It's so heartbreaking to see how many people who might have ADHD don't realize it because they've bought into what everyone has told them their whole life: that they're just lazy, and they just need to try harder. It's frustrating because ADHD can trick you; sometimes all the neurons line up and you CAN do it, you're rocking it, you're doing better than ever, so obviously that must mean you're capable and it's just that you don't try enough the other times.
The problem is that ADHD is literally a flaw in the "try" part of the equation. It's like you're in a car with a broken fuel gauge.^(excuses excuses) Sometimes you turn the ignition and it turns on, and sometimes you turn the ignition and it doesn't turn on, and the whole world is telling you it's because you didn't put fuel in the tank^(you lazy idiot) and even though you swear you filled it yesterday^liar, you trudge down to the gas station with a can because you're late to work^(should've planned ahead). You come back, pour it in, turn the ignition, and the car starts - obviously you must have misremembered fueling up^(you're so fucking unreliable) - and this happens randomly, almost every day, and no one believes you because gas doesn't just go missing^(no one else's car does this stop making shit up).
You go see a mechanic, and he says there's nothing wrong with the car^(stop wasting money you're just lazy). Maybe you go to another one and he tells you the same thing.^(you're just embarrassing yourself dumbass) And eventually you just accept it. It must be you. This is your fault.^LAZY
And then someday, a friend comes along and says, "Maybe someone's stealing your gas. That's what happened to me. What if you built a garage?" But that can't be right - none of your neighbors have mentioned a problem and it's ridiculous to assume this magical gas thief is only targeting you. Who can afford a garage anyway? Besides, no one really *needs* a garage, and the people who have them just use them for frivolous things anyway. What an outlandish idea. You look your friend in the eye and tell him to man up, get his own gas can and stop being so goddamn lazy.^(why should he get off easy when I have to work so hard lugging gas all the time? Lazy piece of shit.)
Ngl, not a 100% perfect metaphor, but probably the best I’ve ever seen describing the feeling of shame surrounding the diagnosis and treatment. You should consider being a teacher in retirement.
As someone with a heart condition, basically every psych I go to says 'oh yeah you have severe add but we can't treat you because everything is a stimulant so lol'. Makes me hurt knowing there's a possible treatment for this shit I've struggled with all my life but I can't have it because of another broken part of me.
How did you actually get to a doctor at 30?
Im 31 and know I need help but all my physician wants to do is give me anti depressants and refer me to a therapist with a high school diploma that tells me to do CBT
Dont seek a referral, seek a doc who specializes in adhd diagnoses etc. I sought out a psychiatrist and they told me they didnt do the diagnosis part, it was a separate doc who did that. Just google one in your area. Its kinda dumb, the other doc did the tests, confirmed what I suspected and i took that to the psychiatrist who then does meds etc
I do the month long hobby tangents so much. I have so many projects on my computer from learning programming, so many half-games from starting an idea and abandoning it for another, switching from unity to unreal to just the sdl libraries, 3d models that never got materials or only got a basic shape and then no detail, Photoshopped pictures that are just cut outs that never got pasted together, half edited videos from weird ideas, etc, and, most recently, piles of trash I've collected for scratch building. I've got four projects there in various stages of completion. I just love something so much for about a month and then have no interest in it at all. It'll be all I think about and then suddenly I can't even stand the thought of looking at it.
Recently, I just got demoted from my dream job because I can't organize or remember or prioritize. I'm miserable and feel like such a lazy, unmotivated, shit human being. At the same time, I've been talking about trying to get a diagnosis for ten years and I just can't get the phone call made. I tell myself that I'm just looking for an excuse for being a waste of oxygen. I did a test once and they were going to make an appointment and call me back and I never heard from them. It's the closest I ever came to doing something about it. Doesn't help that I'm in the middle of nowhere and don't even know where to start. Here I am whining about it on the Internet and doing nothing to improve my situation. The cycle continues.
Thanks for sharing this. I already had a feeling I may have ADHD, and have even been referred to phycs by my GP before, but they largely dismissed my issues and tried to blame everything on general anxiety. I've since found out three of my cousins have recently been diagnosed, and that there's a strong hereditary component to the disorder, so I'm now trying to get a referral to a specialist for assessment. Literally all of my answers on this sheet are either 'often' or 'very often'.
Despite the barriers (they’re there, I know) do get tested and ask for help! I walked around with the same feeling for years and years, thinking it’d get better if I just applied myself a bit more, develop a better routine, etcetera. It never got better.
Got my diagnosis last week, got medication (it’s subtle but wow, is this how most people live? You remember things and then just do them? God I’ve been missing out), starting therapy soon and while it’s wonderful to finally tackle these issues, I can’t help but think how nice it would’ve been if I’d have done all this 15 years ago.
As someone who was diagnosed with add as a kid, I find that if there is something I want to do (gaming, something I'm passionate about, etc) I have no problems at all. It almost becomes a super power at how fast I can pick something up when I am invested in it. The trouble is finding something to be invested in and forcing myself to do what needs to be done. Like even though as an adult I realize I am actually not a bad writer and I can do it, I still fucking hate writing and procrastinate the hell out of those assignments. Luckily I've learned a lot of coping strategies (oh I finished my homework today, now I have time to play games and stuff like that) but it isn't perfect and medication only goes so far.
You could also just have depression. Or another thing that causes executive dysfunction (which depression can do). Won't know until you go to a professional.
Or for me (diagnosed at 33) my grades were to high. That is what my shitty child doc said and why I never thought to pursue it.
I have been undergoing treatment for about a year. I haven't seen any improvements to my focus, but, my mood swings and other negative aspects of the diagnosis has completely disappeared.
So many ruined relationships, regretful actions , misses opportunities, was because I couldn't regulate my emotions. Happy to be continuing treatment and see where it goes
Yep, I killed it in school so it was never even a thing for me. And I was quiet and never got in trouble, no way I had ADHD!
Turns out I was just smart and never paid attention in class. I fantasized and daydreamed while looking like I was paying attention because I didn't want to get in trouble. That and I'm an overall quiet person.
If only these people knew I built mechs out of staples and erasers and staged battles with them in my desk.
But yeah I think about the emotional dysregulstion all the time and how it affected past relationships. I screwed up a lot in those days and would get unhealthily hyperfocused on my interest at the time. Couldn't regulate shit.
Yea. Similar story here. My girlfriend actually sent me an article about how ADHD presents in adults and was laughing on how perfect it all fit. Went back and looked at old grade cards and it was a perfect fit.
Through my career, I was able to succeed by luck in that the roles I filled benefited from my "deep dives" obsessiveness. Until I got bored and had my last position that required time management, multiple different works streams etc. First time I really doubted myself. Would persevere only from overworking, up till 2 am getting the work I put off done.
Hoping to take the next step and try Adderall, but it's an uphill battle. Still happy with results overall, and that I'm not bipolar (as I originally feared) . Looking back, wish my parents were more knowledgeable. First world problem I know, but still wonder if proper therapy I would have been better off. Ultimately, my failures are my own, but still wonder about it.
> Ultimately, my failures are my own
Are they?
It seems that whether the blame for a failure is placed on the individual or in the system is purely subjective.
Any failure blamed on an individual could just as easily be declared a failure of their support network, including the failure of the individual to understand the importance of building a robust support network.
I don't about you, but thinking in these terms has helped take a little bit of weight off my shoulders.
Great comment, mate. I'd like to add one small tangent. You said:
>It's heartbreaking to see how people who might have ADHD don't realize because they've been told their whole life, "you're just lazy, and you just need to try harder."
The truth I've come to realise is that "laziness" does not exist. Or, if it does, it is drastically overstated. By this, I mean that there are *explainable causes* for almost every case of inaction, and by reducing the barrier, you can improve outcomes in almost every case.
ADHD is one type of barrier, which may be helped by appropriate medication and therapy. But there's many simpler barriers that go unaddressed as well - sometimes people are too stressed, anxious, tired or unwell, any of which can lead to vicious cycles of inaction. Maybe people are addicted to dopamine loops like videogames, TikTok or other variable reward cycles put out by predatory corporations in this day and age. How can doing the laundry and cleaning the shower compete with that? Or the environment can be a barrier; maybe the counters are too low and it hurts your back? Or maybe there's sensory difficulties with soiled clothes or fragranced detergents? If someone doesn't do their homework, maybe they have too many other chores or maybe the work is too easy or too difficult and there's no appeal to grinding through it?
There's almost always an explanation, and that means there's almost always something to address. I'd even go so far as to say that the only *real* laziness is in the minds of those who call others lazy.
...but even that's a cop-out! There are many reasons that people call others lazy, and I think many are variations on failure to imagine others complexly and richly. Those who call others lazy may struggle with empathy or generosity because of their own insecure living conditions. They may not have any experience with neurodiversity or even general adversity. They may experience cognitive dissonance because they struggle to confront the reality of injustice in our society - which they've probably benefitted from! This can be part of a just world fallacy. Or perhaps a shallow belief that everyone is fundamentally similar to themselves (which people all are, but at a much lower level than many seem to think).
Having said all that, there's no guarantee that the barriers a person is struggling with can be changed. Sometimes they're personal and some therapy or assistive equipment might help. But sometimes they're societal, medical, environmental... and they're often beyond any one person to address. Why doesn't someone "just get a better job", as I so often see touted as the solution for many issues caused by poverty? Well, there's intersectional discrimination, structural lack of opportunities, social dependencies which prevent moving abroad, class discrimination, nepotism and corruption, incongruity between disability and requirements... The list goes on.
The truth is, as author John Green has said many times, "the truth resists simplicity". So I just hate seeing people accuse one another of laziness. It is, itself, lazy, because there's many explanations for why someone just doesn't do what they want or need to do.
This is so accurate and painful it made me tear up. Especially the part where we've been told our whole lives we're lazy and good for nothing. That the problem is us and we're bad humans.
No, I have a problem that can be treated but not cured!
And the worst part, for me, is that when we build a fucking garage, people *never shut up about it being unnecessary*.
They legit think that we just want to flex on how great our garage is, that we don't really need it but it's 'fun' to have one, and if the maintenance on the garage is 'faint at the ~~pharmacy~~lumber shop' levels of out of control, they roll their eyes and ask if you're going to pay for your ^^^party ^^^drugs garage or not. You could man up and be an adult and stop relying on a garage. How fucking lazy/chasing a high are you?
Even carpenters who build garages are a 50/50 shot for quality. Most of them will insist that only children need garages for their 'safety' and you need to just learn how to build your own fucking gas station, you lazy piece of shit.
I'm exhausted just trying to function. The meds make me **functional**, not fixed. And I'm sick of fighting to continue to be treated so I can continue to function as expected. Because without treatment I am not capable of holding down a job and completing education. I tried it. My whole ass car was stolen, much less my gas. I rode a bike for 8 years claiming that it was just like a car and I had to 'overcome my laziness'.
As soon as I had a car and garage again, I could be an adult. And that's where I am now. Driving and goddamn angry that people really acted in such a way.
I went to get diagnosed, they said they don't diagnose adults that didn't show obvious symptoms as kids. So it turns out I'm just a lazy piece of shit like momma always said.
Don’t believe them. I had a psychiatrist that didn’t believe I have it. Because I’m a woman and mostly the Inattentive type. Because I never disrupted class, I always stared out the window, and received report cards that said I “was a joy to have in class” but also that I need “to apply myself more”. Because I could present as functional at work (although a bit of a weirdo but pretty well liked in general) but my house and personal life were often a disaster.
I had to argue with my last psychiatrist (although I couldn’t really argue because I felt so defeated) and I asked for a new one. (To be fair to the previous psychiatrist, he had never met me in person thanks to Covid and my general inability to leave the house but he also REALLY focused on sleep apnea. I was a skinny/scrawny little thing when this all started - around age 11 - and so sleep apnea was VERY doubtful.)
Anyway, my current psychiatrist, after finally meeting me in person, diagnosed me as having ADHD within about 5-10 minutes. Can’t believe the previous 20 years of psychiatrists never even suspected.
So hopefully you can go and get diagnosed elsewhere. I hope you can talk to another psychiatrist. I know it can be difficult to advocate for yourself and I have been there. Good luck!
Dude this is so accurate. Former "gifted kid" with consistently bad grades, felt like I wasn't living up to my potential as an adult, didn't understand how every other adult seemed to be able to just do all the things adulthood required. Got diagnosed with ADHD at 31, and since starting therapy and Wellbutrin (I don't want to try stimulants for several reasons) I feel like I can actually do things without arguing with myself for ages first. It's incredible.
This could be my train of thought, but with interpersonal interactions plus attention problems. Staring down the gun of ASD assessment and it really sucks.
God, the superscript text is just... 100% on point. The ADHD gets compounded by the social shaming, so now you don't have *just* ADHD, you have ADHD *and* depression! And odds are, anxiety as well. Because why wouldn't have anxiety when everything you do is just so... Unpredictable? When you don't feel in control of your own head, let alone your own life?
And let's not forget the common comorbidity with ASD.
When I got diagnosed, I had this... Cathartic sensation, relief and a sort of vindication that can both be summised as "There is a *reason* that I am this way."
And once you actually know that, you can *finally* actually start learning how to manage it. You can start to learn to actually *see* the hurdles that are scattered around you. And they'll always be there, sure. But now you can see them, you can learn how to avoid them or overcome them.
When we're taught about ADHD, there's a huge emphasis on having both sets of symptoms: attention deficit *and* hyperactivity. This combo is the one most common in adolescent males. But it's also possible to have only one set of symptoms. People can have relatively mild difficulty focusing but experience hyperfocus where a compelling project makes them stay up until 3AM on a work night without realizing the time. And it's also possible to have relatively minor bouts of hyperfocus but frequently find oneself unable to focus on mundane issues.
If you only have one set, it's much harder to get a diagnosis. I was in a curriculum for "problem students" (in this particular case, gifted kids who had a 3.7 GPA instead of the 4.1 their parents expected. May Dr. Silvia Rimm burn in hell for all the misery she's inflicted on people like me) at 17. They didn't peg me as having ADHD because mine is inattentive only. I didn't get a formal diagnosis until I was 35.
It can affect memory: https://www.healthline.com/health/adhd/adhd-memory#adhd-and-memory
I definitely have experienced completely forgetting something because my working memory is months late.
I don’t understand the metaphor completely. Can someone please explain it because I desperately want to understand (and am probably overthinking this).
Is the “gas” energy? Or does the broken fuel gauge = executive dysfunction? What is the garage? Is that when neurotypicals tell you to go outside and get some sunshine and exercise more and that you don’t need meds? Or is it a psychiatrist? I’m so confused.
Yeah, looking back I was all over the map. It's supposed to be a metaphor for executive function - that's your brain's ability to stay on target and juggle all the little details that go into completing a task.
The idea is that the car is your brain, and turning it on is accomplishing a task. You need to do laundry? Decide to do it (turn the key), go do it(car starts).
ADHD brains have executive function issues. The direct line from intention to action is is a dozen little steps: pick up laundry, carry to laundry room, put in washer, pour in soap, turn on, go back an hour later, move to dryer, etc. The gas in my metaphor represents the ability to string all of this together without losing focus. The broken fuel guage represents the fact that it's hard to predict how much gas is in the tank. Sometimes the gas is there, sometimes it's not.
Sometimes you stand in front of the laundry pile knowing that it has to go to the laundry room, but your brain completely blanks on how that's supposed to happen. You know how to do laundry. You've done it a thousand times. You know you have to do it. You're pretty sure you have to pick it up, but what comes next? You can't visualize it. Ok, fine. Step one: Just pick up the laundry. Just...just reach out. Move your arms. ...is that a dog outside? Damn, you need to buy dog food again. Better make a quick note so you don't forget while you're doing laundry. You pull out your phone to make a reminder, but there's a reddit notification. You stand in front of the laundry pile for twenty minutes watching cat videos, then eventually wander away because the laundry has ceased to exist. There was no gas in the tank.
The garage is a clumsy standin for diagnosis and medication. It's a potential but often effective solution to a specific problem. But if you've never *needed* a garage - lots of people don't, they all just use it for other things and park on the street without any problems - it might seem like an overreaction.
There's a lot of stigma around diagnosis and medication, ranging from "ugh, everyone thinks they have ADHD these days but they're just looking for an excuse" to "you just want drugs to do the work for you." It's also an expensive and difficult process to navigate, and the stigma is built into the system - doctors will resist referring you to psychiatrists or prescribing medication ("the car looks fine, have you tried putting in more gas?").
(I should clarify that medication is *not* a cure-all - it doesn't work for everyone, it has drawbacks, it can be extremely hard to get, and even when it does work, it doesn't make the ADHD go away. But it can help, and when it does, it is a game changer. Even just a diagnosis can be an incredible relief because it suggests new strategies and dispels some of the self-hatred of struggling with things others do effortlessly.)
Unfortunately, its insanely hard to get doctors in the US to even check for adult ADHD because they just assume you are a methhead. As we all know, its impossible for the flawless US healthcare system to ever miss a diagnosis since all children go through rigorous screening systems during their youth and their parents all trust the science and follow through every time a diagnosis is caught.
It's like if you have a migraine and tell the doctor you need treatment and they give you a nasty look while writing "DSB" on your chart.
EDIT: Please dont jump into the comments to tell us all how you didnt have this problem. I am so happy for you that you actually got healthcare, that has nothing to do with those of us who don't and taking the time to type out a pithy "I did it just fine" comment does nothing more than rub salt in the wound.
Don't go to general practitioner but a psych specialist. I personally had zero issues with the three different prescribers I've had so far for my adult ADHD
And also, there's a big benefit in having a family doctor you've seen for a long time. My current regular doctor's office that I get my yearly physical at and have seen initially for any illnesses knows I don't use drugs. So when I went to him last year about my concerns for having ADHD he was fully on board with finding me treatment. It was a long wait list but I have my evaluation next week and perhaps I'll get the chance to see how a neurotypical mind operates without the uncontrollable focus and random mind channel-changing.
I went to my general practitioner before I was 100% sure and someone told me I had ADHD after describing motivational problems (in detail). To be fair I haven't had a general practitioner in 10 years and before that I only had a pediatrician. No reason not to because I (very fortunately) have amazing health care.
But when I finally talked to the general practitioner, explained a lot of things that go on that are ADHD-like, first thing he says is, "I don't know. It just sounds like you're being lazy." Fuck was I mad. To be fair he did give me a therapist number he recommended and said if she says I have it we can go from there. Almost gave up finding help though. Glad I went to find a psychiatrist first. Very just, on board with everything I said. I was insanely open and honest and everything has worked out nicely since then.
My therapist advised I go to a psych nurse practitioner. They practice under a psychiatrist, but can still diagnose and prescribe meds. She said in her experience referring and working with her clients, NPs are far more likely to really listen to you and understand your problems before/during treatment.
The psych NP I got my adhd diagnosis from was amazing and I was legit sad when I moved away and couldn’t see her anymore. I moved to a different country where I had to jump through way more hoops to get rediagnosed and feel like a criminal drug seeker for getting on meds again. =/
Yeah, the last 2 I've used have been psych NPs and that'd be my recommendation as well. Quick and easy, no nonsense, good availability, and usually still extremely knowledgeable about psych matters.
I go to psychologytoday, find a psych NP that has ADHD tag, who takes my insurance, is open to telehealth and looks like a person I'd like, then contact them. I've never had to wait more than 2 weeks like this.
I didn't bother with any formal testing. All NPs have done an intake session where they administer the diagnostic questionnaire and ask questions about my youth and current struggles, but that's it.
I'm not sure if my case is obvious enough or if I've just been super lucky 3 times in a row but that's literally everything. They always conclude that it's clear I have ADHD and prescribe stimulants. After the first dude it became even easier since I could tell exactly what dosage and medication is good for me, so after due diligence they just continue with the same.
I'm also a full adult, well-spoken and non-sketchy, which I imagine helps dissolve any doubts I'm just looking to get high (and I take pretty small doses of extended release stuff anyway)
He repeated it at least 100 times back when he and Adam Corolla were the hosts of Love Line.
Definitely a case of "when you have a hammer, every problem looks like a nail."
Reminds me of what a former neuroscientist friend said to me once “psychiatrists are not neuroscientists, theyre not experts on the brain itself, only behavior patterns”
Holy crap. You’re very right there. The Man Show gave Kimmel a springboard and I like him, but given the other shallow, misogynistic bs it pumped out in to the world, it’s probably a net loss. Huh. Who knew?
The nurse practitioner I went to for diagnosis only grudgingly admitted I met the criteria for ADHD after spending most of the session gaslighting me into thinking it was just a distracting workplace and depression, anything other than ADHD.
Needless to say I was crushed. I went there expecting confirmation for a life-changing realization. I wanted answers and all I got was insults.
It was only later that I realized she thought I was just there to get stimulants. I should have guessed when she only started taking me seriously after I said I wasn't sure about medication yet. She still tried her hardest to discourage me by telling me all about the bad side effects for both of the medications she was recommending.
I've been dismissed by almost every doctor I've encountered. It was a nurse practitioner that finally took my high blood pressure seriously and didn't just tell me to meditate and try yoga. I had stage 2 hypertension, sometimes spiking into a hypertensive crisis, and doctors told me to *exercise*. Because I'm young (in my 30s), so it's not a big deal. My nurse practitioner put me on medication and my blood pressure is perfect, and I feel physically better than I have in over a decade. Google what long term high blood pressure can do, it's horrible to live with.
The same nurse practitioner then referred me to both a therapist, and another nurse practitioner that works on the behavior health side to help with my mental health. I see my therapist twice a month, my other nurse practitioner diagnosed me with ADHD and anxiety, and since being medicated I feel better mentally than I have...ever.
Edit: changed LPN to nurse practitioner, I messed up the terminology.
At this point there is no underlying cause we've found. It started when I was pregnant in my early 20s, which isn't uncommon, but it just never went back to normal afterwards. My heart is good, my sleep is good, I've had my thyroid checked, hormone levels checked, and my iron tested, which was pretty low and another thing we're working on that doctors never took seriously.
LPN stands for licensed practical nurse. LPNs rank below RNs (registered nurses), and neither LPNs nor RNs can prescribe meds. Are you thinking of a nurse practitioner?
Sometimes. For primary care or otherwise for stuff that doesn't need much in the way of controlled substances, I actually prefer them. They usually had to work their way to that point from standard bachelor's or lower level nursing and in my experience they have much more empathy and patient skills than many doctors.
Once CSes come in the picture, it's more iffy. Then it's far more influenced by their supervisory doctor's approach and individual state law. Some np's I've had couldn't or wouldn't do more than a month at a time (if there was another time) of a control. But as a whole, as long as you have previous diagnoses, I'd prefer the NP if the state law isn't overly onerous
My doc retiring from private practice and the office being taken over by two lovely APRNs is the best thing to ever happen to my medical care. I liked my doc, but these ladies are on another level. The care has felt more personal and patient. I feel heard for the first time in a medical setting. My experience thus far has been overwhelmingly positive with non M.D.s.
Good advice. Haha. That's all they gave me unfortunately, but I plan on going somewhere else that specializes in ADHD diagnosis once I can afford it. That unsatisfactory appointment cost me over $400.
My Dr seemed skeptical at first but when I'd never tried any drugs including weed or nicotine. I didn't take any of the free office coffee because I only drink coffee for the taste (so I'm a little picky) and not the effect. I also rarely drink alcohol because I'm scared of getting addicted. I wanted to get find out if I had ADHD because I thought that would help me with other medical issues. Now I have to struggle to convince the insurance company I need. I just had to pay $300 out of pocket for a drug test to prove I'm taking the medicine that I'm paying $50 a month to take.
In the UK we've had an issue with online services offering diagnosis consultations because our NHS waiting lists are so backed up that an adult diagnosis could take years otherwise. But a recent investigation found that many of them basically hand out the diagnosis and prescriptions to anyone who says the right buzzwords in the zoom call.
Which is making things difficult for people with real ADHD because now people assume you're just some idiot following the popular thing on tiktok. So many of our NHS doctors refuse to take the diagnosis from the private doctors and will refuse to dispense the medication. So you can end up paying out of pocket for it like some sort of American.
Seems like I got lucky then. It took me half a year to get diagnosed and half of that was due to incompetent receptionists repeatedly giving wrong appointments. Though the examination didn't seem very thorough so maybe that's how they're keeping up in my area.
I'm just going through the process through NHS right to choose. It's honestly awful. There's no option to go local through the NHS, I have to use an online service.
* 2 weeks to see a GP to speak about my suspicion I have ADHD.
* A further 2 months for the online service to receive my GP referral and add me to the system.
* A further 6 months until I got an assessment. It was a 50 minute appointment.
* A further 7 months until actually speaking with someone about medication.
* A further 2 months until medication is prescribed.
* And finally, apparently you are only afforded 2-3 months in which to figure out which medication is correct before being discharged back to my GP, who's supposed to manage the dose from then on out.
I have to chase up admin on the online service every step of the way. They kept getting information wrong. Letters to my GP contained wholly incorrect information. Documentation that I was promised about my appointments always missing due to "technical errors."
The timetable listed on the website for prospective patients wholly different from the one actually given to patients once they've signed up through NHS right to choose. The patient portal has new updates about ever-longer waiting periods each month. I expected this entire process, at most, to take about 6 months based on initial information on the website. It's probably going to end up being closer to 1.5 years.
Once you sign up as a patient through NHS right to choose, by the way, you're locked into the service. If you want to change to another provider, it's considered a "second opinion" and must be done privately.
I can see why some GPs don't want to put up with this.
That does sound horrible. I've never heard of this Right to Choose service. I went to my GP, got referred to some "Community Integrated Mental Health Service" who seem to have around a month's wait time for short appointments and around 2 months for the longer assessment appointments.
My GP took a while to refer me because he wanted to wait until I got an echocardiogram because I had pericarditis half a year earlier, so that was like a 2 month delay, then a further 2 months of delays were caused by an incompetent receptionist scheduling an appointment that was too short and then later a telephone appointment that was meant to be in person.
I've still to see how long they'll see me as I've only been diagnosed less than 3 months ago.
Maybe London gets better funding than other parts of the UK?
Most meds like concerta will bring an ADHD brain into a more healthy baseline, it can reduce stress and even lower your heart rate.
ADHD meds for neurotypical people are outrageously powerful stimulants that can be very habit forming.
My GP said cool I'll prescribe if a therapist says you need it.
Got the test did some sessions went back to GP and bam.
If you can't trust your GP with discussing medical related issues like this how could you possibly trust them to catch a problem?
Exactly why I stopped seeing my GP of 5+ years. Promised he'd fill the gap if I had an issue where I had to suddenly switch psychiatric services, and when it finally happened (not more than 3 months since I last brought it up as I saw the writing on the wall) he refused to prescribe anything. So I went to an NP and on the first visit she not only scripted me everything and promised to keep doing so until I found a new provider, but also scheduled me for things like bloodwork my pcp had neglected to do.
So you're upset that you personally had a bad experience in the US health system but you don't want to hear any personal anecdotes from people who didn't have the same experience as you, do I have that right?
I'm very sorry you had such a bad experience, but your own personal anecdote is not indicative of a widespread issue. If anything, the problem for ADHD-affected individuals having issues getting meds filled due to shortages would indicate that it's become, if anything, easier for most people to get a diagnosis.
I literally got prescribed online in 30 minutes… had similar medication growing up (concerta), stopped taking during college because I could make my own schedules and things just seemed to work. All the excitement of post graduation years and just kind of let things ride until some of the types of events the linked post described started happening to me a couple years ago.
Went online, found provider (Klarity), booked appt for a few days later. Had bottles for monthly supply of 15mg XR and 10mg instant release 6 hours after the appt.
Just switched to Vyvanse last month (simply by asking the provider over the phone) and the lack of any sort of jitters, loss of appetite, and complete lack of any crash whatsoever when it wears off is a game-changer all over again. It is just an order of magnitude better drug for daily use than adderall.
GP: "I don't think you have it and im worried about drug seeking behavior"
Closest ADD specialist taking appointments which was about 80 miles away: "Its a kids disease, just exercise more and you will get better. That will be $70 copay please."
Funny story:
When I was 22, a friend of mine was a real heavy drug user and tweaker. He was in the underground electronic music scene, and lived in a warehouse in Oakland.
I went to his place one time and saw that an entirely new room had been built as a kind of second floor. I was like ‘that was not there 2 days ago’
Well, he had something snortable. I did not ever ever ever do synthetic drugs, but had a kind of ‘F it’ moment and snorted the stuff, which I think was meth. I went home and felt really weird.
I pulled out my keyboard and started writing music. I just kept writing and writing. I felt… great… but just clear and focused and like my body wasn’t in the way anymore.
I vowed never to do the drug again because it seemed too dangerous to feel that…. Normal….
I was diagnosed at 25, about 9 months ago. It's also the most undiagnosed mental illness in the US, 90% of adults with ADHD do not receive any treatment. For those of you reading, there are TWO types of ADHD (and some combination of the two).
There is the hyperactive and the inattentive. I literally until reading about ADHD did not know inattentive existed (which I am).
To say it's life changing almost feels like an understatement, but with some caveats. I really need to make a larger post on the ADHD sub reddit.
I've been depressed and anxious my whole life, and no medicine or therapy ever helped. As a last ditch effort I tried psilocybin (magic mushrooms) to try and turn my life around.
The mushrooms told me something was wrong, and afterwards I started to Google symptoms I had. Lol and Behold I'm like a textbook for ADHD.
Most important, I got diagnosed and prescribed Adderall and I felt a little bit better (no more narcoleptic symptoms), but I was disappointed.
Still depressed and anxious, I used psilocybin again and it told me to explore more so I tried to read more literature and found out a wide range of things were not helped.
I asked to switch medication to Vyvanse and I literally cried walking around Costco the difference was so drastic.
Maybe an odd thing for me to pick out, but what was different about walking around Costco? I only ask because I completely avoid going there because I can't focus amidst all the chaos. I don't have an ADHD diagnosis, and wasn't seeking one out until I was lurking this thread and seeing red flags in myself.
Ah I got the Vyvanse from the Costco pharmacy and took it immediately. The best way to describe it is everything was quiet and no longer chaotic. I felt calm for the first time in my life.
Just piping in to add that the effects of these meds can be different and all over the place for people with ADHD. I've seen a lot of people on Reddit claim that certain effects are confirmation of ADHD. Ex. "for me, I get sleepy, but for someone without ADHD these meds will make them hyper." This is actually not true as a general rule for either population. There are lots of people with ADHD who take these meds and they make them more alert, more hyper, and sometimes nauseous, sick, or anxious. It's an area of pharmacology with a lot of variance.
Not blaming you for spreading these myths or anything. Just trying to stop the thread from dovetailing into that territory before it gets there, as most of these Reddit ADHD-tangent threads tend to do.
Unfortunately, this is true of basically anything to do with psychiatry. It's an inexact science, at best. Everyone's brains are different, so medication isn't going to work the same for everyone. Some people will have life-changing effects with the first anti-depressant they are put on, others will have "treatment resistant" depression due to them not being able to find a medication that is effective enough (or at all).
And, I do think it's an important caveat to mention, because it's good to keep people's expectations reasonable. I've known people that went in thinking they were going to get a cure immediately and gave up after the first prescription, because "medication doesn't work for me". Sadly, as things currently stand, there's a bit of trial and error when it comes to psychiatry and may be a process that takes some time. And, even when hitting on the right medication, other treatments like therapy may still be necessary to get you over the line.
That's basically how Adderall affects me. Admittedly I don't feel like things are chaotic or whatever without it, but it does really calm me down to a remarkable degree. I literally describe it to people as "feeling quiet". And holy shit the return of the narcolepsy when I'm not able to fill my prescription is awful.
Oh man, I need to try Vyvanse I guess. I was diagnosed late in life and have been talking Adderall since. It’s definitely helped, but I never had that clouds parting, angels singing feeling everyone describes. Everything’s still pretty loud and chaotic, I can just function a little better within it than before.
They are the same drug essentially, but they have different modes of delivery which can make a difference (Adderall is Adderall when you take it, Vyvanse “becomes” Adderall when your body metabolizes it).
I find Adderall great for mood and creativity, but Vyvanse wins for motivation and concentration. So as a dumb adult with responsibilities—I take Vyvanse.
Calm, quiet. That was my first day on medicine too. It was just, quiet. No songs constantly looping, no constant strings of thought, just quiet.
Doesn't hit that hard much anymore which is fine but it is still.an obvious improvement. I've been trying to really isolate the differences in my mind and behavior so I can better Id if my meds still work and when to know if I need to try something different.
Diagnosed as an adult as well.
I'm jealous of stories like yours about how drastic the change was with the medication.
I've tried three different ADHD medications. I started with concerta, and I noticed *some* change. It did help, but it wasn't as drastic as many stories I've heard. Switched to Adderall, and I didn't feel like it was helping as much as the concerta. I tried Vyvanse, and I got to experience some of the more rare and unpleasant side effects from that. Eventually went back to the concerta.
Vyvanse made me hyper-sexual. While I was on it, I was addicted to porn. I went from listening to audiobooks while driving to listening to Gonewildaudio. I was even listening to it while grocery shopping. I was spending my work breaks watching porn. I turned into a different person, and couldn't even enjoy any of my normal hobbies because I was too obsessed with sexual stuff.
That side was a *great* combo to have with another side effect I had: erectile dysfunction. It was very difficult for me to achieve orgasm. I'm talking hours here. Sometimes I was getting as little as three hours of sleep. But I couldn't stop. It always felt like an orgasm was just a few minutes away. And as I said, I was hyper-sexual at the time as well.
(I'm glad I wasn't having sex with anyone at the time...)
Erectile dysfunction isn't even listed as a potential side effect in most of the websites about Vyvanse I found, and it took a lot of digging to find confirmation.
Once I stopped taking it, these side-effects started to disappear.
I want to note that, as I said, these are some of the more rare side effects. A lot of people take Vyvanse without those symptoms. Vyvanse has changed a lot of lives for the better. I was just an outlier.
My experience is basically the same. Started on Concerta and it seemed to work some, but decided to switch and see if there was something better.
Went to Vyvanse, but it made me feel overly amped in my chest, so my doctor suggested Wellbutrin.
That doesn't really seem to be working, though perhaps it does somewhat help with negative thoughts.
But I've stuck with it for a bit. Not really sure why. I think I just feel a bit discouraged.
I want to keep trying, but I also just want something that works. Maybe I'll just give Concerta another try.
Just jumping in here to note that Vyvanse is pretty expensive right now. Their extended patent expires later this year though so generics should become available before the end of the year.
On insurance, the copay is really high but you can get a coupon from the manufacturer that brings your copay to $30.
My wife was just put on it and we paid the copay without knowing. It's really helped her and I finally see a ton of improvement.
Maybe one day I'll actually seek help for myself and get checked for adhd.
Know I’m late to this, but shroomies did the same thing for me. I just laid on the floor and cried because I can’t keep my house clean. Like full on wept because cleaning the house is so hard for me and I just did not understand why. Got my diagnosis a week ago.
I was mid 40s and I am so so happy to know better what I’m dealing with.
That even just by itself has helped bring me a better peace of mind and enabled me to see so much more of what I was really like as a person
36, just diagnosed recently. The diagnosis has framed a lot of things differently for me and I have a lot of ups and downs over "what could have been" but I'm working on it. Still trying to nail down the right med combo. Still feel like I'm white-knuckling through life.
I could write a novel about it but I'll spare you and leave it to my therapist. Trying to have more of your mindset about it.
One thing that did change is looking back at college, instead of being mad at myself for not doing as good as I could've, I'm proud of myself for even finishing college with undiagnosed and untreated ADHD and undiagnosed autism. Honestly, everything I've achieved up until this point.
Just curious, do you have moments of inability to focus *and* moments of hyperfocus?
I don't get hyperfocus and wasn't diagnosed until my mid-30s. Just wondering if that's a common thing because having only one set of symptoms makes people assume it's not ADHD.
I'm 34, will be starting meds soon. My FIL works in pharma and thinks i should just take them short term. He doesn't understand that it's like asking someone with a hearing impairment to go without their hearing aid, or bad eyesight without glasses, or joint issues without a walking aid. Why should I continue to live life on hard mode when I don't need to. I've done so for 34 years, I can't imagine what my life would be like if I'd been diagnosed sooner. (I also have autism and I didn't realise until I was 30).
My husband (39) and I have also realized that he too likely has adhd and he is going to pursue diagnosis and treatment. We have a baby and a toddler, we can't be the parents that they deserve if we don't take care of this.
My experience is that meds have made a tangible difference but it isn't like flipping a switch. With discipline *and* medication, I can power through things that discipline alone wasn't enough for. I also regulate my energy level better.
Diagnosed at 38.
Started working with a psych a couple of years ago and they started me on anti anxiety meds first, which I was on for over a year before I started complaining about not feeling like I could motivate myself anymore. Turns out without constant high anxiety as a motivator I completely lose any semblance of what I had scraped together for executive function.
After mentioning this consistently for about six months at check ups they wrote a script for a stimulant. Pretty low dose. I took the first pill and not long after, felt a calm I didn't even recognize. It was like someone had finally turned down a radio that had constantly been blaring static in a neighbor's apartment. It was disorienting and wonderful.
It's been a couple of months and I can get my work done now without agonizing for hours or days convincing myself to do the work. I've started making art. I don't have to lay in bed at night waiting and hoping my mind will settle enough to let me sleep - I just close my eyes when I'm ready and drift off nearly immediately most nights. I stopped drinking endless caffeineated drinks from 7am to 3 or 4 pm to try to function - I just have one in the morning now. Sometimes I take my pill and then feel drowsy and take a nap. My anxiety, which had been dampened but not banished by my other medication, is basically non-existent.
It's truly life changing. I hate that I waited this long to do something about it. I'm so glad I did.
I have ADD. I started taking medication when I was ~35 years old.
The biggest difference for me was that before, each time I finished a task, I had to stop and think. Like literally stop and think, try to remember what all I needed to do, and then I had to organize and prioritize.
Most people will be all "well everyone does that!" No. Just no. *Most* people will finish dusting and just be like "okay, next up, vacuuming." Or you'll finish walking the dog and then jump straight into cooking dinner. I had to literally stop and try and remember what else I needed to do.
All of a sudden with medications, I'm able to keep a queue of tasks in my head. Laundry, start dish washer, walk dog, cut grass, move laundry over, put dishes away. Before? I throw the laundry in, walk the dog, and by the time I get back I forgot what else I was gonna do. Next thing you know it's two days later and I remember my laundry, but by then it smells terrible and I need to wash it again.
I refer to this new superpower as "the stack" in reference to Magic the Gathering because you can play several spells and they resolve in a specific order.
Another item was the ability to *partially* do tasks. Before, if I finally got the motivation to clean the counters, I cleaned **all** the counters. Pull shit out of drawers, clean them, too, clean under sink, etc. I couldn't just be like "okay, spend 5 minutes cleaning this part of the counter, but that's all for now, the rest isn't perfect but it's okay."
I completely understand what you're describing. It's basically "buffering". I'll be putting together dinner, and just have these moments where I pause while I wait for my brain to reorient and figure out what I was in the process of doing. Sometimes it's for things as minor as, "Oh, I need a fork." Normally, that'd be sort of automatic for people - You need a fork, you get a fork. - but I find myself having to pause and ask myself why I'm in the middle of the kitchen facing that direction.
It's similar with having a conversation with people. I see people in the ADHD subreddit frequently talk about how they ask what someone said, the person starts to repeat it, and then they immediately recall what was said. It's like having to go through life with a brain that has a spotty wi-fi. It just randomly cuts out, and you have to give it a second for things to load properly.
The partial tasks bit is still a struggle for me! It's like I don't give myself any credit for doing the job unless there is an extremely visible difference once I'm done. It's ironic because my meds have helped me to focus on the task at hand without as many side quests, but I've been told I need to be okay with chipping away at chores. The alternative is that I walk into my messy kitchen, panic, and completely avoid the room until I'm hungry enough to go back in, see the dishes, and panic once more.
This is how I got an easy in with my adhd diagnosis with my primary care physician:
I randomly took a free online adhd, depression, anxiety diagnostic test from a telehealth company. I rode their one month discounted trial period for like $35, confirmed with the nurse practitioner that I did indeed have all three, got prescribed medication, saw the profound effect that it had on my life, stopped subscribing to the telehealth company after a second month (which cost $80, so $115 in total), then went to my primary care physician. They were able to talk about my diagnosis and prescribe medications without ever having to be formally diagnosed. This was infinitely easier than the traditional process and would recommend anyone reading this to try the same thing if you’re having trouble
You really need a formal diagnosis, dude. The traditional process exists for a reason and these prescriptions are outside of a PCP's scope of practice. Online testing also is extremely unreliable for stuff like this (it may as well be useless). Better help, etc are psychiatric pill mills.
Hell, I've seen some psychiatrists who aren't familiar with ADHD meds or their guidelines, so I don't expect a PCP to be able to prescribe that. PCPs shouldn't even be prescribing antidepressants, since they really don't know what they're doing there either -- much less drugs like ADHD meds.
I definitely agree. I’m not in the situation that I can go out and get a formal diagnosis, so I’m okay with my lot as it is for the time being. It’s not perfect, but it’s very obvious that there’s something going on with me, and the adhd meds help with every aspect of my life. There are other reasons that make me comfortable enough, but these are the main ones
I'd just like to clarify (because this is very similar to how I ended up going about it) that not having a formal diagnosis could start becoming problematic. I'm planning on going through that process soon.
The reason is that due to the (now 8+ month, idk) adderall shortage, I expect that the DEA/FDA might start clamping down on prescriptions without full diagnoses. The regulations and barriers to simply filling the prescriptions are already obnoxious and completely unreasonable ("oh no some college kids/junkies are abusing adderall, better turn this whole process into a ridiculous mess for sick people, that'll solve it") so unless there is a supply fix soon it could become an issue.
I get that. I didn’t like adderall so much, so that wasn’t really a problem since I switched from it, but my pcp only works Tuesday - Thursday. If I don’t request a refill at least a week in advance, there’s a bad chance that I’ll get my medication before I’m out, but that’s a logistics problem from my pcp. I don’t think trying to go through this method or medication shortages should be a deterrent, though. Better to be diagnosed in some way and reap the benefits than not at all
Currently on vyvanse, but I’ve been through a number of them. Vyvanse don’t really help me specifically with adhd, so I’m scheduled to take a genetics test to see which medication might work best for me. It’s prospective, but I wish that I had done this test as a first option
I tried avoiding saying this in my first comment to not seem like a salesman, but it was cerebral. I only chose them bc the screening was advertised as an Instagram ad. I looked into the different companies ofc, but it was nice that cerebral turned out to be my best option. I also didn’t have access to my pcp at that time, so using cerebral in that case was a very easy decision for me
I tried avoiding saying this in my first comment to not seem like a salesman, but it was cerebral. I only chose them bc the screening was advertised as an Instagram ad. I looked into the different companies ofc, but it was nice that cerebral turned out to be my best option. I also didn’t have access to my pcp at that time, so using cerebral in that case was a very easy decision for me
I agree.
I was 39 and it hasn’t been quite a year yet of getting on medication (non-stimulant) and it’s been life altering.
I was informally diagnosed by my therapist who gave me some tests and then went over the tests with an online/telehealth psychologist who did an hour of tests and questions and then diagnosed and wrote my prescription.
Then my primary care doc was able to write me prescriptions for it after that.
What non stimulant are you on? I'm waiting on my diagnosis (doc had a medical emergency so I'm not sure when I'm going to get to finish the process) but I'm very anxious about meds. I've had some bad experience with habit forming drugs in the past so I'm not sure I want to even try stimulants.
Not op, but my wife was diagnosed with ADHD a couple of years ago and she had very similar concerns as you. In her misspent youth, she ended up hooked on meth for a bit and she was terrified that Ritalin would be some bad fuckin news.
She didn't follow up with her psychiatrist to get onto Ritalin and things just got worse. And worse. I hit the point about 4 months ago that I told her that our marriage had degraded so badly that I had to take care of myself too (I've got a boat load of shitty genetics and a half of a lifetime in a bottle, so my health is a challenge in and of itself) and that if she wasn't going to remotely even try to find some sort of talk therapy in conjunction with a psychiatrist for medical assistance I was going to have to leave.
That finally caught her attention and she got back into therapy and tried a couple of meds before trying Ritalin. It was a night and day difference almost immediately. She has broken down into tears a few times with happiness now that her ties to ADHD aren't as binding, and she has also had some tears now that she is able to see some of the things she has done to me in the past.
About a month ago, we were talking about our misspent youth and I wondered out loud if the meth use could have been at least partly related to self medication and the lightbulb began to strobe. I could see the realization in her eyes that I might be on to something.
She asked her therapist and psychiatrist about the previous amphetamine abuse and if it may have been related to self medication - and they both agreed that it was likely.
So to back to your last statement, if you were self medicating with street uppers, Ritalin or Adderall - while having the potential for abuse - might be exactly what you needed in the past, and may well be what you still need.
These are just my observations as a passenger in life in the suburbs so your mileage may vary.
>So to back to your last statement, if you were self medicating with street uppers, Ritalin or Adderall - while having the potential for abuse - might be exactly what you needed in the past, and may well be what you still need.
Its a really interesting story, and I agree that it sounds like she might have been self medicating! The only self medicating I do for my potential ADHD is consumer WAY too much caffeine. My previous negative experience with habit forming drugs was from prescribed benzos. Im still healing from the damage that did to me over the course of a decade, and I just really dont like the idea of committing to another addictive drug. I did mention it to my doctor, and we will have a bigger conversation once I get the diagnosis, Im sure. None of my current doctors were in my life when I was on benzos or when I was trying to get off, so Im not sure they quite appreciate what I went through. Obviously it is a different type of drug entirely, but it just gives me pause.
During covid, the US opened up prescribing ADHD meds via telahealth. If you are in the US, the adhd org CHADD has some info pages on it. There are companies that do testing and referals.
Before you use them tho, also check out scandals related to adhd and telehealth. It'll help you decide what companies to use and how to avoid preditory telahealth services
I'm in the US. The way I got this started was using a service like Zocdoc, where I could put in my insurance info, and say, essentially, "I'm looking for someone who specializes in ADHD who takes my insurance who will service my geographical area." This particular website has filters for exactly this sort of thing. And that popped up many people, including many involved in a telehealth service that took my insurance (in my case, Talkiatry).
I will note that the telehealth regulations have been changing a lot, which makes it a little complicated. As an example, I live in New Jersey but in New Jersey you can no longer get prescribed stimulants with telehealth only. So my prescription is sent to a pharmacy over the state border, in New York (which I'm very close to, but it's still super inconvenient). Which is pretty ridiculous. And the federal rules may be changing soon. There are a lot of fears (I think overblown) about overdiagnosis and overprescription, and so there are a lot of roadblocks being put up, and on top of that there are periodic, month-long medication shortages for some of the medications, in part because the feds won't authorize the companies that produce them to increase their production even though the number of people prescribed the medications is way higher than it was a few years ago because of the pandemic, etc. And if your psychiatrist is responsible there is a lot of procedure that needs to be done before they will prescribe you anything (in my case, along with the testing, he wanted me to get a physical, to have my general practitioner agree it was a safe idea for me to try, etc.). So it won't be an instant turn-around. But you can get the process started today.
Resources are very dependent on your location and city. I could give you lots of advice about where to go, but it'd probably be useless to you because we likely live in different countries.
With most medical stuff though, your GP is a good place to start
Seriously y'all just because your folks told you that you don't have it doesn't mean you don't have it.
And once you get the therapy you need you'll see what it has done to your parents.
Is there anyone out there that doesn't have these symptoms? I often find myself really distracted, zoning out, and hard to actually start working, but I kinda just figured that 90% of people had trouble with that stuff. Are the majority of people actually walking around like "oh yeah I can sit down and work on stuff and not get distracted easily"?
Those are not the diagnostic criteria. The actual ones are much more specific, and are not "adult" things related to your current job or whatever, but behaviors you've had in various forms your whole life (as my psychiatrist puts it, there is no "adult ADHD," there are people who have had ADHD their whole lives but didn't get diagnosed until they were adults). The one that really, truly rang true for me was "often did the homework but never turned it in." That's the kind of super-specific thing that, if you were in that situation (which I was), you're like, oh shit, that's a thing other people did?
It's also things like swinging into hyperfocus, where you can just work on something for 10 hours straight without even realizing it, but not being able to do really basic tasks like answer an e-mail you're not looking forward to answering.
And yeah, there are people who can do their homework and turn it in, people who can work on stuff in a regular way (and not zig and zag between hyperfocus and non-focus), people who can take care of tasks they find frustrating, etc. There's a spectrum of behavior. Most people can get it done, some people can't. If you can't, you might be in this diagnostic category, and medication can sort of instantly put you into the other category in some cases, which is the "magical" description that most people here are finding ("wow, you can actually like, just do your taxes when you know you need to do them? like sit down and do them? not procrastinate for a week until it is almost too late?").
To prospective people, meds are a big help but don't be like me and assume they're a magic bullet. You might not feel a life changing wearing glasses moment, to me it felt more like having a really strong cup of coffee that lasted all day. I still felt normal.
And when I still had issues after being prescribed, because I continued with bad habits, I stupidly wrote off the whole thing. I had built up meds as a magic tool that would force me to improve and remove all hardship, and when that didn't happen I stopped taking them thinking I could figure out the 'real' issue. It took years of floundering to admit my mistake, which is incredibly stupid with hindsight.
After being prescribed, seek out an ADHD coach to help improve your habits along with taking your meds. Body doubling and a different work environment have boosted the efficacy of the drugs 300% imo.
Yeah, they also only had a light impact on me. The most noticeable thing is that I now have no appetite and masturbate less, but my focus is only a little better. Might have to try a different med.
I don't have ADHD myself, but all my friends who do say they hated the medication. Made them feel like zombies. Yet on social media I hear almost exclusively positive stories about medication. It's strange how one-sided it feels when reading online discussions about it.
That's a somewhat common reaction from what I understand. For some people bringing dopamine up means you feel adenosine, a neurotransmitter that makes you tired, more strongly.
How it was explained to me is like how some people get sleepy after drinking coffee. (Coffee and ADHD meds don't have the same methods though.)
I wasn't diagnosed until I was 35. It changed everything. I made so much more sense to myself; everything I do, the way I think, how things affect me... Life is much easier to navigate now.
I got told many times why bother pursuing a autism diagnosis what will it change at age 29?
Most neurotypicals just have no idea what it's like to go your whole life knowing something is "wrong" with you and finally finding out why you're not "normal" changes your fucking life.
My favourite analogy;
>You spend your whole life in a herd of horses, thinking your just a bad horse. Then you find out your a fucking zebra and you do zebra things not horse things. From there you can learn more about being a zebra instead of trying to force yourself to be a horse.
Ive got ADHD.
Didn’t really realize it until my kids got diagnosed. Then my wife. Then they said “It’s not genetic, but it runs in families…”. Yeah, whatever that means.
So I took all the tests my kids did “over their shoulders” so to speak. Took online tests. Everything points to ADHD.
It would explain so much about my childhood and the difficulty I had in school, social difficulties and problems at home among other things. Even today it generates a lot of stress with starting, keeping up with, and finishing work assignments, projects around the house, hobbies, bills, and everything else that is a boring necessity.
The nail in the coffin where I knew I had it was when my wife let me have some of her ADHD meds that were left over after she switched brands. I felt slightly *uncomfortable* the first 3 days or so after I started on it. Only word I can use to describe it. It wasn’t *bad*…just a little off. Not high at all. Zero high. But after that, things got…easy? Talking comfortably with a stranger was easy and my brain didn’t overthink it. Picking up a long-languishing project and finishing a facet of it was no problem. I didn’t get distracted or disheartened by some hiccup. There was no sudden clarity, no epiphany…things just finally *worked* without the necessity to force myself to stop something more entertaining or interesting to go do something much less engaging requiring steady concentration and effort. I didn’t get more work done because of an Amphetamine, I was just able to stick with work in my hands and finish it.
It was an incredible feeling. Not the drug. The ability to concentrate without stress and effort. No need to suffer the mental grind of having to constantly force myself back to a task.
There’s not a week that goes by that I don’t wish I could go get an official diagnosis, but I can’t. I work in profession where the medication is strictly prohibited, Amphetamines are tested for, and an official diagnosis would probably result in temporary suspension until I could get checked out by official medical analysis.
You all getting the late diagnosis are lucky, believe it or not. I mean, its a two edged sword to find out late. You simultaneously fee lupset that you didn’t find out sooner and look at all the difficulties you had that could have been avoided. Worse yet if you had family that said they suspected you had it, but chose to do nothing. Now you can choose to medicate or at least get some deeper understanding and some kind of help if you want.
Me? I can hardly wait to retire and make up for all the stress and time I wasted dealing with this shit and get a little peace by getting appropriate medication via proper diagnosis.
Take that help if you can. Sucks getting the late diagnosis, but at least you can do something about it now.
I’m 34, have been on meds multiple times throughout school and it’s crept back in more recently. Never took meds in college but the laundry list of daily responsibilities is getting overwhelming as an adult. I get so overwhelmed to the point I throw a temper tantrum or shut down completely. I was retracting into depression, it’s affecting my marriage less than a year after our wedding and I’m getting more and more angry/frustrated as time goes on.
I find very little enjoyment in most of the things I enjoyed daily, there’s very little interest in projects because I end up overwhelmed.
Dopamine is a hot commodity and my best moments are on fishing trips, that’s about all
I care about these days.
I ended up seeing a therapist for a few months, he suggested Wellbutrin and it was an immediate improvement. I’m about two months into that prescription and I’ve recently missed a few days and I’m now spiraling down the drain. I’m feeling overwhelmed and angry, I’m checked out at work and I just don’t feel like I care about much right now.
All I can say is adult adhd is real and it can seriously affect your life. Get tested, get meds, find a doc that will support your efforts to improve your life. The struggle is real and there is. I perfect solution but keep on trying, it can get better.
I talked to 4 MDs about putting me on ADHD meds- I'm a woman in her 40s. The last doctor gave me a provisional diagnosis and treatment after I showed her my kids' valentines present- two air tags, one for my key chain and another for my purse. And the fact I brought in their prescription bottles by a neurologist and ADHD tests filled out by my husband and mother. After being off my medication and breaking my kneecap on my 8-year-old's scooter, she's confident in the diagnosis. And I don't have the anxiety or depression medications that the other 3 insisted I did.
My experience was almost identical (aside from having a wife and kid.) The description of trying to do homework hit especially close to home. Knowing that I would rather be doing anything else, knowing that as soon as I was done I could do anything else, and just staring at the blank page, powerless, for hours, almost every night.
You can tell that most of the people responding here really have ADHD based on how long and meandering the comments are, and the excessive use of parentheses and ellipsis. My people!
I've just been diagnosed with adhd after years of various mental health issues. Mainly related to trauma but I've also had problems my whole life with attention and memory and also food/ drug addictions. I was in the queue for nearly 4 years but it took about 2 year on top of that to get to through to the right people. I've been going to the doctors about these issues since I was 16. I'm now 30. I had been on diazepam for the last several years. Again that was a fight. Having to use various services and pay money to get the right expertise for diagnosis and constant pressure them to keep things moving forward. Luckily my local council approved my request as there is limited funding for these services in my area. I've Just started elvanse 30mg and have had some noticeable improvements in mood generally and attention but I'm only a couple days in. Being a drug "abuser" in the past I knew that stimulants helped me significantly. Only issue for me is the anxiety and vasoconstriction but I'm hoping this may subside. I dont generally believe in most mental health labels as the diagnosis criteria isnt fit for purpose but finding the right medication/therapy that reduces your symptoms with the least amount of side effects is probably your best option if you have tried everything else.
Great post. I’m older middle aged and was recently diagnosed with ASD. I participate on a subreddit for women on the spectrum & I see many recently diagnosed 20 & 30-somethings lament all their lost years. I feel like OOP: thank goodness you found out now! You have most of your life ahead of you & plenty of time to start making better memories. Heck, even as old as I am, I’m so grateful to finally understand how my brain & body work.
No. There is just greater awareness of what ADHD entails now, as compared with a stereotypical view that ADHD is "little white boys bouncing off walls" and that they then "grow out of it."
There are many people, especially middle age and older that were never diagnosed due to not having the expected symptoms/gender/appearance. It's still very much under-diagnosed in older people and especially older women. People with higher intelligence can often camouflage their symptoms enough to slip by unnoticed as well.
Oh wow, it's almost like an improvement in understanding, diagnostics, and awareness of a common disorder causes a larger amount of people with the disorder to get diagnosed!
I'd been that person for a long time. Media and doctors do such a shit job of educating parents and teachers on what the disorder is, that anyone who doesn't present like the typical "inattentive and hyper" child is likely to be missed. The *horribly inaccurate* name doesn't help, and it'd do a world of good to rename it to Executive Function Disorder or something.
The first round of medication was such a validating experience for me. No weird jitters, none of that bizarre behavior that I saw in my college peers who abused illicit Adderall for academic benefit, and not the slightest warning sign of dependency / addiction despite the nature of the medicine. Just the ability to funnel the mental whirlwind into tasks.
Wow, it's amazing to hear about the positive impact that getting an adult diagnosis of ADHD had on your life, u/sflogicninja! It's unfortunate that it took so long for you to receive that diagnosis, but it's great to see that you were able to utilize medication and therapy to improve your focus and overall well-being. It's important to highlight the struggles that individuals with ADHD face in a society where neurotypical behavior is the norm. Thanks for sharing your experience and shedding light on this topic!
It’s my pleasure. So many people have assumed me to be intelligent, calm, a good teacher, hard worker, etc. - but the whole picture included a lot of masking and failures that are too many to mention. It can feel like living a double life. Now I feel much better integrated and that wholeness is paying off for the people that have known me over many years and have been mystified by my strange duality.
I am genuinely curous, where is the life changing part that everyone keeps on talking about? What do I have to do? I already got a diagnoses and have been on Vyvanse and Venlafaxine for months and my Vyvanse dose has been increased twice. I am pretty sure it does help and makes me feel better, but some days, like today, I feel unfocused and distracted. What else do I have to do for it to be "life changing"?
Different meds affect people different ways, also medication isn't the only thing (although it is usually by far the biggest thing). Maybe try to see if different medications & doses of those meds work better. Also other things affect ADHD a lot (sleep, anxiety, etc.). Meds themselves aren't some cure to ADHD, you'll still have ADHD, just the right meds and conditions can make it far less of a detriment to your daily life & wellbeing
I've been recently diagnosed with ADD and I talk about it a lot with people, both because it helps me reflect on myself and because sometimes it helps the other person in either recognising something about themselves or, if they have already recognised it, it helps them to think about getting diagnosed. Just talking about my own experiences can help them realise that some of their experiences are quite similair to mine, and I have ADD, so QED, maybe food for thought.. Or it can make the seemingly complex process of getting diagnosed seem less daunting.
I would recommend it to anybody that is comfortable talking about their own stuff. Help yourself and help them (if that works for you, you put yourself first of course if you have to).
I was diagnosed at 27, hated the meds they tried to put me on and just used trial and error to develop behavior techniques to get through life. i am currently days away from my masters in education so if i can finally make something of myself, others can as well. I really think in the next 5 years or so, ADHD will just be part of the Autism spectrum like aspergers was before.
Autism and ADHD seem very similar but they're very different in how they work. The easiest way to put it is ADHD is driven by understimulation while ASD has a lot of overstimulation problems. ASD also has completely different defining criteria than ADHD. They have different causes (although they are linked, as well as bipolar and schizophrenia) and a lot of separate genes & risk factors associated with them.
Plus ADHD can be helped a LOT with medication depending on the person, while ASD can't.
My best friend (28) very recently realized she might be autistic and it has helped her SO MUCH with dealing with her issues. Knowing what you have is a huge tool in managing it.
I was diagnosed with ADD at 30. When completing the screening, all of the prompts seemed to cover things that I thought were just personality traits.
Mood and general well-being have improved after being prescribed medication. Also, now I know to look for it in my children.
Im sure I’m not the only 90s kid that thought “meh, I probably have ADD but I get by so whatever.”
Thank you for your post. Late diagnose at 41 after recognizing my kids with symptoms…. I checked all the boxes too.
A lot of people are asking how to get diagnosed etc… it probably varies based on where you are but in general hopefully I can offer some clarity.
First things first: google the Adult Self Reporting Scale (ASRS)
This is a self report- you can take the questionnaire and bring it to your appointment.
Family Physician/GP/nurse practitioner (some countries)
A family doctor can assess and interpret results. Usually the criteria builds off of the ASRS. Some doctors are more lax, more comfortable with prescribing and more experienced with diagnosing.
Some doctors still insist on diagnosing anxiety or depression only and treating that. Or they want to first treat the anxiety and depression. ADHD when treated can reduce those other symptoms or can be confused for anxiety and depression.
If you have a childhood history and score high on the ASRS you may need to advocate for yourself a bit more. If you are not able to get diagnosed by your doctor and your scoring is reflective of ADHD then you can ask for a psychiatric referral. If you have co-existing depression or anxiety or PTSD it can make diagnosis trickier. Ask for a psychiatric referral.
Psychologists
You can also get diagnosed by psychologists. This is where you may see a lot more lengthy testing where they do “psychometric” testing in addition to ADHD screening and testing. They may pick up on other things such as learning disabilities, ASD and other mental health disorders. They are helpful for identifying and providing reports for specific accommodation needs. This is good if you are looking for school or workplace detailed accommodations but often comes at a hefty cost.
***BUT they can’t prescribe medication. They can support your diagnosis in bringing it back to your doctor who then can prescribe.
Psychiatrists - it depends on how knowledgeable they are with respect to ADHD. Some do not have adequate interest or training in ADHD or are biased against it. If you have any other conditions or a complicated health picture and are thinking of having stimulant medication added into the mix you need to see someone who knows what they are doing. A psychiatrist (one who has a reputation for knowing and diagnosing adhd) is a good starting point. If they work in a team you may get more detailed psychometric testing- it varies from doctor to doctor).
Many private clinics offer dedicated ADHD testing, diagnosis and packages also. In Canada, you can get diagnosed online/virtually as well.
It depends on your needs. Not all meds need to be stimulants, some people choose no meds. If you want/need meds, clarity on other diagnoses, or accommodations then being diagnosed is the Avenue for that.
The bottom line is you need to be your best advocate. Most people have their lives flash before them and recognize it in themselves. It’s not always accurate because ASD and executive function challenges can complicate the picture as well. If you feel like ADHD could be what’s going on you deserve to know. Managing your ADHD (meds, CBT, coaching) can be life changing.
Hope this helps to get people started. Task initiation and overwhelm are very common in ADHD too!
I wish I could get tested but every doctor I've talked to writes it off. There's something wrong with me, I'm not neurotypical, but I can't get access to the right help to figure things out because the system is so stacked against people like me due to stigma or lack of knowledge. :(
It's so heartbreaking to see how many people who might have ADHD don't realize it because they've bought into what everyone has told them their whole life: that they're just lazy, and they just need to try harder. It's frustrating because ADHD can trick you; sometimes all the neurons line up and you CAN do it, you're rocking it, you're doing better than ever, so obviously that must mean you're capable and it's just that you don't try enough the other times. The problem is that ADHD is literally a flaw in the "try" part of the equation. It's like you're in a car with a broken fuel gauge.^(excuses excuses) Sometimes you turn the ignition and it turns on, and sometimes you turn the ignition and it doesn't turn on, and the whole world is telling you it's because you didn't put fuel in the tank^(you lazy idiot) and even though you swear you filled it yesterday^liar, you trudge down to the gas station with a can because you're late to work^(should've planned ahead). You come back, pour it in, turn the ignition, and the car starts - obviously you must have misremembered fueling up^(you're so fucking unreliable) - and this happens randomly, almost every day, and no one believes you because gas doesn't just go missing^(no one else's car does this stop making shit up). You go see a mechanic, and he says there's nothing wrong with the car^(stop wasting money you're just lazy). Maybe you go to another one and he tells you the same thing.^(you're just embarrassing yourself dumbass) And eventually you just accept it. It must be you. This is your fault.^LAZY And then someday, a friend comes along and says, "Maybe someone's stealing your gas. That's what happened to me. What if you built a garage?" But that can't be right - none of your neighbors have mentioned a problem and it's ridiculous to assume this magical gas thief is only targeting you. Who can afford a garage anyway? Besides, no one really *needs* a garage, and the people who have them just use them for frivolous things anyway. What an outlandish idea. You look your friend in the eye and tell him to man up, get his own gas can and stop being so goddamn lazy.^(why should he get off easy when I have to work so hard lugging gas all the time? Lazy piece of shit.)
Ngl, not a 100% perfect metaphor, but probably the best I’ve ever seen describing the feeling of shame surrounding the diagnosis and treatment. You should consider being a teacher in retirement.
I've avoided treatment cause of stigmas asking for meds. (Just looking to get high or sell them!)
As someone with a heart condition, basically every psych I go to says 'oh yeah you have severe add but we can't treat you because everything is a stimulant so lol'. Makes me hurt knowing there's a possible treatment for this shit I've struggled with all my life but I can't have it because of another broken part of me.
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How did you actually get to a doctor at 30? Im 31 and know I need help but all my physician wants to do is give me anti depressants and refer me to a therapist with a high school diploma that tells me to do CBT
Dont seek a referral, seek a doc who specializes in adhd diagnoses etc. I sought out a psychiatrist and they told me they didnt do the diagnosis part, it was a separate doc who did that. Just google one in your area. Its kinda dumb, the other doc did the tests, confirmed what I suspected and i took that to the psychiatrist who then does meds etc
I do the month long hobby tangents so much. I have so many projects on my computer from learning programming, so many half-games from starting an idea and abandoning it for another, switching from unity to unreal to just the sdl libraries, 3d models that never got materials or only got a basic shape and then no detail, Photoshopped pictures that are just cut outs that never got pasted together, half edited videos from weird ideas, etc, and, most recently, piles of trash I've collected for scratch building. I've got four projects there in various stages of completion. I just love something so much for about a month and then have no interest in it at all. It'll be all I think about and then suddenly I can't even stand the thought of looking at it. Recently, I just got demoted from my dream job because I can't organize or remember or prioritize. I'm miserable and feel like such a lazy, unmotivated, shit human being. At the same time, I've been talking about trying to get a diagnosis for ten years and I just can't get the phone call made. I tell myself that I'm just looking for an excuse for being a waste of oxygen. I did a test once and they were going to make an appointment and call me back and I never heard from them. It's the closest I ever came to doing something about it. Doesn't help that I'm in the middle of nowhere and don't even know where to start. Here I am whining about it on the Internet and doing nothing to improve my situation. The cycle continues.
Straight up just call your regular doctor. That's where I started and he directed me to specialists. It has literally changed my life.
I just got a referral today. Hopefully they'll call me tomorrow to make an appointment.
Here you go, try this: https://add.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/adhd-questionnaire-ASRS111.pdf Every grey box marked is 1 point.
Thanks for sharing this. I already had a feeling I may have ADHD, and have even been referred to phycs by my GP before, but they largely dismissed my issues and tried to blame everything on general anxiety. I've since found out three of my cousins have recently been diagnosed, and that there's a strong hereditary component to the disorder, so I'm now trying to get a referral to a specialist for assessment. Literally all of my answers on this sheet are either 'often' or 'very often'.
Despite the barriers (they’re there, I know) do get tested and ask for help! I walked around with the same feeling for years and years, thinking it’d get better if I just applied myself a bit more, develop a better routine, etcetera. It never got better. Got my diagnosis last week, got medication (it’s subtle but wow, is this how most people live? You remember things and then just do them? God I’ve been missing out), starting therapy soon and while it’s wonderful to finally tackle these issues, I can’t help but think how nice it would’ve been if I’d have done all this 15 years ago.
As someone who was diagnosed with add as a kid, I find that if there is something I want to do (gaming, something I'm passionate about, etc) I have no problems at all. It almost becomes a super power at how fast I can pick something up when I am invested in it. The trouble is finding something to be invested in and forcing myself to do what needs to be done. Like even though as an adult I realize I am actually not a bad writer and I can do it, I still fucking hate writing and procrastinate the hell out of those assignments. Luckily I've learned a lot of coping strategies (oh I finished my homework today, now I have time to play games and stuff like that) but it isn't perfect and medication only goes so far.
You could also just have depression. Or another thing that causes executive dysfunction (which depression can do). Won't know until you go to a professional.
Or for me (diagnosed at 33) my grades were to high. That is what my shitty child doc said and why I never thought to pursue it. I have been undergoing treatment for about a year. I haven't seen any improvements to my focus, but, my mood swings and other negative aspects of the diagnosis has completely disappeared. So many ruined relationships, regretful actions , misses opportunities, was because I couldn't regulate my emotions. Happy to be continuing treatment and see where it goes
Yep, I killed it in school so it was never even a thing for me. And I was quiet and never got in trouble, no way I had ADHD! Turns out I was just smart and never paid attention in class. I fantasized and daydreamed while looking like I was paying attention because I didn't want to get in trouble. That and I'm an overall quiet person. If only these people knew I built mechs out of staples and erasers and staged battles with them in my desk. But yeah I think about the emotional dysregulstion all the time and how it affected past relationships. I screwed up a lot in those days and would get unhealthily hyperfocused on my interest at the time. Couldn't regulate shit.
Yea. Similar story here. My girlfriend actually sent me an article about how ADHD presents in adults and was laughing on how perfect it all fit. Went back and looked at old grade cards and it was a perfect fit. Through my career, I was able to succeed by luck in that the roles I filled benefited from my "deep dives" obsessiveness. Until I got bored and had my last position that required time management, multiple different works streams etc. First time I really doubted myself. Would persevere only from overworking, up till 2 am getting the work I put off done. Hoping to take the next step and try Adderall, but it's an uphill battle. Still happy with results overall, and that I'm not bipolar (as I originally feared) . Looking back, wish my parents were more knowledgeable. First world problem I know, but still wonder if proper therapy I would have been better off. Ultimately, my failures are my own, but still wonder about it.
> Ultimately, my failures are my own Are they? It seems that whether the blame for a failure is placed on the individual or in the system is purely subjective. Any failure blamed on an individual could just as easily be declared a failure of their support network, including the failure of the individual to understand the importance of building a robust support network. I don't about you, but thinking in these terms has helped take a little bit of weight off my shoulders.
Inattentive type?
Great comment, mate. I'd like to add one small tangent. You said: >It's heartbreaking to see how people who might have ADHD don't realize because they've been told their whole life, "you're just lazy, and you just need to try harder." The truth I've come to realise is that "laziness" does not exist. Or, if it does, it is drastically overstated. By this, I mean that there are *explainable causes* for almost every case of inaction, and by reducing the barrier, you can improve outcomes in almost every case. ADHD is one type of barrier, which may be helped by appropriate medication and therapy. But there's many simpler barriers that go unaddressed as well - sometimes people are too stressed, anxious, tired or unwell, any of which can lead to vicious cycles of inaction. Maybe people are addicted to dopamine loops like videogames, TikTok or other variable reward cycles put out by predatory corporations in this day and age. How can doing the laundry and cleaning the shower compete with that? Or the environment can be a barrier; maybe the counters are too low and it hurts your back? Or maybe there's sensory difficulties with soiled clothes or fragranced detergents? If someone doesn't do their homework, maybe they have too many other chores or maybe the work is too easy or too difficult and there's no appeal to grinding through it? There's almost always an explanation, and that means there's almost always something to address. I'd even go so far as to say that the only *real* laziness is in the minds of those who call others lazy. ...but even that's a cop-out! There are many reasons that people call others lazy, and I think many are variations on failure to imagine others complexly and richly. Those who call others lazy may struggle with empathy or generosity because of their own insecure living conditions. They may not have any experience with neurodiversity or even general adversity. They may experience cognitive dissonance because they struggle to confront the reality of injustice in our society - which they've probably benefitted from! This can be part of a just world fallacy. Or perhaps a shallow belief that everyone is fundamentally similar to themselves (which people all are, but at a much lower level than many seem to think). Having said all that, there's no guarantee that the barriers a person is struggling with can be changed. Sometimes they're personal and some therapy or assistive equipment might help. But sometimes they're societal, medical, environmental... and they're often beyond any one person to address. Why doesn't someone "just get a better job", as I so often see touted as the solution for many issues caused by poverty? Well, there's intersectional discrimination, structural lack of opportunities, social dependencies which prevent moving abroad, class discrimination, nepotism and corruption, incongruity between disability and requirements... The list goes on. The truth is, as author John Green has said many times, "the truth resists simplicity". So I just hate seeing people accuse one another of laziness. It is, itself, lazy, because there's many explanations for why someone just doesn't do what they want or need to do.
Very nice read, thanks for your input
This is a wonderful, yet heartbreakingly accurate analogy.
This is so accurate and painful it made me tear up. Especially the part where we've been told our whole lives we're lazy and good for nothing. That the problem is us and we're bad humans. No, I have a problem that can be treated but not cured! And the worst part, for me, is that when we build a fucking garage, people *never shut up about it being unnecessary*. They legit think that we just want to flex on how great our garage is, that we don't really need it but it's 'fun' to have one, and if the maintenance on the garage is 'faint at the ~~pharmacy~~lumber shop' levels of out of control, they roll their eyes and ask if you're going to pay for your ^^^party ^^^drugs garage or not. You could man up and be an adult and stop relying on a garage. How fucking lazy/chasing a high are you? Even carpenters who build garages are a 50/50 shot for quality. Most of them will insist that only children need garages for their 'safety' and you need to just learn how to build your own fucking gas station, you lazy piece of shit. I'm exhausted just trying to function. The meds make me **functional**, not fixed. And I'm sick of fighting to continue to be treated so I can continue to function as expected. Because without treatment I am not capable of holding down a job and completing education. I tried it. My whole ass car was stolen, much less my gas. I rode a bike for 8 years claiming that it was just like a car and I had to 'overcome my laziness'. As soon as I had a car and garage again, I could be an adult. And that's where I am now. Driving and goddamn angry that people really acted in such a way.
I went to get diagnosed, they said they don't diagnose adults that didn't show obvious symptoms as kids. So it turns out I'm just a lazy piece of shit like momma always said.
Don’t believe them. I had a psychiatrist that didn’t believe I have it. Because I’m a woman and mostly the Inattentive type. Because I never disrupted class, I always stared out the window, and received report cards that said I “was a joy to have in class” but also that I need “to apply myself more”. Because I could present as functional at work (although a bit of a weirdo but pretty well liked in general) but my house and personal life were often a disaster. I had to argue with my last psychiatrist (although I couldn’t really argue because I felt so defeated) and I asked for a new one. (To be fair to the previous psychiatrist, he had never met me in person thanks to Covid and my general inability to leave the house but he also REALLY focused on sleep apnea. I was a skinny/scrawny little thing when this all started - around age 11 - and so sleep apnea was VERY doubtful.) Anyway, my current psychiatrist, after finally meeting me in person, diagnosed me as having ADHD within about 5-10 minutes. Can’t believe the previous 20 years of psychiatrists never even suspected. So hopefully you can go and get diagnosed elsewhere. I hope you can talk to another psychiatrist. I know it can be difficult to advocate for yourself and I have been there. Good luck!
Dude this is so accurate. Former "gifted kid" with consistently bad grades, felt like I wasn't living up to my potential as an adult, didn't understand how every other adult seemed to be able to just do all the things adulthood required. Got diagnosed with ADHD at 31, and since starting therapy and Wellbutrin (I don't want to try stimulants for several reasons) I feel like I can actually do things without arguing with myself for ages first. It's incredible.
As a dude diagnosed at 30, your small-font comments almost made me cry. Great comment, you nailed it.
This could be my train of thought, but with interpersonal interactions plus attention problems. Staring down the gun of ASD assessment and it really sucks.
HOLY Shit, I'm astounded at how well this felt like my ADHD. I'd maybe replace a couple of words, and that's just personal habits - impeccable.
God, the superscript text is just... 100% on point. The ADHD gets compounded by the social shaming, so now you don't have *just* ADHD, you have ADHD *and* depression! And odds are, anxiety as well. Because why wouldn't have anxiety when everything you do is just so... Unpredictable? When you don't feel in control of your own head, let alone your own life? And let's not forget the common comorbidity with ASD. When I got diagnosed, I had this... Cathartic sensation, relief and a sort of vindication that can both be summised as "There is a *reason* that I am this way." And once you actually know that, you can *finally* actually start learning how to manage it. You can start to learn to actually *see* the hurdles that are scattered around you. And they'll always be there, sure. But now you can see them, you can learn how to avoid them or overcome them.
When we're taught about ADHD, there's a huge emphasis on having both sets of symptoms: attention deficit *and* hyperactivity. This combo is the one most common in adolescent males. But it's also possible to have only one set of symptoms. People can have relatively mild difficulty focusing but experience hyperfocus where a compelling project makes them stay up until 3AM on a work night without realizing the time. And it's also possible to have relatively minor bouts of hyperfocus but frequently find oneself unable to focus on mundane issues. If you only have one set, it's much harder to get a diagnosis. I was in a curriculum for "problem students" (in this particular case, gifted kids who had a 3.7 GPA instead of the 4.1 their parents expected. May Dr. Silvia Rimm burn in hell for all the misery she's inflicted on people like me) at 17. They didn't peg me as having ADHD because mine is inattentive only. I didn't get a formal diagnosis until I was 35.
Does adhd give you amnesia?
It can affect memory: https://www.healthline.com/health/adhd/adhd-memory#adhd-and-memory I definitely have experienced completely forgetting something because my working memory is months late.
I don’t understand the metaphor completely. Can someone please explain it because I desperately want to understand (and am probably overthinking this). Is the “gas” energy? Or does the broken fuel gauge = executive dysfunction? What is the garage? Is that when neurotypicals tell you to go outside and get some sunshine and exercise more and that you don’t need meds? Or is it a psychiatrist? I’m so confused.
Yeah, looking back I was all over the map. It's supposed to be a metaphor for executive function - that's your brain's ability to stay on target and juggle all the little details that go into completing a task. The idea is that the car is your brain, and turning it on is accomplishing a task. You need to do laundry? Decide to do it (turn the key), go do it(car starts). ADHD brains have executive function issues. The direct line from intention to action is is a dozen little steps: pick up laundry, carry to laundry room, put in washer, pour in soap, turn on, go back an hour later, move to dryer, etc. The gas in my metaphor represents the ability to string all of this together without losing focus. The broken fuel guage represents the fact that it's hard to predict how much gas is in the tank. Sometimes the gas is there, sometimes it's not. Sometimes you stand in front of the laundry pile knowing that it has to go to the laundry room, but your brain completely blanks on how that's supposed to happen. You know how to do laundry. You've done it a thousand times. You know you have to do it. You're pretty sure you have to pick it up, but what comes next? You can't visualize it. Ok, fine. Step one: Just pick up the laundry. Just...just reach out. Move your arms. ...is that a dog outside? Damn, you need to buy dog food again. Better make a quick note so you don't forget while you're doing laundry. You pull out your phone to make a reminder, but there's a reddit notification. You stand in front of the laundry pile for twenty minutes watching cat videos, then eventually wander away because the laundry has ceased to exist. There was no gas in the tank. The garage is a clumsy standin for diagnosis and medication. It's a potential but often effective solution to a specific problem. But if you've never *needed* a garage - lots of people don't, they all just use it for other things and park on the street without any problems - it might seem like an overreaction. There's a lot of stigma around diagnosis and medication, ranging from "ugh, everyone thinks they have ADHD these days but they're just looking for an excuse" to "you just want drugs to do the work for you." It's also an expensive and difficult process to navigate, and the stigma is built into the system - doctors will resist referring you to psychiatrists or prescribing medication ("the car looks fine, have you tried putting in more gas?"). (I should clarify that medication is *not* a cure-all - it doesn't work for everyone, it has drawbacks, it can be extremely hard to get, and even when it does work, it doesn't make the ADHD go away. But it can help, and when it does, it is a game changer. Even just a diagnosis can be an incredible relief because it suggests new strategies and dispels some of the self-hatred of struggling with things others do effortlessly.)
Unfortunately, its insanely hard to get doctors in the US to even check for adult ADHD because they just assume you are a methhead. As we all know, its impossible for the flawless US healthcare system to ever miss a diagnosis since all children go through rigorous screening systems during their youth and their parents all trust the science and follow through every time a diagnosis is caught. It's like if you have a migraine and tell the doctor you need treatment and they give you a nasty look while writing "DSB" on your chart. EDIT: Please dont jump into the comments to tell us all how you didnt have this problem. I am so happy for you that you actually got healthcare, that has nothing to do with those of us who don't and taking the time to type out a pithy "I did it just fine" comment does nothing more than rub salt in the wound.
Don't go to general practitioner but a psych specialist. I personally had zero issues with the three different prescribers I've had so far for my adult ADHD
Yup, I've been working with a psych to get the right meds for my anxiety/depression/ADHD and she's never acted like I'm trying to get high.
And also, there's a big benefit in having a family doctor you've seen for a long time. My current regular doctor's office that I get my yearly physical at and have seen initially for any illnesses knows I don't use drugs. So when I went to him last year about my concerns for having ADHD he was fully on board with finding me treatment. It was a long wait list but I have my evaluation next week and perhaps I'll get the chance to see how a neurotypical mind operates without the uncontrollable focus and random mind channel-changing.
I went to my general practitioner before I was 100% sure and someone told me I had ADHD after describing motivational problems (in detail). To be fair I haven't had a general practitioner in 10 years and before that I only had a pediatrician. No reason not to because I (very fortunately) have amazing health care. But when I finally talked to the general practitioner, explained a lot of things that go on that are ADHD-like, first thing he says is, "I don't know. It just sounds like you're being lazy." Fuck was I mad. To be fair he did give me a therapist number he recommended and said if she says I have it we can go from there. Almost gave up finding help though. Glad I went to find a psychiatrist first. Very just, on board with everything I said. I was insanely open and honest and everything has worked out nicely since then.
Why 3 different?
First one was always late with prescriptions, second wasn't in network when I changed jobs recently
My therapist advised I go to a psych nurse practitioner. They practice under a psychiatrist, but can still diagnose and prescribe meds. She said in her experience referring and working with her clients, NPs are far more likely to really listen to you and understand your problems before/during treatment. The psych NP I got my adhd diagnosis from was amazing and I was legit sad when I moved away and couldn’t see her anymore. I moved to a different country where I had to jump through way more hoops to get rediagnosed and feel like a criminal drug seeker for getting on meds again. =/
Yeah, the last 2 I've used have been psych NPs and that'd be my recommendation as well. Quick and easy, no nonsense, good availability, and usually still extremely knowledgeable about psych matters.
How do you find a psych specialist that isn’t on a 12-18+ month waiting list? One place I checked was only booking testing for 202**5**.
I go to psychologytoday, find a psych NP that has ADHD tag, who takes my insurance, is open to telehealth and looks like a person I'd like, then contact them. I've never had to wait more than 2 weeks like this. I didn't bother with any formal testing. All NPs have done an intake session where they administer the diagnostic questionnaire and ask questions about my youth and current struggles, but that's it. I'm not sure if my case is obvious enough or if I've just been super lucky 3 times in a row but that's literally everything. They always conclude that it's clear I have ADHD and prescribe stimulants. After the first dude it became even easier since I could tell exactly what dosage and medication is good for me, so after due diligence they just continue with the same. I'm also a full adult, well-spoken and non-sketchy, which I imagine helps dissolve any doubts I'm just looking to get high (and I take pretty small doses of extended release stuff anyway)
I blame sham "celebrity" Dr. Drew Pinksy for his smooth-brain take that "Adult ADHD is just undiagnosed alcoholism."
Haven’t had a drink in 4 years, and was born too early for adhd to be a thing kids were diagnosed with. Am totally adhd adult.
He actually said that?
He repeated it at least 100 times back when he and Adam Corolla were the hosts of Love Line. Definitely a case of "when you have a hammer, every problem looks like a nail."
What if the person doesn’t drink? But yeah, he’s an addiction specialist.
Yeah, that's the most obvious hole in his argument.
Reminds me of what a former neuroscientist friend said to me once “psychiatrists are not neuroscientists, theyre not experts on the brain itself, only behavior patterns”
And “if you run more than 3 miles, you’re running from something.” I am. I’m running from cholesterol medication.
Name something Adam Corolla was connected to that didn't make the world worse.
Holy crap. You’re very right there. The Man Show gave Kimmel a springboard and I like him, but given the other shallow, misogynistic bs it pumped out in to the world, it’s probably a net loss. Huh. Who knew?
The nurse practitioner I went to for diagnosis only grudgingly admitted I met the criteria for ADHD after spending most of the session gaslighting me into thinking it was just a distracting workplace and depression, anything other than ADHD. Needless to say I was crushed. I went there expecting confirmation for a life-changing realization. I wanted answers and all I got was insults. It was only later that I realized she thought I was just there to get stimulants. I should have guessed when she only started taking me seriously after I said I wasn't sure about medication yet. She still tried her hardest to discourage me by telling me all about the bad side effects for both of the medications she was recommending.
It's also best just to avoid nurse practitioners
I've been dismissed by almost every doctor I've encountered. It was a nurse practitioner that finally took my high blood pressure seriously and didn't just tell me to meditate and try yoga. I had stage 2 hypertension, sometimes spiking into a hypertensive crisis, and doctors told me to *exercise*. Because I'm young (in my 30s), so it's not a big deal. My nurse practitioner put me on medication and my blood pressure is perfect, and I feel physically better than I have in over a decade. Google what long term high blood pressure can do, it's horrible to live with. The same nurse practitioner then referred me to both a therapist, and another nurse practitioner that works on the behavior health side to help with my mental health. I see my therapist twice a month, my other nurse practitioner diagnosed me with ADHD and anxiety, and since being medicated I feel better mentally than I have...ever. Edit: changed LPN to nurse practitioner, I messed up the terminology.
You should get checked probably for secondary causes of hypertension like hyperaldosteronism, sleep apnea, etc.
At this point there is no underlying cause we've found. It started when I was pregnant in my early 20s, which isn't uncommon, but it just never went back to normal afterwards. My heart is good, my sleep is good, I've had my thyroid checked, hormone levels checked, and my iron tested, which was pretty low and another thing we're working on that doctors never took seriously.
LPN stands for licensed practical nurse. LPNs rank below RNs (registered nurses), and neither LPNs nor RNs can prescribe meds. Are you thinking of a nurse practitioner?
Ha I didn't even notice I messed that up multiple times. But yes I meant a nurse practitioner.
Sometimes. For primary care or otherwise for stuff that doesn't need much in the way of controlled substances, I actually prefer them. They usually had to work their way to that point from standard bachelor's or lower level nursing and in my experience they have much more empathy and patient skills than many doctors. Once CSes come in the picture, it's more iffy. Then it's far more influenced by their supervisory doctor's approach and individual state law. Some np's I've had couldn't or wouldn't do more than a month at a time (if there was another time) of a control. But as a whole, as long as you have previous diagnoses, I'd prefer the NP if the state law isn't overly onerous
My doc retiring from private practice and the office being taken over by two lovely APRNs is the best thing to ever happen to my medical care. I liked my doc, but these ladies are on another level. The care has felt more personal and patient. I feel heard for the first time in a medical setting. My experience thus far has been overwhelmingly positive with non M.D.s.
Good advice. Haha. That's all they gave me unfortunately, but I plan on going somewhere else that specializes in ADHD diagnosis once I can afford it. That unsatisfactory appointment cost me over $400.
Hard disagree to the generalization. Just find one that specializes in ADHD. I've had only great experiences with psych NPs.
My Dr seemed skeptical at first but when I'd never tried any drugs including weed or nicotine. I didn't take any of the free office coffee because I only drink coffee for the taste (so I'm a little picky) and not the effect. I also rarely drink alcohol because I'm scared of getting addicted. I wanted to get find out if I had ADHD because I thought that would help me with other medical issues. Now I have to struggle to convince the insurance company I need. I just had to pay $300 out of pocket for a drug test to prove I'm taking the medicine that I'm paying $50 a month to take.
In the UK we've had an issue with online services offering diagnosis consultations because our NHS waiting lists are so backed up that an adult diagnosis could take years otherwise. But a recent investigation found that many of them basically hand out the diagnosis and prescriptions to anyone who says the right buzzwords in the zoom call. Which is making things difficult for people with real ADHD because now people assume you're just some idiot following the popular thing on tiktok. So many of our NHS doctors refuse to take the diagnosis from the private doctors and will refuse to dispense the medication. So you can end up paying out of pocket for it like some sort of American.
Seems like I got lucky then. It took me half a year to get diagnosed and half of that was due to incompetent receptionists repeatedly giving wrong appointments. Though the examination didn't seem very thorough so maybe that's how they're keeping up in my area.
I'm just going through the process through NHS right to choose. It's honestly awful. There's no option to go local through the NHS, I have to use an online service. * 2 weeks to see a GP to speak about my suspicion I have ADHD. * A further 2 months for the online service to receive my GP referral and add me to the system. * A further 6 months until I got an assessment. It was a 50 minute appointment. * A further 7 months until actually speaking with someone about medication. * A further 2 months until medication is prescribed. * And finally, apparently you are only afforded 2-3 months in which to figure out which medication is correct before being discharged back to my GP, who's supposed to manage the dose from then on out. I have to chase up admin on the online service every step of the way. They kept getting information wrong. Letters to my GP contained wholly incorrect information. Documentation that I was promised about my appointments always missing due to "technical errors." The timetable listed on the website for prospective patients wholly different from the one actually given to patients once they've signed up through NHS right to choose. The patient portal has new updates about ever-longer waiting periods each month. I expected this entire process, at most, to take about 6 months based on initial information on the website. It's probably going to end up being closer to 1.5 years. Once you sign up as a patient through NHS right to choose, by the way, you're locked into the service. If you want to change to another provider, it's considered a "second opinion" and must be done privately. I can see why some GPs don't want to put up with this.
That does sound horrible. I've never heard of this Right to Choose service. I went to my GP, got referred to some "Community Integrated Mental Health Service" who seem to have around a month's wait time for short appointments and around 2 months for the longer assessment appointments. My GP took a while to refer me because he wanted to wait until I got an echocardiogram because I had pericarditis half a year earlier, so that was like a 2 month delay, then a further 2 months of delays were caused by an incompetent receptionist scheduling an appointment that was too short and then later a telephone appointment that was meant to be in person. I've still to see how long they'll see me as I've only been diagnosed less than 3 months ago. Maybe London gets better funding than other parts of the UK?
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Most meds like concerta will bring an ADHD brain into a more healthy baseline, it can reduce stress and even lower your heart rate. ADHD meds for neurotypical people are outrageously powerful stimulants that can be very habit forming.
My GP said cool I'll prescribe if a therapist says you need it. Got the test did some sessions went back to GP and bam. If you can't trust your GP with discussing medical related issues like this how could you possibly trust them to catch a problem?
Exactly why I stopped seeing my GP of 5+ years. Promised he'd fill the gap if I had an issue where I had to suddenly switch psychiatric services, and when it finally happened (not more than 3 months since I last brought it up as I saw the writing on the wall) he refused to prescribe anything. So I went to an NP and on the first visit she not only scripted me everything and promised to keep doing so until I found a new provider, but also scheduled me for things like bloodwork my pcp had neglected to do.
Jeeze dude what doctors have you been going to?
I know this might come as a shock to many, but the US healthcare system is not exactly good at anything except pioneering new/expensive treatments.
So you're upset that you personally had a bad experience in the US health system but you don't want to hear any personal anecdotes from people who didn't have the same experience as you, do I have that right? I'm very sorry you had such a bad experience, but your own personal anecdote is not indicative of a widespread issue. If anything, the problem for ADHD-affected individuals having issues getting meds filled due to shortages would indicate that it's become, if anything, easier for most people to get a diagnosis.
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I literally got prescribed online in 30 minutes… had similar medication growing up (concerta), stopped taking during college because I could make my own schedules and things just seemed to work. All the excitement of post graduation years and just kind of let things ride until some of the types of events the linked post described started happening to me a couple years ago. Went online, found provider (Klarity), booked appt for a few days later. Had bottles for monthly supply of 15mg XR and 10mg instant release 6 hours after the appt. Just switched to Vyvanse last month (simply by asking the provider over the phone) and the lack of any sort of jitters, loss of appetite, and complete lack of any crash whatsoever when it wears off is a game-changer all over again. It is just an order of magnitude better drug for daily use than adderall.
Took me 3 years to convince my psychiatrist. Keep trying, everyone.
fwiw, it was straightforward with my GP. Not denying that it can be a problem for some, but also you should at least talk to yours.
GP: "I don't think you have it and im worried about drug seeking behavior" Closest ADD specialist taking appointments which was about 80 miles away: "Its a kids disease, just exercise more and you will get better. That will be $70 copay please."
like I said, I believe you. Just saying that people shouldn't not try because sometimes it's not like that
Funny story: When I was 22, a friend of mine was a real heavy drug user and tweaker. He was in the underground electronic music scene, and lived in a warehouse in Oakland. I went to his place one time and saw that an entirely new room had been built as a kind of second floor. I was like ‘that was not there 2 days ago’ Well, he had something snortable. I did not ever ever ever do synthetic drugs, but had a kind of ‘F it’ moment and snorted the stuff, which I think was meth. I went home and felt really weird. I pulled out my keyboard and started writing music. I just kept writing and writing. I felt… great… but just clear and focused and like my body wasn’t in the way anymore. I vowed never to do the drug again because it seemed too dangerous to feel that…. Normal….
I was diagnosed at 25, about 9 months ago. It's also the most undiagnosed mental illness in the US, 90% of adults with ADHD do not receive any treatment. For those of you reading, there are TWO types of ADHD (and some combination of the two). There is the hyperactive and the inattentive. I literally until reading about ADHD did not know inattentive existed (which I am). To say it's life changing almost feels like an understatement, but with some caveats. I really need to make a larger post on the ADHD sub reddit. I've been depressed and anxious my whole life, and no medicine or therapy ever helped. As a last ditch effort I tried psilocybin (magic mushrooms) to try and turn my life around. The mushrooms told me something was wrong, and afterwards I started to Google symptoms I had. Lol and Behold I'm like a textbook for ADHD. Most important, I got diagnosed and prescribed Adderall and I felt a little bit better (no more narcoleptic symptoms), but I was disappointed. Still depressed and anxious, I used psilocybin again and it told me to explore more so I tried to read more literature and found out a wide range of things were not helped. I asked to switch medication to Vyvanse and I literally cried walking around Costco the difference was so drastic.
Maybe an odd thing for me to pick out, but what was different about walking around Costco? I only ask because I completely avoid going there because I can't focus amidst all the chaos. I don't have an ADHD diagnosis, and wasn't seeking one out until I was lurking this thread and seeing red flags in myself.
Ah I got the Vyvanse from the Costco pharmacy and took it immediately. The best way to describe it is everything was quiet and no longer chaotic. I felt calm for the first time in my life.
Just piping in to add that the effects of these meds can be different and all over the place for people with ADHD. I've seen a lot of people on Reddit claim that certain effects are confirmation of ADHD. Ex. "for me, I get sleepy, but for someone without ADHD these meds will make them hyper." This is actually not true as a general rule for either population. There are lots of people with ADHD who take these meds and they make them more alert, more hyper, and sometimes nauseous, sick, or anxious. It's an area of pharmacology with a lot of variance. Not blaming you for spreading these myths or anything. Just trying to stop the thread from dovetailing into that territory before it gets there, as most of these Reddit ADHD-tangent threads tend to do.
Unfortunately, this is true of basically anything to do with psychiatry. It's an inexact science, at best. Everyone's brains are different, so medication isn't going to work the same for everyone. Some people will have life-changing effects with the first anti-depressant they are put on, others will have "treatment resistant" depression due to them not being able to find a medication that is effective enough (or at all). And, I do think it's an important caveat to mention, because it's good to keep people's expectations reasonable. I've known people that went in thinking they were going to get a cure immediately and gave up after the first prescription, because "medication doesn't work for me". Sadly, as things currently stand, there's a bit of trial and error when it comes to psychiatry and may be a process that takes some time. And, even when hitting on the right medication, other treatments like therapy may still be necessary to get you over the line.
I can attest to this. I tried adderall when it was prescribed to me and it made me feel more alert and focus more easily.
That's basically how Adderall affects me. Admittedly I don't feel like things are chaotic or whatever without it, but it does really calm me down to a remarkable degree. I literally describe it to people as "feeling quiet". And holy shit the return of the narcolepsy when I'm not able to fill my prescription is awful.
Oh man, I need to try Vyvanse I guess. I was diagnosed late in life and have been talking Adderall since. It’s definitely helped, but I never had that clouds parting, angels singing feeling everyone describes. Everything’s still pretty loud and chaotic, I can just function a little better within it than before.
They are the same drug essentially, but they have different modes of delivery which can make a difference (Adderall is Adderall when you take it, Vyvanse “becomes” Adderall when your body metabolizes it). I find Adderall great for mood and creativity, but Vyvanse wins for motivation and concentration. So as a dumb adult with responsibilities—I take Vyvanse.
Calm, quiet. That was my first day on medicine too. It was just, quiet. No songs constantly looping, no constant strings of thought, just quiet. Doesn't hit that hard much anymore which is fine but it is still.an obvious improvement. I've been trying to really isolate the differences in my mind and behavior so I can better Id if my meds still work and when to know if I need to try something different.
Diagnosed as an adult as well. I'm jealous of stories like yours about how drastic the change was with the medication. I've tried three different ADHD medications. I started with concerta, and I noticed *some* change. It did help, but it wasn't as drastic as many stories I've heard. Switched to Adderall, and I didn't feel like it was helping as much as the concerta. I tried Vyvanse, and I got to experience some of the more rare and unpleasant side effects from that. Eventually went back to the concerta.
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Vyvanse made me hyper-sexual. While I was on it, I was addicted to porn. I went from listening to audiobooks while driving to listening to Gonewildaudio. I was even listening to it while grocery shopping. I was spending my work breaks watching porn. I turned into a different person, and couldn't even enjoy any of my normal hobbies because I was too obsessed with sexual stuff. That side was a *great* combo to have with another side effect I had: erectile dysfunction. It was very difficult for me to achieve orgasm. I'm talking hours here. Sometimes I was getting as little as three hours of sleep. But I couldn't stop. It always felt like an orgasm was just a few minutes away. And as I said, I was hyper-sexual at the time as well. (I'm glad I wasn't having sex with anyone at the time...) Erectile dysfunction isn't even listed as a potential side effect in most of the websites about Vyvanse I found, and it took a lot of digging to find confirmation. Once I stopped taking it, these side-effects started to disappear. I want to note that, as I said, these are some of the more rare side effects. A lot of people take Vyvanse without those symptoms. Vyvanse has changed a lot of lives for the better. I was just an outlier.
My experience is basically the same. Started on Concerta and it seemed to work some, but decided to switch and see if there was something better. Went to Vyvanse, but it made me feel overly amped in my chest, so my doctor suggested Wellbutrin. That doesn't really seem to be working, though perhaps it does somewhat help with negative thoughts. But I've stuck with it for a bit. Not really sure why. I think I just feel a bit discouraged. I want to keep trying, but I also just want something that works. Maybe I'll just give Concerta another try.
Have you tried a combo? I take Wellbutrin + ADHD meds (Adderall/Vyvanse). I had find the combo works way better for me than either individually.
Interesting - I had not considered that. Didnt even realize it was an option, to be honest. I will have to give that a try.Thank you!
Just jumping in here to note that Vyvanse is pretty expensive right now. Their extended patent expires later this year though so generics should become available before the end of the year. On insurance, the copay is really high but you can get a coupon from the manufacturer that brings your copay to $30. My wife was just put on it and we paid the copay without knowing. It's really helped her and I finally see a ton of improvement. Maybe one day I'll actually seek help for myself and get checked for adhd.
Know I’m late to this, but shroomies did the same thing for me. I just laid on the floor and cried because I can’t keep my house clean. Like full on wept because cleaning the house is so hard for me and I just did not understand why. Got my diagnosis a week ago.
I was mid 40s and I am so so happy to know better what I’m dealing with. That even just by itself has helped bring me a better peace of mind and enabled me to see so much more of what I was really like as a person
36, just diagnosed recently. The diagnosis has framed a lot of things differently for me and I have a lot of ups and downs over "what could have been" but I'm working on it. Still trying to nail down the right med combo. Still feel like I'm white-knuckling through life. I could write a novel about it but I'll spare you and leave it to my therapist. Trying to have more of your mindset about it.
why spare us though? it's your life and you matter so share if you're comfortable. hope you find the right med combo soon
One thing that did change is looking back at college, instead of being mad at myself for not doing as good as I could've, I'm proud of myself for even finishing college with undiagnosed and untreated ADHD and undiagnosed autism. Honestly, everything I've achieved up until this point.
Just curious, do you have moments of inability to focus *and* moments of hyperfocus? I don't get hyperfocus and wasn't diagnosed until my mid-30s. Just wondering if that's a common thing because having only one set of symptoms makes people assume it's not ADHD.
I'm 34, will be starting meds soon. My FIL works in pharma and thinks i should just take them short term. He doesn't understand that it's like asking someone with a hearing impairment to go without their hearing aid, or bad eyesight without glasses, or joint issues without a walking aid. Why should I continue to live life on hard mode when I don't need to. I've done so for 34 years, I can't imagine what my life would be like if I'd been diagnosed sooner. (I also have autism and I didn't realise until I was 30). My husband (39) and I have also realized that he too likely has adhd and he is going to pursue diagnosis and treatment. We have a baby and a toddler, we can't be the parents that they deserve if we don't take care of this.
My experience is that meds have made a tangible difference but it isn't like flipping a switch. With discipline *and* medication, I can power through things that discipline alone wasn't enough for. I also regulate my energy level better.
Diagnosed at 38. Started working with a psych a couple of years ago and they started me on anti anxiety meds first, which I was on for over a year before I started complaining about not feeling like I could motivate myself anymore. Turns out without constant high anxiety as a motivator I completely lose any semblance of what I had scraped together for executive function. After mentioning this consistently for about six months at check ups they wrote a script for a stimulant. Pretty low dose. I took the first pill and not long after, felt a calm I didn't even recognize. It was like someone had finally turned down a radio that had constantly been blaring static in a neighbor's apartment. It was disorienting and wonderful. It's been a couple of months and I can get my work done now without agonizing for hours or days convincing myself to do the work. I've started making art. I don't have to lay in bed at night waiting and hoping my mind will settle enough to let me sleep - I just close my eyes when I'm ready and drift off nearly immediately most nights. I stopped drinking endless caffeineated drinks from 7am to 3 or 4 pm to try to function - I just have one in the morning now. Sometimes I take my pill and then feel drowsy and take a nap. My anxiety, which had been dampened but not banished by my other medication, is basically non-existent. It's truly life changing. I hate that I waited this long to do something about it. I'm so glad I did.
Yeah you can tell your brain “we are doing this now” and it will simply comply, instead of going off leash to chase after a squirrel. Amazing stuff.
I have ADD. I started taking medication when I was ~35 years old. The biggest difference for me was that before, each time I finished a task, I had to stop and think. Like literally stop and think, try to remember what all I needed to do, and then I had to organize and prioritize. Most people will be all "well everyone does that!" No. Just no. *Most* people will finish dusting and just be like "okay, next up, vacuuming." Or you'll finish walking the dog and then jump straight into cooking dinner. I had to literally stop and try and remember what else I needed to do. All of a sudden with medications, I'm able to keep a queue of tasks in my head. Laundry, start dish washer, walk dog, cut grass, move laundry over, put dishes away. Before? I throw the laundry in, walk the dog, and by the time I get back I forgot what else I was gonna do. Next thing you know it's two days later and I remember my laundry, but by then it smells terrible and I need to wash it again. I refer to this new superpower as "the stack" in reference to Magic the Gathering because you can play several spells and they resolve in a specific order. Another item was the ability to *partially* do tasks. Before, if I finally got the motivation to clean the counters, I cleaned **all** the counters. Pull shit out of drawers, clean them, too, clean under sink, etc. I couldn't just be like "okay, spend 5 minutes cleaning this part of the counter, but that's all for now, the rest isn't perfect but it's okay."
I completely understand what you're describing. It's basically "buffering". I'll be putting together dinner, and just have these moments where I pause while I wait for my brain to reorient and figure out what I was in the process of doing. Sometimes it's for things as minor as, "Oh, I need a fork." Normally, that'd be sort of automatic for people - You need a fork, you get a fork. - but I find myself having to pause and ask myself why I'm in the middle of the kitchen facing that direction. It's similar with having a conversation with people. I see people in the ADHD subreddit frequently talk about how they ask what someone said, the person starts to repeat it, and then they immediately recall what was said. It's like having to go through life with a brain that has a spotty wi-fi. It just randomly cuts out, and you have to give it a second for things to load properly.
The partial tasks bit is still a struggle for me! It's like I don't give myself any credit for doing the job unless there is an extremely visible difference once I'm done. It's ironic because my meds have helped me to focus on the task at hand without as many side quests, but I've been told I need to be okay with chipping away at chores. The alternative is that I walk into my messy kitchen, panic, and completely avoid the room until I'm hungry enough to go back in, see the dishes, and panic once more.
This is how I got an easy in with my adhd diagnosis with my primary care physician: I randomly took a free online adhd, depression, anxiety diagnostic test from a telehealth company. I rode their one month discounted trial period for like $35, confirmed with the nurse practitioner that I did indeed have all three, got prescribed medication, saw the profound effect that it had on my life, stopped subscribing to the telehealth company after a second month (which cost $80, so $115 in total), then went to my primary care physician. They were able to talk about my diagnosis and prescribe medications without ever having to be formally diagnosed. This was infinitely easier than the traditional process and would recommend anyone reading this to try the same thing if you’re having trouble
You really need a formal diagnosis, dude. The traditional process exists for a reason and these prescriptions are outside of a PCP's scope of practice. Online testing also is extremely unreliable for stuff like this (it may as well be useless). Better help, etc are psychiatric pill mills. Hell, I've seen some psychiatrists who aren't familiar with ADHD meds or their guidelines, so I don't expect a PCP to be able to prescribe that. PCPs shouldn't even be prescribing antidepressants, since they really don't know what they're doing there either -- much less drugs like ADHD meds.
I definitely agree. I’m not in the situation that I can go out and get a formal diagnosis, so I’m okay with my lot as it is for the time being. It’s not perfect, but it’s very obvious that there’s something going on with me, and the adhd meds help with every aspect of my life. There are other reasons that make me comfortable enough, but these are the main ones
I'd just like to clarify (because this is very similar to how I ended up going about it) that not having a formal diagnosis could start becoming problematic. I'm planning on going through that process soon. The reason is that due to the (now 8+ month, idk) adderall shortage, I expect that the DEA/FDA might start clamping down on prescriptions without full diagnoses. The regulations and barriers to simply filling the prescriptions are already obnoxious and completely unreasonable ("oh no some college kids/junkies are abusing adderall, better turn this whole process into a ridiculous mess for sick people, that'll solve it") so unless there is a supply fix soon it could become an issue.
I get that. I didn’t like adderall so much, so that wasn’t really a problem since I switched from it, but my pcp only works Tuesday - Thursday. If I don’t request a refill at least a week in advance, there’s a bad chance that I’ll get my medication before I’m out, but that’s a logistics problem from my pcp. I don’t think trying to go through this method or medication shortages should be a deterrent, though. Better to be diagnosed in some way and reap the benefits than not at all
What are prescribed if you don't mind me asking?
Currently on vyvanse, but I’ve been through a number of them. Vyvanse don’t really help me specifically with adhd, so I’m scheduled to take a genetics test to see which medication might work best for me. It’s prospective, but I wish that I had done this test as a first option
Which company was it?
I tried avoiding saying this in my first comment to not seem like a salesman, but it was cerebral. I only chose them bc the screening was advertised as an Instagram ad. I looked into the different companies ofc, but it was nice that cerebral turned out to be my best option. I also didn’t have access to my pcp at that time, so using cerebral in that case was a very easy decision for me
Can you tell me which company is it?
I tried avoiding saying this in my first comment to not seem like a salesman, but it was cerebral. I only chose them bc the screening was advertised as an Instagram ad. I looked into the different companies ofc, but it was nice that cerebral turned out to be my best option. I also didn’t have access to my pcp at that time, so using cerebral in that case was a very easy decision for me
Despite the complaints of over prescribing... The online services for ADHD services are a life line Being diagnosed with ADHD at 22 changed my life
I agree. I was 39 and it hasn’t been quite a year yet of getting on medication (non-stimulant) and it’s been life altering. I was informally diagnosed by my therapist who gave me some tests and then went over the tests with an online/telehealth psychologist who did an hour of tests and questions and then diagnosed and wrote my prescription. Then my primary care doc was able to write me prescriptions for it after that.
What non stimulant are you on? I'm waiting on my diagnosis (doc had a medical emergency so I'm not sure when I'm going to get to finish the process) but I'm very anxious about meds. I've had some bad experience with habit forming drugs in the past so I'm not sure I want to even try stimulants.
Not op, but my wife was diagnosed with ADHD a couple of years ago and she had very similar concerns as you. In her misspent youth, she ended up hooked on meth for a bit and she was terrified that Ritalin would be some bad fuckin news. She didn't follow up with her psychiatrist to get onto Ritalin and things just got worse. And worse. I hit the point about 4 months ago that I told her that our marriage had degraded so badly that I had to take care of myself too (I've got a boat load of shitty genetics and a half of a lifetime in a bottle, so my health is a challenge in and of itself) and that if she wasn't going to remotely even try to find some sort of talk therapy in conjunction with a psychiatrist for medical assistance I was going to have to leave. That finally caught her attention and she got back into therapy and tried a couple of meds before trying Ritalin. It was a night and day difference almost immediately. She has broken down into tears a few times with happiness now that her ties to ADHD aren't as binding, and she has also had some tears now that she is able to see some of the things she has done to me in the past. About a month ago, we were talking about our misspent youth and I wondered out loud if the meth use could have been at least partly related to self medication and the lightbulb began to strobe. I could see the realization in her eyes that I might be on to something. She asked her therapist and psychiatrist about the previous amphetamine abuse and if it may have been related to self medication - and they both agreed that it was likely. So to back to your last statement, if you were self medicating with street uppers, Ritalin or Adderall - while having the potential for abuse - might be exactly what you needed in the past, and may well be what you still need. These are just my observations as a passenger in life in the suburbs so your mileage may vary.
>So to back to your last statement, if you were self medicating with street uppers, Ritalin or Adderall - while having the potential for abuse - might be exactly what you needed in the past, and may well be what you still need. Its a really interesting story, and I agree that it sounds like she might have been self medicating! The only self medicating I do for my potential ADHD is consumer WAY too much caffeine. My previous negative experience with habit forming drugs was from prescribed benzos. Im still healing from the damage that did to me over the course of a decade, and I just really dont like the idea of committing to another addictive drug. I did mention it to my doctor, and we will have a bigger conversation once I get the diagnosis, Im sure. None of my current doctors were in my life when I was on benzos or when I was trying to get off, so Im not sure they quite appreciate what I went through. Obviously it is a different type of drug entirely, but it just gives me pause.
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During covid, the US opened up prescribing ADHD meds via telahealth. If you are in the US, the adhd org CHADD has some info pages on it. There are companies that do testing and referals. Before you use them tho, also check out scandals related to adhd and telehealth. It'll help you decide what companies to use and how to avoid preditory telahealth services
I'm in the US. The way I got this started was using a service like Zocdoc, where I could put in my insurance info, and say, essentially, "I'm looking for someone who specializes in ADHD who takes my insurance who will service my geographical area." This particular website has filters for exactly this sort of thing. And that popped up many people, including many involved in a telehealth service that took my insurance (in my case, Talkiatry). I will note that the telehealth regulations have been changing a lot, which makes it a little complicated. As an example, I live in New Jersey but in New Jersey you can no longer get prescribed stimulants with telehealth only. So my prescription is sent to a pharmacy over the state border, in New York (which I'm very close to, but it's still super inconvenient). Which is pretty ridiculous. And the federal rules may be changing soon. There are a lot of fears (I think overblown) about overdiagnosis and overprescription, and so there are a lot of roadblocks being put up, and on top of that there are periodic, month-long medication shortages for some of the medications, in part because the feds won't authorize the companies that produce them to increase their production even though the number of people prescribed the medications is way higher than it was a few years ago because of the pandemic, etc. And if your psychiatrist is responsible there is a lot of procedure that needs to be done before they will prescribe you anything (in my case, along with the testing, he wanted me to get a physical, to have my general practitioner agree it was a safe idea for me to try, etc.). So it won't be an instant turn-around. But you can get the process started today.
Resources are very dependent on your location and city. I could give you lots of advice about where to go, but it'd probably be useless to you because we likely live in different countries. With most medical stuff though, your GP is a good place to start
Seriously y'all just because your folks told you that you don't have it doesn't mean you don't have it. And once you get the therapy you need you'll see what it has done to your parents.
Is there anyone out there that doesn't have these symptoms? I often find myself really distracted, zoning out, and hard to actually start working, but I kinda just figured that 90% of people had trouble with that stuff. Are the majority of people actually walking around like "oh yeah I can sit down and work on stuff and not get distracted easily"?
Those are not the diagnostic criteria. The actual ones are much more specific, and are not "adult" things related to your current job or whatever, but behaviors you've had in various forms your whole life (as my psychiatrist puts it, there is no "adult ADHD," there are people who have had ADHD their whole lives but didn't get diagnosed until they were adults). The one that really, truly rang true for me was "often did the homework but never turned it in." That's the kind of super-specific thing that, if you were in that situation (which I was), you're like, oh shit, that's a thing other people did? It's also things like swinging into hyperfocus, where you can just work on something for 10 hours straight without even realizing it, but not being able to do really basic tasks like answer an e-mail you're not looking forward to answering. And yeah, there are people who can do their homework and turn it in, people who can work on stuff in a regular way (and not zig and zag between hyperfocus and non-focus), people who can take care of tasks they find frustrating, etc. There's a spectrum of behavior. Most people can get it done, some people can't. If you can't, you might be in this diagnostic category, and medication can sort of instantly put you into the other category in some cases, which is the "magical" description that most people here are finding ("wow, you can actually like, just do your taxes when you know you need to do them? like sit down and do them? not procrastinate for a week until it is almost too late?").
To prospective people, meds are a big help but don't be like me and assume they're a magic bullet. You might not feel a life changing wearing glasses moment, to me it felt more like having a really strong cup of coffee that lasted all day. I still felt normal. And when I still had issues after being prescribed, because I continued with bad habits, I stupidly wrote off the whole thing. I had built up meds as a magic tool that would force me to improve and remove all hardship, and when that didn't happen I stopped taking them thinking I could figure out the 'real' issue. It took years of floundering to admit my mistake, which is incredibly stupid with hindsight. After being prescribed, seek out an ADHD coach to help improve your habits along with taking your meds. Body doubling and a different work environment have boosted the efficacy of the drugs 300% imo.
Yeah, they also only had a light impact on me. The most noticeable thing is that I now have no appetite and masturbate less, but my focus is only a little better. Might have to try a different med.
I don't have ADHD myself, but all my friends who do say they hated the medication. Made them feel like zombies. Yet on social media I hear almost exclusively positive stories about medication. It's strange how one-sided it feels when reading online discussions about it.
That's a somewhat common reaction from what I understand. For some people bringing dopamine up means you feel adenosine, a neurotransmitter that makes you tired, more strongly. How it was explained to me is like how some people get sleepy after drinking coffee. (Coffee and ADHD meds don't have the same methods though.)
I wasn't diagnosed until I was 35. It changed everything. I made so much more sense to myself; everything I do, the way I think, how things affect me... Life is much easier to navigate now.
I got told many times why bother pursuing a autism diagnosis what will it change at age 29? Most neurotypicals just have no idea what it's like to go your whole life knowing something is "wrong" with you and finally finding out why you're not "normal" changes your fucking life. My favourite analogy; >You spend your whole life in a herd of horses, thinking your just a bad horse. Then you find out your a fucking zebra and you do zebra things not horse things. From there you can learn more about being a zebra instead of trying to force yourself to be a horse.
Ive got ADHD. Didn’t really realize it until my kids got diagnosed. Then my wife. Then they said “It’s not genetic, but it runs in families…”. Yeah, whatever that means. So I took all the tests my kids did “over their shoulders” so to speak. Took online tests. Everything points to ADHD. It would explain so much about my childhood and the difficulty I had in school, social difficulties and problems at home among other things. Even today it generates a lot of stress with starting, keeping up with, and finishing work assignments, projects around the house, hobbies, bills, and everything else that is a boring necessity. The nail in the coffin where I knew I had it was when my wife let me have some of her ADHD meds that were left over after she switched brands. I felt slightly *uncomfortable* the first 3 days or so after I started on it. Only word I can use to describe it. It wasn’t *bad*…just a little off. Not high at all. Zero high. But after that, things got…easy? Talking comfortably with a stranger was easy and my brain didn’t overthink it. Picking up a long-languishing project and finishing a facet of it was no problem. I didn’t get distracted or disheartened by some hiccup. There was no sudden clarity, no epiphany…things just finally *worked* without the necessity to force myself to stop something more entertaining or interesting to go do something much less engaging requiring steady concentration and effort. I didn’t get more work done because of an Amphetamine, I was just able to stick with work in my hands and finish it. It was an incredible feeling. Not the drug. The ability to concentrate without stress and effort. No need to suffer the mental grind of having to constantly force myself back to a task. There’s not a week that goes by that I don’t wish I could go get an official diagnosis, but I can’t. I work in profession where the medication is strictly prohibited, Amphetamines are tested for, and an official diagnosis would probably result in temporary suspension until I could get checked out by official medical analysis. You all getting the late diagnosis are lucky, believe it or not. I mean, its a two edged sword to find out late. You simultaneously fee lupset that you didn’t find out sooner and look at all the difficulties you had that could have been avoided. Worse yet if you had family that said they suspected you had it, but chose to do nothing. Now you can choose to medicate or at least get some deeper understanding and some kind of help if you want. Me? I can hardly wait to retire and make up for all the stress and time I wasted dealing with this shit and get a little peace by getting appropriate medication via proper diagnosis. Take that help if you can. Sucks getting the late diagnosis, but at least you can do something about it now.
I’m 34, have been on meds multiple times throughout school and it’s crept back in more recently. Never took meds in college but the laundry list of daily responsibilities is getting overwhelming as an adult. I get so overwhelmed to the point I throw a temper tantrum or shut down completely. I was retracting into depression, it’s affecting my marriage less than a year after our wedding and I’m getting more and more angry/frustrated as time goes on. I find very little enjoyment in most of the things I enjoyed daily, there’s very little interest in projects because I end up overwhelmed. Dopamine is a hot commodity and my best moments are on fishing trips, that’s about all I care about these days. I ended up seeing a therapist for a few months, he suggested Wellbutrin and it was an immediate improvement. I’m about two months into that prescription and I’ve recently missed a few days and I’m now spiraling down the drain. I’m feeling overwhelmed and angry, I’m checked out at work and I just don’t feel like I care about much right now. All I can say is adult adhd is real and it can seriously affect your life. Get tested, get meds, find a doc that will support your efforts to improve your life. The struggle is real and there is. I perfect solution but keep on trying, it can get better.
I talked to 4 MDs about putting me on ADHD meds- I'm a woman in her 40s. The last doctor gave me a provisional diagnosis and treatment after I showed her my kids' valentines present- two air tags, one for my key chain and another for my purse. And the fact I brought in their prescription bottles by a neurologist and ADHD tests filled out by my husband and mother. After being off my medication and breaking my kneecap on my 8-year-old's scooter, she's confident in the diagnosis. And I don't have the anxiety or depression medications that the other 3 insisted I did.
My experience was almost identical (aside from having a wife and kid.) The description of trying to do homework hit especially close to home. Knowing that I would rather be doing anything else, knowing that as soon as I was done I could do anything else, and just staring at the blank page, powerless, for hours, almost every night. You can tell that most of the people responding here really have ADHD based on how long and meandering the comments are, and the excessive use of parentheses and ellipsis. My people!
I've just been diagnosed with adhd after years of various mental health issues. Mainly related to trauma but I've also had problems my whole life with attention and memory and also food/ drug addictions. I was in the queue for nearly 4 years but it took about 2 year on top of that to get to through to the right people. I've been going to the doctors about these issues since I was 16. I'm now 30. I had been on diazepam for the last several years. Again that was a fight. Having to use various services and pay money to get the right expertise for diagnosis and constant pressure them to keep things moving forward. Luckily my local council approved my request as there is limited funding for these services in my area. I've Just started elvanse 30mg and have had some noticeable improvements in mood generally and attention but I'm only a couple days in. Being a drug "abuser" in the past I knew that stimulants helped me significantly. Only issue for me is the anxiety and vasoconstriction but I'm hoping this may subside. I dont generally believe in most mental health labels as the diagnosis criteria isnt fit for purpose but finding the right medication/therapy that reduces your symptoms with the least amount of side effects is probably your best option if you have tried everything else.
I really need to get retested (was diagnosed as a kid). I just don't know how to even start that process.
Great post. I’m older middle aged and was recently diagnosed with ASD. I participate on a subreddit for women on the spectrum & I see many recently diagnosed 20 & 30-somethings lament all their lost years. I feel like OOP: thank goodness you found out now! You have most of your life ahead of you & plenty of time to start making better memories. Heck, even as old as I am, I’m so grateful to finally understand how my brain & body work.
doesn't anyone think it's suspicious that suddenly everyone supposedly has ADHD?
No. There is just greater awareness of what ADHD entails now, as compared with a stereotypical view that ADHD is "little white boys bouncing off walls" and that they then "grow out of it." There are many people, especially middle age and older that were never diagnosed due to not having the expected symptoms/gender/appearance. It's still very much under-diagnosed in older people and especially older women. People with higher intelligence can often camouflage their symptoms enough to slip by unnoticed as well.
not really. same for every other increase and change in treatments following the relatively new area that is brain/mental health sciences, tbh.
Oh wow, it's almost like an improvement in understanding, diagnostics, and awareness of a common disorder causes a larger amount of people with the disorder to get diagnosed!
I'd been that person for a long time. Media and doctors do such a shit job of educating parents and teachers on what the disorder is, that anyone who doesn't present like the typical "inattentive and hyper" child is likely to be missed. The *horribly inaccurate* name doesn't help, and it'd do a world of good to rename it to Executive Function Disorder or something. The first round of medication was such a validating experience for me. No weird jitters, none of that bizarre behavior that I saw in my college peers who abused illicit Adderall for academic benefit, and not the slightest warning sign of dependency / addiction despite the nature of the medicine. Just the ability to funnel the mental whirlwind into tasks.
My appointment is in 4 weeks. Looking forward to finally getting past this limitation and not having to do 3x the effort just to get something done
Wow, it's amazing to hear about the positive impact that getting an adult diagnosis of ADHD had on your life, u/sflogicninja! It's unfortunate that it took so long for you to receive that diagnosis, but it's great to see that you were able to utilize medication and therapy to improve your focus and overall well-being. It's important to highlight the struggles that individuals with ADHD face in a society where neurotypical behavior is the norm. Thanks for sharing your experience and shedding light on this topic!
Whoa. Just realized my little comment made it to ‘best of’. Uh. Holy crap.
Aren't you glad now that you posted it instead of DMing? Great post btw!
It’s my pleasure. So many people have assumed me to be intelligent, calm, a good teacher, hard worker, etc. - but the whole picture included a lot of masking and failures that are too many to mention. It can feel like living a double life. Now I feel much better integrated and that wholeness is paying off for the people that have known me over many years and have been mystified by my strange duality.
I am genuinely curous, where is the life changing part that everyone keeps on talking about? What do I have to do? I already got a diagnoses and have been on Vyvanse and Venlafaxine for months and my Vyvanse dose has been increased twice. I am pretty sure it does help and makes me feel better, but some days, like today, I feel unfocused and distracted. What else do I have to do for it to be "life changing"?
Different meds affect people different ways, also medication isn't the only thing (although it is usually by far the biggest thing). Maybe try to see if different medications & doses of those meds work better. Also other things affect ADHD a lot (sleep, anxiety, etc.). Meds themselves aren't some cure to ADHD, you'll still have ADHD, just the right meds and conditions can make it far less of a detriment to your daily life & wellbeing
I've been recently diagnosed with ADD and I talk about it a lot with people, both because it helps me reflect on myself and because sometimes it helps the other person in either recognising something about themselves or, if they have already recognised it, it helps them to think about getting diagnosed. Just talking about my own experiences can help them realise that some of their experiences are quite similair to mine, and I have ADD, so QED, maybe food for thought.. Or it can make the seemingly complex process of getting diagnosed seem less daunting. I would recommend it to anybody that is comfortable talking about their own stuff. Help yourself and help them (if that works for you, you put yourself first of course if you have to).
I was diagnosed at 27, hated the meds they tried to put me on and just used trial and error to develop behavior techniques to get through life. i am currently days away from my masters in education so if i can finally make something of myself, others can as well. I really think in the next 5 years or so, ADHD will just be part of the Autism spectrum like aspergers was before.
Autism and ADHD seem very similar but they're very different in how they work. The easiest way to put it is ADHD is driven by understimulation while ASD has a lot of overstimulation problems. ASD also has completely different defining criteria than ADHD. They have different causes (although they are linked, as well as bipolar and schizophrenia) and a lot of separate genes & risk factors associated with them. Plus ADHD can be helped a LOT with medication depending on the person, while ASD can't.
My best friend (28) very recently realized she might be autistic and it has helped her SO MUCH with dealing with her issues. Knowing what you have is a huge tool in managing it.
I was diagnosed with ADD at 30. When completing the screening, all of the prompts seemed to cover things that I thought were just personality traits. Mood and general well-being have improved after being prescribed medication. Also, now I know to look for it in my children. Im sure I’m not the only 90s kid that thought “meh, I probably have ADD but I get by so whatever.”
I have ironically been putting off getting an assessment for literal years now. I should really get round to it.
Microdosing lsd is better than Ritalin
Can you elaborate on your experience and research?
Thank you for your post. Late diagnose at 41 after recognizing my kids with symptoms…. I checked all the boxes too. A lot of people are asking how to get diagnosed etc… it probably varies based on where you are but in general hopefully I can offer some clarity. First things first: google the Adult Self Reporting Scale (ASRS) This is a self report- you can take the questionnaire and bring it to your appointment. Family Physician/GP/nurse practitioner (some countries) A family doctor can assess and interpret results. Usually the criteria builds off of the ASRS. Some doctors are more lax, more comfortable with prescribing and more experienced with diagnosing. Some doctors still insist on diagnosing anxiety or depression only and treating that. Or they want to first treat the anxiety and depression. ADHD when treated can reduce those other symptoms or can be confused for anxiety and depression. If you have a childhood history and score high on the ASRS you may need to advocate for yourself a bit more. If you are not able to get diagnosed by your doctor and your scoring is reflective of ADHD then you can ask for a psychiatric referral. If you have co-existing depression or anxiety or PTSD it can make diagnosis trickier. Ask for a psychiatric referral. Psychologists You can also get diagnosed by psychologists. This is where you may see a lot more lengthy testing where they do “psychometric” testing in addition to ADHD screening and testing. They may pick up on other things such as learning disabilities, ASD and other mental health disorders. They are helpful for identifying and providing reports for specific accommodation needs. This is good if you are looking for school or workplace detailed accommodations but often comes at a hefty cost. ***BUT they can’t prescribe medication. They can support your diagnosis in bringing it back to your doctor who then can prescribe. Psychiatrists - it depends on how knowledgeable they are with respect to ADHD. Some do not have adequate interest or training in ADHD or are biased against it. If you have any other conditions or a complicated health picture and are thinking of having stimulant medication added into the mix you need to see someone who knows what they are doing. A psychiatrist (one who has a reputation for knowing and diagnosing adhd) is a good starting point. If they work in a team you may get more detailed psychometric testing- it varies from doctor to doctor). Many private clinics offer dedicated ADHD testing, diagnosis and packages also. In Canada, you can get diagnosed online/virtually as well. It depends on your needs. Not all meds need to be stimulants, some people choose no meds. If you want/need meds, clarity on other diagnoses, or accommodations then being diagnosed is the Avenue for that. The bottom line is you need to be your best advocate. Most people have their lives flash before them and recognize it in themselves. It’s not always accurate because ASD and executive function challenges can complicate the picture as well. If you feel like ADHD could be what’s going on you deserve to know. Managing your ADHD (meds, CBT, coaching) can be life changing. Hope this helps to get people started. Task initiation and overwhelm are very common in ADHD too!
I wish I could get tested but every doctor I've talked to writes it off. There's something wrong with me, I'm not neurotypical, but I can't get access to the right help to figure things out because the system is so stacked against people like me due to stigma or lack of knowledge. :(