I am 26 I was diagnosed with ADHD when I was 7. My father and paternal grandfather also have ADHD which you would think would help since they have gone through life with it but no. Due to my dads bad experience with medication when he was younger I was very rarely on medication and when I was it was not a consistent nor did it last long. I went through all of high school medication free which was really hard and I never realized that it was because of my ADHD I just thought I was stupid. This was not only because I could not pay attention during class but also because in class I would understand the material being taught but when I got home to do homework I couldn’t do it and I would get so frustrated when my parents would try and help because they would try and teach me a different way then how the teacher would do it and it would just confuse me more. I thought that this was just me and that it was not connected to my ADHD at all. After high school i thought that i had my ADHD under control and a major reason for this was because society sees ADHD as only effecting children like oh yea i have had this since i was 7 but it is going to magically disappear when i turn 18. So 5 years after high school I started seeing a therapist for anxiety and she said that my anxiety may stem from my ADHD and i told her that i dont think that is it because i dont have a problem with my ADHD ( cue audience laughter). She insisted that i take a verbal test with her that was approximately 20 questions we got through maybe 12 before she stopped and said that not only was my ADHD was not under control but that i have a pretty severe case for my gender . So I start on some prescriptions and go through a couple and i am feeling like nothing is going to work and as a last ditch resort she has me try Adderall and it worked! i was able to concentrate and be productive for me it was a life saver. I started college and was doing amazing getting A’s and B’s in all my classes being able to get things in on time and i was not only apart of class room discussions, a good majority of the time i was leading them. Then my insurance decided that they weren’t going to cover my medication because it is mainly prescribed to children so i went from paying 11 dollars to 180 and i could not afford that so i had to stop taking it until i could get them to cover it again. That took 2 months and they were 2 of the worst months of my life until that point i didn’t realize how significantly it had helped with everything. I reverted back to high school me, i couldn’t focus long enough to even be apart of group discussions it was a nightmare but thankfully it was only a short time and i do have it back now. so sorry that this is long thank you for reading just wanted to put my story out there.
Amandapie, how nice to hear from you. What a story you have: it’s great to hear of someone who is able to take full advantage of the medication to be able to reach her full potential. Congratulations! And congratulations on your ongoing success in college.
As a retired high school teacher (and the daughter of an ADHD mother) I winced at your description of your problems in high school: I’ve been on the other side of the desk from that, and it’s not pretty! And I’ll add that I know it’s harder for the student than it is for the teacher.
We’re glad that you found the forum and joined, and I hope that you’ll be posting and supporting others with your wisdom and skills.
Seenie from Moderator Support
Thank you so much for sharing. This was me growing up, all through high school and college, and still now…I have just learned more coping strategies, but it’s still very difficult. My 13 year old son has now finally been diagnosed, and I see him struggling in school in the exact same way I did. He’s just willing to give up. I wasn’t. I struggled and persisted, all along just thinking I was stupid and different than everybody else in my world. This definitely led to severe anxiety and depression. My son now has major depressive disorder. ADHD is a very real thing for both kids and adults…you’re right. It doesn’t go away. We may just learn to cope a little bit better at best.