I strongly suspect that I have ADHD, but I can’t see the benifit of getting diagnosed.

I know that if I get diagnosed and offically have ADHD I can get some medicine but I don’t think I want that in any case.

Can you share your experience and what benifit you got from getting offically diagnosed?

cobysev
link
fedilink
English
151Y

I served in the US Air Force for 20 years. You aren’t eligible for service with an ADHD diagnosis, but if you’re diagnosed after serving - and it’s not negatively affecting your job - you can contribute to serve.

I had suspected for many years that I had ADHD to some degree, and I decided to get an official diagnosis in my last year of service. The military doctors, of course, said there was no way I had it. After all, I had served almost 2 decades without any issues. But I insisted, so I got a referral to a civilian ADHD specialist for a diagnosis.

The specialist said I had one of the worst cases of ADHD she’d seen in her 11 years as a doctor.

It was recommended I get medication for it. But I have the hyperfocus type of ADHD and it actually made me very productive at work. While other people would get burnt out from staring at their computer screen all day, I could sit still and do menial, repetitive tasks without rest. I was highly efficient at work and rarely missed details.

I feel like medication would make me “normal,” and then I wouldn’t be very good at my job. So I’ve opted to stay unmedicated. But I’m glad I’m diagnosed, because it helps me to understand certain behaviors I have, and it’s good for my medical history. When I stress out and bury myself in work instead of tackling my problems, I know it’s because of ADHD and I could resolve it with medication if I needed to. It’s not just a personality quirk for me to overcome.

Create a post

A casual community for people with ADHD

Values:

Acceptance, Openness, Understanding, Equality, Reciprocity.

Rules:

  • No abusive, derogatory, or offensive post/comments.
  • No porn, gore, spam, or advertisements allowed.
  • Do not request for donations.
  • Do not link to other social media or paywalled content.
  • Do not gatekeep or diagnose.
  • Mark NSFW content accordingly.
  • No racism, homophobia, sexism, ableism, or ageism.
  • Respectful venting, including dealing with oppressive neurotypical culture, is okay.
  • Discussing other neurological problems like autism, anxiety, ptsd, and brain injury are allowed.
  • Discussions regarding medication are allowed as long as you are describing your own situation and not telling others what to do (only qualified medical practitioners can prescribe medication).

Encouraged:

  • Funny memes.
  • Welcoming and accepting attitudes.
  • Questions on confusing situations.
  • Seeking and sharing support.
  • Engagement in our values.

Relevant Lemmy communities:

Autism

ADHD Memes

Bipolar Disorder

Therapy

Mental Health

Neurodivergent Life Hacks

lemmy.world/c/adhd will happily promote other ND communities as long as said communities demonstrate that they share our values.

  • 1 user online
  • 49 users / day
  • 168 users / week
  • 212 users / month
  • 395 users / 6 months
  • 1 subscriber
  • 551 Posts
  • 8.36K Comments
  • Modlog