Assessment

Thanks. I’ll have a look at it.

I keep plugging the book Small Talk by the Pinks. It is the only ADHD book that ever resonated with my lived experience of ADHD. I cried all the way through it.  It completely changed my perspective on my various conditions.

I cannot recommend it highly enough.

I have been diagnosed ASD and I’m on a 4+ year NHS waiting list for ADHD assessment.

Being diagnosed ASD was a massive relief as it explained many of my past struggles and now I put less pressure on myself.

I am hoping that the ADHD assessment and potential diagnosis might further enlighten me.

There have been a few threads about ADHD meds recently. You could search for "stimulants" or "medication" and see if you can find them.

Hopefully it may calm down my rather cluttered thought process and allow me to relax. It'll likely be a month or so before anything happens.

Yay! Welcome to the club!

What sort of effect do you hope the meds will have? Do you have particularly challenges that you're hoping will get a little easier? The pills can work wonders, but sometimes they're a little less effective for AuDHD than ADHD, so fingers crossed. I hope you find something that works for you.

Please tell us how the ADHD medication goes! I'm still waiting for my full assessment as well i think it's ADHD ( but it might be something else )

Well at the end of the assessment, they went through the qualifying diagnostic criteria one by one and discussed the evidence, I qualify on all fronts, so I'm officially assessed and diagnosed with ADHD. Apparently I should get the full report with 3 weeks.

At some point after that the discussion around medication will start.

Thank you, it's just one step at a time, over and over again.

I've just had a lot going on lately and it's just weighing on me more than a little.

Okay, TRD, I've just googled that. I understand now.

Depression has followed me around all my life and I've been on and off meds. I think it goes with the territory. I think a diagnosis answers this partly for me because I know it's how my brain is wired, but it doesn't take away the feelings.

I am trying to be a bit more gentle and kind to my myself these days and I'm finding new things that help soothe my tired brain.

You are not broken (BTW) just wonderfully different

I see a psychologist a couple of times a month and I do understand that I am the same person post assessment that I was before, but with just a little more information.

I think most of my issues are because of my TRD which is currently kicking me up and down the street. I just need something in my life to change. I do all the things I'm supposed to do but nothing seems to have a positive impact.

I do have a greater understanding than I did before, but does it help, I'm not sure?

I have TRD and for a long time I just thought I was broken in some way. My assessment for ASD was hopefully supposed to help change that, so I'd change from broken to just a bit different.

It just seems be taking its own sweet time. Acceptance and understanding just seem to be a long way off.

Hergé said:

If there's anyone else here that have both diagnosis, did it change anything

I don't think the diagnosis itself changes anything. It does inform you of what is causing many of your behaviours and helps with forming ways to deal with your life to make them less of a problem for you.

Typically it needs the help of a therapist who knows these areas well to make effective changes in your life, but they can bring a lot of relief from the more problematic traits and improve your quality of life significantly.

If therapy is out of your price range then you can self study the subjects and develop your own approach too.

There can be very practical benefits in getting access to Reasonable Adjustments at work, supporting PIP benefit applications, educating those you life with about your condition etc. These all contribute to making life better for you.

Once you have the diagnoses remember that you are still the same person as before, you just have more knowledge as to why you are the way you are so you can now use this to make things better.

Good luck with the assessment.

Hi 

I'm not sure how you mean distant?

I found the autism assessment much more difficult, it sort of made me reflect on what life could have been like, because I think autism has played a bigger part in my life and restricted me somewhat.

Now I am only just learning about the positives of being autistic, but I had to get to rock bottom to find those things. 

I am waiting to try medication for my ADHD. My therapist has told me it can transform things for some people.

I hope all goes well today. I know how stressful they can be.