The comments are probably filled with this, but I was forced to raw dog my childhood even when I told adults in my life I had some kind of neurological disorder. I was finally diagnosed when I turned 18 and 10 years later I was finally able to afford my medication.
Edit: forgot my point while I was writing it. I didn't get good grades. Haven't graduated highschool but I'm working on getting my highschool degree, so I don't have to lie to my kid when they're old enough to talk.
Diagnosed at 30, I graduated below my potential according to my therapist.
I have a master's degree, but I discovered I also have dyscalculia which explains a lot when it comes to my terrible understanding of mathematics.
Now I think about it, I probably would have pursued a degree in geology or astrophysics if I got diagnosed when I was a kid. Oh well...
I became a geologist because it required the least mathematics of all the sciences offered at my school.
i was just the opposite, i got a math degree because it required no long term projects or papers. all homework and tests.
My experience was more like:
....you guys were getting good grades...?
Yuuuup. Didn’t get diagnosed until I was 32 because I was a “gifted child” and I was always held to insanely high standards. Transitioning to adulthood, those standards ingrained into me came with me. But here I am now burnt out and wondering where it all went wrong. Boom, ADHD. Everything makes so much more sense now. And being medicated helps a ton.
I had excellent grades in elementary school, then in high school it became excellent grades in subjects that interested me. It's when I got to college and university that it became more like "struggling to get anything done at all cause I forgot about or pushed back every assignment". A lifetime of winging it didn't prepare me at all for courses where I couldn't review the material 15 minutes before the exam and hope for decent grades lol
I'm in the exact same boat, except I only recently started (1 year ago) my journey to diagnosis after learning that I've had anxiety and depression for most of my (30 year) life without knowing that the gloom in my life isn't normal.
Now I think Adhd might be the reason behind it all, as so much of what I've read about Adhd fits with what I struggle with.
I always just lived my life thinking everyone else's life was just as shit as mine, because I didn't lock myself in the bedroom like "real depressed people".
@Szyler can confirm. Got good grades. Worked in IT at the right time. ADHD is unmedicated because it doesn’t need to be.
Depends on the person. It’s more debilitating for some than others. I was medicated for a time in middle/high school, but voluntarily stopped because of the side-effects and was fine without it. Now, in my mid-20s, I’m considering getting back on medication because it’s becoming a nightmare to deal with.
Same situation as you, I would recommend at least trying medication again if you can. They have new ones that work much better (at least for me) than before.
Plus, the nice thing about ADHD meds is that you can take them in a "as needed" basis if you want, unlike antidepressants/other types of neurotransmitter medications. I take mine on days I have a heavy work/school load or when I need to be interacting with people for extended periods of time, and the days I don't I get by with my regular coffee/tea/whatever.
I didn't get good grades. I was never medicated even though I was diagnosed. I work on planes and to me my ADHD doesn't need to be medicated. But I might be wrong, ya know? Something to think about.
