recently diagnosed with ADHD and GAD. But worried about misdiagnosis.

[SleepingTurtles]

I don't know why but sometimes I feel at times I just have a hard time relating to other people's adhd experiences and have been thinking about my diagnosis for the past three days now and worry about being misdiagnosed and taking away some else who may need it more than I do.

i am just thinking like I am forgetful, misplace things, fidgety, and have these few seconds of zoning out when I try to read or watch shows or youtube or just living life and can snap myself out of it pretty quickly. I have had a lot of hobbies and since I really enjoy learning languages I like tried to learn like 10 languages, so basically I have a hard time just focusing on my priorities like finishing university and accomplishing other goals. I can start an assignment easily and try to finish my college assignments and all, but I do a lot of different things that are distractions and productive distractions like learning something unrelated that it takes me all day to finish two assignments which I believe could finish six or seven assignments or more if I wasn’t distracted most of the time. Also I have a hard time switching tasks and just one to do one thing all day despite all things I have to also manage (but can switch to distractions and productive distractions easily).I know that I was a bad student for my entire school career despite putting effort in part of middle school and end up just messing around and then barely gradating middle school. Then there was high school were I was doing great but when we moved I just started flunking some classes and had to make up those classes that I failed and barely managed to graduate on time somehow. Now I am in university and everything appears more difficult and have a hard time graduating and made me very depressed because I just felt like I will never accomplish my goals and gave up on dreams. Another odd thing to note is that on some semester I do really well and get As and Bs then all of the sudden I just get all Fs. I am also considered a very slow student. sometimes have to reread because my mind at times seems refuse to capture what I read. I have difficulty completing books or news articles and just instead watched videos on the topics online. Sometimes with just verbal instructions I just have a hard time understanding that it frustrates others like they would say turn it this way or flip something and then they just frustrated because I didn’t understand. I am just treated like I am a special kind of person. Which in turn gives me a lot of self-doubt in my own ability.

I do pace and walk around a lot, I am so completely aware of time that it sometimes times feels like time is flowing slowly which seems to be the opposite of what adhd people experience, I do bump into things but never seriously hurt myself and it appears like other people hurt themselves pretty badly at times and I am very cautious for someone with adhd.

An odd thing that I do that doesn't appear to be adhd is that I happy stim randomly and when I am irritated and that happens when I am have allergies or when my eyes are itchy. My dad also does stimming at times when he is only excited about stuff as well. I also kind of annoyed people and get intrude people when they are busy so I have to setup times where I can only visit them on certain times, so I bother them less, but I still occasionally bother them despite not knowing what to talk about and also I am just not great at having conversations. I was never a hyperactive kind of person like the following people.

some family background on what I noticed personally and none of them have been diagnosed and it is just from my personal observation: My dad is extremely forgetful and misplaces things and hyperfocuses on certain subject that it has become annoying.

then my sister appeared to be hyperactive and is extremely forgetful more than me and misplaces her stuff everywhere and sometimes you can instruct my sister to do something and forgets like in less then a minute. She was really jumpy that she ended up hitting her head hard enough that she ended up bleeding on her head which in hindsight it is funny now but scary at the moment. she is also a very careless driver she seems to bump into poles and random stuff objects. And also very blunt. And my brother probably has more subtle form of that is isn’t noticeable so I can’t say much besides that he gets bored, impatient, and procrastinates a lot.

So I am not a person with a fast brain like other adhd people seem to have, nor do I necessarily get bored like some people with adhd. I do get rather impatient at times. I can start stuff that maybe difficult like to others like brooming and mopping and completing it but struggle to completely clean my room because I am unsure of how organize things so it is just disorganized. Sometimes I am able to remember dates for appointments nor do I usually forget that I have to go to class or something.

I feel like if I don’t experience everything that everyone else seems to experience then I must not have ADHD. So am I just worrying to much about being misdiagnosed?

[Gettingittogether]

Look, ADHD presents in a range of ways. The way you describe studying and your life and the way your mind bounces around---that's all classic ADHD. I'm confused about what makes you think the diagnosis doesn't fit. I didn't understand the sentences on you and your father stimming and how those sentences relate to your fear that you were misdiagnosed.

It is true that ADHD overlaps with other problems. Anxiety can present in a lot of ways that overlap with ADHD.

Why not just get treated and evaluate? Evaluate if life gets better, if concentration gets easier.

It takes time to get to the right medication. Too many people come here and assume the one med (at the one dose) that they try should fix things immediately. Nope--that is extremely rare ....

Are you on meds? I couldn't quite tell. Maybe I missed that.

[SleepingTurtles in reply to Gettingittogether]

you know I have no idea why even mentioned it to be honest when I am talking about my fear of being diagnosed. It is just something that came up to my mind. I will edit it later.

Also I have not gotten medicated yet, but I will bet getting it soon though. I just doubt the diagnosis for no reason good reason, I feel like if I don't relate to some of the stuff that other adhd people experience then I must not have it and just wonder what if I don't. also sorry for any confusion, I think I am just unreasonably worried when something does not fit the diagnosis.

Also thank you for taking your time to respond to my post.

[Mamamichl in reply to SleepingTurtles]

The stimming made me thing ASD, which will help explain my comment further. ASD and ADHD are very similar. Special type of repetition therapy works with ASD (no medications), but ADHD does well with medications usually. Have you noticed if caffeine calms you down or makes you sleepy or that something that is supposed to calm you (like marijuana) has the opposite effect, making you paranoid or jittery? The stimulant meds usually speed people up, but its like they speed up our brains so we can process and decide how to do things rather than being like buzzing bees.

[El-Eektrified]

A diagnosis is simply a name for a bunch of symptoms. Looking at your description it sounds like ADHD to me, its also a spectrum some will be 'more' ADHD than others, but it doesnt mean one will not struggle.

When I got diagnosed 3 years ago I was severely into ADHD, reading all sorts of books, watching videos etc. This all subsided after a few months. Last year I got diagnosed with autism and ADHD is a little in the background now. Probably, because im medicated and my autistic traits are surfacing... dont really know... in the end if you get medicated it should help you battle some of the problems you've mentioned. It takes time to accept a diagnosis and this might cause these feelings where you feel invalidated at times.

Hope this helps!

[TeggytheScientist]

Hi! Not everyone with ADHD has the same symptoms. Our symptoms can also vary over time, growing more or less intense depending on things like sleep, environment, etc. I definitely had many of your same challenges when I was younger, but I only got diagnosed late in life. I can’t keep an organized house. I can spend an entire day gaming, or reading, when there are things that need to be done. Special interests? Yes, I have an in-depth knowledge of a lot of strange topics lol. We just think differently than neurotypicals😂. It may not feel like it, but getting a proper diagnosis can be a good thing. It’s not easy to figure out how to manage this - but knowing is the first step. Good luck🙌🏻

[Mamamichl]

HI! Thank you for sharing so openly. Everyone experiences ADHD differently and has symptoms shown in different ways. I recommend you read the “ADHD is awesome” book by the holderness family. Even symptoms are quite different. Within the same family.

Although stimming happens more with ASD (autism), my daughter and I’s ADHD has us fidget more and so things that seem like stimming. Also, I have a lot of coping strategies that are similar to yours. I will hyper fixate on the clock, and plan double the time for my trip, so it does feel like it slows down. I have also taught myself to slow down so I don't run into as much things and have also never hurt myself much when I do bump into things.

Your symptoms seem like a complex type but gearing more towards the inattentive since you say you are not hyperactive much. Also, with your hobbies, do you go all in initially then burn out after a bit, or are they something you hyperfocus on for years? ADHD could be a few days or even a few months on one hobby, but with ASD, its more like you hurt of you can’t do the hobby all of the time and you feel the need for 1-2 specific hobbies for years, perhaps your whole life. I still do cross stitch after doing it for 2/3 of my life, but I can put it down for months and just be fine while I focus on other hobbies. I do find myself cycling through 2-5 hobbies for about 3-6 months at a time.

Also, when conversing with others and reading, I regularly have to reread something many times to fully comprehend it. It takes me 5 minutes to read one page out of a chapter book. I also read books below my reading level because if I find words that I don’t understand, I will literally start researching the word, then forget the storyline. With talking to people, ADHD is more like you are distracted with your thoughts and forget what people are saying. ASD you remember what they are saying explicitly, but you don’t understand the why, so you dont agree. Like “why can’t I understand your sarcasm”. You take what people say literally more with ASD, but you can do that with ADHD too, but it’s not usually as extreme. You also can miss nonverbal communication with both. With ASD you don’t know how to interpret nonverbal information, but with ADHD you more don’t pay attention and miss something because your mind is elsewhere.

Because I will do one or two assignments all day, I got frustrated in HS that kids got better or equal grades and only spent an hour or two on he assignment, but I spent 5-7 hours on it. As a 41 yo, I have learned to set alarms to limit the amount of time I spend on tasks, as I like to do big chunks of time on one thing. I wont start my cross stitch if I dont have at least an hour to do so. I get frustrated when being interrupted from my task and have to transition suddenly, especially if it is repeated.

I also do poorly with verbal information. There are apps that can record a lecture and transcribe it for you. I want to do this with my meetings with my supervisor. I do get notes about the meetings, and that helps as well. I have learned that when I am asked to do one or two changes, I am more successful. I also need positive feedback as well as negative ones seen not as a big deal, but as a problem solving session with ideas to make those changes more tangible.

Hope my information helps you more with understanding how the doctors could see your symptoms as ADHD, but possibly to look into if it could be ASD as well. Feel free to PM me if you need anything more. Zen hugs!

[STEM_Dad]

From what how you've described yourself, it seems very apparent that you have ADHD.

For many years before I got my ADHD diagnosis, I thought of myself as a "normal" (i.e. neurotypical) person, who just happened to have similar struggles to people with ADHD. Until a couple of years before my diagnosis, if someone had suggested that I had ADHD, I would have denied it.

But, looking back at my life, I can now clearly see how ADHD has been there all along.

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Imposter Syndrome is very common for people with ADHD, particularly for people who have a new diagnosis.

You mentioned stimming, which is a behavior often associated with autism. However, many people with ADHD or even some other neurodivergent conditions might also engage in stimming behaviors.

The way that you describe your family members sounds like they each have ADHD traits, as well. So, consider this perspective: I'm sure that you can see some similarities between your family members, but as you described them they quite obviously have some distinct differences... yet, all of the traits that you listed for each of them is a trait that some people with ADHD would have.

ADHD is highly hereditary, and the picture you've painted of your dad, siblings and yourself very much looks like an ADHD family tree.

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I came to understand ADHD long after I had learned theories of personality. In a way, I think that helped prepare me to understand ADHD, how it can be the same thing but appear very different.

For instance, take two people who are "extroverts". One might be very charming and charismatic, while the other might be very commanding and take-charge. Both are extroverts, but they present very differently to the world.

Similarly, you can take two people who are humorous, but one might be the laugh-out-loud life of the party, while the other might be the quiet friend who is always ready with a cheerful quip. The two have traits in the same vein, but express their humor in totally different ways.

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The same goes with ADHD...it can present very differently from person to person.

You are "normal" to you. It might be only when comparing the extent of your ADHD traits to others that you're able to more clearly see that you do indeed have ADHD.

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One more thing: if you've tried ADHD medication and it has helped you to function better, then it's also very likely that you have ADHD.