's a vulnerable one.

trigger warning: this one's a bit heavier than usual. We're talking eating disorders, body image and how they show up differently when you've got ADHD.

we get into binge eating (and why it's so under-diagnosed, especially in women), the shame spiral that follows it, growing up in the Tumblr pro-ana era, and why rejection sensitive dysphoria makes body comments stick for life. we also go there on the Ozempic conversation; the accessibility of it, the trend of it, and why beauty standards always seem to circle back to whatever's hardest for "normal" people to get.

plus: masking as a hidden driver of disordered eating, ARFID and sensory sensitivity in neurodivergent people, why scales are lying to you, and the stories behind our own body image baggage (boat parties, boob jobs, and the bikini we avoided for years).

we're not experts, just two adhd women talking honestly about something that doesn't get talked about enough. if you're struggling, please reach out to BEAT or your GP.

follow for new episodes every week 🧠

If you've ever eaten the same meal every single day for three weeks and genuinely loved every bite, and then suddenly couldn't look at it ever again, this episode is for you.

This week we are getting into something that doesn't get talked about enough in ADHD spaces: food. Not in a diet culture way, not in a wellness way, in a why have I ordered the exact same thing from this restaurant fourteen times and felt zero shame about it kind of way.

Because the ADHD relationship with food is its own thing entirely. The hyperfixations that take over your entire personality for a month. The safe foods you return to when your brain has nothing left. The forgetting to eat until your blood sugar crashes and suddenly every emotion you own arrives at once. The specific paralysis of standing in front of a full fridge and genuinely being unable to decide what to eat. The way a favourite food can go from the only thing you want to completely repulsive overnight with absolutely no warning.

It's chaotic. It's neurological. And it turns out it makes a lot more sense when you understand how the ADHD brain actually works.

In this episode:

• What food hyperfixations actually are and why the ADHD brain keeps returning to the same things
• The safe food list — what yours says about you and why the grief when a safe food stops working is completely real
• Forgetting to eat and then eating everything — the blood sugar crash spiral and why it keeps happening
• Decision fatigue and food — why a full fridge can feel more overwhelming than an empty one
• The dopamine hit of food and why ADHD brains are especially wired to seek it
• Beige food, sensory sensitivity and why certain textures and foods feel genuinely unbearable
• The restaurant order thing — why so many ADHDers find one thing they love on a menu and never order anything else ever again
• ADHD medication and appetite — what actually happens and how to work around it
• The chaos of food shopping with ADHD — buying seventeen ingredients for a recipe and then ordering a takeaway anyway

This is not a nutrition episode. We are not here to tell you what to eat. We are just two women with ADHD comparing notes on the most unhinged food habits we have and figuring out why our brains work this way.

Chaotic, honest, and very relatable — especially if your current hyperfixation meal is getting slightly out of hand.

New episodes every week. If this one made you feel less alone, please leave us a review — it genuinely helps more people find the show.

#ADHD #ADHDFood #FoodHyperfixation #ADHDWomen #ADHDPodcast #NeurodivergentFood #ADHDEating #SafeFoods #ADHDLife #NeurodivergentLife #ADHDTips #WomenWithADHD #ADHDCommunity #FoodAndADHD #ADHDBrain

Is ADHD actually a disorder — or is it a brain that evolved for a completely different world?

In our first ever guest episode, we sit down with Dr. Alex Curmi — psychiatrist, psychotherapist, and host of The Thinking Mind podcast — for one of the most eye-opening conversations we've ever had on this show.

We get into evolutionary psychology, why the ADHD brain may have been an extraordinary advantage in hunter-gatherer times, and why modern life — think open-plan offices, smartphones, TikTok, and 9-5 schedules — is essentially kryptonite for the way our brains are wired.

But this episode goes way beyond the theory. Dr. Alex gets into the stuff that actually affects our day-to-day lives: why so many women aren't diagnosed until their thirties or forties, why medication alone isn't enough, and the specific, practical interventions that can genuinely help with the ADHD symptoms that nobody talks about enough — impulsive spending, emotional dysregulation, and rejection sensitive dysphoria.

In this episode:

• What evolutionary psychology actually is and why it changes how you see your ADHD brain
• The hunter-gatherer theory — why ADHD traits that feel like problems today may have been survival superpowers
• Why smartphones and social media actively make ADHD symptoms worse (neurologically, not just in a "phones bad" way)
• The real reason so many women are diagnosed late — and what gets missed
• Why ADHD is a spectrum and what severe ADHD actually looks like day-to-day
• The overdiagnosis vs. underdiagnosis debate — Dr. Alex's honest, nuanced take
• Why medication is just one piece of the puzzle and what else needs to happen
• Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) techniques for emotional regulation and RSD — explained simply and actually usefully
• The journaling technique Dr. Alex uses with patients to rewire impulsive spending habits
• How to structure your life and career around your ADHD strengths rather than constantly fighting your weaknesses
• Where to start if you're struggling and don't know what to do next

Dr. Alex's take-home message: You don't have to stay stuck. Start with the simple stuff — sleep, exercise, cutting back on overstimulating tech. Try the strategies. And if you've tried a lot by yourself and you still need more support, reach out to a professional. But don't let your problems just simmer.

We are not medical professionals — we are just two women with ADHD having the conversations we wish someone had with us sooner. Dr. Alex is the expert in the room and this one is genuinely worth listening to twice.

Find Dr. Alex Curmi:🎙️ The Thinking Mind Podcast — available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube📱 Alex Curmi Therapy

New episodes every week. If this one helped you feel less alone or gave you something useful, please leave us a review — it genuinely helps more people find the show.

#ADHD #ADHDWomen #EvolutionaryPsychology #ADHDDiagnosis #ADHDPodcast #MentalHealth #DBT #RejectionSensitiveDysphoria #EmotionalDysregulation #ADHDTips #NeurodivergentWomen #ADHDInWomen #LateADHDDiagnosis #ADHDLife #Psychiatry #ADHDBrain

We just got back from six nights at Kala Festival in Albania, and we are feeling it. When you have ADHD, that kind of exhaustion hits ten times harder than it does for anyone else — and honestly, it felt like the perfect time to record this episode.

This is our ADHD Girls Guide to Making Life Easier — and we want to be really clear about what this is not. It's not a self-improvement episode. We're not going to tell you to colour-code your kitchen cupboards, batch cook on a Sunday, or buy a beautiful planner you'll use for three days and then feel terrible about. We've all tried that. We know how it ends.

Instead, we're sharing the real, honest, sometimes completely unhinged strategies that have actually made our lives more manageable — the hacks that might look lazy or silly from the outside, but are genuinely clever adaptations for a neurodivergent brain. We're calling this a permission slip, because that's exactly what it is.

In this episode we cover ten practical tips including: why frozen and pre-cut veg is a game changer for reducing decision fatigue around cooking, how meal kit boxes like Gusto and HelloFresh remove the overwhelming mental load of planning and shopping, our "chuck-it bucket" method for tidying without the paralysis of having to put everything in exactly the right place, the in-your-shoe trick and visual cues for never forgetting things again, why uniform dressing and a capsule wardrobe can save your entire morning before it even goes wrong, the two-minute rule and how doing tiny tasks immediately stops them piling up into unbearable background noise, phone charging habits and screen time boundaries that actually protect your sleep and your focus the next day, body doubling for life admin — not just work and studying, how to automate your bills, groceries, prescriptions and more so you're making fewer exhausting decisions every single day, and why you need to stop apologising for the workarounds that make your life work.

We also get really honest about the shame that comes with having ADHD in a world that wasn't built for us — the guilt of forgetting the washing, losing your keys, leaving your laptop on a plane during a layover in Hong Kong, spending £200 in Tesco when you only went in for one thing — and why getting a diagnosis changed everything for both of us when it comes to finally understanding our brains.

If you have ADHD, suspect you might have ADHD, or just feel like the typical organisation advice has never once worked for you, this episode is for you. We hope it makes you feel a little less alone, a little less broken, and a lot more equipped to figure out what actually works for your brain.

New episodes every week — make sure you follow us so you never miss one.