Introduction
This is kind of going to be a post that is similar to a day in the life. My name is Chasen DiBattiste, Founder of my business which is a recent startup. I also happen to be diagnosed with ADHD. Perhaps even more specific, Adult ADHD. To be diagnosed with Adult ADHD and not regular ADHD, you must align with the ADHD symptoms and at least 18 years of age. In majority most of those who are diagnosed receive this before they are 18. However, there is a much smaller percentage of those who get diagnosed as an Adult. Now there is probably tons of theories, ideas, and reasons that get thrown around for why this might be the case. I'm gonna give you the reason that I believe is the majority cause. To do this, I'm going to have to pause and give you some more information so that everything makes sense.
What is ADHD?
Okay, so what is ADHD? If you are unfamiliar, ADHD stands for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. It is characterized by many things in today's world. I'm not even going to pull the direct definition. This will be a personal and educational blog post, and I want to mix in a story, so I'm going to let this one come naturally. I have not used any sourcing for this, other than to clarify Adult ADHD was 18 and not 21. My definition would be something like this: executive function deficit that shows symptoms based on the individual and severity. behavior could demonstrate: impulsivity, failure to plan ahead, difficulty on a consistent ability to focus(especially if the focus is directed at what is not desired,) trouble sleeping at night(this one is common but must show other symptoms as this is far from a standalone cause for diagnosis.) Those are some examples of possible behavior altercations, and there are many others that seem to be psychological based; e.g. relating back to 'symptoms based on the individual and severity.' While I simply can not speak for everyone who has ADHD, I can give you some psychological differences that I have noticed in my life.
My Understanding of ADHD
The common struggles I have uncovered after 23 years of life would be: Extreme difficulty controlling certain emotions, they could nearly manifest as very intense; This may not be medically associated with ADHD, but let me tell you I am positive my ADHD has cause severe boredom. The lack of executive functions does not necessarily make you less intelligent, because your IQ is not associated directly to ADHD. You still can use your brain in a very normal way, however the behavior that shows because of it otherwise indicates a false narrative. This is what I found to be true for me, at least. I would say there are probably others who agree, but I'd love to hear you thoughts. Anyways, I believe the association between having a brain that is not deficit in intelligence but shows the behavior of it causes a false narrative that we create, but we don't do it on purpose. ADHD exists in all ranges of IQ, and the studies I've read all indicate that there is not a specific connection and all age ranges and genders are susceptible to some degree. I personally believe that even if genetics expose you to the condition, improper parenting can be a contributing factor to this. Receiving a diagnosis as an adult is also unfortunate, because even though finding out may seem overwhelming that is the start to the potential journey of defeating your biggest monster. Then becoming, exactly, what you knew you were capable of.
Navigating Through the Challenges
After giving some information on ADHD, I'm going to reference back to the beginning paragraph. The majority cause or reason that I believe is why a smaller percentage of individuals receive a diagnosis for ADHD at or over 18 years of age is one or a mix to all of: Intelligence, Bad Parenting, Money/Health Insurance Reasons, Lack of general knowledge about the condition, etc. The reason intelligence is a reason I mention is because at a certain level of intelligence which I don't know the threshold... But you are able to sort of mask in like a chameleon for a while. High school could be extremely easy for someone with a decent IQ. If you do not have extreme responsibilities then you can kind of just float with life, and probably end up playing too many video games. I'm actually kind of glad I got diagnosed later in life though. Yes, it made every part of my previous years much harder and stopped me from being at my potential, but that alone could have tossed me somewhere completely different in life. I enjoy who I'm becoming, I love what I do(for the most part), & I wouldn't trade places in life with anyone. It's not that I think I'm better than everyone, I just enjoy the narrative that's being unfolded day by day in my life. Trust me, I still have bad days, I've had bad weeks, and I've been through a heavy storm... During those times it is the hardest to feel this way. Through those trials, you can tackle the problems that you realized were never problems. Problems don't exist, we create them. If we don't create them, gone. That's a lot harder than it seems though, so I'll have to keep dreaming for now.
Stigma and info Around the Medication
There can be a lot of stigma around the medications that one with ADHD will take. This may concern: the patient, the doctor, or the patient's family. Briefly I will give a list of some of the medications one with ADHD may take (usually, but not always, stimulants.) There are some other medications that have known indications to treat ADHD such as a few of the SSRI's (Anti-Depressants.) The stimulant class of medications is typically broken into 2 categories: amphetamines and methylphenidate. amphetamines include: Adderall, Vyvanse, Dexedrine. For Methylphenidate: Concerta, Ritalin, Focalin.
First, I was given Concerta to take once per day. I tried this medication for only about 2 weeks, as I quickly realized I felt kind of zombie like. This is something I heard was common, and the biggest thing I was worried about. Maybe 2 months later I had another doctor visit and I told my doctor I stopped taking it and why. She asked me if I wanted to try another medication for treatment, and I was not sure because I was like if all these ADHD medications are going to zombie me out like why would I even take this. I also was confident that this was not a false diagnosis, and knew it was affecting me on a daily basis. I said yes, and she switched the class to the amphetamines, because usually one class works better for certain individuals.
Navigating to the end , Thankful for it All
The medication should not zombie you out, and if it does, that means it is most likely not the one for you. If they all zombie you out, consider lowering the dose if it is high. I was given short acting Adderall to take x2 daily as needed. It took me a while to ease into it, and I started by taking half of the tablet x2 daily because the full dose was causing panic attacks and I did not understand the legitimate difference. I honestly probably shouldn't have taken it for the first time for school, even though that was a large reason I became more aware of ADHD. To sum this up, I ended up trying 2 other stimulants, and I did find my way back to the one that worked best for me. It is not a fix it all solution, but it makes the condition much more tolerable and allows me to actually live my life more like an adult. I also had the help of many doctors who I visited seeking assistance, I went through exposure therapy for OCD, and I have put in lots of work myself to improve and become more aware. I could not be where I am today without the help of those doctors, so I thank you all.
The thing is, you should do what is best for you, and only you can decide that. If you can lean in, and trust your intuition, I think you'll end up exactly where you want in life. Definitely, trust the process because there will 100% be days you want to give up, but it is only when you give up that you truly fail. Life is really mainly failure, and we highlight the moments that are not. Then, we use technology with intelligent minds behind the operation carefully executing the footage to give you an even brighter demonstration. You really have to get a tunnel vision for where you want to go, and find some padlocks cause you'll need to lock in. If you don't know, don't panic, trust me it sucks. The best advice is really this: Just, Keep, Going. Do Not Stop. Like a remote, you can pause, temporarily. But if you wanna be on that screen, quickly hit resume, then fast forward on your goals. You know it would make you ultimately closer to peace, and the only person stopping you, is you. That's, reality. Life really does come to you, but you can not be stuck in a loop. The only issue there is sometimes when you're in a loop you don't even know it, so it takes times and patience to see it through.
The law of attraction is not some myth, and it does not exactly mean 'attractive'. How you align at the the current moment in time is a direct manifestation of your mental state mixed with possible past issues unaddressed. Something I heard from a psychologist is "I've never seen one thing, not come back to you at some point in your life. So you better be Da** careful what you do." Let me tell you my take on that: I think that might be the scariest thing to know and also understand it is true, the universe works in mysterious ways. The idea references karma most likely, which is definitely a part of it for sure. Sometimes people find me harsh, and I can understand why. Like truly, but I am an expressive person. I also don't think most people get how much I understand that statement is true, like here is thing... Why lie? Seriously, the truth is already crazy enough. I don't mean tell everyone everything they ask you, just don't lie. speak, the, truth. If you think you're gonna lie, just don't speak, silence is very powerful. BY powerful, I mean, it creates a mystery to some degree because nothing was said, so only body language could be used to predict. This is why they say the poker face is so important. They also barely talk, if even at all. Hear things enough times, and you can usually read between the lines. Leave it up to them to guess, because they're more likely to mess up if you don't give them any advantage and leave it up to them to do all the decision making.
If you've ever seen any professional video game players, or you-tuber's who are just super good, and you ignore all the tiny things they do at first, you'll realize that's pretty much exactly what they do. Once you realize this, you can start to pay attention to the smaller details, and try to pick up on why they did what they did. The difference between any skill gap is always knowledge, at least for non physical related activities. However, it still could be the dominating factor. The best players are not really doing anything 'just because,' and what separates the top 0.5% is they do everything with a purpose. Essentially, very calculated with each decision to produce a higher chance of a successful outcome. If you can string these events together, you create the narrative of being a good player.
That's the concept, but WAYYYY easier said than done. It does take both lots of practice, but practice with intention, and continuing to keep moving forward even when you want to give up. Just do not give up, and you will arrive eventually. This is the end of my ADHD Blog Post, I mixed metaphors, stories, personal experience, and ultimately tried to teach what I learned through the experience.
-- Author: Chasen DiBattiste
-- Website: https://bizyyme-chasen.wixstudio.io/home
-- Written: 06-12-24 |
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