Adult Diagnosis, Part 1 - This is Really a Thing?

How did I know I had ADHD? I didn't.

Our daughter was diagnosed about a year ago with ADHD and, like the analytic dork I am, I started reading about the disorder and how to help her. My research informed me that there is a strong genetic component - diagnosed children usually have a parent or other family member with ADHD.

I looked immediately at my husband.

And we went on happily believing he was the carrier for nearly a year. I had thoughts on bad days that maybe I had it, but nothing more than a passing lament. Until my July copy of ADDitude magazine came in the mail.

July featured an article on ADHD in Women and Girls and it changed everything. ADHD in Women

Some of the things that resonated:

• Inconsistent performance at work/school, including lots of small errors that "smart people" don't make, it appears as if they are sabotaging their own success
• Women with ADHD tend to report years of low self-confidence and psychological damage from turning the frustration inside. There is a high rate of depression and anxiety. 
• Girls with ADHD tend to falter more when they lose the structure of school, rules, and routines and venture into early adulthood.
• When women with ADHD marry and have kids, they hit a "terrible wall of shame" because they are unable to perform the feats of memory and organization required today for child rearing.

Shortly before my brother died, we had discussed the possibility of him having ADHD and it seemed all but certain. But I didn't act like him, I wasn't hyperactive like him, I didn't have the impulse control issues or other traits that seemed to define his disordered actions. I never thought ADHD could look different.

It can. It does. To be continued...