Camping With ADHD
It’s a gong show, but still the best
We’re one week in to our 5-week epic adventure, and it’s been amazing so far. We’ve had a couple hiccups, including one fairly major hurdle before we even got started.
Trying to get meds for a long trip
They sure don’t make it easy
As I’ve been sharing, we’re going on a five-week epic road and camping trip.
My son and I are both on stimulant medications for ADHD. Anyone who’s taken a controlled drug as prescribed knows it can be a pain trying to get an early refill or greater than one-month’s supply.
Knowing this, we planned ahead. Okay, my husband was on the ball and contacted the pharmacy four days before we were leaving to ensure there was enough time to get the okay from our respective doctor’s offices.
It was a lucky thing because we barely got them in time. First the pharmacy had to fax a requisition to our doctors, which we expected. Thankfully, the doctors faxed them back in time, so we thought we were set.
Nope.
Along comes insurance to put up yet another roadblock, telling our pharmacy not to fill the prescription — um, excuse me? The insurance is through my husband’s employer, so he gets on the phone to sort things out with them. He spends an hour and a half on hold, whereupon their automated system hangs up on him.
I shit you not.
My husband, who is one of the most calm and easy-going people I know, was about to lose his temper. Luckily we got things sorted out just in time — barely, and no thanks to our health insurance company.
Executive dysfunction
Is the worst
For the most part, I have come to love my divergent brain. I wouldn’t want to be neurotypical, and I embrace much of what comes with being Autistic and ADHD. One thing I will likely never enjoy is executive dysfunction.
I can’t even make a sandwich in a linear fashion.
My husband: Gets all the non-refrigerated stuff out of the food bin, gets all the cold stuff out of the cooler. Makes sandwich. The end.
Me: I get the bread out, put it on the picnic table. Okay, what do I need next? Right. I get lunch meat out of the cooler and put it on my bread. Now what? Oh yeah, I wanted cheese. I get cheese out of the cooler and put it on my sandwich, then put the bread away. What else? Mustard! I like mustard. I go back and get mustard out of the cooler.
I want a knife to cut the sandwich. Oh look, there are a few dishes needing to be done. I wash the dishes. What was I doing? Oh yeah, sandwich. It’s sitting partially completed on the picnic table. I put mustard on my sandwich and cut it. Wait, I need a plate for this. Rinse and repeat for pretty much every task, every day.
I even “glutened” my peanut butter (my fellow Celiacs will understand). I have gluten-free bread because I have a condition called Celiac disease (CD) which means I cannot eat anything with gluten. My husband and son do not have CD, so they use regular bread.
At home we have separate peanut butters so we don’t accidentally spread peanut butter on regular bread, then put the knife back into the peanut butter that I’m going to use, which could make me very sick. Which is exactly what I did.
When camping we just bring one PB to conserve space, so we are very careful not to double-dip. Or my son and husband are, but apparently I am not. I am not used to having to worry about it, so while making my son a sandwich, I double-dipped.
Luckily I realized right away and simply won’t use that PB, or we’ll buy a separate one for me after all. It could have been much worse.
Camping is the best
Despite these relatively minor issues, I absolutely love camping, and I am lucky my son and husband love it almost as much as I do. My son and I are on an epic journey.
My husband joined us for the first portion and will meet up with us again near the end, but much of this 5-week camping and road trip is just the two of us. We’ve been doing this every summer since he was five years old and my son is a camping champ.
Even at 5, when he could hardly reach all the snaps on the tent, he was helping set up camp, helping make our campfire, and generally rocking the whole camping-on-the-road adventure.
Speaking of which, we’ve got to hit the road again, but I have been jotting down story and article ideas along the way. I have a lot of pent-up writing waiting to be shared!
© Jillian Enright, Neurodiversity MB
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