I was ADHD diagnosed and medicated at 44 years old; I'd coped well with this for 3 months, then struggled with anxiety and sleeping disorders. This caused me to stop the ADHD medication and start treating the Anxiety disorder. When I reached a healthier condition, I returned to the ADHD treatment along with the anxiety one.
I live in Brazil and I was diagnosed after 40 years of age, so like many of you, I am fighting a never-ending battle with stigma, also inside my marriage.
Thank God, fortunately things are improving.
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Daniel_1976
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Hi Daniel. I'm sorry you are struggling with stigma. My ADHD began the journey back home to Self. Where I have had the opportunity to take a look at who I think I am, is it who I want to be? How do I begin the road of Acceptance of Self. Loving the self. Making no excuses about ADHD to others, what are my boundaries about my ADHD and so on. You are in the right place. Here are some questions that have helped me from Marla Cummins an ADHD coach.
1. What do I want instead of the problem. What do I want to achieve?
2. Write out what the solution will look like, including as much detail as possible.
3. What is it about having this solution that is important to me?
4. How will things be different when I arrive at this solution? On a scale of 1-10, what will 10 look like when I have what I want?
5. What are the steps I need to take to accomplish this?
You raised a very important point: it's really difficult to see yourself out of all the negative labels you have received when you were at the lowest point of your performance (willpower, stamina, energy, you name it).
As an adult, living in Brazil, with a society that has a long way ahead to improve its neurodiversity acceptance, it is almost impossible to be brought up unharmed.
The good thing is that, as we do not have much studies on this matter in Portuguese as in English, I can take the advantage of my knowledge of English to learn and to help others with the same struggles.
Thank you for your reply. Yes, I did notice an improvement over not taking it. Although I'd realized that only medication is not enough. Medication aims to regulate your brain chemistry so you can develop your behavior without this "disfunction barrier"; the right behavior you were not able to atain in the past. i.e. I am not fond of exercizing, but I am forcing myself to do it regularly.
The stigma and the years of pain is why therapy is recommended for people with ADHD. The medication does not undo the past damage or past history of failure and all the criticism. You gotta get therapy for that.
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