Published on 12, July, 2020
I have just had a diagnosis of apsergers (with a fair amount of adhd traits too) at 38. I have a long history of depression and anxety. I am struggling most with executive functioning and it is the adhd traits that seem to be causing my the most problems at the moment. I have struggled for so long with keeping my house clean and uncluttered. My house is full of clutter and I am a huge procrastinator, have very low motivation and even if I do actually manage to do some housework I get distracted or can't seem to do it for long. I get over whelmed by everything that needs to be done but also seem to have an issue with just doing a little bit at a time.
I have been criticised by my husband and my parents for so long as they just couldn't understand why I found it all so difficult. I wish I could employ a cleaner and someone to help me organise things but I don't have the money.
Any adivce woulde be much appreciated. I was only diagnosed last week and am still getting my head around it all.
Hi,
I relate to your problems, 25 years ago I bought a new house, was (still am) obsessive about keeping it clean. Now I am just overwhelmed. I had aspergers diagnosis last year, and I have only just recently got help from local organisation who specialise in caring for people with learning disabilities, but like yourself I don't have finances to keep it going.
I live on my own which compounds the issues, with a job and everything that entails. I am ocd about germs and contamination, but my place is a mess. I used to be so on top of things when I was younger.
I have a hoarding problem, compulsive buying / acquiring of stuff. Have recently started sorting through it. I can't face throwing stuff out, but have been able to "let go" of things so have started selling on amazon on ebay.
I am trying to take a fresh look at things and my feelings of attachment to them. Its a hard slog, but I am able to gradually get less attached to stuff.
I do lists now and then to overcome executive problems, but for some reason I can't keep that going on a continual basis. I think its because I get these extreme down spells every so often, and everything gets thrown up in the air.
Thinking of getting a small whiteboard to do my lists on
I bought a mobile phone mainly to do similar, but I don't think that is working out too well for me.
Another approach I have tried, is to just try an allocate half an hour to an hour each day to just clean or sort out one thing. It does ease the burden of the task when it starts growing.
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