Talk to me about adult ADHD

[Thefitfatty]

Just been diagnosed, and started on Concerta. Anyone else not figure out they were ADHD till they were in their mid-30's? Can anyone tell me about their side effects? Or what I can expect now that I'm on meds?

Well that went wellish. Gp wants me to rule out a thyroid worsening first then if that's out he will send me off wherever I need to go for worsening adhd in adults. Well he won't as he wont likely be there but he's noted it as an action for whoever I move to.

I got bored with driving lessons, couldn't focus. Need to give it another go soon as I want to be a paramedic (hence why I'm going to actually try and get this treated now because a paramedic with ADHD doesn't sound like a good combo).

Called GP surgery; they've just changed their booking system - you're assigned one GP and you can only book an appointment with that GP. My assigned GP is the least sympathetic GP ever and I can't even call to book an appointment for another two weeks. Meanwhile I'm on the brink of quitting my job. Wondering whether I'd be quicker going the private route, for diagnosis at least.

Hey that's not a bad result at all, Strictly. Well done :) I think it's actually reassuring when they want to rule other things out first. Which reminds me that one of the things they asked for in my assessment was a recent(ish) thyroid test result as it can cause very similar symptoms - the difference between thyroid problems and ADHD being that if you treat the thyroid problem, any difficulties stemming from that should go away or at least improve a lot.

Ovaries, that's annoying. Can you request to change GP?

Actually jobs like being a paramedic are very well suited for ADHD because a lot of the "quick actions required" situations you'll have adrenaline running which can really bring you into your own, and you've got a constantly changing workload so it's not easy to get bored or complacent. It's the studying you'll probably have issues with, presumably, but I don't know what training you need to be a paramedic. I used to read the blog Random Reality (he wrote a book called Blood, Sweat and Tea which is brilliant) and I thought it was fascinating but I don't think I'd cope very well with the blood and vomit! But certainly a challenging job which is always throwing curveballs is brilliant for ADHDers. It might be worth getting treated for managing your everyday stuff around it though.

I am attempting to learn to drive vvv quickly - within 3-4 weeks ideally. Work circumstances are forcing that but DH reckons it will be very good for me actually as intensive study really works very well for me. He's right on that - I've dropped out of college twice, university once and the only post-16 qualification I have to my name is a CELTA which is an extremely high-intensity teacher training course which is supposed to be postgraduate (I commented to my tutor halfway through that my friend was doing a PGCE so we were commiserating together and she laughed and said CELTA is MUCH harder than a PGCE!) I passed that with a high grade and even though it was incredibly stressful, it was also an amazing experience.

I teach English now living in Germany and it's great. I often turn up 10 minutes before the lesson and plan it there and then which is a bit of a nightmare and terrible, terrible practice, but there you go. And occasionally I hyperfocus and produce a wonderful, perfect lesson which makes everyone leave with beaming smiles and I feel fantastic. I love the job in general, though. You get to meet really interesting people and it's surprising what people will tell you when you don't speak their language very well.

I managed university but that was only because I had a baby halfway through (I think we've spoken before when I was under a different name, Bertie!) and the extra challenges that brought kept it exciting and made it doable. I made myself really poorly with stress trying to get it all done but it worked and I got through.

I don't know how I'd go about changing my GP. I don't like this new system they have at all :(

I dropped out of Uni just before my final year, I was always leaving essays until the last minute and things like that - pressure makes me work better.

I don't drive. I tried lessons when I was 18 and stopped after 4 lessons because driving terrifies me as my mind wanders too much. Whenever I'm travelling somewhere I go on autopilot and occasionally find myself in the wrong place when my schedule has changed but that's ok when walking or cycling but not when driving.

Oh Ovaries, did/do you have a blog? I thought you were that poster but I wasn't sure :) I have stopped keeping up with any blogs...

I had a baby before I started uni and found the extra pressure helpful as well but I then stupidly decided to meet someone and talk about moving abroad and got distracted by that really. I actually forgot to go to some exams (I was in Germany at the time!) and it would have taken me three more years to finish. I still wish I'd done it but I think that I would probably have broken up with DH. So I sort of don't as well, because that would mean I would never have moved here, and I do love our life here. It's confusing. I'd love to go back to university some day and retrain, it's hard to get a "proper" job here without a degree.

That's me :) still blogging... only now and then though. Envious of the people who can sit down with a list of blog posts to write and just churn them out!

Blogging was something that was another 5 minute wonder for me. Eek,

Very happy with that result. The only thing that's changed in the last 3 years has been these thyroid antibodies and my tsh level creeping up and up. My baseline was 4.27 last year, nhs treatment starts at 10 unless antibodies are present in which case nhs have none but nice say from 4.5. I'm often above 4.5 but the Drs will only work to my lowest in a set. If this helps me get the thyroid treated then I'm all for it, if not I need help with this side of things.

So I'm writing this hoping my alcoholic friend is too drunk to remember my user name, but she just told me how she believes ASD, Aspbergers, and ADHD are all bullshit and "whatever makes me happy". :(

Hello..I'm following...thankyou for this thread...I'm looking for the strength to make a gp appointment

I can't take my kids to the cinema coz I can't sit there that long...I forget words for things constantly, coz my brain is going faster than I can talk and I forget words like chair or shed..and end up describing it ,saying oh what's it called,you sit on it...my sentences don't make sense because my racing thoughts jumble up what I'm trying to say...I think 2 of my kids have it as well

Wow fit. Maybe your friend needs a hug. With a pillow. On her face. because adhd is a choice but alcoholism is a disease right?

I dropped out of school then college twice - A level college then catering college ...but went back as a mature student and managed to get my A levels and a degree and a post grad
I did leave everything to the last second...also I had the challenge of having to support myself so eg working 4 different jobs when I was doing my A levels - I'd do college in the morning, then go onto one job then onto another one. And they were very different. I loved the balancing act and rushing from one thing to another...in my degree I only worked a couple of jobs -but worked flat out 16 hr days during the holidays to get money together so then had to work hard to catch up with essays etc.
Obviously I left revision till the night before - but for some things I was really interested in I could be hyperfocused ...you can tell what I was interested in by my degree module results...
For my Phd I was also interested plus I had a baby in the first year (accident), my partner opened his own restaurant when DD was 9 months and so I helped out there too (he worked 90+hr weeks) ... and I did his accounts and admin - I also put off writing my thesis till the last minute - I wrote it up in 6 weeks (it normally takes 6 months....) in the last week I didn't have time to sleep - had 5 hours sleep in 48hrs -just made the deadline...
I used to beat myself up over stuff like that -being so stupid and getting myself in such a mess - but I also realised I love a challenge and just pulling it off - the adrenaline rush etc..so some of it is deliberate...

So driving issue today - when driving in town I apparently go way too close to the parked cars on the side of the road. I can't seem to get a feeling for my distance from them at all. Driving instructor says "Why is this so difficult for you?" I just said I don't know because I didn't exactly want to say, oh, I have no spacial awareness and can't judge distances generally!

But if anyone has helpful, ADHD friendly tips I would appreciate it. I'm in a right side driving country so if you're going to give tips with directions please state if you're talking about UK driving or not, cheers! :)

I really don't understand why all of you still have it, as according to the woman piece of shit at the benefit's office, her son had it and grew out of it. When my oldest (26) said he was waiting to be assessed, she rolled her eyes and told him he was just lazy. Rooted stinking ignorant fucker.

They used to think people grew out of it. They know better now. But it was standard advice from doctors 10 or so years ago.

What we know now is that the hyperactive component tends to calm down with age, but the attention and distractability remains.

If somebody literally outgrows their ADHD entirely, it wasn't ADHD. It was bad parenting or possibly a reaction to a stressful environment.

I've never outgrown it and never been diagnosed either. The on,y reason I k is I have it is that DS who is a carbon copy of me as a child has it and ASD. I strongly suspect I also have Aspergers as well.

Interestingly a GP I saw with DS with recently told him not to ever let anyone say he wasn't clever (DS said he found stuff hard to learn). He said that he also had ADHD. I asked him if it was diagnosed and he said it wasn't but he knew from all he had seen and read that it explained all his difficulties as a child. So younger doctors seem to be more aware of the issues in a way that older doctors are not.

told him not to ever let anyone say he wasn't clever

Intelligence and ADHD have nothing to do with each other. Certainly the 3.9/4.0 that I'm getting in my Masters classes speaks to that :P

Yes sorry I didn't word that well. DS has mild learning difficulties as well as autism to go with his ADHD. He gets very frustrated by this and feels he isn't very clever. It's also the message he has absorbed over the years and he was telling the doctor about not being clever and struggling to learn.

The GP also did well.

I have a degree too.

No you worded it fine. I worded my response badly. Make sure you tell him that the two absolutely aren't linked!

I agree intelligence and ADHD are really not linked.
MY DD is bright - she never does any work at school/revision and usually does ok in tests anyway. Mainly in the top sets etc. Even before medication. The reason the schools didn't pick her up earlier (and also she didn't misbehave.)
She has just done the Scottish equivalent of GCSEs - haven't got the results yet - apart from a last minute cram for one assisted by me (she was definitely going to fail that one) she did zero work for them. I half hope the results aren't very good so she realises she will have to do some work.
Like I said I have a Phd - so I can't be stupid (although I often feel that I am - I actually tell myself that sometimes - when I feel particularly dense - although honestly I don't think you have to be that intelligent to get a Phd..I do feel like a fraud sometimes....)

I've just read this thread and lots of the links absolutely open mouthed in wonder. I'd like to say that I read it in one sitting but I didn't, it's taken me all day because even though it's utterly gripped me because I see so much of myself here, I've got sidetracked with an online IQ test, reading something else that I had open on another tab, looking up the lyrics to a song that appeared on a TV advert... In the meantime I forgot to make lunch for myself and DD. Sigh.

I could cry with relief at some of the posts here. I've been on ad's for 20+ years because I thought this stuff was a symptom but they never worked for long. I'm now wondering if in fact I have ADD/ADHD and the "depression" is something that will fuck the fuck off if I get this potentially underlying thing under control.

I should have bombed at school but I did well at GCSE, ok at a level and got a degree despite my complete inability to apply myself. I have a high IQ (tested multiple times over the years including again today which I reckon masked my complete inability to apply myself even though I wanted to. I'm so upset because I should have made so much more of my life than I have, academically and professionally, and I've always been labelled as extremely bright but disorganised and lazy. I always knew i wasn't lazy, I put it down to depression. I've managed to hold down jobs but got bored v quickly and my productivity has nosedived. I've recently abandoned my career because of my inability to keep focused being about to get me in trouble again. I thought I was too fucked up emotionally to handle it.

I don't know whether to laugh because I finally might have an answer or to cry because if I'm right, if I'd known 20 years ago I might have had a chance to follow my dreams.

Does anyone have any experience of going private for diagnosis (and then the diagnosis being referred to the GP for NHS treatment?). I have a minimum of three weeks before I can even see the GP and no idea how long referral could take from there. I have a one-to-one with my manager tomorrow and think I'm being put on a performance plan because of constant small mistakes (inattentiveness because the job isn't challenging enough!). Trying to resist the urge to hand in my notice there and then. No idea what I'm going to say to my boss if she asks me why I'm making these mistakes :(

Interestingly the doctor who diagnosed me said she very much wanted to get me to do an intelligence test because she was very interested to see what it would say (she thinks I have very high intelligence) but the clinic didn't have the licence to one in English.

I have never done a proper IQ test but I did once out of interest do an online sample quiz to join a MENSA organisation and got 98%.

OMG, I could have written your post 3 years ago when I first found out about ADHD. Interestingly, though I had always thought of myself as prone to depression/suffering from depression multiple times since I was 14 (in hindsight, this was just when my ADHD started to seriously affect my life because it was when I first had to start being responsible for myself.) When I started psychotherapy/CBT my therapist asked me some questions about my depression and actually I don't, and have never, fitted the DSM criteria for it. That astounded me. Similarly for anxiety.

The thing is that the feelings I've had which I always mistook for depression are feelings of despair at the way I can't seem to do things like other people do, that I have dreams and stuff but can't seem to get going on anything even when it's something I like, that I always self sabotage, that I genuinely forget things which are really important to me and feel like a horrible friend/person. The thing is in my case, these are proportionate reactions to situations which happened because of my ADHD, which I couldn't control. It wasn't that I felt like a useless person or a bad friend out of nowhere. I had evidence for these beliefs and they were (somewhat) rational.

It is of note that since I have been taking this seriously and been diagnosed I have not lapsed into depression. For a really long time actually. I think it's because I can now put things into context and understand why they happen. I do still have days where I feel totally lost and like I'll never be able to do anything but then I think about what I've achieved with the problems I have and I remember that it's not so bad. I don't get stuck in it like I used to.

They say that after diagnosis/discovery there is a period like grief with all of the different stages - anger, denial, depression, etc. And going through that stage of thinking of all the things you have missed out on is a hard one. I felt like writing to my college tutors to explain in case it helped them with a future student, but I decided not to in the end (not now, anyway). Being a part of the ADHD "community" has actually helped me to see things in a different way and a lot of the time I actually feel better about it now.

I believe NHS do not accept private diagnoses so you'd have to go through the process again. It would be quicker to go through the NHS process initially if you want to do that long term.

Perhaps we can help with some strategies? What is the exact issue you're having?