ADHD Stories from the Mini ADHD Coach Community

1. What made you decide to have your diagnosis?

I struggled with my classes and suffered from anxiety because of it

1. What made you decide to have your diagnosis?

I have been someone that can't pay attention for too long, I forget things more often than other people, I have abyssmal handwriting, and oftenly I can't sit still, my 3rd grade homeroom teacher told my parents to try consultate with a psychologist. Tried to ask my parents what the diagnosis was and well my parents forgot what the diagnosis was as it was a reaaally long time ago. Come the present day when I'm in uni now, I still have the same problems so I decided to go to a psychiatrist this time, and yeah I got an exact answer, that being ADHD

1. What made you decide to have your diagnosis?

I feel like all of my life I had been compensating for the little things that seemed to make my life harder and no one else's. When Covid-19 hit, I didn't realize just how much my brain needed that structure. As I sat at home with my family and child, I noticed (what I know now were ADHD/Autism symptoms) how much I would spend on pointless items, or how much I would over/mindlessly eat. I started to see how all of the things I was doing, were not "normal" because I would watch my family not struggle with the same things. It's as if I never saw those things until I had no choice but to see them. All of the projects that were halfway started but never finished, the laundry basket full of clean clothes that I just could NOT make myself fold. Being that I am currently obtaining my Master's in Psychology, I had some background knowledge of ADHD and what it looks like, but I thought "No, that's not me. Someone would have known or told me". But the more I looked into it and really studied it, I knew I had to have it.

1. What made you decide to have your diagnosis?

I thought I was heading toward burning out from the pressure at work. ADHD had always been at the back of my mind since being mentioned by a manager I worked with 9 years ago. It had been dismissed by my psychiatrist back then, who was treating me for depression. I did my research, but remained skeptical. Eventually I just made an appointment because I was heading towards a crash and burn situation.

1. What made you decide to have your diagnosis?

I had been struggling with my mental health for years and despite being on medication it was not helping in the right way. I was finding myself spending every ounce of energy trying to function “normally”. After struggling in university, I decided to look into whether anything else was going on and eventually thought it could be ADHD.

1. What made you decide to have your diagnosis?

I was always leaving school projects to the last minute (even in the subjects I enjoyed) and sometimes refuse to do projects altogether in the subjects I hated, I did not like homework, I would forget things constantly like important school implements and conversations I'd had the previous day, I wouldn't listen in class and was always staring out the window or drawing in my empty notebooks.

1. What made you decide to have your diagnosis?

I was doing my Master’s thesis when I realized I have been doing it non-stop for 8 hours straight without eating. Then I realized throughout the years this ‘ability’ to have great focus ‘out of the blue’ (or near a deadline) is the only reason I’ve managed to pull through university. I couldn’t pay attention in class so this is my only resort. But I knew it wasn’t healthy and I read more about it and found the term hyperfocus. Which led to ADHD. Before I know it I was obsessed with researching about ADHD and decided that it was only right to get a diagnosis.

1. What made you decide to have your diagnosis?

I have always loved to make others laugh… but back then I would do impulsive things to get people to smile or giggle. I would instantly feel regretful and guilty afterwards.

1. What made you decide to have your diagnosis?

I constantly was unable to keep track of my life- especially when it came to organizing for work. It was affecting my ability to function well and I had enough.

1. What made you decide to have your diagnosis?

My youngest brother and then my husband both got diagnosed.

1. What made you decide to have your diagnosis?

I was struggling with my mental health and my partner pointed out i have a lot of symptoms of ADHD. I wanted a diagnosis so i could stop seconding guessing why i am the way i am

1. What made you decide to have your diagnosis?

My psychiatrist diagnosed me, I had many doubts but with his guidance I felt relieved to have a diagnosis and to see that I was not "a bad person"

1. What made you decide to have your diagnosis?

I was misdiagnosed 6 years ago with bipolar type 2, I was even taking serious medication to treat my symptoms, bipolar does not run in my family and I knew it wasn’t correct, My father sister and nan all have Adhd symptoms and have never been diagnosed, I was assessed again about two years ago no it really explains a lot

1. What made you decide to have your diagnosis?

My friends were making comments on how much I talk, and don’t focus on things for long periods of time

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1. What made you decide to have your diagnosis?

As long as I can remember it was in the back of my mind. I just thought of myself as having adhd but I never talked about it. As a kid I struggled in school and had so much energy I was described by my family as “a tornado”. When I became a teenager I started developing issues that I didn’t understand and it made life more difficult. But within the last year after researching on the internet, I found out that basically every issue I had was tied in one way or another to adhd.  So a few months ago I started working towards a diagnosis.

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1. What made you decide to have your diagnosis?

I struggled my entire life to understand the root cause of why I felt like I couldn’t function in normal every day life as well as others could, after years of misdiagnosis and wrong medications and seeing TikToks about ADHD in women, I went to go see a psychologist for a full assessment.

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1. What made you decide to have your diagnosis?

I honestly just thought I was this broken, lazy person who couldn't handle life the way that everyone else seemed to be able to. I was in the process of leaving my abusive husband at 32 and realized that, just maybe, all of these traits that he had told me for years were me "just not even trying", might be something medical. I research things like crazy and I came up with ADHD as a likely diagnosis. I went to see my general practitioner very much expecting her to tell me how off-base I was and to stop making excuses and just start being a productive adult. Instead, it turns out I present very high in ADHD, as well as generalized anxiety.

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1. What made you decide to have your diagnosis?

It was my boyfriend who started to think that I might have ADHD because I get distracted so easily and hard for me to remove sounds happening in the background. After research I decided to check it out.

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1. What made you decide to have your diagnosis?

I struggled with normal live after a breakup and first time living alone since ever. Told my mom. She told me about ADHD. Then researched a lot.

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1. What made you decide to have your diagnosis?

It was a combination of really struggling during driving lessons, becoming overwhelmed frequently after having a baby and then learning more about ADHD just by chance via social media!

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1. What made you decide to have your diagnosis?

Starting work after a few years without it, I really struggled with time management and procrastinating and lack of sleep.

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1. What made you decide to have your diagnosis?

I was failing college pretty badly and was “moody” like crazy.

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1. What made you decide to have your diagnosis?

My manager at a desk job actually wanted me to get tested. He knew someone with ADHD and thought we acted similar. My job then paid for half and I paid the other half to be privately tested by a psychologist in London. I never ever suspected to have ADHD before this as I barley knew about it. I thought I was just had a massive extrovert personality

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1. What made you decide to have your diagnosis?

I’ve struggled to function in daily life more and more as I got older and I couldn’t take it anymore so I went to get help because I knew there had to be more than just the GAD diagnosis I have.

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1. What made you decide to have your diagnosis?

A close friend of mine suggested I look into it. She was diagnosed as an adult and saw the signs in me. I'm grateful she spoke up.

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1. What made you decide to have your diagnosis?

In my first year of grad school, we learned about ADHD in our pediatrics course. I realized that many of the attributes those with ADHD possess, I also have. I did not realize before then that the struggles I face with inattention, memory, and concentration were possibly ADHD.

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1. What made you decide to have your diagnosis?

I’ve always struggled with anxiety and depression since I was a teenager. After attending CBT sessions from 19, my therapist suggested that I undergo a psychiatrist assessment. Also my dad pushed me to seek further help.

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1. What made you decide to have your diagnosis?

I went to see a therapist, after I started having panic attacks, after about 30 minutes he asked if I had ever gotten diagnosed. Turns out it's very obvious, but no one ever noticed/bothered to do so.

1. What made you decide to have your diagnosis?

I was put on a performance plan at work due to my lack and quality of work. I had my ovaries removed the year before and was on hormone therapy. I thought all my brain fog and other symptoms were from surgical menopause. Then my gf suggested the book "women with ADHD" by Sari Solden. After listening to it, it was clear I'd had ADHD my whole life.

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1. What made you decide to have your diagnosis?

My friend told me she thought I may have ADHD. I was offended to start with. Then I found out about the female presentation and realized she was probably right. (Which she was).

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1. What made you decide to have your diagnosis?

I am a social work student and I was realizing that some of the symptoms I was giving out were different to my peers. I had this thought for a long time but wasn’t sure. I think being a student in the field helped me recognize, that something was a bit different with me. Therefore I booked a GP appointment

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1. What made you decide to have your diagnosis?

I've struggled with mental illness in general since age 11, and growing up my main treatment focuses were depression and anxiety. Enough of my ADHD symptoms overlapped with those of depression and anxiety that it went overlooked. Eventually, years down the road, a doctor was like "Hmmm, maybe there's something more going on..." And that's when I got tested and received my diagnosis.

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1. What made you decide to have your diagnosis?

I was at the edge of a depression and had a severe shopping addiction, my parents forced me to see a professional (I’m very glad they did)

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1. What made you decide to have your diagnosis?

Ever since coming to college, I’ve really struggled with time management and executive dysfunction and it’s really shown in my grades. One of my best friends growing up was diagnosed around 12 and has always told me she thought I presented the same traits and I should get tested, but it wasn’t until the past few months when I’ve really struggled and more of my ADHD friends have told me they think I should seek out a doctor

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1. What made you decide to have your diagnosis?

Close friends asked if I had it, I researched more about it and made connections

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1. What made you decide to have your diagnosis?

I was mentaliteit struggling a lot. I sought out professional help from a psychologist. After describing my struggle with finishing my higher education (to become a teacher), my psychologist suggested to test me on ADHD.

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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1. What made you decide to have your diagnosis?

I've never been able to get my life together. I saw people talking about ADHD last October and realized I might have it, and that I could potentially get help with all of the things I struggle with. I needed help so I had to push for an assessment!.

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1. What made you decide to have your diagnosis?

I was dealing with depression and went to the psychologist and to a psychiatrist. They both thought it seemed like I had ADHD and eventually confirmed it.

1. What made you decide to have your diagnosis?

Well this was the first account that showed up in my explore page out of nowhere and I decided to check it out, most of those symptoms were a coincidence! But then I also remembered how I was as a kid in school, and it was definitely shows to the point no one realized it.

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1. What made you decide to have your diagnosis?

I've always struggled with math. I wanted to know why.

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1. What made you decide to have your diagnosis?

I didn't! I was part of a research project on OCD (which I knew I had, but wasn't getting any care) and my doctor there diagnosed me with adhd too

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1. What made you decide to have your diagnosis?

Once I started my current job as a social worker I began to notice how much I struggled to focus, organize myself and my thoughts and how significant my symptoms were. I always took on too much but was always praised for it, mastered all the hobbies I ever wanted to but never felt happy and overall felt mentally exhausted

1. What made you decide to have your diagnosis?

I was chatting with a friend in late 2019 and she mentioned that she suspected signs of inattentive ADHD in herself. Initially I was bewildered because the symptoms that she listed were all just things that I thought everyone did! I did some more research, consulted a psychiatrist in Jan 2020, and got diagnosed with inattentive type ADHD. I had just turned 20 a few months earlier.

1. What made you decide to have your diagnosis?

My mind is always racing, I have anxiety and struggle with depression since I was 14 years old. My energy levels can be extremely high compared to neurotypical people and I always give my all but struggled to keep up at school and work. Also, fidgeting!!

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1. What made you decide to have your diagnosis?

My friends started to notice, I was struggling. I always thought it was normal. Then, I started to study Psychology. And realized I related a lot to the ADHD section.

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1. What made you decide to have your diagnosis?

I fell into ADHD spaces on Tumblr and realized it sounded too much like me to be a coincidence.

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1. What made you decide to have your diagnosis?

I had no idea that I could've had ADHD, I went to a psychiatrist because of my depression and she was the one who diagnosed my little brother with autism, if he hadn't been diagnosed maybe I wouldn't have either

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1. What made you decide to have your diagnosis?

I had friends with ADHD point out to me I might have it and it would be beneficial to talk to someone

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1. What made you decide to have your diagnosis?

I’ve always knew that my mind worked differently but never got a diagnosis till last year. I always had to work with another teacher up until 8th grade in order to catch up to other students. In college, I realized that I always started on my homework last minute and couldn’t retain anything so I knew it was time to talk to someone about it.

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1. What made you decide to have your diagnosis?

I was having an extremely hard time in school, and my focusing was absolutely horrendous. I would blank out at posters, and I would read the same line in books multiple times. ADHD runs in my family, so I asked my doctor to help me see if I had it as well.

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1. What made you decide to have your diagnosis?

I’ve had four separate burnouts from severe stress reactions. I’ve had several arguments with my husband about me not paying attention when he talks. While talking after one such argument I realized what I was describing when trying to explain how my brain works sounded a lot like the discussions about some of the ND kids at work.

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1. What made you decide to have your diagnosis?

I initially sought mental health/cognition supports when I was struggling at university and the counsellor I had a one-off consult with suggested I may have ADHD. Unfortunately, the town I was living in at the time didn't have any psych services, and this was many years ago before telehealth was considered a viable options for such services, so I was never able to progress any further than a GP.

I then successfully sought and received a diagnosis, after being unable to live independently.

1. What made you decide to have your diagnosis?

Something I thought I had for a while, but people were dismissive since I mask well/present to the world as someone who has things together. Decided to get formally diagnosed to be better able to define my struggles and be believed.

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1. What made you decide to have your diagnosis?

I had been going to therapy for about 2 years for depression and anxiety. Towards the end, I felt like I had that under control but I still had so much energy and the motor. I realized the diagnosis of anxiety and depression had never sat right with me. For example I would get what i called panic attacks from sensory overload. When other people tell me about their panic attacks, it was different. I began noticing my triggers weren’t causing anxiety alone. I began talking to my therapist about it and over a few sessions I was referred for diagnosis.

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1. What made you decide to have your diagnosis?

Finally acceptance. I have a brother with advance TEA so I didn't want to admit that I am not neurotypical either. But I knew that I needed help. Also studying psychology helped a lot