I’m 36 and about two years ago I stumbled into reading about the experience of what it’s like to have ADHD. As resistant as I was (and I was very resistant to the idea that I could have ADHD) I couldn’t ignore the fact that what I was reading was like it was written about me. The only moment in my life where I’ve had such a striking sudden feeling of understanding myself is when I realized I was gay (I was probably 10 or 12.)
I ended up seeking out and went through the entire process of neuropsych evaluation, never having been in therapy or anything similar in my life. The experience felt thorough and science based.
The outcome was inconclusive. I scored abysmally on many parts of the evaluation, and my history was pretty typical of someone with ADHD - constant academic struggles, a hard time building interpersonal relationships, trouble managing my emotions… amongst other things.
The counter-points they offered - on paper I’m in a successful career, have a successful marriage, and I’ll be the first to admit that I’m obsessively organized in some areas of my life (probably to a fault. As a child I definitely was not.) They chalked my struggles up to anxiety and I pretty much stopped pursuing the idea that I might have ADHD.
Stumbling across a lot of people here who seem to have had similar experiences I’m back to wondering if it’s something I should explore again. I feel like every day I’m struggling through things that come easily to a lot of people, putting in 3x the time for 0.75 the output. I also know that I’m someone who, for whatever reason, has a high tolerance for un-ideal situations.
I ended up seeking out and went through the entire process of neuropsych evaluation, never having been in therapy or anything similar in my life. The experience felt thorough and science based.
The outcome was inconclusive. I scored abysmally on many parts of the evaluation, and my history was pretty typical of someone with ADHD - constant academic struggles, a hard time building interpersonal relationships, trouble managing my emotions… amongst other things.
The counter-points they offered - on paper I’m in a successful career, have a successful marriage, and I’ll be the first to admit that I’m obsessively organized in some areas of my life (probably to a fault. As a child I definitely was not.) They chalked my struggles up to anxiety and I pretty much stopped pursuing the idea that I might have ADHD.
Stumbling across a lot of people here who seem to have had similar experiences I’m back to wondering if it’s something I should explore again. I feel like every day I’m struggling through things that come easily to a lot of people, putting in 3x the time for 0.75 the output. I also know that I’m someone who, for whatever reason, has a high tolerance for un-ideal situations.