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?

I'm a psychiatrist. I know what you mean about it being a "trend". ADHD assessments used to make up about 2-3% of my out patients load. Now it's about 50%. The referral rate has gone through the roof. I would say about 10% of the referrals get a diagnosis (not sure of exact figures), so we are diagnosing more people than previously, but there are also a lot of people who are just hoping for the diagnosis as some sort of answer to why their lives haven't turned out the way they'd hoped, and thinking that ADHD will be it.

@kittensinthekitchen yes, it's a screening questionnaire first and an interview with the doctor to see if you're a likely candidate, and then a referral to the ADHD service for a much more in depth assessment if you are.

It's all questions based, there's no physical test for ADHD. They'll also ask other people who know you to answer questions about you.

(At least that's the procedure where I work).

Sorry, that was @PussInBin20

@allthecrooksandnannies
Of course. I've been teaching for 12 years and over that time I've found some aspects of the job very difficult in terms of my mental health and adhd. Time management is by far the worst bit for me. I'm always the last teacher in and my wonderful LSAs have always supported me with prompts to end lessons as time really is an illusion to me. When I was full time, I would sometimes get overwhelmed with the workload but that has got better.

This is purely anecdotal and personal to me, others might be different but I find teaching gives me a structure which I probably need in my life. My home life is chaotic but work me can be a lot calmer. I think that's because my anxieties, obsessions, low mood, etc can be challenged in a purposeful, stimulating direction. And stimulating is the key word here. Teaching suits me because it is stimulating and that's what my brain seems to yearn for.

I was at my worst after both pregnancies. I had severe anxiety, pnd and a lack of stimulation. Of course having babies is busy and exhausting but I realised that my brain needs more. Going back to teaching now part time has given me that which is great.

However, I can't function at home!

I have suspected for some years that my DH is probably ND in some way. We have worked together on and off for more than 20 years so I see him in all situations. There was a radio programme on about a year or 2 ago about adult ADHD and it was like a penny dropping. Almost all of the behaviours and experiences seemed to describe DH. I did sone more reading around it and looked up executive function after seeing it mentioned a lot on MN and I feel sure he has ADHD.
It's actually helped me to think this (even if he is not sure about it) because its explained a lot of behaviours that I have struggled with as a partner, and less resentful.

@AndSoFinally Out of curiosity, what percentage of assessments got a diagnosis when they made up 2-3% of your out patients load, was it still about 10%?

@PorkPieForStarters I would say it was probably a higher percentage before. The GPs would only refer those they were pretty sure would get a diagnosis, whereas now they're referring the "squeaky wheels" for a quiet life. I don't blame them. A large proportion of patients asking for referrals are very demanding and we often get huge amounts abuse when we don't give a diagnosis.

There are definitely people coming forward that wouldn't have been referred before the awareness of ADHD increased, so that's a good thing, but there's just such a huge demand that we're drowning. This delays the diagnosis for everyone

@ReadyTeddyGoooo sorry to derail, but how did you start the process of having your son diagnosed? I’m pretty sure I have ADHD (and possibly ASD too) and my son is a little mini me. Did you start with your health visitor?

@pandarific yes, health visitor first and she did a referral. However we did end up going privately for the initial paediatrician appointment as the wait is so long locally.

Out of curiosity, do people get disability benefits for ASD / ADHD?

I get all the symptoms apart from the book thing, but I'm sure I'm just scatterbrained, or first as my DH calls me.

Sorry to derail, but does anyone have any advice how to increase dopamine levels during labour?My first birth failed to progress and I've been reading about ADHD women are far more.likely to require intervention and was wondering if there is a link. My first birth had serious life changing consequences so I'd like to prepare as best as I can and ADHD doesn't seem to register as a risk factor.

Not directly from having a diagnosis. Disability benefits are based on support needs, but a diagnosis is not necessary for this.

That's interesting Better, I tried to look up about labour and ADHD a few years ago and found nothing at all. I didn't think there was a known link, though I thought logically there must be some interaction between different hormone levels etc.

However failure to progress is quite common in first labours. I would recommend reading about the physiology of labour as I found this really helpful. Maybe think about hiring a doula as well?

I'm pretty sure due to the particulars of my birth that the chemical make up of my brain had a lot to do with it. The birth and after effects started a cascade of events that led to me getting diagnosed after a breakdown so I don't think it can be unrelated, if that makes sense.
The years before birth I was addicted to exercise so I am guessing I offset the effects of my ADHD that way. Can't really access sport in the same way when pregnant though as the ones I do are high risk.
I read all the labour physical stuff the first time round but ultimately my body didn't respond in the way it should have. Without going into too much detail I ended up in the 0.1 percent category which are never meant to happen, so I do wonder if my ADHD played a significant part.
Unfortunately I cannot afford a doula at all and the NHS is fairly useless.

Sometimes doulas in training are cheaper, I didn't end up looking into it because I moved abroad and it's a whole different system, but I'd look into this if I was in the UK.

The only thing I will say is be careful about pinning all hopes on a single explanation, because I did the same thing about my first labour, then the second and third ones ended up going differently to how I expected anyway. The upshot is, my brain chemistry may well have had something to do with how things went/how I experienced it, but it also could have been any number of different things.

There are some midwives who post on MN who I've found very helpful to talk to, maybe try in the childbirth section? Whether you approach it from an ADHD related perspective or something else.

This is what's actually preventing me from progressing with my referral tbh - I was referred just pre-Covid, as I'd recognised a lot of adhd behaviours/symptoms in myself after my son was dx and I learned about inattentive presentation.
I couldn't figure out why I was dragging my feet so much with the paperwork (apart from losing it repeatedly and only managing to answer half a question each time!), then I realised I'm really worried that they'll say I don't fit the criteria and I'll have to accept I'm just shit at adulting.
My GP included an ASD assessment form at the same time (her suggestion, not mine) and I don't think I fit that diagnostic criteria either.
It all feels like I'm setting myself up to fail - I follow a couple of good adhd accounts on IG and since then I've been bombarded with other adhd content, some of which is confirmation bias and misinformation. These bloody social media algorithms box you into an echo chamber!