To think this is real adult ADHD and not part of a trend

[ReadyTeddyGoooo]

I'm 35 and I've had anxiety since childhood. Over the years, I've had times where it has been extremely complex and debilitating. I've had both NHS and private therapy and been on meds for a long time. I have severe health anxiety linked to ocd. I have a panic disorder and have also had pnd twice.

My 4 year old son is going through the assessment process for adhd. Since researching it for him, I've discovered that I could also have it. Obviously it's highly hereditary so it would make sense.

However, since exploring adhd, it seeks to have become over saturised on social media it seems and could almost be seen as a trend. There seems to be a lot if people getting diagnosed and it makes me wonder, do this number of people actually have adhd?

I had an appointment with a psychiatrist coming up primarily for my anxiety problems but I do also want to talk about adhd with her. But don't want her to think that I'm just jumping on the bandwagon with it.

I feel I do have adhd because...
I'm terrible at time keeping and I'm always running late.
My house is chaotic. There's little order and I lose things all the time.
I can be quite reckless in some ways, e.g. parking where I shouldn't and getting fines.
I leave everything to the last minute. Especially things that seem too overwhelming. Even my wedding - it was somewhat a rushed job.
I find big shops snd supermarkets very overwhelming. If there's too much choice and things to look at, I just flounder.
I have mind chatter and songs plating in my head a lot! Constant ideas too. I dart from one thing to the next.
I rarely finish projects.
I've never been great at reading books, I feel like I don't have the patience.

Does this sound like proper adult ashd?

Why do you think other adults are "jumping on a bandwagon". You don't know their experience. And we cannot diagnose you on a forum.

No one here can possibly diagnose you.

Lots of adults are getting diagnoses now because it wasn’t well understood when we were children.

That's totally true. I guess I'm just thinking that because it feels like having adhd is also like a social media trend, especially on things like Tiktok. I can't say how anyone else is experiencing it but it does make me question whether it will be taken seriously.

It's a bit like people flippantly using the term ocd to describe themselves. I've got diagnosed ocd which is pretty complex. It's so different.

Sorry, I know what I'm trying to say, I'm just terrible at articulating it.

I have adhd. A lot of what you have said sounds like me. I also think that there are times when I'm not taken seriously because (quote) 'everyone thinks they have some label or another' as gets regularly implied by some. You know if there is something wrong with your brain if you have had to live with mental chaos since your earliest memories. It's been a fucking nightmare at times so you have my sympathy op. Don't give thought to what others may or may not think. Do what is right for you. Personally I find it liberating knowing why I am the way I am.
Best of luck

I think I am the same, more ADD that ADHD as I am not generally hyper active. Many of my symptoms are the same as yours and I have been like that since childhood; I'm now in my seventies. I self diagnosed a while ago, nobody talked about such things when I was growing up and I was always accused of being lazy, fantasising too much, not concentrating on school work, etc. Nobody understood how I felt, how anxious and panicky I was, always wanting to run away.

None of that matters now but I do fit the criteria for ADD and that satisfies me. I feel vindicated and am happy in my own skin. You will be too.

I think your symptoms sound very familiar and I was diagnosed by a psychiatrist at 38 as having the inattentive form of ADHD (what used to be called ADD).

Imposter syndrome and doubting yourself is actually also a symptom, also RSD (rejection sensitivity). The feeling of relief when my difficulties were explained with a diagnosis was huge.

Anyone saying it is a bandwagon is ignorant or ableist. A proper diagnosis is not easy to get. The reason there is a big growth is mainly because so many people (especially women!) went undiagnosed - we know more now.

As PPs have said, it isn't a "trend". It's the fact that it's been massively underdiagnosed until very recently, hence many people only being diagnosed as adults now. Same for ASD. Hopefully for children now, like yours, they will get diagnosis far, far earlier and their lives will therefore be immensely better with proper support.

Many adults realise they have these conditions as a result of their children needing referring for diagnosis. It's not unusual. If you think it's a possibility that you have it then ask to be referred. At least then you will know, and knowing has made a hugely positive difference to almost everyone I know who has had an adult diagnosis.

Sorry no idea about social media or TikTok but assume they are trying to spread awareness? It's isn't a "trend". It's not a fashion accessory. It's very debilitating and has a huge impact on lives and it's good that diagnosis rates have increased because that is more people who are getting proper support now, and self-understanding.

Oh God. Those people are overdue a dinosaur-scale extinction. It's horrific to invalidate people like that, after a lifetime of trauma from living with an undiagnosed condition.

These are the same kind of people who tell people with depression to "snap out of it" and tell people with CFS that "everyone gets tired".

It's all just "personality" don't you know? 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄

You get how algorithms work right? So because you have been searching for stuff relating to adhd you are now seeing content relating to adhd. This doesn't in itself make it a trend.

I google stuff on how to do a particular embroidery stitch and then over the next few weeks I see a lot more content about sewing it doesn't mean it's suddenly more popular it means my content is being targeted.

So unless you are seeing literally millions of people in videos about getting diagnosed as an adult what you are actually seeing is a small proportion of the population its just being really shoved in your face.

As it happens I think I have adhd and have the majority of your issues. I wasn't diagnosed as a child because what late 30s woman was? So it doesn't suprise me if there is an upturn in adults and particularly adult women getting diagnosed, because we were really screwed over as children

Maybe just explain your symptoms without mentioning adhd and let your psychiatrist decide.

I called my GP about 6 months ago because I think I have adhd. She agreed I met the criteria for assessment but did say ‘it’s very trendy at the moment, isn’t it’

Trendy. Fuck me. That’s the last word I’d use to describe the constant fucking noise in my bastard head.

Yes, previous poster makes a great point about algorithms.

Good luck with your assessment. My DH was diagnosed last week and, though he was expecting it (we have a son with ADHD), it still came as quite a shock to him and he's still processing. Be kind to yourself and take it slow.

What a ridiculous comment. Sorry you had that response.

A psychiatrist will be the one who does the assessment and they are generally less clueless and insulting.

I think it's a bit shit the way people are dismissing late in life diagnosis as a 'trend' or 'fad'.

A lot of the late in life aspect is because girls aren't diagnosed. So then women suffer without support all their youth and only pick it up when they take their own children to get diagnosed.

Historically most research and treatment has been on boys and it's left women and girls out.

Yep. Because all the studies were based on boys and how it presents in boys.

And now we're getting stitched up a second time having suffered for decades, having people invalidate diagnoses given by psychiatrists - who don't give them out for fun - and told they're "just labels" or "personality" or "a trend".

I was never interested in trends even as a child. It's so insulting.

Actually OP, it is a social media trend at the moment. It was previously trauma/PTSD and then ASD and now ADHD. It's not only because of the algorithm - although that plays a role in what you see, obviously.

For those who haven't come across it on SM, lucky you! Some of it is genuinely people who know what they're talking about trying to spread awareness because, for example, they were diagnosed later than entirely beneficial for them.

But there's a lot that seems to fall in a grey zone of being for views/liking having a label. Same as there was for the other two conditions above. Anybody who has a messy house or doesn't like finishing a novel can say they have self-diagnosed and imply that their new label confers a state of authority. Some likely are genuine, but there's an awful lot of BS out there too. There's also the issue that other conditions can have similar symptoms to ADHD and the self-imposed ADHD label sends them down the wrong path.

If you think you have it and you're seeing a psychiatrist then this is the perfect person to discuss it with. You're unusually in a position to speak to someone knowledgeable, so take the opportunity. If you're worried they'll think you're being silly/it's a trend then tell them that concern too.

I don't have ADHD (m but I have quite a few of the symptoms as a result of chronic trauma and diagnosed PTSD. Some of the ADHD videos have some handy tips that I use though to help organise my life.

To be clear, ADHD is not a trend itself. It's something that is trending on tiktok and Instagram. Over the weekend I saw a mental health professional address this.

It's good to rem her that anybody on SM is there for the attention. Some want to use the attention to further a cause. For others the attention is their cause.

I just mentioned to a GP I think I have ADHD and referred me for an assessment and had the letter sent to me within 5 minutes.

If you think you have it, tell them. That's what they are there for.

I think ADHD has been massively under diagnosed.
I keep getting the ADHD videos on tiktok, and I'm like, oh, I thought that was my depression/anxiety or just me.

However, I do think you're U to think people are just jumping on a bandwagon but you're somehow different.

The symptoms you list on your OP are not great to live with, and it's a bit demeaning to say others who are potentially living the very same existence as you, are simply jumping on the bandwagon...unless you are too.

Why do people think it's as simple as getting a diagnosis? You don't just ring up and ask! It's a full assessment from qualified professionals. Are you saying these professionals are wrong, that you know more than them?

This is something I've been thinking about for a while now.

I'm in my early 40s, and was diagnosed with ADD ( inattentive ADHD it's called now? ) when I was living in the states at age 14, so nearly 30 years ago.

At the time of my diagnosis, it seemed like a "trend" to me; kids were being prescribed Ritalin at exponential rates, it was all over the news. Stubborn soul that I am, I resisted taking any meds, and I also laughed off the diagnosis and didn't tell anyone or even think about it much, for years.

About 10 years ago I came across an article about how women present with ADHD ( and how the default of boys and mens behaviours meant that girls and women were missed in diagnosis ) and it felt like someone had spied on my life and written an article just about me and my behaviour.

It was a wakeup call. I now realise that my doctor in the states did me a favour and was probably a bit revolutionary at the time. I wish I'd tried the Ritalin, just to see what help I could have gained from it.

As it stands now, I function well and apart from anxiety flares, I feel fine day to day. I struggle with RSD, I have frantic, high achieving/paced days followed by lethargic ones, but on the whole I have learned to give myself space, and time, and have built strategies into my life that help me.

It's still very easy for me to turn inward and blame myself for being the worst person in the world when I make silly mistakes, but I am kinder to myself than I was, when I didn't acknowledge my diagnosis.

So that's what diagnosis has given me. And it wasn't a trend, it was an accurate description of how my brain works.

In terms of tiktoks etc, anyone consuming media that's bitesized to that extent needs to be aware that you can only simplify complex information so much before it gets distorted beyond all recognition. That's my concern, as well as the social contagion aspect. Don't use social media to self diagnose. If something resonates, great, but take the conversation to a professional, and don't rely on hours of personal testimony videos as a diagnostic tool. They aren't!

Algorithms are to blame for you seeing adhd TikToks constantly, it's not an accurate reflection of the population.

I would LOVE to read the stats on this!

Your GP said the quiet part out loud, that most, if not all, GPs are thinking but dare not say. You have a sensible GP who cuts through the bullshit.