I Wish I'd Known Earlier

Let’s continue with more answers to this question in the ADHD Partner survey: “What do you wish you’d known earlier about Adult ADHD?” As you can see, the question touched a nerve with survey respondents, the partners of adults with ADHD.

• Public awareness on ADHD stinks, especially the campaigns by various groups about how awful it is to give people medication. My partner and I continually encounter people who don’t “believe” in ADHD, as if it’s the tooth fairy. They should live it. And those adults who have ADHD and don’t know it – but do a lot of “self-medicating” with tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, sex, or speeding on the freeway — should learn about it. I know that having untreated ADHD deeply affected my partner’s health. He used to get so exhausted just Read the rest of this entry »

Even now, 14 years after Adult ADHD was declared a medical diagnosis, ignorance remains. That means millions suffer in isolation. With this next question from the ADHD Partner survey, respondents detail the cost of that ignorance.

Question: What do you wish you’d known earlier about ADHD?

• I wish we’d known before marriage. That way, we could have put strategies into place. Instead, he couldn’t cope with being a husband and then a father while holding down a job, and I didn’t understand. The public needs to know that ADHD has a major impact on relationships and that their “problems” are not unique to them: they are, in fact, symptoms.

• I wish I’d known exactly what my wife meant when she said, prior to our marriage, “I’m going to drive you crazy. I want you to know that up front.” Read the rest of this entry »