Adult ADHD support thread

[Completmentfille]

Hi,

I was diagnosed with combined type ADHD last year at the grand old age of 30 and am medicated. Medication very much helps but I still struggle with lots of things day to day, and lockdown has not helped.

I just wondered if there were any more of us about and if a support thread would be helpful?

I had my assessment today and the doctor confirmed he thinks I do have ADHD, that medication is likely to help and that some of my other difficulties are secondary to ADHD. However, it was interesting that he also said that my personality has formed around ADHD and therefore that, in this sense, some effects of ADHD are never going to change.

I am happy to have the diagnosis confirmed but at the same time I feel a bit of an anticlimax. And then also that seed of doubt - what if I'm imagining it all?

I can't take medication straight away so I have to start with self-help strategies. If anyone has any great resources to share they would be gratefully received.

My partner has diagnosed ADHD. We also have suspicions about me, as I have some similar traits, particularly executive function issues, although they may be more related to childhood trauma for me. Following for any useful tips.

Interesting Thinkingg. I wonder whether my DH could have it too and we discussed whether there could be some way that people with ADHD are likely to be attracted to one another!

Hi all, Berties post resonated a lot with me - I too was (am still?!) the child with the pony tail half out, the cardigan on back to front, the shoes on the wrong feet. Over the last few months I've gradually realised that what I've been vaguely aware of being slightly off kilter with the rest of the world might actually be ADHD. I have an assesment on 30th November with Psychiatry UK and I'm gradually filling in the formow. Realising that for every question I can write lots of examples. I'm really scared for the assessment but also a bit excited too, to finally get some answers.

*forms

@xtinak

Interesting Thinkingg. I wonder whether my DH could have it too and we discussed whether there could be some way that people with ADHD are likely to be attracted to one another!

I think certainly we are more understanding of each others' quirks!

My husband definitely has quirks too!

I recognise a lot of the inattentive aspects, but I’m a bit worried about having someone else to vouch for me as I’m really embarrassed about my procrastination so try and hide it as much as possible. I remember once mentioning to someone I’d left something to just before the deadline and they were really surprised and said it seemed unlike me. Also I did well at school as everything was broken down into small tasks - pieces of homework I could do, long bits of coursework I couldn’t, but they were few and far between.

I definitely recognise the self-sabotage and not being in a better job though.

NoTimeToDiet I had some of the same worries - was actually good at school for example, and I present as conscientious in many ways - but I have still been given a diagnosis.

That’s really heartening xtinak and thanks for replying. I do feel I’m wasting my life so I’m going to push for it I think.

That’s how I feel too Diet.

Notimetodiet I’m exactly the same. I do try to hide my most embarrassing traits!

It’s so nice to feel you’re not alone! I think I’m also surrounded by very productive, organised people which doesn’t help. Or maybe it just seems that way as I’m so terrible?

Can anyone recommend any good UK based podcasts?

Neurodiverse people definitely attract each other. Even at school I thought it was weird that despite being top set more than half of my friends were dyslexic (in the 00s, if you had dyslexia you were never in the top set). That's a form of neurodiversity as well.

I haven't come across any UK podcasts but don't find that the American based ones I listen to are country specific, if that makes sense? I like ADHD Essentials.

The more I think about it the more I think that it's true Bertie that neurodiverse people tend to find one another and form friendships. I do see that in my own life as well.

Will check out ADHD Essentials podcast.

I actually feel quite sad today after getting a diagnosis the day before yesterday. I'm not even sure why. After having the moment of doubt earlier, I have settled into the fact that I really do believe the diagnosis is right. It feels like it just rings so true for me and like it explains so much. But somehow I just feel really shaken and upset about it and I don't even know why. Looking back and seeing a lot of things through the lens of this undiagnosed condition is just filling me with sadness.

Can I ask why its easier once you are diagnosed?

I mean right now I feel sad but I guess the hope is that things are easier once you can stop seeing some of your difficulties as moral failings and also the benefit of having medication. Plus having understanding from others, hopefully, and accommodations at work or in your studies.

@Completmentfille

My main ADHD symptoms on the basis of which I was diagnosed are:

• Leaving absolutely everything til the last minute - eg my dissertation was started the day before it was due, I stayed up all night to finish it and handed it in at 10am exactly (the deadline)
• Not being able to focus on anything - can't sit through a film without doing something else at the same time
• I love to read but I "skim read" and consequently get through books at lightning speed. If I'm into a book I will ignore everything else to read it and try to get through it as quickly as possible to find out what happens.
• Extreme impatience and intolerance to waiting. As mentioned up thread, I feel like everything moves too slowly for me. I hate waiting in queues or just waiting in general, to the extent it makes me physically uncomfortable.
• A track record of starting hobbies and then dropping them abruptly when I get bored.
• Getting bored extremely easily
• making stupid mistakes at work because I'm not paying attention or rushing, particularly with numbers
• fidgeting - in my case, foot tapping, hand chewing, skin picking, legs jigging
• hyperactivity but in thought rather than movement - can't switch my brain off
• tendency to hyperfocus on TV shows, films, pieces of music and then lose interest abruptly. EG I'll obsessively watch the same TV series over and over again, seek out fan fiction, read all about it, before abruptly getting bored with it and basically never thinking about it again. This was once wrongly diagnosed as OCD.
• Not listening when spoken to directly - I always glaze over - and interrupting people because I hate waiting for them to finish.

I'm sure there are others!!!

Wow! I could’ve wrote this. My son is being assessed for ADHD at the moment, I’d never really paid much attention to anything to do with ADHD before then and just thought I was a bit all over the place but assumed everyone was bit like this. Such a total lightbulb moment when I looked at all the symptoms.

With all of you who have got a diagnosis later in life, were they all done privately or any on NHS?

Hey everyone. Hope you're all well. I've officially been diagnosed with ADHD today. I want to say I'm shocked, but I'm not.

Anyway, been given a very low starting dose of Concerta xl (18mg) will take my first tablet tomorrow. A bit nervous! My main concern was it switching me to mania, as I also have bipolar, but said it will be unlikely, but obviously to keep an eye on it

Mine was private but I have since spoken to my GP who said they are happy for things to be transferred to them via a shared care agreement.

Hi Bippity I'm glad you've got your diagnosis and I hope the medication helps you!

Would be interested to hear how you think having bipolar as well has affected things, for example has it made it harder to get an ADHD diagnosis or to tease out what's what?

I've been diagnosed with OCD, depression and anxiety in the past and I'm just thinking about the way these things have interacted over the years.

Would love to hear how you get on in your first few weeks of meditation!

@xtinak It's definitely been more about teasing out what was what. The thing with my bipolar is because it wasn't very controlled until recently, a lot of my adhd symptoms were clouded due to my extreme mood shifts. Now I'm a bit more stable, it's clearer to see what I'm still having issues with and aren't directly related to my mood i.e depressive or manic episodes. Even when stable, I still have problems with attention and focus, impulsivity still and hyperactivity etc

@BippityBoppity87 That must have been hard. Well, I'm sure it still is.That's great that your bipolar is better managed so here's hoping the same for the ADHD.