- Username
- Surviving Not Thriving
- Date posted
- 3y ago
Hi, first of all, it's not a bad thing to self diagnose! There are so many reasons people struggle to get formally diagnosed (the cost being one of the biggest reasons!). If you've done some research and feel like the signs of adhd match your experiences then there's no reason to feel bad for self-diagnosing. I was self-diagnosed for a while before finally getting a diagnosis last month! I totally understand the experience of having the ocd part of your brain constantly questioning whether or not you have adhd! It drives me mad. I went to a counsellor initially to ask a professional opinion but she wasn't qualified to properly diagnose me. I'm based in the uk where our only options are seeking a diagnosis from the nhs (which can have a waiting list of years depending on where you live) or getting a private diagnosis. I bit the bullet eventually and got privately diagnosed despite financial concerns and it has been one of the best decisions of my life. Many private adhd clinics are conducting the whole diagnostic process online so it is possible to start this process during lockdown. If you aren't able to go down this route yet, I would recommend joining some adhd Facebook groups - specifically ones that are for women with adhd. You will find lots of other members who are also self diagnosed and their experiences can be very affirming. Lastly, ocd and adhd are often comorbid so it's very possible that this is the case for you. And even if you do more research and decide for whatever reason that you don't think it's adhd after all , this does not mean that you are just "lazy" or "disorganized" or any of the other stereotypes. Even if adhd is not the cause, there are so many reasons why you might be struggling so be kind to yourself x
Thank you so much for being so sweet! It’s really irritating to have to go through different places to get diagnosed with different mental illnesses. Thank you for the kind words and I hope you are faring well! Xxx
You can get counseling through NOCD without going out and many other counselors are remote right now anyways
As a woman with both OCD and ADD (I am boycotting the removal of it from DSMV 😉), I can tell you with classic “girl” symptoms, it can be harder to get diagnosed if you haven’t already done your own research, etc.. Even if you’re not yet able to get an official diagnosis, there are things you can do yourself. There are resources for strategies to help. In fact, if you have already tried some of them before you find someone, you can discuss with them what you’ve tried and how you thought it helped or how it may have fallen flat for you. As far as I remember, a lot of these strategies are pretty safe to try even before finding help. Most of them are strategies that are also taught as general study habits or to improve focus for people regardless of diagnosis. You are so not alone in this! Best wishes!
Thank you so much! That’s so sweet! I really appreciate it and I hope you are faring wel during this time!!
Not sure whether I really have OCD? I’m 22 and have only considered the possibility I suffer from OCD in the past few months. I know I have had obsessive inappropriate thoughts and compulsions to confess to them that were so intense I felt sick all the time until I told my parents since I was a really young child, and in all my relationships have been worried I am gay and do not love my boyfriends / I do not love them anymore and have to dump them / intense paranoia they are cheating on me and will not tell me. In recent years I have had flare ups of thoughts that fit POCD and IOCD but when I told a friend I was worried about having OCD after looking into incest nightmares online, she told me she did not think I had it because another of our friends has OCD with counting compulsions (door locking, oven buttons, etc) and I believed I was just really messed up and that maybe it was just my anxiety. My boyfriend (not knowing about my POCD or IOCD thoughts at all) linked me to an article about a woman with OCD and suggested I research it more, and the behaviours and fears seem to fit me very well and make me feel so much less sick and alone. Does this sound like I may have it or might this just be my anxiety clinging onto something? (I have a tendency to cling to diagnoses then be disproved)
Random blah-blah: I have GAD, and I think I have OCD too. I don't say that suffer from ocd since I'm not diagnosed. My ex-therapist suggested me to look up for bipolar disorder. The problem is, after half an year, I still don't think I am bipolar. Did my research inside my brain, as well as on the internet. The thing is, I am obssesing over my mental health. OCD was the last disorder that I checked, since I thought it's impossible for me to have it. I am anxious about this one. I am scared. I want to know if I have ocd, and since yesterday, that s all I am doing. Looking up on the internet to find an answer. I am scared if I book a call, the therapist will say: but you have GAD, not OCD. And this will be so bad because I... I honestly can t imagine why it would be so bad. Just that I ve lived in a lie for 2 days. I think my ocd is most obvious in my relationship with my bf. And I feel so bad because he keeps saying that everything he does - is never enough. It s complicated. I just want him to never doubt himself, his actions and our love.
Hi, I'm 17 and I'm not sure if I have OCD My symptoms started in lockdown and I was really scared my parents would get covid and something really bad would happen so: I kept praying to God, taking my shoes off to pray again and again before I left to go somewhere In my religion(Hinduism) materialistic things are ignorance so I'd balance my phone in a risky position and pray everyday --- then I thought that by sacrificing materialistic things (ignorance) like chocolate and music I could go to my dream uni ---then I kept thinking about my mum and I kept thinking she might get cancer so I kept sacrificing things like wearing make up, nice clothes and I kept limiting how much food I ate. I 'fasted' a lot and I prayed for an hour every night. I thought I would regret it so much if I wore make up because id suffer from the ignronave of the materialistic pleasures When I was eating,I would keep looking at a picture of Lord Krishna and swallowing really fast to avoid the materialstic pleasures of taste. I can only do some things by thinking 'i promise to god I'll eat this chocolate' for example. I don't think my symptoms are normal and I really don't know what to do.
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