Thread for those with adult ADHD or who think they might have ADHD

[Borntobedifferent]

So I've put this into mental health as although it isn't really a mental health issue it tends to be discovered (in adults) when there is other mental health issues.

I've written a few times elsewhere on here about my ADHD but thought it might be nice to have an ongoing thread.

All that i ask is that we focus on adult ADHD as I'm sure there is other threads for those with children with ADHD.

I am nearly a year diagnosed now (I'm 37) and am on Elvanse 40mg and amfexa 5mg first thing in the morning.

I am so on 200mg sertraline and diazepam as by the time I was diagnosed I was just totally broken.

I have a therapist and today I started with an ADHD coach, I have to learn to accept my past and to embrace the positives of ADHD but it's not an easy thing to do.

[jan9876]

zz77 don't worry at all it is fine, I will try to get a diagnosis at some point when things are a bit more settled. I hope you manage to get some help for your dh, I think having treatment would have a knock on effect on all the other problems. I am actually doing much better this week, I have cut way down and for some reason this week something seems to have changed whereas I couldn't do it the other weeks. I hope I can make it a habit.

[BippityBoppity87]

Hi everyone So I was diagnosed on Friday (NHS) and I've been given Concerta XL 18mg. I took my first tablet yesterday, but I didn't feel massively any different? Maybe a bit more chilled, as in I felt less edgy. If anything I could have probably gone for a nap haha. Is that normal? I'm aware it's only a small dose, so maybe why I didn't feel much difference

[Galvantula]

Hi,

Being less stressed is the biggest effect of medication for me so far.

The constant hamster wheel of thoughts and worries seems to have gone, so I feel a bit less on edge and able to stay calmer :)

Apparently being a bit sleepy is a fairly common thing!

[toffee1000]

Yes, 18mg is the lowest dose so you’re not going to notice much, plus you haven’t been on it for very long.

[UrghThisIsHard]

Hey, all! Capitalising on the thread having a bit of action to throw my experience in the ring.

I was diagnosed a few weeks ago and prescribed elvanse (20mg, then 30mg, then 40mg). I have problems with sleep and one tablet sent me into a sleepless night that turned into a 5 day long patch that I can’t power through the way I used to (36 but constantly bloody knackered). Anyway, the psych said (via online portal) that I should take melatonin and once my sleep is improved, add in the elvanse again. But that she doesn’t think she can prescribe it for a right to choose referral 🤷🏼‍♀️. The nurse was looking into this but it’s taking a minute evidently. I offered to pay for a private prescription too...

Anyway, I’ve just taken .5mg of some I ordered from a French website and am yet to see how this works out. I’d be keen to hear anyone’s experiences of adult adhd and melatonin with and without other meds.

Re: the feeling I had when I took the elvanse. I felt relaxed and happy. But also - roll with me here - like everything was sharper. HD. Like Bella when she becomes a vampire but without the ability to do anything useful.

[Sooverthemill]

@UrghThisIsHard I can't help with anything else but we buy our melatonin from BIOVEA. It takes a few days to come but we get 2 mg and 3 mg capsules. DD has a different condition which buggers up,sleep so we use it on her old paediatric consultant's advice but our GP won't prescribe it as a permanent medication so we just buy it without prescription.

[Sooverthemill]

Sorry I should explain that I was looking on this thread for advice as my DH I am 100% certain has ADD. His son ( my stepson) was diagnosed at University with it which explains so much for me! And looking at all the info and doing an online quiz I've diagnosed DH. He has a decent job and can focus on what he wants when he wants but has impulse control issues, inability to manage time and various other stuff. He refuses to engage with it ( he thinks because he has a 1st class degree he can't) but I just wanted ideas to help him and stop me being driven made now he's here 24/7 for the foreseeable future ( WFH)! So I've been reading all the stuff I can

[zz77]

Can anyone recommend a psychiatrist to do an on line consultation to gain a diagnosis? Or a pointer on where to look? It feels a bit unsafe finding one just via google but maybe that’s ok. Thank you

[UrghThisIsHard]

Thanks @Sooverthemill. I tried a lower dose as I read that works better in studies but I slept TERRIBLY. I’ll persevere and maybe try the liquid and/or higher doses.

@zz77 Psychiatry-UK. I was about to pay and they advised me to get a referral from my doctor as the right to choose process has sped up. It was super quick once the doctor referred me, I chose my psychiatrist and I cannot speak highly enough of their service/

[Sooverthemill]

@UrghThisIsHard DD age 21 about 8 stone takes 2 mg usually occasionally 3mg if she's had a terrible run. She's allowed to take up to 8mg but rarely does

[UrghThisIsHard]

Thanks @Sooverthemill.

[zz77]

@UrghThisIsHard Thank you I just had a look and it is very helpful indeed, just what I was looking for. Much appreciated.

[yellowbeaker]

I have spent the last week or 2 reading this thread and it has been a real eye opener, I am genuinely grateful to have found it. All my life I have felt so different to everyone else. I look at other people and wonder how they have their lives so up together. Mine is a total shambles. During my school years I was a day dreamer, lost everything, I am late to everything because I always think I can fit more in than is possible or totally underestimate how long things will take me- I am sick of people yelling at me for being late when I have tried my best. I forget to factor in the journey time to arrive somewhere and realise 5 mins before I meant to be there that I should have left 20 mins ago. its a running joke to everyone around me but actually it really hurts me because the more I try the worse it gets. I am ridiculously disorganised. I feel like my brain is constantly playing 3 different radio stations and has 50 different browser tabs open all at once. It is chaos. I imagine that other peoples brains have lines of wool neatly laid out in rows and mine is just a jumble or yarn that I can't untangle. I try but get distracted. I am my own worst enemy. I avoid doing important stuff and do things that should be much further down the list of priorities because I can cope with them, or they give me a hit of happiness. i hop from one thing to the next, almost trying to seek some gratification that I am good at something but I never complete things. I have a plethora of unfinished craft projects/diy projects in the house and a never ending to do list. I have art Materials that have cost me hundreds of pounds. Items I could sell but don't have the confidence to do so. My house is such an unbelievable mess. I am shocked at how much stuff we have managed to accumulate in such a short space of time. I want it all gone but don't know how or where to start. I feel I should sell the stuff and recoup some money- god knows I need the money but then that adds another task that I feel unable to complete.

Since covid arrived I have been working from home and everything has nose dived. I think losing the structure of going into work every day and now being expected to self motivate and manage my own work load much more is too much for me and I don't have the skills to do it. I feel I could do a lot more than I am doing work wise but I don't have the focus to be able to. I constantly feel like a failure in a mediocre job that a monkey could do.
My mental health is in the gutter right now (admittedly partially due to other things outside of this going on in my life) but also because I feel so out of control with everything and I don't know how to fix it. Especially the state of the house.

I have found coping strategies that I didn't even realise were coping strategies until I read this- I doodle in meetings in order to concentrate. If I block all noise out- fingers in ears or wear head phones I can concentrate a million times better. Music is a huge motivator for me but I have to choose carefully, sing a long stuff to distract me when I am doing mundane housework and stuff without lyrics when I need to concentrate on work but not get distracted by lyrics.

I am going to seek a private assessment in the new year but this thread has made me realise it isn't all my fault and perhaps there is hope at the end of the tunnel in finding new ways to manage this.

[Sooverthemill]

@yellowbeaker just wanted to say, well done. First step in anything is the hardest

[groovergirl]

Hey folks, bumping this for all us ADHD-dx or -suspected people. What a relief to find so many MNers describing traits that I share.

@yellowbeaker, yes, doodling and music are such great strategies to keep focus! I cannot do housework or DIY without music and treating my kitchen as a disco.