Ooof, your situation sounds a lot like mine, though I only have one kid.
The quarantine had me struggling, too, until the pieces for ADHD started falling into place for me, too. I was already working with a psychiatric nurse practitioner, trying to work out some severe fatigue issues I was facing (that seemed at first like depression, which I've dealt with off and on over the years), so that was helpful in fast-tracking trying ADHD medication.
Even so, I spent several long weeks desperately trying to be functional and do the work that I needed to do, and ended up in a sort of crash-course in coping mechanisms for retaining focus. I came across the book Make Time via the author's interview on a podcast I listen to, and while I haven't yet read the book, the interview had an action item that stuck out to me -- scheduling my day with a calendar template. When I had first heard it, I kind of laughed it off, because it seemed like some type of privileged pipe dream sort of thing. Schedule my day? I can't do that! My days are too different!
But after some time of my subconscious mulling it over, I realized a way that seemed like it would work for me, and in my desperation to be productive again, I gave it a try. The biggest thing for me was remembering that I don't have to stick to it religiously. It's just a template for my "ideal" day.
I ended up combining it with ClickUp (a to do list program on steroids, let me tell you) to make the items "todo items" that happened to sit on calendar, a pomodoro-like timer app for focused blocks (my trouble had been less about hyperfocus and more about getting focused, so this may or may not be relevant for you, but might be useful for avoiding going overboard with the hyperfocus session length), a knowledge management/aggregation system (I really like Foam, but Notion, Roam, and Obsidian are also great options), and a closed door (and working out with the husband to tag-team handling kid issues).
I still struggle some days (honestly, it's sometimes hard to focus on "work" stuff when it seems so banal and pointless compared to all the crap that's going on right now), but I found these things help, especially when I really need to get something over the finish line.
My basic workflow looks something like this:
Get up and get dressed
Get coffee and take meds (I've got a combination of Adderall extended and regular release, so I take the XR at breakfast and the regular at lunch; also, Vitamin D and Saint John's Wort, because it and Adderall is apparently the only combination of their type that don't interact 😆 and I still struggled a little with depression-like symptoms)
Sit down for "day planning time," where I review/think about my day template and do a sort of mini "sprint review" type of session, where I decide what I work on for the day (or at least for the morning)
Check email/messages quick, in case something else needs me and to kind of get my brain going
At least try to work for a couple of hours
Break for lunch (and meds)
Check email/messages again as part of lunch break
Plan afternoon if not already planned
Do the planned work (usually, this is "less-deep" work, like administrative stuff that needs done, so I can be more easily interrupted)
If your husband really can't break away during the day, it might be useful to lean into "mom mode" during the day, and then block off a couple of hours in the evenings after your husband gets off work for your own deep work time. He takes over the role of handling the kids and you get your "reset" time. The key here is making sure he knows and understands your needs and you two work out an arrangement that works for you. (If you need larger blocks, consider taking weekend days to yourself or something.)
You'll find your groove before too long, I think. You've got this! :)
Except when I went to pick up the prescription, my insurance company rejected it because they want my doctor to sign an authorization form. How the prescription that my doctor signed is not enough of an authorization, I’ll never know.
Ugh...that's known as "prior authorization." It's basically a hoop the insurance makes you jump through, because they don't want to pay for that thing. The insurance companies will say it's to prevent being prescribed something you "don't need" or "might have dangerous interactions" and as "cost reduction," but I call BS. I worked on one of the original systems that drug that particular segment, kicking and screaming, into the 21st century, so I have a good idea of both the process and what they generally want prior authorization for, as well as all the costs and inefficiencies in the system (it's "cost reduction" in that a great many people just give up on the process and go without their treatment entirely). And frankly, insurance companies shouldn't be the authority on whether you "need" a given treatment -- that's the entire point of your doctor -- or whether it's dangerous -- that's the point of the pharmacist and the doctor.
I recommend finding out what the retail price of your medication is and make sure you have that banked, in case the insurance company wants to fight you on it in the future. This won't be the last time they push back on it, and you don't want to be without your meds when they do. It might suck to pay the retail price (though things like GoodRx can help reduce that cost), but unexpected gaps in medication plans such more.
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Ooof, your situation sounds a lot like mine, though I only have one kid.
The quarantine had me struggling, too, until the pieces for ADHD started falling into place for me, too. I was already working with a psychiatric nurse practitioner, trying to work out some severe fatigue issues I was facing (that seemed at first like depression, which I've dealt with off and on over the years), so that was helpful in fast-tracking trying ADHD medication.
Even so, I spent several long weeks desperately trying to be functional and do the work that I needed to do, and ended up in a sort of crash-course in coping mechanisms for retaining focus. I came across the book Make Time via the author's interview on a podcast I listen to, and while I haven't yet read the book, the interview had an action item that stuck out to me -- scheduling my day with a calendar template. When I had first heard it, I kind of laughed it off, because it seemed like some type of privileged pipe dream sort of thing. Schedule my day? I can't do that! My days are too different!
But after some time of my subconscious mulling it over, I realized a way that seemed like it would work for me, and in my desperation to be productive again, I gave it a try. The biggest thing for me was remembering that I don't have to stick to it religiously. It's just a template for my "ideal" day.
I ended up combining it with ClickUp (a to do list program on steroids, let me tell you) to make the items "todo items" that happened to sit on calendar, a pomodoro-like timer app for focused blocks (my trouble had been less about hyperfocus and more about getting focused, so this may or may not be relevant for you, but might be useful for avoiding going overboard with the hyperfocus session length), a knowledge management/aggregation system (I really like Foam, but Notion, Roam, and Obsidian are also great options), and a closed door (and working out with the husband to tag-team handling kid issues).
I still struggle some days (honestly, it's sometimes hard to focus on "work" stuff when it seems so banal and pointless compared to all the crap that's going on right now), but I found these things help, especially when I really need to get something over the finish line.
My basic workflow looks something like this:
If your husband really can't break away during the day, it might be useful to lean into "mom mode" during the day, and then block off a couple of hours in the evenings after your husband gets off work for your own deep work time. He takes over the role of handling the kids and you get your "reset" time. The key here is making sure he knows and understands your needs and you two work out an arrangement that works for you. (If you need larger blocks, consider taking weekend days to yourself or something.)
You'll find your groove before too long, I think. You've got this! :)
Ugh...that's known as "prior authorization." It's basically a hoop the insurance makes you jump through, because they don't want to pay for that thing. The insurance companies will say it's to prevent being prescribed something you "don't need" or "might have dangerous interactions" and as "cost reduction," but I call BS. I worked on one of the original systems that drug that particular segment, kicking and screaming, into the 21st century, so I have a good idea of both the process and what they generally want prior authorization for, as well as all the costs and inefficiencies in the system (it's "cost reduction" in that a great many people just give up on the process and go without their treatment entirely). And frankly, insurance companies shouldn't be the authority on whether you "need" a given treatment -- that's the entire point of your doctor -- or whether it's dangerous -- that's the point of the pharmacist and the doctor.
I recommend finding out what the retail price of your medication is and make sure you have that banked, in case the insurance company wants to fight you on it in the future. This won't be the last time they push back on it, and you don't want to be without your meds when they do. It might suck to pay the retail price (though things like GoodRx can help reduce that cost), but unexpected gaps in medication plans such more.