ADHD in young adult female?

[Anonymous]

DD is 21, diagnosed with anxiety (but not ADHD) in her mid teens, has tried several anti depressants to help manage the anxiety over the years with only small improvements. I'm lately thinking ADHD might be really at the root of things. She can appear unmotivated and uninterested in things on the surface, but I think it is more trouble getting started/fear of failing.

She maintains good grades in college but is always overwhelmed, always feels behind. She's always tired. Always. She can sleep 15 hours if she wants and often has trouble getting up in the morning. She said to me the other day something along the lines of "I can see all these things within my reach but I can't make myself achieve them."

She's definitely anxious and it's frustrating that the medications have not really helped. I'm wondering if she's anxious because she is trying so hard to manage ADHD. Her sibling is diagnosed with ADHD so it wouldn't be a stretch.

She finally found a therapist she likes and I am starting to see some benefit from that. Unfortunately she also discovered weed in college and she says it's the only thing that really makes her less anxious.

Anyway, does this sound like ADHD in a young woman?

[Anonymous]

Yes. It does.

[Anonymous]

You could be describing my daughter. It's very troubling--she wants so much to succeed, but can't focus. Therapy, weed, and anti-depressants.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD is 21, diagnosed with anxiety (but not ADHD) in her mid teens, has tried several anti depressants to help manage the anxiety over the years with only small improvements. I'm lately thinking ADHD might be really at the root of things. She can appear unmotivated and uninterested in things on the surface, but I think it is more trouble getting started/fear of failing.

She maintains good grades in college but is always overwhelmed, always feels behind. She's always tired. Always. She can sleep 15 hours if she wants and often has trouble getting up in the morning. She said to me the other day something along the lines of "I can see all these things within my reach but I can't make myself achieve them."

She's definitely anxious and it's frustrating that the medications have not really helped. I'm wondering if she's anxious because she is trying so hard to manage ADHD. Her sibling is diagnosed with ADHD so it wouldn't be a stretch.

She finally found a therapist she likes and I am starting to see some benefit from that. Unfortunately she also discovered weed in college and she says it's the only thing that really makes her less anxious.

Anyway, does this sound like ADHD in a young woman?

I think this is a terrible place to try to determine whether or not your kid has adhd. She needs a professional to figure that out and advise on treatment.

But I will say this: I have ADHD and what I bolded from your post pretty much sums most of it up for me better than I could have put it myself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You could be describing my daughter. It's very troubling--she wants so much to succeed, but can't focus. Therapy, weed, and anti-depressants.

Horrible, horrible, horrible idea.

[Anonymous]

Yup this describes me. I'm quite successful and have a happy home life. I had to teach myself strategies to manage it as I didn't want meds and deal with the hassle of providing info for drug tests for work. I use a lot of lists and timers.

Today, for instance, I have A LOT to get done around the house. If I let my brain go, I would feel overwhelmed and end up pushing off the tasks for hours. So I set goals in order to get a break and set a timer for this breaks. Is it perfect? No, but when the alarm goes off a second time I can force myself up to do the next task. I'm nearly done with everything I wanted to get done today.

I also had to work on retraining my brain. I was always leaving things around to "get to later". So now it's taking a second to tell myself "you're going into the kitchen, bring your glass with you now, don't leave til later". The repetition of it makes it become more second nature after awhile.

[Anonymous]

Who knows if she has adhd. That's really for a medical professional to evaluate and her therapist would be the one who would figure it out. I read recently that a ton of kids are self-diagnosing because adhd is very "trendy" on tiktok and everyone is sharing a story of how this and that behavior = adhd. People can have symptoms that seem like adhd but could be linked to overusing social media, overstimulation leading to feeling scattered, negative loop exacerbated by time overanalyzing and not socializing enough, lack of physical activity...But as the poster above states, you have to actively develop mechanisms against symptoms and retrain your brain, and the therapist can hopefully help with this.

You also say she smokes weed, and that'll make someone lethargic and lack motivation in itself.

[Anonymous]

Thanks 15:12

[Anonymous]

She can try a stimulant for a month and see if it helps. She must have tried it by now anyways.

[Anonymous]

What she needs from you is emotional and logistical support. She can discuss treatment or lifestyle improvements with her PCP or psychiatrist and therapist.