Hold On, What Was I Saying?

Are you ADHD, or are you just a mess? (We're both, apparently.) This week we're getting into one of the most important conversations in the ADHD space right now — why social media has made it so hard to know what's real, what's accurate, and what's just the algorithm doing its thing.

We talk about the actual clinical difference between ADHD traits and ADHD impairment, why women are so often missed or misdiagnosed, the very real problem of ADHD baiting on TikTok, why 75% of social media ADHD content isn't clinically accurate, and the uncomfortable truth about when ADHD becomes an excuse rather than an explanation.

Whether you're diagnosed, questioning, or just doom-scrolling content that makes you feel seen — this one's for you.

In this episode:

• What actually separates ADHD from just being a bit forgetful or chaotic
• Why women are diagnosed so much later — and how hormones and masking play into it
• ADHD baiting: what it is and why it's more harmful than you think
• How to consume ADHD content on TikTok without self-diagnosing off a 30-second reel
• The difference between ADHD as an explanation vs. ADHD as an excuse
• Why not replying to that text for a week isn't always just your ADHD

Hold On, What Was I Saying? is the podcast for women with ADHD — honest, unfiltered, and never taking itself too seriously.

Welcome back to ADHD Girls' Guide! This week we're throwing open the doors on something we know every ADHD girlie has — the Shame Shed. Whether it's an actual box on top of your wardrobe or a loft full of bamboo straws from a business that never quite launched, we're talking about all the hobbies, projects and hyperfixations we started with absolute fire... and quietly abandoned.

From DJ decks and crochet to Bob Ross oil painting, Duolingo guilt-trips and failed lockdown gardens, we're getting into why the ADHD brain is wired for novelty-seeking, what the shame around "not finishing things" is really about, and how to actually make peace with it.

We also talk about body doubling, breaking the honeymoon phase, and why not everything needs to be monetised — sometimes a hobby is just allowed to be a hobby.

In this episode:

• Our most chaotic "shame shed" confessions
• Why ADHD brains hyperfocus, then drop things — and what's actually going on
• The lockdown hobby spiral we all went through
• How to tell the difference between a hyperfixation and something worth sticking to
• Building structure to survive past the honeymoon phase
• Why starting things is actually really brave

Honest, chaotic and (hopefully) a little healing. You are not lazy. You are not inconsistent. You just have a very enthusiastic brain.

ADHD and money — two things that genuinely don't mix well. In this episode, we get brutally honest about our worst money moments (a £2,000 Pilates course Emily never completed, anyone?), why ADHD brains treat every pay cheque like free money, and the 10 rules that have actually helped them get a grip on their finances.

No financial jargon. No judgment. Just two women with ADHD sharing the systems that work for brains like ours — because future you who wakes up suddenly organised and on top of a spreadsheet? She's not coming.

In this episode:

• Why ADHD brains impulse buy (hint: it's dopamine, not stupidity)
• The credit card rule every ADHDer needs to hear
• How to use AI to budget your salary in minutes
• Why Monzo might actually be the best tool for ADHD money management
• The "fill the basket, don't buy the basket" trick that saves hundreds
• Why you need to stop waiting for Future You

Whether you've ever spent your entire salary in the first week, forgotten to cancel a free trial for 7 months, or genuinely thought a refund counted as free money, this one's for you.

We are not financial advisors. We are just two girls with ADHD trying our best.

New episodes every week. Follow, rate, and review if this helped you feel a little less alone.

This week we're getting into one of the biggest struggles for ADHDers; people pleasing and boundaries. We talk about the ADHD fawn response, why we say yes to plans we don't want to go to, the exhausting reality of being an empath (including making up entire sad backstories for strangers on the tube), and the pressure to be the "chill girl." We share personal stories... from staying in a 6-month situationship with someone who didn't want the same things, to inventing dying grandparents to get out of plans, to crying over bedroom curtains. Plus practical tips for setting boundaries when conflict makes you want to crawl out of your skin, how to spot the signs your boundaries need work, and why the right people will never ask you to abandon yourself to keep them comfortable. If you're someone who can't say no, ghosts difficult conversations, or feels responsible for everyone else's happiness — this one's for you.

It's 3am. You're staring at the ceiling, spiralling about a text you sent a month ago, convinced everyone hates you, and mentally planning a new life in Costa Rica. Sound familiar? This week Emily and Megan dedicate a full episode to Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria (RSD) — one of the most misunderstood and all-consuming parts of ADHD.

They cover what RSD actually is (and why it's different from just "being sensitive"), the fight-or-flight response that makes your brain treat a thumbs-up emoji like a five-alarm emergency, why so many people with ADHD spent years thinking they had paranoia, and practical tools for managing RSD day-to-day.

If you've ever felt like your reaction to rejection was completely out of proportion — you're not broken, and you're not alone.

We missed an episode. We're not going to pretend otherwise, PMS and ADHD hit at the same time and we were not recording in that state. We're back though, we're a tiny bit tipsy, it's the first sunny day of the year, and we're talking about something that doesn't get discussed nearly enough in the ADHD community: addiction.

And not just the obvious kind.

In this week's episode, We get into why ADHD brains are neurologically wired to seek dopamine, which means we are far more likely to develop addictive patterns than the average person. But addiction doesn't always look like what you think. It looks like impulsive online shopping at midnight. Four Nintendo Switches bought and sold within a year. A sourdough phase. A Pilates teacher training course you haven't finished. A slow cooker used exactly once. A vape. A matcha. A DIY shed built alone with a bread knife and a lot of blood.

Megan opens up about something deeply personal; self-harm as a dopamine-seeking behaviour from the age of 11, and what it taught her about how ADHD and addiction are connected in ways nobody explained to her at the time. Emily shares her experience of being addicted to exercise and why she couldn't understand the impact it was having on her.

We also get into the science; why undiagnosed ADHDers self-medicate, what substances actually do to the ADHD brain, and why "just stop" is the least helpful advice you can give someone whose brain is running on empty.

Plus: practical strategies that actually work for ADHD brains; replacing rather than removing, shortening the dopamine loop, naming the urge out loud, and why the Aldi middle aisle is basically ADHD in physical form.

🎙️ New episodes every week, follow so you never miss one.

⚠️ This episode contains discussion of self-harm. Please take care of yourself.

"Have you ever been called an attention seeker?" — we opened with that question and honestly, neither of us could deny it.

In this week's episode, We get into one of the most misunderstood labels attached to ADHD. Yes, a lot of us are attention seekers. But the real question is why — and whether that term is even fair.

We break down the neuroscience behind it (spoiler: it comes back to dopamine, always), share some genuinely unhinged childhood stories — including Emily's Britain's Got Talent lie and Megan convincing a kid on holiday she could speak Greek — and get into the deeper stuff: why ADHD brains are wired to seek validation, how RSD plays into it, the masks we wear to be liked, and why we're still cringing at things we said at the work Christmas party three years ago.

Because here's the reframe that matters: we're not seeking attention. We're seeking connection. And once you understand the difference, you can start giving yourself a little more grace for the ways your brain tries to regulate itself.

This one's funny, honest, a little bit chaotic, and very, very relatable.

🎙️ New episodes every week — follow so you never miss one.

📲 Come chat with us on Instagram — we want to know, have YOU ever been called an attention seeker?

Is ADHD a superpower, or is that just something people say to make us feel better?
This week, we tackle one of the most controversial topics in the ADHD community. We break down the real strengths that ADHD brings — hyperfocus, creativity, pattern recognition, big ideas, and entrepreneurial energy — while getting brutally honest about the parts that don't feel like a superpower at all: task paralysis, rejection sensitivity dysphoria (RSD), success amnesia, and the crippling guilt of not being able to do basic things on a bad day.
We also explore the hunter-gatherer theory, why the world simply wasn't built for ADHD brains, and, most importantly -practical ways you can actually lean into your ADHD strengths, from gamifying your tasks to journaling your wins, asking for reasonable work adjustments, and finding the right environment to thrive in.
Whether you're newly diagnosed, years into your ADHD journey, or just ADHD-curious, this episode will leave you feeling seen, validated, and a little less alone.
📲 Tell us: do YOU think ADHD is a superpower?

We’re talking about something so many people get wrong — how to actually support someone with ADHD.

From being labelled “lazy” or “too sensitive” to feeling completely misunderstood, we break down the biggest misconceptions around ADHD and why they can make support even harder to receive.

This episode is all about real, lived experiences — what support actually looks like, what doesn’t help, and how to better understand ADHD in relationships, friendships, and everyday life.

We cover:
– Why “just try harder” doesn’t work
– Emotional dysregulation & feeling “too much”
– ADHD in relationships (and the parent dynamic)
– What real support looks like
– Communication tips that actually help
– Why ADHD isn’t laziness — it’s regulation

Whether you have ADHD or love someone who does, this episode will help you feel less alone — and better understood.

In this episode we are talking about ADHD burnout — something that so many people with ADHD experience but often don’t realise is happening.

For years we both thought we were just lazy or bad at coping with work, when actually we were experiencing ADHD burnout from masking, overcompensating and pushing ourselves too hard.

We talk about:

• the ADHD burnout cycle
• why women are often diagnosed late
• what burnout actually feels like
• the symptoms to look out for
• and how to recover when your brain feels completely shut down.

We also share some of our own experiences with burnout and how it eventually led to our ADHD diagnoses.

If you've ever wondered why you can go from feeling super productive to completely exhausted and overwhelmed, this episode is for you.