Mental health rant

sending gentle healing thoughts @Elusive_fairy

I have experienced a lot of CPTSD. Not easy. It can really impact self esteem. Not sure about ADHD meds. I hope others respond soon, but sometimes it takes a while to get the hang of the forum. I am going away, so wont be around much, but there are other more social threads you can join.

take care

Apple

@Elusive_fairy sorry to read what you are going through, having mental health conditions is a struggle.

I'm new to my 4 diagnosis its hard.

@Elusive_fairy thanks for sharing your story with us, I can imagine your experiences resonate with a lot of folks here.

I wanted to speak a little to what you said about 'failing' your ADHD screening. I wanna clarify that I'm not a clinical psych, but I do have ADHD and a lot of friends with the diagnosis too. I just wanna say that feeling you mentioned, 'I simply can't get ahead in life, no matter what' - such a mood, and a big struggle for many neurodiverse folks.

Something I've observed is that there's still a lot of bias and a lot of stigma about ADHD - both in terms of misconceptions about how it presents, but also about it being a 'fad diagnosis' that has seemingly gained a lot of 'popularity' (for lack of a better term) lately. To my mind this is more to do with growing awareness than anything to do with it being 'popular', but I digress...

Some of my friends got told they didn't have ADHD, even though from my perspective it was incredibly obvious. They sought a second opinion and lo and behold, it was ADHD all along!

It does tend to present differently in women and folks assigned female at birth - typically the 'hyperactive' symptoms are a lot less evident, or have been masked to the point where even we can be unaware of them. Me for instance? Chronic day-dreamer!

It sounds like if you feel ADHD makes a lot of sense for you, it might be worth seeking out a second opinion - though I know this can be costly and difficult, so please do what feels best for you. Always happy to ramble about ADHD stuff too, you can even join in the thread I made a wee while ago - here. I also got oodles of resources about it, but I don't wanna bombard you... I think ADHD is one of my special interests... 🤔😅

You're not alone, the forums fam has your back 😋💜

Hi there @Elusive_fairy, not sure we have crossed paths yet 😊. It’s lovely to meet you here, sorry about the meds situation 😔. Jynx post is awesome and covers a lot, re adhd. I am wondering what test you did? Was it a generic online one or through a psychiatrist?

From what I have read there are essentially three types- hyperactive, inattentive and mixed (both hyperactive/inattentive), so you don’t always have to have the hyperactive symptoms I guess.
I am wondering if you are in touch with any health professionals at the moment?

Take care 💜

Hi @Elusive_fairy. I'm sorry to hear you're going through a tough time.

If you had some success with EMDR you could just try doing it on yourself. I do and I find it helpful.