[jlacroix]

It’s important to know that no two people experience ADHD the same way. Some are hyperactive, some are underactive, and others are some combination of the two. Mine is the underactive type, though I can sometimes talk a lot and get overly excited (but not always). From here I think the best thing to do is keep researching it.

REPORT ABUSE

[jlacroix]

I have the inattentive type too, not so much in the realm of impulsivity. When I saw my recent therapist, he had me fill out two observation forms about myself, how I feel I am now, and how I feel I was at 10 years old to the best of my memory. He also had me have two other people fill out a questionnaire about me too. When you read the DSM or online info, it can be misleading. You can have one of the symptoms and not know it. I was talking to my son about it, and I told him something about the fact that I have most of the symptoms but I don’t cut people off while talking or finish their sentences for them. He looked at me with a serious look, and said “yes you do!” so yeah, you can’t just go by your own observations of yourself. Since diagnosed, memories of my past resurface in a new light, where I have a better understanding of things I didn’t think were symptoms but always were (for example, forgetfulness). It’s easy to excuse some symptoms, and say to yourself “I haven’t had much sleep” or some other excuse.

I agree with the previous person about seeing a therapist with a specialty in ADHD. I wasted a few years getting nowhere with a few therapists, until I found my recent one, which made a HUGE difference and confirmed my suspicions that I have it.

REPORT ABUSE

[jlacroix]

The fact is this, you may or may not have ADHD. While that sounds obvious, it’s important that you find out if you do or do not have it. You deserve to know. For therapy, one option may be online therapy with an app like Better Help, there are others though, and while that does cost money, maybe you can work something out with them. The cost varies by app. When you have privacy to yourself, log in and chat with a therapist. One thing I feel is important is to make sure that you choose a therapist that specializes in ADHD or at least has that as one of his/her specialties. That type of therapist would be more able to tell you whether or not you have it, than a generalist would be able to. I saw general therapists for several years and got nowhere. Just recently I started seeing a therapist that specializes in ADHD, and I finally got my answers.

As for religious parents, I’ve been there, my mom is super religious too. There’s stigma in several areas of my life right now, and while that’s unfortunate, you can’t stop everyone from having stigma. The best thing is to learn the facts, learn the truth regarding whether or not you have ADHD, and navigate through this experience learning as much as you can, forming your own opinions via unbiased research, and the truth will be known to you.

REPORT ABUSE

[jlacroix]

I’ve been meaning to reply to this for a while but I had an issue with my web browser that prevented me from accessing this forum.

Since I originally wrote this topic, I asked another therapist for a confirmation of ADHD. My current one at the time said that she felt that diagnosing was meaningless, that it’s only good for insurance purposes. But a diagnosis is what I wanted. She confirmed that based on talking to me for so long she was convinced I had ADHD, but that wasn’t enough, I wanted more detail so I went to another therapist.

My new therapist had me and two other people fill out a questionnaire about myself. It’s definitely confirmed now, no question about it. Next week we are going to go over my stats and percentiles in more detail, and that’s exactly what I wanted – 100% confirmation.

I noticed that I’m forgetful a lot, I probably always been. My partner sometimes gets irritated with my forgetfulness, but I no longer feel like it’s my fault. With the diagnosis, and a much better understanding of ADHD, I find that I’m not so hard on myself. I try my best, that’s all I can do, and all that should be expected.

I learned a hard lesson though, something that I feel is important everyone learn from. When you suspect you may have a disorder, it’s commonly agreed that you should seek a therapist and get evaluated. However, I learned that it’s not that simple. I’ve been going to therapy for years! No one could help me figure me out until recently. And what I learned is simply seeing a therapist isn’t enough, check their specialties! My current therapist is an ADHD expert, so he’s able to tell someone if they do or do not have ADHD. My previous one didn’t have that specialty, so the lesson is, seek a therapist that specializes in what you want help with. It makes a world of difference, and knowing that ahead of time could’ve saved me years of trying.

Now that I have the diagnosis, I feel so amazing that I finally feel like I know much more about who I am, the way my brain works, and it’s liberating.

I love this site!

REPORT ABUSE

[jlacroix]

I have the exact same problem, but I am not a Christian, but rather a Buddhist. Actually, I don’t feel that Buddhism is a religion, but many people do, so I thought I’d share my (similar) experience.

Anyone that knows anything about Buddhism knows that meditation is very important, especially for mindfulness. But sitting still to meditate is hard to do, if I can even make myself do it at all. I find that meditation is very helpful to me when I can do it, and I do enjoy it, but concentration is a major problem. In addition, I don’t read as much about Buddhism as I want to, because again, I have trouble paying attention. The only way I get around this is by listening to audiobook versions while jogging. Right now, in fact, I want to read one of my Buddhism books but find myself browsing this forum instead.

So similar issue, but different religion.

REPORT ABUSE

[jlacroix]

What you’ve described matches me fairly well. I feel as though after the diagnosis, things make much more sense, I understand why things are so hard. The ADHD diagnosis answers the “why” but it doesn’t answer “what” to do about it. I am at the beginning of the process so there is no way I can know what I should do about it yet, but I can research about it now knowing what to base my searches and reading on. Like you said, life suddenly started to make more sense.

As for anxiety, I feel that not being as productive as I want to be does cause anxiety. Granted, I can have anxiety even without being under-productive, but being a working adult makes this especially hard since there’s a certain level of productivity expected every day. For the most part, I have to force myself, and I do. But I can sometimes feel depressed about it as well, and anxious from not being able to do what I want or need to do.

REPORT ABUSE

[Author]

Posts