I recently found this community after suspecting for a long while that I might have ADHD. I had struggles with it going back to early childhood I could easily identify and therapy for just anxiety and depression was not helping with things like time blindness, sensory issues, and remembering things properly even though I was making huge strides in managing my anxiety.
I got a job promotion a few years ago in project management that really pushed my brain to the limits and all the sudden I had to create a massive structure of reminders and plans to make sure I was not losing track of my projects so I wouldn’t be fired. I really struggled for a couple years while figuring this out and it pushed me to work toward a diagnosis. I have a strained relationship with my parents so I only see them once in a while, but I visited this past weekend and mentioned what had been going on and how I was looking into it. To my utter surprise they weren’t shocked at all. They told me they had me evaluated when I was a kid, which I do vaguely remember but at the time I was told nothing really came of it except that I was granted a little more time to take tests because the sounds of the other students was too distracting and I wasn’t finishing exams on time despite knowing the answers. Turns out actually I tested positive for ADHD and the doctor recommended Ritalin! They decided not to have me medicated and also never told me because they were afraid meds would change me and they wanted a normal kid.
It’s been a wild time kinda braining through all this these last couple days. For the last 20 years I’ve had a diagnosis I was never informed of that has impacted me literally my whole life. I’m going to figure out the next steps of whether to medicate but holy shit the validation is unreal. I just needed to tell somebody who would maybe understand. Thanks for reading if you did.