Anyone else have experience with ADHD? Once I got sober and started working on myself, I realized that I’ve been living with this my whole life. Can anyone else relate? Any advice?
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No real advice other than commending you for what you do. Stay sober and work on yourself. Some self work specific to the diagnosis might be a good idea. Otherwise alI I can say is that from what I see, working as a nurse in a detox, about half of addicts that end up there (the guys especially) have some form of add or adhd. So many try to self-medicate. Doesn’t work though. Well you know. Keep going Bobby!
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Thank you! I have been reading how it generally coincides with substances. I realize I was trying to sedate myself for years. I’m just gonna keep working at it.
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I am diagnosed with ADHD by a psychiatrist and counselor and was undiagnosed until 10 years ago. It has definitely played a role in my substance abuse - huge anxiety issues both social and also due to feeling less than.
I also had undiagnosed autoimmune disease - RA- until 10 years ago. Chronic pain also played a role for me.
This is not to make excuses. It is what it is knowledge is power.
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Yes. I remember alcohol quieting my brain and how relieving it was the first time I drank… I never stood a chance.
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Hey Bobby,
I was just recently diagnosed with ADHD in my late 40s. After mostly getting sober. (I’ve had a few slips). I definitely drank to quiet my brain. Or when I was emotionally disregulated. When everything felt like “too much.” I finally found a good therapist who specializes in ADHD. I’d previously been treated for depression and anxiety but I now recognize the impact the ADHD has had on my life. It’s a relief to be diagnosed but it’s a lot to process.
There’s a good podcast called ADHD Chatter that had a recent episode about addiction. There’s definitely a connection.
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I’ve never been officially diagnosed with ADD or ADHD, only anxiety and depression, but I’m 99% sure I have it. My younger brother was diagnosed at 8 and was basically forced to become medicated or he wouldn’t be allowed back in school. He was on adderall for 10 years and taken off it abruptly after he graduated. Then he began drinking, heavily. I always thought the amphetamine withdrawal was to blame, but now that I’ve been sober a while with my own racing thoughts I realize it’s just difficult to navigate life that way.
I definitely stole my brothers pills here and there when I was younger bc friends said they would fuck you up. They didn’t do that to me. I was actually able to think clearly, wondering if that was how a normal brain works. I don’t want to be medicated if I can help it. I’m worried I’d get to a point where I start abusing it.
Routine is something that helped me. I used to be great at sustaining my own until covid happened. I’m still having trouble finding that groove again. Exercise also helps A LOT. Tire your body out and eventually your brain will follow suit. Yoga, breath work, and meditation also help quiet the mind if you stay consistent.
I just read an article the other day about how the percentage of adults with ADD is exponentially higher than they thought. Misdiagnosis during childhood or not diagnosed at all.
You’re not alone 
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I take Strattera it is a non-narcotic ( Atomoxetine HCL ). I started at 40mg in now at 80 mg. I have to tell you it took about 8 months of taking it for it to fully kick in but it was worth sticking with. I had gone back and forth from Dextroamphetamine and Meth for years but i wanted a non- amphetamine treatment. Now that it is working I don’t get to that place when my ADHD is not medicated and i return to meth use because i can’t concentrate or work. I recommend it but it really takes a long time to become fully effective. Hope that helps.
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At 11 years old I found out booze does quiet my brain. Not that I started drinking a lot then, but surely did since about 19 years old to get me through study and social events. At 50 years old I got diagnosed with an highly impulsive subtype of adhd. That made my world stood upside down and kind of still is (still 50 for a few days 
). Also depression and trauma since it seems a lot of people with adhd have a tendency to adapt to others and please, in doing so letting other people cross their boundaries easily. I surely did, and also crossed other peoples boundaries. I go with the same words as @Dan531 uses, I never stood any chance. And like @KarenKW mentions it is also a lot to process, all the missed chances , all the broken stuff and all the impulsive decisions makes it a lot.
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Thank you all so much. Once again, just knowing that I’m not alone, makes the world of difference……
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Exactly what I was about to post! My entire life. Co-existing alongside other mental health issues. Forms of Tourettes, OCD, social anxiety and depression. All culminating in… alcoholism to cope. I was adopted at birth and only in the last few years found my birth family. A lot of mental health issues and even more alcoholism.
Am asking to find out what other adults have done to successfully help themselves out with a similar package.
Thank you!
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Was diagnosed with extreme anxiety, depression and ADHD a few years ago. I was (still kind of am I guess) anti-medication. Depression got bad enough a few years ago that I did go on medication. I must say it has worked quite well to date. Still occasional bouts of low mood as can be expected, but nothing like the crippling dark pits of despair I used to experience. Am still learning about it all. It really seems to me these are often co-existing morbidities that still aren’t well understood. Let’s not even get into the misophonia 
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I have ADHD and CPTSD i was diagnosed with ADHD as a child but nobody medicated me or even told me i was unwell
When i got sober i realised something was wrong with me and went to the doctor and was sent to the local mental hospital as an out patient
I was on the strongest ADHD medicine for a few years until the doctors told me i don’t need medication anymore
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I was only diagnosed with anxiety/depression a couple years ago, while I was still drinking. Once I quit, the depression lifted almost immediately and that was all I cared about bc I’ve lived with anxiety my entire life. Looking back now at the other issues I had as a child (misophonia(which was out of control when it started), kleptomania, ocd, etc), I wonder what my parents thought. Did they even speak to a doctor about any of it, or just play ‘wait and see’? I feel there was so little information on these kind of things back then, and not much more today. I’m just grateful that I haven’t noticed these things in my own daughter. Or am I blind to the signs?(that’s the anxiety talking lol)
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We seem quite alike. I only went to see a psychiatrist out of sheer desperation. I already knew about my extreme anxiety and depression, however she educated me on and diagnosed me with ADHD. Around the same time I learned that Misophonia had a name. In middle age things are finally starting to make sense! lol.
A few years ago I told my brother about my alcoholism. He had no idea. Last summer I told my sister. She had no idea. A few months ago I told my parents. No idea. Aren’t we great at hiding everything? Talking to my parents now I can see they regret not helping me but in reality they didn’t have a clue. Looking back I wonder how that’s even possible, but again… I kept everything inside and hidden.
Unfortunately I notice many of these things in my son. He has the misophonia, a form of tourettes, OCD, etc. I pray most of all that he doesn’t end up having to deal with the depression and alcoholism.
Interesting you mentioned kleptomania. When I was in my mid/late teens/20 I went through a version of this and paid a dear price. Thankfully I left that behind.
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Thankfully Mental Health is finally getting some of the attention it deserves. Where I live (Alberta, Canada) there is a lot of media attention and purported support offered for this. However, a few years ago when I was desperate I can tell you that most of that acute support is still very lacking. By acute I mean when someone is in dire straits. There is way too much red tape and ineffectiveness still. Longer term outpatient options are getting better over time but these still aren’t addressing crisis situations. And there is most definitely a huge stigma still attached to MH, even within our own families.
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Depression was the reason I finally reached out. I’ve never experienced anything like that and I don’t want to ever again. I know if I drink that’s where I’ll end up. No thanks!
My brother, who I mentioned uptop, hid his alcoholism extremely well. I’d gotten a DWI, separately totalled a car, and had many police run ins, so my issues were obvious. I knew my bro drank, but it wasn’t until I moved in with him I realized the extreme direness of his situation. I’m talking puking after beer #1 bc your body is rejecting it, and then drinking a 30 pack over the next 24 hours straight, no food. When he tried to quit he ended up in S5 with alcohol induced paranoid schizophrenia. It was terrifying. I tried to help him as much as humanly possible but gave up after a year and moved out. He finally got it on his own and is close to 5 years sober now, thank God 
My kleptomania subsided before I was a teen. I did it from as far back as I can remember, but after a decade or so the urge just went away 
Not complaining.
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I got a DWI at 17 I think… crashed into a parked school bus (totalling a strangers car I had drunkenly commandeered) after a Christmas party in the early morning hours. One of the scattered events I can look back on now and realize I was an alcoholic all along. I was a late bloomer though. I didn’t REALLY get going until about 15 years later.
I look back now and everything makes a lot more sense. So glad for groups like this where we can learn to understand, cope and finally experience support.
Wow your bro with 5 years!! A true success story. So great to hear 
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I had my suspicions when I started blacking out at 16. It is great to be a part of a place like this. A random stranger told me about it when I said I was a week sober and I’m ever so grateful for him it changed my life.
And my bro is a true success story, if not a miracle. I honestly thought he was just gonna let it kill him bc he was getting close to that edge. So proud of him 
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Yes, a miracle truly describes it! Love witnessing these stories when they happen. A life saved.
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