ADHD diagnosis

(The following content is unedited and needs further finelining)

Website explaning ADHD & effects: https://www.simplypsychology.org/adhd.html
Local ADHD-specialized clinic: https://www.surreyadhd.clinic

Hey fellas, this is the first blog here in my site. Hopefully, I am able to write encouraging blogs for others like you to not get bored; this will be the first experiment. My topic for today is about ADHD and how it affects my mental health, and later on I can probably cover my experience after taking treatment.

Ever since I was young, I’ve been feeling the sense that my brain wouldn’t function the way I wanted to. I was too naive to figure it out or talk to anyone about it, thinking it was something that would soon fade away as I age. Well, I wasn’t exactly wrong, but I wouldn’t come to notice how much stress and difficulties it would cause me.

Fast forward to high school, as my school workload became heavier, the inattentive problem started to bother me frequently. I wasn’t able to direct myself into tasks and would often overthink complicatedly. Subjects like English and Math had brought me stress because of how complex it made my brain functioned as well as the boredom to begin. I questioned myself over and over again, asking myself if all of it were just problems built into my mind. I wouldn’t bother to look forward into my concerns since I would always be inconsistent over my tasks.

It was not until I met a friend who had a similar problem like I was, based what I heard from his description. On the other hand, I began to realise I wasn’t alone, and that such symptom was common amongst teenagers around my age. The only difference was the level of severity, or in other words, how it constantly brought trouble to those who were like me. Although I shouldn’t completely depend on this as an excuse since I knew my friend suffered far worse than me.

Laterwards, my friend was the first to begin experimenting with ADHD medicine, with dose starting from 20mg to 25mg and the various types of medications available in stores. He felt some side effects throughout the experimentation, such as headache, sleep deprivation, bad appetite, and the worse of all—temporary blindness, although it could vary depending on the receiver. On some days, he couldn’t attend school because of it. I didn’t have too much thoughts about it, especially before I knew about my appointment with my pediatrist.

It was a long wait, just after October ended I could finally receive a treatment, further confirming my symptoms (my parents had diagnosed me once when I was 6 years old, but I never knew and the documents weren’t available) The first day I took the first pill was in the morning of November 5th, the day before I wrote this blog. Its effects came instantly; I could feel that my mind was in peace. Everything around me became quite, and I was able to focus on getting to school. Before I took the treatment, school subjects felt very boring, despite constant self-motivating. However, this time I made sure I understood what the teacher was talking, word after word, like I was auto-interpreting his message. It was for the first time in my high school life that I could follow the teacher’s instructions clearly and expand beyond it. What came as an absolute surprise was when I started to take tasks like it was nothing, a completely different vibe. I took many notes on my notebook during class while the teacher was teaching, the moment I look up, my focus was concentrated towards one thing. No intruption, no inner dialogues, no music or whatsoever. I managed to sit on my chair doing my homework for hours, with intentional break time. Before I realized, it was the most productive day I had in this entire month. I feel really happy about my progress.

My friend and I would exchange knowledge through presentation once in a while, and from what he taught me, I had deepened the understanding of ADHD—the syndrome that’s both mysterious and interesting. In the US, more than 11.4% of 3 to 17-year-old children have diagnosed of ADHD, which 7.1% are being treated; there is over 42% increase in ADHD diagnosis over the past 8 years. It always surprises me how common it is in people around the world.