Diagnosed 8 months ago and STILL finding new symptoms related to my ADHD. Is my entire personality made up of ADHD? Anyone feeling the same? Advice on how to cope?
How many symptoms of ADHD can 1 perso... - CHADD's Adult ADH...
How many symptoms of ADHD can 1 person have? Feeling overwhelmed!
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This is exactly how I feel. I was diagnosed last year along with my daughter, she was 9 I was 46. Everything I thought was quintessentially me turns out was just ADHD. All my foibles, energy, enthusiasm, lack of memory, inability to sleep, sensitivities, multiple health conditions, crazy depth of emotion,I'm not sure what is left?
Yes, I have felt the same. ADHD feels like my entire personality. What helps me these days is Vyvanse, a careful routine, monitoring my moods & behavior, learning everything I can, and exercise. Also, I have to force myself to not feel shame and to reject popular negative opinions. The more you learn about ADHD, the better you can control and understand and give yourself a break, but It's much more of a struggle than people think. They say well just do this or that and voila! Doesn't work that way.
I am realizing a lot of my personality is my ADHD. I learned that I had it when my kid acted just like me and was diagnosed. It helps me understand by watching you tube channels and listening to their audiobooks: how to ADHD (book by same name), adhd_love (book called dirty laundry), and the holderness family (book called ADHD is awesome). I’m about halfway through the holderness one and listened to the trial for the others.
I was diagnosed in 2010 at 54, and I'm still learning all the things about myself that are ADHD! I find that comforting and empowering. It enables me to fend off society's misconceptions and hurtful judgments, and to remind myself that I'm just wired differently. There are a lot of things about ADHD that translate into my values - a strong sense of justice and fairness, empathy, kindness and integrity. So I'm slower, but my production is quality. My customer service skills are top notch. You'll never have a better ambassador for your company than me, if I can believe in your product or service. My value as an employee is the intangible soft skills.
I do struggle with ADHD because it just makes everything so hard, when I see others doing it without problems. In that sense, I do feel I have a handicap. But knowledge, to me, is power. And so I learn more each day about myself, and marvel at the complexity that is my ADHD brain.
I’m still learning how it affects my life - diagnosed at 45, now 72!