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Post by Julie_ttt on Jun 23, 2022 19:59:50 GMT
I wonder if anybody can relate/felt the same. I am freshly diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 44. I suspected I had ADHD after my daughter was diagnosed. I started reading more about it and felt the books were describing me. So for the past months I've had days where I felt 100% certain I had ADHD and some days where I thought 'Don't be ridiculous, everybody feels like this."
I now have my formal diagnosis which I thought would bring a sense of relief but it hasn't. I have started to doubt its validity as I'm not as badly affected as my daughter or others I know. I got through school okay, was never a particularly difficult child and have managed okay in life. I. do feel like I am driven my a motor, I can't stop and am constantly on the go. I am managing my life through exercising a lot and having chosen to work for myself and in a job that doesn't involve a lot of sitting down/desk work.
However in comparison to my daughter I am really not struggling very much and the biggest difference I see is that I don't seem to be too dopamine driven. She is always on the lookout for the next dopamine hit (screens, sweets etc). I worry about addictions with her where as I would describe myself as not having even the slightest potential for addictions. It could be that I am creating natural dopamine highs through exercise and novelty in my life.
So post diagnosis I have the following thoughts:
"Maybe it's not true?" "I made this up, I'm perfectly fine" "Maybe the diagnosis wasn't thorough enough" "I may have been exaggerating in my questionnaires"
Can anybody relate to this??
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Post by cassandro on Jun 30, 2022 20:20:36 GMT
Hi Julie
Yes, I can relate to that, having been diagnosed at an age a few years older than you, and have quite a few doubts about the correctness of the diagnosis even with several friends telling me it fits. If it wasn't obvious you were ADHD for 44 years, why would it be obvious now? You've probably had coping techniques for decades. Hyperactivity or restlessness becomes internalised as you mature.
Probably very few people match the 'stereotypical' ADHD type - we're all individuals.
I've very much the opposite of an addictive personality. Exercise will help. Novelty is something people with ADHD naturally seek and also may give you a more varied and rounded view of the world.
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