I am currently re-researching ADHD management (for gods know what time already) after wasting the entirety of the past two days.
Wherever I go, I only see people talking about medication. How good it is, how to approach it, what to expect from it, how it was impossible before meds, how to treat them, etc.
I cannot obtain meds. Stimulants are illegal in my country. Strattera isn’t, but I am afraid that I will not be able to pursue diagnosis for reasons I am not going to share here. Please do not tell me how good meds are - there is nothing I can do to have them.
I tried organising my thoughts, having a schedule, and so on (org mode in emacs), but I have forgotten about it, every single time I tried it. I have set up a periodic notification to remind me of it, I quickly started ignoring that.
What can I do to make it better? How can I make sure that I will not just forget to do the things that make it better? How can I make sure that I will not outright ignore the things that help me?
Some people find things that work for them and they stick to it and that’s that. My wife is like that; it must be nice. Doesn’t work that way for me. I get super involved in org systems and then never use them again. Sounds like your brain works similarly to mine.
For me, accepting that my brain worked like this was key to… Well, at least living with it. I have found several systems that work for me. When one stops working, I (eventually) find myself using the next system,whatever that may be.
Sometimes I use a whiteboard
Sometimes I use a physical book
Sometimes I use logseq
Sometimes I use todoist
Etc. Etc.
You may also want to consider researching and saving money to move somewhere the meds are accessible. I’m not sure where you are or how feasible that may be, but it could be worth working towards over years.