What a typical day looks like waking up with an untreated ADHD brain
There's been much debate as to whether adult-onset attention deficit disorder is real. What is real, however, is that ADHD — particularly in women — is frequently overlooked, sometimes for decades at a time. The most noticeable symptoms, like hyperactivity, manifest differently in boys and are too often disregarded as "ditzy" behavior in girls. Plus, the inattentive symptoms more commonly seen in girls are regularly mistaken for something else.
Living with an unrecognized condition can lead to years of low self-esteem and shame until a diagnosis shines a light on why everything has been so hard for so long. Tribe members and experts share what it felt like living with undiagnosed ADHD. Can you relate?
Here is what is was like living a typical day with ADHD, undiagnosed and untreated. I wake up in the morning to an alarm, if I remembered to set it before I went to sleep. Then I feel depressed and tired so I just hit snooze. Not just once, though. Several times before I make the effort to get out of bed. Every day is a struggle and time just goes by so quickly. There is no plan or goal set so I just drift in the wind from this emotion to the next, reacting to other people’s actions and demands upon me. This builds up frustration and anger as I don’t feel that I can express how I feel or what I want. I feel trapped in a relationship that I don’t want to be in, doing a job that I hate and being around friends that are just not there when you need them. Life is difficult and I just want somebody to help me all the time. There are so many things to do and I feel overwhelmed on what to do first. Nobody listens to me.
Does this sound familiar?
Or this?
"All my life, I had struggled with a vague sense that something was different about me. I felt inferior, inadequate, undisciplined, and hopelessly disorganized — all feelings that have been, at one time or another, reinforced by others in my life... I had gotten used to feeling tired before I even got out of bed, of dreading the new day and its various obligations. I was exhausted, struggling at work and at home with my kids. It took every ounce of physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual strength to live my life — until I finally met someone who listened to my story and gave me a chance to do something about it." — Donna Surgenor Reames
