Hey all!

I'm Nessa, and not new to the site (although I've been away for a bit) but new to this forum!

I have had some stuff happen recently (story below in case you are interested, and because I want to tell someone!) but my main questions to the group are:
- When were you first diagnosed?
- What was the experience like? (ie. was it a dr, teacher, etc? was it self-report only, or did they talk to friends and family? did they start you on therapy, meds, other?)
- How did you feel when you first heard about your diagnosis?

And, in case you are interested, here are my last couple months, and the reasons behind my questions:

I just recently began seeing a psychiatrist for depression and anxiety after a two year wait. on the second session of the assessment (she said her assessments usually take 4-6 sessions) she started giving me questionnaires about different things. The fourth session, they started to be really focused on things like concentration, impulse control, hyperactivity, risk taking, memory, etc. So I asked her what they were for, and she mentioned that she had noticed in what I was saying and in my behaviours, some signs of ADHD, and wanted to get a clear picture of it, and then maybe do an actual assessment. I laughed and told her that no, I DEFINITELY didn't have ADHD.

So she gave me a couple books to read, and a couple websites to check out, and told me to come back the next week and see if I still felt the same way. So, I did what I was told, because I always do, but I was sure it was a mistake. I did really well in school as a child (even though I bombed in university), so I couldn't have ADHD!

And what I found shocked me. Researching Adult ADHD was like looking at my whole life through the lens of someone else. Almost EVERYTHING they were describing fit me perfectly. All of these things they were saying were signs, symptoms, and markers of this disorder were things I thought were just bad choices I was making, or character flaws. They were all the things that I hated about myself, because I could never figure out why I did/didn't do them, and why no one else seemed to have the same problem...so I always just assumed it was because I was lazy, stupid, incompetent and worthless. And the more articles I read and more lectures I watched, the more sense it made. And I even doubted it halfway through because I told myself that it must be something else because I did really well in elementary and high school. But then I looked into ADHD and Giftedness (I was classified as Gifted and with a high IQ when I was young, but stayed in a normal school because my parents didn't want to send me to a special school) and it turns out that Gifted kids are often never diagnosed because they can daydream/not pay attention in class and still get awesome grades, which is what always happened to me. And then when I thought about it, I would always find ways to be out of class, working on some special project, or tutoring other kids, or working on things for different clubs or activities, and the teachers never cared because I was always top of my class anyway.

Anyway, so I went back to her the next session with a much different attitude, and she decided to start a formal assessment. We still have a little bit left to do, but I think I know how this will turn out. And so I guess I was wondering how this whole experience was for other people, and if they have advice on how to deal with it, because I have to admit I'm pretty shell-shocked.

Anyway, that's my story. Thanks for reading, if you did

~ Nessa