Recent conversations with my counsellor, family, friends and partner
have shed a different light on a whole bunch of things that have been
normal for me for as long as I can remember. Like most people, when I
heard about ADHD, it was usually about li...
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Recent conversations with my counsellor, family, friends and partner
have shed a different light on a whole bunch of things that have been
normal for me for as long as I can remember. Like most people, when I
heard about ADHD, it was usually about little boys bouncing all over the
place. If you're not specifically looking, it's not at all clear it's
something experienced by girls and adults of both sexes as well, and the
symptoms are surprising. My sister has recently discovered she has it.
It runs in families, but that's only one box checked. Mind running
constantly, like two or more radio stations blaring all the time. Check!
Constantly getting distracted and bouncing from task to task to task,
forgetting each as a new one (or one I started earlier) presents itself.
Check! Insanely lengthy (and plentiful) to-do lists everywhere,
reminders and alarms - and still forgetting important things (like meds)
regularly. Check! There's a lot more, but that's the gist. I have a
referral to a psychiatrist in hopes of diagnosis (or ruling it out, but
somehow I don't think so) - and I'll be stewing on it at least 3 months,
as the dude's booked up until June. I'd like to hear from anyone who has
been diagnosed, about the journey there. I'm somewhat concerned about
being taken seriously and listened to, as everything I'm reading
suggests even professionals are often poorly educated about ADHD and an
adult has an uphill battle getting a diagnosis for this - a female adult
all the more so. I'm writing down every example I can think of, of
symptomatic behaviour (so many notes!), and could do with an idea of
what sort of questions they will ask - a lot of what I'm reading
suggests adults and women present very differently to little boys, but
the little boy symptoms are often what they base diagnostic criteria on.
Sounds like a problem area right there. I'd also like to hear about
symptom-related experiences, coping strategies and therapies that have
helped people here. I've already read a few good tips, like having
someone around to keep you "on task" when possible to get things done
around the house, regularly tweaking routines to keep boredom from
undermining attention to important things, aiming to achieve something
small early in the day to break the sense of getting nowhere for the day
ahead (boy that's a big one for me, I struggle when I don't do that). I
could waffle on for ages (following that daisy-chain of runaway
thoughts), but I'll stop there for now. Blue.
Major depression..Neurofeedback therapy..
