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AMA
Original poster

I was diagnosed with adult ADHD AMA

33 replies

IhaveADHD · 06/08/2018 08:28

Hello!

I'm 37 years old and was diagnosed 3 months ago with ADHD. This is after a few years of depression and anxiety all linked to not understanding me and being frustrated that I seemed to think differently to others.

Please ask me anything - even if you think it doesn't exist! I'm here to answer :)

OP posts:
Dancer12345 · 06/08/2018 08:31

What do you mean by thinking differently to others?

How does it affect your life?

feathermucker · 06/08/2018 08:33

How were you diagnosed?

Ariclock · 06/08/2018 08:38

I think that I may have adult ADHD too so will be watching this thread with interest. Did you get a private assessment or go through the nhs?

MrSpock · 06/08/2018 08:39

Me too OP.

Are you starting any medication? I’m starting concerta once my twins are born.

whereiscaroline · 06/08/2018 08:40

Can you tell us what ADHD is like, from the inside? My son has it and I wonder how it feels, day to day. What differences have you noticed between yourself and what you perceive it's like for people without ADHD?

Original poster
IhaveADHD · 06/08/2018 09:07

Dancer12345 - Lots of little ways really such as my sense of humour. I am quite immature and find jokes 12 year old boys would probably find funny - I just thought other adults were too boring to laugh at my jokes. Also anything that is a little boring such as cleaning or paperwork feels like when your mum asked you to do a job as a teenager. It feels like the worse thing I can imagine having to do!!

OP posts:
Original poster
IhaveADHD · 06/08/2018 09:10

I asked my GP for a referral after years of support with depression and anxiety and now being in s place where I am too ill to work. He referred me but the psychiatrist nurse didn't listen when I said I thought I had ADHD and I wasn't sure enough to push it to go and see a specialist.

I then went private through an online service where I skyed a specialist and he was able to diagnose me and prescribe meds. This has worked well but I need further support so am travelling to Leeds to see a man called Rob Baskind who is one of the top psychiatrists in this area and is involved with a great charity called ADHD action.

OP posts:
MrSpock · 06/08/2018 09:11

I am quite immature and find jokes 12 year old boys would probably find funny - I just thought other adults were too boring to laugh at my jokes.

I am also like this lol.

Once, in a hospital waiting room, they had foam numbers for the kids to play with. DS1 was just starting to speak and shouted “Look! Mummy! Six! Nine!” And held up the “69” numbers.

I fell about laughing and got really disapproving looks from the others in there.

Original poster
IhaveADHD · 06/08/2018 09:14

I started on elvanse which is the most advanced medication. It's a slow releasing amphetamine and works by getting your brain to focus on tasks until you complete them. I found at low doses it didn't help and at high doses I was over stimulated and was like an extreme ADHD version of myself. I'm now on ritalin but have found it makes me very angry. Many adults are on a mix of meds and it can take a long time to get right.

I am also going to have therapy as my self esteem is at rock bottom and I need help to get to a place of liking me again, it will most likely be with an ADHD specialist who can also help with practical solutions to my everyday problems

OP posts:
LyndaSnell · 06/08/2018 09:15

Placemarking so I can ask questions later

MrSpock · 06/08/2018 09:17

My DP (also ADHD) is going to start elvanse soon. He’s had varying forms of methylphenidate but adjusts very quickly and it stops working within weeks. He recently tried 50mg extended release instead of his usual 40mg, but all it did was give him awful headaches, but the 40 has stopped working. Strattera doesn’t work for him either.

What dose of Ritalin are you on?

Original poster
IhaveADHD · 06/08/2018 09:36

Whereis...Just like most things people with ADHD are all different but I will explain what it feels like in my brain and im sure there will be similarities.

It's a bit cliche but it is like Doug in UP. I can be so interested in watching something and one small discretion and I'm no longer watching. In fact I never watch TV without also playing on my phone or reading a magazine. My brain is constantly whirring,I like to sleep a lot and I think it's because it's the only time I can switch it off.

Everyone's brains are taking in hundreds of things every second, every sight and sound. A neuro typical brain orders them for you. It knows that for example a conversation you are having with a colleague is important and to filter out other things. My brain takes all this information in too but can't tell me which is most important but it really likes news things so half way through that convo which is so important I might see someone bring cakes into the office and just stand up and wander off to get a cake, it doesn't understand that this should wait.

When I am interested in somerthing I can become hyper focused. An obsession with something such as a computer game can stop me thinking about anything else for hours or days

OP posts:
Chimchar · 06/08/2018 09:51

Can I ask, are you female?
I work with young men with adhd. My teenage dd is being assessed and I understand that adhd presents very differently in girls than it does in boys. Her symptoms are not at all like the boys I work with.

Do you wish you'd been diagnosed as a child?

Thanks. Smile

Original poster
IhaveADHD · 06/08/2018 10:13

I'm on medikinet

ADHD can be different in girls / woman as they are more likely to have the none hyperactive type so may be the daydreamer in class who the teacher never sees as needing extra help but is achieving a lot less than their potential.

For me I was the enthusiastic girl. The one involved in everything. I was quite loud and always being told I talked too much but never really in trouble as teachers liked me as I was so enthusiastic.

I think my diagnosis would have been life changing if I had it as a child and I'm sure my adult life would have been better. Up until GCSE I thrived but then fell off a cliff as I was expected to manage my own time at college and university. I couldn't understand why I couldn't do this and achieve what I knew I could. I thought I was lazy and started down a path of disliking myself

OP posts:
MrSpock · 06/08/2018 10:36

What ADHD type are you? I’m combined whereas DP is inattentive. I had signs of hyperactivity as a child and my psychiatrist says the only reason I wasn’t diagnosed as a child is because I’m a girl.

CraftyGin · 06/08/2018 13:52

Do you lose things, such as your passport?

Chimchar · 06/08/2018 17:36

Thanks @IhaveADHD
My daughter sounds just like you describe yourself.

Talkative doesn't come close! Wink

Really appreciate you answering my question. It's reassured me that a diagnosis is the right thing way to go with her. BrewCakeThanks

Zoflorabore · 07/08/2018 06:16

Hi op :) I'm a 40 year old woman and I think I have adult ADHD and think my dd (7) has it too.

I've already been diagnosed with OCD and bi polar as well as fibromyalgia but I honestly don't think I "fit" the criteria for BP at all.

I'm very very chatty, super organised one minute and scatty the next. Hardly ever sit down and then when I do I just want to sleep. I hate having visitors to my home as feel invaded and disrupted. Am always late for everything.
So hard to get down how I am but I've read so much about it and it's just me. And dd.

My ds (15) was diagnosed with Aspergers when he was 8. We have quite a history in the family. My brothers and I have 8 children between us, me 2, one brother has 4 and other has 2.
4/8 are officially diagnosed with ASD and 3 others including dd are highly likely ADHD.

Where would you recommend I look into this possibility please? Given my family history you would think my family would be understanding of me. No way! I am like the black sheep of the family as they think I'm flaky mostly. Anyone who met me would think I am so extroverted but I'm actually not. Feel safest at home and have always struggled to stick at anything, university/college/work.

Thanks so much if you've got this far.

I haven't RTFT but will do now. Do you have children?

TheHulksPurplePanties · 07/08/2018 06:37

Hi OP, I'm 37 as well and diagnosed 2 years ago. It's certainly been life changing. :)

Original poster
IhaveADHD · 07/08/2018 12:34

Hi Zoflorabore

Many people with adhd have been misdiagnosed with bipolar so I would certainly think its worth looking into it.

In the UK it really depends on where you live on what the services are like where you live, going private has been the only answer I have found but some areas do have good services.

This is a UK website for a woman who was also told she had bipolar

www.adhdaction.org/

This site is American but very comprehensive

www.additudemag.com/

Please feel free to come back to me if you have any more questions.

OP posts:
GreenGloves · 07/08/2018 12:42

Thanks for doing this OP.

Sometimes I wonder if I have the inattentive type, I was a daydreamer in my teens, although I still did ok at school. At university like you I struggled to manage my own time and tbh fell to pieces. I don't feel I've really recovered.

I've sometimes thought about going to see someone about it, but posters on here have said that in their experience doctors won't diagnose you unless you have evidence you had it as a child/teenager (I don't have this). Was that the case for you?

Original poster
IhaveADHD · 07/08/2018 22:25

You don't need hard evidence but you need antidotal evidence and for me it was from talking to my parents and remembering things like always being told I talked too much.

OP posts:
Rebecca36 · 07/08/2018 22:52

Never be fobbed off with a psychiatric nurse, you need to see a doctor.

This is interesting to me because I have for years thought I had ADD (not ADHD), probably from childhood.

yummyeclair · 07/08/2018 22:54

Following with interest .

GreenGloves · 08/08/2018 10:03

Thank you OP.