Does emotional distress tank your ADHD symptoms?

[MyJA]

My cat died a week ago. He was 16 and had been with me since college. It was pretty rough and even once the initial depression subsided, my symptoms that are usually taken care of with meds have been really troublesome. I haven't really gotten much done, just done the usual half stab at a bunch of different things. Does anyone else experience more trouble with symptoms when life gets curveball-y?

[STEM_Dad]

Yes. For me it was going through years of work stress that caused me to develop severe general anxiety.

When I finally went to a licensed counselor for the anxiety, I asked her to assess me for ADHD. (I had suspected I had ADHD for several years by then.)

Sure enough, my diagnosis was anxiety and ADHD.

The anxiety made my ADHD 3-5 times worse, from my normal mild-moderate ADHD, to being severely inattentive and distractible, with a goldfish-like working memory.

I got treated with meds and counseling for the anxiety, and I started practicing mindfulness. Then, I got in ADHD meds.

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This last year, while on meds, I went through marriage struggles and divorce. From the depression and anxiety I experienced, and the sleeplessness that came with them, my meds were less effective (but I still functioned better than without them).

[MTA-]

I think it's more that depression, and anxiety too, have similar symptoms to ADHD. For years, my ADHD was misdiagnosed as anxiety and depression.

Sounds like you're just experiencing grief. Thats a powerful emotion, and it makes it hard to get things done, even for neurotypical people.

I know it's scary to see your ADHD symptoms come back, when you thought they were medicated away. But grief passes.

[wtfadhd in reply to MTA-]

agreed- grief and loss can cause all those ADHD symptoms to get magnified for a period of time. any big life change event has the potential to do that, even people who dont have ADHD go thru it.

ps-sorry that u lost your cat. im not an animal lover but i know that people get very attached to pets. 16 yrs is a long time. i imagine that losing your cat is causing a major shift in your routine and whole life in general😢

[Bluedogmom]

I haven’t been able to get my symptoms under control yet but I'm so sorry for your loss. No matter how much time we have with our pets, it never feels like it's enough 💔

[Knitting20projects]

YES. I only just started medication, so can’t tell much about that yet, but I’ve had significant life stressors x 12 years that have tested my ability to keep on going. I definitely have hit a wall at times & simply had to do the minimum to get by. I’m so sorry about your cat. I still miss mine (died in 2009).