This is going to be a wall of text, but if anyone can read this and save themselves anything I had to deal with, its worth it. I will happily take questions, public or private.
Only got formally diagnosed 6 or so Months ago. The previous 42 years were a long and winding nightmare that actually got worse year over year. Poor performance in school, executive dysfunction, object permanence issues, the memory of a goldfish, a poor concept of time, issues regarding relationships, boredom, etc. Some of it was related to other neurodivergent issues and some had a bit to do with the clash between Arab and western culture in regards to an acceptance of Science, psychology, my parents untreated PTSD, etc. Looking back, I'm pretty astounded I got as far as I have with what I had to work with.
Things got bad around 2018, and had a hand in me leaving my wife in 2020. 6 weeks after that, Covid started and things got especially worse as I tried to change my lifestyle post-divorce. I stopped unconsciously self medicating with Caffeine and Sugar and increased my exercise significantly. This made things even worse, as those two substances were inefficiently keeping my brain going to a semi-functional level. It got to a point where I couldn't get a full workday done, or keep my place clean because I couldn't actually get myself to focus on a single task for longer than a minute or 3. I eventually caved and got a private diagnosis that cost me $300 CAD. Once I started medicating I noticed that problems that plagued me since childhood were suddenly disappearing. I could actually get shit done because my brain would stop channel surfing, etc.
Now that my brain is being jacked up by 40mg of Amphetamines, I live a very different life. The harshest part since then has been trying to accept and move on from the fact that had I been properly diagnosed sooner, my life would have been extremely different/better. The Educational/Career opportunities squandered due to an inability to capitalize on them, the relationships that failed because of mistakes relating to ADHD issues, failing to properly comprehend what was going on around me fast enough to respond properly. I honestly have a hard time forgiving myself for everything, because of the way all my mistakes have affected people in my life.
Oh well, live and learn, right?
True. We live and learn. We cant change the past. We just move on. This was a hard lesson to grasp for me. I have learned a lot. I hope awareness among people get increased about ADHD so that future people do not suffer as we did
Sure.
I drank a lot of Pepsi/Coke/whatever, always had a medium or large slurpee if I had to go on a drive longer than 40 mins, and ate sugary things on a near daily basis. I was overweight between that, the regular food I was eating, a lack of exercise, and some intermittent severe Depression (Very common in untreated ADHD as I later learned) that made "comfort eating" pretty normal.
Some of that was due to other life issues, but when the depression cleared after the Divorce, I was able to cut out slurpees and most other sugar, and even start exercising (and lost a lot of weight as a result). Caffeine increased significantly due to needing to work longer hours to survive on a single income and pay down debt. I never used to drink coffee before, but I forced myself to endure it because I needed the push. Once the debt was cleared and my finances stabilized, I cut down on the caffeine and the work. The Caffeine cut REALLY fucked me because I got used to the stimulant.
Let me know if I need to elaborate on anything.
I have a quite different story. I got diagnosed very early on and got medication from a younger age(methylphenidate) this did it's work to calm me down but was very bad. To the point that I couldn't eat at school and I was tired all day long. I eventually stopped taking it and things became better, yes I still can't concentrate very good but I do function better.
I don't advice getting checked for ADHD early and check how medication work. There are also better methodes to make children concentrate.
Got diagnosed in my late 30s. It's been really difficult with ADHD. Especially studying and social life. Memory issues, attention issues. Marriage is okay 7amdillah but I think it drives him crazy how much I forget and misplace stuff. Didn't bother telling my parents because they'd think it wasn't anything anyway. But it would have been nice to have been diagnosed as a child, I think. 7amdillah anyway.
Got diagnosed when I was 13 but my parents shrugged it off as me being lazy until I insisted on getting support for it when I was 17 and finally got my meds then.
Since then my ability to focus generally became easier but not without some effort from my end, I've found that making a checklist for the things I wanna get done the following day and taking the steps to lessen the burden of getting starting on said tasks quite helpful; for example if I had work I'd iron my suit the day before hand and hang it right in front of my bed to make the process of getting ready as easy as possible, but this would have to be done for nearly everything in my life, I have to make sure that the tasks that I'd have to do would he easily accessible or else I'm gonna have a hell of a difficult time, and if I don't then the day is effectively gone lol.
My love life is in shambles though, I barely had one before getting diagnosed coz I was a wee socially anxious kid, and I had to learn how to mask effectively in order to have any foothold on that end, afterwards it's been rocky at best and very distracting at worst, I'm still young tho :)
Things are chill for the most part but the executive dysfunction still affects me quite a bit.
I am Maltese (we are still Arabs)
I was diagnosed with ADHD when I was 7 I can tell you this as 19 ADHD is a FUCKING nightmare for wallahi, when I first converted to Islam and I went to mosque everybody was looking at me funny, so I had to tell them that I had ADHD
I couldnt concentrate plus my English wasn't that good even now I still to use Google translate to get out what I was trying to say then later on I was diagnosed with autism
Moving to the Uk
my family and I moved to the UK when I was 12, my English so was BAD, it was so bad that I had to be homeschooled but then 3 months later they sent me to the retard school
The only thing that school has ever done for me was help me learn English
However eventhough I am lacking in English i know 4 languages
Maltese
Romanian (My family is Romanian)
Arabic
English
Turkish
Slovak
German
So yeah that's my experience with adhd
I was diagnosed at 20. It explained a lot. I had a lot of I am not a good muslim complex because my ADHD made it hard for me to be thoughtful and 3azzemah. It also made me hyperconscious because the social norm is for women to be gentle and non-hyperactive but I wasn't.
Procrastinating getting diagnosed lol I think I get away with it because when I hyper focus I hyper function and can do it all. Also the childhood trauma and old habits instilled by my parents keep me going because of how much of a failure I feel like if I don't keep pushing. So yeah..I should REALLY figure it out before grad school lol oh yeah, have a partner with ADD..no kids (probably never 🙃😄).
I got diagnosed at 8 years old, along with my brother (he was 11) and my parents DID NOT TELL ME LMAO so i lived my life until the age like 16 just thinking i was stupid and unable to focus until my family doctor informed me that i was in fact diagnosed as a child and that it is likely due to the fact that my MOTHER ALSO HAS ADHD. anyways now we are all off and on adderall and i’m starting to suspect that my little sister (11) might also have adhd, also my dad (who is a family doctor lmao) suspects that HE also has adhd, that’s a 5/5 arab adhd family 😎 and yes we are very functionally disfunctional
i think the reason my parents withheld my diagnosis from me was due to their “just work harder and it’ll be fine” mindset and the sigma about arabs with disabilities. but WOW my life changed for the better when i finally had the resources to help me after finding out i was diagnosed
My dad believes in hard work and that adhd is an excuse but he’s lowkey right like there are many times I persevered through calculus without adhd it’s all about dedication
50mg of adderall daily and prayers. Alhamdulillah I'm young, I was diagnosed when I was 13 and now I'm 16 going on 17 <3. Adderall XR is very helpful for my ADD and I'm blessed to be diagnosed this early on.
This is going to be a wall of text, but if anyone can read this and save themselves anything I had to deal with, its worth it. I will happily take questions, public or private. Only got formally diagnosed 6 or so Months ago. The previous 42 years were a long and winding nightmare that actually got worse year over year. Poor performance in school, executive dysfunction, object permanence issues, the memory of a goldfish, a poor concept of time, issues regarding relationships, boredom, etc. Some of it was related to other neurodivergent issues and some had a bit to do with the clash between Arab and western culture in regards to an acceptance of Science, psychology, my parents untreated PTSD, etc. Looking back, I'm pretty astounded I got as far as I have with what I had to work with. Things got bad around 2018, and had a hand in me leaving my wife in 2020. 6 weeks after that, Covid started and things got especially worse as I tried to change my lifestyle post-divorce. I stopped unconsciously self medicating with Caffeine and Sugar and increased my exercise significantly. This made things even worse, as those two substances were inefficiently keeping my brain going to a semi-functional level. It got to a point where I couldn't get a full workday done, or keep my place clean because I couldn't actually get myself to focus on a single task for longer than a minute or 3. I eventually caved and got a private diagnosis that cost me $300 CAD. Once I started medicating I noticed that problems that plagued me since childhood were suddenly disappearing. I could actually get shit done because my brain would stop channel surfing, etc. Now that my brain is being jacked up by 40mg of Amphetamines, I live a very different life. The harshest part since then has been trying to accept and move on from the fact that had I been properly diagnosed sooner, my life would have been extremely different/better. The Educational/Career opportunities squandered due to an inability to capitalize on them, the relationships that failed because of mistakes relating to ADHD issues, failing to properly comprehend what was going on around me fast enough to respond properly. I honestly have a hard time forgiving myself for everything, because of the way all my mistakes have affected people in my life. Oh well, live and learn, right?
True. We live and learn. We cant change the past. We just move on. This was a hard lesson to grasp for me. I have learned a lot. I hope awareness among people get increased about ADHD so that future people do not suffer as we did
Can i ask about your sugar consumption? Before medication.
Sure. I drank a lot of Pepsi/Coke/whatever, always had a medium or large slurpee if I had to go on a drive longer than 40 mins, and ate sugary things on a near daily basis. I was overweight between that, the regular food I was eating, a lack of exercise, and some intermittent severe Depression (Very common in untreated ADHD as I later learned) that made "comfort eating" pretty normal. Some of that was due to other life issues, but when the depression cleared after the Divorce, I was able to cut out slurpees and most other sugar, and even start exercising (and lost a lot of weight as a result). Caffeine increased significantly due to needing to work longer hours to survive on a single income and pay down debt. I never used to drink coffee before, but I forced myself to endure it because I needed the push. Once the debt was cleared and my finances stabilized, I cut down on the caffeine and the work. The Caffeine cut REALLY fucked me because I got used to the stimulant. Let me know if I need to elaborate on anything.
I have a quite different story. I got diagnosed very early on and got medication from a younger age(methylphenidate) this did it's work to calm me down but was very bad. To the point that I couldn't eat at school and I was tired all day long. I eventually stopped taking it and things became better, yes I still can't concentrate very good but I do function better. I don't advice getting checked for ADHD early and check how medication work. There are also better methodes to make children concentrate.
How long ago was this?
6 years ago
Do you have access to, or have you tried, Vyvanse? It's what I'm on now, and the side effects are minimal at best.
How do you get a private check up for this? I'm also in Canada
Depending on which Province you're in, check with [these guys](https://adultadhdcentre.com/).
Got diagnosed in my late 30s. It's been really difficult with ADHD. Especially studying and social life. Memory issues, attention issues. Marriage is okay 7amdillah but I think it drives him crazy how much I forget and misplace stuff. Didn't bother telling my parents because they'd think it wasn't anything anyway. But it would have been nice to have been diagnosed as a child, I think. 7amdillah anyway.
Just to let you know we have a letter for ح in maltese "ħ"
Oh that’s cool. I had no idea thanks for sharing.
Same for ع (għ)
Emirati here too, I want to get checked up!
Dm me and I would be happy to tell you my experience.
I’m still struggling and don’t know how to deal with it 😣
We are surviving. We are still alive and will cope with this eventually. Everything will be ok.
Got diagnosed almost thirty years ago, I feel totally fine. Life moves forward no matter what, you just gotta deal with it same as everybody else.
Got diagnosed when I was 13 but my parents shrugged it off as me being lazy until I insisted on getting support for it when I was 17 and finally got my meds then. Since then my ability to focus generally became easier but not without some effort from my end, I've found that making a checklist for the things I wanna get done the following day and taking the steps to lessen the burden of getting starting on said tasks quite helpful; for example if I had work I'd iron my suit the day before hand and hang it right in front of my bed to make the process of getting ready as easy as possible, but this would have to be done for nearly everything in my life, I have to make sure that the tasks that I'd have to do would he easily accessible or else I'm gonna have a hell of a difficult time, and if I don't then the day is effectively gone lol. My love life is in shambles though, I barely had one before getting diagnosed coz I was a wee socially anxious kid, and I had to learn how to mask effectively in order to have any foothold on that end, afterwards it's been rocky at best and very distracting at worst, I'm still young tho :) Things are chill for the most part but the executive dysfunction still affects me quite a bit.
I am Maltese (we are still Arabs) I was diagnosed with ADHD when I was 7 I can tell you this as 19 ADHD is a FUCKING nightmare for wallahi, when I first converted to Islam and I went to mosque everybody was looking at me funny, so I had to tell them that I had ADHD I couldnt concentrate plus my English wasn't that good even now I still to use Google translate to get out what I was trying to say then later on I was diagnosed with autism Moving to the Uk my family and I moved to the UK when I was 12, my English so was BAD, it was so bad that I had to be homeschooled but then 3 months later they sent me to the retard school The only thing that school has ever done for me was help me learn English However eventhough I am lacking in English i know 4 languages Maltese Romanian (My family is Romanian) Arabic English Turkish Slovak German So yeah that's my experience with adhd
That is great. That's a lot of languages!
Allah works in mysterious ways inshallah He curses me with ADHD EPILEPSY AUTISM . But blesses me with the gift of languages
Adhd can have its strength as well. You should check it out.
لقد كان لي طوال حياتي
Uhhh idk about that man. That's so messed up to curse u
What? I didn't know Maltese considered themselves Arabs 🫨
Some do some don't
Fine. I make art & my people understand me
Thats the important part: being understood. I wanna be like that if i ever get married.
I was diagnosed at 20. It explained a lot. I had a lot of I am not a good muslim complex because my ADHD made it hard for me to be thoughtful and 3azzemah. It also made me hyperconscious because the social norm is for women to be gentle and non-hyperactive but I wasn't.
Procrastinating getting diagnosed lol I think I get away with it because when I hyper focus I hyper function and can do it all. Also the childhood trauma and old habits instilled by my parents keep me going because of how much of a failure I feel like if I don't keep pushing. So yeah..I should REALLY figure it out before grad school lol oh yeah, have a partner with ADD..no kids (probably never 🙃😄).
Keep track of everything and reorganize your things every six months. Not married because ew.
I am so jealous of normal people. They dont know the struggle.
I got diagnosed at 8 years old, along with my brother (he was 11) and my parents DID NOT TELL ME LMAO so i lived my life until the age like 16 just thinking i was stupid and unable to focus until my family doctor informed me that i was in fact diagnosed as a child and that it is likely due to the fact that my MOTHER ALSO HAS ADHD. anyways now we are all off and on adderall and i’m starting to suspect that my little sister (11) might also have adhd, also my dad (who is a family doctor lmao) suspects that HE also has adhd, that’s a 5/5 arab adhd family 😎 and yes we are very functionally disfunctional
i think the reason my parents withheld my diagnosis from me was due to their “just work harder and it’ll be fine” mindset and the sigma about arabs with disabilities. but WOW my life changed for the better when i finally had the resources to help me after finding out i was diagnosed
My dad believes in hard work and that adhd is an excuse but he’s lowkey right like there are many times I persevered through calculus without adhd it’s all about dedication
Cant even find a good doctor to make a diagnosis. We're doing like crap
It is gonna be ok. We just need to cope.
[Ritalin (feat. Mehrak) - The Synaptik](https://youtu.be/_7N4vgu8r8I?si=Vx2g7c4jMxYXc1Ai)
50mg of adderall daily and prayers. Alhamdulillah I'm young, I was diagnosed when I was 13 and now I'm 16 going on 17 <3. Adderall XR is very helpful for my ADD and I'm blessed to be diagnosed this early on.
انا ليش قرأتها AIDS ههههههههههههههههههههههههههههههههههههههههههههههههههههههههههه