Has anyone had an ADHD assessment in their 50s and did it help you?

[almostbloody50]

I’m currently having some therapy CBT for health anxiety that really flared up after my dad died, covid and surgery, and my therapist keeps referring to how I’m so good at using my ADHD to my advantage etc and Im not diagnosed, never considered I even had it, or was somehow needing to work on it, I’m not offended in anyway but nobody has ever suggested I have it.

Should I explore this further to understand my traits or just park it and get on with my apparent ADHD ways, I’m open minded.

She talks about my drive, ambition, fast pace of change, snap decisions and perfectionism, not being kind enough to myself and being always on always busy and never resting as my ADHD brain, I just thought I was creative and had the ability to switch around and have been busy running a deadline driven business for 20+ years.

any advice or positive stories on a diagnosis, or other views would be great, I’d actually love to slow down but have no clue how!

Had my Dx at 50 and it’s been fab
had a period of grief and now had 4 years of understanding why I make certain decisions
currently on 90 mg of methyl phenidate and it has bought real order and calmness to my life

Does it matter? With the new awareness about adhd, there is also an increase in people wanting diagnosis. Ultimately, there are people who've lived with adhd all their lives but have not only coped fine with it but also benefited from it. I'm one of them. I don't need a diagnosis to understand myself well and recognised how adhd have limited me but also been a blessing.

They say that adhd traits can come out during the perimenopause period. That was definitely the case fir je ans with it came additional challenges but the same applies to many non adhd women.

Why would you need a diagnosis to confirm it? Would you think you'd benefit from medication that comes with many side effects, are expensive, or almost impossible to get on the nhs? Otherwise, what difference would it make?