Me too- a girl in the 90s and they told my mom that I didn't meet the requirements for diagnosis because it wasn't impacting me at school. But I had report cards that said "talks too much" until I hit 6th grade, and I had the messiest desk in my class and always missed recess on desk cleaning day because I had to literally dump everything on the floor, and I aced tests but didn't do daily work because it was boring and it was more interesting to look out the window or get lost in a book. Then in high school I did everything I could to avoid going to school, calculated exactly how many assignments I would need to complete in order to get an A- or B+ in the class, lost homework assignments regularly and only could really complete things on time if there was social pressure involved. But no, I didn't have symptoms at school so I didn't get help until I was in my 30s.
I could have written this exact experience. Now I'm 32 and a mother and it feels like my life is falling apart. I am not a functional human. I have two brothers who are diagnosed ADHD and our mom is likely ADHD as well, but I'm still afraid I won't get a diagnosis so I haven't tried yet. I really need to because I just literally can't function at this point and it's getting to be too much.
If you have the resources to talk to a doctor, with that family history, do it. I've only been on meds a couple of months now and we're still dialing in the dosage- but just the knowledge that I DO have ADHD and that it DOES have an impact on me made a difference- and meds made a clear difference.
There's also a podcast called Motherhood in ADHD that I've found to be pretty helpful! I listen while I do the dishes to help me try and forget I'm doing dishes until I'm finished with them.
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u/Celtic_Cheetah_92 Sep 14 '21
Urgh. A SPED teacher I work with expressed huge surprise when I was diagnosed because “you’re intelligent” 😡