What are we missing about ADHD?
Hi ADHDers!
How are we all doing?
So it's been 6 years since I began the journey of trying to understand my ADHD brain.
I’m talking, doing endless research, reading studies on ADHD, chatting with my psychiatrist, learning from other ADHDers - the full shebang!
And I’ve come to the conclusion that there’s still so much we don’t know about ADHD.
Shall we begin?
ADHD in Adulthood
ADHD tends to be diagnosed in childhood as it’s medically deemed to be a Neurodevelopmental disorder that begins in childhood.
However, over the last few years, there has been an increase in many adults being formally diagnosed with ADHD, due to ADHD being missed in childhood.
The rise in adults who are finding out they have ADHD has opened my eyes to many cracks in the system:
Some General Practitioners should be better informed to support adults seeking an ADHD assessment and not refuse psychiatrist referrals.
People have reported being misdiagnosed with anxiety or BPD and then eventually diagnosed with ADHD.
The misconception that children with ADHD outgrow ADHD.
Some countries do not provide adults with ADHD assessments as ADHD is usually diagnosed in childhood.
Up to date on how information impacts people in adulthood and how it manifests.
The lack of resources/psychiatrists/funding to conduct ADHD assessments, resulting in long waitlists in the UK.
Although this doesn’t solve the above problems:
I created ADHD cards with descriptions of each trait, examples in adulthood and coping strategies, which I cannot believe thousands of people have bought. I was invited to speak to a UK NHS trust about them and a few have purchased:
ADHD in Women
I believe the stereotype of the ‘hyperactive boy bouncing off the walls’ is why many girls went through childhood undiagnosed with ADHD.
Also, the reason why some women are told they don’t or can’t have ADHD before they are even assessed.
The overreliance on using outwardly hyperactive behaviours to determine whether or not someone meets the threshold of having ADHD (without an assessment) negatively impacts women.
Especially when you take into account ADHD inattentive type, internalised hyperactivity, ADHD Comorbidities and also ADHD masking.
Menstruation and Menopause
I don’t know about you, but when it’s that time of the month, my ADHD meds deactivate. My hormones win the battle every time!
More research on ADHD and PMDD will be great as well as perimenopause and menopause!
Underdiagnosis of ethnic minorities
The misinformation on ADHD being overdiagnosed fails to mention that ethnic minorities are underdiagnosed.
I would like to see more studies on how ADHD impacts different groups with a large representation of ethnic minority groups.
What else am I missing?
It would be remiss of me not to mention more research on ADHD Comorbidities! I have a whole newsletter on this.
Did you know a side effect of some ADHD medications is Tics? Which I have experienced!
I think we will be here all day, so I’ll bring this to a close!
That’s all from me, Rach with ADHD!
Seriously, they need to stop focus on little boys and to more research on all fronts. Like now… 😑 I’m learning something new about my ADHD every single day. Something doctors here in Sweden never say.
I'm pretty sure my ADHD has got worse with age (perimenopause), and I used to have horrible PMT as well when I was younger and I wonder whether that was also impacted by ADHD (I was not diagnosed until age 45).