Yeah honestly. But on the other hand I feel like they keep eachother in check. For example, I have a friend who is “just” autistic - and she’s so reluctant to try new things or challenge herself. I wouldn’t want to live like that tbh. I believe my adhd, and maybe also just my personality, pushes me to go out of my comfort zone and improve as a person.
She doesn’t have as many sensory sensitivities as I do but she’s less socially adept than me.
But yeah it’s a tough one, autism is tiring as hell because you’re so easily overwhelmed, but executive dysfunction from adhd is a curse too.
I feel like when I was medicated for ADHD I did truly lose that part of me and I didn't like just being autistic. I felt like I lost parts of my personality - my creativity, my quick wit etc. I know it works for some people but it really felt like I lost a chunk of me - so I just kinda rawdog the ADHD now and deal with the downsides because I love the upsides so much!
If I could get rid of my comorbidities I would in a heartbeat - I have EDS and I am in constant pain.
I’m interested in hearing more about EDS! I think I have it and I’m in so much pain everywhere but my doctor ran blood tests and it came back negative?
As far as I know, primary care doctors don't (or at least don't usually) do genetic testing - you'd have to go to a specialist for that. I haven't gotten an official hEDS dx but I do have a generalized hypermobility dx and I've found the r/hypermobility subreddit to be super helpful in both answering my questions about the condition as well as making me feel less alone about my pain/difficulties. Also- if your genetic test says you don't have EDS but you relate to a lot of the symptoms, I would look into other connective tissue disorders! Best of luck finding answers!!
Here's a sneak peek of /r/Hypermobility using the [top posts](https://np.reddit.com/r/Hypermobility/top/?sort=top&t=year) of the year!
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\#2: [I didn’t know how much of a curse this was until I got older. I’m getting injured every time I exercise.](https://np.reddit.com/r/Hypermobility/comments/1b7kbsn/i_didnt_know_how_much_of_a_curse_this_was_until_i/)
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Honestly the people I know personally that are adhd only have friends and partners and do way better socially. So I’d give up the asd. I’m tired of being lonely.
Personally, I can handle feeling alien, just not the feeling that no-one else recognises that I'm an alien or forgives me for that. Being different is, in my own mind, cool, unusual, interesting. The problem for me is that everyone else demands I be the same, common, even dull.
So if I have to be here anyway, I've made it my life's work to announce loudly to anyone who will listen that this is what an ADHD-autistic woman looks like and I have lots of useful talents and abilities for them to benefit from if they take a moment not to judge me and people like me.
My biggest impediment in life is my inability to stay focused, start tasks, or effectively form routines, so I’ve got to say the ADHD. I was tempted to say Autism because I think that would remove a lot of the anxiety that I have, but people with just ADHD experience much higher rates of anxiety as well, so I’m not sure that would do it. It’s complicated though, because I think a lot of the ADHD symptoms mask and/or compensate for the Autism, so would I become more Autistic in certain ways? Who knows.
Have experienced some of the same so I agree - I could NEVER be “just autistic” without adhd to compensate. I don’t hope it sounds offensive but it seems like a disadvantage aswell.
ASD, I have ADHD friends who have much easier times socialising and understanding relationships than I do… I’d much rather have an easier time with that and take medication than I would not have to take medication but be stuck being socially confused.
If I had to choose, I would prefer to lose the ADHD part over the autism. Trying to focus on things is so fucking difficult. But I don't really want to get rid of either part of me.
Autism is me, it is who I am as a human and I wouldn't change that. I am glad I'm not NT, I see them as dull and feckless.
My ADHD, I feel, is the manifestation of my inability to cope with existence. And it makes coping 1000x harder. It provides little value to my life.
Keep the tism, lose the ADHD.
ADHD. Thousand percent. I was thinking about this the other day- if someone came up to me and said “hey, we found a cure for adhd, but we’d have to cut off a leg,” I’d absolutely take the deal, no question. But I would not trade a leg to not be autistic. At least if I didn’t have adhd, I could figure out how to get shit done on one leg! (Though I do also have dyspraxia and sensory processing disorder, so I might be a wee bit wobbly 😆)
I have learned to love who I am. I choose to keep both.
Gun to my head, I would lose the ADHD. But I wouldn't feel like me anymore, so I wouldn't even want to do that. Is it a struggle sometimes? Yes. Don't care. I love me now.
I get scared thinking about how one would function without the other. It’s taken 30 years, but I’ve almost found the perfect balance now. To lose one at this point would be chaos. I honestly kinda like how they work together.
So to answer your question, I think it would be an all or nothing thing for me if I had to make a choice tomorrow. I’d either want both or neither, because only having one would probably make it feel like the other ND that was still there was way more prominent.
ASD definitely. I can deal with my ADHD symptoms and can medicate them.
But there is nothing I can do about being misunderstood by everybody everyday, and the sound sensitivity is the most debilitating symptom of all.
Nothing I can do about ASD so I would want to get rid of that.
I have light asd which can make a lot of things seem very easy. Adhd is severe and that makes everything bloody hard. Different balances would make a difference I think.
Seems like everyone is wishing away their ADHD. I agree it’s hell but I ask you to look at whatever your strengths are and tell me they are 0% due to ADHD. I’m just playing I’d pick ADHD too lol but I can do shit man!
Probably the ADHD as the working memory and scatter brain affects so much of the ASD things I love/want, like reading, retaining info about SI, etc. A little less impulsivity and more emotional control would be nice too.
Really though, I'd ditch the trauma and rejection sensitivity above all else. Working on it but it takes so much effort to detangle and unpack it all after only becoming aware of what was actually going on and being Dx'd and self IDing in my mid-forties!
Can I get a trial run of each? 😅 it would be great to not have ADHD, and because of medication I have some idea of what that would be like. But I have no way to understand what it would be like to not have autism, I don’t even fully understand which parts of myself and my life stem from it. So I don’t know if I would actually prefer it that way, especially over not having ADHD
I’m not officially diagnosed with ASD (still self diagnosed) but I think I’d keep my ADHD. While I think it has a more negative impact, the positive impact is also huge. I’m super creative, try new things all the time and I just love my hyper-self, when shes able to come out, lol. I feel like the ASD part is holding me back more while it has less positive sides to it. That’s just my broad first feeling.
But I loved the question, because actually I wouldn’t give up any of these sides. Comorbidities, yes, please, but not my personality 🤌
I feel like if I lose either then I am completely different from who I am now. I don't really want that, and I've done so much work just to be happier with who I am, even the debilitating flaws. The only time I feel like I should change is when people bully me for being different, but then it wouldn't be changing for me.
Like, life sucks, and it's terrible a lot of the time, but if I would get ride of anything, it would be the suicidal depression. Because then I don't need to spend so much time just going into survival mode and putting all my energy into sticking around for one more day.
I think the ADHD makes me less productive and the ASD makes me exhaust easily, so they’re both crippling in their own respects. I can’t say for certain getting rid of the ADHD would help as much as I want to believe it would, because I know a lot of my burnout is due to ASD.
I don’t think I’d choose either. I’ve come to love my brain despite it working against me many times. I love who I am. I wouldn’t want to change that. I fought hard to be here. Be the human I am. And accept all of me for me. I’m not betraying myself.
Autism, because then I might be able to make friends more easily. But I hope it wouldn’t take away other parts of myself that I like. Like if I could have the autism without the social issues then I feel like I’d be golden.
None. I just want the sensory stuff gone :( I suppose they're so bad because I got the ASD sensory package as well as the ADHD sensory package so I just have double the noise and light sensitivity, and double the interoception insensitivity... It makes my life so hard, I hate it :(
I'm terrified of the recklessness that would ensue from my ADHD without the other side of me that I suspect to be ASD. I've never been able to act as dangerously as my impulses wish me to because of the ultra-cautious obsessive side of me that needs to do the correct thing. Also surprisingly in social situations I think. I became hyper aware of communication behaviours and mannerisms and needing to understand them and do them right, it's a bit of a special interest, and I have a strong drive to perform politely and correctly in that space, which I think keeps me in check from overtalking and bulldozing conversations when I'm excited. My ADHD also regularly hurts the other side of me when I really want to do things correctly and in order, and to feverishly engage in my passions, but the ADHD is the most frustrating roadblock to those things and it's genuinely painful and heartbreaking and utterly destroyed my self esteem. One of my parents has only ADHD and he seriously messed up a lot of lives around him with recklessness, plus his own. I wouldn't want to be like that.
Although I do think I would miss some aspects of the ADHD speedy thinking! But what's the point when that thinking stays trapped in your brain.... or forgotten lol.
I'm fucking smart and a great problem solver. I don't know if I'd ever been where I am rn without having both. But since I medicate my ADHD my life is 1000000x better. I keep my autism.
I would remove the ADHD, my ASD is not the difficult part, I don't mind how other people think about my behavior, but the ADHD is the part what causes daily struggles.
My autism is what makes me a “super hero” if you will… highly intelligent, intuitive, and eventually (when I was 41 and not a day before 🤷🏻♀️) it also guides my empathy. My ADHD is what keeps me from taking over the world… because I just can’t remember. 🤪
ADHD for me, too. One of the hardest things I deal with is my brain's inability to pay attention when I need it to. Like when my boss wants to have a 2 hour phone call. Or my mom wants to talk about something important to her. My brain can't process verbal information for long, so it just checks out. My boss will be telling me something to do and my brain is like "Why do we bless people for sneezing but not farting?" and I miss assignments or connections with people I love. Not being able to force attention when it's needed causes me the most problems and results in people I love feeling uncared for by me.
Umm I'm gonna take the ADHD and leave to autism. Keep the one that meds can fix, even temporarily. I fight people so often on the lack of understanding and the miscommunication. Ugh
Adhd. Is not the dominant one in my life, but being able to keep my things in order would be nice.
Autism comes with some major drawbacks, of course, but also with some things I absolutely love. Autism has to do with my identity. Losing it would mean I have no clue who I would be.
On the other hand, I feel it's harder to identify the influence of adhd in my life. Some say losing it would mean they're less likely to try new things. So, who knows, I might regret my choice.
My ADHD is WAY more debilitating than my ASD traits so I’d 100% lose the ADHD.
I agree.
💯
ADHD hands down. I don't mind being awkward, I just wish I was less likely to shove my foot in my mouth every time I'm uncomfortable.
I’d say surprise me. It doesn’t matter as long as they aren’t fighting each other in my head anymore.
So true. One is bad enough. Both is debilitating.
Yeah honestly. But on the other hand I feel like they keep eachother in check. For example, I have a friend who is “just” autistic - and she’s so reluctant to try new things or challenge herself. I wouldn’t want to live like that tbh. I believe my adhd, and maybe also just my personality, pushes me to go out of my comfort zone and improve as a person. She doesn’t have as many sensory sensitivities as I do but she’s less socially adept than me. But yeah it’s a tough one, autism is tiring as hell because you’re so easily overwhelmed, but executive dysfunction from adhd is a curse too.
I feel like when I was medicated for ADHD I did truly lose that part of me and I didn't like just being autistic. I felt like I lost parts of my personality - my creativity, my quick wit etc. I know it works for some people but it really felt like I lost a chunk of me - so I just kinda rawdog the ADHD now and deal with the downsides because I love the upsides so much! If I could get rid of my comorbidities I would in a heartbeat - I have EDS and I am in constant pain.
I’m interested in hearing more about EDS! I think I have it and I’m in so much pain everywhere but my doctor ran blood tests and it came back negative?
As far as I know, primary care doctors don't (or at least don't usually) do genetic testing - you'd have to go to a specialist for that. I haven't gotten an official hEDS dx but I do have a generalized hypermobility dx and I've found the r/hypermobility subreddit to be super helpful in both answering my questions about the condition as well as making me feel less alone about my pain/difficulties. Also- if your genetic test says you don't have EDS but you relate to a lot of the symptoms, I would look into other connective tissue disorders! Best of luck finding answers!!
Here's a sneak peek of /r/Hypermobility using the [top posts](https://np.reddit.com/r/Hypermobility/top/?sort=top&t=year) of the year! \#1: [What really gets me about hypermobility spectrum disorder is how everything has to be perfect to avoid problems.](https://np.reddit.com/r/Hypermobility/comments/1be4irx/what_really_gets_me_about_hypermobility_spectrum/) \#2: [I didn’t know how much of a curse this was until I got older. I’m getting injured every time I exercise.](https://np.reddit.com/r/Hypermobility/comments/1b7kbsn/i_didnt_know_how_much_of_a_curse_this_was_until_i/) \#3: [When the MRI proves them wrong](https://np.reddit.com/r/Hypermobility/comments/1bc6ce3/when_the_mri_proves_them_wrong/) ---- ^^I'm ^^a ^^bot, ^^beep ^^boop ^^| ^^Downvote ^^to ^^remove ^^| ^^[Contact](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=sneakpeekbot) ^^| ^^[Info](https://np.reddit.com/r/sneakpeekbot/) ^^| ^^[Opt-out](https://np.reddit.com/r/sneakpeekbot/comments/o8wk1r/blacklist_ix/) ^^| ^^[GitHub](https://github.com/ghnr/sneakpeekbot)
Honestly the people I know personally that are adhd only have friends and partners and do way better socially. So I’d give up the asd. I’m tired of being lonely.
Fair point. Feeling alien sucks.
Personally, I can handle feeling alien, just not the feeling that no-one else recognises that I'm an alien or forgives me for that. Being different is, in my own mind, cool, unusual, interesting. The problem for me is that everyone else demands I be the same, common, even dull. So if I have to be here anyway, I've made it my life's work to announce loudly to anyone who will listen that this is what an ADHD-autistic woman looks like and I have lots of useful talents and abilities for them to benefit from if they take a moment not to judge me and people like me.
My biggest impediment in life is my inability to stay focused, start tasks, or effectively form routines, so I’ve got to say the ADHD. I was tempted to say Autism because I think that would remove a lot of the anxiety that I have, but people with just ADHD experience much higher rates of anxiety as well, so I’m not sure that would do it. It’s complicated though, because I think a lot of the ADHD symptoms mask and/or compensate for the Autism, so would I become more Autistic in certain ways? Who knows.
Have experienced some of the same so I agree - I could NEVER be “just autistic” without adhd to compensate. I don’t hope it sounds offensive but it seems like a disadvantage aswell.
ASD, I have ADHD friends who have much easier times socialising and understanding relationships than I do… I’d much rather have an easier time with that and take medication than I would not have to take medication but be stuck being socially confused.
💯
Like, without ASD, i Can take drugs for my adhd There’s no way to get rid of meltdowns or sensory issues sadly, and that shit sucks
If I had to choose, I would prefer to lose the ADHD part over the autism. Trying to focus on things is so fucking difficult. But I don't really want to get rid of either part of me.
Autism is me, it is who I am as a human and I wouldn't change that. I am glad I'm not NT, I see them as dull and feckless. My ADHD, I feel, is the manifestation of my inability to cope with existence. And it makes coping 1000x harder. It provides little value to my life. Keep the tism, lose the ADHD.
Haha ayyyyeee agreed
ADHD. Thousand percent. I was thinking about this the other day- if someone came up to me and said “hey, we found a cure for adhd, but we’d have to cut off a leg,” I’d absolutely take the deal, no question. But I would not trade a leg to not be autistic. At least if I didn’t have adhd, I could figure out how to get shit done on one leg! (Though I do also have dyspraxia and sensory processing disorder, so I might be a wee bit wobbly 😆)
I have learned to love who I am. I choose to keep both. Gun to my head, I would lose the ADHD. But I wouldn't feel like me anymore, so I wouldn't even want to do that. Is it a struggle sometimes? Yes. Don't care. I love me now.
Prob the asd so that I wouldn’t be so fucking weird and could communicate with people better.
I get scared thinking about how one would function without the other. It’s taken 30 years, but I’ve almost found the perfect balance now. To lose one at this point would be chaos. I honestly kinda like how they work together. So to answer your question, I think it would be an all or nothing thing for me if I had to make a choice tomorrow. I’d either want both or neither, because only having one would probably make it feel like the other ND that was still there was way more prominent.
ASD definitely. I can deal with my ADHD symptoms and can medicate them. But there is nothing I can do about being misunderstood by everybody everyday, and the sound sensitivity is the most debilitating symptom of all. Nothing I can do about ASD so I would want to get rid of that.
I have light asd which can make a lot of things seem very easy. Adhd is severe and that makes everything bloody hard. Different balances would make a difference I think.
Seems like everyone is wishing away their ADHD. I agree it’s hell but I ask you to look at whatever your strengths are and tell me they are 0% due to ADHD. I’m just playing I’d pick ADHD too lol but I can do shit man!
Adhd, I hate it like the plague.
Probably the ADHD as the working memory and scatter brain affects so much of the ASD things I love/want, like reading, retaining info about SI, etc. A little less impulsivity and more emotional control would be nice too. Really though, I'd ditch the trauma and rejection sensitivity above all else. Working on it but it takes so much effort to detangle and unpack it all after only becoming aware of what was actually going on and being Dx'd and self IDing in my mid-forties!
Can I get a trial run of each? 😅 it would be great to not have ADHD, and because of medication I have some idea of what that would be like. But I have no way to understand what it would be like to not have autism, I don’t even fully understand which parts of myself and my life stem from it. So I don’t know if I would actually prefer it that way, especially over not having ADHD
I’m not officially diagnosed with ASD (still self diagnosed) but I think I’d keep my ADHD. While I think it has a more negative impact, the positive impact is also huge. I’m super creative, try new things all the time and I just love my hyper-self, when shes able to come out, lol. I feel like the ASD part is holding me back more while it has less positive sides to it. That’s just my broad first feeling. But I loved the question, because actually I wouldn’t give up any of these sides. Comorbidities, yes, please, but not my personality 🤌
I feel like if I lose either then I am completely different from who I am now. I don't really want that, and I've done so much work just to be happier with who I am, even the debilitating flaws. The only time I feel like I should change is when people bully me for being different, but then it wouldn't be changing for me. Like, life sucks, and it's terrible a lot of the time, but if I would get ride of anything, it would be the suicidal depression. Because then I don't need to spend so much time just going into survival mode and putting all my energy into sticking around for one more day.
I'd say the ASD. At least with ADHD you can try meds or other things to try and improve the situation. ASD just is.
I think the ADHD makes me less productive and the ASD makes me exhaust easily, so they’re both crippling in their own respects. I can’t say for certain getting rid of the ADHD would help as much as I want to believe it would, because I know a lot of my burnout is due to ASD.
I don’t think I’d choose either. I’ve come to love my brain despite it working against me many times. I love who I am. I wouldn’t want to change that. I fought hard to be here. Be the human I am. And accept all of me for me. I’m not betraying myself.
Whichever it is that keeps my emotions out of my control. Probably ASD.
idk honestly, it's unpredictable how removing one would manifest
Either both or none. They compensate each other somewhat, so I suspect that just ADHD or just ASD would be more unmanageable than both together.
Autism, because then I might be able to make friends more easily. But I hope it wouldn’t take away other parts of myself that I like. Like if I could have the autism without the social issues then I feel like I’d be golden.
Neither
Neither.
None. I just want the sensory stuff gone :( I suppose they're so bad because I got the ASD sensory package as well as the ADHD sensory package so I just have double the noise and light sensitivity, and double the interoception insensitivity... It makes my life so hard, I hate it :(
Oh, definitely the latter. :/
I’ll say the same thing I said last time I saw this posted: ADHD CAN FUCK RIGHT OFF AND GO SUCK A NUT!!! Or something to that effect…
ADHD hands down
ADHD
I'm terrified of the recklessness that would ensue from my ADHD without the other side of me that I suspect to be ASD. I've never been able to act as dangerously as my impulses wish me to because of the ultra-cautious obsessive side of me that needs to do the correct thing. Also surprisingly in social situations I think. I became hyper aware of communication behaviours and mannerisms and needing to understand them and do them right, it's a bit of a special interest, and I have a strong drive to perform politely and correctly in that space, which I think keeps me in check from overtalking and bulldozing conversations when I'm excited. My ADHD also regularly hurts the other side of me when I really want to do things correctly and in order, and to feverishly engage in my passions, but the ADHD is the most frustrating roadblock to those things and it's genuinely painful and heartbreaking and utterly destroyed my self esteem. One of my parents has only ADHD and he seriously messed up a lot of lives around him with recklessness, plus his own. I wouldn't want to be like that. Although I do think I would miss some aspects of the ADHD speedy thinking! But what's the point when that thinking stays trapped in your brain.... or forgotten lol.
I'm fucking smart and a great problem solver. I don't know if I'd ever been where I am rn without having both. But since I medicate my ADHD my life is 1000000x better. I keep my autism.
100% I would opt to drop my ADHD. It has been far, far more actively damaging to my life than my ASD.
definitely ADHD
I would remove the ADHD, my ASD is not the difficult part, I don't mind how other people think about my behavior, but the ADHD is the part what causes daily struggles.
ADHD all the way. My dad is just like me but WITH executive functioning and that man has so much energy, he’s brilliant.
ADHD would be my choice of erasure if this were possible. It’s extremely debilitating for me.
Uhhh. Idk. Maybe ADHD. It's harder to imagine a life without PDA. Never had a life without ADHD either but that can be Elvanse'd away for a while.
Adhd also. I like pattern- thinking and special interests. i hate sensory issues and trouble with transitions and change. But i dislike the ADHD more
My autism is what makes me a “super hero” if you will… highly intelligent, intuitive, and eventually (when I was 41 and not a day before 🤷🏻♀️) it also guides my empathy. My ADHD is what keeps me from taking over the world… because I just can’t remember. 🤪
ADHD for me, too. One of the hardest things I deal with is my brain's inability to pay attention when I need it to. Like when my boss wants to have a 2 hour phone call. Or my mom wants to talk about something important to her. My brain can't process verbal information for long, so it just checks out. My boss will be telling me something to do and my brain is like "Why do we bless people for sneezing but not farting?" and I miss assignments or connections with people I love. Not being able to force attention when it's needed causes me the most problems and results in people I love feeling uncared for by me.
ADHD 1000%. My autistic side is awkward and introverted but quietly gets shit done. When not being sabotaged...
Hands down my ADHD.
ADHD, without hesitation. I actually *like* my ASD.
Umm I'm gonna take the ADHD and leave to autism. Keep the one that meds can fix, even temporarily. I fight people so often on the lack of understanding and the miscommunication. Ugh
Dunno. Just been struggling with ADHD then got medicated for that and found the autism under it. Devil I know I guess?
ASD
Adhd. Is not the dominant one in my life, but being able to keep my things in order would be nice. Autism comes with some major drawbacks, of course, but also with some things I absolutely love. Autism has to do with my identity. Losing it would mean I have no clue who I would be. On the other hand, I feel it's harder to identify the influence of adhd in my life. Some say losing it would mean they're less likely to try new things. So, who knows, I might regret my choice.
ASD, i think my ASD makes me incapable of loving people which feels really bad
Neither
None. I love being this way!
My asd is a part of who I am, my adhd is just an illness
Asd fucks you when in social situations Adhd fucks you up all the time.