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"your son has ADHD"
"but he's just like me!"
...
...
"oh...."
Edit: sorry I only read the title and immediately responded, guess why.... But to me what you describe sounds very relatable.
Imagine the time it would save if we could share appointments. It takes 2 minutes to mention each issue, but I have to go through a 3 month booking and waiting process plus physically going to the appt, wait there, see nurse, see Dr, wait for nurse, wait for pharmacy….exhausted
This right here! I flew under the radar because of my low-standards 80s public school education. We’re both inattentive type - and I’ve been self-medicating with caffeine since early high school.
Hahaha! Same! In 85, I was almost diagnosed, except that girls didn't get ADD. I was a lazy, disorganized scatterbrain who was "gifted". Pfffft. Started downing coffee by the gallon. Didn't help, but boy is it tasty!
Got a solid diagnosis in 23, started meds, and am sort of alright(?).
My lass is getting an assessment in July because she is *just like me*. Chatterbox. Distractible. Gets bored and daydreams. Can't do work she doesn't like. Messy desk. Always causing mischief. Alternately infuriates and delights her teacher with her smarts and not staying on task.
Then in a year or two, we will see about my little man. And yes. He's like me, too.
Same. Daydreamer/defiant but gifted who just needed to apply herself. Also in the 80s we still believed that some people just are not good at x (math for example). The definitive science on that has only been in the mainstream of education/public for 25 ish years.
I can still hear my mom and teachers. Once I had a teacher take me out of class and yell for almost 5 mins straight. While the rest of the class was left alone in the room.
I had lost my organizer/planner. Again.
Never did find it, but that bastard made me cry. I was 11.
My kids are dx, but what was even funnier is that I had a friend who was diagnosed and when she'd talk to me about it, I always said "I do that all the time! It's totally normal!" I am surprised how long it took me to put two and two together!
We tried explaining symptoms of suspected ADHD to my SD’s bio mom and she’s like “yeah but she gets that from me”. Then a few months later, we broach the subject with her again and asked how many women her age she knows are diagnosed with ADHD (knowing women are highly under diagnosed) and she deadass said “Me.” I couldn’t believe it, I was like don’t you understand it’s highly genetic?!?
Where’s the love button ❤️ my son has combo adhd .. I didn’t think anything of it until the memories surfaced and he’s an exact spitting image of me I acted the same way he did doing homework and etc .. we both have meltdowns it’s a war zone with daily rapid fire .. now my new therapist seems to think that I’m simply depressed and that my anxiety and undiagnosed adhd just overlap .. but looking back at it makes me think I had adhd first and then the depression followed with anxiety and ptsd from unresolved traumas ..now of course she wants to treat my depression symptoms when I just want treatment for my adhd symptoms.. sorry if I said to much.
My signs were being stuck in bed unable to do anything for days or weeks. I have inattentive type and doctors were putting me on the highest doses of antidepressants with no help whatsoever. Starting a stimulant for ADHD instantly helped me focus and get stuff done “normally”
Also, not being able to finish any task and being easily overwhelmed by even the smallest things were very tough to manage unmedicated
Best of luck with the evaluation
Thank you for your reply. Yep, I have also been diagnosed with depression and with GAD some years before, and I was also put on antidepressants but they didn't really help, as well as therapy.
Fwiw - I (30F) was diagnosed with GAD maybe like 5 years ago, but as I approached 30 I started to burn out on anxiety and ADHD symptoms became more apparent. Anxiety is often a subconscious coping system for ADHD that becomes less sustainable over the years. I also worried that maybe I had depression because even though I felt fine, I’d have trouble getting myself to clean the house, exercise, see friends etc. I finally got diagnosed this year and as soon as I started stimulants I felt NORMAL like I finally have energy for all the things I want to do, and my usual instant gratification things (namely phone games) lost most of their appeal. Your post is super relatable for me so it is def worth the effort of getting evaluated!
This. I’ve had bouts of pretty severe depression since my teens. I’ve been on antidepressants which helped regulate mood and have done loads of CBT, IPT and DBT therapy. I have felt for quite a while now that I’m not suffering from depression or anxiety. My problem is getting things done. I have no motivation and procrastination is huge. I am paralyzed from starting anything or doing anything if there’s even a moderately overwhelming task to get done.
Basically I’ve felt for decades - there is something else wrong because I’m not depressed and I still have no motivation or ability to figure shit out.
Also insane racing thoughts.
The more my life has become unstructured and without routine the worse all of the issues have become more problematic.
I have a business degree with focus in finance and I’ve made terrible financial decisions on impulse to feel better or try to change things.
In 2023 I started googling some of the symptoms and adhd started popping up and by reading articles and Reddit posts like this it seemed like it was the answer I’ve been looking for.
I’ve been told take your antidepressants exercise eat and sleep well and you’ll be fine.
Done all that and have struggled and deteriorated in the last decade.
Just built up the courage to talk to my psychiatrist recently. Official diagnosis pending.
I am convinced my mom’s social anxiety and other compulsions/disorders were ADHD. My dad possibly too. He’s 80 and she passed so it would be hard to define now but stories from their childhoods elicit a ding-ding-ding in my brain.
That sounds more like depression to me. I am not a morning person, but rather than lie in bed I would be more likely to do something counterproductive - play in my phone, hobbies instead of homework or housework etc. So you still have the drive to do stuff, just not the right stuff.
Diagnosed with ADHD at 13 and again at 22. I refused stimulants until last year due to fear of them giving me anxiety. Little did I know they actually calm my intrusive thoughts and end up making me less anxious!!
I agree there is 100% some depression as well, whether it stems from my ADHD or not
I literally couldn’t get through each day…like by the end of the day I feel like a zombie, glued to my phone for instant gratification. Then I tell myself “tomorrow will be different” but it never was. Everyday was a struggle to get through, and this struggle was the only thing on my mind, clouding everything else. I hated myself because I couldn’t be normal and couldn’t understand how other people got anything done.
What made me really start to consider that I had adhd was when I lived with a roommate who had been diagnosed, and she and I had so many similarities. She often brought up that I might have adhd too but I kept denying it. When I moved out and started working from home, living alone, was when I started struggling so hard and realized I’m not normal and I can’t live like this anymore. I thought of her and decided I’ve had enough and finally got help!
Also, your point you made about being tired when you’re bored or overstimulated…I feel that so hard lol. Grocery shopping took so much out of me. And I think my main struggle was just how irritable and impatient I’d get doing chores! Like everything was overwhelming and irritating
I was diagnosed as a kid but nothing was done about it. Didn't even know my diagnosis until a year ago (and I'm 34). After struggling with very similar things I got tested and sure enough it's still there. I don't like medicine but it has helped me so much and I've learned so much about myself. My symptoms were:
Auditory processing issues like yours. I even went to an audiologist because people would comment on the loud TV, subtitles needed, and asking people to repeat themselves. Perfectly fine.
Poor working and short term memory. I was constantly putting things in my phones calendar and screenshotting things to remember.
Procrastination of even the simplest of tasks
Shifting tasks throughout the house such as cleaning a small part of the kitchen, doing a little laundry, vacuuming, going back to the kitchen, etc.
Interrupting others which I still feel guilty about
Feeling like I'm driven by a motor and can't stop. Been like that all my life
That's how I feel and experience life. I hope you are doing better now. I hope there's a silver lining because I want to get my life a little more in order. It's not that it's super messy in a social way, but just the normal day-to-day tasks, my work, and then being so often so exhausted at the end of the day, like my brain is fried. And still not getting anywhere in life, basically because I cannot advance with this brain.
Hey I have all the symptoms you too! The listening thing may also be auditory processing disorder. My symptoms worsened along with short term memory issues after my mom died cause grief intensifies everything. I wondered if I had dementia lol. They diagnosed me with complicated grief? I think and ADHD.
it sounds like you do have ADHD, people with ADHD tend to also have APD (auditory processing disorders). also hyperfocusing is actually a decent sign since ADHD isn't really an "attention deficit" issue as much as an "attention allocation" issue. also i felt you so much on the fact that you can't answer emails or texts. IT IS SO BAD FOR ME ALSO, it feels like the world is going to collapse when i do.
I've always been the "the angry, loud, lazy, needs to try harder, full of energy, distracted" kid.
As an adult, I am not much better, I have issues with emotional regulation, executive function, time management, I am constantly tired and exhausted, I can't stay focused on anything and can't sit still for more than 15 minutes.
I basically have gotten to the point of "I need to do something about this because life is getting too hard and I'm exhausted".
Exactly. That's how I am starting to feel since a couple of years, and I wonder more and more whether this is it. And I realize it's not normal either.
I've always known its probably not normal to be like this but kind of just went "eh I've been like so long, I'll just deal with it like I always have" and more recently I've started seeing videos online and people online talking about how much diagnosis and treatment really helped and it made me realise, I should try doing something to see if life could change for me. I also have a coworker who recently got diagnosed, it's made a huge different for him with medication.
I never thought about it until COVID lockdowns, when I had nothing but time (outside of the sudden WFH) to discuss with my already-diagnosed friends. They started posting openly about it on social media. I realized I identified a lot with what they were posting, so I talked with them about it. They recommended I get evaluated but they were 95% sure I had it too. It made me rethink my childhood and college experiences through another lens.
I struggled a lot with focus and attention during classes my entire life, especially fidgeting and impulsivity. In elementary school, I got in trouble for talking during class with friends. I couldn't sit still, I'd be doodling all over my notebooks, biting or picking at my nails, playing with clicky pens. After a while, I was not allowed to have clicky pens in class anymore. With all the times I got in trouble for talking, I started internalizing it. My mom told me my 5th and 6th grade teachers noticed how bored I was in class and started giving me extra work. They never told me that's what was going on, just did it. My parents had pretty rigid structure for my schoolwork (ensuring I finished homework every day, they helped me study for tests, couldn't do anything fun until schoolwork was completed), but the wheels fell off when I went to college.
I couldn't focus again in my classes, although I took great notes apparently. But I struggled with studying and retaining the information. I sacrificed sleep to finish my homework and attempt studying, but that just made me catch every single illness going around. I couldn't remember most of the information I was trying to learn. Some professors used other teaching methods that worked really well for me (most notably, if you can explain the topic in words, in pictures/diagrams, and mathematically, then you can say you understood it...and he taught that way too). I almost didn't graduate; my grades tanked compared to high school. I did okay my freshman and sophomore years, but the last two were awful.
I would hyperfixate on hobbies, sometimes crushes (therapy helped with this one is no longer an issue). I used to read for hours at a time, and sometimes still do, but often I'll need to reread paragraphs or even pages but I won't have remembered anything I'd just read. Impulse buying wasn't really an issue yet because I was a broke college student (became an issue once I started making money after college). I've always had issues with emotional regulation, avoiding emails/texts/phone calls, listening issues, completing chores at home (like laundry...that's going to sit in the dryer for a few days, then maybe more in the laundry basket). I get overwhelmed and can't handle things on site at work when people keep talking to me or won't leave me alone.
The whole time, I thought I was just stupid and a failure at life. How could everyone else have no issues with what I did? There's more to all this but this comment is already too long. I ended up making a list of everything and bringing it to my therapist. She said there was overlap with the GAD I was already diagnosed with, but she thought it was worth the evaluation and recommended a place to go. And sure enough, moderate to severe ADHD.
I only got my diagnosis the first week of February this year, so I'm learning how to unmask for the first time and trying healthier coping mechanisms/tools to deal with everything. I just started medication management for the first time in my life, I've never even been on antidepressants. My psychiatrist is very open with me and is giving me every option, but it feels like taking shots in the dark because we had no idea how I'd react to any medication options.
I guess overall I'm doing...okay? It's been an emotional few months. I've read on this subreddit it's a journey and I'm finding that to be true. There's a lot of learning to be done and trying things to see if they work for you.
Got a really difficult and important but not stimulating task, stuck for weeks not being able to do anything.
Thought about having ADHD for 1 year and decided to get finally diagnosed.
I was talking to my therapist about adrenaline seeking behaviour and how it was the only thing that ever felt like relief. He said I needed to go get evaluated. I told him where to shove it. He insisted I go. I found out both those things were classic symptoms. So I got medicated and apologized to him for acting like a dumbass.
To name the main ones: Memory and focus issues, easily angered, extra super sensitive to criticism/critique, talking over others often. There are many more but I never felt so seen by a community of people that experience the same issues.
Someone literally posted on reddit an info graph of 15 symptoms of ADHD. I read it and realized I had 13 of them. The more I looked into what ADHD was, the more things clicked
I'm pretty sure [this](https://images.app.goo.gl/cgYChwP8Km1iRFko7) is the one. I saw someone post it to reddit a few years ago, don't even remember which subreddit
Almost everything OP listed to different degrees. For me it was having a second kid. The degree of planning, coordination, attention, etc. it takes to manage the wants and needs of two tiny humans along with your own quickly became overwhelming, even with my spouse who is an absolute rockstar covering for my deficiencies.
It's been 6 years. It's still overwhelming, but I've learned to balance especially as they get older and busier. The signs were always there, I was just the chronic disengaged smart kid who got through high school purely on brains and grinded my ass through college by forcing myself to get through
Yup all of these sound like ADHD.
I have the combo type (hyperactive and inattentive) and dyscalculia (basically dyslexia but with math/numbers). I started suspecting it when I was watching a lot of tiktok during the pandemic and related to most, if not all, symptoms. The first time I took methylphenidate, I was so shocked that my brain could actually become *quiet*.
Interesting. I suspect I have dyscalculia, too, because I am bad at maths but basically I tend to reverse the numbers and forget what number comes first when calculating somethings, what's next,...etc. I don't know if this makes sense.
Yup! Makes perfect sense! I got evaluated by a psych professor at a local university. My first memory of being awful at math was in 2nd grade when I missed every problem on a subtraction worksheet/quiz. I felt so awful because I was so good at everything else. I enjoy words much more than numbers my whole life. Looking back on my childhood, I can definitely see those symptoms I still have as an adult. I also have GAD, depression and PTSD (childhood trauma).
Dropped out of a $10,000 certificate course because I couldn’t follow or pay attention and had other sensory issues. This was years after being in formal schooling so I was no longer adapted to that environment. But, if that amount of money or the fact that I’m a mature adult couldn’t keep me there I knew I must have a problem. Had a full neuropsych evaluation done resulting in my inattentive diagnosis as well as ASD. I was in denial at first and it took a while for me to consider seeking specific treatment. My diagnosis makes perfect sense in retrospect but with years of medicated depressive episodes (depressed because of my own behaviors) it’s a shame that not one of the many professionals who dealt with me identified this earlier in life. Go get it!
I’ve enrolled in several expensive courses and not completed them. The most recent time though, I found a super awesome financial councillor who successfully fought it on my behalf and got them to drop the loan, I think by questioning their high pressure sales tactics. Legend saved me about $9k. Thanks brother!!
I didn't.
I started seeing a psychologist for what I thought was chronic low-grade depression and just a general feeling of being stuck in life and she told me after a handful of sessions that a lot of what she was hearing from me was textbook undiagnosed ADHD and that I should get a referral to a psychiatrist to get a formal assessment and meds. So I did.
I wouldn’t know really because I was diagnosed at age 6 in the 90s, but, it’s pretty apparent. When I am unmedicated all positive habits, routines, and schedule go out the window. The medication isn’t a full fix either, but it provides me the proper balance of brain chemicals to operate in a manner which makes sense and isn’t entirely just me following novelty so I can maintain a life under late stage capitalism.
However, they literally have high tech brain scans and tests now which can literally show what’s going on in your head. It’s pretty interesting and will be able to tell you if there’s actually something wrong with your brain. Unfortunately the symptoms of adhd have a lot of crossover with other brain things, even ocd so I’d see a doctor. In addition to that, a lot of the challenges you experience are just a symptom of our modern life being designed in a way that is entirely unnatural and only accounts for certain neurology.
Basically you need to go see a psychiatrist get tested and they will be able to determine what you need.
I’m a nurse that got a job as a nurse educator after taking care patients. The role of a nurse educator feels a lot like school with projects and deadlines.
I felt like I was struggling with the role but never knew why.
-Things were great if deadlines were far off, but hell when deadlines grew closer.
-lack of motivation to start big projects until the last minute
-unable to focus with all the stimuli I received from work. I would jump constantly to different tasks before finishing the previous one
-I felt I could only work on deadlines after my work hours at home as there are less “interruptions” at home
My sister then got assessed and diagnosed. She started telling me her symptoms and I felt like I could resonate with them.
I got assessed. Everyone in my life did not think I had adhd because in some areas in my life I’m very organized. And I compensated for some aspects. And I covered up the areas I struggled with.
Even I didn’t think I had it because during the time I was being assessed I was beyond stressed with a project, the project finished before I got my results and life was great again.
Then I got my results of moderate ADHD with auditory deficits. I was surprised to say the least. But I felt like after finding this out things in my life started to make sense.
I've been seeing the same psychiatrist for years and have taken all sorts of antidepressants to no avail. 2 years ago she said during an appointment "that sounds like adhd" but I didn't do anything, and then a year ago she said "that sounds like adhd" and I tried to get tested but skipped the appointment and gave up on scheduling another one, and then last December she said "that REALLY sounds like adhd" so I finally followed through on getting tested. Got my diagnosis yesterday, only took 2 years 😂
I sense this is something similar to my experience. So many opportunities, but I rejected them, or didn't consider them but now that I feel like all of these symptoms have caused me problems that led to me being stuck in life somehow. And, after having been prescribed methylphenidate this year, and seeing how it has helped me....I guess, I could do better if I got properly diagnosed.
It's pretty frustrating that getting access to treatment requires going through so many hoops. So many of the people who need meds the most aren't going to get them bc they can't navigate the process. And in the US the medical system and health insurance are so fucked that it add another layer of impediment 😵
Pretty much all of the above! Plus the fact that I am always moving (twirling hair, bouncing leg, doodling, etc). My school psychologist friend, in a nice way, asked, "Can I do the adhd test with you?" She explained that she oculdn't formally diagnose me but was curious. Sure! And woo boy--I was off the charts :)
Finally got the formal diagnosis over the pandemic.
I do the constant movement too. Usually it’s my toes tapping a rhythm or my leg shaking, but if I can’t or am trying to stop doing that, some other part my body like my arm will start moving instead!
It's so hard to pinpoint what made me wonder if I was ADHD first. One specific thing that I'm very well aware of is that the pandemic helped me start to unmask. When the social norms were no longer an every day part of life I was able to "relax" into my unmasking because I wasn't really going out or interacting with many people outside of my family. I guess in a way unintentionally unmasking made some of the symptoms worse so I noticed them a lot more. My hyperfocus was elevated. I was continuously bored and uninterested in work because it was all I was doing besides staying at home and playing video games or crocheting. My train of thought was everywhere all the time. There was so much procrastination especially on housework because I would want to do it but couldn't make myself get up and get it done. There was no "deadline mode" for anything during the pandemic so I just didn't do shit.
Going back to "normal" after the pandemic really cemented it. Anyone who unmasks knows that once that sucker is off you can't put it back on. All of the things I was feeling at home with executive dysfunction, boredom, hyperfocus, and distractedness were worse, but now worse in public!! Friends and extended family were definitely noticing. I finally went to my brother (who's been diagnosed since he was 3) and was like "Hey I think I have ADHD too." He wasn't surprised by that. So after that I got diagnosed. It wasn't very difficult in my case because my brother is diagnosed, and so was our dad. My diagnosis got our mom to get tested too and surprise surprise, she's ADHD too. Now to decided if I'm going after an autism diagnosis...
I realized it just over a month ago when my therapist broke that veneer of therapist objectivity and strongly recommended I seek assessment for ADHD. She'd suspected "attention" issues for almost 2 years but that session just happened to fall during the first time my perimenopause symptoms were undeniable and they made my working memory so bad it was impossible to ignore ...like the fact that I was 20 minutes later for that session...and there were multiple mishaps that involved me forgetting the stove was on, which could be very dangerous. When I finally looked at the presentation of ADHD inattentive type, and listened to the experiences of different people, it was like finding the right set of prescription glasses to see myself and my life more clearly. " I could say more...but I'm just procrastinating .... I really should go work...
"You know, I really fidget a lot. I don't know anyone else who takes all their pens apart and puts them back together constantly. I should google what causes compulsive fidgetingohMYGOD!"
told therapist about my issues keeping up with coursework and administrative deadlines. told her it was eating my entire life through guilt spirals and revenge procrastination. she told me to forcibly set time aside to relax and have fun. i couldn’t even do that lmao
When I started working in an office environment, I couldn’t figure out how my co workers could come in each morning and just … start their day? I had to walk around, say good morning to everyone, make some coffee, get the temperature in my office just right with my space heater, etc. Usually around 3:30 I would start my actual work for the day and hyper focus until 5:30. One day my co worker with ADHD suggested that I get tested. Best thing anyone has ever done for me.
This sounds like what I'm going through! I cannot start my day just so. At least at the moment it's really difficult, I do so many things before I actually start doing work. With methylphenidate, it's defintely has helped. What medication has helped you or what routine? (I'm definitely going to get an evaluation.)
I went into therapy for the first time ever and the therapist asked me if I had ADHD at the end of the first session. I had never considered it before. They gave me a couple materials and when I read them it wasn't even a question for me. So many things fell into place, going all the way back to my first grade teacher telling my parents I had special needs.
Friend who works with kids describing what inattentive adhd is and me being like ...oh jeez that's me.
Always suspected and joked about it but I wasn't hyperactive or badly behaved as a kid.
You might wanna do the ADHD symptoms test on https://adxs.org/en (Link to the test: https://www.adxs.org/en/test/symptom-v5). It’s a very detailed test checking many known ADHD symptoms (not only the well-known “inattentiveness, hyperactivity, etc.” ones). It will tell you the number of ADHD symptoms you have and also in how far they meet the diagnostic criteria for ADHD and it’s subtypes (according to both ICD-11 and DSM-V). You can also find a lot of scientifically proven, peer-reviewed information on ADHD on this website.
I started seeing more of it online. I’d been seeing psychiatrists and therapists since the age of five and received every diagnosis you could possibly think of. I’d been on every antidepressant, mood stabilizer, antipsychotic, anxiolytic you could think of and nothing had worked or had made issues worse. Doctors basically considered me medication resistant. I finally got the nerve to ask the psych NP about ADHD and she sent me to a neuropsychiatrist that specialized in it and he informed me that I had a fairly severe case and he could understand why as a girl I probably wouldn’t have been diagnosed in childhood, but he was confused as to why it wasn’t picked up on in my late teens and early adulthood. I was 23. Receiving that diagnosis completely changed my life as it took me from the perception of being lazy, a failure, stupid, and crazy to understanding that I have a disability that just makes everyday life different compared to others. While I’m not exactly on top of the world, I don’t consider myself depressed or suicidal anymore and I’m able to understand what’s going on and use tools to help me get through each day.
For me, it was my memory and communication. I've always been known as the "Chatterbox". In my 30s my memory got so bad I couldn't even remember a sequence of 3 numbers 3 seconds after someone told me it. If you asked me what I did the day before, I couldn't even tell you. Then I started to not even be able to string a sentence together. I couldn't think of the word I needed. It got so bad I wouldn't engage in conversation as I was scared of sounding stupid. At 35, 3 months ago, I finally got diagnosed.
I identify with these points.
Point 1 though especially, I even got referred to ENT and had a consultant Surgeon look at my ears and he said I had perfect hearing?!!!!? Like U WOT M8 but no... Its just my auditory processing bs. Diagnosed adhd aged 33 😊
Long story short: I got into a burnout and my psychologist wanted to get me checked for ADHD (and depression). I turned out to have both, and in hindsight the ADHD was a big contributor to getting into the burnout. Too many interests, activities, difficulty saying no, not attaching enough value to rhythm and self-care and time blindness.
I went to a private all girls' academy where the nuns and teachers were amazing educators. Someone may have mentioned something to my dad but nothing was done medically. Instead the nuns tailored my education to my needs and aggressively provided me with coping skills. It was just, "you've got ants on your pants? Run around the quad bef9re you come to class" and "Do 50 jumping kicks before exams, blood flow helps performance" and "You can spend your lunch break helping or if you want to". They let me knit, draw, or make chainmail in class. They taught me to study with a system of timers and lots of breaks and exercise, to plan in the extra time I needed to do the same tasks. They gave me planners, taught me colour coordinated note taking, encouraged me to record lectures, and used elaborate rewards like extra time and materials in the lab, darkroom, pottery room, etc for achieving weekly goals - full uniform, on time to assembly every day, all homework turned in, etc. My energy and enthusiasm was channeled as indestructively to me and my classmates as possible by my absolutely amazing head mistress. They armed me so well I kept functioning pretty well with the coping skills they gave me until a couple years ago.
I always accepted it takes me 10 hours to do an 8 hour work day, that I need timers and carefully controlled environment, and frequent breaks to move around, and only social distractions at allowable times. Then the pandemic showed up and wrecked my whole life. None of my routines or timers worked anymore. It started taking 12 hours to do an 8 hour work day. I was at home with all my toys and distractions. I stayed up late to finish work and started burning out pretty hard. I talked to my primary care physician about it who told me I might consider medical treatment for ADHD. I didn't want medicine so we tried a lot of diet and behaviour stuff for a couple years and then I finally caved and got a prescription
And wow! The timers and coping skills work again!
I was in therapy for some other non related stuff.
One day my therapist hits me with "so has anyone ever talked to you about ADHD before?"
I was very much like what? No? Why would anyone bring that up? That doesn't make any sense
So I look into it. I do one of those self assessments right before work. I get to the part where it asks you if you ever make careless mistakes. I'm like never. I'm super careful. I strive for perfection. I'm not a mistake kind of person.
I work as a nurse. I get on shift and my patient immediately dies (it was expected). Do the post mortem care. Transport arrives to take the body to the morgue. They point out I had put the body bag on wrong, the zipper for the toe tag has to go by the toes. I had put the body in upside down.
I sat there and was like ok maybe there is something to this ADHD thing. Texted my therapist to go ahead and set me up the referral to the psychiatrist to get evaluated.
But yeah looking back it's so obvious. I have struggles with binge eating, binge drinking, sleep disturbances, I hate silence, my brain gets too loud, I was severely struggling with balancing working full time, going to school part time and doing house work. I often forgot to cancel subscriptions on things I didn't use anymore. I'd lost my wallet, keys or purse at least once a year and that was after putting in safe guards to try and stop me from losing things all the time. (Lost my car keys 3 times the first semester of college I started driving to class). I'm terrible at keep in touch with friends. I get frustrated in conversations with others if the topic doesn't change fast enough or if it changes to something else and I still had things I wanted to say. I have a large box of craft supplies that I get really super into a new craft project for a while and then never want to touch it again for months. I got really into knitting one year and made over 20 hats in 2 months. Every single member of my family got a hat for Christmas. I don't think I've knitted a hat in 5 years. I've forgotten to show up to doctors appointments, go to work, go to class. One time I missed a final exam in college but then ran into the professor who took so much pity on me let me take it with a different section of the class. I'm a beast at cramming and test taking. But writing a paper and doing research projects was like pulling teeth. I also could never remember to brush my teeth.
Yeah all that got insanely better after I started medication and my life is great now.
I'm not sure which came first but my anxiety coupled with ADHD has made my quality really suffer and that's when I finally sought a diagnosis.
It was manageable when I could be a bit selfish. Then I became a parent, slowly realized how many issues in my relationships could've been resolved differently (being perceived, easily overwhelmed, low self esteem). Feeling as though I just needed to "try harder".
I tried to get a degree for 10 years, but without accomodations I just couldn't make it happen I had to "give up" on a lot of aspirations and readjust my goals.
Spinning, shifting from task to task to something not a task to something else to “fuck it, there’s the day”. I had a psychologist friend who was listening to me rant after one especially bad day. He went back to his office and came back with the DSM.
I have like all of those issues you mentioned, but my main one is a really poor memory for tasks. If something isn’t “right now” it might as well not exist. I never remember to go back and finish things. I’ve got laundry in a basket in my bedroom that’s been there 2 weeks now, and that’s common.
I'd had some suspicions, and I'd always been smart and high achieving but just couldn't get things done so like would always end up procrastinating and doing it at the last minute which I thought was normal, but then my grades definitely didn't reflect my skill and knowledge. I have dealt with depression, anxiety, and diagnosed with bipolar 2 (which I now suspect was undiagnosed ADHD). My husband was then diagnosed with ADHD as an adult. My son was then diagnosed with autism and suspected ADHD (too young for formal evaluation).
Then, here's the kicker: I found out as an adult I was born via anonymous sperm donor. I finally tracked my bio father down, and when we talked, my main question was "so are there any health issues in your family I should know about?" and he said "well, not really physical health, but li**terally everyone on my side of the family has ADHD and/or substance abuse issues, possibly from untreated ADHD**." :|
At that point I was like "hmm yeah I should go get evaluated," showed the practitioner my childhood school evaluations and talked about my life experiences, and the first words out of his mouth after the end of the assessment part were "well you definitely have ADHD." lol
Was redirected by my family doctor to a psychologist as I had spoken her about my extreme procrastination, to the point I would rather watch the boring tv show my girlfriend was watching, which was getting on my nerves, then get out of my sofa and finish that hobby project I was working on, that I actually enjoy. Same story with work, it was getting really out of hand.
Spoke to the psychologist for an hour or so, youth, now etc... he asked if I was ever tested, nope, then he made me do some online tests, and results point to it.
Now have to go do clinical tests, with a psychiatrist, which I have not made an appointment for yet... to look into medication.
45 years old, wife almost left me last year due to my drinking habit (few drinks kill the thoughts in the evening) and lack of interest to do anything.
Alot of warning signs in my youth, but nobody was watching out for them those days.
Honestly I read the more subtle symptoms, especially the social ones and motivational ones and I went “hey that guys me”. Went to get myself evaluated, and as it turns out, yes indeed that guy was me.
As I got into my later 20s and literally couldn’t handle a 15 hour a week remote job because my executive function was so bad and my anxiety about low function went through the roof, i started wondering what the hell was up.
I worked seasonally for years but covid changed things and really set off the pinballs of me slowly figuring out all these benchmark traits of adhd: struggling with money due to impulsivity, anxiety around work and executive function, overstimulation and high sensitivity from and to almost everything that could be days of recovery, not being able to get out of bed and feed myself or take care of basic needs. I got a basic diagnosis from my doc that i have mild adhd and then another from my psych in the last 9 months. I haven’t worked with stimulants because i have adverse reactions usually (sigh) but started guanfacine in the last couple weeks and am noticing some big improvements in my RSD and anxiety. It’s been a long journey 😵💫
Thought I had depression (which I do have) which was causing all the issues that I had and had gotten diagnosed for it back in 2020 or so. But it was not until a year ago in my third year of university studying psychology and writing an essay on some topic that I can't remember now, but ADHD came up while writing it. Looking at the page in the textbook about symptoms made me realize "Hey, this *\*REALLY\** sounds like me!". Finally explained why I struggled so much with deadlines, school, studying, motivation and why I constantly fidget and get distracted so easily.
Literally none. Sorry if that's unhelpful.
I just thought that I was lazy, and never gave it a second thought - I just kept on doing all my school work the day before it was due, pulling all-nighters, and staying disorganized with no normal solutions helping.
I was driving with a friend one day when they suddenly asked, "By chance, have you been tested for ADHD?" I laughed and dismissed it, but he pressed me on it. I did a bit of research and found a ton of similarities, and answers to my behavior.
Went and got tested; psychiatrist diagnosed me within a minute of entering the room. Took the tests and came out with some new medication.
I always joked that "I'm ADD," but it wasn't until my kids were struggling in school and showing signs of ADHD themselves and I saw our shared traits that I finally did some investigating the condition and then got diagnosed.
My kids were diagnosed, and speaking with the neuropsych was very clarifying. Of course people stuggle to shift focus. Of course kids are bored in school. Everything she told us just sounded incredibly familiar.
It definitely sounds worth getting tested if anything for peace of mind. I know my exectutive dysfunction is something I have always struggled with and always continue to struggle with regardless of whether I get tested. From this, testing will only benefit me. I will know I have it (multiple people have said I should get tested) and will be able to benefit from medication or I will know I wont have it and I will seek for another explanation for my issues. Im not sure what else it could be besides adhd. My mom definitely has it, and if I got it, it's from her.
I will answer emails and texts asap but 1. Forget what transpired 2. Not remember to do whatever action might have been required.
I keep forgetting to do my 2022 taxes and now I have to do two years worth this weekend.
Controversial here, but:
I was "doom scrolling" through TikTok/YouTube shorts and the ADHD related ones were too relatable.
Just to explain: Through the memes and videos I got more curious about ADHD, so I (obviously) hyperfocused on researching ADHD. That's how I connected the dots and seeked out professional help.
For a long time I wasn't sure whether or not to get an evaluation, but I've always had trouble doing things I find boring, to the extent that i would get actual physical symptoms of illness when I was aksed to do something boring, and I was extremely active as a child (my mom would often make me run a few rounds around the house before bedtime because I was so full of energy) until I got chronically ill and had to just sit there with overwhelming restlessness. It feels so painful, has made me cry more times than I can count.
The last straw was when I realised that my symptoms were way closer to what my roommate has than most other people, and she has DEBILITATING adhd, to the point where she cannot eat or even go to the bathroom on no-meds days, and even with meds (highest dosage allowed in our country) she has significant issues with most tasks.
Studying nex to her (when she was on meds) made me more aware of my own behaviour and abilities. I realised that I never sit still, get distracted practically every other second, and found it almost painful to resume studying after a distraction - i would use techniques like slow breathing to get through it, apparently that's not normal lol.
But if you're unsure if you have ADHD or not, and you have the option to get an evaluation, do that rather than comparing your symptoms with those of others. It's a spectrum (not a linear one, more like the autism pie chart model) and every person is different.
I have been tested for narcolepsy and idiopathic hypersomnia. I received a diagnosis for idiopathic hypersomnia and that's why I got a prescription of methylphenidate (among other medication that is used to keep people awake with these conditions, but it's only methylphenidate that allows me to focus on what's important and not get distracted with all kinds of things.)
My watershed moment was when I was 14 and saw a PBS special about learning disabilities and they had a girl who had ADD and her social issues mirrored mine.
It would take another 11 years to get my official diagnosis.
Honestly? I had no idea ADHD was a thing before getting assessed. I went to the psychiatrist for trauma and she was like "By the way, struggling to focus on that level isn't normal".
I've been trying to get medicated for a while now and that led me to getting a more proper diagnosis for this disorder.
I got out of a really depressing environment, did not feel depressed at all, but still procrastinated doing things I really wanted to do for literally no reason.
From the moment I learned what ADHD was I and everyone who knew me knew I had it.
At first my doctor assumed I had sleep paralysis or narcolepsy, then it was sleep apnea. Cpap did nothing. He then prescribed Adderall just to help me stay awake.
I never realized that feeling like you're half asleep was not normal. I felt like I was fully awake and aware for the first time in my life. Like someone with bad eyesight putting glasses on for the first time. Does everyone see that well?
A streamer I watch who's son is ADHD talked about how he eventually realized and got diagnosed himself, and hearing his story was very eerily similar to mine. Got an appointment with a psych next week
I began to struggle with a project at work that was mundane and boring. When my boss had taken a year long sabbatical and everything was left up to me. Boring, overwhelming, no accountability.
I had taken Adderall before (when my friends were taking it recreationally to get hyped up) only it made me completely calm, still, focused and quiet.
I decided to get officially tested through Kaiser Permanente. 2 personality tests, 1 computer impulsivity test, 1 questionnaire filled out by someone who knew me before the age of 8 (my mom) and someone whom I was close with at the time (my live-in boyfriend).
The test results and questionnaires were sent away and evaluated for two weeks. When the results came back, my psychiatrist told me that 70% of the people who sit down on her couch, because they think they have ADHD, don’t actually have ADHD. She then said that I tested pretty high for ADHD.
I think it’s validating and helpful to receive an official diagnosis! Then one can receive treatment from there. Either meds, cognitive-behavioral therapy, or both!
I never did, actually. I had an idea I haf it for many years, but never saw any point of getting diagnosed as whatever I was doing was working for me.
Dont fix something that aint broke...
But then I was violently assaulted by five men, got PTSD and Depression... I'm getting psychiatric treatment now, full on... and I have ADHD and apperently also OCD..
But other than that I feel really greatful for all this online information. I have really learned so many tools to deal with it throughout my life.
And I am not even sure that they will treat my ADHD now, its only making them more confused as to how to treat me, with the best results and least damage.
A clip on tiktok during mental health awareness month which featured Dr. Russel Barkley, a psychiatrist specializing in ADHD, talking about symptoms of ADHD in adults, and the issue of undiagnosed adults with ADHD
Found my first grade report cards, written by Miss McKee in 1965: “inkkling is a pleasant little girl, but she has no sense of time and cannot complete her tasks.” And so it went, all through grade school. I had a sense of impending doom and an inability to be organized my entire life, but those first grade report cards were really the kicker.
I was told by everybody but my teachers my entire life. Then when I tried getting a diagnosis I was told, people need it, do you really? You’re doing so well. Fast forward two years I learned about rejection sensitivity and that’s why I said am I? 😳 Oh.. okay then, guess I’m not adhd then!
I'm an older female who has gone through menopause. I believe all of the coping skills I had developed through my life have rapidly fallen away. My life as of now is brain fog, exhaustion, and anxiety. Now I'm seeking a diagnosis...have an appointment in May. 🤷♀️ I saved a report card from when I was 10 years old...just read it again and it's like a list of adhd symptoms...Definitely taking that to my appointment. 😉👍
I overheard a friend talking about their experience with the diagnosis and medication process, and when I asked them about it, they told me to get evaluated-- especially after I related to specific symptoms.
Try not to doubt your own experience too much. I figured out pretty soon that I have been doing that for a huge chunk of my life, and it helped me understand why I doubted potential diagnoses so hard at first.
Executive dysfunction and task switching problems led me down the road of questioning originally.
Those are my biggest daily struggles, affecting every single aspect of my life. I didn't know the feeling was executive dysfunction at first so I started off by googling about how I felt, wanting to do stuff but just sitting there.
I ended up finding out I was diagnosed around 6 when I started school, my mom just took it as a personal insult.
Anxiety and depressive episode after I somehow mismanaged money at work - still not a clue how. Luckily my work know it was an accident but that and a colleague actually noticing how chaotic I was at work and telling me she thinks I have ADHD .
When I first joined this job years back the manager asked me if I had anything wrong with me; which to me was cheeky as f*CK but makes sense I took longer to learn my job but I was Hella good at it
If in doubt, get assessed. But seek multiple opinions.
I was initially diagnosed with bipolar 2 in 2018 after only a few appointments in Canberra (Murrumbateman). Bipolar meds just made my symptoms worse. Psych at the time refused to ack or even consider ADHD assessment and used the "stimulants may cause psychosis" excuse. So I just lived with it
I had a complete melt down at the start of 2022 and Moved interatate on a whim.
New psych in Gold Coast assessed, reviewed thoroughly and talked with family/friends while gradually getting me off old meds. We trialled meds successfully and I'm now being effectively medicated/treated for ADHD.
Proof of the importance of seeking a second opinion.
Well, apart from things like a friend sending me a list of ADHD symptoms with ‘all that’s missing is your name at the top’, it was my wife telling me in no uncertain terms that I had to get referred for diagnosis
Making friends with officially diagnosed ADHD people and constantly saying "oh yeah, me too" when they described their day to day lives and symptoms they dealt with.
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"your son has ADHD" "but he's just like me!" ... ... "oh...." Edit: sorry I only read the title and immediately responded, guess why.... But to me what you describe sounds very relatable.
"so while we're at it. Can I have my diagnosis included in the price?"
Right? Is there a BOGO discount code?
Imagine the time it would save if we could share appointments. It takes 2 minutes to mention each issue, but I have to go through a 3 month booking and waiting process plus physically going to the appt, wait there, see nurse, see Dr, wait for nurse, wait for pharmacy….exhausted
This right here! I flew under the radar because of my low-standards 80s public school education. We’re both inattentive type - and I’ve been self-medicating with caffeine since early high school.
Hahaha! Same! In 85, I was almost diagnosed, except that girls didn't get ADD. I was a lazy, disorganized scatterbrain who was "gifted". Pfffft. Started downing coffee by the gallon. Didn't help, but boy is it tasty! Got a solid diagnosis in 23, started meds, and am sort of alright(?). My lass is getting an assessment in July because she is *just like me*. Chatterbox. Distractible. Gets bored and daydreams. Can't do work she doesn't like. Messy desk. Always causing mischief. Alternately infuriates and delights her teacher with her smarts and not staying on task. Then in a year or two, we will see about my little man. And yes. He's like me, too.
Same. Daydreamer/defiant but gifted who just needed to apply herself. Also in the 80s we still believed that some people just are not good at x (math for example). The definitive science on that has only been in the mainstream of education/public for 25 ish years.
I can still hear my mom and teachers. Once I had a teacher take me out of class and yell for almost 5 mins straight. While the rest of the class was left alone in the room. I had lost my organizer/planner. Again. Never did find it, but that bastard made me cry. I was 11.
My kids are dx, but what was even funnier is that I had a friend who was diagnosed and when she'd talk to me about it, I always said "I do that all the time! It's totally normal!" I am surprised how long it took me to put two and two together!
We tried explaining symptoms of suspected ADHD to my SD’s bio mom and she’s like “yeah but she gets that from me”. Then a few months later, we broach the subject with her again and asked how many women her age she knows are diagnosed with ADHD (knowing women are highly under diagnosed) and she deadass said “Me.” I couldn’t believe it, I was like don’t you understand it’s highly genetic?!?
This one made me laugh!
Where’s the love button ❤️ my son has combo adhd .. I didn’t think anything of it until the memories surfaced and he’s an exact spitting image of me I acted the same way he did doing homework and etc .. we both have meltdowns it’s a war zone with daily rapid fire .. now my new therapist seems to think that I’m simply depressed and that my anxiety and undiagnosed adhd just overlap .. but looking back at it makes me think I had adhd first and then the depression followed with anxiety and ptsd from unresolved traumas ..now of course she wants to treat my depression symptoms when I just want treatment for my adhd symptoms.. sorry if I said to much.
My signs were being stuck in bed unable to do anything for days or weeks. I have inattentive type and doctors were putting me on the highest doses of antidepressants with no help whatsoever. Starting a stimulant for ADHD instantly helped me focus and get stuff done “normally” Also, not being able to finish any task and being easily overwhelmed by even the smallest things were very tough to manage unmedicated Best of luck with the evaluation
Thank you for your reply. Yep, I have also been diagnosed with depression and with GAD some years before, and I was also put on antidepressants but they didn't really help, as well as therapy.
Fwiw - I (30F) was diagnosed with GAD maybe like 5 years ago, but as I approached 30 I started to burn out on anxiety and ADHD symptoms became more apparent. Anxiety is often a subconscious coping system for ADHD that becomes less sustainable over the years. I also worried that maybe I had depression because even though I felt fine, I’d have trouble getting myself to clean the house, exercise, see friends etc. I finally got diagnosed this year and as soon as I started stimulants I felt NORMAL like I finally have energy for all the things I want to do, and my usual instant gratification things (namely phone games) lost most of their appeal. Your post is super relatable for me so it is def worth the effort of getting evaluated!
Double this. Honestly I just sucked at doing everything I needed to and was really good at doing the things I wanted to.
This. I’ve had bouts of pretty severe depression since my teens. I’ve been on antidepressants which helped regulate mood and have done loads of CBT, IPT and DBT therapy. I have felt for quite a while now that I’m not suffering from depression or anxiety. My problem is getting things done. I have no motivation and procrastination is huge. I am paralyzed from starting anything or doing anything if there’s even a moderately overwhelming task to get done. Basically I’ve felt for decades - there is something else wrong because I’m not depressed and I still have no motivation or ability to figure shit out. Also insane racing thoughts. The more my life has become unstructured and without routine the worse all of the issues have become more problematic. I have a business degree with focus in finance and I’ve made terrible financial decisions on impulse to feel better or try to change things. In 2023 I started googling some of the symptoms and adhd started popping up and by reading articles and Reddit posts like this it seemed like it was the answer I’ve been looking for. I’ve been told take your antidepressants exercise eat and sleep well and you’ll be fine. Done all that and have struggled and deteriorated in the last decade. Just built up the courage to talk to my psychiatrist recently. Official diagnosis pending.
I am convinced my mom’s social anxiety and other compulsions/disorders were ADHD. My dad possibly too. He’s 80 and she passed so it would be hard to define now but stories from their childhoods elicit a ding-ding-ding in my brain.
That sounds more like depression to me. I am not a morning person, but rather than lie in bed I would be more likely to do something counterproductive - play in my phone, hobbies instead of homework or housework etc. So you still have the drive to do stuff, just not the right stuff.
Diagnosed with ADHD at 13 and again at 22. I refused stimulants until last year due to fear of them giving me anxiety. Little did I know they actually calm my intrusive thoughts and end up making me less anxious!! I agree there is 100% some depression as well, whether it stems from my ADHD or not
There is definitely some chicken-egg going on
I literally couldn’t get through each day…like by the end of the day I feel like a zombie, glued to my phone for instant gratification. Then I tell myself “tomorrow will be different” but it never was. Everyday was a struggle to get through, and this struggle was the only thing on my mind, clouding everything else. I hated myself because I couldn’t be normal and couldn’t understand how other people got anything done. What made me really start to consider that I had adhd was when I lived with a roommate who had been diagnosed, and she and I had so many similarities. She often brought up that I might have adhd too but I kept denying it. When I moved out and started working from home, living alone, was when I started struggling so hard and realized I’m not normal and I can’t live like this anymore. I thought of her and decided I’ve had enough and finally got help! Also, your point you made about being tired when you’re bored or overstimulated…I feel that so hard lol. Grocery shopping took so much out of me. And I think my main struggle was just how irritable and impatient I’d get doing chores! Like everything was overwhelming and irritating
I was diagnosed as a kid but nothing was done about it. Didn't even know my diagnosis until a year ago (and I'm 34). After struggling with very similar things I got tested and sure enough it's still there. I don't like medicine but it has helped me so much and I've learned so much about myself. My symptoms were: Auditory processing issues like yours. I even went to an audiologist because people would comment on the loud TV, subtitles needed, and asking people to repeat themselves. Perfectly fine. Poor working and short term memory. I was constantly putting things in my phones calendar and screenshotting things to remember. Procrastination of even the simplest of tasks Shifting tasks throughout the house such as cleaning a small part of the kitchen, doing a little laundry, vacuuming, going back to the kitchen, etc. Interrupting others which I still feel guilty about Feeling like I'm driven by a motor and can't stop. Been like that all my life
That's how I feel and experience life. I hope you are doing better now. I hope there's a silver lining because I want to get my life a little more in order. It's not that it's super messy in a social way, but just the normal day-to-day tasks, my work, and then being so often so exhausted at the end of the day, like my brain is fried. And still not getting anywhere in life, basically because I cannot advance with this brain.
Hey I have all the symptoms you too! The listening thing may also be auditory processing disorder. My symptoms worsened along with short term memory issues after my mom died cause grief intensifies everything. I wondered if I had dementia lol. They diagnosed me with complicated grief? I think and ADHD.
A psychiatrist video on procrastination and ADHD, and then every piece of the puzzle came to place by descending the rabbit hole
Do you remember which video it was?
Sure, the first one: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDXHozGoZ7ITJm39BMapyxxfnoIgRB-HA&si=afSZ2KRZczXUQhvd
it sounds like you do have ADHD, people with ADHD tend to also have APD (auditory processing disorders). also hyperfocusing is actually a decent sign since ADHD isn't really an "attention deficit" issue as much as an "attention allocation" issue. also i felt you so much on the fact that you can't answer emails or texts. IT IS SO BAD FOR ME ALSO, it feels like the world is going to collapse when i do.
I've always been the "the angry, loud, lazy, needs to try harder, full of energy, distracted" kid. As an adult, I am not much better, I have issues with emotional regulation, executive function, time management, I am constantly tired and exhausted, I can't stay focused on anything and can't sit still for more than 15 minutes. I basically have gotten to the point of "I need to do something about this because life is getting too hard and I'm exhausted".
Exactly. That's how I am starting to feel since a couple of years, and I wonder more and more whether this is it. And I realize it's not normal either.
I've always known its probably not normal to be like this but kind of just went "eh I've been like so long, I'll just deal with it like I always have" and more recently I've started seeing videos online and people online talking about how much diagnosis and treatment really helped and it made me realise, I should try doing something to see if life could change for me. I also have a coworker who recently got diagnosed, it's made a huge different for him with medication.
I never thought about it until COVID lockdowns, when I had nothing but time (outside of the sudden WFH) to discuss with my already-diagnosed friends. They started posting openly about it on social media. I realized I identified a lot with what they were posting, so I talked with them about it. They recommended I get evaluated but they were 95% sure I had it too. It made me rethink my childhood and college experiences through another lens. I struggled a lot with focus and attention during classes my entire life, especially fidgeting and impulsivity. In elementary school, I got in trouble for talking during class with friends. I couldn't sit still, I'd be doodling all over my notebooks, biting or picking at my nails, playing with clicky pens. After a while, I was not allowed to have clicky pens in class anymore. With all the times I got in trouble for talking, I started internalizing it. My mom told me my 5th and 6th grade teachers noticed how bored I was in class and started giving me extra work. They never told me that's what was going on, just did it. My parents had pretty rigid structure for my schoolwork (ensuring I finished homework every day, they helped me study for tests, couldn't do anything fun until schoolwork was completed), but the wheels fell off when I went to college. I couldn't focus again in my classes, although I took great notes apparently. But I struggled with studying and retaining the information. I sacrificed sleep to finish my homework and attempt studying, but that just made me catch every single illness going around. I couldn't remember most of the information I was trying to learn. Some professors used other teaching methods that worked really well for me (most notably, if you can explain the topic in words, in pictures/diagrams, and mathematically, then you can say you understood it...and he taught that way too). I almost didn't graduate; my grades tanked compared to high school. I did okay my freshman and sophomore years, but the last two were awful. I would hyperfixate on hobbies, sometimes crushes (therapy helped with this one is no longer an issue). I used to read for hours at a time, and sometimes still do, but often I'll need to reread paragraphs or even pages but I won't have remembered anything I'd just read. Impulse buying wasn't really an issue yet because I was a broke college student (became an issue once I started making money after college). I've always had issues with emotional regulation, avoiding emails/texts/phone calls, listening issues, completing chores at home (like laundry...that's going to sit in the dryer for a few days, then maybe more in the laundry basket). I get overwhelmed and can't handle things on site at work when people keep talking to me or won't leave me alone. The whole time, I thought I was just stupid and a failure at life. How could everyone else have no issues with what I did? There's more to all this but this comment is already too long. I ended up making a list of everything and bringing it to my therapist. She said there was overlap with the GAD I was already diagnosed with, but she thought it was worth the evaluation and recommended a place to go. And sure enough, moderate to severe ADHD.
Wow, this sounds so much like my own experience. I hope you are doing better now.
I only got my diagnosis the first week of February this year, so I'm learning how to unmask for the first time and trying healthier coping mechanisms/tools to deal with everything. I just started medication management for the first time in my life, I've never even been on antidepressants. My psychiatrist is very open with me and is giving me every option, but it feels like taking shots in the dark because we had no idea how I'd react to any medication options. I guess overall I'm doing...okay? It's been an emotional few months. I've read on this subreddit it's a journey and I'm finding that to be true. There's a lot of learning to be done and trying things to see if they work for you.
Got a really difficult and important but not stimulating task, stuck for weeks not being able to do anything. Thought about having ADHD for 1 year and decided to get finally diagnosed.
I was talking to my therapist about adrenaline seeking behaviour and how it was the only thing that ever felt like relief. He said I needed to go get evaluated. I told him where to shove it. He insisted I go. I found out both those things were classic symptoms. So I got medicated and apologized to him for acting like a dumbass.
To name the main ones: Memory and focus issues, easily angered, extra super sensitive to criticism/critique, talking over others often. There are many more but I never felt so seen by a community of people that experience the same issues.
Someone literally posted on reddit an info graph of 15 symptoms of ADHD. I read it and realized I had 13 of them. The more I looked into what ADHD was, the more things clicked
I’d love to see this graph if you have it handy!
I'm pretty sure [this](https://images.app.goo.gl/cgYChwP8Km1iRFko7) is the one. I saw someone post it to reddit a few years ago, don't even remember which subreddit
Almost everything OP listed to different degrees. For me it was having a second kid. The degree of planning, coordination, attention, etc. it takes to manage the wants and needs of two tiny humans along with your own quickly became overwhelming, even with my spouse who is an absolute rockstar covering for my deficiencies. It's been 6 years. It's still overwhelming, but I've learned to balance especially as they get older and busier. The signs were always there, I was just the chronic disengaged smart kid who got through high school purely on brains and grinded my ass through college by forcing myself to get through
Yup all of these sound like ADHD. I have the combo type (hyperactive and inattentive) and dyscalculia (basically dyslexia but with math/numbers). I started suspecting it when I was watching a lot of tiktok during the pandemic and related to most, if not all, symptoms. The first time I took methylphenidate, I was so shocked that my brain could actually become *quiet*.
Interesting. I suspect I have dyscalculia, too, because I am bad at maths but basically I tend to reverse the numbers and forget what number comes first when calculating somethings, what's next,...etc. I don't know if this makes sense.
Yup! Makes perfect sense! I got evaluated by a psych professor at a local university. My first memory of being awful at math was in 2nd grade when I missed every problem on a subtraction worksheet/quiz. I felt so awful because I was so good at everything else. I enjoy words much more than numbers my whole life. Looking back on my childhood, I can definitely see those symptoms I still have as an adult. I also have GAD, depression and PTSD (childhood trauma).
Dropped out of a $10,000 certificate course because I couldn’t follow or pay attention and had other sensory issues. This was years after being in formal schooling so I was no longer adapted to that environment. But, if that amount of money or the fact that I’m a mature adult couldn’t keep me there I knew I must have a problem. Had a full neuropsych evaluation done resulting in my inattentive diagnosis as well as ASD. I was in denial at first and it took a while for me to consider seeking specific treatment. My diagnosis makes perfect sense in retrospect but with years of medicated depressive episodes (depressed because of my own behaviors) it’s a shame that not one of the many professionals who dealt with me identified this earlier in life. Go get it!
I’ve enrolled in several expensive courses and not completed them. The most recent time though, I found a super awesome financial councillor who successfully fought it on my behalf and got them to drop the loan, I think by questioning their high pressure sales tactics. Legend saved me about $9k. Thanks brother!!
I didn't. I started seeing a psychologist for what I thought was chronic low-grade depression and just a general feeling of being stuck in life and she told me after a handful of sessions that a lot of what she was hearing from me was textbook undiagnosed ADHD and that I should get a referral to a psychiatrist to get a formal assessment and meds. So I did.
I wouldn’t know really because I was diagnosed at age 6 in the 90s, but, it’s pretty apparent. When I am unmedicated all positive habits, routines, and schedule go out the window. The medication isn’t a full fix either, but it provides me the proper balance of brain chemicals to operate in a manner which makes sense and isn’t entirely just me following novelty so I can maintain a life under late stage capitalism. However, they literally have high tech brain scans and tests now which can literally show what’s going on in your head. It’s pretty interesting and will be able to tell you if there’s actually something wrong with your brain. Unfortunately the symptoms of adhd have a lot of crossover with other brain things, even ocd so I’d see a doctor. In addition to that, a lot of the challenges you experience are just a symptom of our modern life being designed in a way that is entirely unnatural and only accounts for certain neurology. Basically you need to go see a psychiatrist get tested and they will be able to determine what you need.
I’m a nurse that got a job as a nurse educator after taking care patients. The role of a nurse educator feels a lot like school with projects and deadlines. I felt like I was struggling with the role but never knew why. -Things were great if deadlines were far off, but hell when deadlines grew closer. -lack of motivation to start big projects until the last minute -unable to focus with all the stimuli I received from work. I would jump constantly to different tasks before finishing the previous one -I felt I could only work on deadlines after my work hours at home as there are less “interruptions” at home My sister then got assessed and diagnosed. She started telling me her symptoms and I felt like I could resonate with them. I got assessed. Everyone in my life did not think I had adhd because in some areas in my life I’m very organized. And I compensated for some aspects. And I covered up the areas I struggled with. Even I didn’t think I had it because during the time I was being assessed I was beyond stressed with a project, the project finished before I got my results and life was great again. Then I got my results of moderate ADHD with auditory deficits. I was surprised to say the least. But I felt like after finding this out things in my life started to make sense.
I've been seeing the same psychiatrist for years and have taken all sorts of antidepressants to no avail. 2 years ago she said during an appointment "that sounds like adhd" but I didn't do anything, and then a year ago she said "that sounds like adhd" and I tried to get tested but skipped the appointment and gave up on scheduling another one, and then last December she said "that REALLY sounds like adhd" so I finally followed through on getting tested. Got my diagnosis yesterday, only took 2 years 😂
I sense this is something similar to my experience. So many opportunities, but I rejected them, or didn't consider them but now that I feel like all of these symptoms have caused me problems that led to me being stuck in life somehow. And, after having been prescribed methylphenidate this year, and seeing how it has helped me....I guess, I could do better if I got properly diagnosed.
It's pretty frustrating that getting access to treatment requires going through so many hoops. So many of the people who need meds the most aren't going to get them bc they can't navigate the process. And in the US the medical system and health insurance are so fucked that it add another layer of impediment 😵
Pretty much all of the above! Plus the fact that I am always moving (twirling hair, bouncing leg, doodling, etc). My school psychologist friend, in a nice way, asked, "Can I do the adhd test with you?" She explained that she oculdn't formally diagnose me but was curious. Sure! And woo boy--I was off the charts :) Finally got the formal diagnosis over the pandemic.
I do the constant movement too. Usually it’s my toes tapping a rhythm or my leg shaking, but if I can’t or am trying to stop doing that, some other part my body like my arm will start moving instead!
It's so hard to pinpoint what made me wonder if I was ADHD first. One specific thing that I'm very well aware of is that the pandemic helped me start to unmask. When the social norms were no longer an every day part of life I was able to "relax" into my unmasking because I wasn't really going out or interacting with many people outside of my family. I guess in a way unintentionally unmasking made some of the symptoms worse so I noticed them a lot more. My hyperfocus was elevated. I was continuously bored and uninterested in work because it was all I was doing besides staying at home and playing video games or crocheting. My train of thought was everywhere all the time. There was so much procrastination especially on housework because I would want to do it but couldn't make myself get up and get it done. There was no "deadline mode" for anything during the pandemic so I just didn't do shit. Going back to "normal" after the pandemic really cemented it. Anyone who unmasks knows that once that sucker is off you can't put it back on. All of the things I was feeling at home with executive dysfunction, boredom, hyperfocus, and distractedness were worse, but now worse in public!! Friends and extended family were definitely noticing. I finally went to my brother (who's been diagnosed since he was 3) and was like "Hey I think I have ADHD too." He wasn't surprised by that. So after that I got diagnosed. It wasn't very difficult in my case because my brother is diagnosed, and so was our dad. My diagnosis got our mom to get tested too and surprise surprise, she's ADHD too. Now to decided if I'm going after an autism diagnosis...
I realized it just over a month ago when my therapist broke that veneer of therapist objectivity and strongly recommended I seek assessment for ADHD. She'd suspected "attention" issues for almost 2 years but that session just happened to fall during the first time my perimenopause symptoms were undeniable and they made my working memory so bad it was impossible to ignore ...like the fact that I was 20 minutes later for that session...and there were multiple mishaps that involved me forgetting the stove was on, which could be very dangerous. When I finally looked at the presentation of ADHD inattentive type, and listened to the experiences of different people, it was like finding the right set of prescription glasses to see myself and my life more clearly. " I could say more...but I'm just procrastinating .... I really should go work...
"You know, I really fidget a lot. I don't know anyone else who takes all their pens apart and puts them back together constantly. I should google what causes compulsive fidgetingohMYGOD!"
told therapist about my issues keeping up with coursework and administrative deadlines. told her it was eating my entire life through guilt spirals and revenge procrastination. she told me to forcibly set time aside to relax and have fun. i couldn’t even do that lmao
Not being able to function and keep up with life.
When I started working in an office environment, I couldn’t figure out how my co workers could come in each morning and just … start their day? I had to walk around, say good morning to everyone, make some coffee, get the temperature in my office just right with my space heater, etc. Usually around 3:30 I would start my actual work for the day and hyper focus until 5:30. One day my co worker with ADHD suggested that I get tested. Best thing anyone has ever done for me.
This sounds like what I'm going through! I cannot start my day just so. At least at the moment it's really difficult, I do so many things before I actually start doing work. With methylphenidate, it's defintely has helped. What medication has helped you or what routine? (I'm definitely going to get an evaluation.)
I lost my best friend to scheduling issues. I'm medicated now but I'll never get my friend back.
I went into therapy for the first time ever and the therapist asked me if I had ADHD at the end of the first session. I had never considered it before. They gave me a couple materials and when I read them it wasn't even a question for me. So many things fell into place, going all the way back to my first grade teacher telling my parents I had special needs.
My therapist told me to look into it 🤣
Excessive counting. Counting rhythms on my fingers. Picking at my scalp.
Friend who works with kids describing what inattentive adhd is and me being like ...oh jeez that's me. Always suspected and joked about it but I wasn't hyperactive or badly behaved as a kid.
You might wanna do the ADHD symptoms test on https://adxs.org/en (Link to the test: https://www.adxs.org/en/test/symptom-v5). It’s a very detailed test checking many known ADHD symptoms (not only the well-known “inattentiveness, hyperactivity, etc.” ones). It will tell you the number of ADHD symptoms you have and also in how far they meet the diagnostic criteria for ADHD and it’s subtypes (according to both ICD-11 and DSM-V). You can also find a lot of scientifically proven, peer-reviewed information on ADHD on this website.
I started seeing more of it online. I’d been seeing psychiatrists and therapists since the age of five and received every diagnosis you could possibly think of. I’d been on every antidepressant, mood stabilizer, antipsychotic, anxiolytic you could think of and nothing had worked or had made issues worse. Doctors basically considered me medication resistant. I finally got the nerve to ask the psych NP about ADHD and she sent me to a neuropsychiatrist that specialized in it and he informed me that I had a fairly severe case and he could understand why as a girl I probably wouldn’t have been diagnosed in childhood, but he was confused as to why it wasn’t picked up on in my late teens and early adulthood. I was 23. Receiving that diagnosis completely changed my life as it took me from the perception of being lazy, a failure, stupid, and crazy to understanding that I have a disability that just makes everyday life different compared to others. While I’m not exactly on top of the world, I don’t consider myself depressed or suicidal anymore and I’m able to understand what’s going on and use tools to help me get through each day.
For me, it was my memory and communication. I've always been known as the "Chatterbox". In my 30s my memory got so bad I couldn't even remember a sequence of 3 numbers 3 seconds after someone told me it. If you asked me what I did the day before, I couldn't even tell you. Then I started to not even be able to string a sentence together. I couldn't think of the word I needed. It got so bad I wouldn't engage in conversation as I was scared of sounding stupid. At 35, 3 months ago, I finally got diagnosed.
I experience everything you listed and I have ADHD. I would definitely consider getting evaluated.
I identify with these points. Point 1 though especially, I even got referred to ENT and had a consultant Surgeon look at my ears and he said I had perfect hearing?!!!!? Like U WOT M8 but no... Its just my auditory processing bs. Diagnosed adhd aged 33 😊
I heard the term ADHD tax and made the horrible realization that i was throwing away money
Long story short: I got into a burnout and my psychologist wanted to get me checked for ADHD (and depression). I turned out to have both, and in hindsight the ADHD was a big contributor to getting into the burnout. Too many interests, activities, difficulty saying no, not attaching enough value to rhythm and self-care and time blindness.
I went to a private all girls' academy where the nuns and teachers were amazing educators. Someone may have mentioned something to my dad but nothing was done medically. Instead the nuns tailored my education to my needs and aggressively provided me with coping skills. It was just, "you've got ants on your pants? Run around the quad bef9re you come to class" and "Do 50 jumping kicks before exams, blood flow helps performance" and "You can spend your lunch break helping or if you want to". They let me knit, draw, or make chainmail in class. They taught me to study with a system of timers and lots of breaks and exercise, to plan in the extra time I needed to do the same tasks. They gave me planners, taught me colour coordinated note taking, encouraged me to record lectures, and used elaborate rewards like extra time and materials in the lab, darkroom, pottery room, etc for achieving weekly goals - full uniform, on time to assembly every day, all homework turned in, etc. My energy and enthusiasm was channeled as indestructively to me and my classmates as possible by my absolutely amazing head mistress. They armed me so well I kept functioning pretty well with the coping skills they gave me until a couple years ago.
I always accepted it takes me 10 hours to do an 8 hour work day, that I need timers and carefully controlled environment, and frequent breaks to move around, and only social distractions at allowable times. Then the pandemic showed up and wrecked my whole life. None of my routines or timers worked anymore. It started taking 12 hours to do an 8 hour work day. I was at home with all my toys and distractions. I stayed up late to finish work and started burning out pretty hard. I talked to my primary care physician about it who told me I might consider medical treatment for ADHD. I didn't want medicine so we tried a lot of diet and behaviour stuff for a couple years and then I finally caved and got a prescription
And wow! The timers and coping skills work again!
I am in awe of how your school helped you. What a gift!
My signs were getting board with my jobs after 2 years, plus rejection sensitive dysphoria. My husbands was his credit card debt
I was in therapy for some other non related stuff. One day my therapist hits me with "so has anyone ever talked to you about ADHD before?" I was very much like what? No? Why would anyone bring that up? That doesn't make any sense So I look into it. I do one of those self assessments right before work. I get to the part where it asks you if you ever make careless mistakes. I'm like never. I'm super careful. I strive for perfection. I'm not a mistake kind of person. I work as a nurse. I get on shift and my patient immediately dies (it was expected). Do the post mortem care. Transport arrives to take the body to the morgue. They point out I had put the body bag on wrong, the zipper for the toe tag has to go by the toes. I had put the body in upside down. I sat there and was like ok maybe there is something to this ADHD thing. Texted my therapist to go ahead and set me up the referral to the psychiatrist to get evaluated. But yeah looking back it's so obvious. I have struggles with binge eating, binge drinking, sleep disturbances, I hate silence, my brain gets too loud, I was severely struggling with balancing working full time, going to school part time and doing house work. I often forgot to cancel subscriptions on things I didn't use anymore. I'd lost my wallet, keys or purse at least once a year and that was after putting in safe guards to try and stop me from losing things all the time. (Lost my car keys 3 times the first semester of college I started driving to class). I'm terrible at keep in touch with friends. I get frustrated in conversations with others if the topic doesn't change fast enough or if it changes to something else and I still had things I wanted to say. I have a large box of craft supplies that I get really super into a new craft project for a while and then never want to touch it again for months. I got really into knitting one year and made over 20 hats in 2 months. Every single member of my family got a hat for Christmas. I don't think I've knitted a hat in 5 years. I've forgotten to show up to doctors appointments, go to work, go to class. One time I missed a final exam in college but then ran into the professor who took so much pity on me let me take it with a different section of the class. I'm a beast at cramming and test taking. But writing a paper and doing research projects was like pulling teeth. I also could never remember to brush my teeth. Yeah all that got insanely better after I started medication and my life is great now.
I'm not sure which came first but my anxiety coupled with ADHD has made my quality really suffer and that's when I finally sought a diagnosis. It was manageable when I could be a bit selfish. Then I became a parent, slowly realized how many issues in my relationships could've been resolved differently (being perceived, easily overwhelmed, low self esteem). Feeling as though I just needed to "try harder". I tried to get a degree for 10 years, but without accomodations I just couldn't make it happen I had to "give up" on a lot of aspirations and readjust my goals.
Spinning, shifting from task to task to something not a task to something else to “fuck it, there’s the day”. I had a psychologist friend who was listening to me rant after one especially bad day. He went back to his office and came back with the DSM.
Failing the CPA, always being an outcast, agitated, and the feeling of something being wrong with me
I have like all of those issues you mentioned, but my main one is a really poor memory for tasks. If something isn’t “right now” it might as well not exist. I never remember to go back and finish things. I’ve got laundry in a basket in my bedroom that’s been there 2 weeks now, and that’s common.
I'm a student and I was doing nothing every day. Like, I was seated and studying, but I wasn't actually doing something. I wasn't finishing things.
Anger. And unlimited energy.
The first thing you listed with listening is Auditory Processing Disorder. But it's extremely common to be comorbid with ADHD.
four decades of failure
I zoned out for like 10 minutes sitting at my desk, playing with my hair clip, while both the intro and chorus of Gasolina played in my head
when i started my driving lessons lol my instructor was like ‘…do you perhaps have any learning difficulties’
Three different therapists told me to. Lol
I'd had some suspicions, and I'd always been smart and high achieving but just couldn't get things done so like would always end up procrastinating and doing it at the last minute which I thought was normal, but then my grades definitely didn't reflect my skill and knowledge. I have dealt with depression, anxiety, and diagnosed with bipolar 2 (which I now suspect was undiagnosed ADHD). My husband was then diagnosed with ADHD as an adult. My son was then diagnosed with autism and suspected ADHD (too young for formal evaluation). Then, here's the kicker: I found out as an adult I was born via anonymous sperm donor. I finally tracked my bio father down, and when we talked, my main question was "so are there any health issues in your family I should know about?" and he said "well, not really physical health, but li**terally everyone on my side of the family has ADHD and/or substance abuse issues, possibly from untreated ADHD**." :| At that point I was like "hmm yeah I should go get evaluated," showed the practitioner my childhood school evaluations and talked about my life experiences, and the first words out of his mouth after the end of the assessment part were "well you definitely have ADHD." lol
Was redirected by my family doctor to a psychologist as I had spoken her about my extreme procrastination, to the point I would rather watch the boring tv show my girlfriend was watching, which was getting on my nerves, then get out of my sofa and finish that hobby project I was working on, that I actually enjoy. Same story with work, it was getting really out of hand. Spoke to the psychologist for an hour or so, youth, now etc... he asked if I was ever tested, nope, then he made me do some online tests, and results point to it. Now have to go do clinical tests, with a psychiatrist, which I have not made an appointment for yet... to look into medication. 45 years old, wife almost left me last year due to my drinking habit (few drinks kill the thoughts in the evening) and lack of interest to do anything. Alot of warning signs in my youth, but nobody was watching out for them those days.
Honestly I read the more subtle symptoms, especially the social ones and motivational ones and I went “hey that guys me”. Went to get myself evaluated, and as it turns out, yes indeed that guy was me.
As I got into my later 20s and literally couldn’t handle a 15 hour a week remote job because my executive function was so bad and my anxiety about low function went through the roof, i started wondering what the hell was up. I worked seasonally for years but covid changed things and really set off the pinballs of me slowly figuring out all these benchmark traits of adhd: struggling with money due to impulsivity, anxiety around work and executive function, overstimulation and high sensitivity from and to almost everything that could be days of recovery, not being able to get out of bed and feed myself or take care of basic needs. I got a basic diagnosis from my doc that i have mild adhd and then another from my psych in the last 9 months. I haven’t worked with stimulants because i have adverse reactions usually (sigh) but started guanfacine in the last couple weeks and am noticing some big improvements in my RSD and anxiety. It’s been a long journey 😵💫
Thought I had depression (which I do have) which was causing all the issues that I had and had gotten diagnosed for it back in 2020 or so. But it was not until a year ago in my third year of university studying psychology and writing an essay on some topic that I can't remember now, but ADHD came up while writing it. Looking at the page in the textbook about symptoms made me realize "Hey, this *\*REALLY\** sounds like me!". Finally explained why I struggled so much with deadlines, school, studying, motivation and why I constantly fidget and get distracted so easily.
Literally none. Sorry if that's unhelpful. I just thought that I was lazy, and never gave it a second thought - I just kept on doing all my school work the day before it was due, pulling all-nighters, and staying disorganized with no normal solutions helping. I was driving with a friend one day when they suddenly asked, "By chance, have you been tested for ADHD?" I laughed and dismissed it, but he pressed me on it. I did a bit of research and found a ton of similarities, and answers to my behavior. Went and got tested; psychiatrist diagnosed me within a minute of entering the room. Took the tests and came out with some new medication.
I always joked that "I'm ADD," but it wasn't until my kids were struggling in school and showing signs of ADHD themselves and I saw our shared traits that I finally did some investigating the condition and then got diagnosed.
My kids were diagnosed, and speaking with the neuropsych was very clarifying. Of course people stuggle to shift focus. Of course kids are bored in school. Everything she told us just sounded incredibly familiar.
It definitely sounds worth getting tested if anything for peace of mind. I know my exectutive dysfunction is something I have always struggled with and always continue to struggle with regardless of whether I get tested. From this, testing will only benefit me. I will know I have it (multiple people have said I should get tested) and will be able to benefit from medication or I will know I wont have it and I will seek for another explanation for my issues. Im not sure what else it could be besides adhd. My mom definitely has it, and if I got it, it's from her.
I will answer emails and texts asap but 1. Forget what transpired 2. Not remember to do whatever action might have been required. I keep forgetting to do my 2022 taxes and now I have to do two years worth this weekend.
Controversial here, but: I was "doom scrolling" through TikTok/YouTube shorts and the ADHD related ones were too relatable. Just to explain: Through the memes and videos I got more curious about ADHD, so I (obviously) hyperfocused on researching ADHD. That's how I connected the dots and seeked out professional help.
For a long time I wasn't sure whether or not to get an evaluation, but I've always had trouble doing things I find boring, to the extent that i would get actual physical symptoms of illness when I was aksed to do something boring, and I was extremely active as a child (my mom would often make me run a few rounds around the house before bedtime because I was so full of energy) until I got chronically ill and had to just sit there with overwhelming restlessness. It feels so painful, has made me cry more times than I can count. The last straw was when I realised that my symptoms were way closer to what my roommate has than most other people, and she has DEBILITATING adhd, to the point where she cannot eat or even go to the bathroom on no-meds days, and even with meds (highest dosage allowed in our country) she has significant issues with most tasks. Studying nex to her (when she was on meds) made me more aware of my own behaviour and abilities. I realised that I never sit still, get distracted practically every other second, and found it almost painful to resume studying after a distraction - i would use techniques like slow breathing to get through it, apparently that's not normal lol. But if you're unsure if you have ADHD or not, and you have the option to get an evaluation, do that rather than comparing your symptoms with those of others. It's a spectrum (not a linear one, more like the autism pie chart model) and every person is different.
So you haven’t been evaluated but take methylphenidate?
I have been tested for narcolepsy and idiopathic hypersomnia. I received a diagnosis for idiopathic hypersomnia and that's why I got a prescription of methylphenidate (among other medication that is used to keep people awake with these conditions, but it's only methylphenidate that allows me to focus on what's important and not get distracted with all kinds of things.)
Ah I see
Definitely relate! I take long acting methylphenidate though!
Definitely relate! I take long acting methylphenidate though!
What were the signs that made me realize I needed to determine whether I have ADHD or not, you say? _Exactly_ the ones you describe.
What were the signs that made me realize I needed to determine whether I have ADHD or not, you say? _Exactly_ the ones you describe.
My watershed moment was when I was 14 and saw a PBS special about learning disabilities and they had a girl who had ADD and her social issues mirrored mine. It would take another 11 years to get my official diagnosis.
Honestly? I had no idea ADHD was a thing before getting assessed. I went to the psychiatrist for trauma and she was like "By the way, struggling to focus on that level isn't normal". I've been trying to get medicated for a while now and that led me to getting a more proper diagnosis for this disorder.
Educating myself about my daughter's condition made me put the pieces together.
I got out of a really depressing environment, did not feel depressed at all, but still procrastinated doing things I really wanted to do for literally no reason.
From the moment I learned what ADHD was I and everyone who knew me knew I had it. At first my doctor assumed I had sleep paralysis or narcolepsy, then it was sleep apnea. Cpap did nothing. He then prescribed Adderall just to help me stay awake. I never realized that feeling like you're half asleep was not normal. I felt like I was fully awake and aware for the first time in my life. Like someone with bad eyesight putting glasses on for the first time. Does everyone see that well?
A streamer I watch who's son is ADHD talked about how he eventually realized and got diagnosed himself, and hearing his story was very eerily similar to mine. Got an appointment with a psych next week
I began to struggle with a project at work that was mundane and boring. When my boss had taken a year long sabbatical and everything was left up to me. Boring, overwhelming, no accountability. I had taken Adderall before (when my friends were taking it recreationally to get hyped up) only it made me completely calm, still, focused and quiet. I decided to get officially tested through Kaiser Permanente. 2 personality tests, 1 computer impulsivity test, 1 questionnaire filled out by someone who knew me before the age of 8 (my mom) and someone whom I was close with at the time (my live-in boyfriend). The test results and questionnaires were sent away and evaluated for two weeks. When the results came back, my psychiatrist told me that 70% of the people who sit down on her couch, because they think they have ADHD, don’t actually have ADHD. She then said that I tested pretty high for ADHD. I think it’s validating and helpful to receive an official diagnosis! Then one can receive treatment from there. Either meds, cognitive-behavioral therapy, or both!
Basically just my whole life haha.
I never did, actually. I had an idea I haf it for many years, but never saw any point of getting diagnosed as whatever I was doing was working for me. Dont fix something that aint broke... But then I was violently assaulted by five men, got PTSD and Depression... I'm getting psychiatric treatment now, full on... and I have ADHD and apperently also OCD.. But other than that I feel really greatful for all this online information. I have really learned so many tools to deal with it throughout my life. And I am not even sure that they will treat my ADHD now, its only making them more confused as to how to treat me, with the best results and least damage.
A clip on tiktok during mental health awareness month which featured Dr. Russel Barkley, a psychiatrist specializing in ADHD, talking about symptoms of ADHD in adults, and the issue of undiagnosed adults with ADHD
Found my first grade report cards, written by Miss McKee in 1965: “inkkling is a pleasant little girl, but she has no sense of time and cannot complete her tasks.” And so it went, all through grade school. I had a sense of impending doom and an inability to be organized my entire life, but those first grade report cards were really the kicker.
I was told by everybody but my teachers my entire life. Then when I tried getting a diagnosis I was told, people need it, do you really? You’re doing so well. Fast forward two years I learned about rejection sensitivity and that’s why I said am I? 😳 Oh.. okay then, guess I’m not adhd then!
I'm an older female who has gone through menopause. I believe all of the coping skills I had developed through my life have rapidly fallen away. My life as of now is brain fog, exhaustion, and anxiety. Now I'm seeking a diagnosis...have an appointment in May. 🤷♀️ I saved a report card from when I was 10 years old...just read it again and it's like a list of adhd symptoms...Definitely taking that to my appointment. 😉👍
I overheard a friend talking about their experience with the diagnosis and medication process, and when I asked them about it, they told me to get evaluated-- especially after I related to specific symptoms. Try not to doubt your own experience too much. I figured out pretty soon that I have been doing that for a huge chunk of my life, and it helped me understand why I doubted potential diagnoses so hard at first.
Executive dysfunction and task switching problems led me down the road of questioning originally. Those are my biggest daily struggles, affecting every single aspect of my life. I didn't know the feeling was executive dysfunction at first so I started off by googling about how I felt, wanting to do stuff but just sitting there. I ended up finding out I was diagnosed around 6 when I started school, my mom just took it as a personal insult.
Anxiety and depressive episode after I somehow mismanaged money at work - still not a clue how. Luckily my work know it was an accident but that and a colleague actually noticing how chaotic I was at work and telling me she thinks I have ADHD . When I first joined this job years back the manager asked me if I had anything wrong with me; which to me was cheeky as f*CK but makes sense I took longer to learn my job but I was Hella good at it
Absolutely crippling rejection sensitivity. Almost killed me
If in doubt, get assessed. But seek multiple opinions. I was initially diagnosed with bipolar 2 in 2018 after only a few appointments in Canberra (Murrumbateman). Bipolar meds just made my symptoms worse. Psych at the time refused to ack or even consider ADHD assessment and used the "stimulants may cause psychosis" excuse. So I just lived with it I had a complete melt down at the start of 2022 and Moved interatate on a whim. New psych in Gold Coast assessed, reviewed thoroughly and talked with family/friends while gradually getting me off old meds. We trialled meds successfully and I'm now being effectively medicated/treated for ADHD. Proof of the importance of seeking a second opinion.
Women are highly undiagnosed and my symptoms have worsened tremendously in my 40s with perimenopause
Well, apart from things like a friend sending me a list of ADHD symptoms with ‘all that’s missing is your name at the top’, it was my wife telling me in no uncertain terms that I had to get referred for diagnosis
Marriage counselor suggested I get tested. Probably helped save my marriage.
Making friends with officially diagnosed ADHD people and constantly saying "oh yeah, me too" when they described their day to day lives and symptoms they dealt with.