[jazzyspazzy]

I was recently trawling the internetz and came across a video by a top YouTube comedian about their experiences with ADHD and all the symptoms that he has to deal with every day. As the video progressed, I realised that EVERY THING (bar one) applied to my everyday life.

I proceede to look at the comments, where some people were saying 'oh, but everyone does this'. I then think 'oh, so then I don't have ADHD, right?'.

I look further down the comments and other people were saying 'yes, everyone gets these from time to time, but with people with ADHD these are constants symptoms and cause severe complications with work, home, relationships, etc.' So then I'm just thinking '****, that totally describes my entire life'.

Aware of the dangers of self-diagnosis, I look at a dozen other videos of people on YouTube talking about their experiences with ADHD and how the symptoms present themselves in their lives. Again, I totally identify with EVERY SINGLE F***ING THING.

ADD awareness organisation FAQ pages. Tick. Medical websites describing symptoms. Tick. Wikipedia. Tick. Self-diagnosis quizzes. Tick.

I have pretty much looked at every resource there is that can be found on ADHD, particularly adult ADHD and the inattentive-type ADHD. Not a single shred of evidence suggests to me that maybe this is all in my head and I'm over-reacting to the situation.

Oh, I'm also living abroad for the next 6 months so I can't get myself diagnosed. How do I cope with not knowing for that long?

[Travelinglady]

Hi, jazzyspazzy, and welcome to Psych Central! Well, you might try finding some books that give advice about how to cope with ADD/DHD and implement the techniques, just assuming you do have it. If you don't have it, then you might be out some money but probably the techniques wouldn't hurt anything.

Have you checked the sticky about resources at the top of this forum, looking specifically for ways to deal with ADD/ADHD? Maybe that would be an inexpensive route!