loungelaughlove

[loungelaughlove]

IG: avegansparadise

[loungelaughlove]

Livestream Alert!

Hey all! I'm going to be doing a live streaming session today where I'll be body doubling. So if you need a body double while you work for the next hour please check it out at @naturallyalisia

There will be Jazz and minimal talking, the occassional response to a comment if it arises. So please feel free to pop in :D

[loungelaughlove]

Quick Update, Where I've Been and What's Been Happening

So I've been on and off here mostly off than on. I'm happy that some of my post are still have still been helpful to my ladies who need it. I've been wanting to create more but life, trying to survive and take care of myself has taken precedent compared to my side ventures like blogging and creating content for y'all and I apologize. I wanted to be more frequent here but it looks like I'll have to minimize what's in my head for what's feasible for me to create at this time.

As always keep an eye out, a lot of new discoveries and experiences this year especially on my medication, treatment, Nurse practitioner new routine, learning new skills, working and all the feelings that come along with it while navigating with ADHD. This time I feel like I will be able to create more authentic and useful content through this period as opposed to the "feel good basics".

Looking forward to creating something new for you ladies :)

[loungelaughlove]

I'm slowly getting it together guys. I'm coming!

[loungelaughlove]

hey all i know it s been a while right now this is on a bit of a back burner until I can organize myself and everything better. and throw covid into the mix it doesnt help. I'll be back soon hopefully.

[loungelaughlove]

Do worry not! I will be posting again eventually! I need to organize myself. I am trying to do 109 things at once and I want to be more efficient.

[loungelaughlove]

Do they really not care? Or are you unfairly expecting them to be a mind reader?

Please try and remember that what may seem obvious to you isn’t necessarily obvious to someone else.

[loungelaughlove]

I also realize I havent eaten in several hours + only had non decaf and apple sauce .. soo its time for me to figure out what to eat.

Soo let this be a reminder!

EAT SOMETHING!

[loungelaughlove]

UPDATE GET CEREBRAL CHANGES

Hi ladies!

I ran here as soon as I could to let you know what I found out. So after asking my care team it was understood that my treatment wouldn't be interrupted and I was relieved.

Now today after checking my inbox I've received notice that after October 15th get cerebral will no longer be prescribing or providing substance controlled medications (stimulants & other meds that fall under this label).

So basically I'll have up until October to find another doctor or options. They email did mention I can schedule with my prescriber and they can help with the weaning process and provide non-stimulant alternatives or advise me to look for care outside cerebral.

So it seems shit has indeed hit the fan and they are choosing to no longer provide stimulants as an option due to legal reasons. I get it and I'm thankful for the early notice but not so excited about not having my care counselor any more.

Personally the non stimulants I was prescribed (straterra) had horrendous side effects and was expensive ($50+ per prescription and not covered by my insurance since it was 3rd line), the other an (wellbutrin) anti depressant that made me feel more depressed.

I haven't had any other experiences with other non stim options but after trying a stimulant and seeing the difference cerebral can no longer provide what I need. It sucks but such is life.

Here's to hoping that me and the others who used cerebral for their ADHD treatment w. stimulants, can find a doctor that will listen to us, hear us out and not make us feel worse than when we started.

[loungelaughlove]

How To Deal When Things Get Stressful 😟😩

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Hey Ladies!

Have y’all ever been so stressed out you legit didn’t know what to do with yourself anymore? The worry, the one thing after the next just draining your life force till you’re a living personification of a prune? Yes? Me too.

I’ve been so stressed to the point of tears, headaches and eye twitching for 2weeks. It was literally making me sick and honestly it’s not healthy and wears the body down. Now I’ve come around, and hashed it out with my care counselor here’s a few things you can do when you literally just can’t right now.

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Talk It Out

This one is first because it’s the most important and the most helpful in my opinion. Talk to someone! If you’re blessed enough to have therapist or a counselor utilize them. I’ll preach this until I’m out of breath. This literally saved my tail from lashing out and doing things I may regret 😖. It helped me this time while I was going through it. If you don’t have a therapist, try a friend or a trusted individual. Being & feeling heard is the first step to feeling better. If you don’t have a friend there are resources you can utilize that’ll post for your use in a separate post so it doesn't get lost.

Stop! Put Your Hands Up And Step Away From The Screen!

Screen time. Once upon a time I used to believe this was nonsense oh what a sweet summer child was I. It can be easy (extremely easy especially for my fellow ADHD peeps) to get sucked up into the screen. It could be tumblr, insta, twitter, work, school work, TikTok or just browsing into the abyss. Before you know what should of been 3 hrs online turned into 12hrs. Then you have a headache, your eyes hurt and you don’t know where you are anymore because you’ve been stagnant, probably forgot to eat properly and drink enough water.

Give yourself breaks in between away from the screen. 20-30mins at a time when you can if you have legitimate work that requires the internet. Other wise, try and set a timer and decompress from doom scrolling. Give your brain and eyes a chance to relax.

Physical Self Care

“How are you taking care of yourself?” Asked my counselor at my last session. I couldn’t think of anything. I wasn’t taking care of myself. I didn’t shower already for several days, I barely took time out to eat, I wasn’t moving my body and I sure as hell wasn’t going outside. To answer her I was doing a pretty shit job at taking care of myself and gave myself the excuse that I was focusing on balancing it all, trying to land a job in UX and dedicate my morning, noon and night to it. Who needs to be healthily when I’m bringing myself closer to the life I want? (Spoiler: I wasn’t moving no where because I was too far out of it) (and not being on my medication didn't make this easier..)

I’ve relayed this message so many times about the importance of taking care of yourself and how not doing so won’t help you in the long run or anyone else. So as I’ve broken my own advice, and old habits die hard take care of yourself. Start with one thing at a time. Doesn’t have to be huge. It could be as simple as drinking water, taking 10 mins to decompress, going for a short walk, or just giving yourself time to freshen up. Whatever you need to do to take care of you and just build on it.

Do A Fun Thing

All work and no play makes a lady dull. Under stress it's hard to pull back and live a little. Like, your brain is literally telling you not to because there are so many other pressing things to be concerned about. While that maybe true, that doesn't mean you have to run yourself ragged and kill yourself. Take a moment out to enjoy life and live a little. Honestly, it doesn't have to be going out (though it can be fun) and partying, you can play your favorite video games, meet up with a friend, have a movie marathon! Anything you can think of that's fun go for it! The pressing issue will still be there until you can find a solution for it but, the time you have to enjoy the little things isn't guaranteed so take a moment have some fun.

Acknowledge Your Feelings and Allow Yourself To Feel Them

I know a lot of us think we can handle it all, be power houses and serious 24/7. We can, We're strong, We're tough, We got this even with tears in our eyes. BUT! We're still human. We're complex, We're Fragile, Soft and have so many layers to us. I know we tend to hide or mask our struggles as women and women with adhd so it doesn't look as bad as it feels inside. We don't want to feel the shame, guilt or embarrassment of not being able to juggle everything as well as everyone seems to. We'll be juggling 10-20 plates saying we got this but you know inside you're about to drop 15 of them any second.

Put the plates down. Each and every one of them. Listen to your body and listen well. Your body is telling you're struggling to balance it all and you need to take a step back. Acknowledge that you're having a difficult time right now, allow yourself to feel that. Don't just power through arms/hands shaking and plates breaking because you couldn't hole your arms out for so long with so much. Put them down, ask for help, delegate a few plates to others, or just put some plates aside and only carry what you're physically, mentally and emotionally able to.

Conclusion

Not everything I shared is fool-proof but I can say it could be helpful for you next time you have a hard moment. I think I leave this here with this..

In times of high stress it's alright to not be well alright. It's hard out here and even harder when theirs stress added into the mix. It's okay to cope the best way you know how but, we want to do more than cope we want to heal and do the best for ourselves everyday. It's alright to be vulnerable enough to ask for help and it's okay to put the plates down.. no one's going to yell at you or disown you, the world will not end nor stop if you do. Just you. (If someone does or makes you feel like everything terrible in world will come if you do whats best for you, maybe they shouldn't be in your circle)

Any of my ladies here have difficulty dealing with high stress situations? How do you handle them? I'd love to read and I'm sure others would appreciate the tips and suggestions from peers.

[loungelaughlove]

It's the focusing on the wrong thing for me lmao ;A;

Thing with ADHD meds that NT people don't understand is that: yes, I can focus better for the 10 hours it works... But I can still focus on the wrong thing.

When I take my meds (if I remember them!) and I don't plan my tasks carefully, Tiktok scrolling is an equally important task to my brain as the laundry is.

[loungelaughlove]

Get Cerebral New ADHD Policy

Quick Notification Ladies!

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I know more than handful of people who have had success stories with get cerebral and horror stories. I've had half horror and then success.

As I wasn't sure earlier but now I see it's listed on their site, It has come to my attention that they are only providing non-stimulant medications to treat ADHD. As some of us who's been on the rodeo long enough we know non-stimulants are 2-3rd line options. This basically means last resort if the 1st line (the stims ) won't work for whatever the reason.

Apparently in an article I read prior to the website update this change will only affect new users of cerebral. Users that joined before the change will still be able to receive their medication. I'm currently in the process of finding out how true this is.

The reason for this change is due to the how "easy" it is to access stimulants from a provider in little to no time or assessment. (Personally for me it took over 6 months on a atomoxetine (a non stim) and progressively getting worse and me advocating for myself to get a new prescriber and finally one who decided to try a stimulant. If that's easy I don't want to know what's hard.)

Multiple pharmacies like Walgreens, CVS, etc have been denying/ pausing stimulant prescription request because they've been getting so many from platforms like get cerebral including true pill their go to pharmacy for online prescriptions. {more links below}

Especially with this wave of new and late diagnosis to them(rule makers) it's like prescribers are giving it out like candy. It doesn't help with all these tik toks and people trying to capitalize off ADHD like it's something fun. It's not to say you don't have informational posts but you can see the difference between informational and a commodity. This is a huge reason why I don't post funny or cute videos about adhd or I'm really selective about what I post here. I'm not a doctor. I'm not a mental health professional. Anything I post is from personal experience not the end all be all and I make sure not to pass it off as such.

We are living in a world were people are impressionable especially young people. It doesn't matter how smart you are. (I was a teen once, late teen, young adult and rampant on tumblr) You can see something once maybe twice, research a bit, resonate and be like yes that's me! Fully and completely no one can tell you otherwise. Maybe you're right. Maybe you're wrong. A doctor would best be able to assist you with this not Sarah from Michigan who post weekly for fun because it looks visually pleasing. I feel that when we have a suspicion about diagnosis for ourselves we should not to get lost in it, not to stick on to it. Place yourself on the outside if that makes sense. Do not claim it yet.

Do your research, enough to get a general idea. Look at your concerning symptoms make note. Gather research from legitimate articles and not tik toks or other influencers. Guaranteed if I came to any of the Dr. with my reasoning for my concern coming from some videos I saw on tik tok or instagram they'd legit..

(pls this is not direction on how to secure a diagnosis it's ultimately up to the doctor and what information they gather from you) It's about your experience not about what you saw somewhere else and it matched.)

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Everyday as time goes on I wish I had found about my ADHD earlier and not during or around this wave. It has made it harder and I feel like a lot of people are going to get lost in this or just give up trying to seek diagnosis or assistance because now everyone who comes forward at this point is getting a suspicious side eye thats stronger now than it was before.

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Something that was an option before for 1st line treatment is now no longer one for those who may have needed it in the future. It sucks.

The doctors and the professionals will do whatever they can to protect themselves even at the expense of the client. For them they aren't going to risk their license or their career to fulfill a script.

It sucks all around.

I will update with new info on whether previous cerebral users are also subject to the non stimulant rule as I get the information.

[loungelaughlove]

Hey All!

 It's been a hot moment since I've posted last. I've been definitely going through a lot in the pass few months mentally, emotionally, spiritually, financially. These things have really put a stop on what I've been working on here.

 Stress my ladies is the devil. 

 I am still working things out with myself and I'm working hard to get myself into a better head space and life space so I can share more post and knowledge with you! 

 Transparency is important to me, I want to make sure Im being as real with y'all as possible. The last thing i want is make anything think I got it together. I with my struggles, challenges, life traumas and formerly undiagnosed ADHD has it together fully and I'm living my best life and Im not struggling sometimes.. sometimes more than not. Some days I'd much rather just not and disappear into the background. Other days I'm feeling myself. It's a journey.

 So for right now this post is just a reminder to breathe. Stop. Close your eyes. Breathe. It might suck right now and it probably does ( if it doesn't yas sis! keep it up!) but it'll pass and it'll be okay! I can't wait to bring you guys more posts again :)

[loungelaughlove]

This is true. When I was beginning to suspect I had adhd was in the very early part of the pandemic like 2 months after lock down popped off. I damn near and really had a full break down, fell into a major depression after 8 years of on and off bad/anxious days.

It wasn't until I really sat with myself and started thinking off every time I was depressed and why. I had my blood checked for inbalances all normal. This was the case twice, the first time I was majorly depressed in high school and during the pandemic, blood and thyroid all normal.

I then started thinking about when I was younger. I wasn't always like this.. I did feel different but thought that was my quirk, this was who I was. I only got sad,depressed or anxious when I had a negative outcome to something I fucked up due to time,not paying attention, or doing the most.

I did my own research (no tiktok as I didn't really give into it yet) and found adhd matched me, my feelings and how I've experienced the world growing up. With that concern I brought it to my doctors and they treated my depression first, then I continued my journey until I got diagnosed.

It's a sticky thing, even myself I couldn't understand why it took so long to get diagnosed. I didn't realize how the other issues I had were similar to or showed the same symptoms like ADHD. I had so many factors happening in my life at the time anything could of been the reason for why my life was falling apart + a global pandemic.

I don't think there's anything wrong with researching or relating to a tiktok in regard to your adhd/suspected adhd. I do think though you should take it with a grain of salt and don't get sucked into it. Jot down, make note of your concern, see your PCP.

Maybe you're right or maybe it's something else. It's better to get it checked out by someone who knows who can confirm your suspicion than diagnose yourself and be chasing the wrong diagnosis. Worse try to diagnose yourself via tiktoks and your Provider doesn't take you seriously because you got it from tiktok and they assume you recieved misinformation.

People don't know that ADHD makes you-

[loungelaughlove]

Neurodiversity In Tech

Hey All!

There will be a free webinar hosted by Chuck Hall with Guest speakers Alex Pearson and Mike Krupit on Neurodiversity in Tech. They'll be sharing knowledge, offering guidance, and more! If you are also neurodiverse and working in tech, definitely stop in and check it out!

[loungelaughlove]

😶‍🌫️

I'll be planning a new non survey related post soon ✌️🖖🏾

[loungelaughlove]

And We're Back!

Hello Ladies!

I've been away for a while because I've been struggling quite a bit with my medication. One thing lead to another and suddenly everything was on the floor, the roof was on fire and everyone's drowning.

So! after rolling around and sitting in a corner for some time I switched my provider and changed medication and now I'm on Adderall. I will say.. BABY. The difference ;A; . I stayed on straterra for like 6 months hanging on a hope and a dream because it did start off well. It did work mostly until it didn't. I suppose I was thinking it was me or I wasn't pushing enough and doing the work. But in reality it was legitimately the meds. I overlooked huge side effects but a little progress and it just got worse and worse. It wasn't until my past provider tried to imply I was bipolar that I realized this isn't it. (I'll do a story time on that sometime soon)

Since stopping the atomoxetine I have not felt any of the shitty side effects I was enduring for so long at all. Since starting the adderall I've never felt better, and surprisingly very little side effects thank god. So now im a week on this and im seeing how i feel and so far, so good. I'm on a very low dose (5mg ) (2.5 twice a day) but its enough for me for now I'll definitely will share how this goes later on when I can. I'll pop back in with info for my next post. stay tuned!

Also I will be asking for some feedback on case study Im developing in regards to adhd individuals finding providers with medicaid insurance/ low income individuals. I'll include more information on that in another post soon as well!