If you’re an ADHD women dealing with hyperactivity /attention-deficit disorder (ADHD), it’s entirely possible that you weren’t diagnosed before adulthood. Since more males than females are diagnosed in infancy. It’s also possible that you didn’t know you had ADHD until you came across research that outlined your symptoms in startlingly familiar detail or until your mental health professional put the puzzle pieces together and explained it to you. You may have suffered from anxiety and depression before being diagnosed with ADHD women, and you may have had an epiphany when you learned that the two (or three) disorders are often inextricably related and feed off of one another, making ADHD much more challenging to identify. You’re probably familiar with the feelings of blame, remorse, anger, and anxiety that come with trying to manage life with a brain that never stops, much less slows down and makes almost anything you do more difficult.
The good news is that treatment, whether it’s medication, therapy, coaching, or a combination of these, can significantly improve your quality of life. Knowing what you’re up against when you receive a diagnosis can be highly beneficial. Learning more about ADHD women by talking to others and doing research is a perfect way to learn tips to deal with daily life while you put a name to the face of your ever-wandering mind. One or more of these women’s stories may resonate with you or anyone you know.
What Is the Concept of ADHD?
The most common developmental disorder in children is ADHD, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. According to the National Library of Medicine in the US, up to 5% of children meet the requirements for ADHD women, but many remain undiagnosed until they are adolescents or adult. ADHD is characterized by impulsive actions, failure to pay attention, and excessive physical activity. Since ADHD women has a negative effect on academic performance, social life, and work success, many adolescents and adults with the disorder turn to drug abuse and Addiction.
What Effect Does ADHD Have on Your Life?
ADHD women are often bright, imaginative, and intelligent; however, the condition makes it difficult to maintain mental concentration on a particular subject or avoid urging them to act out. ADHD women may be labeled “troublemakers” at school and may struggle to fit in with their peers.
Teenagers with The Condition Are More Likely to Participate in Alcohol Abuse, Substance Use, and Illegal Behavior, According to The Us Department of Health and Human Services:
- ADHD women are twice as likely to have consumed alcohol in the previous six months.
- Teens with ADHD are more likely to experiment with alcohol or narcotics while they are younger.
- ADHD teens are more likely to use a variety of illicit drugs.
- ADHD-affected teens are more likely to use marijuana.
- ADHD women are twice as likely to have consumed alcohol in the previous six months.
Living with a behavioral disorder may have a long-term effect on your life. ADHD women are more likely than adults to engage in alcoholism, substance abuse, and other compulsive behaviors. They will continue to struggle with task completion and maintaining healthy social relationships. Adults and youth who are dealing with addiction and ADHD women will benefit from dual diagnosis treatment services.
Story of Melissa
Melissa had always struggled with disorganization, forgetfulness, depression, following through, and preparation, but she had no idea she had inattentive ADHD women until she came across the book Delivered from Distraction in the library one day.
As ADHD women read, she couldn’t stop laughing at how similar the details were to her father’s. “Then I went through the questionnaire in the book and realized I had responded ‘Yes’ to every single question except the ones about hyperactivity,” Melissa says. “At the same time, I felt embarrassed and pleased. It was a genuine ‘aha’ moment: ‘So that’s what’s wrong with me,’ ADHD women said.
Melissa, who was diagnosed at the age of 44, felt optimistic about the future now that she knew why she had suffered so much. She had struggled with genetic depression her whole life and found that ADHD women exacerbated it. “It’s difficult not to be frustrated when you feel like you have to work harder than anyone else to maintain a simple degree of realistic adult success,” Melissa says. Melissa believes that her good grades and test scores masked ADHD women, even though she did well in school, which helped “offset the depression somewhat.”
Melissa’s medicine has been an integral part of ADHD women life. “I’ve been on Wellbutrin for depression for about ten years, but my life changed until I switched to Ritalin a year and a half ago,” she says. “I had more done and more concentration in four hours after taking the first pill than I had in the previous two weeks. It felt like a miracle, as though I had passed through a portal labeled “natural.” “Oh, so this is how regular people get things done,” I thought. While Ritalin’s potency has worn off, ADHD women still feels like she gets more done and can concentrate more while she’s on it.
ADHD women Melissa wishes she had had more good habits and self-discipline when she was younger. “Even with medication, I can still zone out at home and hyper-focus on one exciting thing…and then realize several hours later that the house is a shambles, I forgot to defrost dinner, and I haven’t done what I needed to do that day,” ADHD women says. This is where she believes that healthy habits can be highly beneficial.
Melissa uses a chore planner called Inspired Moms to help her schedule and coordinate ADHD women tasks and timers to keep track of them. She also made a reminder list of two columns: “Things I Can Do When the Kids Are Home” and “Things I Can Do When the Kids Are Away,” according to ADHD women. “Listening to audiobooks also helps me concentrate mentally when I’m doing mundane household tasks and prevents my mind from wandering.”
Story of Candace
Candace felt like one of the “poor kids” as a child, constantly getting in trouble for not paying attention, failing math, and receiving negative reviews everywhere she went. She learned to act out on purpose to draw attention to herself. Candace learned she had ADHD women after using recreational drugs with her peers as a young adult. “I tried a muscle relaxant a few times, but they still made me feel concentrated for no apparent reason.
We had all taken Adderall one night,” ADHD women recalls. “Everyone else was going crazy, but I was like, ‘The world is real.’ All is in order. ‘What the hell is going on?!’ I’d never felt more in control of what was going on in my life. It was incredible. “I said to myself, ‘This is how it’s supposed to be,'” she says. “However, I felt guilty about it. I had a bad feeling that I had a strong feeling.”
Candace reacted the way many people did when a friend told her she had been diagnosed with ADHD women as an adult many years later: “There is no such thing as ADHD women in adults,” she said. She started to note, however, how her friend behaved when she refused to take her medicine. Candace recalls, “She was just like me.” “When I asked what she took, she said Adderall, which was exactly what I was taking (that one day). I was beginning to feel a bit better. “Maybe this is what I need,” I hypothesized.
One summer, she hit rock bottom when she became seriously depressed. “I couldn’t understand why, as an adult, I couldn’t seem to pull it together. Why do I seem to be so careless? Why do I seem unconcerned? Why can other people make sense of life when I can’t seem to get it right?” she wonders. She finally wanted to find out whether she had ADHD women after having her kids. “I made the decision, ‘I’m going in because I’m not going to shortchange my boy,'” she says. She was diagnosed at the age of 27.
Candace is currently on Adderall, and ADHD women believes it has made a massive difference in her life. “I used to believe that everybody was better than me, that everything I touched would be ruined, and that people liked me for a short time before leaving me once they got to know me. “I had a lot of self-doubts,” she admits.”It was like something was narrowed down for me after my diagnosis after I started taking my medicine and started getting things right, and I wasn’t guessing anymore.” She also listens to ADDitudemag.com’s ADHD women podcasts regularly and highly recommends them. “If I hadn’t been listening to those, I wouldn’t have known how to approach my relationship,” she says.
Story of Heather
Heather had never thought that she might have ADHD women until her ex-husband accused her of it during a heated argument. “At the time, I dismissed him as a guy with a gleaming new therapy degree who needed to mark everyone,” she recalls. “I didn’t match the stereotype of someone with ADHD women,” she says. I was on time, met deadlines with ease, and was reasonably coordinated. And I was still sleepy, not irritable. But the seed was planted, and I did some online research years later.”
She discovered that she had other symptoms of ADHD women as a result of her study. Heather says, “I speak too fast, interpret other people’s conversations, struggle to remain focused, and am easily distracted.” “I get lost in a project if it’s exciting to me, and I lose track of time.” Random stimuli such as flashing lights, high-pitched noises, rough textures, smells, and tastes also make me hypersensitive.” Her psychiatrist recommended she see a psychologist to be screened for ADHD women, but the therapy department she went to didn’t even have an adult exam, so she had to take a test for children instead. She was diagnosed when she was 39 years old.
Heather’s doctor placed her on the highest dose of Wellbutrin after attempting some ADHD women drugs, including Adderall, Concerta, and Strattera, with no progress. She has sought therapy for a while but says the counselor “didn’t seem to know how to deal with an adult female with ADHD women.” “The whole office was designed with children in mind. “All I wanted to do was go play with the toys and forget the counselor’s ruses.”
Heather’s ADHD women diagnosis has helped her understand why she does the things she does and find tools and coping strategies. She stays coordinated by setting reminders on her iPhone’s Google calendar. She listens to music through one earbud at work, which helps her concentrate and blocks out the noise. Heather used to move jobs every year or two because she was fired or bored, but she has now been with her new employer for six years.
Story of Kelsey
When Kelsey was in middle school, she realized she might have ADHD women. “I had a book called The Talented Kids’ Survival Guide,” she explained. It addressed learning disorders and how they can impact students who are also identified as gifted,” Kelsey explains. “ADHD women seemed to make the most sense based on the disabilities they discussed.” Kelsey’s pediatrician didn’t think she had ADHD because she had inattentive form. She missed work and school as an adult, straining her relationship with her parents until she was diagnosed at 23.
Kelsey was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder a few weeks before she was diagnosed with ADHD women. “It’s thought that my anxiety is purely due to my ADHD,” she says. “I’m not using drugs to relieve my anxiety because my stimulant medication helps to treat my ADHD women, which in turn helps to treat my anxiety.” Kelsey is in counseling with both anxiety and ADHD, although she believes the two feed off of each other, making dealing with one at a time more challenging.
Kelsey is now on Adderall, which she claims has made a significant difference in her life. She is working in counseling to learn how to take care of herself as well as ways to manage ADHD women and anxiety. Kelsey says, “Knowing that I have ADHD changed my life for the better.” “Now that I have access to advocates at my college, I am less depressed when dealing with school because I have more support if anything goes wrong, and thanks to my medicine, I can concentrate more during class.”
ADHD women has found that dedicating certain days or periods of the week to specific tasks, such as homework or working out, has proven beneficial. This keeps her more coordinated so that even though her job schedule changes, she still has some time slots closed off.
What Are the Signs of ADHD?
ADHD Women Symptoms and Signs Differ from Person to Person, but They Generally Fall Into One of Three Categories:
- Lack of ability to concentrate or pay attention to particular topics
- Hyperactive behavior, or a state of constant physical activity, is a term used to describe a state of constant physical activity.
- Impulsive behavior is characterized by a lack of control over one’s behavior.
Some people with ADHD women have a lack of concentration that isn’t followed by hyperactivity or impulsivity. Others are impulsive and hyperactive. However, they may control their focus. Children who are hyperactive and impulsive are referred to as “problem kids,” while those who are more inattentive are referred to as “daydreamers.”
Treatment of ADHD
Treatment of Dual Diagnosis is necessary for a full recovery. At Foundations Recovery Network, we take a holistic approach to each of our clients. Living with a behavioral disorder may have a long-term effect on your life. Adults with ADHD women are more likely than non-ADHD adults to engage in alcoholism, substance abuse, and other compulsive behaviors. Our therapists have the expertise and qualifications to treat both addiction and ADHD women since they have ample experience treating co-occurring psychological conditions. We will help you build the rewarding, stable future you deserve, whether you’ve had ADHD since childhood or were newly diagnosed as an adult. Please contact us to learn more about how our addiction treatment services will assist you in overcoming your addiction and discovering new sources of strength and hope in an ADHD women.
Ben Lesser is one of the most sought-after experts in health, fitness and medicine. His articles impress with unique research work as well as field-tested skills. He is a freelance medical writer specializing in creating content to improve public awareness of health topics. We are honored to have Ben writing exclusively for Dualdiagnosis.org.