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

People with no great drama in life don’t get autism and adhd diagnoses. Both conditions have to have had a significant impact on life to meet threshold. I am late diagnosed with children. You’d probably think due to being married and having children all is tickety boo.Autism amd adhd have blighted my life, ruined my career( the figures of unemployed and under employed people with adhd and autism are staggering), impacted relationships, mental health….Like most I don’t share any of this.

Just loving the way women and girls are shut out of diagnoses for years and the minute they start to be recognised and get diagnosed they’re dismissed and belittled as just not managing real life. You couldn’t make it up. Medical misogyny is loud and kicking.

My DD has been diagnosed with ADHD but that has helped her find the coping mechanism. We know what the 'problems' are, for example, her working memory is dire, so when she does maths she has to put in an extra 3 steps compared to most people because she can't hold numbers in her head. The result is her maths scores went up and no one would have spotted this without having that assessment and understanding that working memory was the issue We would have just thought she couldn't do maths. We have really worked on study skills and life organisation. We know she is time blind so we have bought her a watch so she can learn to set her own reminders etc. etc. We don't medicate because we feel like learning those coping strategies are what the diagnosis supports. Yes we might have come to them without diagnosis but it's a hell of a lot easier knowing what the issue are.

Not knowing she had autism and ADHD nearly killed my daughter. I have had several very high level NHS professionals tell me that not knowing what was causing her difficulties lead to her huge mental struggles. People with an autism and adhd can also be hugely vulnerable and easily taken advantage of. Diagnosis is crucial.

Yes exactly, and yet Mumsnet HQ will delete your comment if you say ADHD is not a disability.

And Mumsnet's misunderstanding is becoming super-widespread, to the extent that it is becoming difficult to deny special accommodations and payments to people who are claiming them on the grounds solely of ADHD (rather than functional disability).

Well they can't delete me if I say that my ADHD, diagnosed by an adult ADHD psychiatrist, has never caused me any issues which would have made me eligible for disability benefits or for reasonable adjustments at work.

As explained to me by my psychiatrist, ADHD is not itself a disability for many adults, it is a condition which can often be moderated by drugs and lifestyle factors.

A diagnosis alone does not get you disability benefits.

People with no great drama in life don’t get autism and adhd diagnoses

I don't recognise myself or my autistic husband (it's a common pairing, we cover each others weaknesses) as having had any great drama in life. Can you explain what sort of thing you mean?

Because it is recognised as a disability under the Equality Act as is autism. Both need to have a significant impact on life to qualify for diagnosis.A condition counts as a disability if it is a physical or mental impairment that has a "substantial" (more than minor or trivial) and "long-term" (lasting or expected to last for 12 months or more) adverse effect on normal daily life.

https://www.gov.uk/definition-of-disability-under-equality-act-2010

https://adhduk.co.uk/reasonable-adjustments/

https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/employment/what-are-reasonable-adjustments-and-when-can-they#Autism,%20disability%20and%20UK%20equality%20law

My DD is diagnosed ASD and has OCD and none of those symptoms apply to her. I have no diagnosis but often relate to ASD and ADHD symptoms when I read about them. I struggled loads in my teens emotionally but not academically. But I’ve given up thinking about whether I am neurodiverse because it doesn’t matter. I have learned to cope with my quirks and if I am on a spectrum it is nothing like as debilitating as what my DD has to cope with. But I agree, when you read those social media posts, it is easy to think ‘that’s me’!

You best ask the original poster, one presumes difficulties, impact….

It’s interesting as my algorhythm must be very much set to ND posts on social media however I simply don’t get a deluge of posts by posters declaring their ND. Not one. I follow people who have had their lives significantly impaired by autism and adhd. One wonders what people are doing on social media to get this alleged influx.

Oh then you must have OCD instead then?! 😂

Not everybody can or should take adhd medication. Only half of those diagnosed with it do. I don’t. I suspect for many with both autism and ADHD taking adhd meds can be anxiety provoking. Therapies (which I’ve had)don’t make it go away or non disabling for many either.

I was not that clear cut even a couple of years ago, and since the wording of EA 2010 did not change since, I'm assuming it's the public interpretation of what constitutes disability has.

Both need to have a significant impact on life to qualify for diagnosis.

Yes, but a significant impact on life does not automatically mean you have a disability that anyone would recognise or anything which would qualify you for disabled benefits or reasonable work adjustments.

I think this is where the confusion is arising.

The criteria for having ADHD is so wide now - it renders it meaningless.

How is a significant impact on life not “a physical or mental impairment that has a "substantial" (more than minor or trivial) and "long-term" (lasting or expected to last for 12 months or more) adverse effect on normal daily life.”

Are you trying to imply that this is normal behaviour?!

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

I don't either. Like a lot of people I use running, which is getting more difficult with age, and I take alcar which damps down anxiety and misophonia and have recently started rhodiola which has drastically improved my sleep and mood.

Tyrosine can be very helpful (I can't take it due to rheumatoid arthritis) because it increases norepinephrine like the newest ADHD non-stimulant drugs and the newest antidepressants do. But so does rhodiola.

Alcar and tyrosine are amino acids. I have also read that ADHD symptoms can be moderated by eating more red meat (also not advised with RA).

No the criteria now recognises how it can present in women and girls and that those with autism can have it too. The recent ADHD review highlights how expansion has allowed clinicians to catch groups previously missed, such as women, girls, and adults. The report also states that the actual underlying prevalence of ADHD in the population remains stable; we are simply getting better at identifying people who previously went undiagnosed.

I don't understand your question.

My post says that a significant impact on life won't necessarily mean you can claim disability benefits or reasonable work adjustments.

No but that also doesn’t mean it’s not a disability. I don’t claim benefits, neither do 2 of my children however one does. We are all disabled by it- 2 of my children significantly so requiring a high level of support ( including the one that doesn’t qualify for benefits).

This isn't a competition!

Some people with ADHD are obviously disabled by it to the outside world.

Some are not obvious to the outside world but are disabled by it.

And some like me, and I am far from alone, would not describe ourselves as disabled.

It's a bit more complicated than that, particularly in girls/women. Dd has ADHD. Diagnosed because it's a comorbidity with another condition she has. She has been to uni, very high achieving academically and now is doing well in a difficult career. She learned to drive and functions well in some areas of her life but is an absolute disaster in other areas. But it is exhausting for her as she has had to come up with coping mechanisms and ways of working to overcome her limitations. Because she is very intelligent she can come up with elaborate compensatory mechanisms. She's not currently on meds but at least she knows if things get too overwhelming that they are an option.

But yes, I do agree that all the self-diagnosed ADHD people are a bit wearing. Yes, you forgot to buy the milk. No, that does not mean you have ADHD.

'Significant impact' in diagnostic criteria is fairly subjective tbf, and does not mean that the person who has a diagnosis of ADHD automatically meets disability criteria under EA2010. These two are completely separate frameworks, which over years seems to have merged in public opinion and on SM.

Btw, if we started to look at the actual rates of FADS for example - one of most common and completely avoidable neurolodevelopmental conditions, which often leads to more impairment than ADHD and is occuring at least as often as ADHD, with very similar symptoms - we'd have a different discussion I believe.