Hi everyone - first post in this group. I'm 49, and just got diagnosed two months ago. Still figuring out my medication and other things to help me get through life. Who else on here was diagnosed in middle age (or later)?
Welcome! More people these days are getting diagnosed later on, and not just with ADHD. I wasn't diagnosed with bipolar until I was 25, after my symptoms had been running rampant for almost a decade.
@AnaLeigh Thanks for the welcome. Must have been a hard 10 years for you - did it feel like a relief to get the diagnosis? That’s how I felt, but I also have moments where I think ‘Really? Do I really have ADHD?’ It makes sense for some pieces of my life, but not all of it.
@luna1994 Hi there - thought I replied to you, but I don’t see it on here. It’s good to hear that the meds can make such a difference. My Dr. and I still haven’t figured out the right dose, but I definitely feel like I have better focus.
I was diagnosed at 22, after years of struggling through school and having focus issues and not knowing why. My process of accepting it was kind of like the stages of grief honestly. First I was upset, in gathering the report cards to help with me getting diagnosed, I found results from a counselor administered evaluation that my school required when I was 9. It said I was most likely ADHD and my parents needed to get me tested by a psychiatrist. They never did. So I spent the first part of everything wondering why they never got me tested, I was mad and hurt. And then I started looking for the good in the ADHD. How is the creative aspect helpful for me? How can I use the positive traits? It took reading a couple articles and books that focused on the positives. But it helped, a lot. I have accepted it. But there are times I still question if I really have ADHD, or if ADHD is even a problem and that society is just to blind to see our good traits. So to answer if I had relief after the diagnosis, yes I did. I still do. I also question if it really is the answer to whats up or if society just needs to just chill and let us be us. One of the reasons my parents gave for me not being ADHD is I can sit and read books I enjoy for hours, loose track of time. But that's hyperfocusing, which is part of the ADHD. It's possible you have something else going along with it, or had moments where you really tapped into the positive traits. I hope you find this helpful, didn't mean for it to come out so long.
@Bookworm92 Totally helpful - thank you. If you remember any of the books or articles that you found especially helpful, I’d love to hear what they were. It’s also reassuring to hear that others have gone through the same thing… kinda wish I’d figured it out before age 49, though. I’m sure it never would have occurred to my parents either, bc I wasn’t hyperactive (and plus it was the 70s, so there was even less information available). Anyway - thanks for sharing your story, and I hope things have been positive for you since your diagnosis.
From Autism and Learning Disorders to ADHD