Gosh I missed a lot. Let's start with:
This is going to sound ridiculous. But getting diagnosed was possibly the happiest day of my life. Knowing why I do(or don't do) the things I do (or forget to do) has left me on a high. I feel like running around singing "I'm not crap ! I'm not crap! I just have a thing".
Yes, yes, yes. I feel the same way.
Another question; do those of you with a diagnosis argue a lot?
Only online 
. In real life I'm very passive when it comes to confrontation. However I believe that's a coping strategy I developed from a young age to try and control myself completely losing control and becoming verbally abusive. It's better for me to walk away from a fight, than to say something I will regret on impulse.
Do you mind if I ask you some questions about your diagnosis? Who did you speak to first, was it your GP? Were they sympathetic? Was there something that triggered you to seek a diagnosis?
No I don't mind. The possibility that I might have ADHD was brought up by a psychologist that DH and I were seeing for relationship counseling. Many of the issues we were having were directly related to the fact that I "never listened to him" or "ignored him."
While I was explaining to the psychologist that I have always found it really difficult to listen to people, both face to face and especially on the phone, and how I just drift off or my attention goes elsewhere and I've just learned to say "yes, uh-huh" to people to make them think I'm paying attention, I was also fidgeting like a mad thing. Shifting back and forth on my seat, my leg bouncing up and down (also usual behavior for me).
She just looked at me and asked if anyone has ever suspected that I had ADHD. I said no, because it has honestly never ever come up. I grew up in the 80's & 90's when girls didn't get ADHD. I was diagnosed with severe depression when I was 19, and always suspected that I might be bi-polar because depression never quite "fit" though the Prozac helped with some of the anxiety and emotional ups and downs.
She said I reminded her a lot of the children with ADHD that she worked with and gave me the name of a psychiatrist she works with that specializes in adult ADHD.
Now I'm in the UAE, so I didn't have to bother with GP's and referrals and NHS stuff. (which sucks because it costs a lot of money to see psychs and get the meds here). So when I went to see him, we talked, he asked me to take a written test, and we arranged for him to speak to my DH and my parents to talk about what I was like growing up. It was an eye opener for all of us. Despite the fact that my adopted brother was diagnosed with ADHD (he actually had Aspergers, which was often mistaken for ADHD in the 90's), my parents had always passed off my issues as...me being stupid and lazy, and far to imaginative, I guess. (My mother has her own mental things).
He's from the UK and said if we were there he would also request letters from former teachers or report cards.
My psychiatrist is great. Dealing with trying to get a very, very controlled substance in the UAE kind of sucks, but for the most part everyone close to me has seen the massive difference the meds have made in almost every aspect of my life (doing better at work, dealing with kid stuff, more confidence, more assertive, more organized, less mood swings, etc) and they can't argue with the diagnosis.
Hope that helped.