Gina Pera's Adult ADHD Roller Coaster

 “Drug holiday”—sounds relaxing, right? Not for everyone with ADHD. 

In this episode, I share real-world stories—including a raw, revealing account from reader Katy Rollins—about what really happens when ADHD medication takes a break. 

Spoiler: it’s not always sunshine and calm. We’re talking late-night obsessions, hyper-cleaning marathons, and emotional exhaustion.

Whether you’ve considered taking a med break...

ADHD doesn’t just affect one person—it affects the entire relationship. In this episode, Gina Pera shares five radical yet essential perspectives that can dramatically improve how couples navigate ADHD-related challenges. These aren’t your typical therapy clichés or pop-psychology platitudes. They’re hard-won insights from decades of experience, research, and helping couples around the world.

You’ll learn:

• Why teamwork—not indepe...

In this episode, Gina Pera explores how ADHD-related brain chemistry can contribute to these post-orgasm challenges—and what you can do about it.

From early historical observations to modern neuroscience, from SSRI and stimulant options to alternatives like Karezza, this is a candid, compassionate look at a deeply personal issue.

🧠 Gina was among the first in the field to speak publicly about potential ADHD-related intimac...

Could your ADHD treatment plan be making your sleep—and your symptoms—worse?

In this episode, Gina Pera explores a critical but often-missed topic: the overlooked risks of antidepressants and sleep apnea in ADHD treatment.

Drawing from her in-depth blog post, Gina unpacks the science, the real-world consequences, and why many prescribers—and even patients—miss the bigger picture. You’ll learn:

• How sleep apnea often...

This episode is the audio version of my blog post on a sensitive but essential topic for ADHD-challenged relationships:

Why the common advice to “just express your feelings” often backfires—especially when ADHD is in the mix.

📝 Read the full post here:
 Why Telling Your ADHD Partner “You’re Hurting Me” Isn’t Helping
https://adhdrollercoaster.org/tools-and-strategies/why-telling-your-adhd-partner-youre-hurting-me-isnt-helpin...

 With Gina Pera | ADHD Roller Coaster

Just thinking about getting an ADHD diagnosis as an adult can feel overwhelming. Where do you start? Who can you trust? In this episode, I walk you step by step through what a thorough, evidence-based Adult ADHD evaluation should look like—and why it matters.

📝 Read the full post here:
 The Adult ADHD Diagnosis: How Is It Made?
https://adhdrollercoaster.org/the-basics-about-adult-a...

This first-person story paints a vivid picture of what it’s like to move through the world with undiagnosed ADHD:

• Constantly trying harder—but falling short
• Wondering why life seems harder than it should be
• Living with a quiet but relentless sense of failure
• Receiving constant feedback that "You're not good enough"

Whether you're living with ADHD or love someone who is, this first-person account offers a rar...

This episode is the audio version of a popular blog post—all about overlap—and confusion—between Cyclothymia (a mood disorder) and ADHD.

📝 Read the full post here:
 Cyclothymia and ADHD: A Risk Factor—or Misdiagnosis?
https://adhdrollercoaster.org/the-basics-about-adult-adhd/cyclothymia-and-adhd-a-risk-factor-or-misdiagnosis/

In this episode, I explore the risks of misdiagnosis and the fallout from confusing mood instabilit...

This is the audio version of one of the most popular posts at the ADHD Roller Coaster blog:

"Breaking Out of ADHD Relationship Dysfunction—After Not Breaking a Fall"

 Read the full post here: https://adhdrollercoaster.org/breaking-out-of-adhd-relationship-dysfunction/

In this episode, I share a personal story that reveals hard-earned insights about ADHD, relationships, and what it takes to break out of long-standing patterns...

This episode is the audio version of an important blog post, where I break down urgent issues affecting many ADHD medication users:

• What’s going on with the Concerta authorized-generic (the brand-name product sold as a generic by Patriot, a Janssen subsidiary)?
• What’s the status of the ADHD stimulant shortage that began in late 2022?
• Most importantly: What can you do now to protect your treatment and advocate for yourself or your ...

What can a published study — and an excerpt from my first book —  explain about ADHD, empathy, and the neurotransmitter dopamine? That’s what this post is all about.

I started noticing a remarkable phenomenon 20 years ago. That is, stimulant medication, which targets dopamine, enhances empathy (or at least the ability to act on empathy) for many adults with ADHD. How is this possible?

You can read this popular blogpost (and...

For many obvious reasons, ADHD-challenged relationships tend to teem with arguments and conflicts.  Especially when neither partner knows ADHD is in the mix! 

Apart from that, why do some people with ADHD self-medicate with argument?  What does that phrase even mean?  I wrote about this in my first book, in 2008. Since then, we hear about it more online—but seldom in a useful context.

Simply, self-medicating with ...

This podcast draws from a blog post at ADHD Roller Coaster. You can read the full post (and comments) here:   

Why A Support Group for the Partners of Adults with ADHD?

excerpt:

A support group for the partners of adults with ADHD?  That struck many people as a strange concept in 2003, when I advanced it in the essay below. 

A decade later, the need still remains puzzling to some—angering to others. That ...

Adult ADHD-Focused Couple Therapy  TM.  Why create a special model for Adult ADHD-challenged couples?   Why not just use standard couple therapy? 

Great questions. I’ll answer them, at least in part, in this podcast.  

·     I first explained in 2008 why standard couple therapy is typically unhelpful in my book, Is It You, Me, or Adult ADHD, including a chapter called “Why the Wrong Therapy is Worse Than No Therapy.”    Thi...

Author and Adult ADHD Educator Gina Pera explores the complex relationship between ADHD and empathy.

She shares a compelling story from Taylor J., a mother with late-diagnosis ADHD who feared her daughter's apparent lack of empathy signaled narcissism.

Yet an ADHD diagnosis and subsequent treatment revealed a different narrative. 

Gina delves into how ADHD-related challenges can mimic narcissistic tr...

·      How can you be blindsided by an ADHD diagnosis?  It’s easy. 

·      Our culture has alternate explanations for virtually all ADHD-related challenges—e.g. depression, anxiety, and trauma.  Even in this 21st Century, the mental health profession has not caught up to the science. 

·      When we finally learn, we are shocked: Why did we not know this before?

·      How many relationships are imperiled by unrecognized ADHD?  Maybe ...

What was your “light bulb” moment—when you discovered the possibility of Adult ADHD for yourself or your partner?

 In this podcast, I share results from the ADHD Partner Survey—the most comprehensive study of Adult ADHD lifestyle issues, particularly as regards relationships. 

The survey question was:  “How Did You Learn Your Partner Might Have ADHD?” (read the original post at that link)

ADHD Roller Coaster podcasts share the audio v...

Welcome to an historical—and musical—perspective on the early stimulant  Benzedrine and how its legendary misuse might have created lasting stigma around ADHD and  neurostimulants.    

Harry “The Hipster” Gibson wrote and performed Who Put the Benzedrine in Mrs. Murphy’s Ovaltine in 1944.     

Some medical historians  would place 1944 smack in the middle of the “amphetamine epidemic” in the U.S.. (It happened elsewhere, too. In the U...

 Why learn about potential ADHD-related physical manifestations?   

   Because, I believe, it helps us to move beyond seeing ADHD as simply about "focus" and "distractibility." 

   When my  husband, whose ADHD late-diagnosis inspired my work 20 years ago, seemed unable to detect a powerful scent, I started sleuthing.  

   Could this, too, be related to ADHD—or something else entirely?

   You can read the original po...