Blog

Summer is a season often looked forward to all year. Summertime is often viewed as a time to sit back and relax, go on vacation, sleep in, and enjoy backyard BBQs with friends. With longer daylight hours it seems that activity time is often extended into the evening. Summertime for adults with ADHD however often brings feelings of being overwhelmed by the more active pace, an increased number of projects or activities started that do not seem to get finished, and busy schedules that leave little time to “gather one’s thoughts.”

Plan for Summertime with ADHD

Share with your mental health professional how your emotions or behavior changes during the summer. Medication management may help relieve many if not all of the added stress and changed routines encountered during the summertime. Planning ahead is a great idea as well. Limit your activity schedule to an amount you feel comfortable with. Keep a check on your “yes” answers to summer invites and responsibilities. Plan to work on only one project at a time with a goal of completion by the middle or end of summer – having an outline of “to do’s” will help keep your focus on task.

Need for Adult ADHD Medications during the Summertime

Working with an experienced adult ADHD psychiatrist allows the two of you to make medication adjustments when needed to keep your ADHD symptoms on an even keel. Being able to enjoy summertime may include staying on your ADHD medications as prescribed. Stopping medication just when life throws changed routines, a faster pace of activity, or busy schedules at you makes for increased difficulty with maintaining control and in feeling overwhelmed. Summertime may be the season you need your ADHD medications more than ever.

Keeping Summertime Simple with Adult ADHD

Some ideas to help plan for a simple summertime follow:

• Summer activities selected need to be something you really want to accomplish and ones that can realistically be completed over the summertime. While some activities are often hard and a responsibility, having only one to work on at a time will reduce feelings of being overwhelmed.
• Allow yourself extra time if possible after a vacation to transition back from fun to work. Coming home from vacation usually involves work that includes laundry, grocery shopping, cleanup and other errands – coming back on one day and going back to work the next may cause stressors that overwhelm you.
• Schedule and plan for the essential responsibilities like paying the bills on time, picking up your prescriptions on time so you do not run out, keeping to your household schedule of grocery shopping or making dinner, and cleaning up after yourself. Very often it is these “little” but important things that overwhelm when you discover you missed paying the electric or phone bill and are faced with the hassle of disconnection, you have no clean clothes to wear as you forgot to finish the laundry, or you run out of gas on the way to work because you ran out of time the day before.

All Seasons

No matter what season it is, life can become overwhelming and feels like your life is spinning out of control. Make the call to the Atlanta area psychiatrist with over two decades of experience successfully treating those with adult ADHD who have issues in the summertime or anytime during the year.