13 Things You Should Know About Being An Adult Living With ADHD
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13 Things You Should Know About Being An Adult Living With ADHD

No, I didn't lie to get my medication, but thanks for asking me that.

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13 Things You Should Know About Being An Adult Living With ADHD
Anne O'Hara

I was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder without the Hyperactivity (ADHD/ADD) in 1999. I went to a Catholic school at the time and to say they did not know how to handle an unmedicated five-year-old kindergartener with ADHD is a severe understatement. By January of 2001, I started taking medication for my condition.

Now as a 23-year-old adult, I still struggle with my condition in my day to day life as a student. I realize that a lot of people have misconceptions about what ADHD, it effects, and what medication does. When I tell people I have ADHD, I normally get asked a lot of questions. For a lot of people struggling with this disorder, it would be a lot easier to have an FAQ pamphlet instead of saying the same things over and over again.

I'm an adult living with ADHD, and these are the answers to the questions you've always wondered about what exactly Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is and things you should know about ADHD.

1. I Did Not Make This Up to Get Pills


When I tell people I have ADHD, the first thing I'm asked about is the medication. Since starting being medicated in 2001, I have taken six types of ADHD stimulant medications. Ritalin, Concerta, Metadate, Methylin, Adderall, and Adderall Extended Release (XR).

A lot of people assume you can just make up your condition to get pills, which does happen sometimes. But here's the thing, I was diagnosed when I was five. Trust me when I say I was not thinking this far in advance to score drugs. Nothing makes me angrier than someone inferring that I'm scamming my doctor to get legal drugs.

2. My Brain Has 2 Settings: Hyperfocused or Not Focused at All

Some people think being hyperfocused is a good thing. It can be if say, you have a ten-page paper due the next day. But 85% of the time hyperfocus causes you to focus all of your attention on something not very productive. I have spent hours drawing intricate whiteboard drawings of Tina from Bob's Burgers on my dorm door instead of doing my statistics homework or spent an afternoon rearranging my closet by color or shirt sleeve length.

Just because I'm focused, doesn't mean I'm productive.

3. Sugar and Caffeine Doesn't Make me More Hyper

Sodas, coffee, candy, or anything else with high amounts of sugar and/or caffeine doesn't cause me to go into a hyperactive frenzy for hours. Actually, sugar and caffeine have a calming effect on many people with ADHD. In fact, people who are undiagnosed with ADHD or cannot take their medication either due to cost or health reasons will self-medicate their disorder with cups of coffee or energy drinks to calm down.

4. Caffeine Actually Doesn't Do Much For Me

A lot of people who do not have ADHD are very sensitive to caffeine's effects on the body. I have friends and family members who can't have caffeine past noon because they'll stay up all night. In my case, most of the time caffeine is just something another ingredient in what I'm drinking. I have had a five-hour energy shot and then went to sleep within 15 minutes at a slumber party on a dare.

I drink coffee because I actually enjoy the taste of my diluted bean water.

5. We're Going to Fidget....a LOT

If we are having a hard time focusing, it's probably because there are a lot of stimulants (distractions) in the room. This can be anything from a loud air conditioner to someone with a stuffy nose trying to breathe. When we can't focus, we fidget. Because if we didn't fidget, we would be getting up and walking around or tunning out the task at hand. That isn't optimal for someone in a lecture.

I tend to tap my foot, a habit I picked up from nine years of band, but I have also been known to stick my fingers in my mouth (which is admittedly disgusting ), scratch my skin (which has caused me to scratch myself up pretty badly in the past. I actually have a scar on the back of my neck from this), or tap pencils and pens (also from band, I was a drummer).

6. ADHD Medication Causes Appetite Problems

My appetite most days is barely anything when I am on ADHD medication. Most days my breakfast is a cup of coffee and sometimes a granola bar if I remember. Sometimes I'll get lunch if it's convenient and for the most part, I will get dinner. But if I don't think about it, I could probably last all day on the coffee and the granola bar.

It truly is an out of sight, out of mind situation. If I'm focused on something else, I'm not hungry. If all I'm focused on is how I didn't eat yesterday, I will be incredibly hungry which can cause me to overeat to make up for lost calories I forgot to eat.

This also means getting hangry is a real thing for me. If I'm hungry and I haven't eaten in hours, I can get incredibly agitated at the smallest thing or completely snap at someone for simply asking a question.

7. My ADHD Medication Won't Get me High, but it Will Get YOU High

A lot of people have the misconception that ADHD medication will cause the user to get hyped up on legalized speed. I get why people think this, just look at the medical names of the pills we're taking: amphetamines, methylphenidates, and dexmethylphenidate. Aren't half of those chemical compounds what our health teachers and DARE school assemblies told us not to put in our bodies?

Well, guess what? These chemical compounds are stimulants, which are the same thing meth is made up of! That's why half the names have the word "meth" in it! But Walter White did not make my medication in his RV. These compounds were developed in labs!

My medication stabilizes the chemical imbalance in my brain that causes me not to focus. If you, a person without ADHD were to take my medication, you would experience similar effects to taking any illegal stimulant such as crack or meth except it would be a more controlled reaction because it wasn't made in someone's basement.

Important Side Note: Don't take ADHD medication without a prescription people!

8. The Problem isn't Getting Distracted, it's the Fact I Can't Direct my Focus

Say you sit me down in an empty room with a table, chair, and a jigsaw puzzle and told me to complete the puzzle. Chances are I will more likely direct my attention to the pretty picture on the box, or how the chair squeaks if rock in it, or how the air conditioner causes one of the pieces to move a little bit, or even that I haven't gotten a manicure in three months and need to cut my pinky nail before it gets too long.

I can focus on stuff, just not the task I'm supposed to be doing when there are stimulants around me.

9. My Train of Thought isn't Always "Hey Look, a Squirrel!"

Most of the time if I'm having a conversation with someone, it will go something like this:

"Hey, I have to tell you about this article I read yesterday. Wait, did you get new eyeliner? It looks amazing! Okay, so this article was about bottled water. Oh, I had a bottle of Smart Water yesterday and it tasted a bit weird. Wait, I need to go to the store to get more La Croix. Oh yeah that article, it was interesting. Let me send it to you."

It is a constant stream of my running conscious pouring out of my mouth. This is why people with ADHD tend to have bad cases of foot-in-mouth. Aka we never know when to shut up and can say stuff we instantly regret because we lack filters. I do get distracted by things around me constantly, but most of the time its stuff that I'm thinking about that will get me distracted.

10. My Memory is like my Ability to Focus: Spotty at Best

I also have two settings on my memory: crystal clear clarity or can't remember a damn thing. I can recall conversations or memories that happened when I was four in perfect detail. I can tell you what I was wearing on my sixth birthday and what flavor of cake I had. On the other hand, I can't remember mathematical formulas I learned one day ago or even what I ate for breakfast last Sunday.

Our brains have a weird way of classifying what's important and what's not important information. Unfortunately for me, things I can use like anything I've ever previously learned in math or biology is almost always classified as unimportant while pop culture references, Vine compilations, and interesting facts are a top priority.

11. I Will Get Spontaneous Bursts of Energy


Sometimes, my brain will be like:

"Hey Anne, I know you didn't get a lot of sleep last night but let's do your homework for the next two weeks and scrub the bathroom floor, and color code all your old tests all within 45 minutes."

To which I'm like:

"Uh brain, can we not? I would rather nap."

My brain promptly ignores my request and we end up doing fifty different tasks that have no real connection with each other. These bursts of energy normally will last for up to a straight hour and then you will automatically crash. This leaves you with a lot of half-finished projects and assignments you will have no motivation to continue until your next burst of energy comes a week later.

12. The "H" in ADHD isn't Always Present

Hyperactivity is part of the medical name of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder but most cases do not include it. ADHD can present with Hyperactivity, with Inattentiveness, or a combination of both. I have ADHD with Inattentiveness and not Hyperactivity. This means if I am not medicated, I am not going to run around in circles or bounce off the walls like the stereotype of a kid with ADHD.

I'm just not going to focus on anything I need to focus on. Every person with ADHD is different in this factor and it's what makes each case unique and why one medication won't fix every case.

13. My Diagnosis isn't What Defines me

If I didn't tell you I am an adult with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, chances are you probably wouldn't know I had it. I don't wear a sign on my chest that says "HEY LOOK AT ME I HAVE A DISORDER!" and because I am medicated, I can function just like anyone else. Has living with ADHD been a challenge? Yes. It has taken me a very long time to figure out what works for me and what doesn't.

My ADHD is not what defines me as a person, it is simply something I live with on a day to day basis.

If you are reading this and you do not have ADHD, I plead with you to not judge or make assumptions about someone who is living with it. We are not crazy, we're unfocused. Don't assume they're lying so they can score pills or faking it. Nothing makes a person living with ADHD more upset than someone who completely denies or denounces their disorder. We were diagnosed by medical professionals and we constantly get re-evaluated to change medications and judge it's severity.


My name is Anne O'Hara. I have ADHD and I wouldn't change that about myself because it's a part of what makes me uniquly me. For all the bad things associated with ADHD, I can find the good things too. I'm incredibly outgoing, I'm good at public speaking, and I'm able to actually get my creativity out of me and put it on paper. I love myself and my brain, flaws and all.

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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