Ruba, diagnosed with ADHD at 24 in Canada

1. What made you decide to have your diagnosis?

The pandemic made me lose my structured work environment and I found it impossible to continue to do my work from home.

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2. What do you do for a living?

Data analyst

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4. How were your school years?

I never studied or did homework but always got very high marks up to high school when all the material was taught in class where people were watching to make sure I was focused. In university because a lot of the learning is to be done on your own time, my grades all of a sudden dropped

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5. Looking back, what was an obvious ADHD trait in your childhood?

Never sitting still, always having to take breaks to run around the house so that I could "use up all my energy"

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6. Was it difficult to get a diagnosis?

No! My doctor referred me to a specialist and within a few hours of speaking to him I got my diagnosis

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7. How did you prepare yourself for your diagnosis?

I read up on everything I could find on the internet about ADHD

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✨ If you are wondering too if you have ADHD, check out my ADHD Self Assessment Workbook ✨

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8. How did you feel right after getting your diagnosis?

I was really glad that I had an explanation for issues that I had faced my whole life - everybody always told me growing up that I had so much potential if only I just put in some effort to study. I put in lots of effort but found it impossible to actually sit and do it - I thought I was just lazy and had no self control

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9. How do you feel about it now?

Great! I am able to find ways to get my day to day tasks done and keep on top of things using resources for people with ADHD, and I never beat myself up about it on days where it gets a little harder

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10. Do you think you "look like" the ADHD stereotype?

No! I am a South Asian woman - ADHD isn't really talked about in our communities

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11. What are you struggling with because of your ADHD brain?

Rejection sensitive dysphoria

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12. What are your ADHD strengths ?

I can hyperfocus for hours and am fast enough to get way more work done than my peers once I finally am able to start focusing on the task at hand

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13. Did your ADHD diagnosis help you?

Yes! It gave me an explanation for my behaviors and offered me resources to overcome challenges I faced.

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14. Do you feel your life could have gone the other way if you'd been diagnosed earlier?

Yes!! If I had an ADHD diagnosis in university, I think I could have really excelled academically. Unfortunately, I struggled a lot and my poor GPA from back then has now closed a lot of doors for me.

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15. What was your family/friends' reaction to your diagnosis?

Most of them had the same reaction as me, I.e. "that makes so much sense - of course you have ADHD!"

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16. Do you have any comorbid disorders or neurological conditions?

Nope

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17. Do you deal with anxiety?

Yes - I get a lot of anxiety in social interactions due to my rejection sensitive dysphoria. I find it helps to communicate or ask friends around you for validation ("was I being a little loud?" "Was that rude?" Etc.)

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18. Did people around you make you doubt yourself during your diagnosis journey?

I largely kept my diagnosis journey to myself because I made me doubt myself lol

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19. Do you ever doubt your diagnosis now?

Sometimes I think I did make it up to excuse my laziness/poor self control and tricked my doctor into believing me. These thoughts usually don't last too long thankfully

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20. How has the diagnosis changed the way you live?

I no longer live in disorganized chaos, I can keep up with my tasks in a way that works for me by using resources specifically for ADHD folks

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21. How do you feel about medication?

I thought it would be a magical pill that fixed my problems but it didn't work for me tbh!

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22. What was the thing that helped you most in your daily life? 

Instead of trying to do everything all at once and making myself feel bad about it I do smaller tasks at a pace that works for me

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23. What advice would you give someone who is wondering if they have ADHD?

Look it up and consider getting diagnosed! Even if it's not ADHD a professional might be able to give you some insight into why your mind works that way

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