What's the point of an ADHD diagnosis?

[HelpAGirlOut1234]

Just as the title says... what is actually the point if you have no intention of taking medication, or medicating your child.

What good will this mindset do her when she hits burnout?

Well in terms of her achieving excellent grades, I guess it is working. Although I feel it comes at a huge emotional cost to her. The run up to exams is extremely stressful. It is difficult for sure. Not that she really admits it.

I definitely worry about burn out.

It's something you should keep an eye out for, the amount of unravelling can be quite disturbing, could take years for her to recover and even then you may find she loses the ability to do things she was once very skillful at.

It’s hard to explain, but I just feel like a weight off my shoulders.
It’s like I have the answers I didn’t even know I needed.
Diagnosis at 37 just felt to me like someone saying “it’s okay to be the way you are. you’ve got a disorder, but in fact it means you’re more normal than you think!”
I felt incapable and didn’t understand why I couldn’t thrive like others. Now I find it easier to let things go and don’t beat myself up about things I’ve said or done/not done.

I guess you don’t really know how you’ll feel and if it’ll make a difference to you, unless you get an assessment

Child - rest breaks / movement breaks / prompt / gentle reminders to stay on task etc etc etc.

This isn’t quite correct.

the assessments are for those with processing issues (form 8) and no diagnosis is required. ADHD wouldn’t be covered by a form 8 or that testing. It would be covered by a form 9 and a diagnosis is required for that.

I would still recommend the diagnosis. My first major ADHD related "you can cope until you cant" crisis happened between getting an offer from Cambridge and sitting my A levels. My school, trying to help me get the best grades, pulled on extra work and I couldn't handle the time management and lack of downtime, started self-harming and ended up with grades considerably lower than those predicted. My circle of friends contains many, many high-achieving neurodivergent people whose lives were seriously messed up by trying and failing to be neurotypical at university, in our jobs, in our relationships and as parents. Most of us have spent our lives dealing with anxiety and depression which improve ex dramatically after diagnosis.

The truth is that masking is exhausting and ultimately ineffective, and working around an accurate assessment of what you can do, can do but only with a huge amount of effort, can do but not reliably, and just can't do makes life better not only for you, but for friends, family, colleagues and anyone else you encounter.

That's post GCSE isn't it? I can't remember now.

Anyway my DC has no formal DX of anything but does need extra time and this was shown in the processing/ timed assessments the sendco conducted, and communicated to teachers as the normal way of working. Then extra time in the exams.

No. JCQ covers GCSE’s. It’s any formal qualification at KS4 or 5.

As said they don’t need a formal diagnosis for extra time for processing issues if they have scores using CTOPP, TOWRE etc. that had completely different for extra time for adhd which would require a formal diagnosis.

I think for us they recognised the lack of focus / slow processing and assessed for that even though it's clear that this is due to ADHD. I think one is part of the other.

Only it’s not. Poor processing is present both with and without adhd. And there are multiple people with adhd with no processing difficulties. I am one. I have top centile processing and adhd. They are two entirely separate qualifying criteria. You can still qualify for extra time without processing difficulties. Hence form 8 and form 9.

I can’t take meds for ADHD, my heart could stop (heart condition and high blood pressure)

But it does potentially get me reasonable adjustments in work and the knowledge that I’m not thick or lazy tbh.

my ds can’t function without his ADHD meds and he’s now 24. Some people don’t like meds or the side effects of them.

I'm not sure it's worth diagnosing any condition if you're not prepared to accept the appropriate, well-evidenced treatment to be honest?

Like, what would be the point of saying 'Yes he has diabetes but we don't give him meds. And tbh I don't think it's always a blood sugar problem, just laziness'.

It would be actual madness.

Why would you not want to medicate? I know the meds have down sides and cannot 'cure' ADHD, but being able to concentrate and organise yourself makes life so much easier for a person with ADHD.

Yes of course processing is present with and without ADHD. In our case the processing is part of the ADHD / focus. But we don't have a formal DX of the ADHD yet. My point was that you don't have to have a formal ADHD DX to get extra time.

This is such a useful thread, regardless of the intent of the OP. My teen DS is recently diagnosed and is v upset about it. I was hoping it would lead to meds and a huge turn around in his approach and ability to cope in school and life in general but he is really struggling with it and won't even consider meds. He's mid GCSE so it's a bit crucial timing wise but I don't want to upset him further by pushing it..he missed a lot of school last year through anxiety / EBSA. Not sure how I'll approach it with him but there have been some brilliant posts on here about how it's helped to have the DX, so thank you.

And my point is that is not entirely accurate. You cannot get extra time for adhd without a diagnosis. Extra time for processing difficulties is completely different.

If you have a diagnosis there is no need to do processing tests.

For me I get anxious around taking medication, I don’t even like taking paracetamol. I know it’s irrational but I worry about side effects and that I will have a serious reaction. I don’t like the idea of taking medication unless I am at a point where there is no alternative. I have health anxiety and worry a lot about having a sudden, catastrophic health issue like a heart attack, aneurysm, stroke or haemorrhage, I lost a parent suddenly and unexpectedly and medication was likely partly to blame and so my health anxiety has gotten much worse since this. ADHD meds can effect heart rate and blood pressure which makes them particularly terrifying to me, obviously I know this is irrational as most of my anxieties are but they feel real nonetheless.

It’s madness to go on medication that has extra risks for you or you’re scared of it
and the worry outweighs the benefits . The NHS does offer alternatives. I was offered group therapy. Many people do want the meds and the NHS is very supportive of that. It’s a very personal decision.

Maybe the child will grow up to choose medication and they'll have the diagnosis ready to go.

So sorry to hear that your ds is upset about the diagnosis. Do you know what exactly it is that he is upset about?

My point is you can get extra time for some of the symptoms of ADHD...

She can’t turn it off, obviously. She has learned that she effectively has less time in her exams than other people. She knows that her mind will wander, that she’ll lose concentration, that she won’t be able to read through her work at the end of the test to check for mistakes, that she won’t spot mistakes easily.

That means the pressure is on for her to work incredibly accurately during her exams. And incredibly fast.

I have no idea for how long she’ll be able to keep this up.

But this thread and all the really helpful PP’s talking about their own experiences has made me decide I need to talk to her again about this and show her this thread.

We are choosing not to medicate our dd just yet simply because there are not enough longitudinal studies of the impact of medication on growing girls brains. I'm aware some research suggests medication can change white matter development in boys but theyre not even sure how or why and whether it's a change for the better or worse. We are not ruling it out completely but didn't want to automatically jump to it.