I was diagnosed with ADHD and started on medication at 12, but not really told anything about what it meant for me or how to deal with it, and when I was 18 -literally when my parents dropped me off at college- was told I was autistic

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  • Olredeye [she/her]
    ·
    4 years ago

    I think I first realized I had ADHD in high school. I asked my general practitioner and he dismissed me immediately because i did relatively well on the SATs. A part of me knew he was wrong and that that is not how to diagnose ADHD, but getting dismissed out of hand like that really sucked and i didnt want to go to a doctor again. It wasnt until a year after college, when I was probably another bad week away from losing my job, that I went to a specialist and finally got a diagnosis. Up until the moment my psychiatrist gave the diagnosis a part of me was convinced they would tell me I was just lazy. Every time I had failed up until that point I blamed myself, and the diagnosis felt like I had finally been given permission to forgive myself.