golemprivilege:

dovaahkiins:

dovaahkiins:

“your kid needs your attention, not adhd meds!”

“maybe we can talk about how with the internet there are more diagnoses of adhd now, and how the internet is rewiring our brains…”

“medicating childhood: the hoax of adhd”

literally all things ive seen in the past fucking WEEK let me out of this hell

i can debunk this all in a flash

adhd is a neurodevelopmental disorder, and develops around 12 years old. given that, and how many diagnosed adhd adults there are, including elders, this is something that predates the internet

adhd is genetic, so despite an attention given from parent to child, it’s incredibly likely that at least one of the parents or other relatives also has adhd

oh yes, and let’s not forget the myth that adhd symptoms are synonymous with child behavior. but adhd isn’t just hyperactivity – in fact, hyperactivity doesn’t always present itself. in addition to hyperactivity, other symptoms include:

• echolalia
• poor memory
• racing/scattered thoughts
• slowed social development (around 30%)
• difficulty understanding tasks/organizing them into steps
• struggles understanding time management
• impulsive acts (impulsive spending is a major issue with many of us)
• difficulty managing emotions, especially anger
• easily bored (and boredom leads to greater frustration than others)
• TROUBLE SLEEPING. many adhd people spend their entire lives not getting good sleep because of the constant “noise” in their heads. see the scattered thoughts. basically, the thoughts are always going. there is no shut off switch. insomnia is largely prevalent with adhd
• losing details (like getting poor grades because you missed the fine print on a test even with knowing the material)
• struggles with listening comprehension (words sound like nonsense)
• struggles with reading comprehension (words look like nonsense)
• memorization issues – a child skilled in math will have trouble with multiplication tables, for example
• has trouble “waiting their turn” in conversation – frequently interrupts without realizing
• hyperfocus – an often overlooked aspect, when one focuses to the exception of all other external stimuli, including needing to eat, sleep, etc. time almost ceases to exist
• not a symptom, but adhd – especially adult adhd – is highly comorbid with anxiety disorders and depression later in life. this is because a person with adhd is working their heart out to achieve the same standards, contrary to the believe that they’re “lazy.” as you can see above, almost every aspect of daily life is impacted – social, work, school, family, money… and this can lead to a feeling of being unable to cope.
• despite all that, people with adhd are also:
• more solution-oriented
• more resilient
• more expressive
• more curious
• and better at multitasking – not just because of having to learn how to manage the other symptoms, but these are, in fact, also symptoms. you can imagine how useful hyperfocus can be as well.

i wrote all this because i really want people to understand me and understand how this all works. and i want misunderstandings to stop so people can respect who i am.

i also want to note that one of the classic presentations of primarily-inattentive ADHD in children is a spacey, quiet kid who daydreams a lot and doesn’t seem to be “present”, the very opposite of the stereotype of the bouncing-off-the-walls primarily-hyperactive kid we’re supposed to think is The Sole Presentation Of ADHD

ADHD also impacts social development in a very big way! children with ADHD lag behind their peers in social skills. (note: i re-read the list and saw this was mentioned already, which is p. funny, because one of the big deficits i have as a result of ADHD is skipping over details and being unable to deal with lists and instructions)

also, RE: insomnia associated with ADHD, a thing that’s frequently comorbid with ADHD is delayed sleep phase disorder. DSPD (which i have) is having your circadian rhythm shifted two or three (or four or five) hours later than everyone else’s. you have no trouble falling asleep and staying asleep, but it happens later than the norm and thus you wake up naturally later than the norm. 

this is impossible to get around. trust me, even if i force myself to keep a schedule meant for people without DSPD, i will revert to my natural sleeping patterns sooner or later. quite often, going to bed early means i don’t fall asleep until my natural sleep time anyway. i’ve had this problem literally since infancy. i’ve never had trouble actually sleeping (even through noise or light or whatever) or getting restful sleep (even with the sun shining on my face), i just have a circadian rhythm that slicks its hair back into a pomp and wears a leather jacket and probably is saving up money from its part-time job at a gas station to buy a motorbike.

on the plus side, ADHD does lead to one being more curious, more spontaneous, able to make more unique and odd associations and able to devote oneself to one interest utterly and self-teach more effectively than others (at least, based on my own experiences, i find it to be so – i’m very good at teaching myself things from scratch and my boyfriend, who also has ADHD, is the same way; in fact, he’s a self-taught programmer who’s making a career out of programming with no degree; other ADHD people i know are very good at just diving into a subject and getting really into it, as long as it’s interesting to them).

… so what ADHD can lead to is the very frustrating status of 2e, twice exceptional, a child (and later, adult) who is both gifted and disabled. it’s a unique kind of struggle, because people assume being bright and spontaneous and creative means you’re capable and will point-fucking-blank ignore signs of disability in you, instead ascribing them to laziness and lack of caring. i’ve been in special education in my time in school. i was also in gifted programs. it’s a Ride.