Girls and Women with ADHD: Unique Risks, Crippling Stigma (with Stephen Hinshaw, Ph.D.)

I’m a survivor. I’m over my eating disorder, I put down the alcohol and I’m learning to love myself at 75.

Some call us the lost generation. Bright, with so much potential and hope, crushed by the struggle. I was diagnosed in my 50’s, but had to fly back to a specialist in the US to get it done. With that I was able to get my daughters diagnosed. It changed their lives overnight.

I'm weeping as I listen. I'm 53, with an upcoming appointment to see if I can be diagnosed, terrified I won't be, and then all these things really will be my fault.

45 years in AA and over 25+ years sober but one year sober today . Lack of constancy. I don’t agree about addiction as I had an eating disorder that moved to alcohol and then to bulimia when I got sober. I definitely have emotional dis regulation. I didn’t discover this till I was 70.

I am a 50 year old woman who still hasn’t had an official diagnosis because I can’t afford to get it done, but I know I have adhd and I’ve always had it. I think back to my school years and early adulthood and I still can’t help but cry. It was ;still is) such a lonely and confusing impairment to live with. I have coed because I HAD to but I’ve also learned (the hard way) that without what I lovingly refer to as ‘adult’ supervision, I lost the plot and lost the lot. 😢

I got my asd and adhd diagnoses last year at 40. People just thought I was quiet shy and aloof. if only that were the case. I always had both. just no one noticed cause no one questions the quiet girl daydreaming in the corner who gets good grades not cause they pay attention in class but because I had no friends and had lots of time to do my work at recess and after school.

"Sometimes the results could be subtle, but they could still be important." Absolutely! I wasn't even sure if the Vyvanse was effective for me until I tried to go off of it. It doesn't work as well as I wish, but it definitely makes a difference [and without the negating side effects of other ADHD meds]. I almost ended up mixing Drano with Cleaning solution that was in a similar looking container on one of my "drug holidays." I've also noticed others picking up on something different about my communication [that I am less consciously aware of] when my meds are wearing off.

Thank you for an excellent presentation re ADhD longitudinal study findings. A reminder that this superpower, harnessed & well-managed, can be leveraged to achieve more than we ever imagined. Kudos!

finally officially diagnosed at 27 after years knowing for sure. Being the glass child and with it manifesting differently in girls, I was definitely overlooked. My 10 year old daughter was diagnosed at 5, pretty positive she has comorbid ODD also. My 5 year old son was diagnosed in October.

I’m 40 and just got diagnosed and this makes me think that I’m definitely mostly adult onset. I had issues with procrastination and some risky behaviour, but overall I was sensible, well behaved with a large group of friends which seems not aligned with these findings

I was a "gifted" kid. I was in seen as relatively cool but not top level popular kinda middle. I was in the "smart kid" classes and praised for my school work and sport and musical talent. Things went to shit as I got older and there were more responsibilities then your intelligence and capability is almost weaponised against you. Coming from an extremely high achieving family and two years behind my extremely gifted and well behaved sister I felt I wasn't "allowed" to have problems or struggle with anything because I was smart. Noone could conceive of how I could struggle with simple or complex things if I was intelligent, so if I didn't do well, it was because I didn't want to. If I asked for help or tried to explain my problems, I was making excuses and trying to avoid the responsibility or lazy or useless. I feel as a girl especially I just felt I had no choice but to internalise all the anxiety, shame, frustration, fear and confusion. Especially with hormones thrown in as a teenager as I had pushed it all inside it came out in the form of exceededly and increasingly low self esteem and self harm/cutting. I think the impulsivity part of the ADHD probably added to the fact that I chose self harming. Hopefully the next generation have more luck now we know more about girls. As with all medical research we need more data on how females present differently as this is across the board, even with purely physical conditions such as heart attacks. I should add this self harming was in the 1990s so before it was more commonplace.

Yes, I need an expert to help me get these services:-(

There's nothing to celebrate about my ADHD. I'm in my 50s, undiagnosed until a couple of years ago. I went through all the negatives mentioned, and then some. I'm intelligent, but not as well educated as I could be. I don't have the focus to have a better career - mine is ok but not great, therefore my income earning potential is diminished. My memory is like Dory from Finding Nemo, so dieting and exercise are incredibly hard . Social Isolation in younger years was painful, then I learned how to get boys attention. Also not a great part of life. If I could get rid of my ADHD I would do it in a heartbeat. We need so much more help. Start at the school gate - easy test - which parents are there to pick their kids up super early because they can't stand to queue. Who supermarket shops outside of normal hours because they can't queue. Whose kids forget their gym gear/lunch.

28 woman in Huntsville texas

You always have had it🐲🐲🐲🐲