[Gene_Parmesan]

Same, except aged 28. I completely randomly happened to stumble upon a detailed description of inattentive ADHD, and had the thought, "Hmm, I wonder how doctors are able to differentiate between someone who has these symptoms and has ADHD, and someone like me who has these symptoms but doesn't have ADHD."

Then it hit me like a brick wall. Now I understand the phrase "it was like time stopped." Blinders came off and I felt like I re-evaluated every life experience I'd had in about 30 seconds. Two doctors appointments later I was hearing "Oh yes, you certainly have intense ADHD, the question is just how intense."

ADHD affects so many things as you mention. For me, getting treated has nearly entirely eliminated all forms of anxiety. For instance, I was a socially anxious mess in any sort of group setting; now I intentionally seek out conversations and enjoy telling stories. Some days I hardly recognize the old me. Strange feeling.

But yes, diagnosis + treatment highly recommended. Untreated ADHD increases your risk factors for so many things -- for instance, substance issues (NIH estimates fully 50% of people with substance issues have ADHD whether they know it or not).

[cambaceres]

What did your treatment look like?

[k__]

I thought about getting diagnosed too, but to be frank, while I certainly wanna try those meds, I don't wanna take them for the rest of my life, let alone pay for them on a regular basis.

[justinclift]

Yeah. Also, some countries still treat anyone with any kind of official mental "unusualness" as needing to be thrown in a looney bin. :(

Additionally, it's an unknown how long the current acceptance of ADHD (etc) will last in modern / western countries. We could just be going through a limited-time golden period.

[sph]

> I don't wanna take them for the rest of my life

That's not the biggest worry. The largest psychological hurdle is seeing how much better your brain is with an illegal medication, and accepting the very uncomfortable truth that a pill that's often maligned, misunderstood, abused, and controlled is the difference between a fulfilling life and a slow spiral into the Abyss. Your fortune is not completely in your control.

As someone that has relied on himself all of his life, this idea still is very hard to live with.

[muttled]

I'm of two minds on this. Having taken them before and quitting, I know that you definitely can. But also once you see the kind of person you can be with medication, the really low unmedicated days feel extra hard compared to the effortlessness of the best medicated days.

[marmetio]

I took them for a few months and then stopped. It felt restorative.

[olyjohn]

There's so many different meds though... with different effects. And for some people it takes time to figure out which one works best.

[marmetio]

I tried just one medicine at different dose levels for a few months and then stopped. Never figured out a long-term solution because I didn't take it long-term.

[etempleton]

It is interesting you say this. While I have never been diagnosed ADHD I have been diagnosed with anxiety and was on SSRIs for about a year, which did help tremendously, but there were side effects and ultimately I decided I was in a place I could manage without the medication and so far have.

I am interested in if you could elaborate on how ADHD medication helps you with anxiety.

[xvector]

God I hope I can get my diagnosis soon. You describe me to a T right now and I'm 27.