I just had my first ever meeting with a psychiatrist to get diagnosed with ADHD.

Long story short, they said that I clearly exhibit ADHD symptoms.

But they’re not willing to go forward with a diagnosis because, according to them, I seem to be doing alright in my life, so the symptoms are hardly causing me enough problems to be eligible for a diagnosis. (And also because there’s no evidence of me having had such symptoms in childhood.)

And I was just sitting there thinking, do you really think I would be here if I didn’t think the symptoms were causing me problems in life?

Based on what they said, they expected me to have experienced things like getting warnings or being fired from jobs, ruining my relationships with people, and such. And they suggested the usual things, exercise, the Pomodoro method, etc. As if I haven’t tried them already.

My bad for masking so well, I guess.

Anyway, just wanted to vent a bit. I know it’s too common a story. I guess the next thing I need to do is to find a psychiatrist specializing in adult ADHD. Once my (still undiagnosed) ADHD lets me do that.

    • @FredericChopin_@feddit.ukEnglish
      6•11 months ago

      Don’t lie.

      Why would you want to be medicated for something you don’t have.

      If OP thinks they have something then surely finding out exactly what that is is the key.

      It’s quite annoying the coolness around some neurodivergent conditions have. I can tell you first hand that the 38 years pre diagnosis were no fun and the two years after have been unbelievable.

      People seem to focus on the cool aspects like hyper focus but not on the 50+ jobs I had and lost during my life. The drug addict, thrill seeking and worst of all appearing to be a failure to all my peers.

      In reality I did nothing wrong, I was just playing life on hard.

        • the_itsb (she/her)English
          2•11 months ago

          It’s not a wall of text when it has paragraph breaks, and I read every word of that comment.

          Communities are better when we’re respectful and kind to each other. Idk what’s going on with your day to make you lash out here, but if you need a friendly person to talk it over with, I’m here.