Does it sounds like I have ADHD?

[ricenoodle]

This has been playing on my mind for a while as I often see things online (social media or MN) about ADHD and really relate to them. If it's relevant, my brother has diagnosed ADHD (he was diagnosed as a child and is on medication for it).

Things that make me think I may have ADHD:

• I become seriously obsessed with things – like crazily obsessed – and then lose interest. I have cupboards full of things I've taken up at one point or another: pottery, beading, gel nails, etching, crochet, knitting, sewing, language books etc... When I take something up, I go all in – I buy everything I need (spending money I can't really afford to spend on tools, books, apps, classes, materials etc), prioritise doing the new hobby over other things like work, house chores, meeting up with friends, or even having lunch / showering; and spend hours at a time completely focused on doing that thing. Then I just suddenly lose interest and move onto the next thing. I'm really aware that this is something I do but it doesn't stop me from doing it. Friends often joke about what my latest obsession / hobby will be – although I don't think anyone realises the extent that I get obsessed. I don't know if it's relevant but I often pick these things up and become good at them quite quickly, and then just as quickly lose interest.
• Similarly, I find it really difficult to switch off and go to sleep even if I'm tired or have an important day the next day. I'll find myself reading or looking up something online in bed at 10pm and then before I know it it's 1am.
• I find it very difficult to focus on something like watching TV or a film without doing something with my hands. I took up knitting a few years ago (one of the few things I've stuck with!) and I always have 5 or 6 projects on the go. I find it really helpful to knit when I'm trying to focus on something else.
• I can be quite forgetful unless I force myself to be organised. E.g. I have a list of household chores that I have written down for each day of the week and I have to tick them off. If I don't do this, then they just pile up as I forget to do them or don't realise how long it's been since I've done them.
• I know I have a problem with impulsive shopping. It makes it really difficult to manage my finances.

Of course, these could all just be things that are totally unrelated to ADHD – but I do increasingly feel like I relate to the symptoms people describe (but then that could just be because more people are posting about it and so I'm more exposed to reading about it). I don't actually know what would change if I did know I had ADHD or what (if any) kind of treatment I would need/want? I guess I would hope to be able to be a bit more on top of general day-to-day things in life, or even just learn a bit more about it.

My AIBU – to think this is something I should maybe explore further, or is it just using something that is increasingly talked about online to try to explain neurotypical behaviours?

Any thoughts would be appreciated, either way!

You seem very ignorant about ADHD. Perhaps you could go read up on it, rather than denigrate the experiences of people who have this neurological disorder.

I wish I could block you.

No, your ignorance hurts.

Sounds exactly like me.
I haven't looked into being assessed, I don't really see the point.

What a pointless contribution.

I think it's great that people are open to having a better understanding of what makes them tick, and have access to resources or treatments that allow them to live an easier life. I don't understand why some are so weird about people seeking to understand themselves better... it's odd.

I think you have nothing to offer this thread whatsoever.

It seems like you're the one being triggered by someone simply asking about other people's experiences in understanding more about how their brain works / the way they experience the world.

Why is it a bad thing to want to understand yourself more? If you don't like it, then don't post on a thread about it.

@BluebirdLaces My mother, my two daughters and I all have ADHD. All four of us underwent rigorous evaluations with around eight hours of testing each, full medical histories, and testimony from multiple people who know us well (family, teachers). It took my older daughter’s therapist a few years to even recommend that she be evaluated, because some of my daughter’s symptoms were also possibly attributable to her anxiety disorder. I wasn’t diagnosed until I was 22 and my mother wasn’t diagnosed until she was nearly 60.

Honestly, I'd just ignore this poster. They have no useful information to offer, and lack empathy in their responses. They're only trying to wind people up.

I wouldn't say from these alone that it's obvious you are ADHD. What you describe is quite common. How old are you?

I've recently turned 40, and have found these symptoms are getting worse (over the past 5 years maybe?) I mentioned some other details in an earlier post. I guess I'm wondering if there's a reason behind these behaviours and just felt like I was relating a lot to posts from people with ADHD (but also know that it could just be that I'm seeing more of these posts online lately!)

Is it really common to hyperfocus on something to the point that you don't shower, and then lose interest in it completely after say a week?

The only people I know like this have ADHD. Perhaps you do too, if you're like this?

I think it could be ADHD yes. I think whether or not you pursue a diagnosis could maybe depend on how disabling you find these issues? If you're able to live a full, happy, fulfilling life and don't feel that you'd benefit from ADHD coaching then it may not be worthwhile.

I don’t know how old you are OP…I have traits and wouldn’t ever reach a diagnostic threshold but I had a pretty chaotic puberty/ teenagerhood and now in peri menopause I’m finding I am very symptomatic again..sometimes the hormonal side can impact on women, it’s quite possible if you had a brother diagnosed as a child that you may share a lot of traits; many of us who have adhd kids are now looking at ourselves and going ahh, that explains a lot with regards to our own experiences! I’m not sure a diagnosis as a adult is worth pursuing unless you’d want to medicate yourself.There are some options you could try like alternative medications/ supplements that are thought to help, there are dietary changes you could make plus learning things like mindfulness/ meditation.

That seems a bit harsh. OP has described needing to create and maintain a daily plan so she remembers to shower, among other standard tasks. The effort to do that must be exhausting for her.

Not remembering to shower without a prompt seems like an indicator that OP has challenges with executive function. She's been proactive in creating strategies to help her manage that, but it sounds like it's becoming more difficult to keep on top of everything.

OP, I don't know if you necessarily want to get a diagnosis, but it sounds like you would benefit from understanding your challenges better, and finding less exhausting strategies to manage them.

I have a friend who takes medication at the times she knows she needs her brain to function in a more consistent way. For example, in the lead up to deadlines at work or major events at home. She did need a diagnosis to access medication, so it has been worth it for her to have that additional strategy.

I didn’t say the OP can’t have ADHD. 😕
I said I can’t say if the OP has ADHD or not.

Nothing at all wrong in what I wrote.

They all sound like possible ADHD behaviours, but there are also other explanations!

I think one of the things that is an important diagnostic factor is whether your symptoms are genuinely debilitating and affect all aspects of your life. Lots of people experience scattiness, hyperfixations, lack of focus etc. The question is, are these symptoms so severe that they impact all aspects of your life and aren’t something you can simply pull yourself out of when necessary? If so, there’s a good chance it’s ADHD.

If it’s come on only recently and in adulthood, then it may be brain fog with a cause other than ADHD. ADHD is something you are born with and will have impacted your entire life.

It’s worth getting assessed, but I’d be looking at other causes as well.
e,g brain fog is associated with long covid.

This will probably be a contraversial opinion but I think ADHD is currently the "in" thing to be aware of, and to consider whether you have, when in fact it's a perfectly understandable response for our brains to have, having been bombarded 24 hours a day with information. Thankyou, Tim Berners-Lee and the World Wide Web.

Life was simpler pre-internet. People just got on with their day, going to work, looking after kids, cleaning their houses, shopping, chatting to the neighbours. You might learn that some of your neighbours may have had a slightly different routine to yours or a hobby you'd never done before which might have given you pause for thought, but there was no overthinking every second of your life, doubting how you've always done something because you'd seen some stupid influencer or facebook reel with someone you don't even know, whose opinion you can't possibly trust for this reason, recommending you do it a different way or use a different product. There was no Facebook with people we are barely acquainted with sharing photos of their "perfect" nights out/holidays/partners/exciting lifestyle or hobby or fitness routing, always making us feel that we could try their way and look as happy as that.

There were no 24 hour TV with multiple channels which it's far too easy to flick through for half an hour without even having watched a whole programme. news channels which some people find they are kind of addicted to, keeping them on in the background just in case they "miss something". There were no lifestyle shows apart from the odd cooking show. (I'm thinking of my childhood here in the 70s and 80s.) So no-one telling you how you should be living your life, how you should be decorating your house, how you should be parenting your child, how you should be dressing or looking 10 years younger.

You simply just lived your life and didn't overthink the way you were doing it. Even booking a holiday, you flicked through a few holidays brochures, rang and booked it then waited for your tickets to arrive in the post. No wasting hours and hours overanalysing on Tripadvisor, Kayak, no tussling with bloody dynamic pricing, because you just paid what was printed in the brochure and that was your holiday booked. The result of that simpler life was that people were generally more content with their lot, didn't compare themselves to others all the time, didn't feel like they had to be "productive" all the time or copy the latest trend. Didn't flit from one thing to the other trying to achieve this.

I was a student in 1992 and marvelled at the fact that I could type a message on my screen and it then appeared on my friend's screen over the other side of the classroom. That was witchcraft to me and I became fascinated with how you could access information and knowledge, for free, about almost any subject, from a computer on the other side of the world. The genie is out the bottle now and we can never go back to the simpler pre-internet life, but we do need to be more mindful of how it and therefore modern society generally, has affected our brains and ability to be content. It's been, and continues to be, particularly bad for individuals who have a natural tendance to procrastinate or be a bit impulsive. How many people in less developed countries have even heard of ADHD never mind sit wondering if they could have it? They just get up, live their day, go to bed, and same again next day. And are often all the happier for it.

I grew up pre-internet.

I have always had ADHD.

Your assumptions about the populations of "less developed countries" are based on what?