Another ADHD one! If you have a diagnosis....

[HumanbyDesign]

Undiagnosed, but absolutely certainly ADHD - all the usual issues etc but with it being lifelong am quite adept at managing most "symptoms" in day to day life (immediate alarm setting, lists, timers, etc) and don't care about a lot of others, but am acutely aware that procrastination and distractibility - ie not being able to stay "on task" - are ruining my life somewhat... Or at the very least hampering progress through it! Especially in my work as I'm self employed, but also with other plans - social and leisure - as I'll often find my day has just gone nowhere when I had plans for so much more for it 🤦🏼‍♀️

Aibu to think medication will help??! Anyone with a diagnosis have experience of medication helping with this? As I said I'm not diagnosed for various reasons but if meds are likely to help I am seriously considering it!! 😩

Similar boat here - waiting for diagnosis purely to access Meds however I've been put off a bit as a colleague has the meds and has said it has completely wrecked her stomach health and even super strong probiotics are not helping.

Stimulants transformed my ability to pay attention to task I needed to complete, however, they also made me really angry and gave me heart palpitations so I decided to stop taking them.

That’s interesting, since trialing stimulants I’ve had a lot of digestive issues and have been diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome.

Would you come off them? I imagine it's that. IBS is just a lazy diagnosis when they don't know the cause. My friend won't come off them because she literally can't function without them and has a lot of other mental health issues which are exacerbated by the adhd.

I was diagnosed at 27 (32 now) I took stimulants for 3 years, have been off them on the psychiatrist advice while TTC. My general ability to ‘function’ was better but I did lose my hyper focus to certain tasks a bit and the stimulants unmasked a lot of sensory sensitivities that I was too chaotic to realise were there before. Since i’ve been off them my emotional regulation is poorer and I get overwhelmed more easily. Once we’ve had a successful pregnancy I will probably go back on them

Edit : for the sensory stuff there have been a number of professionals who also think I might be autistic, and I also have a lot of the signs (I’m an ASC specialist teacher) but won’t seek diagnosis for that currently as the process is so long

I gave them a good go but stopped taking them after 9 months due to the side effects. It was after I stopped taking stimulants that I ended up with debilitating stomach pains and was diagnosed with IBS. I’ve been taking a non-stimulant for 18 months and it is incredibly effective at managing then MH side of having ADHD and my emotions are now stable. The non-stimulant doesn’t do anything to improve my productivity but I can live with that as I now understand why I can’t do certain things and don’t get as frustrated by it. It looks like I’ll have digestive issues for the rest of my life. I now have to avoid wide range of foods otherwise I end up incredibly bloated and in pain.

I was dx at about 35, tried meds, did help a bit, my house was definitely tidier, but didn’t really change my world as I hoped they would and DH gets a bit overwhelmed by me being ‘on it’ so much. I can’t organise myself sufficiently to order and pick up a prescription so I’ve not taken them for years. At work I’m quite stimulated and so they didn’t make a huge difference. Did make a big difference to my ability to sort laundry though.

Dc was on them and they worked well. He came off as he grew out of much of it and simply didn't need them any longer.

I think you need to balance the risk of side effects. We had to have investigations prior to starting as they said they can cause heart issues.

I found that stimulants improved my focus, but utterly sabotaged creativity. So I could do the really tedious bits of my job more efficiently, but didn’t have the spontaneous and wide ranging ideas that I need to do it effectively. I figured the same must be happening in other parts of my life so stopped after a couple of years.
Scared to stop at first as I really felt the meds improved my emotional regulation. Stopped them after 3 weeks of Covid when I was sleeping all day so didn’t need- want them. Never took another one. Emotional regulation has remained improved. Much better self awareness and self acceptance. That was diagnosis, not meds.

Yes only on a low dose methylphenidate, quick release.

Also the anti depressant citalopram on a low dose also does help with motivation.

Also lots of ADHD strategies out there but if you are late diagnosed it's going to take a while to understand your ADHD and implement strategies.

I should say that whilst I'm undiagnosed I was casually "diagnosed" by a GP around 15yrs ago (in asking for help with an ED and he remarked that was his opinion "off the record") so I've had plenty of time to come to terms with my situation 😂

In all honesty I am fine with most elements but am starting to get frustrated with the procrastination element... I also reckon I have serious demand avoidance (PDA) which doesn't help!

I would be devastated if anyone tried to take my ADHD meds away! I can’t make it through a day of work without them. They stop me burning through all my mental energy before lunchtime, and really help me to get tasks started.

Just to warn you. There's a huge shortage of adhd med stimulants. People are massively struggling to fill prescriptions.

Some really helpful comments, thank you!

Especially interesting about the potential digestive issues as I already suffer with these (have recently been assessed for IBS due to recurring discomfort) so reluctant to cause any more aggravation (although interestingly there has been research into the links between ADHD and the gut in general so could be the ADHD causing it not the meds...?).

Certainly wouldn't want to lose hyper focus potential or creativity! I am also a LOT better at emotional regulation since taking lions mane regularly so don't know if that would matter...

Food for thought!

Medication has changed my life

Honestly, I cant function without them

Oh I also have ulcerative colitis and pcos and medication has been fine

This is super interesting!! I often find myself completely buggered mentally by about 4 o'clock with nothing left in the tank to do dinner effectively engage with the kids and tidy up ... Fed up of the complete mess and routinely fall asleep on the sofa before my preteen 🤦🏼‍♀️

I had heard about the drug shortage, yes 😕

For what it’s worth, I’ve been much more creative since medication, because I’m so much better at planning and completing things now. I paint and sew, and have completed some of my favourite projects over the past few years.

Haven’t noticed my IBS getting worse, but it’s definitely no better either sigh

I’m diagnosed and medicated, I had to change medication as I started getting blindingly bad migraines. I’ve also had to stop drinking caffeine, which I could never have even contemplated before as I literally existed on coffee, but now any whiff of caffeine and I can see the migraine beginning to descend.

wouldn’t say it’s been life changing taking the meds, but I do feel they help, not enough that I can notice a big difference but if I stopped taking them I’d notice iykwim?

interested about your lions mane though… what do you take? Dried in capsules or tea or fresh? I’ve heard good things about it (I’m also secretly tempted to microdose magic mushrooms but in typical adhd fashion can’t be arsed with the growing of them!)

Following out of interest.

Have recently been curious as to whether I have the inattentive type.

• lifelong chronic procrastination
• failed all my attempts at adult study qualifications, due to not being able to force myself to concentrate on work
• frequent task paralysis- esp caused by overwhelm when I have a lot to do
• lack of motivation
• past issues with depression and currently anxiety
• struggle to form habits, in fact have very few healthy habitual behaviours
• addictive tendencies to phone, eating, etc

Secretly have spent a lot of my life wondering whether I’m just fundamentally lazier than others.

Feeling like it’s come to a head since I’ve had a child and now trying to balance work and parenting.

@MyUsernameIsBetterThanYours, I could have written your post. Yes to all of your list. I keep saying I will try and get on a waiting list for an assessment but haven’t got round to it yet. 😂 I have an elderly uncle who has recently been diagnosed, and teenage DD also very recently diagnosed. We all share some traits, (and my late mum too) which makes me think I’d like to be assessed.

My son has it and finally got the right meds for him. He came home from school excited and said “MOM! My brain is completely empty!” They stilled his thoughts so he could pay attention to learning. We wasted 3 years on another drug that was doing nothing for him but he didn’t know what it was supposed to feel like until he switched.

I've considered seeing the GP for this too but a) I'm worried they'll think I'm jumping on the bandwagon and b) I keep forgetting to do it 🤣 3 of my kids are on waiting list for ADHD/autism so it's definitely in my genes.

I've got the following concerns:

• procrastination, especially on tasks that are boring, regardless of how important they are. Will resist getting started on tasks that make me feel overwhelmed
• addictive personality
• eating issues - currently very very overweight but was borderline anorexic as a teen and used to deliberately starve myself for long periods
• diagnosed OCD, anxiety and depression
• risky behaviour as a teen
• struggled to concentrate at school and underachieved as a result
• get bored and impatient incredibly easily and struggle to be still eg in meetings or waiting in a queue
• on talking to my mum about what I was like as a child, she says I was never still, talked constantly and I see these traits in my son who's on the waiting list for an ADHD assessment - she also says he is exactly like I was as a child
• utterly shit with finances
• have absolutely zero sense of delayed gratification

There's more but I can't remember right now

Interesting thread. I had to stop taking medication because of the side effects. I am struggling without it but no choice but to keep going. I need to find better management strategies!

Oh, and also my brain feels like a browser with 100 tabs open and they're all auto playing different videos/adverts