Any ADHD IH'ers?

I've never been diagnosed so I don't know how much help this will be, but here's my two cents. A diagnosis will only help if you believe you need it. If the idea of getting a diagnosis and/or medication doesn't feel good, you don't need to do it right now. You have time to think about it, and there are plenty of holistic methods that can help in the meantime (ex. sleep, diet, exercise, herbs). Hope this helped.

I'm in the process of getting diagnosed (or not). For maybe a decade now I've felt like I've had "brain fog" frequently and like I just can't focus sometimes, even when it's really important and it matters to me. Even when I'm giving literally all of my effort to focus on say, something important my wife is telling me. I had thought it was probably my terrible sleep habits, or what I eat, or lack of exercise.but for the last two years I've improved all of those things:

• I sleep 9/10pm-6/7am
• I stopped eating gluten and dairy (digestive issues that could be linked to brain fog for both) and dramatically reduced eating sugar and artificial sweeteners
• I exercise almost every day, though admittedly it's often just an hour long walk or something, especially after the pandemic
• I stopped having caffeine for a year and a half
• I had a sleep study done and had surgery to widen my airways in my nose (and to stop snoring and driving my wife crazy)
• Taken vitamins daily

After all of that I'd say that my brain fog improved some, especially from exercise, but not nearly as much as I was hoping and expecting. I still have plenty of moments where I switch tasks without consciously realizing, and tune out of one on one conversations when I don't want to.

So I went to the doctor and we talked. She asked some questions and I realized that I've been having these problems longer than I thought. It's probably partly why I had so much trouble in university with some classes, though I was convinced I was just lazy, deep down. I'm not hyperactive, at all, but there's another version of ADHD called "inattentive" that seems to fit like a glove.

The next steps for me are seeing an MD and Psych pair that apparently work together to diagnose adults with ADHD properly. Their concern (for every patient) is that can easily be anxiety, depression, or some unknown underlying health condition instead. They can have very similar symptoms. There's a waitlist so I'll see what happens!

Hope my experience can help you find your way through yours.

I diagnoesed when I was kid and didn't take any meds because back in where I was kid, my parents were afraid that the community will judge me and them. Because, you know, mental issue.

Currently, it's very hard for me to keep my focus on things I don't like, like writing emails to customers, keep tracking crm stuff etc. But when it comes to coding, i can do the stuff for hours with no problem.

Also I don't feel comfortable working 9 to 5. Currently I have a fulltime job and i put effort not to think about my own stuff during work hours and vice versa. Because brain works as it wants, not how you prefer to be :)

All in all, I have no idea about medication but I like living like that :) This is part of who I am and it's actually fun. Just a sidenote tho, my case is not severe. I think i kept all the fun parts. I don't have enormous focus problems.

I can't say I have been officially diagnosed, but after researching about the condition "it felt like me". I have great empathy for ADHD people. I recall writing an emotive comment on HN about the importance of "finding your flow", I will just link it here if you are curious: https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=samuelmtimbo.