What are some symptoms as an adult woman that you didn’t realise were ADHD symptoms?

Me too.

I get obsessed with people very easily, but it seems to disappear just as fast, too.

Poor time keeping and then stressing out about it. I’m always late and I’m always loosing important things.
Wondering where things are at random times of the day or night and not being able to settle until they are found.
If I do loose something, I get so irritable and upset. I get compulsive urges to ‘replace’ said items to ‘gain some order back’. I can spend hours adding things I’ve lost to online baskets. I have to try very hard not to purchase all the items.

I hate having too many plans.
Can’t relax , and I’m a night owl who has to force myself to go to bed at a half decent hour.

Limerance. I’d have had a very different life if I’d known what that was sooner.

Talking over people
RSD (like others, this is probably the hardest part).
Struggling with relationships and mainly letting people abuse me.
Having multiple hobbies on the go at once, often never completing projects.
Not being able to relax, constantly moving.
I hate making plans with other people but love routine (apparently this is my ADHD and ASD going against each other). I hate it when others change plans.
Sleep issues (again struggling to relax).

The questionnaires dont distinguish boy vs girl traits though so girls with hyper/combined adhd are also scored the getting up and fidgeting etc.
whereas imo it should say to clarify fidgeting can be drawing or small movements, nail biting etc.
personally i think its easier (too easy??) Comparatively to get an adult diagnosis. As a child one you need agreement on it being noticeable by school, which frankly they dont notice the girls.

It could definitely be worth exploring, but as a previous poster mentioned you’ll need to consider if you had symptoms in your childhood too as otherwise I don’t think you’d likely get a diagnosis.

I really relate to the 'inability to shut up' stuff. Sometimes I can hear myself yapping and part of my brain is screaming 'JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP', but the part that's in control is thinking 'no way, I can get out of this awkward corner if I just keep explaining!'

Also driving. I did eventually pass my test but it honestly took me about 100 lessons and countless hours with my parents to get me there.

i would say for sure it's more than just losing your keys, but that isn't what OP said, is it?

And OP is right, there is a reason that lots of adult women are being diagnosed with ADHD after suffering from the behaviours/symptoms for years and doin a lot of energy sapping "masking" even though they haven't realised what they are doing.

OP in my case i display many many of the symptoms of ADHD, and it is a bit of a family joke. I have developed many strategies over the years, and now i know more about ADHD and the apps and advice to mitigate it, i adopt a lot of them anyway.

My main thing is procrastination. I have taught myself to "eat the frog" (make lists, do the most difficult first) and for other things to accept that procrastinating and doing something last minute is when i do my very very best work.

Medication helped me a little but wasn’t earth-shattering. Then the hormonal changes from peri-menopause really kicked in and even medicated, my ADHD feels more out of control than it’s ever been in my life. I can’t even begin to imagine how bad it would be if I was unmedicated!

@Cazzovuoi how does someone with a trauma history know whether they have ADHD or C-PTSD?

I was diagnosed at 32, they looked at my old school reports as part of the assessment and it was v obvious when you know what you’re looking for but no one was looking back then.

Before I was diagnosed, there wasn’t a part of my life that wasn’t severely impacted by ADHD. I ran up debt with impulsive spending, moved jobs every year, used alcohol to self-medicate, took risks with my own safety, hoarded stuff, struggled to focus at work, my mental health was wrecked due to racing thoughts and poor decisions, struggled with relationships, and forgot so many important things (I’ve missed two flights because I missed my passport).

I’m medicated now and it’s transformed my life. I still very much have ADHD, but for the most part it’s manageable. Understanding why I’m like this has meant I can let go of the guilt and shame and work to optimise my life to work with/around my ADHD.

We’re TTC and I’m dreading having to stop my medication if I get pregnant. Emotional regulation is the area I still struggle with the most and I already know having unmedicated ADHD and pregnancy hormones as well will be tough.

Was diagnosed in August last year. Psych UK via GP. Still waiting to get up to top of meds list to try them. But a lot of what you are saying is resonating with what I described on the questionnaires and discussed with the psychiatrist

I'm sure the insightful, clearly intelligent and articulate people posting on here realise that.

Yes, me too. I'm autistic though, but there is often a big overlap between adhd and autism. For me, I was able to learn, but I struggle too much with the sensory overload of being on the road, the speed, noise, lights etc. And trying to coordinate the physical act of driving with navigating etc. So I don't drive at all.

Nope. I’m the complete opposite. Took to driving like a duck to water and love it.

Yes. At 43 I’ve finally realised that I don’t want to learn, it’s stressful and expensive and I see no reason why I should continue trying

There’s more to ADHD than simply being a bit forgetful

I (diagnosed at 60) have very poor risk assessment and have found myself in some ridiculous and dangerous situations though not thinking things through.

A warped kind of hypersexuality which meant I struggled if I didn't have a partner and would use sex to try to gain advantage over men.

Hyperfocus that means it's very difficult to watch films with me because I spend my time going 'but what happened to...?' and 'but what about...?' and harping on and on about plot holes.

Inability to shut up.

Not medicated, but knowing now that it is ADHD (for years I thought I was bi-polar) I can rationalise my behaviour. And I have to say that since menopause many of the symptoms are not quite as egregious as they once were. And as an author hyperfocus can be positively advantageous, I wrote one of my best sellers in six weeks.

How about this one has anyone found it impossible to learn to drive..

I found it impossible to learn everything and vo ordination it altogether and all the concentration thats needed.

I did give it a real good go. I didnt just give up. In the end I thought this isn't meant to be and I'm not meant to be on the road.

Although I'm competent in many things. I did not take to learning to drive.

Anyone else?

@WhereIsMyJumper the symptoms might be triggered by something which happens with me. Understanding my trauma triggers has massively helped me and when I am not triggered, like you, I can function pretty well.

Some of these resonate with me also, however I don’t feel like this all of the time and I think that’s key. If I’m not generally upset or anxious about something I can function perfectly normally. So I suspect there is a cross over with anxiety symptoms also.