So I recently started to recognize a lot of the behaviors associated with ADHD. I was and still am in doubt whether I have ADHD or not, but some specific events caused me to ask my doctor to refer me for a diagnosis. I was actually doing quite OK-ish this year, after having struggled with self-worth, short depressive episodes and mild trauma in the recent past. But I noticed that I started to have trouble focusing again as the newness wore off after my career change. And I got called out by my friends for “acting ADHD”. Which did not sound unusual at all.

So I got the referral, went through the intake with shrink 1, did an adult ADHD diagnosis with shrink 2. The diagnosis involved me and my mom answering questions about the presence of ADHD symptoms now and in my early childhood (5-12 yo). Basically, now I do have almost all of the characteristics, though they often are erratic (no problems studying, huge difficulties with household tasks, work productivity varies orders of magnitude day to day) and often not noticed by others (my average productivity in a month is great, though many days I feel shit due to not being able to do what I am supposed to).

In childhood, no symptoms were found. Zero. Partly because everyone in my family is forgetful and mom picks up stuff after everyone all the time, I was constantly reminded/pushed/supported and did not really have the opportunity to forget things (though I still did) and partly because like now, many of these things happen in my head and are not noticeable in the averages that others see. Except when I’m talking too much and interrupting people but I guess thats acceptable when children do it.

Maybe I don’t have ADHD. Maybe it’s something else. Maybe the shrink misunderstood me.

But I feel shit right now. The title is what I had pre-planned to say to people about the outcome and if they say again “don’t act so ADHD”. I can say it with a laugh and everyone thinks I’m funny and quirky.

But the truth is, I feel misunderstood. I feel like a failure for having fallen into an ADHD phenotype even though I am hugely privileged and have none of the baggage so many people here do. No childhood trauma, no school/grades problems, no poverty.

I can’t help but feel that my behavior is my fault, as is wasting health professionals time, who could have helped someone who actually needed it. Shrink 1 is on “long-term sick leave” now. She got stressed by me clicking things constantly during the (remote) interviews. Another thing to feel guilty about.

Best case now is that they diagnose me with some sort of anxiety disorder now. I have been reading a book on autism that I found and it somewhat satisfies my yearning for closure and community in what the author finds, but it also makes it extra painful that I don’t have that.

I don’t have ADHD, I just am super annoying. And I need to deal with that and it’s not actually all that funny.

I’m sorry for the wall of text. Thanks for sharing your stories and memes and goodbye!

  • @[email protected]OPEnglish
    2•10 months ago

    None regularly. Only when it gets really busy in my head and I really have trouble focusing, I take a really strong coffee, which reasonably often calms me and helps to focus.

    I only do it when nothing else (exercise, outdoors walk, sugar) works and only if it is really really bad, so once per 1 or 2 weeks. If I were to drink coffee every 2 or 3 days it would probably stop working.

    • @surewhynotlemEnglish
      4•10 months ago

      There are very very few conditions where adding a simulant makes people calm. It’s basically ADHD or… I can’t think of a second one, but I’m not a doctor.

      When most people drink an extra strong large coffee, they are bouncing off the walls. I’m ADHD, so when I drink that same coffee, I sit in a chair and am productive.

      I will also add that asking parents to provide input about your childhood traits is not a good way to diagnose ADHD in adults. ADHD is genetic. So that doctor was asking a possibly undiagnosed ADHD mother about their kid. That mother has 50 years of coping mechanisms and has no concept of what normal looks like. You weren’t bouncing off the walls any more than she was, and she thinks she is normal.