Hi folx!
First, thank you all for sharing so much of yourselves in this forum. It’s been so illuminating for me to see so many from such different walks of life learn and accept this part of themselves!
My journey was a long one. More recently (last 10 years), I had been exploring sources of my chronic fatigue to no avail. For the longest time I thought it was attributed to dysthymia, something I was diagnosed with at 20, but have struggled with since I was in middle school. After trying 8+ different medications to help my fatigue, my depression was officially deemed ‘treatment resistant.’
Fast forward to me becoming a mental health therapist, and working during the pandemic. My fatigue hit a new low and I couldn’t troubleshoot it anymore. Sitting with neurodivergent clients k began picking up on the correlation between “shutting down” due to overwhelm and my internal struggle with energy. In 2022 I was tested for ADHD and turns out I have been trying to manage severe inattentive ADHD! My first week on Concerta was LIFE CHANGING.
I’m still working through my grief with a late diagnosis, but it is absolutely informing my work with my clients. (Therapists often attract clients who resonate with them, so my caseload is filled with so many bright, creative and earnest ADHD and OCD clients.) I fully anticipate a life full or learning more about how this dX affects me and my perception of my world, and I’m excited to now do that with MUCH more compassion towards myself. It was such a gift to feel a shift from believing I was a liability and burden to myself as opposed to someone managing valid issues that was deserving on care. Subsequently, I’ve been able to reduce my depression medications that I’ve been on for 10+ years due to this new understanding!
Hope you all are able to access those healing parts of yourselves during this journey, or have the support to develop them!
Your neighborhood neurodivergent therapist,
C.E.