What is it like having ADHD & Chronic Pain?

When you have ADHD, it makes life hard. If you have chronic pain as well, it makes life just that much harder. It's already difficult for us to filter out distractions but for those of us with chronic pain, it's nearly impossible. For those of us who don't live with chronic pain though, what is it like?

Follow us on all the things:

----------------------
Research Provided by: Farah Mahmud
Episode Written By: Farah Mahmud & Jessica McCabe
----------------------
Citations:

Resources:
Pain Explained:

Mysterious Science of Pain:

Pain management workbook:

How to ADHD Worksheet:

"The Show Must Be Go”, “Carefree”, “Life of Riley”, “Bittersweet”
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

[MurdochCreates]

One thing I’ve noticed, dealing with chronic/semi chronic pain, at least for me, is that you get used to dealing with a certain amount of pain, so you sometimes don’t realize you are in pain, and it wears you out without realizing why. Add that onto the mental exhaustion adhd bring along and dealing with life’s responsibilities, you can get your energy sapped fairly quickly.

[GamerXenith]

Pain + ADHD + Rejection Sensitivity is an awful combo. :( I'm glad I'm not alone, at least!

[redk]

Thank you for making this. It's isolating and tough to feel like you're fighting your brain and body. Changing my thought process from "how do I fight this" to "how do I support myself through these struggles" made a world of difference for me.

[Matt-rxkp]

That statement of " it's always something with you " hit home pretty hard. Loving the videos keep it up. Really helping me navigate through my life at the moment 💪

[kimbo]

30 seconds in and I started crying because I've never heard anyone speak of dealing with both ADHD and Fibro before and it felt so good to not feel alone and now I'm seeing there's so many of us in the comments. I appreciate this video so much.

[nooneinparticular]

Someone LITERALLY said “it’s always something with you” to me yesterday. I have a herniated disc in my lower back. When it flares up I can barely function. It’s all I can think about. I also have an inguinal hernia that sits at about a four on the pain scale pretty much consistently. It just always aches. And it’s been going on for three years now. I’m so glad I saw this video. I don’t have to feel like I’m an inconvenience to everybody and everything around me. It Crushes me when somebody says something like it’s always something with you.
Like I’m nothing but an inconvenience to my friends and family.

[sageordnung]

When my cluster headaches start feeling like they’re getting out of control, I’ve found that decreasing my sensory stimulation usually helps 90% of the time. It’s ridiculous how sometimes treating my ADHD first before trying to mitigate the migraine pain makes a world of difference. Treating myself with kindness before things get awful tends to lead to fewer bad pain days. It’s almost rude lol.

[powermermaid]

This hit me so hard today. The amount of times I’ve heard, “it’s always something with you” is ridiculous. Between chronic pain, ADHD, or anxiety, feeling like a burden is something I seem to never escape. Thank you for this!

[Ahrpigi]

Pain and discomfort have always felt disproportionately challenging for me. Heck, being too hot or cold makes me feel like a cranky toddler. It's relieving and vindicating to hear how pain is defined as both a physical and emotional experience. The last couple years I've started wondering if I might have a chronic pain condition, because the only time I can remember when nothing at all hurt was when I was medicated. It's very easy to see how mental health struggles can so easily lead to substance abuse to treat the symptoms.

[AllyCarts]

I’ve had chronic migraines since I was a teenager, tried everything under the sun to try and reduce them, nothing really worked. Now at 28 I got diagnosed with adhd, and with treating my adhd, my migraines have reduced significantly ❤️

[ldbarthel]

I don't recall when it came out, but there was some research that showed the same "pain centers" in the brain were being activated, no matter what the identified source of the pain was. In other words, emotional pain is just as real as physical pain, as far as the brain is concerned.

Really, this should have been a public service announcement from Captain Obvious, but given how many medical providers are dismissive of pain symptoms, let alone coworkers and family, it was good to have the research to back it up.

[mimialways]

Tension related back pain and psychosomatic related gut/gastric inflammation has effected my whole adult life. The childhood anxiety, stress and burnout related depression had made these conditions worst as I got older. I’m a late ADHD diagnosis.

[marymartin]

I never thought a video like this would ever be made. I currently have ADHD, dyslexia, a TBI, herniated disk, trigeminal neuralgia, and I’m in college. Safe to say there is never a dull moment in my life. Celebrating all the wins big or small is crucial. Thankfully my family never questions or disregards my pain and how my brain works.

[TiaraHerr]

Thank you SO much for making this. As someone with chronic pain and other health issues caused by surviving Neuroblastoma (18 years cancer free, baby!), I feel seen. You are a wonderful resource to those of us who feel isolated, judged, and not believed. Thank you. <3

[EchoatTheOakAnchor]

This speaks to me. And it's so frustrating when those around me are just "push through it and do the job".

[itsallinmyheds]

Sometimes it’s like you’re making these specifically for me. I have hEDS. It’s excruciating & ADHD & ASD are common in people with hEDS. Doctors don’t want to treat people like me either.

[livenitup]

This speaks so much to me. I have endometriosis and adhd

[Emmikittyyy]

I shared this video with my family members even before I was halfway done haha. this video is literally me. I have fibromyalgia and adhd. Thank you so much for making this video. It helps put words to feelings and emotions that I couldn't really express properly.

[HGrimes]

I was diagnosed about a year ago at age 37 and one thing I really wasn’t expecting out of adhd treatment is so much of my depression AND chronic pain went away.

[emmiwarford]

Sobbing rn
I don’t know how but your videos always seem to come out at just the right time. I’m caught in this exact downward spiral rn and I’m feeling the most lonely and depressed that I have in a long time. Thank you for the informative video, and for helping me feel less alone.