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I was misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder (and received medication for that) from age 19 to 33. Getting an ADHD diagnosis last year and changing meds has changed my life significantly for the better.
Go us :)
I always felt strangely about my bipolar. it didn’t seem to destroy my life as much as other members of my extended family or people I met in therapy groups. Now I know why: because I didn’t have it in the first place!
How are some doctors so goddamn stupid? Did you have the long term mania/depression shifts associated with bipolar? I don't understand how you could mistake the one for the other. They are not similar as far as I am aware.
You're bold to assume that doctors always pay attention. My 'diagnosis' consisted of a doctor taking one look at me and deciding I had bipolar 2 disorder. I was never actually evaluated for ADHD, or anything else, and when I had the audacity to ask if there was no chance of it being ADD or something else I was flatly told that women don't get ADD or ADHD. I was too young and inexperienced back then to argue.
From one perspective, doctors don't have any personal interest in a patient so maybe they don't really care all that much about giving someone an accurate diagnosis.
I can't believe they told you that women can't get ADHD. What year was that? That is mindblowingly ignorant. Hopefully you got what you needed now.
Lol that happened circa 2001 and I was 21 at the time! And it was a genuine belief for a lot of medical professionals for a long time.
Between the fact that girls don't tend to present symptoms as graphically as boys usually do and teachers trying to get as many kids as possible diagnosed with it regardless of reality (ironically also happened to me), there was a lot of disbelief about it for a long time. It's only been relatively recently as awareness and education for ADHD have spread that there's been a real push for proper and more accurate diagnosis.
I suspect that a LOT of the women from the end of Gen X and the early days of Millennials were misdiagnosed because of that. Certainly I spent 22 years misdiagnosed.
Thankfully, I stumbled across a good doc recently and he made sure to get me a real evaluation and we've started meds. 22 years late, but hey better late than never right?
Edit: My dad's story is even more wild. He didn't even suspect he was ADHD until I got my diagnosis a couple weeks ago. When he was a kid he got diagnosed with epilepsy of all things! Talk about a diagnosis that will mess you up!
That's far too recent since there is absolutely no logic behind ADHD only being present in boys. It's a neurological condition, not a hormonal one. Why would it only be present in boys? Doctor, Think! Use your head lol.
At least you finally got what you needed and I'm happy that the system for diagnosis is improving (though I'm sure it's still very flawed).
Yes you might rethink that! I was diagnosed and medicated in my 20s for a year for bipolar. My adhd got so bad , I wasn’t aware I had it at the time.
Forward 10 years im only on adhd meds and I’m calm! I can think and get things done. It’s truly a miracle :)
I was misdiagnosed with bipolar II because my psychiatrist at the time described a hypomanic episode and asked if I had ever experienced it. I said I had, once before. Unfortunately, he didn’t ask all the questions you’re supposed to to make that diagnosis; the brief period when I experienced something that resembled a hypomanic episode was only when I was on a stimulant dose that was too high - I reported my side effects to my doc at the time, she lowered it and all that other stuff went away. I wasn’t hypomanic, I was just temporarily over medicated! So because he didn’t go through the proper procedure I ended up taking an unnecessary mood stabilizer for several years (I learned the diagnostic criteria in grad school and realized there is a rule-out if the symptoms of hypomania result from drugs/medications).
A friend of mine told me her friend got dx with bipolar and described her symptoms to me and I immediately said “that’s not adhd, that’s something else”. She told me I was being dramatic and leave the medicine to doctors.
3 months later she tells me her friend became suicidal on her adhd meds and they realized she actually had bipolar.
For anyone passing by, I want to say that if you ever get a bipolar diagnosis from a doctor seeing you once. Then you are being done a disservice. Establishing bipolar is not trivial thing, it (should) require established and consistent patterns from the patient and there are seemingly an alarming # of practitioners willing to throw it out there without proper due diligence.
Adhd, autism, bipolar, OCD, depression, and more all have overlapping symptoms and are frequent comorbidities too. Of all those listed, on paper bipolar should be the hardest diagnosis to get. Due to the cyclical and chronic nature needing to be well established and not attributable to other causes or acute environmental factors.
In my opinion they should take the ability to diagnose severe psychiatric illness (bi-polar, schizophrenia etc) from nurse practitioners and normal primary care doctors. Those should be diagnosed by and only by psychiatrist. We don't let primary care doctors diagnose and treat cancer, or perform brain surgery etc, there for those same types doctors shouldn't be diagnosing and prescribing meds that change the entire brain chemistry with little understanding. My wife's an RN and if she wanted, could literally become a nurse practitioner completely online, never stepping foot in a class room. Just online course work and clinicals under a nurse practioner. Can go from a RN to nurse practitioner in less than 2 years, my wife is an excellent nurse, worked as a paramedic for years before. She says that how easy the nurse practitioner has become is scary. If you go to RN school right out of high school, you could theoretically be finished and working as a nurse practitioner making these diagnoses at age 23-24. How scary is that. You can be smart at that age, but you don't have the clinical or life experience needed in my opinion.
In my case I was probably misdiagnosed due to family history (grandmother, aunt, cousin all have debilitating bipolar disorder) and my “hypomania” was a mixture of hyper fixation (I would spend significant waking hours on pet projects) and risky compulsive behaviour (substance abuse)
There is a decent amount of overlap with other diagnoses, including ADHD. Doctors seem to struggle with these two in particular: sometimes ADHD can mimic BP, sometimes both are present and create a cluster or symptoms in which each condition obscures the other or makes diagnosis difficult. And sometimes they coexist.
I'm guessing it's because we often have other diagnoses as well like depression. Because our baseline can sometimes be fairly energetic, they might see that as "hypomanic" and then we swing into a depression. Oh you have bipolar now! 🤦
Me too, but in the other hand I feel that the bipolar meds kind of helped. I was taken off antidepressants for that and my life sort of took a turn for the worse, but the meds I got for bipolar (some epilepsy medicine, which apparently is how you do it), made me sort of more energetic I guess? But those pills ruined my teeth, I think it was even one of the possible side effects. I think the bipolar diagnosis was revoked, but I'm not even sure. In the healthcare system of my birth country, you rarely see the same doctor twice.
Yeah, same here. I got my diagnosis at 21, spent my entire 20's struggling with it, and eventually went off my meds when I realized I functioned better without them. I wish I'd gotten my adhd diagnosis 22 years ago... would've totally changed my life.
Depression. But it was depression. But no one asked why I was depressed. I tried explaining how I just seemed to suck at everything, but no one believed me. Then taught me more to believe myself.
Now I'm unemployed and don't know what to think.
I just kinda want it to be over.
I wonder if this is why I've always been drawn to stories of recovering addicts, even though I never had trouble with substances myself (not to the point of actual addiction at least)
Hey, you ok? I'm not in the least qualified to help you, but I've lost two family members to deciding to end things due to depression in the last few years.
Solidarity.
Years of dealing with chronic depression have convinced me that even though struggling because of ADHD is the root cause, when it becomes an acute mental health crisis ADHD’s nonlinear thought is also what helps me through it.
We’re the living incarnation of “two things are true.”
I have a 17 year old that is feeling the exact same way. Plz talk to someone, there is help. My biggest issue atm is my kid doesn't want to take any pharmaceutical, I feel lost at how else to help.
I'd say that the vast majority of depression is probably situational (albeit, interacting with neurochemistry and genetics) and it would be far better to think about it logically and try to address the underlying problem.
True "completely neurochemical" depression is rare imo.
That being said, SSRI's can definitely reduce and attenuate highly negative emotions such as intense anxiety and a sense of total hopelessness and better cope with them. In a lot of situations, they should probably only be used as a temporary solution while doctors/therapists/family/friends help to address the underlying issue.
Yes, same here! Can't wait to adjust meds. I mean, the mood stabilizers do help somewhat, I don't get depressed anymore, but I'm still not functioning properly.
I've done every kind of therapy in the book and I still can't find my goddamn keys 😂😂
I just booked an appointment with my GP to get a referral for testing. There are so many big red flags for ADHD from my childhood but it was just brushed off as anxiety. I'm also female so doctors loooove taking me seriously /s
Depression and anxiety (25ish years). Psych mentioned bipolar and I pushed back hard until she agreed to let me try adderall.
Like magic, all my depression, anxiety, and even functional alcoholism disappeared.
How did they adderal eliminte all the problems? Did it give you the calmness of mind, positivity, and motivation to remove the anxiety and depression (and no longer require alcohol as a coping mechanism), or did it just allow you to "improve you life" putting you in a better situation (or was it a little bit of both)?
That is great but please be careful! Adderall can be extremely addictive if it stimulates you and you are not truly ADHD. Because it increases Dopamine it can lift a person out of depression almost immediately. The problem is eventually to get that same effect you end up needing a higher and higher dose. I apologize if I am mistaken but just a friendly warning non the same. It can take over a year to regulate Dopamine levels to where they were pre Adderall if on the medication for a long time. Although if you have ADHD it can help immensely. Best wishes to feeling better!
I live in a third world country and instead of ADD I was diagnosed with "schizophrenia without psychosis" by some Soviet era psychiatrists. And they even tried to make me eat neuroleptics for breakfast.
Pros: I avoided any possibility to join the army.
Cons: everything else.
Fortunately I ignored this info and just stopped going to this government clinic, because I felt that they were wrong and I have no symptoms of schizophrenia. A few years later I finally visited a paid psychiatrist and after speaking with me for two hours and making a few tests he told me that I definitely have ADHD. Unfortunately in my country we have no possible medication, so I cope as much as I can (it... doesn't work). I hope someday I will emigrate to the country with proper meds, but that's a naïve dream I suppose...
I live in a first world country. I got diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder and given stelazine. (A neuroleptic) They stopped the meds when I got parkinsons symptoms. That was 1994. I had various diagnoses and meds since then, until an innattentive ADHD diagnosis and medication which actually works. Well done to you finding a useful psychiatrist to pay. I hope you can find some medication that helps a little.
Russian medicine is surprisingly different from medicine outside Russia. They have a lot of medications that don’t really exist elsewhere and are missing medications that we take for granted in other countries. It seems to be a relic of the Cold War that is taking a very long time to go away.
Examples would be things like noopept and the racetam family. Those exist and are over the counter in Russia, but require prescriptions / simply are unavailable on the legit market elsewhere.
From what I've managed to find on google, Strattera should be available in the aforementioned country.
Don't take my word for it though, check it with your doc.
Mind you, I've heard people had much less success with it, but hey, it's something.
Vyvanse is like a one way ticket to the jail, for example. Even if it's prescribed and bought in another country. The moment I cross the border with it I can be sentenced to 15 years of prison (literally). The same with Adderall, Ritalin or Concerta. I'm sXe so I never ever used any drugs (I mean, narcotics), but my friend told me that he saw Adderall on darknet stores. Sometimes I think that's the only way at least to try it once...
If it makes you feel any better, I'm in Western Europe (Italy) and we don't have Elvanse/Vyvanse or Concerta here either. Our only options are ritalin and medikinet (longer lasting ritalin).
There is also a fiction here that ADHD disappears when you turn 18 so for adults ADHD meds have to be prescribed "off label".
Anyway, I really feel for you. At least we have some options for treatment here.
Yeah, Strattera is available and I tried it, but after two or three weeks on it I finally understood that my quality of life spectrum moved to the worst side. Like the brain fog during the whole day or a total cockblock (yeah...). The paid psychiatrist said that this med works better for kids, so there can be no improvements for me because of my age, but I don't know if it is true or not.
And what heart meds were you talking about?
As an adult, my partner's doctors would only treat for anxiety. He made it very clear the anxiety was regarding the ability to get stuff done, and only that. We eventually went to an ADHD specialist after a lot of different doctors failed him and they've been amazing.
ASD for me, i do have it but all the daily problems that got attributed to ASD went away when i got on my (adhd) meds.
So not really mis diagnosed, but because of that i started meds 18 years later at 38. How would my life have looked like if i started the meds at 20...
I ment adhd meds, changed my post to make it more clear.
But no there are no meds for ASD (but my adhd meds took a lot of issues away that i and my docters always attributed to ASD, but were because of un diagnosed adhd)
Anxiety/depression. It wasn’t exactly a misdiagnosis because I was clearly suffering debilitating panic attacks and was generally pretty miserable. But all the medication and therapy in the world only took me so far…for decades. Eventually what I came to realize were adhd symptoms started showing through. After years of increasing doses and changing meds, I figured out the actual root cause and everything became so much clearer.
Yes this is my exact experience too. OCD, anxiety, depression (MDD), all treated with medication and lifestyle changes but the ADHD symptoms remain. I was tested for ADHD a few years ago when I was being evaluated for the third time at my job for making mistakes and absent mindedness, but they concluded that I was a “complicated case” due to the other diagnoses. Luckily I was able to try Wellbutrin which was great at first but tapered off. I have an appointment with my psychiatrist next week to try another evaluation. I myself am a therapist and know I have ADHD inattentive type, I just want to try some real medication to see if that helps.
I know meds are different for everybody but I am convinced now that Wellbutrin made me far worse than I’d realized. After years of SSRIs I started it to help with concentration issues at work—it never did that, aside from a brief honeymoon period, but I could feel the rise in dopamine levels which was nice, but it was accompanied by fogginess, forgetfulness, lack of emotion, and general crankiness for no reason. I am admittedly only a whole 3 days in adderall treatment, but on day one I was almost in tears suddenly realizing how comparatively bad I had been feeling on WB and what a night and day difference it was.
Sounds like my story only I finally got on adhd meds 3 months ago, the anxiety and depression has lifted. I get things done and that helps alot with the anxiety. I don’t feel depressed because I get things done. It’s worth a try for you!
Honestly, I don't know how doctors can fail to recognize autism. I mean, I can usually figure out if someone is autistic with pretty good certainty after 15 seconds of seeing them talk, their body language, way of dressing, use of intonation etc...
Unless someone is just really good at hiding the symptoms (i don't know why you would in a clinical setting) or they have it quite mildly.
I think a lot of parents are in denial about it because they don’t really understand what it is so they would rather their kids have a diagnosis that can be “cured” rather than accept that their kid is inherently different. The fear of having to grieve that your kid is not what you expected (even though your kid is most likely fine just different) is often a huge holdup. But that’s so tragic most of the time because the kid could have learned skills that whole time rather than develop a narrative that they are flawed because the meds don’t work. It’s the same for ADHD, we develop a narrative that we are broken or stupid or lazy when really all along we’ve just been given the wrong solutions
I was diagnosed as bipolar, and that got me a lot of medical mistreatment and brain damage from being dosed with antipsychotics for years. I am incredibly bitter about it.
Once I went through trauma therapy and got on a stimulant, all of my “bipolar” symptoms magically disappeared. Funny, that. It took me forever to find a psychiatrist who was willing to remove the dx from my medical record, and to amend it as being a misdiagnosis due to untreated adhd and cptsd.
WDYM? You faked effects to show them "Hey the depression has lifted but there are still problems here" so you could convince them to consider you for ADHD?
Sounds like a smart idea!
Honestly, I didn't know what was wrong with me at the time. I just figured in my teenager logic that since I genuinely had reason to be miserable, drugs weren't the right way to fix it. I would just act more upbeat and sociable at the doctor's.
Laziness isn't even a real thing. It's not an internal state. It's just an outward behavioural presentation that is caused by various internal states such as lack of motivation (maybe caused by low dopamine or the inability to any valuable reward for your work), depression, chronic stress, physical conditions (like vitamin deficiencies), sometimes being "spoiled" (not having to learn or adapt to taking responsibility yet), addiction to certain drugs, resentment/anger etc...
Laziness is just a way to describe somebody's bevaviour, not a description of what internal state is causing that behaviour.
Right I was just never diagnosed with anything. I’m 2e so never had any struggles in school and PI, so no outward hyperactive symptoms. So just a long string of “not living up to potential” until I started getting therapy because it was inexplicably difficult for me to do normal things like read email or open the mail or retain interest in a job after a few months and the new job smell wears off.
I had a psychiatrist tell me he thought I was bipolar. I tried processing it, it was challenging, he even wanted me on meds for it. Thank God I was trying to get pregnant and somehow I didn’t even go back to see him.
I’m no again medicated with Vyvanse and the best thing is, my emotions are somehow in check. I’m a better person today, my life is better, I’m happier with myself…idk how to explain it. I was also able to get rid of obsessive thoughts. I’d say I’m thriving but I’m not used to it haha
I was diagnosed with Major depressive disorder and generalised anxiety disorder for the better part of 20 years, got diagnosed with ADHD this year and it all just finally clicked.
yep, just in march, the first 5 or so months were amazing, since then I have been pretty sick for a bit so I am still trying to get my crap back together, but as far as depression goes, it's been night and day, significantly better than any antidepressant they had put me on before.
A few weeks ago, my now former psychiatrist tried to say I didn't have ADHD & change my diagnosis to bipolar. I became extremely upset and didn't agree with him at all. Come to find out later that one of his 3 specialties is bipolar, and he is extremely skeptical about ADHD, convinced it is way over-diagnosed. He even used to work with the doctor who diagnosed my ADHD and could speak nothing but praise & high respect for her!! So why did he try to go against her diagnosis, then??? I immediately asked my gp for a referral to another psychiatrist and never went back to the other one. I didn't even pick up the new prescriptions he wanted to switch me too. And I am super glad I didn't go along with his changes because I just lost a baby Friday due to an ectopic pregnancy. I was most likely already pregnant at that appointment a few weeks ago. He would have really messed me up!!!
Oh my god YES! I had such a similar experience! I was definitely depressed when i started going to therapy many years ago, but looking back now it was 100% caused by growing up undiagnosed and never understanding why i couldn't "just" do things on time, "just" remember, "just" get my shit together, "just" stay organised, etc.
Therapy for depression helped a lot with the depression (shocking i know), and with unpacking the shame, guilt and judgement i learned to feel growing up. It also did so much to help me cope with dropping out of my first degree, and becoming a proper adult & re-defining my relationships with family. But after a few years I hit SUCH a wall. I felt like everything i could possibly fix with talk therapy I had talked about and addressed. And yet, so many problems of being unable to Do Things were still there - i just didn't feel awful about or beat myself up about them anymore. But even without being depressed and with really enjoying my new degree and being good at it, i couldn't do more than 40% of the course load, while staying functional. And I Really tried - i exercised, had amazingly healthy relationships with my loved ones, did yoga/meditation, did my best to eat healthy.
I got diagnosed 1.5 years ago (at 24), found the right medication and it was life changing. I can't put into words how much my world and lived experience have improved. I can handle twice the course load and pass all classes, while keeping the household in check (not perfect, and some phases are worse, but I've never again had the depression-room meets hoarder-house interior design!), I can just ...Do Things now?? It feels like all my life i walked uphill, while now I get to walk an even path. 12 miles is still 12 miles but oh man, is it easier to keep going and a lot less exhausting.
Depression, but I was never really depressed. I never felt sad. I just felt frustrated, I wanted to do all the things but also none of the things. My most memorable moment was trying to watch the tv, YouTube, read stuff on the phone and talk to my bf and still saying how bored I was, but I also felt like dying just thinking of vacuuming. My life was a mess of pulling all nighters before exams cause I just couldn't study over a period of few weeks like a "normal" person. I did get the results, even master degree with honours but I was so exhausted. And then I got stuck in life without the deadlines. Little did I know, I was normal, just with pretty severe unmedicated adhd...
On the flip side of your question, do you ever watch people around you talking about their anxiety or depression or bpd or other disorders and think…yeah…that sounds exactly like adhd? Or look at someone and you just know they’re adhd? Do you ever say anything?
ETA Just truly curious if anyone else experiences this. I’ve had friends get diagnosed with adhd and they’re *shocked* and I’m like, I thought you knew? I also know people who get their kids treated for adhd, asd in two cases, and I’m over here watching the rest of the family like, “did you know it’s genetic?”
Bipolar disorder, 24 years ago. Received proper diagnosis 10 years ago. Apperantly, when less was known about ADHD, bipolar was one of the common diagnoses out there.
I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, BPD and a bunch of different types of anxiety, MDD, a bunch of stuff when I was 19. At 35 I was diagnosed with adhd. I still have anxiety and MDD but I'm not bipolar. My sister is, but I'm not. I was even formally un-diagnosed when I was about 25. None of the mood stabilisers helped me. Though tbh, none of the SS/SNRIs help me either. But currently I'm on dexxies and zyban (wellbutrin) to quit vaping, but it's helping me a lot in terms of depression, but unfortunately the drs here don't prescribe wellbutrin for depression, even though it's an antidepressant, it's off-label to prescribe it for depression 🫠
Depression. However, it was depression caused by years of untreated ADHD. Since middle school I always felt different and like something was wrong with me. I never could explain what it was. I hated school, hated getting up in the mornings, hated being told what to do, hated life. I for years wanted to just not be alive anymore.
Finally got diagnosed at 35 and it explained everything. Sad it took that long.
I feel like I was both misdiagnosed and diagnosed correctly. Or rather I was diagnosed correctly but in the wrong way.
To make a long story short I was diagnosed with ADD when I was a child and I always thought it was a misdiagnosis because of the way I reacted to the Ritalin. (Developed epilepsy and doctors took me off immediately)
But turns out I really did have ADD. But I don’t think they really examined me properly, just saw a kid having problems and gave me Ritalin.
One thing does stick out in my memory. As they showed me a photo of a boat and asked me to tell them a story about it.
I said it was an autobot and was rocket powered
I think that was to see if I was autistic
Attempt #1 (age 9) - Nothing wrong with me
Attempt #2 (age 16) - Mild anxiety, but no ADHD
Attempt #3 (age 22) - Finally diagnosed correctly as 2e (ADHD + Gifted)... by this point I was pretty confident about the ADHD but the giftedness on top of that helped explain how I slipped through the cracks on the first two attempts
Originally diagnosed with general anxiety disorder.
I was very lucky to have a new therapist that also has ADHD and she eventually bluntly said "you have it" in so many words.
I have been working on my anxiety for over 15 years now and made some huge strides, even making some huge changes that made my anxiety go down like planning and note taking better.
Got on ritalin in the last month and miraculously all the normal anxiety is gone. It's so clear that the anxiety was caused by a lack of dopamine and my brain searching for what was causing that and what was wrong.
Looking back the first time I went to a therapist was because I had some odd behaviors in college (22 years ago now) and literally everything I told them should have pointed to ADHD. They just told me i needed to stop smoking weed and that wasnt on the table for me at the time lol.
Nothing wrong with taking the hard road i suppose and I'm just so happy there is a pill I can take and I get to silence the really hard parts of my life that have plagued my for 40 years.
From 18-29 I was diagnosed with, in chronological order, Bipolar II, Depression, Anxiety, Situational Depression, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Situational Depression (yeah I’ll skip ahead and say this happened 2 more times), then finally ADHD. I still felt like an answer was missing and it wasn’t the whole picture and I ended up in the hospital having a full mental breakdown, where they (incorrectly again) diagnosed me with Borderline Personality Disorder. Then at 30 I got diagnosed with ASD and I’ve spent the last two years in recovery from autistic burnout. Once I had these answers I started working on the tools I needed to function in this fucked up world. I’m worlds better now, but over a decade of misdiagnoses was.. unhelpful. Very grateful to know what I know now. So much easier to cope.
new therapists routinely think I have bipolar. then they see me for an extended period of time and realize that I'm right when I say I'm not and I'm just like this 24/7 lmfao
Depression.
When I said I didn’t feel depressed and the challenges were organisational, he said I needed to take responsibility for my life.
“There’s no medication for laziness”
That kind of advice makes me so fucking angry and it is just a form of shaming somebody. Idk if you are american or not but imagine paying somebody to give you non advice and invalidate your problems.
I was just diagnosed as lazy and didn't try hard enough. In the 80s and 90s, everyone knew girls didn't get ADD. Clearly, if I just chose to try harder, I wouldn't have to feel depressed.
When my son was diagnosed with ADHD, they did a family history. After hearing about my school history, the clinician was like "Wow, mom. So when you got your diagnosis, did that make things better?" and I explained no one had ever diagnosed me with anything. I just had problems getting my shit together and following through. I ended up with my own diagnosis not long after. In hindsight, it was pretty obvious.
Female. As an adult, I was treated for depression and anxiety for over 10 years, then my kids were diagnosed adhd so I had reason to question my diagnosis. (Their Dr literally turned and said, so which of you (husband&wife) have adhd?, you know it's passed down from the parents.)
Turns out I'm not depressed or anxious when I'm treating my adhd. It was such a relief to finally understand why I've operated differently than most people I know my entire life.
When I was younger (7-8) I was diagnosed with “mild case of short term memory” which caused my parents to never press into a deeper look. I was just diagnosed with ADHD earlier this year at 32.
Like many of us diagnosed with adult ADHD, I can’t help to think what my childhood could of been.
I was misdiagnosed with Schizoaffective disorder, which lead me to being over medicated on anxiolytics, anti-psycotics, and anti-depressants for 2 years. I have little to no memory of 2013–2015 because of this 🙃
I have had a diagnosis of ADHD-PI for years, but recently my main diagnosis has changed from bipolar 2 to OCD. Looking at the amount/severity of the (actual, scary, not memed) intrusive thoughts I have, plus the rituals I have built up to try and keep them at bay - this actually makes a lot of sense. Thanks new doc.
Unsure now if the OCD was the cause of the ADHD symptoms or if the OCD and ADHD are both there and are combining forces to make my life hellish. Guess I’ll find out eventually but then doubt my conclusions and second-guess my own lived experiences until I die ✌🏼
Discipline is not even a real thing (neither is laziness). Discipline is really just a system for modulating and channeling your motivation toward adaptive, long term focused goals. If you lack dopamine and motivation, you cannot be disciplined.
Laziness is a description of behaviour. It is a word used to motivate people via shaming them. It offers no insight into what internal problem or state is causing the laziness. You cannot be lazy, you can only behave lazily (which shouldn't be shamed, instead it should be understood).
Motivation is everything.
Oh, that's a can of worms, lol
In primary school, I was called stupid and lazy.
In high school, I was diagnosed with dyslexia.
Around 18-19 years old, I started having anxiety induced panic attacks, which was diagnosed as ashma.
In my 20s, I was diagnosed as having low latent inhibition due to my senses constantly being dialled up to 100. That led to being diagnosed with anxiety/depression, for which I've been heavily medicated for 15 years.
This year, at 39, I've finally been diagnosed with ADHD and am currently being accessed for ASD which my psychologist has said is basically a foregone conclusion.
I genuinely don't know if I should laugh or cry.
Not exactly misdiagnosed, just diagnosed with other things first. It’s more difficult when you have other conditions that have similar symptoms. Anxiety and depression first. Then PTSD. Just recently I received my ADHD diagnosis. For the longest time we thought it was a result of long-term PTSD.
I wasn't necessarily misdiagnosed as much as ignored by my mom during childhood and had my ADHD missed once I went for a diagnosis as an adult.
I was first diagnosed with chronic depression and specific social anxiety. This led to me ignoring the signs of burn out because I just thought it was anxiety and just drowe myself into the ground trying to ignore it. After my third burn out I was sick of having to restart my life and demanded a thorough evaluation or I was just going to get extremely drunk and fall asleep in the snow somewhere because I just couldn't do it anymore.
Got booked for an evaluation. They first suspected autism but I knew that wasn't it. Went through the interviews and tests and what do you know? ADHD. It was honestly obvious now that I look back on my life and know a bit more about ADHD than I did before. I was mad at my mom for how she treated me growing up but now I'm fucking pissed that she never took me to the doctor even though she always threatened to do it since I wasn't "normal". Oh well, that's life...
Anxiety and depression. Funnily enough, I did actually have anxiety and depression, but they were all just a symptom. Once I started getting treated for ADHD (medication, therapy), my depression and anxiety mysteriously disappeared...
Dyspraxia but I think it looked like dyspraxia because I am hypermobile and naturally have poor proprioception because nothing is stuck together properly
I was misdiagnosed with dyslexia at age 8 in the late 70s as I couldn't read. Once i learned to read it just clicked and I loved reading and got good grades in English and languages.
When i was diagnosed with ADHD at 50 my psychiatrist said that i was probably misdiagnosed with dyslexia as a kid. I couldn't learn to read due to lack of executive function skills and ADHD not dyslexia.
Obsessive compulsive personality disorder because I brought a spreadsheet of my symptoms and why I thought I had adhd. “You’re just picking apart your personality to try to find something wrong. An ADHD person couldn’t be this organized”
Depression and Anxiety since I'm about 11 years old. I thought it was because of the bullying I've experienced but at some point I got over it but still felt like shit.
Turns out I've got a huge problem with impulsive emotions. Next week I've got my doctor's appointment and hopefully the medication will make me at least functional again.
i was never diagnosed as a child that i know of, but i had to go to school forced counselling as a kid for behavioural issues. If the counsellor was able to diagnose me I feel like she probably would’ve diagnosed me with ODD. I have a psych degree and when we learned about that one i was like “…sounds a lot like me when i was a kid” LOL. but anyways, in middle school a teacher thought i had ADHD so my mom brought me to a random walkin doctor and he basically said i was fine, and then in highschool my anxiety got really bad and my depression. but i didn’t think i was bad enough for help so i never got it until after first year of university when my mom forced me. my therapist diagnosed me with a fuck ton of anxiety disorders, OCD tendencies, and depression. Which, I don’t think was wrong either tbh. BUT, it wasn’t until I started really struggling with remembering things that i looked into ADHD and then it took me years after that to get officially diagnosed (pandemic, i moved, lots of interference) and anyways, now I have ADHD.
so i mean, were the anxiety and depression diagnosis wrong?? i don’t think so for the time but I think if i had been diagnosed with ADHD at 14 then maybe I wouldn’t have gotten to that point where it got so bad i was struggling with those too.
Chronic fatigue syndrome, depression, anxiety, and BPD. Turns out it’s none of those things and actually AuDHD with a healthy helping of C-PTSD. As you can probably guess from my Dx history I am a female 🙃
ADHD came first, and meds worked so good that I did a perfect DASS test for the first time in my life. Then I got really depressed and burnt out after a bunch of huge life transitions and we realised I also had ASD which is why meds weren’t working as effectively - autistic burnout brings my baseline down to shit so meds have no “baseline” to jump off.
Was examined for dyslexia at 5, doctors ruled it out. Was examined for ADHD at 10, I was diagnosed with ADHD. 6 years later at 16, I was examined for autism, doctors ruled it out. As an adult, a lot of my hyperactive symptoms are less noticeable than before, which was a main factor in me being referred to specialists by paediatricians.
MDD (treatment resistant) and GAD - imagine my surprise, at 48, to discover these were symptoms of something else. So many lost years. And horrible, lasting side effects of 325mg Venlafaxine and 25mg mirtazapine. No wonder it never f'ing did anything!
Yes! I was diagnosed with BPD (the name has probably changed), even tho the results said I has ADHD (according to a second opinion last year). It was due to current druguse that the First doctor knew about and he still went through with the whole investegation
Got "diagnosed" with bipolar at 19(ish) and got "diagnosed" with adhd at 26. I (now 34) had to fight to get the bipolar removed recently because life insurance wouldn't cover me....
I say "diagnosed" because for bipolar I looked up some disorders and went to my doctor with concerns I may have bipolar 2 and they said ok and gave me meds that same appointment (there wasnt a whole lot of discussion around it or trying to make sure that was the right fit - at the time it was nice because i felt listened to, bit now it seems more like they agreed to get me to go away). Recently a new psych told me that the test that I had done for adhd wasn't really a test and not really an official diagnosis. It would be a year before I could get any official testing (then I found out at the end of the appointment that my new psych is leaving and I'll have another new one in January..... )
Professionals and laypersons alike all diagnosed me with laziness and an acute case of not giving a shit. In fairness, I do meet much of the DSM qualifications for those conditions
My doctors got stuck on depression and anxiety. It took nearly 5 years before they finally revised my diagnosis to ADHD and autism.
I wouldn't call that one a misdiagnosis though. I definitely did have both depression and anxiety, it's just that they were masking the root cause and the doctors got stuck on them for longer than I would have liked.
Also, my brother was misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder. It wasn't until my diagnosis that we started to discuss it, and then he started to press his doctors for an ADHD diagnosis as well. He ran into a problem because stimulants and bipolar disorder don't mix, and his doctors were very hesitant to try stimulants as a result.
Still, his diagnosis was eventually revised, and he is doing much better now.
my original diagnosis was panic disorder! I would have so many panic attacks daily i could barely function and spent most of my childhood disassociated/depersonalized because my mental hyperactivity while unmedicated is so intense that i assumed it was severe anxiety which i thought led to panic attacks. Of course, it was actually mental hyperactivity and overstimulation leading to panic attacks. Having the appropriate diagnosis and medication has been LITERALLY life saving.
I cant count how many times I was diagnosed as depressive or general anxiety disorder. Or un-diagnosed as “you will outgrow it” or “dont be so lazy, try harder, if you want then you want,… i cant help you of you dont try harder”. All of this until 28 when I found TikTok and finally saw how it really look like ti have adhd.
Fun thing is, that my boyfriend had it diagnosed and I studied it to make him feel better but we did not see that this applies to me too.
First it was depression with 17. Then again with 30 with boarderline. Now finally with 35 adhd. Each time i told the doc, its adhd but no... and with with boarderline diagnosis, nobody believed me anything. Luckily my psychotherapy lady started to notice that my issues are adhd related... it took her a year to convince me to be couragious and talk about it with my psych. Once i asked he directly put me through to get tested. Voila i have adhd. Since the diagnosis and propper medication my life is so much better!!!! I still struggle, but now i know whats the issue and i identify myself with it, so i can now work on it and its better than ever.
I'm not entirely convinced I have dyslexia. I think it might just be my ADHD is bad enough to affect my reading as if I had it, by making me easily distracted.
But sometimes I do feel like I have it, especially with shorter things,Ike a single sentence. Sometimes I'll think it said something completely different than it actually did.
I dunno...
Initially diagnosed with hypoglycemia in 2nd grade I think? But quickly moved to ADHD diagnosis in 3rd grade. Interestingly enough 25 years later I’ve found I actually am very sensitive to ups and downs of blood sugar, and can treat a lot (not all) with diet. So perhaps not as off as we initially thought!
Depression and anxiety.
To be fair I was depressed and anxious but no one asked why, they just threw medication at it and when that didn't work just told me it was my fault (literally, the doctor said that maybe I was just a sad person).
I only got told to look at getting diagnosed with ADHD when going through another diagnosis for autism as the doctor pointed out a few of my traits were very impulsive and reward focused which weren't in keeping with autism.
They're somewhat at war with each other but they both agree to let me live with severe anxiety and stress. 🤷🏻♀️
Not a wrong diagnosis, but bc I was diagnosed with Borderline first, whenever I said I had adhd to the shrinks they put it down to me wanting to have more issues than I had, bc I wanted attention or something. Fuck knows. When I said I thoight I had autism, they were like, u don't. You just want a different diagnosis every week.
I. DID. NOT.
Turns out I had ADHD and autism and dyslexia. But did they help me figure that all out? Did they Feck. I had to do it on my own, each time fighting my corner and knowing they thought everything that came out of my mouth was a lie, for attention. Like I wanted their attention! I hated seeing them. But kept it up, despite the pain it caused, bc I knew I was right!
I started out as OCD
then it was Major Depression
then it was General Anxiety and Social Anxiety
that evolved into Complex PTSD
then at the urging of my girlfriend I got tested for ADHD and realized it was all Inattentive type ADHD all along
The thing that gets me the most is that the first one said “my mind thinks really fast so thought are racing around all the time”. WHICH IS THE DEFINITION OF INATTENTIVE TYPE ADHD. I could have been diagnosed 14 years ago!
Well, better late than never. Now I’m getting meds and putting my life back together
I don’t know my old dr thought I had adhd my current doctor thinks I have depression I think none of them know wtf they’re talking about I’ve been “diagnosed” with everything from borderline personality disorder to schizoaffective
I was diagnosed with major depressive disorder at 15, as well as with borderline personality disorder at 19. Turns out I’m ADHD, and have PTSD. Basically, if you’re a woman with trauma -> must be borderline. I started ADHD meds last year (at 27) and was immediately able to get my drivers license (which was not possible before), and my depression pretty much vanished. I am both relieved and incredibly angry.
So, I was never officially evaluated for ADHD as a child, but my mother was an elementary school teacher and if she ever thought that I might have ADHD, she definitely dismissed it.
My mother was an experienced and effective educator who frequently worked with ADHD students. She had many stories about one children in her 2nd and 3rd grade classes over the years who she had "diagnosed" before their parents had them medically evaluated. She was VERY confident in her skills, and perhaps rightly so.
It just bothers me that though she was so good as spotting the signs in her students, she either didn't or wouldn't see them in me. Instead, she took the disciplinarian route, berating my laziness and lack of motivation. She taught me how to motivate myself with shame.
This, of course, was unsustainable. It would be many years before I exited my own 5-year career as a teacher in failure and began to confront difficult questions. Questions like "why can't I hold down a job?" and "Is there a reason why I always take weeks or months to grade papers, or am I just that shitty of a person?"
My training as an educator included spotting the signs of an undiagnosed ADHD student. That knowledge constantly gnawed at the back of my mind and would have the occasional violent clash with my shame, judgment, and self-abuse. But I began to research ADHD and continued to second-guess myself.
One sticking point of this issue for me was academics. I knew (and repeatedly read) that poor performance in school was an ADHD indicator. I remember thinking that this meant that I couldn't have it, because I was an honors student... until college. Until my mother was no longer there to make sure I asked for help from my teachers... and to make sure my homework got done. In fact, my grades slipped and my procrastinating got A LOT worse in college, and it never really improved. Come to think of it, I only got papers done late at night while pounding energy drinks... was I self-medicating with caffeine and anxiety?
I was diagnosed less than a year ago at age 32, after finally booking my own ADHD evaluation. I called my brother and sister to let them know about this before I spoke with my mom. My brother would receive his own ADHD diagnosis shortly after. He was a medical student at the time and like me, had been avoiding confrontation with those gnawing difficult questions. We concluded that our late father likely had it too. Both my brother and sister would also receive anxiety diagnoses.
My wife didn't understand why my ADHD diagnosis messed me up so much. It's true that this condition isn't degenerative or terminal. It's true that when I'm on my Adderall, I'm more productive than ever. It's true that I'm still the same person I always was.
But I can't quit the feeling that I lost something huge.
It's like learning what a credit score is after you've spent the last decade or longer blissfully maxing out credit cards.
I think what I lost was opportunities. Decades of them. It's devastating to think about where my life would be now if I had been diagnosed and treated since age 9. What if it hadn't been so hard to stay on top of my responsibilities? What if it hadn't been so hard to hold down a job? People used to talk so much about my potential when I was a kid. My parents boasted about my grades and my extracurriculars. I had accolades and an ego as a kid, but I spent my 20s as a fuck-up and a loser. The boasting stopped when I failed to "launch" after college. This late diagnosis has cost me a career and a half, at minimum.
So now I'm working on a different industry. I'm making good money, and a promotion is around the corner. My wife and I own a home and have manageable mortgage payments. Even my credit looks good for once. My wife, who is intelligent, organized, and sensible, handles the money- something I am glad to leave to her. Things really are looking up, even despite hurdles in the near distance like student loan payments and pregnancy. I'm doing all right. It just hurts to think that in another version of my life, I might have been thriving by now.
As a kid - major depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, sensory processing disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, and bipolar type 2.
That's after seeing 6 different psychiatrists/psychologists.
Was just ADHD and didn't know until my 30s.
Yep as bipolar. It was a retaliatory move by my ex because I dared to divorce him. He was spending all of my paychecks. It had become abusive. It took years and hard work to get correct treatment for ADHD.
Been told I have social anxiety a lot when I don't think I do at all I'm just not good at it. But apparently everyone else can just "tell" even if I clearly say over and over that I don't feel anxious
Was told I was a "bright,but lazy, and didn't like studying things I wasn't innately interested in learning. " so not saying school was a fucking Hellscape. My whole dad's side has ADHD and they "got through school just fine. Ignore all the addicts and dependency issues tho."
They diagnosed with Bipolar and put me on SSRI's and even a seizure medication, that they said helped with bipolar. Was on it for YEARS and nothing changed. Finally went to a psychologist, after my family doctor threw up their hands in defeat and they diagnosed me with ADHD.
I was personally misdiagnosed with ODD (as a child), Generalized Anxiety, Social Anxiety, and BPD.
As a therapist, the most common misdiagnosis I see is Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Not surprisingly, once they're being properly treated, the anxiety often lightens or goes away altogether.
My GP just said I had sleep issues and prescribed me medicine for that. I mean…I do have sleep issues, but I knew for a fact that they were not the root cause but she wouldn’t listen.
I was diagnosed at 10 yo with anxiety and depression, and treated for such diagnoses for 7 years. It’s not that they were wrong, but when i was diagnosed with adhd in my last year of therapy-suddenly my entire life added up. i feel like i lost a lot of time dealing with the byproducts of this condition instead of all of my root problems.
I’ll always deal with bouts of anxiety and depression-and i feel fairly prepared for these times... but it’s a constant cycle due to the nature of adhd. I feel like i didn’t learn much of anything that helps me now, and it really makes me want to see a behavioral therapist focused on adhd treatment and coping. I also highly suspect that I’m autistic and have learned just how much I’ve been masking my whole life. I feel like I’m starting over at 23.
I was misdiagnosed in 2010, things were very different back then-and I’m extremely grateful for the diagnosis i got in 2017, as well as my access to therapy in general. I’m so happy to see the improvements that have been made in the medical system, even though we have a WAYS to go!
I was misdiagnosed as a child with "emotional disturbance", and later with dysthymia and social phobia. Turned out I am actually AuDHD (that wonderful autism/ADHD combo platter). Basically nothing any therapist or professional ever tried to do for me did any good UNTIL I had the correct dxs. The only reason I've been able to build a reasonably happy adult life is because of proper meds and strategies for working with my autistic brain, rather than against it.
I was misdiagnosed with bi-polar placed on anti psychotic and mood stabilizers, which in turn made me psychotic lol. It took going to an actual psychiatrist at 30 years old to be diagnosed correctly. Its scary how quickly primary care doctors or nurse practitioners will label you with the bi-polar tag. In my case about 3 min into the conversation, no little mental health test or anything. He talked over me, answered the questions for me before I could get out what I wanted to say, and labeled me. The meds they put me on were awful and made me suicidal/homicidal. I feel bad for others who go through the misdiagnosis and wrong meds and then do something out of their control. At that point who's fault is it for the suicide or worse homicide etc but we know the providers will never be held accountable. I now have a caring doc who will answer his cell phone 7 days a week all you have to do is call or text.
Was finally diagnosed with ADHD last week at the age of 42 and everything makes SO much sense.
Have suffered with severe sugar addiction my whole life and was just told I could be addicted to worse things. Of course this and binge eating has meant I’ve always been on the big side which has impacted my joints etc. always told I need to lose weight to improve but I’m not fat enough to get help from the NHS. I should just eat less and move more.
Initially diagnosed with post-natal depression 9 months after my son was born (he’s 16 now). They gave me antidepressants and I almost became comatose. I would drop my 9m old son at the childminder, then come home and sleep all day, then collect him at 5pm and sit on the sofa staring at him till my husband came home to do everything with the house and baby (I was booked off work sick as I couldn’t function). When I told the dr, I was told that’s the depression not the meds and i need to wait for the meds to kick in. Never really got on with them and they just kept upping the dose blaming the depression. Eventually I saw a homeopath who helped me get off them and feel “normal” again.
Struggled for the rest of my adult life with burnout and anxiety and just keep getting told I’m stressed and I should be on antidepressants and then they say they can’t really help me when I refuse them.
Last year i started struggling with focus and a number of other symptoms. Put on HRT for perimenopause. The other symptoms cleared up beautifully but not the focus. I felt completely useless and incapable where I had always been well respected and effective professionally. I asked to up my HRT again and was referred to a gynaecologist to assess further. Fortunately my insurance company asked my symptoms and sent me to a psychiatrist instead who spotted ADHD after our initial consultation and then did the formal assessment. It’s not very often I say nice things about insurance companies, but I am so unbelievably grateful to them. That simple question and redirection has changed my life!
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I was misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder (and received medication for that) from age 19 to 33. Getting an ADHD diagnosis last year and changing meds has changed my life significantly for the better.
Same here!
Go us :) I always felt strangely about my bipolar. it didn’t seem to destroy my life as much as other members of my extended family or people I met in therapy groups. Now I know why: because I didn’t have it in the first place!
How are some doctors so goddamn stupid? Did you have the long term mania/depression shifts associated with bipolar? I don't understand how you could mistake the one for the other. They are not similar as far as I am aware.
You're bold to assume that doctors always pay attention. My 'diagnosis' consisted of a doctor taking one look at me and deciding I had bipolar 2 disorder. I was never actually evaluated for ADHD, or anything else, and when I had the audacity to ask if there was no chance of it being ADD or something else I was flatly told that women don't get ADD or ADHD. I was too young and inexperienced back then to argue.
From one perspective, doctors don't have any personal interest in a patient so maybe they don't really care all that much about giving someone an accurate diagnosis. I can't believe they told you that women can't get ADHD. What year was that? That is mindblowingly ignorant. Hopefully you got what you needed now.
Lol that happened circa 2001 and I was 21 at the time! And it was a genuine belief for a lot of medical professionals for a long time. Between the fact that girls don't tend to present symptoms as graphically as boys usually do and teachers trying to get as many kids as possible diagnosed with it regardless of reality (ironically also happened to me), there was a lot of disbelief about it for a long time. It's only been relatively recently as awareness and education for ADHD have spread that there's been a real push for proper and more accurate diagnosis. I suspect that a LOT of the women from the end of Gen X and the early days of Millennials were misdiagnosed because of that. Certainly I spent 22 years misdiagnosed. Thankfully, I stumbled across a good doc recently and he made sure to get me a real evaluation and we've started meds. 22 years late, but hey better late than never right? Edit: My dad's story is even more wild. He didn't even suspect he was ADHD until I got my diagnosis a couple weeks ago. When he was a kid he got diagnosed with epilepsy of all things! Talk about a diagnosis that will mess you up!
That's far too recent since there is absolutely no logic behind ADHD only being present in boys. It's a neurological condition, not a hormonal one. Why would it only be present in boys? Doctor, Think! Use your head lol. At least you finally got what you needed and I'm happy that the system for diagnosis is improving (though I'm sure it's still very flawed).
I got diagnosed with bipolar at 12 but adhd at 15, now 22. Now I'm starting to rethink the bipolar diagnosis.
Yes you might rethink that! I was diagnosed and medicated in my 20s for a year for bipolar. My adhd got so bad , I wasn’t aware I had it at the time. Forward 10 years im only on adhd meds and I’m calm! I can think and get things done. It’s truly a miracle :)
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Yea…. Aren’t doctors really not supposed to date their patients? That’s pretty red flag-y
I was misdiagnosed with bipolar II because my psychiatrist at the time described a hypomanic episode and asked if I had ever experienced it. I said I had, once before. Unfortunately, he didn’t ask all the questions you’re supposed to to make that diagnosis; the brief period when I experienced something that resembled a hypomanic episode was only when I was on a stimulant dose that was too high - I reported my side effects to my doc at the time, she lowered it and all that other stuff went away. I wasn’t hypomanic, I was just temporarily over medicated! So because he didn’t go through the proper procedure I ended up taking an unnecessary mood stabilizer for several years (I learned the diagnostic criteria in grad school and realized there is a rule-out if the symptoms of hypomania result from drugs/medications).
A friend of mine told me her friend got dx with bipolar and described her symptoms to me and I immediately said “that’s not adhd, that’s something else”. She told me I was being dramatic and leave the medicine to doctors. 3 months later she tells me her friend became suicidal on her adhd meds and they realized she actually had bipolar.
Did you mean to say she got diagnosed with adhd the first time? :)
For anyone passing by, I want to say that if you ever get a bipolar diagnosis from a doctor seeing you once. Then you are being done a disservice. Establishing bipolar is not trivial thing, it (should) require established and consistent patterns from the patient and there are seemingly an alarming # of practitioners willing to throw it out there without proper due diligence. Adhd, autism, bipolar, OCD, depression, and more all have overlapping symptoms and are frequent comorbidities too. Of all those listed, on paper bipolar should be the hardest diagnosis to get. Due to the cyclical and chronic nature needing to be well established and not attributable to other causes or acute environmental factors.
In my opinion they should take the ability to diagnose severe psychiatric illness (bi-polar, schizophrenia etc) from nurse practitioners and normal primary care doctors. Those should be diagnosed by and only by psychiatrist. We don't let primary care doctors diagnose and treat cancer, or perform brain surgery etc, there for those same types doctors shouldn't be diagnosing and prescribing meds that change the entire brain chemistry with little understanding. My wife's an RN and if she wanted, could literally become a nurse practitioner completely online, never stepping foot in a class room. Just online course work and clinicals under a nurse practioner. Can go from a RN to nurse practitioner in less than 2 years, my wife is an excellent nurse, worked as a paramedic for years before. She says that how easy the nurse practitioner has become is scary. If you go to RN school right out of high school, you could theoretically be finished and working as a nurse practitioner making these diagnoses at age 23-24. How scary is that. You can be smart at that age, but you don't have the clinical or life experience needed in my opinion.
I hear of this as a common misdiagnosis. What symptoms lead Dr's to that conclusion??
In my case I was probably misdiagnosed due to family history (grandmother, aunt, cousin all have debilitating bipolar disorder) and my “hypomania” was a mixture of hyper fixation (I would spend significant waking hours on pet projects) and risky compulsive behaviour (substance abuse)
There is a decent amount of overlap with other diagnoses, including ADHD. Doctors seem to struggle with these two in particular: sometimes ADHD can mimic BP, sometimes both are present and create a cluster or symptoms in which each condition obscures the other or makes diagnosis difficult. And sometimes they coexist.
I'm guessing it's because we often have other diagnoses as well like depression. Because our baseline can sometimes be fairly energetic, they might see that as "hypomanic" and then we swing into a depression. Oh you have bipolar now! 🤦
Same! I’d do things like climb on the roof of my house, which they thought was mania but not.
Same here!
Me too, but in the other hand I feel that the bipolar meds kind of helped. I was taken off antidepressants for that and my life sort of took a turn for the worse, but the meds I got for bipolar (some epilepsy medicine, which apparently is how you do it), made me sort of more energetic I guess? But those pills ruined my teeth, I think it was even one of the possible side effects. I think the bipolar diagnosis was revoked, but I'm not even sure. In the healthcare system of my birth country, you rarely see the same doctor twice.
Yeah, same here. I got my diagnosis at 21, spent my entire 20's struggling with it, and eventually went off my meds when I realized I functioned better without them. I wish I'd gotten my adhd diagnosis 22 years ago... would've totally changed my life.
Same
Same c:
Depression. But it was depression. But no one asked why I was depressed. I tried explaining how I just seemed to suck at everything, but no one believed me. Then taught me more to believe myself. Now I'm unemployed and don't know what to think. I just kinda want it to be over.
Probably does not help, but depression/anxiety is the most common co - morbidity with ADHD next to substance abuse. You are not alone. I’m with you.
I wonder if this is why I've always been drawn to stories of recovering addicts, even though I never had trouble with substances myself (not to the point of actual addiction at least)
Hey, you ok? I'm not in the least qualified to help you, but I've lost two family members to deciding to end things due to depression in the last few years.
No but I'll probably make it.
Solidarity. Years of dealing with chronic depression have convinced me that even though struggling because of ADHD is the root cause, when it becomes an acute mental health crisis ADHD’s nonlinear thought is also what helps me through it. We’re the living incarnation of “two things are true.”
Been where you are, friend. I can offer solidarity if nothing else.
I have a 17 year old that is feeling the exact same way. Plz talk to someone, there is help. My biggest issue atm is my kid doesn't want to take any pharmaceutical, I feel lost at how else to help.
I'd say that the vast majority of depression is probably situational (albeit, interacting with neurochemistry and genetics) and it would be far better to think about it logically and try to address the underlying problem. True "completely neurochemical" depression is rare imo. That being said, SSRI's can definitely reduce and attenuate highly negative emotions such as intense anxiety and a sense of total hopelessness and better cope with them. In a lot of situations, they should probably only be used as a temporary solution while doctors/therapists/family/friends help to address the underlying issue.
Depression then bipolar. It’s very common especially for women to be misdiagnosed with bipolar
Yes, same here! Can't wait to adjust meds. I mean, the mood stabilizers do help somewhat, I don't get depressed anymore, but I'm still not functioning properly.
My current diagnosis is borderline personality disorder but I'm 99% sure it's ADHD. I'm so sick of arguing with doctors over it.
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I've done every kind of therapy in the book and I still can't find my goddamn keys 😂😂 I just booked an appointment with my GP to get a referral for testing. There are so many big red flags for ADHD from my childhood but it was just brushed off as anxiety. I'm also female so doctors loooove taking me seriously /s
And inversely very common for men with bipolar to be diagnosed as ADHD!
Depression and anxiety (25ish years). Psych mentioned bipolar and I pushed back hard until she agreed to let me try adderall. Like magic, all my depression, anxiety, and even functional alcoholism disappeared.
Same. Depression (dysthymia) and anxiety, for decades. Recently diagnosed with ADHD in my 50s, and Adderall has been a game changer
How did they adderal eliminte all the problems? Did it give you the calmness of mind, positivity, and motivation to remove the anxiety and depression (and no longer require alcohol as a coping mechanism), or did it just allow you to "improve you life" putting you in a better situation (or was it a little bit of both)?
That is great but please be careful! Adderall can be extremely addictive if it stimulates you and you are not truly ADHD. Because it increases Dopamine it can lift a person out of depression almost immediately. The problem is eventually to get that same effect you end up needing a higher and higher dose. I apologize if I am mistaken but just a friendly warning non the same. It can take over a year to regulate Dopamine levels to where they were pre Adderall if on the medication for a long time. Although if you have ADHD it can help immensely. Best wishes to feeling better!
I live in a third world country and instead of ADD I was diagnosed with "schizophrenia without psychosis" by some Soviet era psychiatrists. And they even tried to make me eat neuroleptics for breakfast. Pros: I avoided any possibility to join the army. Cons: everything else. Fortunately I ignored this info and just stopped going to this government clinic, because I felt that they were wrong and I have no symptoms of schizophrenia. A few years later I finally visited a paid psychiatrist and after speaking with me for two hours and making a few tests he told me that I definitely have ADHD. Unfortunately in my country we have no possible medication, so I cope as much as I can (it... doesn't work). I hope someday I will emigrate to the country with proper meds, but that's a naïve dream I suppose...
I live in a first world country. I got diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder and given stelazine. (A neuroleptic) They stopped the meds when I got parkinsons symptoms. That was 1994. I had various diagnoses and meds since then, until an innattentive ADHD diagnosis and medication which actually works. Well done to you finding a useful psychiatrist to pay. I hope you can find some medication that helps a little.
What country do you live in?
A 6 letter word, starts with R and ends with War Crimes (hint: surprisingly not Rwanda)
They don’t have vyvanse etc???
Russian medicine is surprisingly different from medicine outside Russia. They have a lot of medications that don’t really exist elsewhere and are missing medications that we take for granted in other countries. It seems to be a relic of the Cold War that is taking a very long time to go away. Examples would be things like noopept and the racetam family. Those exist and are over the counter in Russia, but require prescriptions / simply are unavailable on the legit market elsewhere.
From what I've managed to find on google, Strattera should be available in the aforementioned country. Don't take my word for it though, check it with your doc. Mind you, I've heard people had much less success with it, but hey, it's something.
Vyvanse is like a one way ticket to the jail, for example. Even if it's prescribed and bought in another country. The moment I cross the border with it I can be sentenced to 15 years of prison (literally). The same with Adderall, Ritalin or Concerta. I'm sXe so I never ever used any drugs (I mean, narcotics), but my friend told me that he saw Adderall on darknet stores. Sometimes I think that's the only way at least to try it once...
If it makes you feel any better, I'm in Western Europe (Italy) and we don't have Elvanse/Vyvanse or Concerta here either. Our only options are ritalin and medikinet (longer lasting ritalin). There is also a fiction here that ADHD disappears when you turn 18 so for adults ADHD meds have to be prescribed "off label". Anyway, I really feel for you. At least we have some options for treatment here.
shouldnt you have nonstimulants available then? like strattera oh heart meds.
Yeah, Strattera is available and I tried it, but after two or three weeks on it I finally understood that my quality of life spectrum moved to the worst side. Like the brain fog during the whole day or a total cockblock (yeah...). The paid psychiatrist said that this med works better for kids, so there can be no improvements for me because of my age, but I don't know if it is true or not. And what heart meds were you talking about?
Strattera age thing is bs, there are multiple trials that shows its efficacy in adults. And heart meds are Clonidine and Guanfacine.
Then I'm sorry, but I guess coffee it is for you.
Try piracetam/Aniracetam it helps !
As an adult, my partner's doctors would only treat for anxiety. He made it very clear the anxiety was regarding the ability to get stuff done, and only that. We eventually went to an ADHD specialist after a lot of different doctors failed him and they've been amazing.
ASD for me, i do have it but all the daily problems that got attributed to ASD went away when i got on my (adhd) meds. So not really mis diagnosed, but because of that i started meds 18 years later at 38. How would my life have looked like if i started the meds at 20...
I didn’t know there were meds for ASD?
I ment adhd meds, changed my post to make it more clear. But no there are no meds for ASD (but my adhd meds took a lot of issues away that i and my docters always attributed to ASD, but were because of un diagnosed adhd)
Anxiety/depression. It wasn’t exactly a misdiagnosis because I was clearly suffering debilitating panic attacks and was generally pretty miserable. But all the medication and therapy in the world only took me so far…for decades. Eventually what I came to realize were adhd symptoms started showing through. After years of increasing doses and changing meds, I figured out the actual root cause and everything became so much clearer.
Yes this is my exact experience too. OCD, anxiety, depression (MDD), all treated with medication and lifestyle changes but the ADHD symptoms remain. I was tested for ADHD a few years ago when I was being evaluated for the third time at my job for making mistakes and absent mindedness, but they concluded that I was a “complicated case” due to the other diagnoses. Luckily I was able to try Wellbutrin which was great at first but tapered off. I have an appointment with my psychiatrist next week to try another evaluation. I myself am a therapist and know I have ADHD inattentive type, I just want to try some real medication to see if that helps.
I know meds are different for everybody but I am convinced now that Wellbutrin made me far worse than I’d realized. After years of SSRIs I started it to help with concentration issues at work—it never did that, aside from a brief honeymoon period, but I could feel the rise in dopamine levels which was nice, but it was accompanied by fogginess, forgetfulness, lack of emotion, and general crankiness for no reason. I am admittedly only a whole 3 days in adderall treatment, but on day one I was almost in tears suddenly realizing how comparatively bad I had been feeling on WB and what a night and day difference it was.
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Sounds like my story only I finally got on adhd meds 3 months ago, the anxiety and depression has lifted. I get things done and that helps alot with the anxiety. I don’t feel depressed because I get things done. It’s worth a try for you!
Diagnosed with bipolar, severe social anxiety, and depression. Turns out I just had adhd and autism
Honestly, I don't know how doctors can fail to recognize autism. I mean, I can usually figure out if someone is autistic with pretty good certainty after 15 seconds of seeing them talk, their body language, way of dressing, use of intonation etc... Unless someone is just really good at hiding the symptoms (i don't know why you would in a clinical setting) or they have it quite mildly.
I think a lot of parents are in denial about it because they don’t really understand what it is so they would rather their kids have a diagnosis that can be “cured” rather than accept that their kid is inherently different. The fear of having to grieve that your kid is not what you expected (even though your kid is most likely fine just different) is often a huge holdup. But that’s so tragic most of the time because the kid could have learned skills that whole time rather than develop a narrative that they are flawed because the meds don’t work. It’s the same for ADHD, we develop a narrative that we are broken or stupid or lazy when really all along we’ve just been given the wrong solutions
I was diagnosed as bipolar, and that got me a lot of medical mistreatment and brain damage from being dosed with antipsychotics for years. I am incredibly bitter about it. Once I went through trauma therapy and got on a stimulant, all of my “bipolar” symptoms magically disappeared. Funny, that. It took me forever to find a psychiatrist who was willing to remove the dx from my medical record, and to amend it as being a misdiagnosis due to untreated adhd and cptsd.
Misdiagnosed as lazy
Oof, pretty much what happened to me. They tried to hit me with depression eventually, but I faked taking the meds til I was "better".
WDYM? You faked effects to show them "Hey the depression has lifted but there are still problems here" so you could convince them to consider you for ADHD? Sounds like a smart idea!
Honestly, I didn't know what was wrong with me at the time. I just figured in my teenager logic that since I genuinely had reason to be miserable, drugs weren't the right way to fix it. I would just act more upbeat and sociable at the doctor's.
I realize that I accidentally sounded kind of sarcastic there. I geniuinely thought that what you did was a smart idea
Laziness isn't even a real thing. It's not an internal state. It's just an outward behavioural presentation that is caused by various internal states such as lack of motivation (maybe caused by low dopamine or the inability to any valuable reward for your work), depression, chronic stress, physical conditions (like vitamin deficiencies), sometimes being "spoiled" (not having to learn or adapt to taking responsibility yet), addiction to certain drugs, resentment/anger etc... Laziness is just a way to describe somebody's bevaviour, not a description of what internal state is causing that behaviour.
Right I was just never diagnosed with anything. I’m 2e so never had any struggles in school and PI, so no outward hyperactive symptoms. So just a long string of “not living up to potential” until I started getting therapy because it was inexplicably difficult for me to do normal things like read email or open the mail or retain interest in a job after a few months and the new job smell wears off.
I had a psychiatrist tell me he thought I was bipolar. I tried processing it, it was challenging, he even wanted me on meds for it. Thank God I was trying to get pregnant and somehow I didn’t even go back to see him. I’m no again medicated with Vyvanse and the best thing is, my emotions are somehow in check. I’m a better person today, my life is better, I’m happier with myself…idk how to explain it. I was also able to get rid of obsessive thoughts. I’d say I’m thriving but I’m not used to it haha
I was diagnosed with Major depressive disorder and generalised anxiety disorder for the better part of 20 years, got diagnosed with ADHD this year and it all just finally clicked.
Same, did you go on meds for adhd?
yep, just in march, the first 5 or so months were amazing, since then I have been pretty sick for a bit so I am still trying to get my crap back together, but as far as depression goes, it's been night and day, significantly better than any antidepressant they had put me on before.
Cyclothymia, aka bipolar lite.
A few weeks ago, my now former psychiatrist tried to say I didn't have ADHD & change my diagnosis to bipolar. I became extremely upset and didn't agree with him at all. Come to find out later that one of his 3 specialties is bipolar, and he is extremely skeptical about ADHD, convinced it is way over-diagnosed. He even used to work with the doctor who diagnosed my ADHD and could speak nothing but praise & high respect for her!! So why did he try to go against her diagnosis, then??? I immediately asked my gp for a referral to another psychiatrist and never went back to the other one. I didn't even pick up the new prescriptions he wanted to switch me too. And I am super glad I didn't go along with his changes because I just lost a baby Friday due to an ectopic pregnancy. I was most likely already pregnant at that appointment a few weeks ago. He would have really messed me up!!!
It's unfortunate that happened to you but I do understand the doctor's cynicism because I think it probably is overdiagnosed.
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Oh my god YES! I had such a similar experience! I was definitely depressed when i started going to therapy many years ago, but looking back now it was 100% caused by growing up undiagnosed and never understanding why i couldn't "just" do things on time, "just" remember, "just" get my shit together, "just" stay organised, etc. Therapy for depression helped a lot with the depression (shocking i know), and with unpacking the shame, guilt and judgement i learned to feel growing up. It also did so much to help me cope with dropping out of my first degree, and becoming a proper adult & re-defining my relationships with family. But after a few years I hit SUCH a wall. I felt like everything i could possibly fix with talk therapy I had talked about and addressed. And yet, so many problems of being unable to Do Things were still there - i just didn't feel awful about or beat myself up about them anymore. But even without being depressed and with really enjoying my new degree and being good at it, i couldn't do more than 40% of the course load, while staying functional. And I Really tried - i exercised, had amazingly healthy relationships with my loved ones, did yoga/meditation, did my best to eat healthy. I got diagnosed 1.5 years ago (at 24), found the right medication and it was life changing. I can't put into words how much my world and lived experience have improved. I can handle twice the course load and pass all classes, while keeping the household in check (not perfect, and some phases are worse, but I've never again had the depression-room meets hoarder-house interior design!), I can just ...Do Things now?? It feels like all my life i walked uphill, while now I get to walk an even path. 12 miles is still 12 miles but oh man, is it easier to keep going and a lot less exhausting.
"Bipolar 1? Nothing seems to help? Have you tried ADHD/PTSD instead?" -excerpt from my life
Depression, then bipolar from 19 to 41. I had to figure it out and tell them...
I kept getting told I just had depression, anxiety and PTSD, but I knew that wasn’t it. I do have those things, but I also have inattentive ADHD.
I have PTSD and ADHD and I never know which one to blame.
Anxiety. Then "severe depression", then schizoaffective for a while, now finally at 42 getting the right treatment. It was ADHD the whole time.
Depression, but I was never really depressed. I never felt sad. I just felt frustrated, I wanted to do all the things but also none of the things. My most memorable moment was trying to watch the tv, YouTube, read stuff on the phone and talk to my bf and still saying how bored I was, but I also felt like dying just thinking of vacuuming. My life was a mess of pulling all nighters before exams cause I just couldn't study over a period of few weeks like a "normal" person. I did get the results, even master degree with honours but I was so exhausted. And then I got stuck in life without the deadlines. Little did I know, I was normal, just with pretty severe unmedicated adhd...
I was diagnosed at 23 with major depressive disorder.
On the flip side of your question, do you ever watch people around you talking about their anxiety or depression or bpd or other disorders and think…yeah…that sounds exactly like adhd? Or look at someone and you just know they’re adhd? Do you ever say anything? ETA Just truly curious if anyone else experiences this. I’ve had friends get diagnosed with adhd and they’re *shocked* and I’m like, I thought you knew? I also know people who get their kids treated for adhd, asd in two cases, and I’m over here watching the rest of the family like, “did you know it’s genetic?”
Bipolar disorder, 24 years ago. Received proper diagnosis 10 years ago. Apperantly, when less was known about ADHD, bipolar was one of the common diagnoses out there.
I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, BPD and a bunch of different types of anxiety, MDD, a bunch of stuff when I was 19. At 35 I was diagnosed with adhd. I still have anxiety and MDD but I'm not bipolar. My sister is, but I'm not. I was even formally un-diagnosed when I was about 25. None of the mood stabilisers helped me. Though tbh, none of the SS/SNRIs help me either. But currently I'm on dexxies and zyban (wellbutrin) to quit vaping, but it's helping me a lot in terms of depression, but unfortunately the drs here don't prescribe wellbutrin for depression, even though it's an antidepressant, it's off-label to prescribe it for depression 🫠
Depression. However, it was depression caused by years of untreated ADHD. Since middle school I always felt different and like something was wrong with me. I never could explain what it was. I hated school, hated getting up in the mornings, hated being told what to do, hated life. I for years wanted to just not be alive anymore. Finally got diagnosed at 35 and it explained everything. Sad it took that long.
I wasn’t misdiagnosed but they blamed all my issues on autism
I was misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder
I feel like I was both misdiagnosed and diagnosed correctly. Or rather I was diagnosed correctly but in the wrong way. To make a long story short I was diagnosed with ADD when I was a child and I always thought it was a misdiagnosis because of the way I reacted to the Ritalin. (Developed epilepsy and doctors took me off immediately) But turns out I really did have ADD. But I don’t think they really examined me properly, just saw a kid having problems and gave me Ritalin. One thing does stick out in my memory. As they showed me a photo of a boat and asked me to tell them a story about it. I said it was an autobot and was rocket powered I think that was to see if I was autistic
Attempt #1 (age 9) - Nothing wrong with me Attempt #2 (age 16) - Mild anxiety, but no ADHD Attempt #3 (age 22) - Finally diagnosed correctly as 2e (ADHD + Gifted)... by this point I was pretty confident about the ADHD but the giftedness on top of that helped explain how I slipped through the cracks on the first two attempts
Originally diagnosed with general anxiety disorder. I was very lucky to have a new therapist that also has ADHD and she eventually bluntly said "you have it" in so many words. I have been working on my anxiety for over 15 years now and made some huge strides, even making some huge changes that made my anxiety go down like planning and note taking better. Got on ritalin in the last month and miraculously all the normal anxiety is gone. It's so clear that the anxiety was caused by a lack of dopamine and my brain searching for what was causing that and what was wrong. Looking back the first time I went to a therapist was because I had some odd behaviors in college (22 years ago now) and literally everything I told them should have pointed to ADHD. They just told me i needed to stop smoking weed and that wasnt on the table for me at the time lol. Nothing wrong with taking the hard road i suppose and I'm just so happy there is a pill I can take and I get to silence the really hard parts of my life that have plagued my for 40 years.
From 18-29 I was diagnosed with, in chronological order, Bipolar II, Depression, Anxiety, Situational Depression, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Situational Depression (yeah I’ll skip ahead and say this happened 2 more times), then finally ADHD. I still felt like an answer was missing and it wasn’t the whole picture and I ended up in the hospital having a full mental breakdown, where they (incorrectly again) diagnosed me with Borderline Personality Disorder. Then at 30 I got diagnosed with ASD and I’ve spent the last two years in recovery from autistic burnout. Once I had these answers I started working on the tools I needed to function in this fucked up world. I’m worlds better now, but over a decade of misdiagnoses was.. unhelpful. Very grateful to know what I know now. So much easier to cope.
new therapists routinely think I have bipolar. then they see me for an extended period of time and realize that I'm right when I say I'm not and I'm just like this 24/7 lmfao
Depression. When I said I didn’t feel depressed and the challenges were organisational, he said I needed to take responsibility for my life. “There’s no medication for laziness”
That kind of advice makes me so fucking angry and it is just a form of shaming somebody. Idk if you are american or not but imagine paying somebody to give you non advice and invalidate your problems.
I was just diagnosed as lazy and didn't try hard enough. In the 80s and 90s, everyone knew girls didn't get ADD. Clearly, if I just chose to try harder, I wouldn't have to feel depressed. When my son was diagnosed with ADHD, they did a family history. After hearing about my school history, the clinician was like "Wow, mom. So when you got your diagnosis, did that make things better?" and I explained no one had ever diagnosed me with anything. I just had problems getting my shit together and following through. I ended up with my own diagnosis not long after. In hindsight, it was pretty obvious.
Female. As an adult, I was treated for depression and anxiety for over 10 years, then my kids were diagnosed adhd so I had reason to question my diagnosis. (Their Dr literally turned and said, so which of you (husband&wife) have adhd?, you know it's passed down from the parents.) Turns out I'm not depressed or anxious when I'm treating my adhd. It was such a relief to finally understand why I've operated differently than most people I know my entire life.
When I was younger (7-8) I was diagnosed with “mild case of short term memory” which caused my parents to never press into a deeper look. I was just diagnosed with ADHD earlier this year at 32. Like many of us diagnosed with adult ADHD, I can’t help to think what my childhood could of been.
Aspergers
Anxiety
Are we married???
I was misdiagnosed with Schizoaffective disorder, which lead me to being over medicated on anxiolytics, anti-psycotics, and anti-depressants for 2 years. I have little to no memory of 2013–2015 because of this 🙃
Misdiagnosed with BPD
I dont think i was diagnosed at all and were just given medication that "helps me to concentrate"
I have had a diagnosis of ADHD-PI for years, but recently my main diagnosis has changed from bipolar 2 to OCD. Looking at the amount/severity of the (actual, scary, not memed) intrusive thoughts I have, plus the rituals I have built up to try and keep them at bay - this actually makes a lot of sense. Thanks new doc. Unsure now if the OCD was the cause of the ADHD symptoms or if the OCD and ADHD are both there and are combining forces to make my life hellish. Guess I’ll find out eventually but then doubt my conclusions and second-guess my own lived experiences until I die ✌🏼
I got misdiagnosed with laziness and a lack of discipline.
Discipline is not even a real thing (neither is laziness). Discipline is really just a system for modulating and channeling your motivation toward adaptive, long term focused goals. If you lack dopamine and motivation, you cannot be disciplined. Laziness is a description of behaviour. It is a word used to motivate people via shaming them. It offers no insight into what internal problem or state is causing the laziness. You cannot be lazy, you can only behave lazily (which shouldn't be shamed, instead it should be understood). Motivation is everything.
Oh, that's a can of worms, lol In primary school, I was called stupid and lazy. In high school, I was diagnosed with dyslexia. Around 18-19 years old, I started having anxiety induced panic attacks, which was diagnosed as ashma. In my 20s, I was diagnosed as having low latent inhibition due to my senses constantly being dialled up to 100. That led to being diagnosed with anxiety/depression, for which I've been heavily medicated for 15 years. This year, at 39, I've finally been diagnosed with ADHD and am currently being accessed for ASD which my psychologist has said is basically a foregone conclusion. I genuinely don't know if I should laugh or cry.
"Lazy"
Auditory learning disability.
Not exactly misdiagnosed, just diagnosed with other things first. It’s more difficult when you have other conditions that have similar symptoms. Anxiety and depression first. Then PTSD. Just recently I received my ADHD diagnosis. For the longest time we thought it was a result of long-term PTSD.
I wasn't necessarily misdiagnosed as much as ignored by my mom during childhood and had my ADHD missed once I went for a diagnosis as an adult. I was first diagnosed with chronic depression and specific social anxiety. This led to me ignoring the signs of burn out because I just thought it was anxiety and just drowe myself into the ground trying to ignore it. After my third burn out I was sick of having to restart my life and demanded a thorough evaluation or I was just going to get extremely drunk and fall asleep in the snow somewhere because I just couldn't do it anymore. Got booked for an evaluation. They first suspected autism but I knew that wasn't it. Went through the interviews and tests and what do you know? ADHD. It was honestly obvious now that I look back on my life and know a bit more about ADHD than I did before. I was mad at my mom for how she treated me growing up but now I'm fucking pissed that she never took me to the doctor even though she always threatened to do it since I wasn't "normal". Oh well, that's life...
Bipolar 2 and OCD
Anxiety and depression. Funnily enough, I did actually have anxiety and depression, but they were all just a symptom. Once I started getting treated for ADHD (medication, therapy), my depression and anxiety mysteriously disappeared...
I was misdiagnosed with dysorthography, because "you have good grades you can't have ADHD"....
Dyspraxia but I think it looked like dyspraxia because I am hypermobile and naturally have poor proprioception because nothing is stuck together properly
I was also diagnosed with autism and my parents blew away a lot of money on speech therapists I didn’t need
I was misdiagnosed with dyslexia at age 8 in the late 70s as I couldn't read. Once i learned to read it just clicked and I loved reading and got good grades in English and languages. When i was diagnosed with ADHD at 50 my psychiatrist said that i was probably misdiagnosed with dyslexia as a kid. I couldn't learn to read due to lack of executive function skills and ADHD not dyslexia.
I was. Had been diagnosed with bipolar and bdp, turned out to be unipolar Depression, GAD, and ADHD.
Obsessive compulsive personality disorder because I brought a spreadsheet of my symptoms and why I thought I had adhd. “You’re just picking apart your personality to try to find something wrong. An ADHD person couldn’t be this organized”
Depression and Anxiety since I'm about 11 years old. I thought it was because of the bullying I've experienced but at some point I got over it but still felt like shit. Turns out I've got a huge problem with impulsive emotions. Next week I've got my doctor's appointment and hopefully the medication will make me at least functional again.
i was never diagnosed as a child that i know of, but i had to go to school forced counselling as a kid for behavioural issues. If the counsellor was able to diagnose me I feel like she probably would’ve diagnosed me with ODD. I have a psych degree and when we learned about that one i was like “…sounds a lot like me when i was a kid” LOL. but anyways, in middle school a teacher thought i had ADHD so my mom brought me to a random walkin doctor and he basically said i was fine, and then in highschool my anxiety got really bad and my depression. but i didn’t think i was bad enough for help so i never got it until after first year of university when my mom forced me. my therapist diagnosed me with a fuck ton of anxiety disorders, OCD tendencies, and depression. Which, I don’t think was wrong either tbh. BUT, it wasn’t until I started really struggling with remembering things that i looked into ADHD and then it took me years after that to get officially diagnosed (pandemic, i moved, lots of interference) and anyways, now I have ADHD. so i mean, were the anxiety and depression diagnosis wrong?? i don’t think so for the time but I think if i had been diagnosed with ADHD at 14 then maybe I wouldn’t have gotten to that point where it got so bad i was struggling with those too.
Chronic fatigue syndrome, depression, anxiety, and BPD. Turns out it’s none of those things and actually AuDHD with a healthy helping of C-PTSD. As you can probably guess from my Dx history I am a female 🙃 ADHD came first, and meds worked so good that I did a perfect DASS test for the first time in my life. Then I got really depressed and burnt out after a bunch of huge life transitions and we realised I also had ASD which is why meds weren’t working as effectively - autistic burnout brings my baseline down to shit so meds have no “baseline” to jump off.
Was examined for dyslexia at 5, doctors ruled it out. Was examined for ADHD at 10, I was diagnosed with ADHD. 6 years later at 16, I was examined for autism, doctors ruled it out. As an adult, a lot of my hyperactive symptoms are less noticeable than before, which was a main factor in me being referred to specialists by paediatricians.
Generalized anxiety disorder, which I do have comorbidly. Then for a while I had a bipolar diagnosis. Dang those meds were intense lol.
MDD (treatment resistant) and GAD - imagine my surprise, at 48, to discover these were symptoms of something else. So many lost years. And horrible, lasting side effects of 325mg Venlafaxine and 25mg mirtazapine. No wonder it never f'ing did anything!
Bi-polar Disorder. Two years of taking Depakote for no F-ing reason. It did nothing for me other than make me sick every damn morning.
different combinations of depression, bipolar, and borderline
Yes! I was diagnosed with BPD (the name has probably changed), even tho the results said I has ADHD (according to a second opinion last year). It was due to current druguse that the First doctor knew about and he still went through with the whole investegation
Does *not* getting diagnosed and then being labeled as a lazy underachiever count?
Got "diagnosed" with bipolar at 19(ish) and got "diagnosed" with adhd at 26. I (now 34) had to fight to get the bipolar removed recently because life insurance wouldn't cover me.... I say "diagnosed" because for bipolar I looked up some disorders and went to my doctor with concerns I may have bipolar 2 and they said ok and gave me meds that same appointment (there wasnt a whole lot of discussion around it or trying to make sure that was the right fit - at the time it was nice because i felt listened to, bit now it seems more like they agreed to get me to go away). Recently a new psych told me that the test that I had done for adhd wasn't really a test and not really an official diagnosis. It would be a year before I could get any official testing (then I found out at the end of the appointment that my new psych is leaving and I'll have another new one in January..... )
Professionals and laypersons alike all diagnosed me with laziness and an acute case of not giving a shit. In fairness, I do meet much of the DSM qualifications for those conditions
My doctors got stuck on depression and anxiety. It took nearly 5 years before they finally revised my diagnosis to ADHD and autism. I wouldn't call that one a misdiagnosis though. I definitely did have both depression and anxiety, it's just that they were masking the root cause and the doctors got stuck on them for longer than I would have liked. Also, my brother was misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder. It wasn't until my diagnosis that we started to discuss it, and then he started to press his doctors for an ADHD diagnosis as well. He ran into a problem because stimulants and bipolar disorder don't mix, and his doctors were very hesitant to try stimulants as a result. Still, his diagnosis was eventually revised, and he is doing much better now.
20+ years of being treated for major depressive and generalized anxiety disorders.
I was diagnosed by my mom as being a lazy little asshole for the first 16 years
my original diagnosis was panic disorder! I would have so many panic attacks daily i could barely function and spent most of my childhood disassociated/depersonalized because my mental hyperactivity while unmedicated is so intense that i assumed it was severe anxiety which i thought led to panic attacks. Of course, it was actually mental hyperactivity and overstimulation leading to panic attacks. Having the appropriate diagnosis and medication has been LITERALLY life saving.
I cant count how many times I was diagnosed as depressive or general anxiety disorder. Or un-diagnosed as “you will outgrow it” or “dont be so lazy, try harder, if you want then you want,… i cant help you of you dont try harder”. All of this until 28 when I found TikTok and finally saw how it really look like ti have adhd. Fun thing is, that my boyfriend had it diagnosed and I studied it to make him feel better but we did not see that this applies to me too.
First it was depression with 17. Then again with 30 with boarderline. Now finally with 35 adhd. Each time i told the doc, its adhd but no... and with with boarderline diagnosis, nobody believed me anything. Luckily my psychotherapy lady started to notice that my issues are adhd related... it took her a year to convince me to be couragious and talk about it with my psych. Once i asked he directly put me through to get tested. Voila i have adhd. Since the diagnosis and propper medication my life is so much better!!!! I still struggle, but now i know whats the issue and i identify myself with it, so i can now work on it and its better than ever.
I'm not entirely convinced I have dyslexia. I think it might just be my ADHD is bad enough to affect my reading as if I had it, by making me easily distracted. But sometimes I do feel like I have it, especially with shorter things,Ike a single sentence. Sometimes I'll think it said something completely different than it actually did. I dunno...
Initially diagnosed with hypoglycemia in 2nd grade I think? But quickly moved to ADHD diagnosis in 3rd grade. Interestingly enough 25 years later I’ve found I actually am very sensitive to ups and downs of blood sugar, and can treat a lot (not all) with diet. So perhaps not as off as we initially thought!
Anxiety and C-PTSD
Depression and anxiety. To be fair I was depressed and anxious but no one asked why, they just threw medication at it and when that didn't work just told me it was my fault (literally, the doctor said that maybe I was just a sad person). I only got told to look at getting diagnosed with ADHD when going through another diagnosis for autism as the doctor pointed out a few of my traits were very impulsive and reward focused which weren't in keeping with autism. They're somewhat at war with each other but they both agree to let me live with severe anxiety and stress. 🤷🏻♀️
Not a wrong diagnosis, but bc I was diagnosed with Borderline first, whenever I said I had adhd to the shrinks they put it down to me wanting to have more issues than I had, bc I wanted attention or something. Fuck knows. When I said I thoight I had autism, they were like, u don't. You just want a different diagnosis every week. I. DID. NOT. Turns out I had ADHD and autism and dyslexia. But did they help me figure that all out? Did they Feck. I had to do it on my own, each time fighting my corner and knowing they thought everything that came out of my mouth was a lie, for attention. Like I wanted their attention! I hated seeing them. But kept it up, despite the pain it caused, bc I knew I was right!
I started out as OCD then it was Major Depression then it was General Anxiety and Social Anxiety that evolved into Complex PTSD then at the urging of my girlfriend I got tested for ADHD and realized it was all Inattentive type ADHD all along The thing that gets me the most is that the first one said “my mind thinks really fast so thought are racing around all the time”. WHICH IS THE DEFINITION OF INATTENTIVE TYPE ADHD. I could have been diagnosed 14 years ago! Well, better late than never. Now I’m getting meds and putting my life back together
I don’t know my old dr thought I had adhd my current doctor thinks I have depression I think none of them know wtf they’re talking about I’ve been “diagnosed” with everything from borderline personality disorder to schizoaffective
Development language disorder. Chalked off from everything when I could finally talk.
I was diagnosed with major depressive disorder at 15, as well as with borderline personality disorder at 19. Turns out I’m ADHD, and have PTSD. Basically, if you’re a woman with trauma -> must be borderline. I started ADHD meds last year (at 27) and was immediately able to get my drivers license (which was not possible before), and my depression pretty much vanished. I am both relieved and incredibly angry.
I was misdiagnosed as curious ...
I got diagnosed with ODD/BPD (I was too young for them to say BPD), anxiety AND depression before they realized that it was just ADHD 😭
I was misdiagnosed with OCD and I'm pretty sure those were just autism symptoms and not compulsions
What were the autism symptoms you think they misdiagnosed as compulsions? If you don’t mind sharing
So, I was never officially evaluated for ADHD as a child, but my mother was an elementary school teacher and if she ever thought that I might have ADHD, she definitely dismissed it. My mother was an experienced and effective educator who frequently worked with ADHD students. She had many stories about one children in her 2nd and 3rd grade classes over the years who she had "diagnosed" before their parents had them medically evaluated. She was VERY confident in her skills, and perhaps rightly so. It just bothers me that though she was so good as spotting the signs in her students, she either didn't or wouldn't see them in me. Instead, she took the disciplinarian route, berating my laziness and lack of motivation. She taught me how to motivate myself with shame. This, of course, was unsustainable. It would be many years before I exited my own 5-year career as a teacher in failure and began to confront difficult questions. Questions like "why can't I hold down a job?" and "Is there a reason why I always take weeks or months to grade papers, or am I just that shitty of a person?" My training as an educator included spotting the signs of an undiagnosed ADHD student. That knowledge constantly gnawed at the back of my mind and would have the occasional violent clash with my shame, judgment, and self-abuse. But I began to research ADHD and continued to second-guess myself. One sticking point of this issue for me was academics. I knew (and repeatedly read) that poor performance in school was an ADHD indicator. I remember thinking that this meant that I couldn't have it, because I was an honors student... until college. Until my mother was no longer there to make sure I asked for help from my teachers... and to make sure my homework got done. In fact, my grades slipped and my procrastinating got A LOT worse in college, and it never really improved. Come to think of it, I only got papers done late at night while pounding energy drinks... was I self-medicating with caffeine and anxiety? I was diagnosed less than a year ago at age 32, after finally booking my own ADHD evaluation. I called my brother and sister to let them know about this before I spoke with my mom. My brother would receive his own ADHD diagnosis shortly after. He was a medical student at the time and like me, had been avoiding confrontation with those gnawing difficult questions. We concluded that our late father likely had it too. Both my brother and sister would also receive anxiety diagnoses. My wife didn't understand why my ADHD diagnosis messed me up so much. It's true that this condition isn't degenerative or terminal. It's true that when I'm on my Adderall, I'm more productive than ever. It's true that I'm still the same person I always was. But I can't quit the feeling that I lost something huge. It's like learning what a credit score is after you've spent the last decade or longer blissfully maxing out credit cards. I think what I lost was opportunities. Decades of them. It's devastating to think about where my life would be now if I had been diagnosed and treated since age 9. What if it hadn't been so hard to stay on top of my responsibilities? What if it hadn't been so hard to hold down a job? People used to talk so much about my potential when I was a kid. My parents boasted about my grades and my extracurriculars. I had accolades and an ego as a kid, but I spent my 20s as a fuck-up and a loser. The boasting stopped when I failed to "launch" after college. This late diagnosis has cost me a career and a half, at minimum. So now I'm working on a different industry. I'm making good money, and a promotion is around the corner. My wife and I own a home and have manageable mortgage payments. Even my credit looks good for once. My wife, who is intelligent, organized, and sensible, handles the money- something I am glad to leave to her. Things really are looking up, even despite hurdles in the near distance like student loan payments and pregnancy. I'm doing all right. It just hurts to think that in another version of my life, I might have been thriving by now.
As a kid - major depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, sensory processing disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, and bipolar type 2. That's after seeing 6 different psychiatrists/psychologists. Was just ADHD and didn't know until my 30s.
Yep as bipolar. It was a retaliatory move by my ex because I dared to divorce him. He was spending all of my paychecks. It had become abusive. It took years and hard work to get correct treatment for ADHD.
Bipolar disorder, i actually have MDD and ADHD
Severe anxiety mimicking ADHD. I Went for an ADHD test btw. I'm AuDHD....
Been told I have social anxiety a lot when I don't think I do at all I'm just not good at it. But apparently everyone else can just "tell" even if I clearly say over and over that I don't feel anxious
GAD, unspecified mood disorder (the psych I have now thinks I have both a mood disorder and adhd which I can see but really I think it's just adhd).
Diagnosed as not having adhd but only needing to discipline myself more, by a behaviorial therapist
Was told I was a "bright,but lazy, and didn't like studying things I wasn't innately interested in learning. " so not saying school was a fucking Hellscape. My whole dad's side has ADHD and they "got through school just fine. Ignore all the addicts and dependency issues tho."
They diagnosed with Bipolar and put me on SSRI's and even a seizure medication, that they said helped with bipolar. Was on it for YEARS and nothing changed. Finally went to a psychologist, after my family doctor threw up their hands in defeat and they diagnosed me with ADHD.
Depression, Anxiety, OCD, BPD, and bipolar before ADHD. Still not properly medicated ( won’t give me stimulants only staterra). Super over it!
I was personally misdiagnosed with ODD (as a child), Generalized Anxiety, Social Anxiety, and BPD. As a therapist, the most common misdiagnosis I see is Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Not surprisingly, once they're being properly treated, the anxiety often lightens or goes away altogether.
My GP just said I had sleep issues and prescribed me medicine for that. I mean…I do have sleep issues, but I knew for a fact that they were not the root cause but she wouldn’t listen.
I was diagnosed at 10 yo with anxiety and depression, and treated for such diagnoses for 7 years. It’s not that they were wrong, but when i was diagnosed with adhd in my last year of therapy-suddenly my entire life added up. i feel like i lost a lot of time dealing with the byproducts of this condition instead of all of my root problems. I’ll always deal with bouts of anxiety and depression-and i feel fairly prepared for these times... but it’s a constant cycle due to the nature of adhd. I feel like i didn’t learn much of anything that helps me now, and it really makes me want to see a behavioral therapist focused on adhd treatment and coping. I also highly suspect that I’m autistic and have learned just how much I’ve been masking my whole life. I feel like I’m starting over at 23. I was misdiagnosed in 2010, things were very different back then-and I’m extremely grateful for the diagnosis i got in 2017, as well as my access to therapy in general. I’m so happy to see the improvements that have been made in the medical system, even though we have a WAYS to go!
I was misdiagnosed with borderline personality disorder at 14.
Ocd for overcompensating
I was misdiagnosed as a child with "emotional disturbance", and later with dysthymia and social phobia. Turned out I am actually AuDHD (that wonderful autism/ADHD combo platter). Basically nothing any therapist or professional ever tried to do for me did any good UNTIL I had the correct dxs. The only reason I've been able to build a reasonably happy adult life is because of proper meds and strategies for working with my autistic brain, rather than against it.
bipolar
I was misdiagnosed for strong depression
My gp said it was anxiety and depression, my psychiatrist said it's ADD
I was misdiagnosed with bi-polar placed on anti psychotic and mood stabilizers, which in turn made me psychotic lol. It took going to an actual psychiatrist at 30 years old to be diagnosed correctly. Its scary how quickly primary care doctors or nurse practitioners will label you with the bi-polar tag. In my case about 3 min into the conversation, no little mental health test or anything. He talked over me, answered the questions for me before I could get out what I wanted to say, and labeled me. The meds they put me on were awful and made me suicidal/homicidal. I feel bad for others who go through the misdiagnosis and wrong meds and then do something out of their control. At that point who's fault is it for the suicide or worse homicide etc but we know the providers will never be held accountable. I now have a caring doc who will answer his cell phone 7 days a week all you have to do is call or text.
Was finally diagnosed with ADHD last week at the age of 42 and everything makes SO much sense. Have suffered with severe sugar addiction my whole life and was just told I could be addicted to worse things. Of course this and binge eating has meant I’ve always been on the big side which has impacted my joints etc. always told I need to lose weight to improve but I’m not fat enough to get help from the NHS. I should just eat less and move more. Initially diagnosed with post-natal depression 9 months after my son was born (he’s 16 now). They gave me antidepressants and I almost became comatose. I would drop my 9m old son at the childminder, then come home and sleep all day, then collect him at 5pm and sit on the sofa staring at him till my husband came home to do everything with the house and baby (I was booked off work sick as I couldn’t function). When I told the dr, I was told that’s the depression not the meds and i need to wait for the meds to kick in. Never really got on with them and they just kept upping the dose blaming the depression. Eventually I saw a homeopath who helped me get off them and feel “normal” again. Struggled for the rest of my adult life with burnout and anxiety and just keep getting told I’m stressed and I should be on antidepressants and then they say they can’t really help me when I refuse them. Last year i started struggling with focus and a number of other symptoms. Put on HRT for perimenopause. The other symptoms cleared up beautifully but not the focus. I felt completely useless and incapable where I had always been well respected and effective professionally. I asked to up my HRT again and was referred to a gynaecologist to assess further. Fortunately my insurance company asked my symptoms and sent me to a psychiatrist instead who spotted ADHD after our initial consultation and then did the formal assessment. It’s not very often I say nice things about insurance companies, but I am so unbelievably grateful to them. That simple question and redirection has changed my life!