Been referred for adhd assessment… not sure it fits

[Hm2023]

So I’m 30 years old and have bipolar 1, I have a child who is almost certainly autistic who is on the pathway for assessment. My psychiatrist has referred me for an adhd assessment and was shocked no one’s ever mentioned it. I have no concentration and can’t sit still that’s for sure and a lot of the adult criteria I do tick but I’m not sure I fit the child criteria when I was a child as I did very well in primary school no problems top of the class concentrated well fidgeted a lot though. Although I did fall apart in secondary very badly behaved no impulse control to put it mildly and was educated out of school by year 8 and never went back to main stream education I’m wondering if anyone’s got any similar stories and got a diagnosis as it’s thrown me and bit…

My background is very similar. I fell apart in secondary school, totally overwhelmed with the sudden workload. I had to leave in my first year and never went back. I was diagnosed BP1 at 22, and have just been diagnosed with ADHD aged 33. I had years of being told my struggles were because of my MH problems. Nobody listened to me. Eventually, after a lot of persistence, I was referred for an ADHD assessment and spent three years on the waiting list.

While waiting for the assessment, my usual psychiatrist retired and I was put under the care of a different psychiatrist. After 30 minutes with him, he told me it sounded like I could have ADHD and should be referred for an assessment. I hadn't mentioned anything about ADHD, the comment came off his own back. It's a shame I wasn't under his care earlier, but we got there in the end.

I don't know about your experience in primary school. You say you were top of the class... so was I, but I couldn't concentrate. I was just very good at cramming and guessing answers by process of elimination. Apparently ADHD symptoms must be present before the age of 12, so if you started to fall apart in your first year that would fit.

What was it about secondary school that led you to fall apart, do you think?

Have a listen to this:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lSjHYiTEA4M

He talks about primary school and why it may not be apparent until later on.

I'm assuming you're a woman. ADHD can present very differently in women and girls than it does in men and boys. Doing well in primary school could simply have meant you were engaged with the lessons or scared of getting into trouble (very common with ND girls). The transition to secondary school, where the class sizes are frequently bigger and the atmosphere less calm, might have been sufficiently stressful that you were no longer able to mask.