Do I have ADHD ?

[Fireflyfly]

I’ve been thinking about this for a while . I think I’ve actually posted about it before but I can’t find it .

I don’t know if I’m being silly but things are getting to a point I feel like there is something wrong with me .

My mind is just - it never stops . It’s always been like it but as I’m getting older it’s affecting everything more and more . It never stops. That internal monologue- it’s constant , to the point it’s distracting . I’ll think of one thing , that branches to another - worries , thinks I’m obsessing about , daydreams where I’m living scenarios in my head … I can’t keep a train of thought.

I am always late. I hate it. I stress everyone out but I don’t mean to , I just have this need to get everything done and at the same time I always have some worry ( usually health , cervical cancer right now - no real reason but I’ll spend hours googling it ) or some new hobby , or something is in my head - a new business idea , an outfit needed etc - and I’ll be on my phone obsessing about it in between whet I’m trying to do and I’m going on the same websites over and over again reading the same things and then I lose track of time .

I can’t just buy something . Like, I’ll think my children need some new clothes and rather than get them one thing , I’ll obsess and go on a rabbit hole of clothes sites to make baskets and baskets of EVERYTHING they need then I’ll start thinking of their bedrooms and going adding wardrobes and stuff to basket and I’ll have 30 tabs with things added then just get overwhelmed and not get anything because I feel like I can’t just make a start on what I need I have to get it all .

I go from hobby to hobby and I’ll find one , spend hours watching videos about it spend money on it and then all of a sudden I’ll just lose interest . But when I am interested it’s consuming , my mind don’t stop and I think of nothing else .

Im never satisfied - my career , I trained for years to become a teacher and then when I did it I decided I didn’t like it and now I’m doing the same relentless researching for something else .

I lose things all the time . I forget things . I’ll waste whole days because I’ll have a plan - for example I might say I’ll bake a cake , then I’ll feel like I have to do a whole load of baking and write down loads of recipes and watch videos and then it’s too late but I’ll be adamant I have to and that too feels overwhelming and then I’ll do it all until late in the night because I have to .

I could go on . I’m tired . What is wrong with me .

Lol that sounds like me!

You could be - definitely worth investigating.
Are these behaviours new? Can you put them down to life stress and overwhelm?
(although life stress can make symptoms more problematic as there is difficulty masking)
The criteria states that symptoms should have been present between ages of 7-12. (Not necessarily external such as hyperactivity but could be internal.)
Were you a chatterbox, told off for losing things, daydreaming, fidgeting, not doing your homework, could do better if she only focused/paid attention type stuff?

adhd uk
and adhd af podcasts
additude website
are really good resources.

I think I need to get myself checked out

Thank you , I’ll take a look .

Definitely not new - I’ve always been like this for as long as I can remember .

At school, I’ve always felt like this - but there wasn’t anything outwardly noticeable ever mentioned . I have always had a racing mind , I’ve always had extreme health anxiety ( I’ve obsessed about cancer since I was about 9 ) always been a worrier , always been late . I was a very quiet child though( I am actually quite an introverted person , but I do talk a lot )y shyness and quiteness was always commented on. This is the thing - I never , ever thought of ADHD because I am not hyperactive physically. My mind is, but I don’t think I am … in fact I can be very lazy and love nothing more than laying on the sofa with a book . However , it’s just that that can be the plan but it takes me a lot to get there and usually when I do , it’s still involving my mind racing , or researching etc . A lot of time I’ll have so many plans in my head and will spend so long researching and planning that it ends up I’ve wasted the day sat on my phone .

Sounds a lot like me and I am late diagnosed ADHD (I was diagnosed at 40!). I’d recommend checking out ADHD love. Rich and Rox started a TikTok stream and have co-written two books about it. I found them really helpful. It’s like learning about myself through a different lens. It’s much easier to be kind to myself now I know.
I can talk you through the assessment process if you like?

Certainly sounds like it! I'm late diagnosed adhd and probably asd as well. You sound exactly like me and there's likely to be a thousand more symptoms and ways that it affects your life if you are adhd - i got diagnosed 18 months ago and i still occasionally realise something is due to my adhd.

Womens hyperactivity tends to present in all the ways you've described, racing thoughts, inability to switch off, constantly looking for new and novel things, overbuying - you're constantly looking for dopamine which is why you get bored as soon as you've got the thing you wanted - it's no longer interesting. The stereotype is physically hyperactive little boys which has led to so many women and girls not getting diagnosed. My hyperactivity also comes out in physical tics/stims and picking/hair pulling.