Hi there. Has anyone here been diagnosed with ADHD as an adult? If so, was it privately?
I’m looking in to it myself. I’ve never, ever considered this as something I could have.
However, my 13 year old daughter is currently under Camhs as being assessed for inattentive ADD.
How she is, how she thinks, how she acts, all the struggles, her inner thoughts etc are just me to a T. Especially me as a child.
I’ve spent my life feeling like there wasn’t something quite right with me. I was ridiculously shy as a young child. I was a complete daydreamer.
When I got to around aged 12, started secondary school, it got harder. By 13 I had “given up”. I became rebellious. By 14 I was doing things girls that age shouldn’t be doing. I was also smoking, drinking and wearing heavy make up.
By 15, I hardly went to school. Smoking weed daily, had different boyfriends. I was still very shy though. Odd combo I know. I left school with no GCSEs. Hardly any friends, and people generally didn’t like me. I was known as the “skivver”. The girl who always skipped school. They thought I did that cos I simply didn’t want to go. Truth was, I couldn’t go. I couldn’t keep up, I couldn’t get out of bed in the mornings at times. I was full of anxiety and depression.
By 17, I had a baby. I settled a little after that.
I went on to have 3 more children. I’ve had major ups and downs. But generally ok. To an extent.
I struggle everyday, with my moods, with organising myself. I clench my teeth to the point they crack when I concentrate.
One thing that I’ve always said right from being a teenager to now is “I can never seem to stick to things” and “my attention span is rubbish” I’d always make a joke out of it and it was “just the way I am”. But since my attention has been brought to my daughters impending diagnosis, it’s made me think. What if all this time, I had this and I was needlessly struggling and always asking myself “why am I such a loser?”. And “why can everyone else seem to just get on with things?”
I don’t drive, cos when I’ve tried in the past, I can’t keep my concentration level enough. I feel out of control, which results in severe nervousness. But I really want to drive.
People get irritated with me cos in conversations I can take over a bit and I jump from one thing to another too fast. I can see them getting annoyed but I can’t stop. I also go in to too much detail that it bores them.
So I just don’t really see people much anymore.
I even annoy my own mum at times I think. My husband never gets annoyed. He’s just amazing and understands me completely.
There’s so much more but I would be here forever typing.
So my question is.. should I look in to this further?
If so, how has anyone else done it? Private? I assume NHS waiting list would be too long. I can barely get to see my doctor at the moment!
Thanks for reading.. Hope I made sense!