Does anyone think they DONT have ADHD?

[Frenchtoastie]

I keep seeing posts on instagram with various reasons why someone has ADHD and then hundreds of comments below reporting these people also have all of these symptoms.
Just wondering if anyone reads these and doesn’t relate to them? To me they are just part of being human, but maybe I am completely wrong and I have ADHD🤣

the posts generally include statement along these lines…

• I find it hard to get going or impossible to stop
• I can put off a tiny task for weeks but worry about it for hours but when I finally complete it it takes 5 minutes
• I can distracted and start cleaning after the shower and suddenly I’ve cleaned the whole house whilst wearing my towel
• Having a chair covered in clothes
• having multiple drinks on the go in the house
• needing a calender because if not I would forget appointments

These lists online are often reductive and are vague generalisations of how ADHD can manifest. Also, they are short and snappy for short-form media. So yes, they will seem to apply to many people who have ADHD and who don't.

Tbh 'ADHD' is now so commonplace it's become the new normal, no longer deserving of particularly special consideration. It's more unusual if children/people say they don't have it!

Maybe they aren't, in fact, perfectly happy 🤔

Half the posters here seem to have it and autism.

I'm not qualified to say if, they do or don't.

I do think the number of people being diagnosed with these conditions is unsustainable, though

I know I have ADHD, yes I do all of those but some of the things I have done in my life to get the dopamine kick would make your hair stand on end. My son got diagnosed about 3 years ago. I had to fill a check list of his behaviour as a child. I also ticked for myself every box he did. It has ruined my life by my bad decisions and low self esteem..l However I’m brilliant in a crisis and took having aggressive breast cancer so calmly the nurse thought I didn’t understand. I joked with the paramedic while lying on the middle of the road having crashed my Vespa. If I look at my family tree I can see how it runs through my whole family.

Would you say that about cancer? Lets stop diagnosing people as it is unsustainable?

Me actually...😅. I have diagnosed ADHD but also have a co- morbid diagnosis of OCD and HATE stuff lying around.

It would come between me and my nights sleep to have any clothes on my floor.

Both are under diagnosed. How is 1% of people being diagnosed with autism and 3-4% with adhd( many have both and are the same people) unsustainable. Under diagnosed and under treated ADHD costs the UK £17 billion a year. What do you want people to do, pretend they haven’t got either?

ADHD isn’t just a bunch of chaotic habits. It’s how it makes you feel about the things you do/don’t do. People with ADHD often feel shame, feel useless, that they’re a nuisance, that they’re ‘pretending’ all day and hate themselves for it.

I am also still wondering how my diagnosed audhd is costing anyone anything bar myself. What am I missing?

Interesting take Petunia. You clearly have never struggled with the reality of having an ADHD brain and all the repercussions. No one would ‘seek’ feeling like this

The OP isn't laughing at people who genuinely have it, it's the people jumping on a bandwagon, the people that start out trying to get all their kids diagnosed with as many ND conditions each as possible because the more the merrier and then the mother decides she has all these things as well! It's the idiots on forums that are bloody obsessed and diagnose everybody they come across on forum threads with it!

My brother was diagnosed with it last year, he's 52 now and he has had glaring genuine hallmarks of it since childhood and when he tried a friends meds he couldn't believe the difference it made to him! But he was diagnosed last Dec and here we are approaching Nov and he hasn't even had titration yet! How much is the system being drained by mummies and kiddies that are jumping on a trend! How many kids are on ADHD meds they don't really need so mummy doesn't have to put much effort into discipline and the kids sits quieter at school!

Unlike cancer, I'm suspicious of the quality and knowledge of some of the people making the diagnosis.

So you don't trust psychiatrists? Because only they can formally diagnose adhd. Nobody on tiktok can make a diagnosis. Nobody can self diagnose. In order for you to get a diagnosis you need to pay for or get referred to a psychiatrist for testing. I assume what you are referring to is the cost of SOME people claiming benefits AFTER a formal diagnosis as it is not really as easy as diagnosing oneself and then trying to claim benefits, you need proof that you have indeed got a neurological condition.

I realise I might be a bit late but I couldn't resist sorry

The online narrative about these things is a bit clumsy and contains a lot of misinformation or lacks nuance. So you'll have a genuine concept which has been passed through "Chinese whispers" so many times it has become an entirely different point.

FWIW, I have diagnosed ADHD. These are my thoughts on the list in the OP:

• I find it hard to get going or impossible to stop

Can be a personality trait. Could be associated with ADHD, especially if it's severe or causes problems.

• I can put off a tiny task for weeks but worry about it for hours but when I finally complete it it takes 5 minutes

Extremely common pattern in ADHD. I don't know if it's common in people without ADHD. Perhaps it happens occasionally - with ADHD it seems like this is happening constantly to the point that it causes issues in everyday life.

• I can distracted and start cleaning after the shower and suddenly I’ve cleaned the whole house whilst wearing my towel

I can't say I've ever done this personally. But I do recognise the concept of ending up getting pulled into something which seems inconsistent with what I had originally been planning to do, which after a shower, is probably dry myself and get dressed. And I recognise the concept of seemingly mundane or ordinary tasks (like the shower) not getting finished because I have become sidetracked by something else. And the cleaning not having been done in the first place would also be a common theme/pattern - having difficulty keeping up with routine or mundane tasks. So I think that what this is supposed to be is an amusing anecdote which illustrates difficulties with planning, self-motivation and task completion.

• Having a chair covered in clothes

Total red herring, I think almost everyone has this unless they are especially organised/tidy and dislike having clothes on a chair.

• having multiple drinks on the go in the house

Much too small and specific to be anything at all. I would guess this is meant to be an anecdote to illustrate the ADHD difficulty with working memory, which can result in leaving unfinished things (like drinks) all over the place, starting a new thing (e.g. a drink) even though the last one is not finished just because you wanted a change/forgot you had the first one, or possibly sensory seeking (having random cravings for cold/hot/caffeine/sweet/sour/carbonated). But yeah, not really ADHD related even if a lot of people with ADHD would relate to it.

• needing a calender because if not I would forget appointments

I think this is just a normal adult thing. Perhaps a difference between ADHD younger adults (18-24 ish) and non ADHD younger adults - IME most younger people can just remember things without writing them down because they don't have that much on. Once you get older and have 50+ things in your head you can't juggle this any more. People with ADHD get to the point of not being able to juggle everything earlier, and calendars help. Plenty of young adults with ADHD approach calendars like their peers (thinking they are for old people) and get into a mess because of it.

Nobody gets disability benefits on the basis of having an ADHD diagnosis alone.

You must evidence disabilities as a result of it which qualify for disability payments.

I don't have any, so I don't claim benefits.

I don’t have ADHD. My son does and let me tell you now, he DEFINITELY has ADHD.

What a ridiculously ignorant post. The government review into autism, ADHD and mental illness says

“None of this should be taken to suggest that people’s distress or difficulties are not real. If anything, the evidence points the other way: the rising numbers coming forward for assessment have not been accompanied by any fall in severity or impairment - those now presenting are no less affected than those identified before. People are seeking answers and support for very real problems, and they are not the problem”

All my children have autism, adhd.I was late diagnosed with both autism and adhd. They are both strongly genetic and highly heritable so stands to reason I have several children with both. I was late diagnosed because like many women I was shut out of the diagnosis process as a child which was not my fault.

Well I have been diagnosed with ADHD and only have 1 drink on the go, no clothes on the chair in my bedroom and once I start cleaning, I can very much stop without doing the whole flat. Towel or not.

TLDR: not sure your list of traits entirely meets NHS diagnostic criteria

Apparently you’re all getting everyone else’s HARD EARNED money and driving around in motability cars. And as for all those children getting extra time and smaller rooms for exams … You’re getting everything and they’re getting nothing and it’s not fair!

My son’s ADHD is extremely - and I mean extremely - debilitating, more so since he entered his teens than when he was just a seemingly quirky little boy. So if anyone wants to take it off him and try and cadge some free stuff, I’m sure he’d happily oblige. He doesn’t get any free stuff by the way. And extra time in an exam would be pure torture.

Ah I see well I am in the elite group where I get to go out and earn my own money and pay my own taxes and also pay for my own meds, therapy and everything else. It is really living the dream. Sadly I am unable to claim all the weird and wonderful supports and benefits out there however I am glad there are supports for people who need them.

I agree op. Similar to how people casually claim to have ocd because they like things clean and tidy but actually ocd is much more complex, adhd is the same.

Calm down! I said it's real and that my brother has it! This isn't about you so stop pretending anyone said it was! You have to accept that the numbers of people claiming to have this conditions has reached ridiculous levels! That's why it's being talked about! That's why medical professionals are raising concerns and why there has been TV documentaries questioning it! Why be personally nasty to me when I'm stating what the general feeling in the UK. Does everybody have to have it just because you've got it! Don't tell lies ever again, I told you it was real and that my brother has it but I also told you that he can't even get meds because the system is so strained by the masses jumping on the bandwagon. If the cap doesn't fit you personally then step back and stop being aggressive in your posts!