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Writer's pictureZoe Lola Paul

What it's like living with ADHD


Ryan:


I don't really know where to start. Ok I found out last year in about June or July time. I was recommended to have an ADHD test done by the Bedford borough council. I went to get the test done and it works out that I did have it. The test involves a number of things really, they test you, they question you about your life and it's mainly school reports they want to look at aswell, things like that and they speak to your parents. I wasn't surprised at all when I found out. My minds all over the place alot of the time. The best way I can describe it, say your sat in a room and you've got 100 different tellies in that room I'd be the one person out of a group of people that would be watching all of the tellies. Whereas a normal person would focus on one or two. It's always been like that


The team are called the Aspergers and ADHD team. It did put a closure on things. It was a relief. The one i've got is called clinical ADHD I've had it my whole life I haven't learn't it along the way. When I was born I was born with clinical ADHD. There's three different stages, hyperactivity, impulsivity & inattentive.

Nicky:

I've got it aswell. Two ADHD people together are a nightmare by the way. I knew I had something wrong from school. I was always on report through school I didn't do anything in lessons. For me it was absorbing what people would be saying, so the teacher would be standing at the front of the room talking you through a lesson & honestly I wouldn't be listening to a word that they would be saying & then at the end they'd say 'ok get on with it yourselves' & I'd be like, well I don't know what I'm supposed to do. I daren't ask. I'd just sit & mess around in the lesson. I just couldn't absorb what I should have been learning that lesson.

The same as Ryan I only got diagnosed last year & I pushed to get diagnosed because I felt like I wasn't achieving anything at work I felt like I was never managing to finish anything. It was getting to the point I'd have to take minutes in the meetings. I'd record the meetings and hide it from my teammates so that the problem wasn't highlighted. So I went to the Doctors & got diagnosed. I went to my GP- It took a year before the saw me

Same as me, it took a year before they saw me aswell. But I can relate with what Nicky's saying aswell I completely understand.

It's like I can't focus on films. I'd be staring at the T.V screen thinking of other things I could do.

Yes I'm the same. It's quite crazy,

Your head's going a million miles an hour. You just can't focus on one thing.

To me music is all numbers and patterns. It makes me feel comfortable & relaxed.

If It's something that you're interested in you can focus in on it

Music is an escapism for me. I used to use drugs alot as escapism I used to use cocaine. With me, my experiences is that because i've used so much I begin to get paranoid. It started off helping me but then it became a negative because it was addictive & I became paranoid. A couple of years ago I got sent to prison for dangerous driving. When I got stopped they found a knife, but I'm being completely honest the knife was for use when I went gigging in Holiday parks as they didn't have cutlery trays. When they charged me they put it down as that I had a bladed weapon in the van. That's what got me sent down. I stopped doing drugs properly when I got sent to prison. In Prison you're either doing drugs and paying 4x the amount of money it is, owing people money and getting beaten up or you can turn your life around & go the other way & I chose that path. I had all the support I could need in Prison. The chaplaincy were very helpful, they gave me a mentor & a listener. I actually ended up starting a band up. It's not often you get a musician in prison.

I'm still waiting to be seen about my medication. There's different types of medication.

Signs to look for if you have ADHD are hyperactivity, in attention, impulsivity. Living with ADHD has limited me in certain jobs. I've learnt to work with it.

I tried counselling. I got on really well with them.

ADHD for anyone that doesn't know stands for- Attention Deficit Hyper Disorder

I'm actually on medication for mine. As soon as I got diagnosed it was such a relief. The meds were really good. Xenidate. They really helped me.

Meetings were my worse nightmare, but I'm really good at organising events as I have OCD also. At work I find I have about 20-30 browers open on my computer. I did disclose my diagnosis to my work and my work supported me. I did stop taking the tablets though as I started losing weight and would stay up at night.

Unless It's something I'm interested in I find it very difficult to finish anything.

It's a nightmare living with someone with ADHD. He finds everything funny. I love it but it's so annoying aswell. Ryan is just a more hyper person. It is funny having two people with ADHD being together.

It's a nightmare being with someone with ADHD

We're bad influences on each other

We're always partying

My advice for anyone who is seeking support with ADHD is to please go and do it, then you can learn from it, put it to bed and move forwards.

For me I would say for anyone listening to this Podcast who has been diagnosed with ADHD & is self medicating please try and stop doing that and seek the right help & take the correct medication because I've done it the wrong way for many years with drugs and that has lead me to paranoia. So I'd definitely say go and seek the correct support.

Also just to add ADHD is very much hereditary. If your kid has been diagnosed & you think you have it it's quite possible you might. I advise that you go and get it checked out.

The best thing I did was go to the doctors- go and get it checked out, it was such a weight lifted. Knowing that is a problem that can be treated.

Take care

Ryan & Nicki xx


If you feel that you are experiencing any of what Ryan & Nicki have spoken about please seek help from your nearest GP. There are also other sources which provide help and advice for example: 


Samaritans 116123

NHS 111

Mind 0300 123 3011

Rethink 0300 5000 927

Support Line 01708 765200


Also if you feel that you have an experience with regards to mental health that you believe others could relate to then please get in touch.







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