Hi, brand new here/first time post

Hi, I'm newly diagnosed with adult ADHD. I haven't been to my follow up eval yet, so I'm not sure which type. Likewise, never been on any meds and kind of scared that this is where it's leaning in order to just finally live a normal life. I both love and loathe the thought of a normal life because so much time has elapsed that I'm so far behind everyone else I know; I feel like I have to kick it up double time just to make up for lost time. I'm so far behind in life, period, that I've withdrawn from people I know just because we no longer have anything in common. It's frustrating and lonely.

[glitterpidgeon]

I feel like I could have written this post when I was first diagnosed. It felt so alienating to always feel like I was behind everyone else, and it always felt like I had to work 3x as hard just to get the same results. Sometimes the fatigue of that would be just as discouraging as failure. As far as my reading and what I’ve seen the forums, these are pretty common experiences for us, so you’re not at all alone feeling this way

I wish you luck on your meds journey! I’m beginning to think a normal life is overrated at this point (i probably wouldn’t be cut out for it even without ADHD lol), so instead I’ll say I hope that meds help you live a life that makes you happy/fulfilled, and that your diagnosis will lead you to find new people you have more things in common with!

[Hidden in reply to glitterpidgeon]

Thank you for your reply, Glitterpidgeon. I agree: we would be bored with normal

[Joshua_DB]

I was just diagnosed as well - on one hand it was like "FINALLY AN ANSWER THAT MAKES SENSE!" But at first - even though I had been arguing with doctors for two years trying to get them to listen to me - in regards to the fact that I and everyone around me knew me to be ADHD - but when he said it - I went a little numb. Oddly - it was the old "Your a fucking fraud and totally are just a lazy...." Im sure you know the drill.... or maybe you dont.... I dont know IM knew to this too!

My doctor recommended a great book (first book I have been able to read cover to cover in a VERY long time) and I found it really helpful.

Driven To Distraction By Edward Halloway and John Ratey

Both of these cats are shrinks with ADHD. Super informative - and frankly - it made me feel validated and much less alone. I want to buy a copy for everyone in my family, every girlfriend that ever left, every boss that ever fired me..... you get the picture.

Good look Icebear. You are not alone -

BTW - the flip side of ADHD is we kinda have super powers once we can get this shit under control. You know how many ridiculously successful people have sever ADHD? Look it up, Its kinda staggering. Might give ya a boost.

[Hidden]

Hi Joshua, thank you for your reply. I HAVE READ that book! I posted a link to a screenshot of the meds page on another post because somebody asked (of course I don't remember who lol thanks ADHD) about medications that they could expect their doctor to talk about. I totally hear you; it's taken me some time to process that none of this is a moral failing on my part (laziness, tardiness, inconsistency, interrupting, etc etc etc etc) but part of something that I've had and will have forever. It's funny, too, that you mention how many people can harness it, so I was talking about Richard Branson and host of other folks and my other half said to me, "USE YOUR SUPERPOWERS FOR GOOD!" It made me laugh. I drive him crazy. Like some people came out to fix our roof yesterday morning (the hurricanes a few months back caused so many contractors to be backlogged with work orders) and he saw that I wasn't in bed, so he immediately ran out into the kitchen because he heard guys up on the roof and said, "Oh, God, thank you. I thought you were taking a wall down or something." Like when something drastic changes, it's surely me. lol I'm not saying I don't do those kinds of things, but it kind of irked me that this was his go-to in the event of loud noises: OMG WHAT IS SHE DOING NOW?!

[glitterpidgeon]

Speaking of Driven to Distraction and Ed Hallowell he JUST (I mean hours ago) gave a talk at the ADHD Women's Palooza on how to tell if your ADHD meds are working (and what you should expect from your meds). It's free to watch for the next 24 hours, after which you have to pay to access it, but holy crap did I learn stuff I wish I'd known about meds : vimeo.com/256200621/35e945b2cf

[Hidden in reply to glitterpidgeon]

Thank you!! I'm so nervous about meds so I need this!

[Bynddrvn]

I still remember the first class I had while taking Ritalin. I had time left over from studying, can you imagine? Before I would read the same bleeping thing again and again and pick up maybe two or three key points. Meanwhile if I was interested in a class I would read the entire book in a week. Great for that class and no so good for every other class. I loved the Excel spreadsheet class and finished all of the workbooks and projects I was supposed to do for the entire semester in two weeks.

Even with medication I found I still work best when it is quiet, like really, really quiet. In our GIGANTIC college library I found that I could study for hours on the academic research floor. Pretty much only saw the occasional graduate student but otherwise it was very quiet.

I completely agree with your assessment of so many wasted years. For me, I had tests conducted on me from elementary school on. Heck, they even gave me a CAT scan to look for tumors but test me for ADHD, NOPE! Adding insult to injury on almost EVERY evaluation inattention is mentioned. Well then isn't that the problem?

Well I better get back to studying Financial Statement Analysis.

[Hidden in reply to Bynddrvn]

I love accounting and finance! Best wishes! I think we're good at that, I really do; we can understand things in ways that other people sometimes miss.

[Lovinit]

I related to what your saying and when I said that 10 years ago I would on some days double my medication because I thought that would help me catch up. Doesn’t work. And I just want to recommend what helped me is a therapist who understands my needs and is helping me grow. Also due to not being diagnosed until an adult I developed other things like depression and anxiety because growing up was hard for me and my parents were never supportive of me, I didn’t do anything right in their eyes. Let hear how you’re do now