I’m late 😩 I just found this AMA. You said you may check back, if so I have several questions!
43/F just diagnosed with ADHD-C in November. I was diagnosed with BPD at 14 but knew that wasn’t right. Suffered through 4 years of lithium etc and stopped when I turned 18. I’m smart, have 2 college degrees, same job (multiple promotions) over 18 years. Both parents are educators and I’m an only child, so academic and career success was an expectation I could not avoid. I have very few outward signs of ADHD, but they are raging internally. Here are my thoughts/questions:
1) I’ve been referred to as “stoic” my entire life. The only emotion I can outwardly display with ease is anger. Very recently (like, last week) I learned about RSD. I have this written all over me. Is it typical to have these angry/frustrated reactions so easily while feeing somewhat numb and closed down to most other emotions?
2) in learning about RSD last week, I finally hit the grief stage of my diagnosis, full force. Looking back on 43 years of damage done to myself and others, including a serious suicide attempt in my teens, was just too much. How different my entire life could have been if we had known what it was…I had thought everyone experiences these feelings with this much intensity. What do you recommend for supplemental counseling to help with the grief stage? Any particular type of therapist or counselor? Las Vegas area.
3) is there a difference between the perfectionism/hyper focus on details often seen in ADHD, and “ADHD induced OCD”? That’s part of my official diagnoses, not sure if they are the same.
4) (big one for me) speaking of “how different could things have been”: I had my first migraine at 8 and was diagnosed with chronic migraine at 14. I typically had 15-18 migraines per month, and we tried every medication and other treatment available. Since starting (generic) adderall in November, I have had 4 migraines, total. My PMHNP tells me this is something she looks for in migraine patients, she often sees significant decreases in migraines once meds are started. Is there research on this out there you could direct me to? Is this something you see in your practice?
nibay21 karma
I’m late 😩 I just found this AMA. You said you may check back, if so I have several questions!
43/F just diagnosed with ADHD-C in November. I was diagnosed with BPD at 14 but knew that wasn’t right. Suffered through 4 years of lithium etc and stopped when I turned 18. I’m smart, have 2 college degrees, same job (multiple promotions) over 18 years. Both parents are educators and I’m an only child, so academic and career success was an expectation I could not avoid. I have very few outward signs of ADHD, but they are raging internally. Here are my thoughts/questions:
1) I’ve been referred to as “stoic” my entire life. The only emotion I can outwardly display with ease is anger. Very recently (like, last week) I learned about RSD. I have this written all over me. Is it typical to have these angry/frustrated reactions so easily while feeing somewhat numb and closed down to most other emotions?
2) in learning about RSD last week, I finally hit the grief stage of my diagnosis, full force. Looking back on 43 years of damage done to myself and others, including a serious suicide attempt in my teens, was just too much. How different my entire life could have been if we had known what it was…I had thought everyone experiences these feelings with this much intensity. What do you recommend for supplemental counseling to help with the grief stage? Any particular type of therapist or counselor? Las Vegas area.
3) is there a difference between the perfectionism/hyper focus on details often seen in ADHD, and “ADHD induced OCD”? That’s part of my official diagnoses, not sure if they are the same.
4) (big one for me) speaking of “how different could things have been”: I had my first migraine at 8 and was diagnosed with chronic migraine at 14. I typically had 15-18 migraines per month, and we tried every medication and other treatment available. Since starting (generic) adderall in November, I have had 4 migraines, total. My PMHNP tells me this is something she looks for in migraine patients, she often sees significant decreases in migraines once meds are started. Is there research on this out there you could direct me to? Is this something you see in your practice?
Thank you for talking the time to do this!
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