Anyone in the UK that thinks they may have ADHD or ADD ?

Page 2 of 3 [ 35 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1, 2, 3  Next

ToughDiamond
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 15 Sep 2008
Age: 71
Gender: Male
Posts: 11,146

13 Jan 2023, 2:02 pm

Looking back, if these things had been in vogue when I was in my teens, they might have decided I had it. I certainly had a defecit of attantion. Much of what the teachers were saying would go in one ear and out the other, and it was often the same with TV shows and a lot of spoken-word stuff. I'd even lose track of my own thoughts.

But it got better as I grew older and left the school / lecture environment, and gave my attention more to things that strongly interested me. To this day I often have trouble following a murder mystery, but I think that's because I can't deal with too many characters and the dialogue goes too fast for my slow, careful brain.

As for the hyperactive thing, I was more tired and lethargic mostly, though I gather there used to be an ADD diagnosis where the subject didn't have to be hyperactive to qualify. I wonder what happened to that? Did somebody decide that there's no such thing as attention defecit without hyperactivity?

If I'd been diagnosed with ADHD I'd probably still be on stimulants, because in the days when my attention was poor, I wasn't suspicious of medications, so by tradition I'd likely still be on them. Still, I've probably got a very feeble idea what ADHD is. Given that the NHS is in such trouble, maybe self-diagnosis would be the only realistic option. What's the main observable thing that indicates ADHD and isn't just down to ASD?



hurtloam
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 27 Mar 2011
Gender: Female
Posts: 8,743
Location: Eyjafjallajökull

13 Jan 2023, 2:33 pm

I'm beginning to think I have ADHD and I've been self medicating with coffee.

My memory has always been terrible. And then I would be so confused about why I forgot what I was told. And upset because things are so simple, yet so difficult for me. I hated working as a receptionist because there was so much to keep track of and I would forget. And People would think I was lying, but I really forgot. I'm not a good roommate because I just forget everything. I eat my flatmate's food thinking it's mine and then they get annoyed at me.

I am in a routine where I cope. I live alone which is easier for me. I'm not sure if I should seek a diagnosis in my 40s, but it might help some of my relatives gain an understanding of themselves. I suspect at least one of my cousins is neurodivergent too.



ToughDiamond
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 15 Sep 2008
Age: 71
Gender: Male
Posts: 11,146

13 Jan 2023, 2:47 pm

hurtloam wrote:
My memory has always been terrible. And then I would be so confused about why I forgot what I was told. And upset because things are so simple, yet so difficult for me. I hated working as a receptionist because there was so much to keep track of and I would forget.

I used to have that memory problem a lot too. Even with my own thoughts, I'd forget the start of the thought before I got to the end. I still have some memory trouble, but it helps when I calm down, slow down, and deliberately focus on the items so that they have some chance of being retained. Memory doesn't stand a chance without attention. But the trouble with the world of work is that it's often other people who set the pace, and employers like things doing quickly. I was fairly immune from that kind of thing because I worked in science where it's more about being slow and careful so as to avoid making any mistakes. I found that as long a I could take all the time I needed, I didn't have much of a problem at all. Not that I didn't work quickly, but that was more about the practical hands-on thing. It was the prior thinking that had to be done slowly.



hurtloam
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 27 Mar 2011
Gender: Female
Posts: 8,743
Location: Eyjafjallajökull

13 Jan 2023, 3:06 pm

It's interesting you should say that. A video I saw recently suggested being aware in the moment to try and remember things. Don't just put your glasses down and immediately move on to the next task absent mindedly. Slow down and say to yourself, "I am putting my glasses on the dining table."

I am still trying to apply that advice. I couldn't tell you where my glasses are right now.



IsabellaLinton
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 1 Nov 2017
Gender: Female
Posts: 67,988
Location: Chez Quis

13 Jan 2023, 3:13 pm

I’d need to remember to say to myself “Don’t forget that I’m supposed to do a special trick for remembering” before I could remember what the the trick was, before I could actually remember to do the trick, and before I could forget to remember what I actually remembered, if anything. 8)



ToughDiamond
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 15 Sep 2008
Age: 71
Gender: Male
Posts: 11,146

13 Jan 2023, 8:00 pm

IsabellaLinton wrote:
I’d need to remember to say to myself “Don’t forget that I’m supposed to do a special trick for remembering” before I could remember what the the trick was, before I could actually remember to do the trick, and before I could forget to remember what I actually remembered, if anything. 8)

Yes I've noticed that kind of problem. If the particular instance of forgetting causes me enough trouble then I'm more strongly motivated to work the trick into my way of doing things, and sometimes that's enough to get me to remember to use it, but not always. Making a mental note "next time x happens, do y" isn't very reliable, at least in my experience.

It can be helpful to artificially perform the task a few times purely for practice, but even that isn't perfect, because as far as the mind is concerned there may be too much difference between the training session and the real situation. I used that trick a little bit myself on the problem I used to have of forgetting what I'd gone into another room to get, with some success, though for some reason my brain seems to have reverted to type during the last few days, and even my other trick of just calming down and giving my mind a few moments to recall the item has stopped working as well as it once did. If it doesn't fix itself soon I suppose I'll have to look into it again. I think fatigue and mood have quite an influence on these things.



JonathanCampbell99
Blue Jay
Blue Jay

User avatar

Joined: 8 Jun 2015
Gender: Non-binary
Posts: 84
Location: Northern Ireland

13 Jan 2023, 9:02 pm

I’m from the U.K., Northern Ireland to be exact, I’m assuming I have NVLD (Nonverbal Learning Disorder) instead of Autism, but with NVLD if it’s what I have, it’s more so the struggles with time management and organisation, I struggle a lot with keeping my room tidy and can’t seem to clean it at all, I lose things constantly and can’t seem to stop doing it, it’s getting beyond the joke now, along with sleep too, and I would like to go on medication if it was offered as it might help me be more focussed and able to clean up after myself a bit more. Coursework was an absolute nightmare, I’d always leave it til the last minute and not be able to get it done, I procrastinated so much, I still do it from time to time and I hate it, but if I have NVLD, ADHD medications aren’t worth anything, cause they won’t work, which is quite annoying for me.


_________________
Diagnosed with Autism - 18/01/2023


Shadweller
Snowy Owl
Snowy Owl

Joined: 28 Dec 2021
Gender: Male
Posts: 145
Location: Manchester UK

21 Jan 2023, 5:21 am

I'm now more convinced than ever that I have ADHD, as I've remembered all my school reports and teachers used to say the same thing about me: "X has ability, but does not apply himself to his work."

This would have been put down to laziness, but I know that I am not a lazy person. Getting out of bed at 6 am in the middle of winter is nothing, and physical work, or cycling miles just to get to work is nothing.

On one hand I already feel kind of validated, like my under-achievment academically and at work has not been my fault as such.

On the other hand I do feel like it's an absolute bastard of a cluster of conditions that I've been dealt. As if having Autism on it's own isn't hard enough, I would have to be one of those that has ADHD on top. If it wasn't for this I think there's a good chance I'd have benefited from the compensatory Autistic trait of intense focus, and I might have been one of those uber-geeky nerdy types of person that works like a maniac, and would probably have ended up earning lots of money. But my suspected ADHD has cancelled out that trait I would probably have had otherwise. As things are I can intensely focus on things only if I am very interested in them, otherwise I need any kind of stimulant that kicks my brain into a functional mode.

I'm not genius level bright, but I am massively underachieving for my abilities. My school headmaster told me after my A level results, which were still good enough to get into nearly any of the new universities (former polytechnics) that I could have got 3 Bs. Instead my results were much worse. I could otherwise have got a good degree from a good university. I had coasted through my O levels with the absolute minimum of work. Like literally spending half an hour here and there, 2 or 3 times, reading my course notes was all I needed to do, but that didn't work for A levels.

The world of work has been hard. At least I now understand why I have remained stuck in entry level jobs. If it wasn't for my Autism, my people skills would have been better, and I'd be in management. I'm certain, all my friends from school are really successful in whatever they are doing. And so were nearly all of my family before me. I am the only one that has gone down in the world, relative to where I started from. If it wasn't for my ADHD I'd be more of a technical geeky type of hard worker, and could have done well in those type of fields.

Thankfully I've long since grown beyond self-pity. That is a trait that is despised in the city I live in, and I am thankful that it has toughened me up to grow well beyond that. Even so, I cant help but think that it is an absolute bastard of a cluster of conditions to be afflicted with. There is no denying it.

On the positive side, all of this has made me one resilient, determined, strong, and self-reliant person. I've also been taught about humility as well. Thankfully.

Like everyone else with either, or both conditions, I just have to deal with things as best as I can.



Shadweller
Snowy Owl
Snowy Owl

Joined: 28 Dec 2021
Gender: Male
Posts: 145
Location: Manchester UK

21 Jan 2023, 6:00 am

logikal wrote:
I was diagnosed with inattentive ADHD as an adult a couple of years ago.

Waiting times on the NHS are notoriously horrific - it was ~2 years pre-pandemic, and probably even more now. Since ADHD relates to mental health, my suggestion would be to look into "right to choose" and exercise that right to ask your GP to refer you to a qualifying private healthcare provider. Right to choose is basically a legal right that you have in the UK to choose who treats you for mental health conditions, with the provider billing the NHS directly (it costs you nothing). The advantage of this is that private providers have much shorter wait times than their NHS counterparts, then once you're on a medication that works your psychiatrist sets up a "shared care agreement" with your GP who will then take over prescribing.

I asked my GP to refer me to Psychiatry UK, and within a week I was contacted by them and sent self assessment forms and told to book an appointment once I'd completed them. Completing the forms took me months - they aren't difficult, it's just hard to fill out forms when you have an attention deficit! - but once I submitted them I had an appointment two weeks later and medication the week after that. As far as I'm aware that provider has got quite busy with lots of referrals so turnaround times might be longer now - there's probably other qualifying providers if that's the case.

The forms I had to fill out were just the DIVA-5 questions where you give examples about how you present with the various symptoms. I'm also fortunate that my mum still had ALL of my school reports and every letter ever sent home regarding my behaviour so I just quoted all the relevant bits to show that I had all the problems since childhood, and my mum answered some questions on a form too (I think this part is optional but every little helps). The assessment was basically just an hour spent going over the same questions, then at the end the psychiatrist just confirmed what was already obvious and told me that a nurse would be in contact about medication options.

I was offered a choice of stimulants - methylphenidate (Concerta, Xaggitin, and a generic Ritalin I think) or amphetamine-based (Elvanse a/k/a Vyvanse, or dexamfetamine) - or non stimulants (Straterra is the only one I can remember). I went with a stimulant and picked methylphenidate first because I'd read that amphetamines were more effective in adults, so I wanted to try the 'lesser' choice first because I knew I'd be curious to try both and figured it'd make more sense that way round. If you're curious about choices then look up the NICE guidelines for ADHD because that's what they use.

The meds were delivered to me whenever I needed them (didn't even have to pay for them) and they just titrate you up through the doses until you find what works for you. They tend to try you on the extended release ones first then give the option of adding an instant release as a booster if you need it later in the day.

I've been on Elvanse for 2 years now but to be honest I'm not sure it makes any difference - I can just hyperfocus more on things I've always been able to focus on, but still can't focus on the other things long enough to complete them. You can get lulled into a false sense that they work because if you skip a day you feel like total crap (exhausted, barely functional), but the reality is that you're just experiencing withdrawal - not what life was like before medication. I'm planning to wean myself off gradually and see what happens, and if my feeling is right and it made no difference then I'll consider trying Straterra instead.


Thank you for your post. It has a lot of helpful information and experience, and will hopefully help me to set my expectations at a realistic level. Even if I do eventually get the ADHD diagnosis and get put on stimulant medications, they aren't necessarily going to be a 'magic bullet', although I definitely feel that I could benefit from being on proper medications, at least to some extent. The effect may not last long, as I understand tolerance is an issue with stimulants. But if I can get even a few months benefit, before tolerance starts to reduce the effectiveness of the meds, then I will take that. And gladly.



Shadweller
Snowy Owl
Snowy Owl

Joined: 28 Dec 2021
Gender: Male
Posts: 145
Location: Manchester UK

22 Jan 2023, 7:25 am

logikal wrote:

Waiting times on the NHS are notoriously horrific - it was ~2 years pre-pandemic, and probably even more now. Since ADHD relates to mental health, my suggestion would be to look into "right to choose" and exercise that right to ask your GP to refer you to a qualifying private healthcare provider. Right to choose is basically a legal right that you have in the UK to choose who treats you for mental health conditions, with the provider billing the NHS directly (it costs you nothing). The advantage of this is that private providers have much shorter wait times than their NHS counterparts, then once you're on a medication that works your psychiatrist sets up a "shared care agreement" with your GP who will then take over prescribing.

I asked my GP to refer me to Psychiatry UK, and within a week I was contacted by them and sent self assessment forms and told to book an appointment once I'd completed them.

.


I need to get on this and be proactive about it, not just waiting and waiting for the GP to get back to me following the submission of my screening test. I know I will have 'passed the test', I made damn sure that I carefully looked into what scores would be required to pass. I'm not faking anything, it's just sometimes one can forget something, or not be aware of something, or not understand a question properly.

For example I had forgotten that all my school reports used to say that I had ability but did not apply myself to my work. At the time I did my screening test I had not recalled that, but I knew I'd have to tick that box about symptoms being present in childhood, in order to get the required 4 points. Otherwise I'd have arbitrarily failed myself at the first hurdle. These screening tests are quite arbitrary so one has to take care. It took me some time to get round to looking everything up, and making damn sure that I would pass the test. I printed the test out and completed it on paper before hand, before formally submitting the actual test. I would have hated to have messed it up through carelessness.

Edit for update if anyone cares: I have just contacted my GP surgery to chase up the results of my screening test. I have asked to exercise my right to choose to be referred to Psychiatry UK if the results of my screening test indicated that I may have ADHD.

Thanks again Logikal for the clear, concise, and invaluable advice. It is hugely appreciated and I would have been lost without it. And stuck waiting on the NHS for 2 years or more. I've seen that even Psychiatry UK currently has a waiting list of approx 6 months for ADHD assessments but I can, and will have to, wait that long.



renaeden
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 12 Jun 2005
Age: 47
Gender: Female
Posts: 2,173
Location: Western Australia

26 Jan 2023, 5:33 am

ToughDiamond wrote:
As for the hyperactive thing, I was more tired and lethargic mostly, though I gather there used to be an ADD diagnosis where the subject didn't have to be hyperactive to qualify. I wonder what happened to that? Did somebody decide that there's no such thing as attention defecit without hyperactivity?

There still is - ADHD Inattentive Type. That's the one I have. I was a very lethargic, daydreamy kid. The only hyperactive trait I have is not being able to sit completely still.

ADHD - Inattentive Type
ADHD - Hyperactive Type
ADHD - Combined Type (both hyperactive and inattentive)

No more ADD. ADHD has replaced it.



Shadweller
Snowy Owl
Snowy Owl

Joined: 28 Dec 2021
Gender: Male
Posts: 145
Location: Manchester UK

26 Jan 2023, 1:41 pm

renaeden wrote:
ToughDiamond wrote:
As for the hyperactive thing, I was more tired and lethargic mostly, though I gather there used to be an ADD diagnosis where the subject didn't have to be hyperactive to qualify. I wonder what happened to that? Did somebody decide that there's no such thing as attention defecit without hyperactivity?

There still is - ADHD Inattentive Type. That's the one I have. I was a very lethargic, daydreamy kid. The only hyperactive trait I have is not being able to sit completely still.

ADHD - Inattentive Type
ADHD - Hyperactive Type
ADHD - Combined Type (both hyperactive and inattentive)

No more ADD. ADHD has replaced it.


The definitions and diagnostic names seem to have become less logical and make less sense. So even though some people don't have the hyperactive component, that part of the definition is now being enforced upon them regardless. And this is supposed to be progress or moving forwards? I don't get it.

Similarly with Aspergers once being a diagnosis of it's own, and now it's all lumped in under the Autism umbrella. I don't see how that is progress either. It's a reduction in the precision of the diagnosis. Definitely seems that way to me.



IsabellaLinton
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 1 Nov 2017
Gender: Female
Posts: 67,988
Location: Chez Quis

26 Jan 2023, 3:31 pm

Technically, ADHD now means “Attention Deficit and / or Hyperactive Disorder” so it should be called ADAOHD. 8)

I guess they lump them together since they often result in the same medication and the same type of therapy.

I agree it’s going backward.

Now they are ADHD-I, ADHD-H, or ADHD-C (Inattentive, Hyper or Combined). Still too many letters for my taste. I’m a C so I lose focus reading or using long acronyms, while also getting frustrated in a hyper way because they’re annoying. :roll:



Rossall
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 20 Oct 2021
Age: 53
Gender: Male
Posts: 5,172
Location: Manchester, UK

27 Jan 2023, 6:57 pm

I am dignosed with ADHD - Inattentive type. I daydream a lot and get very frustration with my inability to concentrate.


_________________
Diagnosed with ADHD - Inattentive type and undiagnosed aspergers.

Interests: music (especially 80s), computers, electronics, amateur radio, soccer (Liverpool).


Joe90
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 23 Feb 2010
Gender: Female
Posts: 26,492
Location: UK

28 Jan 2023, 8:04 pm

I have both inattentive type and hyperactive type. I practically have nearly all the symptoms, except the addictions to drink or drugs but I am addicted to other things such as online posting. Impulsivity has always been my main problem.


_________________
Female


Shadweller
Snowy Owl
Snowy Owl

Joined: 28 Dec 2021
Gender: Male
Posts: 145
Location: Manchester UK

29 Jan 2023, 4:03 am

Joe90 wrote:
I have both inattentive type and hyperactive type. I practically have nearly all the symptoms, except the addictions to drink or drugs but I am addicted to other things such as online posting. Impulsivity has always been my main problem.


I'm pretty sure I'm just inatentive.



Last edited by Shadweller on 29 Jan 2023, 4:47 am, edited 1 time in total.