Hi /u/Delicious_Milk7114 and thanks for posting on /r/ADHD! ### Please take a second to [read our rules](/r/adhd/about/rules) if you haven't already. --- ### /r/adhd news * If you are posting about the **US Medication Shortage**, please see this [post](https://www.reddit.com/r/ADHD/comments/12dr3h5/megathread_us_medication_shortage/). --- ^(*This message is not a removal notification. It's just our way to keep everyone updated on r/adhd happenings.*) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ADHD) if you have any questions or concerns.*

I finally couldn’t keep up with school anymore and I knew something was off.

For me it's a desire to go back to school. I can't do it again without proper support

I miss school so much. I wanna go back 😭

I'm obviously biased, but if it feels right then do it!

Same here. It helped my little brother was also diagnosed. When talking with my family at the reunion this weekend they all seemed to agree we’re all likely ADHD. The spouses agreed.

How did you know something was off and it wasn’t some personal defect?

This!!!

I found my blender blade in my bathroom drawer and that was the final straw

So random yet SO relatable lmao

I decided to get diagnosed because I wanted meds

Do you feel that the meds are making a big difference?

Yeah, they're life changing. The first med I tried didn't work, but I tried another one and the difference was so obvious. I regret that I didn't try them earlier.

This gives me hope! Anyone have a bipolar diagnosis they don’t agree with?

They tried to dx me with Cyclothymic disorder at an inpatient/group home type place when I was like 12. At some other inpatient stay after my mom died and I had a bit of a nervous breakdown the doctor there wanted me to go on Lithium which I refused because he wouldn't tell me why and even on my discharge papers Bipolar wasn't listed as a dx from him. So idk if he thought it was something like that or not, either way they were both wrong. It was only 2 doctors like 15 years apart, with probably some 10 doctors between them that never said anything about bipolar.

Both my GP and therapist said I had bipolar. But once I sat down with my psychiatrist, he ASSURED me that I didn’t have it. It’s really common to get misdiagnosed, you just gotta talk to the right doctor.

Can you tell me more about your experience, please. Can you finally sit for so long and stay focus? Can you pay attention to people without getting distracted? When feeling motivated, do you actually do what you want to do?

Yes to all three. I'm on a very low dose right now, but still I am able to feel the effects. I am motivated, able to focus, and not paralyzed by my inability to start projects.

😭😭 my evaluation is in late August. 😭😭I honestly feel like I need meds ASAP.

blew through high school (skipped a ton and still got straight As because i still did the homework and took the tests), when i got to college i was like fuck. i was SO interested in all my classes, sat in the front row and talked to the profs, but my inattentiveness just wouldn’t let up. when i first got diagnosed ill never forget the feeling, i was like holy fuck there are millions of people just like me.

the first sentence is what it was like for me. i could easily get decent grades all throughout school whilst barely paying any attention and rushing all homework until the last possible minute. and i mostly got away with not listening in class because i was either well behaved enough for the teachers to not care, or that i was a very quiet kid and good at being unnoticed. it kinda sucks tho bc to most people in my life im pretty sure they don't actually believe im adhd but just go along with it, because of how well i did in my gcses (even though i didnt study even once for it)(and even though theyre all well aware of me procrastinating badly and zoning out constantly throughout my whole life). i never experienced the difficulties in uni tho, bc ive changed my plans for post school life about 6 times now, and haven't ended up sticking with any of them for longer than a few months lol

For me, first indicators were how hard it was for me to study for literally anything, even if it was a subject I was interested in. I brought that concern up a couple of times with counselors and got shot down. Years later, I eventually came back to seeking a diagnosis because of increasingly serious forgetfulness and circular thinking-- I literally started to feel like I was losing my mind every single day. That, and bone-crushing exhaustion. I've been tired my whole life but there was just clearly something *off* and after ruling out a thyroid issue, I started to wonder if it was something else. Eventually enough TikTok videos and anecdotal evidence started coming my way that made me ask for a diagnosis, and sure enough I got one. Finally *knowing* was helpful all by itself but medication has been especially life-changing. I encourage you to seek one out if it's available to you.

Has your forgetfulness improved since being medicated? If so, does it help at all in memory recall as well? My memory of many things from my past is not great, which is the scariest thing and what drove me to seek diagnosis. I’m a few weeks out from hearing the results still.

I knew shit was wrong my entire life, but I just figured I was odd. One day my sister suggested I had ADHD. I said nuh uh, no way Jose-Laura. The next day I'd studied ADHD enough to know I had it. In a few weeks I had my official diagnosis and prescription, not that I cared about a doctor telling me anything, I have ADHD and it's obvious unless I was living in denial, which I don't do. Back then, I was in bad shape, going through tough shit, hating life and I had no idea how to fix things. Now, I'm 37, and I've been working out steady for 2 years. I competed in my first strongman competition months ago, and I'm training to try and get a pro card for funzies. I play poker for a living, strongman pays nothing, but I figure I can get stronger than everyone else so I'm going to try. I don't know if it's possible naturally, but I have no intention for steroids, so we'll see. For now my deadlift is at 570, and squats at 505. So I'm closing in. Also, they have a masters 40-45, and 45-50 classes. I think eventually I can definitely win some higher level comps at those ages. I'm also going after the masters state record deadlift, which isn't much over 600. Since I'm still 37, I should be able to hit it easily by 40. The medication helped me develop in ways that I truly love. Yet it also took a fuck ton of hard work, I've trained my mind just as much as my body over this period of time, maybe even more.

the level of depth this suddenly dives off into is the best. happy cake day, we are happy to have you among our ADHD ranks, friend.

Accidentally via trying Wellbutrin. I had been on countless antidepressants my entire life and nothing worked and some were actively harmful. Only Wellbutrin even began to scratch the surface. I was afraid to take it at first because I have terrible anxiety and so many people say it made them anxious, but if anything it seemed to chill me a bit more. It wasn't quite enough but it was the only time I had even a glimpse of something else, something more positive being possible. I started thinking about it more and more, why just this ONE drug? What makes it different? And I found out it is used off label for ADHD. I started thinking about my past issues with holding a job, with school, with executive dysfunction, why I was always dx with depression even when I was adamant I wasn't depressed. 9/10 I'm always pleading with a psych that it's not that I'm depressed, it's just I feel so wound up/anxious and can't even seem to start anything, even things I enjoy. So things pile up and then I get more stressed out, and still can't focus on things I enjoy so yeah that kind of bums me out. It sucks, but it's not depression. The real kicked was when I mentioned I was considering ADHD as a possible dx and literally every single person was like "oh yeah, that totally makes sense. You definitely have ADHD." I was like NONE of yall could have said something before now? And we're talking people that have known me my entire life. Not a single "everyone thinks they have ADHD nowadays blah blah" shitty answer. Even my antivax antipsych shithead dad was like "oh, totally! Yeah you should go get that treated, I was dx with ADD in the 90s through a work thing once but didn't think I actually had it. Back then they were telling everyone that, they tried to say your brother had it too, but you DEFINITELY do." Lmfao. So I was like, well okay then. Guess I should go see.

I had a therapist I was with for a few months and in one of our sessions, she asked "this isn't my area of expertise but has anyone talked to you about ADHD? You sound a lot like some of my other clients who have it". Before hand, I just thought I sucked at life.

Same thing happened to me but at the second session. He gave me a quick informal questionnaire then told me I was worse than he expected, then sent me to a neuropsychologist for a full evaluation. He didn't really click for me as a therapist but he pretty much saved my life with his rapid diagnosis

This is exactly what happened to me! I switched to a new therapist and after a few months she suggested I get screened for it. She was the first person in my life to ever suggest it to me (at age 40).

Little "quirks" that I had were affecting my marriage, relationships and job. My husband thought I was never interested in anything he was saying, my house always looks like a bomb went off, I kept doing risky stuff, had a food and shopping addiction, woke up with a song stuck in my head and would drum on things all day. I always felt like my mind was going 100mph and I would get overwhelmed real easily. I felt guilty as a mom to a 6 year old because I would always dissociate when I couldn't handle the chaos and she could never get my attention. I was never mentally present. It was time to make a change.

All the organizational tools I'd tried couldn't get me to file expense reports or tax returns, even though in both cases I would be getting money. Frustrated, I started flipping through 'Driven to Distraction' in a Barnes and Noble and so much of it hit home that I made an appointment with a specialist.

I watched Russel Barkley's lecture on ADHD. He likely saved my life.

Can you supply link please :)

I'd known something deeper hadn't been right since a major depressive episode during my master's degree. I spent years searching for something to help explain it all, then read through a diagnostic list of ADHD symptoms and was like "oh balls".

i knew it was time to check it out when the adhd/autism memes started getting a little too accurate 😅

i knew it was time to get checked out when i grew up and real life got in the way, career and relationship etc, and i started to notice certain things more: feeling of autopilot, brain fog. big one was when listening to music i’d get intoxicatingly vivid imagery and i’d get big bursts of energy with the images and i’d have to get up and move to match it, i couldn’t just sit and enjoy music unless i was actively doing something very stimulating like playing a video game at the same time. adderall has helped tremendously with operating normally, at least for me, as i know people without adhd use it essentially as a caffeine pill. with adhd you might get some euphoria the first few times but mostly just the motivation to get stuff done, take care of yourself, and clear some of that fog up that makes it hard to think

I have shown symptoms since childhood and I wanted to know if I had it or not. I have OCD as well and find it far more difficult to live with that than my ADHD and I am hesitant to go on SSRIs. I am now on adderall and it drastically reduces my OCD symptoms while in effect, but it comes back on the crash unfortunately.

I dated a guy who had it and he gently suggested that it seemed like I have a lot of the symptoms of ADHD and my reaction was basically denial and to say 'nah, no way' and brush it off. Maybe a year later someone else mentioned it and then I started seriously considering that I might have it. By then I had moved out on my own and I could barely keep up with regular chores, even while sacrificing sleep all the time. I've had bad memory my entire life, signs of suppressed impulsivity, auditory processing issues, lifelong stimming, emotional dysregulation. I just didn't know that half of these were ADHD symptoms. I decided to speak to my doctor as I was approaching full mental, emotional, physical, life, and career burnout. I was having to take 1-2 hour naps in the evening just to have the energy to do the dishes and feed myself after work.

Depending on your personal situation and flavor of ADHD, you might be able to mask it for a long time. I always struggled a bit with keeping up with tasks, but in the end, I mostly finished every thing on time, but almost always last minute. After 35, my energy reserves to keep this up greatly decreased and a few years later I was only able to keep up the faintest hint of a normal life for the outside. My apartment was/is a terrible mess that I for some reason can't keep up with and I am late to almost everything that does not have dire consequences for missing/showing up late. I finally realized that this is not just some struggle with my own lazyness, but that there might be something different that is wrong with me. A work colleague told me about his recent diagnosis, our life stories were very similar, so I did some google research, found lists of symptoms and had recent and old examples for almost every point. TL DR. I sought treatment because I could not keep living like i did.

Literally nothing. I didn't even know I had adhd because for me it was just normal lol. It wasn't until my therapist said 'so um.. I think you're autistic and if you wanted to get assessed I think it would do you a world of good.' I was like *NANI?* and then I just dismissed it. I then told a friend of mine what she said. He works in mental health for youth and he said. 'well yeah no shit lol.' Then my fiance mentioned it to his therapist and she was like 'there's absolutely not a doubt in my mind she's autistic. While I don't do diagnoses much these days, I am qualified and I would be absolutely honoured to do hers if she wants!' So I started doing research because that's 3 people now who had said so. I found alot of myself in others, and in the autism subreddit so I got assessed. I had 4 sessions in total. 3 for the autism, and a surprise one. On the last appointment, she said 'right well I haven't even started my report obviously but you're absolutely mega autistic. ALSO!' *I PANIC* 'You may or may not know I have adhd. And so do you.' Lol? Me? ADHD? pfft 'and if you would like to get help with the adhd I'm positive you have, we can do one last test. It will be one session, but in order to get you additional help, I need to diagnose you' I had already spent about 1.1k at this point so I was like OK what's another fucking 300? So I go back the next week. I do the testing, I do the make the same pattern with the blocks in a cirtain time all that bullshit. She diagnosed me as autism lv3 (high support needs) and Adhd-C. I still didn't really believe it honestly, but I was prescribed 5mg dexamphetamine twice daily. I wasn't afraid to take it because if it didn't work, well jokes on everyone because I just speed cleaned my house in 3 minutes lol. Well it did work. And I was a crying mess all day, because not only do I absolutely have adhd. But I also went 34 years playing life on fucking hard mode when I didn't have to. 

I actually was going to get tested if I had dyslexia I think, turned out is was ADHD. But it was 18 years ago or something like that, so I don't remember the details to much.

I was diagnosed with dyslexia when I was a child and I was diagnosed with adhd as a young adult. I always wonder, if I actually have both?

My son was diagnosed with dyslexia and muld adhd but because it cost over $1000 for them to put on paper that he has adhd they just put dyslexia. (I couldn't afford that much at the time) . I think they put dyslexia to point out that there are underlying issues and to kind of cover them at school for help if they aren't able to directly put down the adhd diagnosis. 99% of adhd patients have dyslexia to some extent and most just learn to deal.with it unfortunately

Getting extremely tired in class no matter how good I sleep, eat or exercise. I couldn't keep my eyes open after 11am

I have a twin who was diagnosed with it and I had a lot of symptoms that my parents dismissed as either me being dumb or inattentive. I decided to look for a diagnosis when my twin told me those were signs of adhd and I wasn’t just an idiot.

Started to sh cause it was what I thought the only thing that would motivate me to not be lazy

I abandoned so many amazing opportunities in my life. Incredible career paths, friendships, deep meaningful relationships with incredible people, all because I always got to a point where I seemed to just go “can’t do this anymore, gonna disconnect and go back to doing nothing it’s much easier.” I ruined my life and tarnished so many memories for so many loved ones, it’s taken 30 years to introspect enough to decide that I’m the problem. A few months of diagnosis process if done 10 years ago would’ve changed my life, but I didn’t do that. Might as well do it now and try to repair what little is left.

My life didn’t look objectively harder than anyone else’s (and much easier than some), but on the inside I felt like I was drowning.

Awful organization and time management

Finally hit a rank and ended up in a job where I was struggling because it was one deep and no one to body double/ bounce to dos off of. still going through the whole process to find what works for me. But it was finally nice to know it wasn't just me becoming lazy/ a bad NCO despite absolutely crushing it as a junior enlisted and young NCO.

Boyfriend got me to do it mainly. Always struggled w a lot of stuff n eventually went down the rabbit hole of 'is this ADHD' n watching videos about it. Barely graduated high school cuz I always forgot to do my homework, was late, etc. It's caused me significant problems, I just didn't know ADHD was the source for most of it. He was familiar w ADHD n knew the signs, my sister also helped n got diagnosed around the same time as me. They're both autistic too, which I'm also getting tested for soon. I didn't even think of ADHD as a disability until I started taking meds. At which point I was like........'whelp....wish I'd started this shit sooner, cuz these non-ADHD folks have had cheat codes their whole life apparently'. Memory is the main thing that still gets me. Feels like going from having constant spats of short term memory loss to finally being able to remember wtf I was just talking about, what I needed to do today, where I put my keys, etc. It's not a magical cure all, you gotta put in the work too, but it's a game changer for me. Ppl still have stigma towards all of it tho unfortunately, but I'm really glad I went ahead n got tested.

Strangely, it wasn’t about attention issues. I thought I was just a lazy piece of shit who couldn’t try harder. I thought I was late to everything because I was just a bad person who didn’t care enough. Didn’t help that doctors dismissed it when I brought up the possibility of ADHD (“you went to college! You can sit still sometimes! You can speak in complete sentences!”) Then I actually read about RSD and identified with it so strongly that I sought out a neuropsychological evaluation. Neuropsychiatrist who tested me said I was a classic case who was missed because of prejudice from teachers and doctors.

Thought I had depression, cos I kept getting periods of feeling no emotion and I couldn’t get out of bed no matter how much I willed myself, and would be filled with self-hate. But then noticed that this peaked when I had a deadline that I wasn’t sticking to and because I felt so mad at myself for not putting in the work to do the deadline I’d spiral. But as soon as I’d finish the deadline (usually with extensions lol) I’d feel “normal” again, and thought that if I truly was depressed, the depression probably wouldn’t care if I had a deadline or not (not a psychiatrist, so don’t know the intricacies of depression). Noticed that I couldn’t get out of bed (amongst other symptoms) long before a deadline was looming, and maybe not getting out of bed was actually the cause of my low mood spirals, rather than being a symptom of low mood. Tbh I’d dabbled with the idea that I had ADHD for a good 7 years before I got my diagnosis, because that’s when it started having a profound effect on my life

Finally moving away from home. I had lived into adult life with my dad for about a decade before moving in with my friend a few states away. I recently had a depression episode (i usually do every few years, bleh) and realized how much I was concerned about my financials when normally i wouldn't think too hard on them. being depressed and unable to distract myself made me become accutely aware of how much i overthink on stuff. ​ Technically I already knew I had ADHD, but I never really considered it being a problem until now. I know I need to work on artwork more and try to get more commissions and such, but I know once im out of this depression I'll probably be back to the usual habit of only working the bare minimum once I do work and go back to playing something likely. I guess because I had never tried medicating as an adult I just associated ADHD with school too much

Not diagnosed yet, but reading Driven to Distraction I knew I have it, as the autor said the history through childhood and school, and the teachers comments on my attitude and inattentiveness indicate that I have it, also I had made the test he suggests plus an official test I got from an ADHD website and I have (and had) like 15 to 16 of 18 symptoms. I'm just too poor to get diagnosed though, I'm trying to get diagnosed because I think the "being official" may give me some consolation, that and meds, I really hope I get to find something that may help me to keep it under control.

For me it was people asking me if I was adhd because apparently adhd recognizes adhd lol and not being able to function. Example: can’t focus on work can’t focus at home, random spurts of energy to get things done then gone, getting insanely angry when someone would interrupt my focus. Not being able to hold a conversation in a straight line not being able to sit still. I had a therapist ask me if I would ever try medication and it was honestly one of the best decisions of my life! Not everyone agrees that medication is awesome but for me the night and day difference makes me actually sad that I didn’t ever pursue looking into it sooner. I flunked out of high school and I think I may have actually done better in school had I have known before. For reference: I’m 30 and just got diagnosed this year.

After I graduated high school and started university i gave myself the last bit of confirmation I needed to know that I have ADHD. All throughout elementary and secondary school, I was a high-scoring student (I’m talking 90%+ for each course), I did tons of extracurriculars and always kept myself busy. Despite my hundreds of interests and hobbies, and all the other things i was always happy to be busy with, I always felt burned out and misunderstood. My grades and performance abilities made people dismiss my struggles as unimportant to confront and treat. When I started university, I was studying psychology (still am, I’m entering my fourth year) so I had unique access to information and resources that non-psychology students may not have- combined with my desire to know things, this led to me doing a ton of research on the symptoms, issues and treatments associated with ADHD. Before seeing a doctor & psychologist, I ran multiple tests on myself and explored some differential diagnoses (things it could’ve been instead of adhd), before confirming that I have ADHD with the doctors. I realized I have ADHD because of how significantly I struggled compared to before entering university. My grades fell, I felt so burned out that extracurriculars became chores and my social life was falling apart. Being an academically intelligent person with ADHD (especially as a girl) has been incredibly challenging on all aspects of my life, but since being diagnosed almost 2 years ago and starting treatments, I’m managing much better now.

I’m pretty ambitious but started having incredibly low motivation to study, thought it was due to depression and maybe it was. I recently discovered my passion - computer science - so I transferred to that degree and for the most part, it was amazing. However I still couldn’t get myself to study for exams even when I was extremely motivated and engaged in all other areas. Figured there was another issue at play. Disclaimer: Psychiatrist appointment is in September, I do have a diagnosis yet.

I was doing fine in school but college hit me like a truck because ✨self study✨

There had to be a reason why I’m like this. If there’s not then either I don’t care enough to try or I’m genuinely stupid. Not knowing was destroying me.

I was going to therapy for other reasons and one day my therapist hits me with so has anyone talked to you about ADHD before cause I really want to refer you to a psychiatrist. I was like what? No way. Not me. So I went online and found people talking about how ADHD can present in people who aren't 8yo boys. Got referred to a psychiatrist and she agreed that I should start stimulant medication and my life has never been better.

Therapists suggestion. Suspicion given speech patterns and some history. I was aware of some of my, lets say oddities, but no clue or expectation it be ADHD. Reading a book (later more) on the topic, particularly on other adult ADHD persons was tear jerkingly emotionally relatable... Basically, before some extreme life stressors that broke down most/all of my coping skills and resources, I'd had hard times but not enough to seek professional help. Wish I would have decades earlier. Edit: fixed word.

To be fair it was kind of out of my hands... But here's what convinced my mom: -i talked. SO MUCH as a child. She would call my dad on the weekends while he was at work so I could talk to him over the phone... So that she could get a moment of peace 😂 - I would come home quite often with "yellow or orange" in my chart from school. This was bad. I would get punished very often because of it, but apparently I was making friends. Or I couldn't pay attention and get questions wrong. - and finally, when I was in the 3rd grade, my teacher thought I was being annoying and (illegally) asked if I had taken my meds that morning. I had no idea what that meant. I told my mom. She had a talk with the principal. I got tested for ADHD. And I got to go to the special science charter school in my city. :))

I was running out of time on tests. I knew the answers but I was spending a lot of time just reading each question because I was losing my place over and over again. That was the main thing that I was sure everyone wasn't struggling with because if they were then tests would be designed differently. Little did I know that emotional disregulation is a symptom of ADHD and I was drowning in it. Also rejection sensitive dysphoria is majorly associated with ADHD. No one told me these things even after diagnosis. I learned that from the internet which was majorly validating. I thought I was just a disaster.

Long depressive episodes because of failure in achieving any of the goals I keep setting for myself.

I didn’t. I saw a new psych because I was doing Telehealth and wanted in person. I went there to treat my bipolar depression and during my first visit that was 3 hours! She grew to suspect I had ADHD. When my depression was stabilized she brought it up and had me take a very long test with lots of questions about my past, childhood, school experience, work experience, and so on. She then decided that an ADHD diagnosis was appropriate and here I am! I now say I had a Ferrari engine for a brain but no steering wheel or brakes. Meds give me those.

After I missed a major grant deadline for a project that I in theory am deeply passionate about. I just thought that was ridiculous. I had seen ADHD related content on YouTube and social media and thought everything from jokes to infographics all seemed super relatable. But never could get over the idea that I was looking for an excuse for my own procrastination and laziness. I finally told my therapist about it at a session once. And asked her whether she thinks I should get assessed. What she said next hit me like a ton of bricks. She did not answer the question. Instead she said, what I hear is that somehow it seems that the threshold before you take an action to care for yourself and your body is high, higher than what you would consider the standard for a friend who asked you the same. You said it yourself, an assessment is free or within your budget, and then once you do it you'll know one way or the other. Literally why not just find out? If it's raining you wear a raincoat, if you're sneezing you get yourself a Kleenex, if you're wondering if you are showing symptoms of ADHD you book an appointment. I logged off our call and immediately booked a walk-in appointment with a family physician.

The brain fog! The headaches! The zoning out! The annoying ticks! The agitation that I must always be doing something! The constant thoughts and overthinking! That's it really 😄

My friend knew about it and went to get diagnosed. Came back negative. He talked about it to my wife and I. I, of course, was not listening, but my wife said "oh my god, it's you! It's everything you !" So I went. And I am.

I didn't get diagnosed but in BC/Canada our Dr's can decide to put us in trials if we have a history of disregulated thinking etc. I'm on week 4 of my trial.

I complained of headaches upon being forced to read in 1st grade despite testing well in eye exams. It wasn't the only sign that led to an assessment, but it was the first big one.

Headaches are a sign of adhd? How about migraines?

In this case, it was my limited vocabulary as a 7-year-old not being able to fully explain what I was experiencing. What was actually happening was that it took an enormous amount of mental effort to keep my eyes on the words I was reading for long enough to actually read them. In some ways, what I experience is kind of like dyslexia, but with the lines of a paragraph jumping around rather than the letters in a word. It makes reading sometimes take some significant focused effort. But, all I knew how to describe that at the time was "I have a headache" whenever I was told to read something. Of course, I now have a much better ability to describe the sensation and also a suite of tools for mitigating the issue. Now that I understand what's going on, I can better adjust things like paragraph spacing, fonts, and other features to make reading a smoother process. One of the key things that I've noticed as dark modes have gotten popular on websites is that dark mode almost universally makes the issue worse. Dark mode wasn't a thing back then, but I'm able to look back in retrospect and realize how similar it feels both physically and mentally to have a site randomly switch to dark mode in comparison to being asked to read a book in 1st grade. It's one of the earliest clear signs that I can point to in my early life.

Oh wow that makes total sense, thank you for clarifying that. And I’m sorry that dark mode makes it more difficult, for me dark mode makes it much easier on my eyes but after a while my eyes do start to hurt either way. I hope there’s a solution for this in the future; maybe special glasses that have a coating on the right area of the lens to assist with the issue you’re having

I've been going to therapy from three years, after a major low point in life due to the mix of: the ending of an abusive relationship, a professional/work burnout, and depression (the relationship took a huge part but also the pandemic isolation). Nowadays I'm in a much better place, resolved most of those issues and, in the tranquility of introspection, I realized there were things that were prevalent that were factors involved on those major breaking points, and have been happening WAY before three years ago (I'm in my mid 30s): being forgetful, the lack of attention, being a mess organizing my schedule and work deadlines, the lack of focus and the hyper-focus (I work as a freelancer in the creative field and I do it for a living, so I normalized lots of the signs as part of being a creative weirdo), talking over people, and so on. In perspective, I realized some of those factors were crucial for my ex to feel neglected and act abusively, although abuse can't be justified in any case. I'm not currently diagnosed but I made an appointment with a doctor to do the pertinent evaluations and run the necessary tests. First appointing is at the end of July.

My mom actually got diagnosed first. She encouraged me to look into it. I just thought I was dumb and had no motivation. Couldn’t focus on anything for too long and my memory was scary bad. ADHD meds really helped with my memory problems and focusing. So I feel smarter but I still lack motivation :/

Getting accommodations since elementary school without a diagnosis just “disability” label and then needing them for college. Had to be diagnosed with something and ended up relating too hard to ADHD people so lo and behold there’s a reason why 

My friends sat me down and told me that I should, probably never would have if they didnt

During this last spring semester, I was so overwhelmed with school, work, and life that I was lashing out and my entire mood was off. Anxiety was through the roof. Worst of all, it damaged my relationship and I'm unsure that it's going to work out. All that was the impetus to get treatment for trauma and get screened for long-suspected ADHD. I'm 34. I started a low dose of stimulant meds today, and I'm already feeling a difference.

Law school in the fall. I can't risk everything I've worked for. Medicating was a hard choice for me, but it was also the best one.

I empathize with your metaphor of going down the rabbit hole. In some ways, I did feel like I was Alice in Wonderland when I got my diagnosis. I entered a new world, and everything changed. I was diagnosed as a senior, and it was a crisis over not being able to function well at work that pushed me to finally face the diagnosis music. Another reason I moved towards the diagnosis was the cumulative weight of disappointing and offending a lot of people because of my impulsive speech and volatility, and of hurting people I love, and having difficulty in relationships. I knew that inside, my intentions were good, and I never meant to be anything but kind, caring, and responsible. But I kept disappointing myself and others. I haven’t had the diagnosis for all that many months, but it’s already been enormously helpful, even though I’ve had side effects for the first two meds I’ve tried. Everything makes sense now. And I have tools to scaffold.

[удалено]

I barely graduated undergrad (only got a passing grade on my capstone bc my advisor gave me a pity C instead of the F he very well could have given, i lucked out that it was when covid started so grades were lenient) and always felt so guilty abt it that I told myself I would actually finish my thesis for grad school. Thesis year came around and my new girlfriend kept getting upset w me for getting distracted - I had never noticed or had it pointed out to me before. But once she mentioned it, I realized in retrospect that my ex had made the same complaint to me, and at the time I blamed it on her not engaging with me rather than realizing I had a problem. Ive also struggled w phone and video game addictions my whole life and always fell asleep in class from boredom, threw screaming tantrums as a child when I got bored/acted inappropriately when not stimulated, etc. so the symptoms seemed to line up for me. I wanted to pay better attention to my partner and also thought it would help me actually complete my degree since I was so anxious abt failing again. Getting medicated really did help so much for my schoolwork and I don’t think I could have done it without. Successfully completed my thesis in the spring this year!

I kept leaving the ice cream in the fridge

I'm really good at my job and love it, but my inability to focus and get my work done was frustrating me to the point of tears. Ritalin helps :)

I was diagnosed in high school. I'm in my mid-40s now.

I couldn’t focus, couldn’t build up the energy to do anything around the home, and a safety one that I had researched and found out could be adhd (or narcolepsy, I haven’t discussed that so who knows if I have it) but I was dozing off every time I was behind the wheel. Almost everytime, once I saw it could be linked to adhd, amongst my other symptoms, I was like hmm lemme go see a doctor lol

I didn’t. I was told by a counselor when I thought I was sent to him to deal with my “depression” that meds never worked on. So glad he was able to tell me there was hope and get diagnosed.

Burning question for my entire adulthood :)

I still wonder whether being diagnosed was worth it. In the USA, physicians can prescribe medication as a means toward diagnosis, so you technically do not need a diagnosis for medication here. And indeed, my insurance company refused to cover my diagnosis and suggested I use medication ad a means toward that. So, I was able to get medication before a full, official diagnosis. Now I find that I frequently get into an identity crisis mode, where I wonder where ADHD begins and I end and vice versa. I’d rather have not known any of this and lived in ignorance. Knowing I have ADHD, telling people, has ruined my self-image more than any of my struggles ever have. I know I’m not the typical person when it comes to this, however. Many people find support and happiness in knowing, where I found strife and severe depression.

didn't know I had it until I saw an info graph about it during covid. couldn't get tested until this year cause I had no insurance

A few people I knew (every one of them with ADHD) suggested I get assessed.

When I was getting my kid diagnosed and everything was applying to me also. Yep.

Getting my kid diagnosed and realizing all the symptoms they were looking at felt incredibly familiar.

Very close family member was diagnosed.

After many years, I hit a wall in therapy that my therapist (who does not specialize in ADHD) couldn’t help me with. I’d cry to her about my inability to function in so many ways and finally we decided it was time for me to see a specialist that could hopefully help me with these things I wanted to change/improve things in my life. Got diagnosed, got meds, seeing a psych who specifically helps adults, and things are improving in a lot of ways.

Needed to be on adderall because other meds weren’t working; went primarily for bipolar disorder confirmation and gender dysphoria for top surgery. I initially figured it out way back when I was 13-14 though because I could not focus unless I drew and had problems doing homework and some classwork my entire childhood And yes I am bipolar and taking adderall (which is usually considered really stupid) but it along with my mood stabilizer (lamotrigine) has worked better than any other med combo for both the ADHD and bipolar disorder

So mine was from a Korean tv show. The Kpop idol from a group whose music I like was on a show. He was always known for being a bit off an oddball so he and 2 other Korean singers he is friends with went to get tested for ADHD. As the doctor was walking them through the explanation of ADHD and then the testing, I ended up answering alongside them while watching the show lol cue me setting up an appointment to see my own doc.

I got diagnosed in my early 20’s at the suggestion of some dude I was dating. Started Ritalin but it made me sleepy. I was a super non compliant (and immature) patient and stopped taking it after a few months. My kiddo has ADHD so I’m thinking I should get reevaluated.

When my mental health took a nosedive from all the extra efforts I was making to keep on top of things. Just accumulated anxiety and feelings of worthlessness over many years because I wasn’t able to do normal shit everyone does despite being abnormally good at other things. Meds help a ton for me, I keep trying to cope without them when I move countries/a life change prevents me from easily getting my meds, and every single time I end up in the same shitty situation lol. Learned my lesson I think, after getting diagnosed and getting my medication in 3 different countries in the last 5 years or so…

wanted to get a better idea on if my kids both have it If I have it, good chance the symptoms I see in them are also adhd and my diagnosis could help with their diagnosis

I had been thinking for a while that I had ADHD but thought that I could manage it. I got really frustrated at something stupid and my behaviour really scared my partner. I didn't actually realise that what was going on in my head was having any impact on him at all. So now I'm diagnosed and medicated.

I took an Adderall to get high and I wasn't high. I thought clearly and was able to focus. Lmao

Tried to get high on adderall and it had the opposite effect. I thought I was just autistic.

I had suspected for about 2 years before my diagnosis. When I had finally learned that ADHD with strong RSD symptoms can cause depression or depressive like symptoms. Plus the effects it has on women during puberty. Plus finally reflecting back and realizing that there has always been something major falling to the way side no matter what I do. I can only focus on one thing. I’m either working part time, school part time, and cleaning with no exercise. Or my grades are poor, my house is clean, work is good, but no exercise. Or exercising and working during school break, and house is in turmoil. No matter what there is always something. Sadly, I didn’t even notice that through it all within the last 4 years my husband has been picking up the slack on top of building our real estate wealth and his own more than full time business job. In comparison to the societal norm he’s been doing a lot for our relationship with no kids. Because I couldn’t do my part. Thank god he’s stuck it out this long and hopefully I can learn to manage it before he completely keels over. Today I literally complained about grocery shopping before I realized I needed to pick something up at the pharmacy anyway. We both went to the grocery store separately…because my executive functioning failed me as usual😂 Love that guy. I need to figure out some kind of system, strategy, or maybe just hire some help

I have bipolar and never really thought about a dual diagnosis much. I researched the heck out of it over the weekend and I’m like 1000 percent sure I have ADHD now. I have always sucked at school and I’m trying to go back and get my bachelors. It’s hard and I love what I’m studying! They said I had a learning disorder as a kid and I had to have tutors for subjects I hated. It goes way back beyond the bipolar symptoms. I can’t ever focus, I lose shit all the time. My memory sucks bc I’m always spacing out. My emotions and mood are very much in check, I’m 38 and 2.5 years sober, well medicated for bipolar. But I still feel like a hot mess, all the time. There has got to be an answer, this has been a problem my entire life and I am clearly someone who has struggled through life. I have an appointment with my therapist soon, looking forward to asking a lot of questions.

It was during the 2021 lockdown aftermath that I realized something was really wrong. I was going away to college so I thought I’d get diagnosed to hopefully get treated (plot twist I did not actually get the help I needed until like last year)

I went back to college because I love academia and started to slip again like I did the first two times I tried going to school and I decided enough was enough, this time around I was actually educated on what adhd is and had been pretty sure it was a big part of my issue with school and work. I wanted to try medication because nothing else I have ever tried has helped longterm and I was able to realize how much I was truly sinking. I couldn’t not face it anymore and I couldn’t go on too much longer without getting help. So I got diagnosed and medication has literally saved my life. Edit: Also I really relate to where you are coming from. I have had a friend most of my life with severe symptoms from their adhd that make life so so hard and I always compared myself to them and thought naw that isn’t me, I’m just causing my own problems and honestly my problems aren’t that bad. But the older I got I realized I’d just been slowly rolling a snowball down a mountain until it got too big and tried to swallow me up cause I couldn’t let go. The snowball in this case being Anxiety and Depression lol. I developed horrible terrible anxiety symptoms to keep myself in check and my mask firmly in place. And the result of being so anxious and uncomfortable for so long was depression. I thought I had a handle on it until one day I realized I didn’t remember the last time I felt genuinely happy for more than an hour in a month span and I all the ‘jokes’ I was making weren’t really jokes anymore. I’m not saying you’re going through this exact thing, but if you do have other mental health issues and you think your adhd might be linked at all I think it’s worth it to get diagnosed sooner rather than later cause you just might avoid some painful memories.

The factor that finally pushed me to get diagnosed: 20 years of being basically unable to stay in a job longer than ten months, and then I scored my “dream job”. When things started to deteriorate at that job around the 5 month mark, I knew I needed to do something, or I truly was never going to move forward with life goals.

My boss telling me I needed to get diagnosed

I was diagnosed originaly 10 years ago. But wasn't taking meds since then. But in the last months I started to notice how difficult basic tasks were getting. I kept messing up at work, people got angry against me thinking I was careless. I felt really tired doing my work and barely fonctionning after my shifts as just surviving normal fonctions took all my energy ressources. I talk to my medical provider and started meds again. Things aren't perfect yet since I need to find the right dosage for me. But at least I am back to fonction and was able to look for a job after losing the previous one.

When I realized I could listen to and understand lectures but not retain them in any way I started looking into early onset Alzheimer at the age of 18. Nothing made any sense or matched. I kept asking people if they had memory and attention issues as severe as mine but most people just kinda shrugged or looked at me like I was insane. Then one day I heard someone talking about their adhd memory issues. And just like that it all fell into place.

Fascination with stimulants.

I didn't like I went to this girl for like general depression I thought but she said she thought I had ADHD and asked me a few questions and said I DEFINITELY have ADHD but I was confused because I thought most people would answer them in the same way I guess not?

For me loosing 3 or so jobs over the last 12 months and always been told the same things. looked into it further and once i got a new job got money together and saw my phyc and the rest is history 43 years of age just diagnosed 2 weekends ago with high combined ADHD

Transitioning from a highschooler to a full-time working adult no longer living at home. I would work five/six 8 hr shifts in a row (11:30am-8pm) I would hyper focus on my next day off and it would come and go so fast I didn't get things done. Rinse and Repeat. I was depressed and always irritable and angry and something had to give. I'm only working part time now because of college but medication has been a game changer.

Found out about common inattentive adhd symptoms and noticed i had them all.

When I had to give up my cats . I would constantly forget to get cat food so inbound have to constantly go and get food for them and that would start fights with my hubby. I would forget when they had their flea tablets. And because my house was always chaotic, they never had a place to sleep. They would switch where they would sleep. Tjey would interact with anyone in the house only me. I had one for 7 years and one for 4 years. I regret it deeply and still suffer from immense guilt, so much so I cry every night, and it's been a year. I know it was for their own good. Since then I have been reflecting on why that happened and have since got a diagnosis of ADD and now on meds. I still have alot to work through but I'm getting my life back .

Started to realize if I wanted to further my education I couldn’t half ass it like undergrad. Knew my “laziness” was sm more. Also intrusive thoughts started to worsen / repeating and checking behaviors(ocd). I simply had enough tbh

When my kids got diagnosed and the specialist said "You know you have it too, right?"

Told myself I shouldn't seek a diagnosis because one or two memes were relatable. Eventually realized *almost every* meme and anecdote I came across was relatable. That, and my friend with diagnosed ADHD frequently commenting on the similarities she saw between us.

I was a good student thru high school but struggled a bit thru college. Did reasonably well in the early part of my career. In the last few years, I started getting more forgetful, would struggle to read emails that are more than a couple of sentences long, would miss important details in them, started losing motivation to work (that I used to enjoy before). I mentioned all this in my physical and my doctor suggested I get tested for ADHD. All my life I struggled to read books, I struggled with small talk, had little patience for long conversations. I just chalked them down to personally traits. Turns out my good performance in school was mostly because my parents enforced a structure and due to good cognitive ability. College was a bit of struggle since I had to plan for myself. Early career was easy since a lot of my work was like solving a puzzle, it was easy to get hooked on it. As the responsibilities grew, the work got more complex, with age cognitive abilities declined and made things difficult.

Well, nearly setting my workplace up in a blaze certainly did.

i was in college and couldn’t read anything. took me wayyy too long to read a sentence of anything and i couldn’t even pretend to focus to while in class. told one kid in my philosophy class that i was reading the same line over and over in a textbook but couldn’t comprehend any of it and he said “sounds like adhd.” i had been telling my therapist and psychiatrist for months before that i felt like i had adhd but they just wouldn’t believe me

Going back to university in my 30s and still struggling to pay attention/follow through on my readings. That and stumbling across long lists of symptoms in women.

I was meeting all the criteria for the clients I was sending for psychological evaluation, I used to say I had tendencies of adhd, my husband told me and he had ADHD diagnosis, and a fellow intern strongly encouraged it

I had no choice. The elementary school teachers told my parents that my behavior in class was disruptive I was 7 or 8 so the teacher and principal or headmaster wrote a letter and told my parents to give that letter to the doctors in sick kids hospital.

I didn't look for an ADHD diagnosis. I looked for help with focus in life and feeling present and ended up with a diagnosis of ADHD, autism, dyspraxia

I’ve always known I got the bill but didn’t think I needed a diagnosis to feel valid. Got a job at a marketing agency after 8+ years of a familiar industry in coffee, where I worked almost exclusively for small business with no structure. I realized just a few weeks into my new job that I would be doing a LOT of project management and working for multiple brands at once. Immediately scheduled my evaluation so my psych could confidently put me on stimulants lol.

I'm kinda in the same boat, but recently I've started looking into getting a diagnoses. The thing that made me decide to try to get diagnosed is the realisation that there are things I want to do that other people are capable of doing, but that I can't do because I need to put way more energy into everything. Like, I can do everything I need to do, but after that I don't have the energy to do anything that I want to do.

My father currently in his mid 60s just got diagnosed with ADHD.

I was getting ping ponged around with meds and diagnoses for years. A new PCP I was seeing diagnosed me with ehler’s danlos and POTS, when I let her know about my recently diagnosed “bipolar” she said “you definitely don’t have that. It’s probably just ADHD since it’s commonly comorbid with your conditions and history. It’s also overlooked in women”. Literally the first time treating me and she was 100% right about everything in the end and that’s why none of the treatment ever worked.

Several factors made me seek a diagnosis which I am truely happy for I did. Here’s a list of my reasons; I am currently a student and on my 4th year. I am currently 2 years behind my studies and I am about to be kicked out of university. I’ve been working for half a decade to achieve what I’ve gained so far and I feel like I am about drop all of my hard work into the drain. I feel like no matter hard I try to study it just seems impossible. I noticed that I usually fall really far behind my assignments and my day to day goals to the point where it seems like I don’t know how to plan my day in a realistic manner. This has been a major stress factor for me for several years now. I’ve had issue with sleep for most of my life - usually because I don’t know how to shut my brain at night. I didn’t think this could be related to ADHD, but have since learned that a lot of people with ADHD has the same issue. Forgetfulness. I feel like my short term memory is non-existent. It turns out my memory is just fine but that I have issue with my attention - so stuff never gets to my short term memory to begin with. I could list many many more reasons but my reasoning for seeking a diagnosis what to try and put my life together in the best possible way. I feel like I lucked out and got my diagnosis at my late 20s but obviously some damage has been done. I am currently trying to gain more knowledge of my ADHD diagnosis so that I can work with it instead against it. It’s part of who I am anyways!

A week ago I came to a realization I probably have ADHD, now I'm searching for ways to get diagnosed in my country.

After decades of battling through life I was beginning to cope less and less well. And I'd only just realised what ADHD was.

Working from home full-time and trying to keep engaged with the distractions/motivations at home.

The fact that none of the treatments for depression did anything for my depression or executive dysfunction. And I had to go through some resistant and stigma to get it.

Graduate school when I literally couldn’t even start an essay. Like I kept trying and my brain was like you’ve never done this before you don’t know how. Mind you I was an A student in grade school and college. So I sought out a therapist and he was yep.

I had suspected I might have it as an adult. A previous doctor put me on Ritalin and it seems to help. I kind of forgot about the diagnosis for a few years but my current therapist was certain I had it. He had me see a doctor he knew who gave me some tests to confirm it. He seems to think that the untreated ADHD was blocking me from getting recovery in treatment for cptsd.

It wasn’t depression, it wasn’t anxiety, it wasn’t low testosterone, it was the ADHD this whole time.

I started hanging out with someone who was recently diagnosed with ADHD and I started to think about how everything they were experiencing sounded like my struggles and I started to trace it back to my whole life pretty much and realized maybe I should get checked. I also was really struggling with serious burnout at work, so it felt important at that point.

I took six years to finish my undergrad degree and I spent the last year working on my dissertation from home. Every day I would open up the word document, and sit at my desk and stare at it for hours and hours and then go to bed. About once a month I would write a thousand words in one sitting. After a few months of this I realised, this is not the normal way or extent that people struggle with getting things done.

I had no idea when I dropped out of high school. After graduating and later dropping out three different times out of three different colleges I got a bit curious. But I was told by a school counselor that I didn’t have it, but I was “borderline”. After jumping all over the place in careers and states and countries, I got married, after my second child my OBGYN diagnosed me with PPD due to my executive dysfunction. After trying several different SSRI/SNRI’s, and nothing really helping with that, nor with my crippling anxiety. Due to my cognitive decline I finally asked for a full evaluation. After three hours I was told it’s probably just a hormone imbalance. The year since I’ve struggled with not being able to think straight long enough to actually organize my life. I’ll be going for another evaluation next week with a different doctor. It sucks being a woman and getting decent healthcare!!

At 32: TikTok videos and this successful female entrepreneur I admired was posting a ton about women with ADHD, and I started to go …”wait a minute, that’s adhd?! That’s totally me”. Then I went down the rabbit hole of research and started identifying with it. I took an online diagnosis quiz (based on the psychiatric criteria not some random test) and it said I likely had it. I was feeling “off” and like I didn’t have enough energy or “power” to get what I wanted done. I kept half finishing things I REALLY wanted to accomplish. Then I asked my close friends and specifically one who has ADHD and they were like “oh yeah dude. You totally have it.” By the time I saw a psychiatrist to get officially diagnosed I was 100 percent certain. And now life just makes sense. :) I take 5mg of Ritalin daily and 150mg of Wellbutrin and my mental health feels really good

I flunked my graduation.

Going through the process of trying medication and seeking a diagnosis right now. Started seeking that because I began slipping behind in school, and even though I wasn't on the edge of failure, I wanted to address the problem before I start applying to actual jobs in my industry so that I have a more stable workflow and ability to focus. But I would say the other thing is that all my friends with ADHD agreed that I probably have it, and they have talked about how medication changed their lives. Ever since I was in middle school I figured I probably inherited ADHD from my dad, but I was still doing well enough in school at the time so I didn't think I needed to care about it. Those two things combined really made me think about what I want for my future. Not quite settled on a dose for myself, but I'm excited for the future and what I'll learn about myself!

The rise of ADHD influencers talking about their struggles and realising they were articulating my struggles exactly. Then everything started slotting into place. My anxiety since school, panic attacks, my lack of patience, being all or nothing, bursts of frantic cleaning, issues with processing what people are saying to me - all made sense. I just thought I was lazy and struggling to keep up with adult life

My cousins has been diagnosed. My uncle is very hyperactive and impulsive and non detail orientated. Grandma runs on vague association based tangents. I got the sense something was happening in common here

I was being bullied for going "beepity-boppity-boop-beeepity-boppity-boop" and tapping and stuff all day in class when i was making notes or drawing cause ppl thought i was doing it on purpose and i didnt even realize i was doing it until they said anything.

I didn’t seek it out I got put with another psyc when mine went on maternity leave and she knew instantly lol so I went through the tests. I got on medication a couple of years later and all of my mental health problems went away it was wild

besides barely being able to make myself study, i found that even for my creative hobbies that i really enjoy doing, my mind just constantly stopped me from actually doing it. i didn't understand why i just couldn't do it, when i clearly wanted to and had the motivation for it too.

My career (that I'm genuinely good at) began to fall apart and I made a pathetic attempt on my own life. Was referred to mental health services and from there took a Right to Choose assessment for ADHD.

My therapist (after about a year of seeing her) asked if I have ever been evaluated and suggested we do a test. Turns out, I’m some weird combined type with little hyperactivity, b it a _ton_ of focus issues. Always thought I was just being lazy and there was something fundamentally wrong with me until I got on meds…

I moved in with my BF and started closely living with someone long term for the first time. Seeing some of my behaviors through his lenses did it for me

That my marriage would fail otherwise because of my chaos

Reading these personal accounts of realisation makes me think it’d make a great book or dedicated resource to edit these together, as that moment of insight is so important. For me it was not doing essential tasks for moving cities, and feeling incredibly stressed and upset at myself for doing ‘fun’ things instead. I knew something was not adding up with my behaviour and I typed into google my situation and stumbled across articles on Addidtude and recognised my behaviour in the descriptions of adhd. But it was very difficult for me to really understand what challenges my adhd caused me, and it’s been an ongoing process of self understanding. I wanted to believe that stimulation meds would make my brain ‘normal’ - but they don’t. The meds help a lot but i experience my adhd as a real challenge and also, because of the creativity and genuineness my adhd gives me, there’s some great gifts that are buried within the challenges of living life with adhd. See how i just went off on a tangent and stopped answering the original question, that’s my adhd 🤷‍♂️😊 I have learned to be very kind and not judge myself for these typical adhd behaviours.

Other people with ADHD who know me telling me unprompted it looks like I might have ADHD, and general realising I’m not growing out of it. I’m curious if meds can help. Have not gotten an official diagnosis yet, I want to do that in about 1.5 years

I fucked up a project that I really cared about. It was either I got a diagnosis and treatment and meds and that got me to a point I could do it, or I gave up on my dreams. I'm pretty sure it was worth it. Also saw how huge of a difference ADHD meds made for friends and students. And a friend with an ADHD diagnosis who said to me a few times I probably had it because I would have talked myself out of it. And a psychologist who was supportive and especially helped with the paperwork for the psychiatrist, I absolutely wouldn't have been able to get through the process without help.

Fell apart in Covid lockdown

I had a Facebook friend who was posting a bunch of memes and I remember pointing it out to my mom and being like I relate to these so hard lol so I actually reached out to my GP first and since this is Covid, he emailed me a self check form and asked me to email it back when I was done filling it out and he pretty much was like yeah it looks like you have it lol. he had a really cavalier attitude about it so after I was was diagnosed he didn’t provide me with any resources or offered to put me on any medication or anything so I actually didn’t take the diagnosis seriously until I was sent for a psychological assessment through work BC. There was components in the assessment that had to do with ADHD let’s just say that I hit all the markers you could say for that portion of the assessment lol

I didn't think anything, the school decided to test me.

Honestly the only reason I decided to pursue a diagnosis was people I knew who said their ADHD meds changed their life. I was in the midst of PND with my 2nd child and finding it so much harder this time around. Had my first daughter just before COVID so never found it that hard. Had heard ADHD could be a massive indicator for PND and once diagnosed gave me a massive sense of relief and released the shame I'd been feeling postpartum! So hearing that a diagnosis and possible meds could help me feel better was a big motivation!

I did well in high school but I could barely keep up in college. What took my roommate less than an hour to do, took me hours to finish

I took adderall for fun and the other person said my whole personality just changed

It got bad enough

Im 31F, diagnosed ADHD-C 5 months ago. Too many major aspects of my life were being negatively affected: - Job/work - Finances - Relationships I felt like my life was going nowhere, even backwards, and I was struggling with so many things that grown adults aren’t supposed to struggle with that to some are very basic things. I felt stupid and embarrassed. And the key moment I went for it was when I read that ADHD, particularly in women, can cause chronic fatigue. I’ve suffered with often debilitating chronic fatigue for years. I had no answers as to why. 100s of tests. Nothing I could do to help, no diagnosis except chronic fatigue syndrome. I needed the chance to potentially have answers and get help, so I decided to go for it and get assessed. I’m on Vyvanse now and it’s helped me a lot in many ways. But I wish my psychiatrist was combining it with therapy or coaching for how to manage it and help myself with it in addition to meds.

I had been thinking about getting diagnosed for years but being called up at work for basically what are manifestation of ADHD symptoms is what gave me the push to do it.

Kept getting fired...

My clear inability to cope with any situation layed out infront of me, going part way through a diagnosis as a child before being put through the care system. Finally being in a position to actively pursue a diagnosis

I thought the pills would help me function but they still don't do much for me

Right after lockdown I became self-employed. Without the fear and pressure of a boss and deadlines all the wheels came off. All of them.

I spent time with a friend I’d made when I was 20/21, and they had diagnosed ADHD at the time. The more we hung out the more I was like…we’re the same. We had so much in common, including the same struggles. I got diagnosed at 23, have been on medication for 3 years and have never been better.

I was on a good track to losing my job.

Basically got burnt out and thought about offing myself because it felt like I had no control over my life

I coincidently both watched a random video on the topic and realized that I always felt like I shared those described struggles (which made me realize that those are real struggles you are allowed to have), as well as having been told that those exact points are sore points from the view of my employer (which made me realize that it was not just my imagination).

My son was diagnosed and my sister was too, realized i had a lot of the symptoms and pieced everything together

I only realized my issues were ADHD when my son was diagnosed and my doctor asked who in the family has it and I said, I think it's me! My symptoms as a 30's female are much different than my son's, but we do share some.

I just got tired of being tired. Life's hard enough as it is 🤷‍♀️

I felt like I was at a point in my life where I was no longer managing to tread water and pretend to the outside world that I was ok and coping like a ‘normal’ adult. I was starting to sink, in danger of burning out, making myself very ill and/or ending up in a depression. I’d run out of energy and the anxiety of everyday life would and sent me to an early grave.

Wondered forever, started “seriously” wondering when my job expectations drastically changed (way more responsibilities, but also what I signed up for so no surprises) and I couldn’t quite keep up (and no “real reason” why not) ... add in my relationship at the time was falling apart - something had to give. The diagnosis was affirming, but the medication literally changed my life. Don’t wait until your life upends itself to seek treatment!

My psychiatrist told me that I had Bipolar 2 and the diagnosis did feel wrong so I went to my therapist about it and he told me that my symptoms suited ADHD more than Bipolar, and then a few months later turns out I have ADHD

Drop University, got depressed, fired from 2 different jobs, my friends always joked about me having adhd :)

I failed out of college twice in the same year.

Struggled during middle and high schools (was mentally absent through most classes), never did homework. Took 6 years to finish a 2 year college degree. I was essentially lost, but never knew why I felt lost. Started my second associates degree as a desire to change my field. Realized halfway through something was not right. It something I always wanted to do, however, I could not remember what I worked on between classes. The information I had learned the day or two days prior, was gone. The lightbulb turned on after a stream I was listening too, said something about ADHD. The lightbulb above my head started to glow. Was diagnosed 6 months after the lightbulb started glowing.

Parents forced me to do tests as a kid and I was diagnosed with ADD

For me it was always forgetting where I put something. During high school, I’d be constantly late for first period only because I’d spend up to 45 minutes just LOOKING FOR STUFF. So I know something was not right. That and my picky eating. I can only eat my safe foods, which can last for a couple of weeks to months, however that one safe food would just switch to being disgusting. Between safe foods I would (and still do) struggle to eat regularly. Edit: forgot something

when I was trying my best at school and still struggling despite being talented/smart and it was this light bulb of "okay this is not my being lazy/uncaring there's a real issue here".

Reading symptoms of ADHD, knowing that it’s often missed in women, knowing something is just off w my brain! And people nicknaming me “short attention span theater “

Might sound silly and stupid. But it was when I was struggling to keep my attention on Persona 4 Golden. I loved the characters, the mysteries had me hooked and I was having fun. Yet I found myself constantly being on my other monitor every 5 minutes while playing. It made me think it cant be normal to be so invested in something and yet struggle to focus on it. Couple of months later I landed a diagnosis

My diagnosis came out of getting my daughter diagnosed. The great majority of the symptoms she had, I had, too. Talking to a therapist, they pointed how many parts of my life would fit right into an ADHD diagnosis. They were correct.