Published on 12, July, 2020
I've been diagnosed with ADHD for years and OCD for even longer, but despite getting help & medication I'm still struggling. My autistic friends and family think I have a level of autism as well and I'm not sure what to do with that. My autistic best friend said it wasn't as noticeable until I was medicated for the ADHD, but is certain it's a thing for me. Her husband is AuDHD as well, so she's got a good understanding of what it could look like. I'm balancing a lot of stuff, I've got a managerial job, I'm a carer and I've had a lot of "adverse life experiences" over the last few years - not the least with managing the Covid pandemic and months of shielding and losing my entire life and support structure overnight. I'm currently going through titration to try and sort out my ADHD meds a bit better and I'm hovering on the edge of raising it with my ADHD consultant, but I'm not even sure how to start that conversation. I'm waiting on talking therapy from the NHS, but that's taking a long while in coming. I'm really not sure where to go next with anything. Sorry, this seems a rather self-indulgent post, but I think I needed to just get it out there.
I’m aware of several people (especially women) who after receiving treatment for adhd suddenly seem autistic as the adhd had previously been ‘hiding’ the autism symptoms. Embrace autism (website) has several tests including the RAADS-R, I’d highly recommend doing this as it’s simple and clinically relevant. Then bringing it up with both your adhd consultant (although they might tell you to go back through your GP) and your GP- something like “my friends who have been diagnosed with autism seem to think I might have it and I scored quite highly on [these online tests for autism]” is a good way to start the conversation.