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Going through adult AuADHD assessment.

Calmac8423

Hi, I'm 42 and currently going through a neurodevelopmental assessment. ADHD indicators have already been identified, and autism is now also being explored, although I obviously don't have a diagnosis yet.

I'm finding the whole thing surprisingly difficult. Over the last few months I've started noticing just how much I've apparently been dealing with for most of my life without really understanding it — sensory overload, struggling with competing sounds, getting overwhelmed by people and noise, shutting down when I've had too much, difficulty actually getting myself to start things even when I genuinely want to do them, pretty intense emotional reactions, and needing a fair amount of time to recover afterwards.

The weird bit is that I keep swinging between "holy ***, this explains an awful lot" and "am I just seeing what I want to see and actually this is all anxiety/depression?"

I'm not really looking for anyone to tell me whether I'm autistic. I'm still going through the assessment and I'm quite happy to leave that bit to the professionals. I'm more interested in hearing from other adults who've been through something similar, especially people who got to this point later in life.

I'm also really not looking for another massive self-improvement project. Sweat smile I've spent quite enough of my life trying to figure out how to function properly. At this point I'd mostly like to understand what's actually going on and hopefully find some ways of making ordinary life a bit easier.

So I suppose I'm mainly looking to hear from people who've been in a similar position, and maybe get a bit of perspective while I wait for the rest of the assessment.

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  • Calmac8423 said:
    Over the last few months I've started noticing just how much I've apparently been dealing with for most of my life without really understanding it — sensory overload, struggling with competing sounds, getting overwhelmed by people and noise, shutting down when I've had too much, difficulty actually getting myself to start things even when I genuinely want to do them, pretty intense emotional reactions, and needing a fair amount of time to recover afterwards.

    That's so familiar! I'd thought I was ND for years but there was hardly anything on female autistics when I looked, so I forgot about it. When I looked again, earlier this year, it was all there - the whole pattern of my life in terms of social interaction, monotropism and stuff from childhood. Even oddities about my sensory stuff.  It helped me shed my guilt and shame over so many things, and what I'd thought were a bunch of individual failures came into focus as different wiring in my brain. 

    I'm in my 70s and recently diagnosed autistic. I also have ADD, but I'm not seeking a formal diagnosis for that, yet. I've also struggled with anxiety most of my life, but I can now see that that's caused by a build-up of all the failures (as I thought of them) plus, now, the aftermath of an horrendous autistic burnout.

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  • Calmac8423 said:
    Over the last few months I've started noticing just how much I've apparently been dealing with for most of my life without really understanding it — sensory overload, struggling with competing sounds, getting overwhelmed by people and noise, shutting down when I've had too much, difficulty actually getting myself to start things even when I genuinely want to do them, pretty intense emotional reactions, and needing a fair amount of time to recover afterwards.

    That's so familiar! I'd thought I was ND for years but there was hardly anything on female autistics when I looked, so I forgot about it. When I looked again, earlier this year, it was all there - the whole pattern of my life in terms of social interaction, monotropism and stuff from childhood. Even oddities about my sensory stuff.  It helped me shed my guilt and shame over so many things, and what I'd thought were a bunch of individual failures came into focus as different wiring in my brain. 

    I'm in my 70s and recently diagnosed autistic. I also have ADD, but I'm not seeking a formal diagnosis for that, yet. I've also struggled with anxiety most of my life, but I can now see that that's caused by a build-up of all the failures (as I thought of them) plus, now, the aftermath of an horrendous autistic burnout.

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