How did you know you had ADHD before getting diagnosed?

17 comments

  1. I was misdiagnosed as bipolar for years. On lithium and everything. But something never added up.

    Mom and sister have sensory disorders and my sister thinks she has ADHD too, boyfriend has autism and I found a lot of similarities within myself to them all.

    So I found new doctors, got off the meds, and we teamed together to figure it out. I still need a formal diagnosis for stimulants but my therapist was able to diagnose me and my psychiatrist has me on straterra.

  2. To be perfectly honest, I was caught completely off guard. I had never even considered it… I was diagnosed with Innatentive Type ADHD at the age of 28.

  3. Even though I’m not a woman, I feel like this may be helpful.
    I was impulsively making stupid decisions, being careless with money. Buying things that filled my dopamine meter up, but I didn’t essentially need.
    Being a people pleaser, doing things for others so much that I didn’t take care of myself.
    Always constantly interrupting people and getting overly excited during conversations.
    I wanted to talk to anyone and everyone just to talk, didn’t have to be about anything specifically, if I felt like I wasn’t getting enough attention.
    Being fidgety and playing with anything I could get my hands on (cats, dogs, random objects like pens).
    Couldn’t focus on my tasks and had to do 10372 different tasks before I could remember to do the 1 task I needed to do.

  4. Honestly I was watching Tik Tocs. I kept laughing at videos people posted of the silly things that they did due to their ADHD, like put their car keys in the freezer, forgetting to shut cabinets, running into furniture, the constant music in their heads, how they are either an hour early for something or an hour late etc. I kept laughing and thinking “Ha, I do that too!!” I related to them way too hard. It got me thinking.

    So I brought it up with my GP and he tried to tell me it was probably just my depression and anxiety. I explained all the signs from when I was a kid and said that it’s ok if I don’t have it but could he please send me for an assessment.

    The day of my first appointment with the psychologist I got up early, got there 45 minutes before my appointment. I started to doubt myself about if I had it since I was functioning so well that day. I had the completely wrong day. Not even in the same month. They had a cancellation that morning though which was lucky for me so I got seen anyways.

    They gave me a test, and one for my husband to do, just to see what they noticed in my behaviors.

    My second appointment the doctor looked at my assessment and said “Please don’t be offended by this, but how on earth have you made it this far and hold a job?” I had tears I was laughing so hard.

    I was officially diagnosed at 37 and put on Adderall and the difference is astonishing.

    If you think you may have ADHD it doesn’t hurt to get an assessment done the worst they can say is it’s not that and then you can check for other things.

  5. When I did everything on my math exam but I got distracted looking at shit around me and the number that I saw on the fkn wall was the goddamn number I used in one of the last math problems in my final exam… lost 25% cuz of this mistake
    🙃

  8. genuinely talked more than anyone else i knew and couldn’t focus for the life of me

  10. I am trying to get a diag and I’m so frustrated. I’ve done endless research that lead me to seeking professional help.
    Went To a PCP and she said they don’t diagnose and I need to see a psychiatrist. I have called doctor after doctor after doctor only to rejected bc they aren’t taking new patients.

    I have a telehealth visit tomorrow. Please send me your good vibes, prayers and well wishes that this visit ends with a prescription.

    I’ve gotten a promotion at work and I just want something to help me focus on my work and other parts of my life.

    I’m tired of crying bc I cannot get the help I need.

    Thank you all for being a safe space for me to vent.

  11. I kept dating people with ADHD (coincidentally, not on purpose) and could relate very well to them. also, everyone who knew me well, including my then-girlfriend and my therapist, kept suggesting I should get tested for ADHD.

    I put off getting tested for a long time because I figured I was just lazy, a little stupid, bad at learning, and spacey – even though I have every symptom on every list describing inattentive type ADHD, [like this one](https://www.verywellmind.com/adhd-inattentive-type-symptoms-diagnosis-and-treatment-5224357#toc-symptoms-of-adhd-inattentive-type). then last year, I experienced a series of traumatic events that sent me into a depressive spiral, and I had to take some time off work. when I returned, I could not function. I mean, I could not do the simplest of tasks that I’d been doing for years. think of the easiest task you have to do every day at work – for me, it was (as an example) sending someone a message that was 98% template with maybe a sentence or two of personalized content. I physically could not do that. I would open the message and try for hours to complete this task that literally takes less than 30 seconds with no success. in the meantime, I would be reading 4 news stories in the same browser, chatting casually with my coworkers on slack, reorganizing random shit on the desk, picking out new toys and food for my dog on Chewy and going on a spiraling tangent researching dog food quality and the history of random company’s dog food recalls, etc. I couldn’t pay attention in Zoom meetings or even when being spoken to directly in person; even if I tried really hard, I would still forget everything that was said almost immediately. it *literally* felt like my brain just did not work anymore.

    I thought I was just having a hard time adjusting to being back at work after going through those traumatic events, but I recognized deep down that the problems plaguing me at work were symptoms I’d always experienced, just turned all the way up. when I described this to the person who diagnosed me, he told me that many adults come to him after experiencing a traumatic event because a depressive episode can trigger intense symptoms of ADHD that can’t be ignored or managed the way they were before by the person experiencing them. I was officially diagnosed with “moderate to severe” inattentive type ADHD four months ago.

    getting diagnosed was really bittersweet, mostly bitter. I would rather be lazy and a little stupid, because at least those things are curable. but actually, I’m very intelligent and capable, and I’m not lazy at all. it just feels like none of that gets through the shroud of ADHD that my brain is trapped in. it is so incredibly frustrating and, if I’m being honest, disabling in many ways. it sucks.

  14. My teacher noticed and spoke to my dad about getting tested when I was in 1st or 2nd grade.

  15. I didn’t. I was like 6 or 7. I thought everybody was like me. It was mostly a problem at school for me. When I was at home my family just thought I was a hyper kid. But school was a major problem for me. I really just thought everyone was just better at behaving then me. I was lucky I got diagnosed so young. I know alot of girls slip thru the cracks. If I wasn’t so hyper tho I don’t think it would have been. I still did ok in school so if I wasn’t acting up so much I think I wouldn’t have been diagnosed. My sister wasn’t till she was like 40 because she didn’t display like I did.

  16. Instagram and all those reels people make.

    I’ve struggled all my life. Flunked out of college. Gotten fired. Constantly completed things only at the deadline. Couldn’t focus at work. I saw some post on Instagram and thought it was relatable. I went down that rabbit hole. About a month later of her own volition my therapist brought it up.

    It took me a while to find a psychiatrist but she finally diagnosed me. It was such a relief.

  17. I didn’t. When I got diagnosed it made sense why I’m so disorganized and couldn’t organize the thousands of worksheets I got from public school.

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