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?

You, of course, have links to prove this?

Most - if not all?

Again, I'd love to read the stats to support your statements. Ta.

Don’t worry about everyone else and what they think and trends etc. This about yourself. Explain your symptoms. You will likely be asked about your childhood and other family members. I know I was. A diagnosis doesn’t really change anything day to day in your life - it just gives you information. You’ll still do the same things as you did before the diagnosis- but hopefully with a kinder less critical eye.
For me medication has helped quiet the chatter in my head and gives me more oomph from am to after lunch to get things done. But my first medication didn’t suit me.
The therapist also made some helpful suggestions - like don’t have more than three appointments a day in my diary - I tend to try and cram too many things into my day. Resulting in me being late, feeling stressed out and trying to over compensate.
But I still lose things, get my words wrong, get overwhelming and my symptoms go up and down during the month.

It’s under diagnosed and especially in women. I’m on a waiting list for an assessment. I’ve thought I have had it for at least four years it’s taken me three to phone the drs, which coincided with it becoming more prevalent on social media.

I know what I am living. Don’t let others get in the way of you seeking a diagnosis and support.

I'm autistic. My 12 year old dd said oh everyone's autistic now.

I think she means there are more diagnosis now as parents know what to look for.

I was diagnosed at 33. It's nice it's been accepted as "normal" but do people realise we are still different to the regular person?! We still don't act / think like most.

There's more (and less) to all of this than meets the eye.

www.madintheuk.com/2020/11/insane-medicine-chapter-3-the-manufacture-of-attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder-adhd-part-1/

www.madintheuk.com/2020/11/insane-medicine-chapter-3-the-manufacture-of-adhd-part-2/

I'm similar to you op. I realised I'm not wired the same as everyone else when I was made aware of how unusual it is to just not pay your rent and bills and to leave a trail of chaos behind you all the time.
I am high functioning, hold down and thrive in a decent job. So it hasn't impeded my out oomes. But the impact on MH ... wow. The rejection sensitivity 😳

It took me some years to get around to talking to gp about it. Because im disorganised and don't get around d to stuff!
I've been referred to specialist but waiting lists are ridiculous and im sure others have more urgent need.

I'd consider private but honestly when I dipped a toe into google to do so I was overwhelmed by the task 😳

I just hope my adhd if/when diagnosed will be taken seriously as my other mental health conditions have.

To be honest, I feel like the shit is just piling on ne at the moment... health anxiety, panic disorder, ocd, previous pnd, previous self harming, adhd, son with adhd... it's a lot!

But as pp's have said, ADHD shouldn't be seen or treated lightly. Tell that to my lively brain last night dreaming vividly, playing songs from Cbebbies and thinking or flitting from ideas throughout the night!

Tell that to my lively brain last night dreaming vividly, playing songs from Cbebbies and thinking or flitting from ideas throughout the night!

That's just normal human behaviour. I have/do those, I think all of us do at some time or another, and I don't have ADHD. People are writing off normal human behaviour these days as needing a label instead of just a normal brain in a normal human being and try way too hard to look for something.

Also doing something 'some time or another' is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT to experiencing it constantly!

Similar here. DS has a ASD diagnosis and he'd probably have been overlooked in previous generations. It's only now that he and his cousins are getting diagnosed, yet the traits run rampant through the family.

I've woken up to Madonna singing in my head- I probably heard that song 2 or 3 days ago. It's taken a few decades and the extra load of family life to see that the traits of ADHD are life-long, that maturity and life experience of the consequences of last minute life aren't enough to shift the mental blocks and connect rational thought and motivation through the missing gear. My school reports read classic undiagnosed female ADHD. ADHD friendly strategies work for me such as mirroring. NT advice such as sit at a uncomfortable, boring desk, take regular breaks fails. (Why on earth would you want to break your concentration after 45 minutes to spend the next 3 hours trying to get it back) Why prepare in advance the night before when rising early the morning it's due in is plenty and keeps it fresh in your mind where Madonna won't be shunting it out of your head.

Basically, everything I've learned about ADHD in adult women reads like my biography since childhood. It's not just wondering why I'm standing in my bedroom or searching for the car keys that I put in my pocket 2 minutes earlier.

There's no strategic urgency in going to a GP and facing extensive waiting lists for investigation. My limbs aren't going to drop off while it hits my equally extensive procrastination/ mental waiting list which can rival the NHS. Suspecting ADHD, and understanding that it can actually be that hard to buy, write and post a greetings card by a meaningful date does already help. Just knowing that the struggle is real helps significantly.
Funnily, I had long, long suspected dyspraxia (which DS has along with some of my younger cousins) but some of those difficulties do overlap with ADHD.

Madonna is being very persistant this morning and I need a new earworm.

No, I won't, because I once worked in a school admin and saw masses of kids - this was a big school, lined up for their ritalin, often about between 80 and 90, these kids who should have been active and alert, and looking alive, most of them looking zombified and very dosey, slow and drowsy. It was heartbreaking. My colleague and I used to dread it and look at each other with sadness and despair. So unless you've had as part of your job the task of drugging kids, and seen the flow on effects of an epidemic, then maybe you should just take your own advice.

"I've woken up to Madonna singing in my head"

See this is what I mean, even base level normal human behaviour is seen as 'proof'. It's ridiculous. I often (at least twice a week, I'd say, if not at once a week) wake up with a song running through my head, sometimes I dreamed the song and it was still in my head when I woke up and replayed in my head throughout the day. It means nothing. Absolutely nothing. It's normal.

But we're discussing adult adhd that has been missed.

Also, again proof of all these 'zombiefied' kids being misdiagnosed please?

Not everyone one who is diagnosed with ADHD is medicated - I'm not and my Ds isn't as his autism presents as much impactful.

But I'm guessing you think autism is over- diagnosed as well?

People also get their breathing difficulties "labelled" as asthma or their out of control blood sugars "labelled" as diabetes. There's a lot more diabetes than there used to be, and that doesn't mean it's not real. Understanding what's happening to your body/ mind is healthy and means that you can adjust your lifestyle, use aids or medication to live more healthily.

Ultimately more people being diagnosed as or suspecting they are neurodiverse has little impact on anyone else and tends to result in people functioning better in society.

When someone uses waking up with a song in their head as 'proof' they need an ADHD diagnosis, it's definitely jumped the shark.

If you think kids walking around like slow, drugged zombies is not 'misdiagnosed', then I feel you're beyond being reasoned with. No child should ever look like that.

FYI, I have ASD, and it is a common topic of discussion in my online 'Aspie' group , and the ASD support centre I go to in real life, of how over-diagnosed our condition is. You're quite out of step with this, and seem ever so naive.

This is really strange because ritalin is a stimulent not a sedative and most people take it in the morning not middle of the day.
Something very amiss going on where you were.

But I'm not talking as a one off. This is like 70% of the time I would say, including mind chatter. It's intrusive.

You've totally played it down @JennyNotFromTheBlock which is unfair

@ReadyTeddyGoooo read Dr Gabor Maté on ADHD and his thoughts on why it’s on the rise.

I definitely wasn't part of a trend getting diagnosed. I went to a sleep clinic , had all the tests , met with the consultant who said he was certain I had adhd and told me he would write to my gp to refer me for assessment. I went through right to choose and sure enough he was right , I have adhd. It was never on my radar and I was very shocked but looking back it makes so so much sense. It explains my struggles all my life.

Ritalin is only a stimulant if you don't have ADHD. They don't give a 'stimulant' to already over-stimulated hyperactive kids. Ritalin and Dexamphetamine have different strengths and long/slow releases. Most kids received their tablets at morning tea or lunch.

That was more than a tad selective reading/ quoting wasn't it...

Trend...ffs. If people don’t meet the criteria, they aren’t diagnosed. Horrible attitude that you should work on.

I think you're way over-playing it up and looking at anything as a signal. What you're describing is normal brain inability to shut-off. It doesn't signify ADHD.