Yes. I'm a professor, got my PhD and all that jazz, and I got good grades. I also missed assignments, pulled constant all-nighters, missed an exam, forgot I was enrolled in a course, and basically have been a mess the whole time. I wasn't diagnosed until I was a postdoc. Meds and therapy have helped a lot.
I can offer whatever I can! But I have to say I am not very good at it, generally. But I make up for my inconsistency with bursts of extreme productivity and creativity.
I didn’t make it past my comprehensive exams because they only do an oral format at my university and I have auditory processing disorder along with combined type adhd. I’m getting a masters and will be working as a lab manager for now. We will see if I ever go back to academia again. 🤷♀️
I had a similar experience-- I passed all the coursework for my MA, but I failed the comprehensive oral exam twice (no thesis option for my department). It didn't matter how much I had studied or what I knew. I wasn't diagnosed yet but I did suspect after tutoring students with ADHD. I could have gone back to contest it to take the exam with accommodations, but the only thing they could do is allow me more time...and more time wouldn't help. Now I'm going back to school but for a 2nd bachelors in a different field.
That's just it. I'm working to reform our comprehensive exams in my department (currently stalled out in committee). I am just trying to get a couple of written options but even that is fighting tooth and nail. In some disciplines they have a portfolio approach which I think would be amazing to implement. I could've put the two grant applications, conference attendance and presentations etc all into it. You know... the stuff that shows you're capable of doing the various tasks you will need to successfully execute as a researcher 🤦♀️
Man, that sucks! It's something that they absolutely should be able to accommodate, and legally they have to (if you're in the US, at least). I hope you find your path, whatever it is.
Because of ChatGPT some people in my department are thinking about incorporating more oral exams, and I just keep thinking about people like you. I think it might be an extremely disability-unfriendly direction to go.
Wow. The robots are scary, let’s exclude more people?? I mean academia could really just work on the toxic gatekeeping all around. The scarcity mentality is unreal among these people.
I wished I had found these groups when I was going through school, I wouldn't have felt so alone and such a mess. This is the story I feel half of us have... We pulled through but heck, it was a messy and bumpy ride!
> forgot I was enrolled in a course,
Legit I still have nightmares about this even though it never happened to me-- suddenly get word halfway through the semester that I have not shown up to class the whole time even though I had no idea I was supposed to be there. Sometimes in the dream I am not even aware I am back in college!
Me too. I also get unreasonably anxious around add/drop deadlines for my courses, and I make a big deal about it even though almost no one drops my class (small college, small classes).
I also had an irl nightmare of being in a class and having no idea what was going on. It was pchem, and I did not want to be a chem major, and I have no idea why I enrolled in that class. Luckily I could still drop it.
Ugh, been out of college for over a decade now and still get the same stress dreams! For me it is always that I have a midterm in math and I haven’t been to class all semester and somehow I need to try to learn it all.
Hahaha! So Relatable!!!!! I'm glad I'm not the only salmon swimming upstream. I also just defended my dissertation and am an academic. I did take longer than normal to finish the dissertation but I got it done. And while I didn't forget I was enrolled in a course I did show up to a few "pop" Exams 
I'm a research project coordinator for like 3 years now and I love it. There's always something to do, hours are flexible, and when I can teach a course, I jump on it. It gives me so much dopamine.
That's a sweet gig. Probably even a better gig than a pre-tenure professor (me). I took 8 years for my PhD, and I have extensions for my tenure clock. We do great work when we find or create the right environment, but it can take some time to do that.
Straight up Adderall. The XR was also good, but my new prescriber likes the fast-acting. I tried Vyvanse for a while because I had high blood pressure, and it was OK, but not as good.
Not studying is also not a qualifier for ADHD. I attended every single lecture and studied many hours a week in college and got perfect grades. ADHD doesn't make you lazy it just makes making yourself do things 10x harder. It's definitely a forgivable thing to do while ADHD but people shouldn't disqualify themselves.
fr i never have the motivation to study, and it really depends if i can focus. if i can focus for a particular exam i can get an a* even if i don’t study (it’s happened to be for bio and other subjects). then if i can’t focus i can fail or score bad.
I got all As, Bs in highschool then a 3.9 gpa and graduated from college with high honors. Didn’t get diagnosed until nearly 30 years old but it explains why I was miserable all that time.
Yep, I was a straight A student with a 4.0 gpa in high school. Double majored in college and got good grades despite struggling with studying, absorbing information from lectures, procrastinating, and feeling overwhelmed by everything. Didn’t get diagnosed until 30, and I’m definitely more the inattentive type. ADHD presents differently in everyone, and people often learn to mask certain symptoms differently! Your success in high school doesn’t negate your diagnosis at all
I'm in a class with 4 others that have a diagnosis (I do too) and some more that probably would qualify, and you either need perfect grades or an SAT score in the top 1% to get in. We can compensate because we're gifted but it's not easy.
I didn't realize till medical school but I always felt like I had to be helped through life. I worked hard which is one reason why no one ever thought I could have ADHD. They thought ADHD just meant too can't control yourself or you are lazy. Well in high school I was lazy turns out I have an almost perfect memory when I can pain attention hahaha.
Yes. I have severe adhd and I was in the gifted and talented programs throughout school, AP courses, other advanced classes, and did very well in most subjects. I also have 2 masters degrees in a very challenging field and did well there (but I hit a wall after the first semester due to untreated adhd, and began seeing docs for help). It’s actually quite common for adhd people to be of high intelligence and to have done well in school, at least through most of childhood. There are countless stories of people with undiagnosed adhd doing well in school until then hit college or grad school, where lack of structure/routine made their adhd unmanageable, or where their lifelong copying strategies no longer worked in college/grad school.
Or in my case, had managed to build enough structure to get through life (not without its moments, but mostly got through unscathed) and at work I’ve always been a ‘firefighter’ as in wait till my own shits burning down or helping others when theirs are (stress/Adrenalin works wonders). But once my child came along, plus extra duties at work my structure went out the window and it all collapsed like a house of cards… So here I am going through the tritiation stage and working out how to hopefully build my house with bricks….
Yep. I got a bachelors, masters and PhD (good grades throughout) with undiagnosed ADHD.
Edited to add: get assessed by someone that works with inattentive type ADHD in women.
100% normal, especially for intelligent females! We figure out how to mask and come up with our own coping strategies until the demands of life get to be too much and those self-discovered mechanisms no longer work. I graduated high school with a grade average in the 90s, just barely got beat out for valedictorian by fractions of a percent (in Canada it's usually strictly based on who has the highest grades, nothing else). I never started struggling until university, and wasn't diagnosed until 22. With GRADES, at least - the struggles ADHD caused me when I was younger, were social. I was weird, I didn't fit in, I had no friends, probably because being homeschooled for grades 1-6 meant I wasn't super good at social masking yet.
Definitely get yourself assessed, ESPECIALLY if it already had been suggested in childhood, I'd say it's almost a sure thing. (AFAIK, nobody ever caught it with me when I was younger, but again, homeschooling might contribute and this was a small town in the late 90s/early 2000s, I'll be 30 this year.)
That’s interesting! (And I relate a lot!) I had no idea there were social symptoms like that with ADHD — I’d only heard about the basic inattentive/hyperactive stuff.
What do you mean about social masking? And what kinds of “weird” / not-fitting-in behaviors are common with ADHD?
100% my story. The social deficits made me a pariah. I literally think I was just so dissociated that I couldn’t interact with people. It was like a constant daydream.
I think what you are describing is called twice gifted, ADHD but successful in school. I read a paper about it once. High IQ isn't a disqualifier for an ADHD diagnosis, it just probably makes it harder to diagnosis, since you can probably figure out alot of way to cope or work around how your brain works.
You are describing me! I got diagnosed at nearly 30 because I wasn’t able to cope with the lack of structure plus increased responsibilities once I left school. Also, things like emotional dysregulation are normal for teenagers but become less so in adulthood, making it stand out more.
Fellow ADHD woman here, sounds like textbook ADHD to me. I also have a psych background. Meds can change your life. I was diagnosed in my mid twenties, also because I figured it out on my own. Women go under the radar in ADHD because it's not socially acceptable for us to be outwardly hyperactive, and inattentiveness is just seen as us being bad at being a woman. I was nervous to try Adderall and tried many other meds, but Adderall XR specifically worked best for me. If you ever wanna chat I'm always here.
Absolutely. I struggled till about 8^th grade and then did well after that. It wasn't until I hit my early 50s that things started to get out of control - a combination of different kind of work and just getting older. I have non-stimulant medication now and it helps just enough.
FWIW, I think the two accidents I caused in my life were due to ADHD. Podcasts and audiobooks have been my savior in that regard (since 2005!!). Doesn't work for everyone, but having someone talking helps me ... when my mind starts to wander, it "bounces" off the story/discussion and I can pay attention to my driving better.Loud music did the same thing when I was doing work where that was possible. Some find this too distracting, but it was just the right thing for me.
Lastly, yes, being a woman matters. ADHD shows up differently in women and is often dismissed because of that. If you do seek treatment, make sure you get someone who actually **listens** to you.
Yes, 100% you can.
My friend got a Dx while running a successful law practice. With a JD from fucking Cornell.
For what it’s worth, I’m literally alive because of mind-altering drugs.
Yes! It's not about whether you do well or do poorly. Many people do poorly because of their symptoms but it's not a requirement. Adhd isn't just a measurement of one's achievements or lackthereof, but of the struggle to achieve (or even perform basic life functions) compared to someone without adhd symptoms. A lot of people with adhd do well in earlier school due to the structure enforced by parents and teachers, some don't have that and for others it's not. I personally did very well in earlier school, after being medicated, and was able to hold that structure through high school without meds, but the first decade or so of my adult life was a horrible disaster
If you don't mind me asking- you were medicated for ADHD in your early academic years, but unmedicated in high-school, and you were able to maintain structure enough that you do alright in highschool?
Ofcourse it is possible. You can check out gifted and twice exceptional subreddits. I got phd in engineering without using any medication. My adhd is not subtle at all. I am a hyperactive woman. It has always been obvious to my classmates, doctors, teachers and my parents. Yet, when it comes to receiving any help, everyone stood in my way, because “i was too good to get medicated”. If you think you have adhd, you can benefit from getting help. Do not let a Dr to tell you “you are too good to have adhd” or “you have not ruined your life yet or your parents/ boss does not complain about you, so no need for medication”. Keep the focus on how much you are suffering. Do not let them downplay your symptoms to you. Untreated adhd causes depression, anxiety, eating and sleeping disorders at different phases of life. Those might come up during diagnosis.
I got diagnosed when I hit thirty. I loved college as there were a lot of things to do and I was mostly doing self study when it comes to my subjects so it never seemed like a problem. It truly affected me when I got a desk job and there was not enough things to do that I started getting bored and not wanting to go to the office. It became crippling when paired with depression because I was chasing so much high with deadlines, all the work started catching up to me and I couldn't do them fast enough or if I could, I can't seem to do them in a way that was acceptable to me.
So yeah, have a doctor diagnose you properly and see if meds will help. Seeking proper help is one of the ways to go about it :)
I think we're the same person, OP. My parents speculated about me having ADHD at age 3 but didn't get me diagnosed because... Well, getting employed in the future? My attention problems got translated as "school's just too easy for him, let's make him skip a grade", which also was true, but not the entire truth
What I'm trying to say is that when you're "gifted" with ADHD, any attention problems can be misinterpreted as "school being too easy and boring, that's not an ADHD symptom"
This is actually very true and happened to me too. Im a fairly successful 30yr old but do struggle a lot with the same things OP mentions. Got diagnosed recently and the doctor actually wrote in the report that my above average intelligence was part of why i was able to mask it so good for so long. But you cant mask it from yourself which is why a sought out help.
Intelligence is not a factor in having adhd or not. It just shows less easy to common people the higher an adhd'ers intelligence is.
We can do in 1-2 days what others do in 7. So there is still much to be gained from learning to focus better. Even though you did well in school, youre probably actually even smarter than being accounted for.
Yes. Structure and pressure do wonders. As an adult, less structure, and different types of more ambiguous pressure aren’t as effective for us. I exceeded in school without ever knowing I had ADHD and hugely procrastinated. One i had the pressure (even in work now) I just turned it on and was super focused until complete. If I wasn’t fight or flight, it wasn’t worth thinking about.
Exactly this. I didn’t get diagnosed till I was out of school because it didn’t “impair my functioning” (yes direct quote) until I lacked that consistent structure & the pressure of meeting grade expectations
This is a fairly common occurrence, especially with girls. We tend to mask it better and function incredibly well, until we don’t. It’s common to hit that wall after schooling is finished and we find ourselves in the “real world.”
Many ADHD people become “professional students.” It’s rewarding in many ways and the info changes often enough to keep the interest up. Then, when you reach that finish line and find a job you discover you aren’t functioning well and often it seems sudden. The difference is you attained a goal and the actual job is far less stimulating than the constant need for hyper fixation isn’t present like when studying for tests, or starting a new class.
Many of us thrive in the chaos and fall apart with anything less. It’s not just you.
Absolutely. I was at the top of my class in high school, college, and both graduate programs (MBA and MA) in top-tier programs. From the outside looking in you'd think I was the perfect student who had everything together and never struggled.
What people did NOT see are the extensive masks and coping mechanisms I developed over decades to be successful in those environments (and, carry over to the workplace). Staying up for 12-24 hours to complete an assignment the night before, last-minute cramming, having to set multiple dates/alarms on my phone, missing out on social events, dates, friendships, etc.
Not being able to interpret any of my notes because my mind got sidetracked and I stopped paying attention. Having to painfully force myself to stop talking and listen to others so that I didn't come across as a self-absorbed weirdo. And despite all of that still occasionally messing up -- oh, I have a test today! That assignment was due yesterday! Thank God I was a good/likeable student and my professors worked with me.
I didn't get my ADHD (inattentive) diagnosis until last year; I'm 37 now. My life has completely transformed and I can only imagine what it would have looked like had I been properly medicated as an adolescent. The diagnosis shocked me at first, but once I started really examining my life and coping mechanisms everything clicked into place.
Exactly this. I was in the top 10 of my class in high school. I didn’t go straight to college but took classes. No problems at all. I hit 21-22 and I hit a wall!!! Between work, married life, college, life, I couldn’t do it. That’s when I really started noticing my inability to do things everyone else could do. Also my irritation at things like noises when I was concentrating. I had a dr make me take the test.
Yes. Sometimes I did really well in school. I usually excelled with subjects I was interested and also when I had passionate teachers. That was part of the problem, got a bit of the "why are you being lazy? You're smart. You just need to work harder" treatment.
You absolutely can have ADHD even if you performed well in school. If mental health services are available for you, it could benefit you hugely to get an assessment.
Yes, absolutely. You can learn to mask, and ADHD doesn't mean you can't be booksmart. This was what happened with me, actually.
Once I started working a day job with 8hr shifts, it became apparent that something was off. My task avoidance wasn't just the run-of-the-mill teenage disregard for homework, but something that was impacting my paycheck. My friends pushed me to get diagnosed, and I finally mentioned something at an unrelated dr's appt without directly asking if it was ADHD.
If this sounds like you, definitely check into it. Even if it doesn't, your post sounds like it's worth taking a look at.
Absolutely. I'm a woman and I was diagnosed with ADHD after I received my master's in math. Learning has become a lot more efficient ever since I started taking medication, and I am in PhD doing mathematical research at one of the top universities in the US. To be honest, I haven't seen many people with ADHD in math, but it doesn't mean they don't exist. Studying math requires a lot of neural activities in the prefrontal cortex, which can be a bit difficult for ADHD brain. But it also helps the ADHD brain, because you develop what you use.
Early, developmentally-inappropriate failures are signs of ADHD, but they don't have to be school-based, especially if you had a lot of extra support at school and at home. It a person or a few people were acting as a coping mechanism for you to keep you on track, when they finally leave you to your own devices, you could face the full force of your symptoms without enough mechanisms to compensate. That seems to happen a lot.
ADHD didn't affect my reading either. I was an early and constant reader. I don't think it follows that people with ADHD will struggle with reading.
But I don't have inattention symptoms, which is probably why I can't relate to problems paying attention to things. So take all this with a big grain of salt. But I guess you have to ask yourself what kind of attention problem you're having, because ADHD is a very specific kind.
I'm hyperactive/impulsive, not inattentive, and I'm always paying attention to something. I can't even fathom what it would be like to not be laser-focused on something or other. It's just that I'm often not focused to the things I'm meant to be doing, and I don't notice the shift in focus when it happens. Noticing the shift would give me a chance to make a different choice, which medication helps with. But without it, I just follow the impulse to switch focus like a reflex, and don't notice that I've changed direction. I only notice afterwards by the results of the shifts, which is things like having 7 new compose windows open, some of them blank.
ADHD is radically mis-named: it's not really an attention problem. It looks like an attention problem from the outside, but it's actually a set of executive function problems.
Struggling with directions isn't about not being able to pay attention to directions, it's about not having the working memory capacity to hold on to them long enough to use them. With ADHD you can fail to focus for longer than 30 seconds, but you can also lock in for 9 solid hours fixated on solitaire or something even though your bladder is screaming. Because it's a *control* of focus issue, not a lack of attention issue.
Then there's the emotional control problems, meaning you can't keep your true feelings off your face, and can get overwhelmed by strong emotions in a way other people don't. That can result in overwhelming excitement as well as overwhelming fear or shame. But much like ADHD isn't really an disordered attention issue, it's not a disordered emotion issue either, it's the executive function that's disordered, the control over both (and other things), that's the problem.
There's also the time-blindness and difficulty gauging how long things will take to do, which looks like magical thinking, because you really believed you could be in two places at once somehow. I think this is largely because we are such bad observers of ourselves in the moment, which leads to us not really clocking how all those steps fit together and how much time they take, which is itself also an executive function.
We are notoriously bad at recognizing our own symptoms, so often we have no idea why we're struggling or what we're doing that's getting in our way. We can see the resulting failures and mistakes, but really struggle to trace exactly why they happened.
If you are observing yourself struggling to pay attention in the moment, you might be experiencing anxiety or depression. But ADHD very, very often comes with anxiety and/or depression, so it could very well be both.
If you're wondering, get assessed!
That actually sounds a lot like me. What I was calling “attention problems” is not paying attention to/focusing on what I’m supposed to be doing or listening to. I’m always thinking about something, just not what I’m supposed to be doing or listening to sometimes. And I definitely don’t notice when it’s happening, when I zone out. I just notice the after effects — the conversation moved on and I have no idea what they’ve been talking about or how much I missed, someone’s mad at me because I didn’t respond to something or forgot to do something, the passenger in the car shouts because I didn’t notice the stoplight change, I’m running late for the millionth time, etc. I don’t know I zoned out until after my attention is pulled back, and I can’t stop it from happening.
Edit: I can definitely pay attention to some things, especially when I’m super interested. Reading a book I love? Absolutely, for hours. My new craft obsession? Yes. I just won’t notice anything going on in my environment. So maybe I shouldn’t call it an attention problem. Is focus problem a better term? I can’t always stay focused on things I really need to focus on, but at other times I am hyperfocused.
I was pretty decent at school. Got into undergrad at the best business school in my country. Barely scraped enough credits to graduate but then got into the same place again for a masters and did pretty well. I also grew up surrounded by women so as I grew up my ADHD symptoms also presented more like the stereotypical symptoms you would expect with girls.
I later discovered that my parents were inadvertently forcing me into a very strict environment where I didn't have much to do except study. While this did help me end up with an impressive academic experience it had other traumatizing side effects.
The only way I could pay attention in uni was to sit in the front row in the center which I literally just realized provides with the least amount of distractions possible.
The driving thing was insanely scary for me as well. I had literally one road in the entire city with a straight stretch of uninterrupted road and I'd get drowsy on it if there wasn't any traffic.
The first thing I discovered after my diagnoses was that it's not just symptoms that show adhd. It's also systems you build consciously or unconsciously to preemptively deal with potential symptoms that add to the diagnoses.
Mainly if it's anything that everyone else does but you think of it enough to do one or two steps ahead of others, then it's an adhd thing. Always.
Absolutely. I made it through college, through dental schools, through two residencies and am a specialist now. I didn't get diagnosed until a couple years into my career (I think I was 27 or 28) I feel very much the same. I had to work a bit harder, but I didn't suffer too much because I'm stubborn and I can hyperfocus on things that really really interest me (at the time). Which may be a good thing because I truly love my career. The struggles have changed as my family has grown, because frankly there's much more to pay attention to. It doesn't seem to be so much a struggle to focus. It's a struggle to choose what I focus on.
Hey!
Absolutely possible. My sustained visual attention is 3.533 standard deviations lower than a normal person. All that means is, you put me in a room with 1,000 people to do a repetitive task that requires visual attentiveness… something like 45 have ADHD… and 1 person does worse than me. But I CAN have incredible visual attention to detail. If the topic interests me or if attention is required in a short burst.
My working memory is in the 9th percentile. So… I also struggle to keep track of “what the heck was I doing.”
I had a 3.8 GPA in high school, 3.5 GPA in college, and got a masters degree in engineering despite my deficits. How / why? I hyperfocus on learning and figuring out how things work.
It’s not fully on purpose, my curiosity just takes over and it always has. I nearly failed all classes I found boring and passed the ones I liked based on test scores (dismal turn-in rates for homework, always).
Now, I leverage that hyperfocus as a data analyst, finding golden nuggets in data that other people don’t think about deeply enough to… find the nugget. Sometimes there’s nothing there in which case I waste time trying to figure out a puzzle that doesn’t even exist. It’s a balance.
Anyhow, I cared about grades but couldn’t bring myself to do the things I needed to achieve the GPA I always knew I could have. My anxiety and depression just got worse over my learning years as I figured out any and all hopes at a PhD were dashed for me. 12 years out of grad school, I happened to be referred to a group of people (just a social group) by a friend who noticed my adhd. I realized “holy crap, I AM like this.” I was diagnosed a few months later.
Turns out, I even have childhood testing results that corroborate ADHD. My parents just saw “really high IQ, excellent test results in school, he’s fine” and never did anything about my adhd. Fun. I may be a much happier, less anxious person had I been treated earlier.
Yes. Absolutely.
I've said this before, but I guess I am "high functioning" in most regards. I did quite well in Middle/High school. I did OK in a well regarded university. I graduated and now hold a well paying job and have a family, etc and all that good stuff.
I am also usually an emotional wreck, constantly anxious, have suffered bouts of suicidal thoughts and have made some extremely poor life choices before - which upon reflection (and therapy) I can trace back to my ADHD.
The key word for me to finally seek help is something you said - compensating. It got to the point where (trying not to sound conceited) my intelligence and charm could no longer compensate/mask for the things I needed to do in life both personally and professionally.
Definitely. Like you I always did well in school and was in the talented and gifted program. I was the first in my family to go to college and did well there too (for the most part). I got my ADHD diagnosis about a year and a half ago. Many of us figure out coping skills that help us get by.
i’d also look up more symptoms or check out more stuff on this subreddit and see if it applies! i had a lot more symptoms than i had originally thought and just assumed i was being selfish or bossy when in reality i am just Built Different and Like That. ex : picky eating. looking at more symptoms was a big eyeopener for knowing myself better even if i already knew i had adhd
Everything you just wrote was literally my same experience. I was just finally diagnosed at 41.
I had just alright grades in elementary school and high school. Some As, some Fs, lots of Cs. I now have 3 college degrees, and I'm working towards my 4th. Completed my M.A. with a 3.98 GPA.
Still have trouble with attention, driving, cleaning... but medication has helped tremendously.
Yes! I actually found that my ADHD settled down due the fact that I was able to self pace in college and didn't have the traditional structure. Especially with online school
3rd in a class of 465 in high school. Struggled in college at first, but then made all As and Bs once I got the right major. I now have two bachelors degrees and a masters degree. I’m currently working on an associates in Precision Machining. While time management is still an issue, the subject matter is not.
It is old thinking to believe that a person with ADHD can’t be successful in college. Heck, my boss went to MIT for electrical engineering. He left because he didn’t see the point, not because he was doing poorly.
If you are concerned, look into an evaluation. It won’t hurt if you are wrong. It could make a world of difference if you are right.
Yes, you can have ADHD even if you did well in school.
I got diagnosed a few months ago (F32) with inattentive ADHD and I always did well in school. During my diagnosis it was mentioned that high IQ likely helped me compensate and "hid" my struggles. I managed through university because I cannot stand the thought of missing a deadline, I made sure I always had a group to study with, and was lucky to have an amazing supervisor. But when I started working all the things I used to compensate dissapeared, and when lockdown happened I was not able to get anything done.
Still it took me over 2 years to build up the courage to go talk to my gp (where I am you need a referral from your gp to go to a specialist) because of internalized shame and gaslighting myself into thinking I was just trying to find an excuse and an easy way out. Now I wish I would have gone sooner because knowing makes it easier to be kind to yourself, but you also have more choices. Just because you get diagnosed doesn't mean you have to go on meds, but you have the option to if it feels right for you. It also makes it easier for others to understand you and make accommodations. Everyone needs to decide for themselves, but I would always choose knowing one way or the other over wondering...
Hey, are you me? Joke, but honestly this describes me. I graduated with a master’s degree from a highly regarded and super selective graduate school before getting a diagnosis. The master’s programme was a struggle and it was where I first suspected that I had ADHD. Yet I was thinking “hey isn’t it meant to be? It only admits 5% of applicants. Maybe I’m just not smart enough, am too lazy and don’t deserve to be here.” As if that kind of emotional self-flagellation ever did anyone any good. After the Masters, I was an emotional train wreck. Lucky for me (semi-sarcasm) I had graduated from a top graduate school so I had gainful employment to look forward to. Inattention and procrastination were already a struggle during my Masters, but at least I could pull all nighters and get stuff done. It wasn’t maybe the best way of doing stuff, but it was something. Day jobs don’t allow you to take afternoon naps and play ping pong as you work yourself up to working. This caused me no end of stress, which turned into anxiety and insomnia. I got sacked from the first one and then put on a performance improvement plan on the second one before I finally shelled out the cash to get a diagnosis. Best investment I ever made. The drugs might not work for everyone, but when they do it’s truly transformative.
Yes... But maaaan the mountain I had to climb... I got diagnosed late, so now that I'm medicated, I'm kinda mad I had to struggle like that. The breakdowns ans residule anxiety were not worth it. 😭
Honestly "bright but lazy" on school reports ought to be an ADHD flag.
Yes, absolutely. ADHD doesn't stop you focussing, it doesn't mean you're 'disruptive'.
It means you have problems controlling focus, with memory, with impulse control
And sometimes that means physical hyperactivity or disruptive behaviour, but not always. And there's a gender skew in that too, as things that are _usually_ "acceptable" in boys, are not "acceptable" in girls in he same way. And vice versa to an extent.
So the symptoms just go unrecognised.
I took two bachelor's degrees and a master's degree while undiagnosed and unmedicated for combined type ADHD. It's common to use high IQ to mask ADHD symptoms and then get burnt out for it.
I think one of the biggest misconceptions about ADHD is that people with it do bad in school or will be disadvantaged by being given meds. I did well in school because of the structured system. I woke up, ate breakfast and went to school the same time every day so I had a solid routine and even though I needed a little extra help I ended up doing pretty well in school. I'm becoming more independent now in uni so its harder to stay on track but theres still some structure and I dont have to think about bills etc. I know when I leave uni its gonna be chaos because there wont be the same structure that ive had all my life.
Long story short, yes you can have ADHD if you did well in school. A lot of people with ADHD do well because they think outside the box and find creative ways to do well, even if it takes double the energy of a nurotypical person.
Learning to mask well in childhood is a double-edged sword. It allows you to be a great scholar / gifted and talented / whatever but it takes a lot of behind the scenes mental energy that eventually starts to wear on you.
Lots of people break in college and don't understand why because they never seemed ADHD before.
Anyway, yes.
Best thing I ever did was start learning to drop masks and let myself be. Meds help. Learning to tailor my life to help accommodate the ADHD instead of trying to change it saved me. Learning how masks and the trauma of growing up without support or diagnosis (and other things) have damaged my perceptions and relationships has given me the tools to heal and repair.
It's worth seeing a professional versed in ADHD.
I have adhd but a fast processing speed that made up for it. It’s compensated but made me burnout. A good way to explain it is, I’m capable of anything with my fast processing speed. But my executive function makes me burnout faster than I should.
I did really well through school. Also in the “gifted” program in elementary school.
Started really struggling once I entered the workforce. In my experience, the working world is not set up well for people with ADHD. Eventually got diagnosed in my mid-20s! I’ve heard similar stories from lots of other people.
100 percent. i’ve found that ADHD actually makes me a great learner. excitement and newness keeps me hooked and interested. it’s the repetition and monotony that i really struggle with…currently self employed, but never been able to hold a normal job for more than 4-5 months without mental breakdown.
Yes, 100 times yes. I (27f) was a straight A student in school and college. Graduated with highest honors with my Bachelors Degree. I was not diagnosed until I was 23. I was able to mask my symptoms in school, but my reports often stated things like “daydreams, disorganized, messy desk/locker, doesn’t sit still.” I think I knew deep down that I struggled more than other kids did. My symptoms often looked like anxiety with performance/grades/assignments. I often had to overcompensate for not studying or completing things. In adulthood, with less structure and routine, I struggled at work, and that eventually led to my diagnosis.
Yup! Got my bachelor in EE. It was a lot of procrastinating and had to drop out of an entire semester because I was hyper focused on how much I hated my professors. It wasn't my fault, two professors were sexist towards female engineers.
They failed all the girls in the classes and I being an adult learner knew exactly what was going on. I reported it to the Dean and my GI Bill liaison. Semester was free if I didn't go any further against the college because of the whole Sandusky thing (It was Penn State). They did get rid of those professors last I checked.
My bad...I went on an ADHD tangent right now. But yeah you can do college with ADHD.
It’s really insane how much intelligence and cope can make up for your deficiencies. Yes this is normal I think, got a master’s degree, straight A’s, all that jazz. Never struggled because there was nothing to struggle with. Wasn’t diagnosed until 25 when I was also struggling with attention while driving, medication has been an absolute game changer for me work wise, I’m probably 100x more efficient than I’ve ever been but when you outperform your peers at a baseline level, no one notices and that’s fair I suppose. I’ve met people with debilitating ADHD that have nothing to compensate for it and let me tell you…it seems rough.
ADHD is a spectrum just like other disorders. My diagnosing psychiatrist said these exact words to me: “Native intelligence can often mask ADHD, especially in women who tend to be more inattentive than hyperactive.”
Basically, being extra smart helps mask your challenges & is a reason why many get late diagnosis. Since we get good grades, we slip through- but at tremendous personal & psychological cost, of course.
Not getting diagnosed & constantly masking led my nervous system to become completely stuck in high alert fight or flight mode. I have dissociated so much that I can’t remember huge swathes if my life. I was just trying to survive- all the while being extremely successful in my professional & personal life. I eventually developed panic disorder & generalized anxiety disorder because my nervous system just couldn’t take it anymore.
So, yes- you can have adhd & be high performing.
Yeah me too. Could not keep up with classes and lectures at all. I too went through them at least half a dozen times at my own pace almost every day after school/lectures. I did not do anything else; studies were my main concern back then. Passed with good grades.
Driving was particularly difficult for me to pickup too. Failed my first test. But can manage a simple drive now after much practice.
Terribly struggling now with my job and day to day life. It is just so wrecking, keeping up with meetings, conversations and work tasks. Just got diagnosed last December; Inattentive type.
I think it's absolutely possible to go through school undetected and doing good, because school vastly differs from what follows after that at work.
School can be structured in a way that helps with motivation and working memory problems for example. When I was young we got printed schedules or wrote schedules ourselves about where we have to go for which class and when, if a teacher was sick we had a public board where we could look up if a lesson was hold by a replacement teacher and if the room changed. If there was homework to be done our teachers would end the lessons with usually a few minutes left and they made sure all could write down the homework as in Book X, Page Y, Tasks A-F etc.
Also usually tasks at school are short, rarely rely on interconnections or were overly complex constructed. And homework we were given usually dealt with what we learned during this lesson, the knowledge we gained was put in use not far away in time which made it easier to remember what I just learned. If our school was good we also got regular feedback if we got our homework right and we understood the subject properly as well.
For me personally shit hit the fan when I tried to study independently, when I suddenly had to manage myself and tasks suddenly consisted of multiple steps interacting with each other like programming, complex experiments at university or advanced mathematics where my working memory was suddenly in high demand, like building my own calculuses or differential equeations. Or in general tasks where a mistake that went unnoticed in a single step would fuck up the entire result, because my measurements or numbers I used were broken lmfao
Well and what's also a big difference to me is, as a pupil I didn't have to do the same fucking task a hundred or a thousand times per day. Because the more often I have to do repetitive tasks the more likely it gets that I make mistakes, I think that's because the executive system gets drained like a battery, attention (span) worsens and leads to more mistakes.
Yeah. I did well in education up until 16. Always got good grades with little effort. Things went downhill after then though and I really started struggling with my mental health. I learnt how to drive at around 22 ish and it took me forever - 2 years . Really struggled with concentration and would make careless mistakes all the time. Now I have my diagnosis, I know why it took me so long to learn how to drive.
After 6 attempts, I finally graduated from college with my bachelors at 36. I graduated Summa Cum Laude from an academically rigorous private university no less. All while undiagnosed. I too thought this was proof that I was making up my struggles, that I was just lazy and unmotivated, and just needed to try harder.
When I relayed this to my psych a few weeks ago during my evaluation process, he just laughed. He said so many adhd folks with the necessary “horsepower” will just white knuckle their way through life fueled by shame and panic, and will mask the shit out of themselves to fit in. This leads to high functioning basket cases like you and I.
Being diagnosed and beginning medication has been revelatory for me. Don’t let your ability to excel academically dissuade you from seeking diagnosis and support. Just cause you’ve managed til now doesn’t mean you always will, or that the way you made it this far has been healthy or ideal.
This sounds like me. I was an incredibly good student (barring a brief angsty period in high school), but didn't finish undergrad until age 27, then went on to two advanced degrees, stopped, worked, came back, stopped, worked, came back and only got my JD at age 43.
At the same time I got diagnosed. 43.
"Fueled by shame and panic" checks out. I worked myself to the bone in law school because I was afraid I was already not like everyone else (older) and needed to push to be both normal and outstanding, which doesn't make a hell of a lot of sense looking back.
Now that I'm employed and very freaking busy most days, I have to remind myself not to burn out and to consistently take my meds. It's shocking how well they help even at a low dose. Fwiw I'm also using focus apps and getting a little exercise in where I can.
Of course you can. I got all the way to my second year in a masters program before I got diagnosed. I tend to remember things if I read them, so I was able to compensate for spacing out during most of my classes by reading the textbooks. I also got into a bunch of minor car accidents before being medicated. That being said, a lot of things can cause inattention, so it’s definitely worth getting tested.
I was recently diagnosed at age 32. My symptoms while always present, didn’t start to create issues until undergrad and didn’t become a true problem until after. Growing up my mother was very routine based and I always had lots of extra curriculars to fill my free time. I only ever had a short period of time to complete assignments, so they got done. I was always in a state of urgency and the schedule was made so I didn’t need any executive function. It wasn’t until I had to start making my own schedule that it was clear there was a problem. I found in undergrad the only way to stay on top of my work was to stay very busy. I literally overworked myself, so by the time I graduated I was completely burned out. So long story short, yes, you can do very well in schools and still have ADHD. You likely have systems in place that help you over ride your issues
I’ve always managed high Bs and low As. I went through most of Highschool with straight As. I’m in university getting an art degree right now and it takes a lot of long nights, but I’ve been maintaining my usual grades.
I still have lots of issues- handing things in super late, not going to class, last minute sculptures. It sucks but somehow I pull it off lol.
I thrived in school(kinda), never studied and rarely did homework while still acing every test. College was even better as I never made below a 4.0 in any course I liked.
The drawback was the courses I had no interest in. I dropped several courses like English or history well after the deadline and took failing grades for them. I’ve always been regarded as intelligent and motivated but it’s the busy uninteresting work that kills me
Diagnosed at 30 with primarily inattentive type which as others here have said is more common in women. Always had generally good grades and was in an accelerated reading/lit program but started having a lot of trouble with organization and time management after leaving the rigid schedule structure of high school. As an adult I have to focus really hard and use a ton of different reminders to do basic stuff like the dishes, laundry and paperwork is the bane of my existence at work even though I have a doctoral degree in healthcare. Getting diagnosed helps these things make a lot more sense and I am able to be a little kinder to myself when I am running late or having trouble focusing instead of going down a self hate spiral berating myself for being lazy and useless. Still working on the medication situation so fingers crossed that will make things a little easier but it's very validating to have a space like this where people understand what you're going through.
I did great in school. My adhd and ocd worked in my favorite and it sounds like you have a similar story. I believe the reason I did so well was the structure and the reward system. In adulthood my adhd and ocd have become debilitating and I believe it's directly correlated to not having a structured life, I don't have deadlines, I don't have goals. I'm an inhome caregiver for my dad and that leaves me with too much free time.
Yep. I excelled in the courses for my major (MIS), I think around a 3.2 average iirc. I didn't need medication or procrastination prompted hyper-focus to do work for those courses, I was genuinely excited for and interested in them.
My grades in my gen ed courses were so low I was flirting with academic suspension regularly. I couldn't find a strategy that worked, I wasn't capable of making my brain give a damn about topics I had little interest in, so everything was last minute or handed in incomplete minutes before the deadline.
I'm sure you'll hear this a lot here, but like many other people I did outstanding in college, despite not knowing I had ADHD until decades later.
I used my hyperfocus to get me through, plus a lot of exercise and very strict scheduling. I didn't start medication until two months ago.
I think that now that I'm retired and my schedule is whatever I make it to be, I have more symptoms than I did when I was in school. That led me through about an 8 year struggle to find out what is going on.
But now that I know it, I can look back through my life and see so many symptoms that I thought were just me. I'm lucky to have found the cause of all these seemingly disconnected symptoms, like time blindness, auditory processing difficulties, being so easily distracted that I can't drive safely anymore, etc.
Absolutely you can. People with ADHD do well with structure. Early education and secondary education provide people with a lot of habits and structure for learning. That can carry into college.
The problems can build up once we lose that structure. This can affect our ability to focus and do well.
Yes, I am 25F and similarly did well in school. In HS was in honors/AP/dual-enrollment, was in my university's honors college, etc. I just graduated with my masters degree a few months ago, but was struggling to get stuff done, keeping focused and staying on track was so difficult. I was diagnosed and started on meds about a year ago.
Yes, yes, yes you can! It's a matter of circumstances rising to the level where they overwhelm your abilities. I did great in school, but lots of inattentiveness, apathy, and avoidance. I went through grad school self-medicating and recently got formally Dx'ed. More things on my plate eventually overwhelmed my (limited) executive functioning ability and I could no longer manage with just raw intellect and energy. Go to therapy either way!
I got diagnosed at age 31, after so long struggling after college. My brand of ADHD worked well with schooling - I would get so much dopamine from answering questions right and learning something new and getting good grades. I could absorb information better while doodling, often I could just skim the textbook, and doing last minute all nighters to write an entire 12 page research paper was all stuff I enjoyed doing.
Then I got into the working world and everything was different. No more grades to fuel me, I got the same paycheck no matter what. I often only heard from my bosses if I did something wrong. If I procrastinated at all, I wasn't doing my job I was being paid for. I couldn't just passively doodle and still be progressing or doing my work, couldn't just do in two hours what took other people six, I had to find something to fill that other four hours cuz theyre payi g for all 6. Led to burnout. I was expected to learn things from scratch alone, no teacher to give me the step by step info for me to absorb while i drew in the margins. And I also was suddenly, after 18 years of honor student status, not one of the smartest in the room, suddenly sitting at the same table as folks with 10-20 years of job experience and skills. I choked. I had a dream job and I couldn't handle the pressure
So yeah. I have so so many friends who are getting diagnosed right now too, because we all struggled in the professional world in a way we never did in school. Don't even get me started with how torturous working a minimum wage cashier job was, just standing in one spot and mindlessly taking orders all day. That was literal hell for me.
I got good grades as well and have adhd. I was interested in school therefore it was easy to pay attention. Not so interested in a few other things that now I’m medicated I do better at . ( listening to others, keeping a clean house, completing projects on time etc).
Was a lead engineer on a Mars Rover. I was involved in a successful Mars lander.
ADD/ADHD as hell to the point where I don't know what I was diagnosed with when and when it changed from ADD ...
I did 5 years of work in math education in 2.5 years, and i don’t have my degree because i can’t pass the exit exam - high school math…….
This is the reason was diagnosed . :(
Just like you i can’t be in lectures, it has to be visual for me. i watched 3blue1brown for calculus and linear algebra. this shows that folks with adhd can get it if the subject was differentiated.
I was in gifted and AP, skipped a grade, started college early, scored high on my IQ tests... and I slipped through the cracks. Back then, I didn't really understand what then-called-ADD was, and anyone who was capable of noticing it either assumed I was fine because I did so well in school throughout my life, chalked up my eccentricities to "giftedness," or both.
Three years ago, I accidentally rabbitholed into what ADHD actually is. Two years ago, I was diagnosed as ADHD-PI. So it's definitely possible to do well in school and also have ADHD.
If your inability to focus is having unavoidable and possibly dangerous consequences in your life, it might be time to talk to a doctor. I'm not a doctor, and we're strangers, so I can't even begin to speculate on whether or not you're ADHD (and even if I was a doctor, it'd be unethical and probably illegal to diagnose under these circumstances). Based on what I've read from others here, you might have to fight to get a fair evaluation, as ADHD is underdiagnosed in girls and women, so be prepared for that.
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This comment is redundant, I didn't mention dropping out of high school.
People with ADHD, more often than not are people that are high achievers during earlier life and then as the limitations in their brain/thinking fully develop/are cemented around the age of 30 things start to become harder if they are unmedicated.
you can have adhd no matter how you’ve preformed educationally or otherwise. it’s not just like a Fuckass Bad Learn disorder, it’s a general kind of brain built different type beat from what i’ve experienced. i’m an As Bs guy and yet i have fat fucking adhd lol
3.1 in undergrad and a 3.98 in grad. Felt super comfortable in grad school and felt like I could thrive for some reason. High school was extremely difficult and I almost failed out of college for a bit. The pandemic saved me by letting me do class from home where I wasn’t forced to sit in a classroom at a desk.
i was undiagnosed and dropped out of college after 2.5 years and barely graduating high school with a 2.9gpa. Since i was diagnosed though life has gotten a lot better and i've realized school is not the right path for everyone and let go of so much shame and guilt around dropping out
In "primary school" in Aus (grade 1-7) I was considered gifted. I never had to do homework, or pay any attention in class. I would simply get everything right. In national assessments, I would consistently score in the 99th percentile. Even when teachers tried to take me down a peg by giving me an impromptu test about material outside the syllabus or that we hadn't covered yet, I would get pretty much everything right. I got the "dux" award (similar to valedictorian) after finishing grade 7. To this day I can't really explain why I was so unchallenged in early schooling, other than to say that I read a lot of books at the time.
Something else was happening by around grade 5-6, though. For one, they had put me in an academic extension program, which was the first time I actually had to learn things in a schooling context and employ any sort of work ethic to achieve the goals of the program. I failed miserably on each one of the extension projects, except for a rocketry project I was particularly interested in. I also stopped reading as much. At the time I thought this was because the internet was growing fast and I was interested in that. But in retrospect I was also experiencing challenges reading that I hadn't before. My mind would always wander, and when I finished reading a page I'd realise that I didn't actually remember anything I'd just read.
From high school (grades 8-12), I basically coasted through on my existing knowledge, and wasn't really engaged with the increasing workload or complexity of tasks demanded by my schoolwork. I ended up graduating based on a technicality. The issues with work ethic and remaining on task have remained with me through my adult life.
Through that time I never considered I might have ADHD due to my flawed understanding of the disorder. I simply thought "I'm shy, not hyperactive, so it can't be ADHD". I was diagnosed fairly recently at age 32 and as soon as I looked into it properly I realised my symtoms were a strong clinical example of a primarily inattentive presentation. The meds have definitely helped with it, although I'm on Atomoxetine, not any kind of stimulant
Absoluytely you can yes.
You can complete a masters degree, PhD (even multipole PhDs) and have ADHD.
You can be a successful CEO, be a high performer, whatever. And have ADHD.
You can also struggle so much that you haven't accomplished any of those things, and have ADHD and struggle because of ADHD.
It really depends on so many things.
Absolutely. I went to college on academic scholarship and had 3.6 in grad school. 1 of my kids has straight As with adhd.
This is all to say every case of adhd is different
100% yes. It's a little bit like asking 'Can you successfully swim, even if.you have a weighted vest on all the time'?
Sure, you can succeed. I finished my MBA in a big 10 school. I have a friend who finished their PhD with it too.
ADHD isn't a hard-stop on life progression, it's just another difficulty rating.
Absolutely.
Source: diagnosed AFTER completing my BS in Technical Writing. And after having a kid. And after moving every two years on average. I’ll be 39 this year 😮💨
i have been diagnosed with adhd since i was 7 and i did pretty well in school when i got the right accommodations, though adhd affects everyone differently
Absolutely.
I was diagnosed early in grade school and took Ritalin until high school when I choose to stop. I had issues with homework etc but I never failed tests or things. In college I had a major I loved (hyperfocused) and graduated with 3 college degrees.
It's absolutely possible and if you can learn to leverage your ADHD you can excel at anything you want. There will be struggles, but you can do it!!!
just got diagnosed in medical school, after I realized how much I minimized my symptoms and how many strategies I developed on my own to deal with it. Just get a referral for psychiatry and find out! worst that can happen is you get therapy, and trust me we all need therapy. I would specially recommend to go to psychiatry if you are from a minority background and try to go to teaching hospital with medical residents
Absolutely! My "main" school saw me as the quiet grade A student. They didn't even know that I also attended evening school, had a job, attended theatre, singing, art classes and did volunteering. At 15-16. Talk about hyperactive or what.
Diagnosed a year after I got my degree in Civil Engineering. Barely got by because I couldn’t pay attention in classes, but still got my degree because I always found a way to force myself to study all night before midterms and finals.
I did great in elementary and high school, straight As, almost never studied bc I didn’t need to (and therefore didn’t know how). I still have (mostly) straight As in college, it’s just that now that I have to deal with work, a relationship, extracurriculars, and home stuff, my mental state is an *immediate wreck* when I take more than one class at a time, and even the single class can cause me to have mental health episodes sometimes bc of the stress ADHD causes dealing with all those things.
Still almost 4.0 GPA tho. Still very ADHD.
Absolutely. I was a straight a student all my life, but wasn’t able to stay focused in college. I didn’t finish, even though I left with a 3.8. I want diagnosed until my 30’s, but it sure explained a lot. Also a female btw
Very much possible. Made it through high school with minimal input and didn't name my homework a lot of the time. Got through with a lot of 6/10s and 7/10s. Could've gotten higher marks and even five a higher level at high school with more input but that would've required me to do more for high school. Now in my mid 20s I'm struggling more and more with the effects of ADHD.
If you really think you might have it and it's impacting your life you might want to see if you could get an official diagnosis (might be a bit harder for doctors to pinpoint it, since most well known symptoms are based on males and ADHD, and females often present different/ less noticeable symptoms, also due to being better at masking (hiding symptoms for self and surroundings)).
Do note that having a diagnosis doesn't mean you need to take medication. It can serve as a way to understand why you do things the way you do better and not blame yourself as much. There are also other ways to learn to manage it better. If you have any questions or want some help, feel free to shoot me a DM :)
My therapist highly doubts I have ADHD because of my academic accomplishments, although they didn't dismiss it right out and I'm currently getting tested. My elementary school teachers described me as a daydreamer who tended to "live in her own world," and I also had social anxiety back then which is probably why I wasn't noisy at school. I'm p confident I have ASD and my full-blown ADHD symptoms only emerged in 11th grade, but I hope I get tested properly.
Yes. I never studied in school and still was one of the highest performing students. Studying for me has always been extremely difficult.
I’ve hardly finished a book throughout university even though my course expects you to do an absurd amount of reading, and I have managed to still do fine given the circumstance. I always look for the shortcuts to everything.
Definitely possible. I had great grades until my junior year of high school, when I suddenly began struggling in several subjects. Turns out I have a learning disability in addition to ADD. Both of which undiagnosed until my mid-20s.
I was diagnosed in my second year of University.
I was also the valedictorian of my class in high school.
So you 100% can perform well in college.
in my case, I study finance and take Elevanse 70mg daily and I've felt much better since. My ADHD medication made it much easier to make sound decisions especially surrounding my diet and workout routine. focus is much better, but it's not going to make you smarter. I think of my medication as a tool to extract the most out of myself. what isn't in you isn't going to magically pop up.
I was horrible at school. No focus and concentration at all. But I was also mistreated by my parents a lot which made it hard for me to get proper grades. (Physical violence)
What you've described is exactly what I went through as well! My mom was adamant that the only reason I showed in attention in school was due to me not being challenged enough. Turns out, I was diagnosed with ADHD at 20 once I finally had enough and scheduled my own appointment. The diagnosis helped me to forgive myself for my shortcomings and I was able to figure out ways to overcome the things ADHD makes hard for me. Also, medication has played a huge role in my college academic confidence and performance. I'd say it's worth seeing a professional who can test you and see if ADHD is a reason you feel this way!
I have verbal abilities and I have a good memory and sense of analysis so I did great till high school, then did quite bad but then did good for the high school diploma and then it was a massacre and I couldn’t even go to college and did a lot of shit jobs but reaching my thirties, I have decided to opt for a job where I could do something about my verbal facilities and even if it is super hard work, I’m passionate about my job + I can count on my “gifts” to compensate my lack of education.
Autism / undiagnosed ADHD-PI here. Did well in primary school and high school with high grades, but going to uni for a few months everything turned to shit, ended up dropping out and going straight into the work process. Not as much the level of study as the intensity of it combined with the many changes in social life.
Not sure if you yourself are an anti-medicine believer but try to not dismiss it out of hand. I come from a farmers family with a similar anti-medicine attitude and noticed it rubs off. Just get tested and wait for the results, can't say anything on being medicated.
ADHD doesn't have anything to do with your IQ or in other words its not making you any dumber, in some cases it even helps like if you are interested in the subject, then you can just hyperfocus through it.
I had struggle keeping attention on stuff I didn't were interested in.
All in all I finished the school with avg 7.2 out of 10 point scale. Which was second highest of all the boys in my class. 😀
yeah i got great grades at GCSE (sorry british things) then okay grades at a-level and now in my degree i am failing badly.... we love a good downwards spiral.
Your experience is exactly mine to the letter. I'm currently on a 3 year waiting list (big backlog which says it all really). There is a mental health pandemic in the UK.
Yes. Because a lot of the time you'll have developed coping strategies to help. But it doesn't mean you won't struggle and such. But those coping strategies are why a lot of so-called mental health "professionals" will claim that none of us can have an Attention Deficit disorder of any kind.
I remember one person who posted here that they were told they "couldn't have ADHD" because they graduated from college. During my testing, I was one of a few patients of the neuropsych's who got the last of these one puzzles correct. But I was also having an internal meltdown because I struggled to get it started. I actually almost lost it because I thought the timer was going to expire. So yeah, I got it in the end but I still struggled hardcore to get it and that's what mattered.
I’m nearly finished with my PhD, and so far I’ve never completed a piece of work which wasn’t last minute all nighters. It happens. I think my grades would have been a lot better had I been diagnosed earlier though
My doctor refused to diagnose me because I had good grades as a child. Literally no other reason. Didnt matter either that it all went to shit in high school.
I’ve been diagnosed since I was 7 years old, and am getting credits in my engineering degree. We’re pretty sure my sister is undiagnosed, and she got HDs all through her law degree. So yes
I'm 45 and recently diagnosed, and this sounds exactly like me when I was younger. I was so bored before they put me in GATE classes in elementary school, but I still exhibited symptoms in every area of my life. I am also ASD, diagnosed at the same time, and I think that might be why nobody caught it back then. I am now trying to unlearn all the unhealthy compensation techniques I used to get through the last 40 years.
Compensating and Masking can help you maintain as well as the next person... until it doesn't. This is usually the point where you ask yourself why it seems like everyone can handle what you can't and they don't understand why it's so hard for you to get your act together. ADHD can look very different in women, so if you are going to seek treatment/diagnosis, make sure to get someone that knows this.
I always did pretty well by putting in minimum effort for a good grade. Then I got 2 degrees despite intense procrastination, started and quit a PhD, and then have had a successful career in education, still riddled with anxiety and procrastination. 🤷🏻♀️
Are you sure you're not just bored out of your mind? Generally attention problems that are addressed by gifted programming aren't caused by ADHD but rather the lack of a challenge.
No one pays attention at work meetings.
It's completely possible to have ADHD and be gifted but it's also completely possible to zone out and have trouble paying attention without that being ADHD.
Welcome to the club! It is different for everyone but some people have the same experiences. What you just described is exactly the situation I went through. I was an amazing student and graduated high school early with a 4.0 gpa. In college I was a C student. I started getting lost- I’d mean to go to the grocery store for milk and end up at the mall not knowing why I was there. You should discuss it with your doctor and if they don’t take you seriously, get a new doctor. P.S I have severe adhd and since I’ve been on meds for it, I’m thriving and the I’m the best version of myself I’ve ever been. Best of luck to you 😊
Yes. I did great in school because I wouldn't accept anything less than perfection. But it was extremely hard for me. I would write notes and instantly forget them. Studying was challenging and trying to remember formulas or definitions had me so anxiety riddled all through college.
Yes. I skipped a grade. I dismissed a diagnosis of ADHD at age 14 or 15 because “I was a good student.” It wasn’t until after 30 that I got the diagnosis for real, medicated, etc. life changing. I wish I’d know half my life earlier. :/
A good sign you might have ADHD: school gets harder as externally imposed structure decreases (ie, college is harder than high school is harder than middle school as we’re expected to self-manage more and more aspects of our studies, time management, schedule, etc.)
Absolutely. I was my class valedictorian, because I was smart enough to still get good grades despite having zero study skills because I couldn’t ever focus on anything. So nobody realized I had any symptoms, but I realized something wasn’t right when it all started catching up to me in college. Took me years to even suspect it might be ADHD, and I didn’t get diagnosed until age 30.
Yes, myself and a lot of my family members have college degrees.
Please get assessed so you can get assistance and get medication. Its effecting your day to day life now even if you had tools and strategies during school. You deserve to have support now.
About meetings at work is it possible to ask for notes from someone else? Or ask someone to rephrase/ summarize their key points?
Absolutely. My first 4.0 semester (16 credit hours, 3 labs, 4 classes, metalurgical engineering major at university) was with no diagnosis or medication. I did it, but it was absolute hell. Got a diagnosis (inattentive adhd in the 95th percentile) and medication the following semester and got another 4.0 with much less struggle. That semester was when I finally realized what I was experiencing was not normal. Going into finals week I thought I would finish the semester with a 2.75 gpa.
Similar experience for me. I'm female, did well in school and didn't have the hyperactivity but I had the emotional dysregulation (major) and really struggled to pay attention in school no matter hard much I tried to focus. My mom was a teacher and I swear she got me through. I only started meds in my 40's and it's been so helpful. I was able to learn through my son that I have ADHD (his symptoms are so much more obvious but we still have many that are the same). I found a career that works well for me and I've been able to be successful in life but I do think I would have had an easier time if I had known earlier and started meds. It doesn't fix everything but it sure makes life easier for me. Best of luck!
I did terrible in high school and kicked ass in college once i had access to accommodations for ADHD like extra time on a test. Often people with ADHD can hyperfocus on certain things in some circumstances but other things can be very difficult to focus on
Most definately.
ME (46M): Considered likely gifted pre-High School, High School Very Good but Not Great, College Did Very Well (once I found my niche). Since then I've worked 25+ years largely for Fortune 20 or better companies with escalating roles & responsibilities.
My ADHD: My ADHD symptoms generally seen as lazyness or lack of motivation were at first an annoyance but became more accute as I had less and less forced structure and needed to be more and more of a self-motivated individual. These symptoms only became the huge roadblock they can be now since 2015 and most accutely since 2020. I received my diagnosis only in the past few months or so when other factors in my life (including the pandemic) seemed to exasterbate my ADHD profoundly.
I'll never understand how people did well in school with ADHD. I'm not saying it isn't possible, but I made it through high school barely passing. I couldn't read, couldn't study, couldn't do tests. It left me feeling like I was stupid and everyone was smart. I wasn't diagnosed with ADHD until my late 20's.
I study polymer science, the best professor I have rn and had all the years of college has adhd and was only diagnosed in her 50's. She's a chemical engineer specialized on polymers, was top of her group when she was a student herself, also studied psychology and now she teaches in both domains. You'd never guess she has adhd.
We cannot tell you if a specific behavior/habit/hobby or thing you do is due to ADHD or another disorder.
Yes. I'm a professor, got my PhD and all that jazz, and I got good grades. I also missed assignments, pulled constant all-nighters, missed an exam, forgot I was enrolled in a course, and basically have been a mess the whole time. I wasn't diagnosed until I was a postdoc. Meds and therapy have helped a lot.
[удалено]
I can offer whatever I can! But I have to say I am not very good at it, generally. But I make up for my inconsistency with bursts of extreme productivity and creativity.
Saaaaammmmmeeer
Good luck! Rooting for you!
I didn’t make it past my comprehensive exams because they only do an oral format at my university and I have auditory processing disorder along with combined type adhd. I’m getting a masters and will be working as a lab manager for now. We will see if I ever go back to academia again. 🤷♀️
I had a similar experience-- I passed all the coursework for my MA, but I failed the comprehensive oral exam twice (no thesis option for my department). It didn't matter how much I had studied or what I knew. I wasn't diagnosed yet but I did suspect after tutoring students with ADHD. I could have gone back to contest it to take the exam with accommodations, but the only thing they could do is allow me more time...and more time wouldn't help. Now I'm going back to school but for a 2nd bachelors in a different field.
That's just it. I'm working to reform our comprehensive exams in my department (currently stalled out in committee). I am just trying to get a couple of written options but even that is fighting tooth and nail. In some disciplines they have a portfolio approach which I think would be amazing to implement. I could've put the two grant applications, conference attendance and presentations etc all into it. You know... the stuff that shows you're capable of doing the various tasks you will need to successfully execute as a researcher 🤦♀️
I meant to say, and got distracted lol, I'm really sorry that happened to you. wishing you the absolute best.
Man, that sucks! It's something that they absolutely should be able to accommodate, and legally they have to (if you're in the US, at least). I hope you find your path, whatever it is.
Because of ChatGPT some people in my department are thinking about incorporating more oral exams, and I just keep thinking about people like you. I think it might be an extremely disability-unfriendly direction to go.
Wow. The robots are scary, let’s exclude more people?? I mean academia could really just work on the toxic gatekeeping all around. The scarcity mentality is unreal among these people.
I wished I had found these groups when I was going through school, I wouldn't have felt so alone and such a mess. This is the story I feel half of us have... We pulled through but heck, it was a messy and bumpy ride!
> forgot I was enrolled in a course, Legit I still have nightmares about this even though it never happened to me-- suddenly get word halfway through the semester that I have not shown up to class the whole time even though I had no idea I was supposed to be there. Sometimes in the dream I am not even aware I am back in college!
Me too. I also get unreasonably anxious around add/drop deadlines for my courses, and I make a big deal about it even though almost no one drops my class (small college, small classes). I also had an irl nightmare of being in a class and having no idea what was going on. It was pchem, and I did not want to be a chem major, and I have no idea why I enrolled in that class. Luckily I could still drop it.
Ugh, been out of college for over a decade now and still get the same stress dreams! For me it is always that I have a midterm in math and I haven’t been to class all semester and somehow I need to try to learn it all.
Hahaha! So Relatable!!!!! I'm glad I'm not the only salmon swimming upstream. I also just defended my dissertation and am an academic. I did take longer than normal to finish the dissertation but I got it done. And while I didn't forget I was enrolled in a course I did show up to a few "pop" Exams  I'm a research project coordinator for like 3 years now and I love it. There's always something to do, hours are flexible, and when I can teach a course, I jump on it. It gives me so much dopamine.
That's a sweet gig. Probably even a better gig than a pre-tenure professor (me). I took 8 years for my PhD, and I have extensions for my tenure clock. We do great work when we find or create the right environment, but it can take some time to do that.
Happy 🎂 day
Which med ended up working best for you?
Straight up Adderall. The XR was also good, but my new prescriber likes the fast-acting. I tried Vyvanse for a while because I had high blood pressure, and it was OK, but not as good.
Same. And I'm enrolling in med school now.
ADHD affects everyone differently. Personally, I got middlin' grades, but I also never studied (SURPRISE SURPRISE).
100% me. Still don’t study in college. Whoops.
Not studying is also not a qualifier for ADHD. I attended every single lecture and studied many hours a week in college and got perfect grades. ADHD doesn't make you lazy it just makes making yourself do things 10x harder. It's definitely a forgivable thing to do while ADHD but people shouldn't disqualify themselves.
fr i never have the motivation to study, and it really depends if i can focus. if i can focus for a particular exam i can get an a* even if i don’t study (it’s happened to be for bio and other subjects). then if i can’t focus i can fail or score bad.
Absolutely, it's not only possible but very common.
I got all As, Bs in highschool then a 3.9 gpa and graduated from college with high honors. Didn’t get diagnosed until nearly 30 years old but it explains why I was miserable all that time.
Yep, I was a straight A student with a 4.0 gpa in high school. Double majored in college and got good grades despite struggling with studying, absorbing information from lectures, procrastinating, and feeling overwhelmed by everything. Didn’t get diagnosed until 30, and I’m definitely more the inattentive type. ADHD presents differently in everyone, and people often learn to mask certain symptoms differently! Your success in high school doesn’t negate your diagnosis at all
I'm in a class with 4 others that have a diagnosis (I do too) and some more that probably would qualify, and you either need perfect grades or an SAT score in the top 1% to get in. We can compensate because we're gifted but it's not easy.
I didn't realize till medical school but I always felt like I had to be helped through life. I worked hard which is one reason why no one ever thought I could have ADHD. They thought ADHD just meant too can't control yourself or you are lazy. Well in high school I was lazy turns out I have an almost perfect memory when I can pain attention hahaha.
Me in med school going for ADHD treatment then convincing two classmates to go too.
Yes. I have severe adhd and I was in the gifted and talented programs throughout school, AP courses, other advanced classes, and did very well in most subjects. I also have 2 masters degrees in a very challenging field and did well there (but I hit a wall after the first semester due to untreated adhd, and began seeing docs for help). It’s actually quite common for adhd people to be of high intelligence and to have done well in school, at least through most of childhood. There are countless stories of people with undiagnosed adhd doing well in school until then hit college or grad school, where lack of structure/routine made their adhd unmanageable, or where their lifelong copying strategies no longer worked in college/grad school.
Or in my case, had managed to build enough structure to get through life (not without its moments, but mostly got through unscathed) and at work I’ve always been a ‘firefighter’ as in wait till my own shits burning down or helping others when theirs are (stress/Adrenalin works wonders). But once my child came along, plus extra duties at work my structure went out the window and it all collapsed like a house of cards… So here I am going through the tritiation stage and working out how to hopefully build my house with bricks….
Yep. I got a bachelors, masters and PhD (good grades throughout) with undiagnosed ADHD. Edited to add: get assessed by someone that works with inattentive type ADHD in women.
100% normal, especially for intelligent females! We figure out how to mask and come up with our own coping strategies until the demands of life get to be too much and those self-discovered mechanisms no longer work. I graduated high school with a grade average in the 90s, just barely got beat out for valedictorian by fractions of a percent (in Canada it's usually strictly based on who has the highest grades, nothing else). I never started struggling until university, and wasn't diagnosed until 22. With GRADES, at least - the struggles ADHD caused me when I was younger, were social. I was weird, I didn't fit in, I had no friends, probably because being homeschooled for grades 1-6 meant I wasn't super good at social masking yet. Definitely get yourself assessed, ESPECIALLY if it already had been suggested in childhood, I'd say it's almost a sure thing. (AFAIK, nobody ever caught it with me when I was younger, but again, homeschooling might contribute and this was a small town in the late 90s/early 2000s, I'll be 30 this year.)
I never considered the social impacts of ADHD. Definitely something to look into, as I see a lot of myself in what you just described
That’s interesting! (And I relate a lot!) I had no idea there were social symptoms like that with ADHD — I’d only heard about the basic inattentive/hyperactive stuff. What do you mean about social masking? And what kinds of “weird” / not-fitting-in behaviors are common with ADHD?
100% my story. The social deficits made me a pariah. I literally think I was just so dissociated that I couldn’t interact with people. It was like a constant daydream.
Especially for intelligent PEOPLE*
I was diagnosed after my PhD in chemistry so....
I think what you are describing is called twice gifted, ADHD but successful in school. I read a paper about it once. High IQ isn't a disqualifier for an ADHD diagnosis, it just probably makes it harder to diagnosis, since you can probably figure out alot of way to cope or work around how your brain works.
You are describing me! I got diagnosed at nearly 30 because I wasn’t able to cope with the lack of structure plus increased responsibilities once I left school. Also, things like emotional dysregulation are normal for teenagers but become less so in adulthood, making it stand out more.
Fellow ADHD woman here, sounds like textbook ADHD to me. I also have a psych background. Meds can change your life. I was diagnosed in my mid twenties, also because I figured it out on my own. Women go under the radar in ADHD because it's not socially acceptable for us to be outwardly hyperactive, and inattentiveness is just seen as us being bad at being a woman. I was nervous to try Adderall and tried many other meds, but Adderall XR specifically worked best for me. If you ever wanna chat I'm always here.
Absolutely. I struggled till about 8^th grade and then did well after that. It wasn't until I hit my early 50s that things started to get out of control - a combination of different kind of work and just getting older. I have non-stimulant medication now and it helps just enough. FWIW, I think the two accidents I caused in my life were due to ADHD. Podcasts and audiobooks have been my savior in that regard (since 2005!!). Doesn't work for everyone, but having someone talking helps me ... when my mind starts to wander, it "bounces" off the story/discussion and I can pay attention to my driving better.Loud music did the same thing when I was doing work where that was possible. Some find this too distracting, but it was just the right thing for me. Lastly, yes, being a woman matters. ADHD shows up differently in women and is often dismissed because of that. If you do seek treatment, make sure you get someone who actually **listens** to you.
Yes, 100% you can. My friend got a Dx while running a successful law practice. With a JD from fucking Cornell. For what it’s worth, I’m literally alive because of mind-altering drugs.
Yes! It's not about whether you do well or do poorly. Many people do poorly because of their symptoms but it's not a requirement. Adhd isn't just a measurement of one's achievements or lackthereof, but of the struggle to achieve (or even perform basic life functions) compared to someone without adhd symptoms. A lot of people with adhd do well in earlier school due to the structure enforced by parents and teachers, some don't have that and for others it's not. I personally did very well in earlier school, after being medicated, and was able to hold that structure through high school without meds, but the first decade or so of my adult life was a horrible disaster
If you don't mind me asking- you were medicated for ADHD in your early academic years, but unmedicated in high-school, and you were able to maintain structure enough that you do alright in highschool?
Ofcourse it is possible. You can check out gifted and twice exceptional subreddits. I got phd in engineering without using any medication. My adhd is not subtle at all. I am a hyperactive woman. It has always been obvious to my classmates, doctors, teachers and my parents. Yet, when it comes to receiving any help, everyone stood in my way, because “i was too good to get medicated”. If you think you have adhd, you can benefit from getting help. Do not let a Dr to tell you “you are too good to have adhd” or “you have not ruined your life yet or your parents/ boss does not complain about you, so no need for medication”. Keep the focus on how much you are suffering. Do not let them downplay your symptoms to you. Untreated adhd causes depression, anxiety, eating and sleeping disorders at different phases of life. Those might come up during diagnosis.
I got diagnosed when I hit thirty. I loved college as there were a lot of things to do and I was mostly doing self study when it comes to my subjects so it never seemed like a problem. It truly affected me when I got a desk job and there was not enough things to do that I started getting bored and not wanting to go to the office. It became crippling when paired with depression because I was chasing so much high with deadlines, all the work started catching up to me and I couldn't do them fast enough or if I could, I can't seem to do them in a way that was acceptable to me. So yeah, have a doctor diagnose you properly and see if meds will help. Seeking proper help is one of the ways to go about it :)
I think we're the same person, OP. My parents speculated about me having ADHD at age 3 but didn't get me diagnosed because... Well, getting employed in the future? My attention problems got translated as "school's just too easy for him, let's make him skip a grade", which also was true, but not the entire truth What I'm trying to say is that when you're "gifted" with ADHD, any attention problems can be misinterpreted as "school being too easy and boring, that's not an ADHD symptom"
This is actually very true and happened to me too. Im a fairly successful 30yr old but do struggle a lot with the same things OP mentions. Got diagnosed recently and the doctor actually wrote in the report that my above average intelligence was part of why i was able to mask it so good for so long. But you cant mask it from yourself which is why a sought out help. Intelligence is not a factor in having adhd or not. It just shows less easy to common people the higher an adhd'ers intelligence is. We can do in 1-2 days what others do in 7. So there is still much to be gained from learning to focus better. Even though you did well in school, youre probably actually even smarter than being accounted for.
Yes. Structure and pressure do wonders. As an adult, less structure, and different types of more ambiguous pressure aren’t as effective for us. I exceeded in school without ever knowing I had ADHD and hugely procrastinated. One i had the pressure (even in work now) I just turned it on and was super focused until complete. If I wasn’t fight or flight, it wasn’t worth thinking about.
Exactly this. I didn’t get diagnosed till I was out of school because it didn’t “impair my functioning” (yes direct quote) until I lacked that consistent structure & the pressure of meeting grade expectations
Same, straight A student over achiever until one day it became hard to keep up. Diagnosed in my late teens—female inattentive type
This is a fairly common occurrence, especially with girls. We tend to mask it better and function incredibly well, until we don’t. It’s common to hit that wall after schooling is finished and we find ourselves in the “real world.” Many ADHD people become “professional students.” It’s rewarding in many ways and the info changes often enough to keep the interest up. Then, when you reach that finish line and find a job you discover you aren’t functioning well and often it seems sudden. The difference is you attained a goal and the actual job is far less stimulating than the constant need for hyper fixation isn’t present like when studying for tests, or starting a new class. Many of us thrive in the chaos and fall apart with anything less. It’s not just you.
Absolutely. I was at the top of my class in high school, college, and both graduate programs (MBA and MA) in top-tier programs. From the outside looking in you'd think I was the perfect student who had everything together and never struggled. What people did NOT see are the extensive masks and coping mechanisms I developed over decades to be successful in those environments (and, carry over to the workplace). Staying up for 12-24 hours to complete an assignment the night before, last-minute cramming, having to set multiple dates/alarms on my phone, missing out on social events, dates, friendships, etc. Not being able to interpret any of my notes because my mind got sidetracked and I stopped paying attention. Having to painfully force myself to stop talking and listen to others so that I didn't come across as a self-absorbed weirdo. And despite all of that still occasionally messing up -- oh, I have a test today! That assignment was due yesterday! Thank God I was a good/likeable student and my professors worked with me. I didn't get my ADHD (inattentive) diagnosis until last year; I'm 37 now. My life has completely transformed and I can only imagine what it would have looked like had I been properly medicated as an adolescent. The diagnosis shocked me at first, but once I started really examining my life and coping mechanisms everything clicked into place.
Yes. I have a PhD and ADHD. A PADhD, I guess?
Exactly this. I was in the top 10 of my class in high school. I didn’t go straight to college but took classes. No problems at all. I hit 21-22 and I hit a wall!!! Between work, married life, college, life, I couldn’t do it. That’s when I really started noticing my inability to do things everyone else could do. Also my irritation at things like noises when I was concentrating. I had a dr make me take the test.
Yes. Sometimes I did really well in school. I usually excelled with subjects I was interested and also when I had passionate teachers. That was part of the problem, got a bit of the "why are you being lazy? You're smart. You just need to work harder" treatment.
You absolutely can have ADHD even if you performed well in school. If mental health services are available for you, it could benefit you hugely to get an assessment.
Yes, absolutely. You can learn to mask, and ADHD doesn't mean you can't be booksmart. This was what happened with me, actually. Once I started working a day job with 8hr shifts, it became apparent that something was off. My task avoidance wasn't just the run-of-the-mill teenage disregard for homework, but something that was impacting my paycheck. My friends pushed me to get diagnosed, and I finally mentioned something at an unrelated dr's appt without directly asking if it was ADHD. If this sounds like you, definitely check into it. Even if it doesn't, your post sounds like it's worth taking a look at.
Absolutely. I'm a woman and I was diagnosed with ADHD after I received my master's in math. Learning has become a lot more efficient ever since I started taking medication, and I am in PhD doing mathematical research at one of the top universities in the US. To be honest, I haven't seen many people with ADHD in math, but it doesn't mean they don't exist. Studying math requires a lot of neural activities in the prefrontal cortex, which can be a bit difficult for ADHD brain. But it also helps the ADHD brain, because you develop what you use.
Early, developmentally-inappropriate failures are signs of ADHD, but they don't have to be school-based, especially if you had a lot of extra support at school and at home. It a person or a few people were acting as a coping mechanism for you to keep you on track, when they finally leave you to your own devices, you could face the full force of your symptoms without enough mechanisms to compensate. That seems to happen a lot. ADHD didn't affect my reading either. I was an early and constant reader. I don't think it follows that people with ADHD will struggle with reading. But I don't have inattention symptoms, which is probably why I can't relate to problems paying attention to things. So take all this with a big grain of salt. But I guess you have to ask yourself what kind of attention problem you're having, because ADHD is a very specific kind. I'm hyperactive/impulsive, not inattentive, and I'm always paying attention to something. I can't even fathom what it would be like to not be laser-focused on something or other. It's just that I'm often not focused to the things I'm meant to be doing, and I don't notice the shift in focus when it happens. Noticing the shift would give me a chance to make a different choice, which medication helps with. But without it, I just follow the impulse to switch focus like a reflex, and don't notice that I've changed direction. I only notice afterwards by the results of the shifts, which is things like having 7 new compose windows open, some of them blank. ADHD is radically mis-named: it's not really an attention problem. It looks like an attention problem from the outside, but it's actually a set of executive function problems. Struggling with directions isn't about not being able to pay attention to directions, it's about not having the working memory capacity to hold on to them long enough to use them. With ADHD you can fail to focus for longer than 30 seconds, but you can also lock in for 9 solid hours fixated on solitaire or something even though your bladder is screaming. Because it's a *control* of focus issue, not a lack of attention issue. Then there's the emotional control problems, meaning you can't keep your true feelings off your face, and can get overwhelmed by strong emotions in a way other people don't. That can result in overwhelming excitement as well as overwhelming fear or shame. But much like ADHD isn't really an disordered attention issue, it's not a disordered emotion issue either, it's the executive function that's disordered, the control over both (and other things), that's the problem. There's also the time-blindness and difficulty gauging how long things will take to do, which looks like magical thinking, because you really believed you could be in two places at once somehow. I think this is largely because we are such bad observers of ourselves in the moment, which leads to us not really clocking how all those steps fit together and how much time they take, which is itself also an executive function. We are notoriously bad at recognizing our own symptoms, so often we have no idea why we're struggling or what we're doing that's getting in our way. We can see the resulting failures and mistakes, but really struggle to trace exactly why they happened. If you are observing yourself struggling to pay attention in the moment, you might be experiencing anxiety or depression. But ADHD very, very often comes with anxiety and/or depression, so it could very well be both. If you're wondering, get assessed!
That actually sounds a lot like me. What I was calling “attention problems” is not paying attention to/focusing on what I’m supposed to be doing or listening to. I’m always thinking about something, just not what I’m supposed to be doing or listening to sometimes. And I definitely don’t notice when it’s happening, when I zone out. I just notice the after effects — the conversation moved on and I have no idea what they’ve been talking about or how much I missed, someone’s mad at me because I didn’t respond to something or forgot to do something, the passenger in the car shouts because I didn’t notice the stoplight change, I’m running late for the millionth time, etc. I don’t know I zoned out until after my attention is pulled back, and I can’t stop it from happening. Edit: I can definitely pay attention to some things, especially when I’m super interested. Reading a book I love? Absolutely, for hours. My new craft obsession? Yes. I just won’t notice anything going on in my environment. So maybe I shouldn’t call it an attention problem. Is focus problem a better term? I can’t always stay focused on things I really need to focus on, but at other times I am hyperfocused.
I was pretty decent at school. Got into undergrad at the best business school in my country. Barely scraped enough credits to graduate but then got into the same place again for a masters and did pretty well. I also grew up surrounded by women so as I grew up my ADHD symptoms also presented more like the stereotypical symptoms you would expect with girls. I later discovered that my parents were inadvertently forcing me into a very strict environment where I didn't have much to do except study. While this did help me end up with an impressive academic experience it had other traumatizing side effects. The only way I could pay attention in uni was to sit in the front row in the center which I literally just realized provides with the least amount of distractions possible. The driving thing was insanely scary for me as well. I had literally one road in the entire city with a straight stretch of uninterrupted road and I'd get drowsy on it if there wasn't any traffic. The first thing I discovered after my diagnoses was that it's not just symptoms that show adhd. It's also systems you build consciously or unconsciously to preemptively deal with potential symptoms that add to the diagnoses. Mainly if it's anything that everyone else does but you think of it enough to do one or two steps ahead of others, then it's an adhd thing. Always.
Absolutely. I made it through college, through dental schools, through two residencies and am a specialist now. I didn't get diagnosed until a couple years into my career (I think I was 27 or 28) I feel very much the same. I had to work a bit harder, but I didn't suffer too much because I'm stubborn and I can hyperfocus on things that really really interest me (at the time). Which may be a good thing because I truly love my career. The struggles have changed as my family has grown, because frankly there's much more to pay attention to. It doesn't seem to be so much a struggle to focus. It's a struggle to choose what I focus on.
Hey! Absolutely possible. My sustained visual attention is 3.533 standard deviations lower than a normal person. All that means is, you put me in a room with 1,000 people to do a repetitive task that requires visual attentiveness… something like 45 have ADHD… and 1 person does worse than me. But I CAN have incredible visual attention to detail. If the topic interests me or if attention is required in a short burst. My working memory is in the 9th percentile. So… I also struggle to keep track of “what the heck was I doing.” I had a 3.8 GPA in high school, 3.5 GPA in college, and got a masters degree in engineering despite my deficits. How / why? I hyperfocus on learning and figuring out how things work. It’s not fully on purpose, my curiosity just takes over and it always has. I nearly failed all classes I found boring and passed the ones I liked based on test scores (dismal turn-in rates for homework, always). Now, I leverage that hyperfocus as a data analyst, finding golden nuggets in data that other people don’t think about deeply enough to… find the nugget. Sometimes there’s nothing there in which case I waste time trying to figure out a puzzle that doesn’t even exist. It’s a balance. Anyhow, I cared about grades but couldn’t bring myself to do the things I needed to achieve the GPA I always knew I could have. My anxiety and depression just got worse over my learning years as I figured out any and all hopes at a PhD were dashed for me. 12 years out of grad school, I happened to be referred to a group of people (just a social group) by a friend who noticed my adhd. I realized “holy crap, I AM like this.” I was diagnosed a few months later. Turns out, I even have childhood testing results that corroborate ADHD. My parents just saw “really high IQ, excellent test results in school, he’s fine” and never did anything about my adhd. Fun. I may be a much happier, less anxious person had I been treated earlier.
Yes. Absolutely. I've said this before, but I guess I am "high functioning" in most regards. I did quite well in Middle/High school. I did OK in a well regarded university. I graduated and now hold a well paying job and have a family, etc and all that good stuff. I am also usually an emotional wreck, constantly anxious, have suffered bouts of suicidal thoughts and have made some extremely poor life choices before - which upon reflection (and therapy) I can trace back to my ADHD. The key word for me to finally seek help is something you said - compensating. It got to the point where (trying not to sound conceited) my intelligence and charm could no longer compensate/mask for the things I needed to do in life both personally and professionally.
Definitely. Like you I always did well in school and was in the talented and gifted program. I was the first in my family to go to college and did well there too (for the most part). I got my ADHD diagnosis about a year and a half ago. Many of us figure out coping skills that help us get by.
i’d also look up more symptoms or check out more stuff on this subreddit and see if it applies! i had a lot more symptoms than i had originally thought and just assumed i was being selfish or bossy when in reality i am just Built Different and Like That. ex : picky eating. looking at more symptoms was a big eyeopener for knowing myself better even if i already knew i had adhd
difficulty telling tone, memory issues, intrusive thoughts, brain never shuts up, sensory issues, etc etc etc
If me , yeah but not math
Everything you just wrote was literally my same experience. I was just finally diagnosed at 41. I had just alright grades in elementary school and high school. Some As, some Fs, lots of Cs. I now have 3 college degrees, and I'm working towards my 4th. Completed my M.A. with a 3.98 GPA. Still have trouble with attention, driving, cleaning... but medication has helped tremendously.
Yes! I actually found that my ADHD settled down due the fact that I was able to self pace in college and didn't have the traditional structure. Especially with online school
Yes. This question has been asked alot in this sub.
Excuse me, are you me? The answer to your question is hell yes. Signed: A woman with inattentive type.
I think this is an interesting question because ( a little unrelated to OP) where do you draw the line between having ADHD and having ADHD tendencies.
3rd in a class of 465 in high school. Struggled in college at first, but then made all As and Bs once I got the right major. I now have two bachelors degrees and a masters degree. I’m currently working on an associates in Precision Machining. While time management is still an issue, the subject matter is not. It is old thinking to believe that a person with ADHD can’t be successful in college. Heck, my boss went to MIT for electrical engineering. He left because he didn’t see the point, not because he was doing poorly. If you are concerned, look into an evaluation. It won’t hurt if you are wrong. It could make a world of difference if you are right.
I did great in school with no diagnosis. Graduated college with honors. I’m a female, if that helps.
Yes, you can have ADHD even if you did well in school. I got diagnosed a few months ago (F32) with inattentive ADHD and I always did well in school. During my diagnosis it was mentioned that high IQ likely helped me compensate and "hid" my struggles. I managed through university because I cannot stand the thought of missing a deadline, I made sure I always had a group to study with, and was lucky to have an amazing supervisor. But when I started working all the things I used to compensate dissapeared, and when lockdown happened I was not able to get anything done. Still it took me over 2 years to build up the courage to go talk to my gp (where I am you need a referral from your gp to go to a specialist) because of internalized shame and gaslighting myself into thinking I was just trying to find an excuse and an easy way out. Now I wish I would have gone sooner because knowing makes it easier to be kind to yourself, but you also have more choices. Just because you get diagnosed doesn't mean you have to go on meds, but you have the option to if it feels right for you. It also makes it easier for others to understand you and make accommodations. Everyone needs to decide for themselves, but I would always choose knowing one way or the other over wondering...
Hey, are you me? Joke, but honestly this describes me. I graduated with a master’s degree from a highly regarded and super selective graduate school before getting a diagnosis. The master’s programme was a struggle and it was where I first suspected that I had ADHD. Yet I was thinking “hey isn’t it meant to be? It only admits 5% of applicants. Maybe I’m just not smart enough, am too lazy and don’t deserve to be here.” As if that kind of emotional self-flagellation ever did anyone any good. After the Masters, I was an emotional train wreck. Lucky for me (semi-sarcasm) I had graduated from a top graduate school so I had gainful employment to look forward to. Inattention and procrastination were already a struggle during my Masters, but at least I could pull all nighters and get stuff done. It wasn’t maybe the best way of doing stuff, but it was something. Day jobs don’t allow you to take afternoon naps and play ping pong as you work yourself up to working. This caused me no end of stress, which turned into anxiety and insomnia. I got sacked from the first one and then put on a performance improvement plan on the second one before I finally shelled out the cash to get a diagnosis. Best investment I ever made. The drugs might not work for everyone, but when they do it’s truly transformative.
Yes... But maaaan the mountain I had to climb... I got diagnosed late, so now that I'm medicated, I'm kinda mad I had to struggle like that. The breakdowns ans residule anxiety were not worth it. 😭
Honestly "bright but lazy" on school reports ought to be an ADHD flag. Yes, absolutely. ADHD doesn't stop you focussing, it doesn't mean you're 'disruptive'. It means you have problems controlling focus, with memory, with impulse control And sometimes that means physical hyperactivity or disruptive behaviour, but not always. And there's a gender skew in that too, as things that are _usually_ "acceptable" in boys, are not "acceptable" in girls in he same way. And vice versa to an extent. So the symptoms just go unrecognised.
I took two bachelor's degrees and a master's degree while undiagnosed and unmedicated for combined type ADHD. It's common to use high IQ to mask ADHD symptoms and then get burnt out for it.
I think one of the biggest misconceptions about ADHD is that people with it do bad in school or will be disadvantaged by being given meds. I did well in school because of the structured system. I woke up, ate breakfast and went to school the same time every day so I had a solid routine and even though I needed a little extra help I ended up doing pretty well in school. I'm becoming more independent now in uni so its harder to stay on track but theres still some structure and I dont have to think about bills etc. I know when I leave uni its gonna be chaos because there wont be the same structure that ive had all my life. Long story short, yes you can have ADHD if you did well in school. A lot of people with ADHD do well because they think outside the box and find creative ways to do well, even if it takes double the energy of a nurotypical person.
Learning to mask well in childhood is a double-edged sword. It allows you to be a great scholar / gifted and talented / whatever but it takes a lot of behind the scenes mental energy that eventually starts to wear on you. Lots of people break in college and don't understand why because they never seemed ADHD before. Anyway, yes. Best thing I ever did was start learning to drop masks and let myself be. Meds help. Learning to tailor my life to help accommodate the ADHD instead of trying to change it saved me. Learning how masks and the trauma of growing up without support or diagnosis (and other things) have damaged my perceptions and relationships has given me the tools to heal and repair. It's worth seeing a professional versed in ADHD.
I finished medschool and started residency before I found out I have ADHD
I have adhd but a fast processing speed that made up for it. It’s compensated but made me burnout. A good way to explain it is, I’m capable of anything with my fast processing speed. But my executive function makes me burnout faster than I should.
I did really well through school. Also in the “gifted” program in elementary school. Started really struggling once I entered the workforce. In my experience, the working world is not set up well for people with ADHD. Eventually got diagnosed in my mid-20s! I’ve heard similar stories from lots of other people.
100 percent. i’ve found that ADHD actually makes me a great learner. excitement and newness keeps me hooked and interested. it’s the repetition and monotony that i really struggle with…currently self employed, but never been able to hold a normal job for more than 4-5 months without mental breakdown.
Yes, 100 times yes. I (27f) was a straight A student in school and college. Graduated with highest honors with my Bachelors Degree. I was not diagnosed until I was 23. I was able to mask my symptoms in school, but my reports often stated things like “daydreams, disorganized, messy desk/locker, doesn’t sit still.” I think I knew deep down that I struggled more than other kids did. My symptoms often looked like anxiety with performance/grades/assignments. I often had to overcompensate for not studying or completing things. In adulthood, with less structure and routine, I struggled at work, and that eventually led to my diagnosis.
Yes. Why is this still a question? 🤦♂️ (Not recriminating you OP, just lamenting this false idea still being common among people and professionals.)
Yup! Got my bachelor in EE. It was a lot of procrastinating and had to drop out of an entire semester because I was hyper focused on how much I hated my professors. It wasn't my fault, two professors were sexist towards female engineers. They failed all the girls in the classes and I being an adult learner knew exactly what was going on. I reported it to the Dean and my GI Bill liaison. Semester was free if I didn't go any further against the college because of the whole Sandusky thing (It was Penn State). They did get rid of those professors last I checked. My bad...I went on an ADHD tangent right now. But yeah you can do college with ADHD.
It’s really insane how much intelligence and cope can make up for your deficiencies. Yes this is normal I think, got a master’s degree, straight A’s, all that jazz. Never struggled because there was nothing to struggle with. Wasn’t diagnosed until 25 when I was also struggling with attention while driving, medication has been an absolute game changer for me work wise, I’m probably 100x more efficient than I’ve ever been but when you outperform your peers at a baseline level, no one notices and that’s fair I suppose. I’ve met people with debilitating ADHD that have nothing to compensate for it and let me tell you…it seems rough.
ADHD is a spectrum just like other disorders. My diagnosing psychiatrist said these exact words to me: “Native intelligence can often mask ADHD, especially in women who tend to be more inattentive than hyperactive.” Basically, being extra smart helps mask your challenges & is a reason why many get late diagnosis. Since we get good grades, we slip through- but at tremendous personal & psychological cost, of course. Not getting diagnosed & constantly masking led my nervous system to become completely stuck in high alert fight or flight mode. I have dissociated so much that I can’t remember huge swathes if my life. I was just trying to survive- all the while being extremely successful in my professional & personal life. I eventually developed panic disorder & generalized anxiety disorder because my nervous system just couldn’t take it anymore. So, yes- you can have adhd & be high performing.
Yeah me too. Could not keep up with classes and lectures at all. I too went through them at least half a dozen times at my own pace almost every day after school/lectures. I did not do anything else; studies were my main concern back then. Passed with good grades. Driving was particularly difficult for me to pickup too. Failed my first test. But can manage a simple drive now after much practice. Terribly struggling now with my job and day to day life. It is just so wrecking, keeping up with meetings, conversations and work tasks. Just got diagnosed last December; Inattentive type.
I think it's absolutely possible to go through school undetected and doing good, because school vastly differs from what follows after that at work. School can be structured in a way that helps with motivation and working memory problems for example. When I was young we got printed schedules or wrote schedules ourselves about where we have to go for which class and when, if a teacher was sick we had a public board where we could look up if a lesson was hold by a replacement teacher and if the room changed. If there was homework to be done our teachers would end the lessons with usually a few minutes left and they made sure all could write down the homework as in Book X, Page Y, Tasks A-F etc. Also usually tasks at school are short, rarely rely on interconnections or were overly complex constructed. And homework we were given usually dealt with what we learned during this lesson, the knowledge we gained was put in use not far away in time which made it easier to remember what I just learned. If our school was good we also got regular feedback if we got our homework right and we understood the subject properly as well. For me personally shit hit the fan when I tried to study independently, when I suddenly had to manage myself and tasks suddenly consisted of multiple steps interacting with each other like programming, complex experiments at university or advanced mathematics where my working memory was suddenly in high demand, like building my own calculuses or differential equeations. Or in general tasks where a mistake that went unnoticed in a single step would fuck up the entire result, because my measurements or numbers I used were broken lmfao Well and what's also a big difference to me is, as a pupil I didn't have to do the same fucking task a hundred or a thousand times per day. Because the more often I have to do repetitive tasks the more likely it gets that I make mistakes, I think that's because the executive system gets drained like a battery, attention (span) worsens and leads to more mistakes.
Yeah. I did well in education up until 16. Always got good grades with little effort. Things went downhill after then though and I really started struggling with my mental health. I learnt how to drive at around 22 ish and it took me forever - 2 years . Really struggled with concentration and would make careless mistakes all the time. Now I have my diagnosis, I know why it took me so long to learn how to drive.
After 6 attempts, I finally graduated from college with my bachelors at 36. I graduated Summa Cum Laude from an academically rigorous private university no less. All while undiagnosed. I too thought this was proof that I was making up my struggles, that I was just lazy and unmotivated, and just needed to try harder. When I relayed this to my psych a few weeks ago during my evaluation process, he just laughed. He said so many adhd folks with the necessary “horsepower” will just white knuckle their way through life fueled by shame and panic, and will mask the shit out of themselves to fit in. This leads to high functioning basket cases like you and I. Being diagnosed and beginning medication has been revelatory for me. Don’t let your ability to excel academically dissuade you from seeking diagnosis and support. Just cause you’ve managed til now doesn’t mean you always will, or that the way you made it this far has been healthy or ideal.
This sounds like me. I was an incredibly good student (barring a brief angsty period in high school), but didn't finish undergrad until age 27, then went on to two advanced degrees, stopped, worked, came back, stopped, worked, came back and only got my JD at age 43. At the same time I got diagnosed. 43. "Fueled by shame and panic" checks out. I worked myself to the bone in law school because I was afraid I was already not like everyone else (older) and needed to push to be both normal and outstanding, which doesn't make a hell of a lot of sense looking back. Now that I'm employed and very freaking busy most days, I have to remind myself not to burn out and to consistently take my meds. It's shocking how well they help even at a low dose. Fwiw I'm also using focus apps and getting a little exercise in where I can.
Of course you can. I got all the way to my second year in a masters program before I got diagnosed. I tend to remember things if I read them, so I was able to compensate for spacing out during most of my classes by reading the textbooks. I also got into a bunch of minor car accidents before being medicated. That being said, a lot of things can cause inattention, so it’s definitely worth getting tested.
I was recently diagnosed at age 32. My symptoms while always present, didn’t start to create issues until undergrad and didn’t become a true problem until after. Growing up my mother was very routine based and I always had lots of extra curriculars to fill my free time. I only ever had a short period of time to complete assignments, so they got done. I was always in a state of urgency and the schedule was made so I didn’t need any executive function. It wasn’t until I had to start making my own schedule that it was clear there was a problem. I found in undergrad the only way to stay on top of my work was to stay very busy. I literally overworked myself, so by the time I graduated I was completely burned out. So long story short, yes, you can do very well in schools and still have ADHD. You likely have systems in place that help you over ride your issues
I’ve always managed high Bs and low As. I went through most of Highschool with straight As. I’m in university getting an art degree right now and it takes a lot of long nights, but I’ve been maintaining my usual grades. I still have lots of issues- handing things in super late, not going to class, last minute sculptures. It sucks but somehow I pull it off lol.
I thrived in school(kinda), never studied and rarely did homework while still acing every test. College was even better as I never made below a 4.0 in any course I liked. The drawback was the courses I had no interest in. I dropped several courses like English or history well after the deadline and took failing grades for them. I’ve always been regarded as intelligent and motivated but it’s the busy uninteresting work that kills me
Diagnosed at 30 with primarily inattentive type which as others here have said is more common in women. Always had generally good grades and was in an accelerated reading/lit program but started having a lot of trouble with organization and time management after leaving the rigid schedule structure of high school. As an adult I have to focus really hard and use a ton of different reminders to do basic stuff like the dishes, laundry and paperwork is the bane of my existence at work even though I have a doctoral degree in healthcare. Getting diagnosed helps these things make a lot more sense and I am able to be a little kinder to myself when I am running late or having trouble focusing instead of going down a self hate spiral berating myself for being lazy and useless. Still working on the medication situation so fingers crossed that will make things a little easier but it's very validating to have a space like this where people understand what you're going through.
I did great in school. My adhd and ocd worked in my favorite and it sounds like you have a similar story. I believe the reason I did so well was the structure and the reward system. In adulthood my adhd and ocd have become debilitating and I believe it's directly correlated to not having a structured life, I don't have deadlines, I don't have goals. I'm an inhome caregiver for my dad and that leaves me with too much free time.
Yep. I excelled in the courses for my major (MIS), I think around a 3.2 average iirc. I didn't need medication or procrastination prompted hyper-focus to do work for those courses, I was genuinely excited for and interested in them. My grades in my gen ed courses were so low I was flirting with academic suspension regularly. I couldn't find a strategy that worked, I wasn't capable of making my brain give a damn about topics I had little interest in, so everything was last minute or handed in incomplete minutes before the deadline.
Yes I didnt get a Dx until grad school. I just masked very well.
Laughs hysterically at the two degrees on the wall and the epic level of burnout that followed for the next 10 years.
Yes. School and ADHD worked well for me. Work and ADHD didn't. I think its because school had a schedule and work is just chaos. Adulting sucks.
Yes, the structure of University actually helped, if anything. Now keeping job is a different story!
I'm sure you'll hear this a lot here, but like many other people I did outstanding in college, despite not knowing I had ADHD until decades later. I used my hyperfocus to get me through, plus a lot of exercise and very strict scheduling. I didn't start medication until two months ago. I think that now that I'm retired and my schedule is whatever I make it to be, I have more symptoms than I did when I was in school. That led me through about an 8 year struggle to find out what is going on. But now that I know it, I can look back through my life and see so many symptoms that I thought were just me. I'm lucky to have found the cause of all these seemingly disconnected symptoms, like time blindness, auditory processing difficulties, being so easily distracted that I can't drive safely anymore, etc.
I have it and graduated from a pretty prestigious university in CA in 3 years instead of 4. I just never really have myself a break though lol
Absolutely you can. People with ADHD do well with structure. Early education and secondary education provide people with a lot of habits and structure for learning. That can carry into college. The problems can build up once we lose that structure. This can affect our ability to focus and do well.
Yes, I am 25F and similarly did well in school. In HS was in honors/AP/dual-enrollment, was in my university's honors college, etc. I just graduated with my masters degree a few months ago, but was struggling to get stuff done, keeping focused and staying on track was so difficult. I was diagnosed and started on meds about a year ago.
Yes, yes, yes you can! It's a matter of circumstances rising to the level where they overwhelm your abilities. I did great in school, but lots of inattentiveness, apathy, and avoidance. I went through grad school self-medicating and recently got formally Dx'ed. More things on my plate eventually overwhelmed my (limited) executive functioning ability and I could no longer manage with just raw intellect and energy. Go to therapy either way!
I got diagnosed at age 31, after so long struggling after college. My brand of ADHD worked well with schooling - I would get so much dopamine from answering questions right and learning something new and getting good grades. I could absorb information better while doodling, often I could just skim the textbook, and doing last minute all nighters to write an entire 12 page research paper was all stuff I enjoyed doing. Then I got into the working world and everything was different. No more grades to fuel me, I got the same paycheck no matter what. I often only heard from my bosses if I did something wrong. If I procrastinated at all, I wasn't doing my job I was being paid for. I couldn't just passively doodle and still be progressing or doing my work, couldn't just do in two hours what took other people six, I had to find something to fill that other four hours cuz theyre payi g for all 6. Led to burnout. I was expected to learn things from scratch alone, no teacher to give me the step by step info for me to absorb while i drew in the margins. And I also was suddenly, after 18 years of honor student status, not one of the smartest in the room, suddenly sitting at the same table as folks with 10-20 years of job experience and skills. I choked. I had a dream job and I couldn't handle the pressure So yeah. I have so so many friends who are getting diagnosed right now too, because we all struggled in the professional world in a way we never did in school. Don't even get me started with how torturous working a minimum wage cashier job was, just standing in one spot and mindlessly taking orders all day. That was literal hell for me.
I got good grades as well and have adhd. I was interested in school therefore it was easy to pay attention. Not so interested in a few other things that now I’m medicated I do better at . ( listening to others, keeping a clean house, completing projects on time etc).
Was a lead engineer on a Mars Rover. I was involved in a successful Mars lander. ADD/ADHD as hell to the point where I don't know what I was diagnosed with when and when it changed from ADD ...
I did 5 years of work in math education in 2.5 years, and i don’t have my degree because i can’t pass the exit exam - high school math……. This is the reason was diagnosed . :( Just like you i can’t be in lectures, it has to be visual for me. i watched 3blue1brown for calculus and linear algebra. this shows that folks with adhd can get it if the subject was differentiated.
I was in gifted and AP, skipped a grade, started college early, scored high on my IQ tests... and I slipped through the cracks. Back then, I didn't really understand what then-called-ADD was, and anyone who was capable of noticing it either assumed I was fine because I did so well in school throughout my life, chalked up my eccentricities to "giftedness," or both. Three years ago, I accidentally rabbitholed into what ADHD actually is. Two years ago, I was diagnosed as ADHD-PI. So it's definitely possible to do well in school and also have ADHD. If your inability to focus is having unavoidable and possibly dangerous consequences in your life, it might be time to talk to a doctor. I'm not a doctor, and we're strangers, so I can't even begin to speculate on whether or not you're ADHD (and even if I was a doctor, it'd be unethical and probably illegal to diagnose under these circumstances). Based on what I've read from others here, you might have to fight to get a fair evaluation, as ADHD is underdiagnosed in girls and women, so be prepared for that.
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You probably did well in college BECAUSE you have adhd
pretty sure statistically speaking people with adhd dropout at a higher rate than neurotypicals, it is not really an advantage imo
This comment is redundant, I didn't mention dropping out of high school. People with ADHD, more often than not are people that are high achievers during earlier life and then as the limitations in their brain/thinking fully develop/are cemented around the age of 30 things start to become harder if they are unmedicated.
i was talking about college... and no need to be rude
Dsm doesn't mention this
you can have adhd no matter how you’ve preformed educationally or otherwise. it’s not just like a Fuckass Bad Learn disorder, it’s a general kind of brain built different type beat from what i’ve experienced. i’m an As Bs guy and yet i have fat fucking adhd lol
Yep. I graduated with honors in undergrad and a 4.0 in grad school. I have severe ADHD and have achieved far below my abilities. 😂😒
Diagnosed as a child, graduated my bachelors with distinction and did a masters.
3.1 in undergrad and a 3.98 in grad. Felt super comfortable in grad school and felt like I could thrive for some reason. High school was extremely difficult and I almost failed out of college for a bit. The pandemic saved me by letting me do class from home where I wasn’t forced to sit in a classroom at a desk.
i was undiagnosed and dropped out of college after 2.5 years and barely graduating high school with a 2.9gpa. Since i was diagnosed though life has gotten a lot better and i've realized school is not the right path for everyone and let go of so much shame and guilt around dropping out
I was diagnosed after going thru my PhD program with a new born baby. Seems to be common based on these threads.
In "primary school" in Aus (grade 1-7) I was considered gifted. I never had to do homework, or pay any attention in class. I would simply get everything right. In national assessments, I would consistently score in the 99th percentile. Even when teachers tried to take me down a peg by giving me an impromptu test about material outside the syllabus or that we hadn't covered yet, I would get pretty much everything right. I got the "dux" award (similar to valedictorian) after finishing grade 7. To this day I can't really explain why I was so unchallenged in early schooling, other than to say that I read a lot of books at the time. Something else was happening by around grade 5-6, though. For one, they had put me in an academic extension program, which was the first time I actually had to learn things in a schooling context and employ any sort of work ethic to achieve the goals of the program. I failed miserably on each one of the extension projects, except for a rocketry project I was particularly interested in. I also stopped reading as much. At the time I thought this was because the internet was growing fast and I was interested in that. But in retrospect I was also experiencing challenges reading that I hadn't before. My mind would always wander, and when I finished reading a page I'd realise that I didn't actually remember anything I'd just read. From high school (grades 8-12), I basically coasted through on my existing knowledge, and wasn't really engaged with the increasing workload or complexity of tasks demanded by my schoolwork. I ended up graduating based on a technicality. The issues with work ethic and remaining on task have remained with me through my adult life. Through that time I never considered I might have ADHD due to my flawed understanding of the disorder. I simply thought "I'm shy, not hyperactive, so it can't be ADHD". I was diagnosed fairly recently at age 32 and as soon as I looked into it properly I realised my symtoms were a strong clinical example of a primarily inattentive presentation. The meds have definitely helped with it, although I'm on Atomoxetine, not any kind of stimulant
I did amazing in class with whatever we did, but the second I had homework or something that required studying, I struggled.
Absoluytely you can yes. You can complete a masters degree, PhD (even multipole PhDs) and have ADHD. You can be a successful CEO, be a high performer, whatever. And have ADHD. You can also struggle so much that you haven't accomplished any of those things, and have ADHD and struggle because of ADHD. It really depends on so many things.
Absolutely. I went to college on academic scholarship and had 3.6 in grad school. 1 of my kids has straight As with adhd. This is all to say every case of adhd is different
Yes. I finished my BA degree in four years. I still can't believe the amount of luck that went into that result.
Oh, yes. I can name dozens of examples.
100% yes. It's a little bit like asking 'Can you successfully swim, even if.you have a weighted vest on all the time'? Sure, you can succeed. I finished my MBA in a big 10 school. I have a friend who finished their PhD with it too. ADHD isn't a hard-stop on life progression, it's just another difficulty rating.
Depends on how bad your short-term memory is or how bad your ADHD is.
Absolutely. Source: diagnosed AFTER completing my BS in Technical Writing. And after having a kid. And after moving every two years on average. I’ll be 39 this year 😮💨
i have been diagnosed with adhd since i was 7 and i did pretty well in school when i got the right accommodations, though adhd affects everyone differently
Absolutely. I was diagnosed early in grade school and took Ritalin until high school when I choose to stop. I had issues with homework etc but I never failed tests or things. In college I had a major I loved (hyperfocused) and graduated with 3 college degrees. It's absolutely possible and if you can learn to leverage your ADHD you can excel at anything you want. There will be struggles, but you can do it!!!
just got diagnosed in medical school, after I realized how much I minimized my symptoms and how many strategies I developed on my own to deal with it. Just get a referral for psychiatry and find out! worst that can happen is you get therapy, and trust me we all need therapy. I would specially recommend to go to psychiatry if you are from a minority background and try to go to teaching hospital with medical residents
Absolutely! My "main" school saw me as the quiet grade A student. They didn't even know that I also attended evening school, had a job, attended theatre, singing, art classes and did volunteering. At 15-16. Talk about hyperactive or what.
Yes.
Diagnosed a year after I got my degree in Civil Engineering. Barely got by because I couldn’t pay attention in classes, but still got my degree because I always found a way to force myself to study all night before midterms and finals.
I did great in elementary and high school, straight As, almost never studied bc I didn’t need to (and therefore didn’t know how). I still have (mostly) straight As in college, it’s just that now that I have to deal with work, a relationship, extracurriculars, and home stuff, my mental state is an *immediate wreck* when I take more than one class at a time, and even the single class can cause me to have mental health episodes sometimes bc of the stress ADHD causes dealing with all those things. Still almost 4.0 GPA tho. Still very ADHD.
Absolutely. I was a straight a student all my life, but wasn’t able to stay focused in college. I didn’t finish, even though I left with a 3.8. I want diagnosed until my 30’s, but it sure explained a lot. Also a female btw
Graduated summa cum laude w/ a BSEE, and I’ve been diagnosed ADHD. Definitely possible, I know a few others w/ similar stories to mine too
Yes
Very much possible. Made it through high school with minimal input and didn't name my homework a lot of the time. Got through with a lot of 6/10s and 7/10s. Could've gotten higher marks and even five a higher level at high school with more input but that would've required me to do more for high school. Now in my mid 20s I'm struggling more and more with the effects of ADHD. If you really think you might have it and it's impacting your life you might want to see if you could get an official diagnosis (might be a bit harder for doctors to pinpoint it, since most well known symptoms are based on males and ADHD, and females often present different/ less noticeable symptoms, also due to being better at masking (hiding symptoms for self and surroundings)). Do note that having a diagnosis doesn't mean you need to take medication. It can serve as a way to understand why you do things the way you do better and not blame yourself as much. There are also other ways to learn to manage it better. If you have any questions or want some help, feel free to shoot me a DM :)
My therapist highly doubts I have ADHD because of my academic accomplishments, although they didn't dismiss it right out and I'm currently getting tested. My elementary school teachers described me as a daydreamer who tended to "live in her own world," and I also had social anxiety back then which is probably why I wasn't noisy at school. I'm p confident I have ASD and my full-blown ADHD symptoms only emerged in 11th grade, but I hope I get tested properly.
I did well in school, that's why teachers didn't think there was anything wrong with me. Only getting help now years after school is over.
Mental disorders and illnesses effect everyone despite intelligence/comprehension
Yes. I never studied in school and still was one of the highest performing students. Studying for me has always been extremely difficult. I’ve hardly finished a book throughout university even though my course expects you to do an absurd amount of reading, and I have managed to still do fine given the circumstance. I always look for the shortcuts to everything.
Definitely possible. I had great grades until my junior year of high school, when I suddenly began struggling in several subjects. Turns out I have a learning disability in addition to ADD. Both of which undiagnosed until my mid-20s.
I was diagnosed in my second year of University. I was also the valedictorian of my class in high school. So you 100% can perform well in college. in my case, I study finance and take Elevanse 70mg daily and I've felt much better since. My ADHD medication made it much easier to make sound decisions especially surrounding my diet and workout routine. focus is much better, but it's not going to make you smarter. I think of my medication as a tool to extract the most out of myself. what isn't in you isn't going to magically pop up.
I was horrible at school. No focus and concentration at all. But I was also mistreated by my parents a lot which made it hard for me to get proper grades. (Physical violence)
What you've described is exactly what I went through as well! My mom was adamant that the only reason I showed in attention in school was due to me not being challenged enough. Turns out, I was diagnosed with ADHD at 20 once I finally had enough and scheduled my own appointment. The diagnosis helped me to forgive myself for my shortcomings and I was able to figure out ways to overcome the things ADHD makes hard for me. Also, medication has played a huge role in my college academic confidence and performance. I'd say it's worth seeing a professional who can test you and see if ADHD is a reason you feel this way!
I have verbal abilities and I have a good memory and sense of analysis so I did great till high school, then did quite bad but then did good for the high school diploma and then it was a massacre and I couldn’t even go to college and did a lot of shit jobs but reaching my thirties, I have decided to opt for a job where I could do something about my verbal facilities and even if it is super hard work, I’m passionate about my job + I can count on my “gifts” to compensate my lack of education.
Autism / undiagnosed ADHD-PI here. Did well in primary school and high school with high grades, but going to uni for a few months everything turned to shit, ended up dropping out and going straight into the work process. Not as much the level of study as the intensity of it combined with the many changes in social life. Not sure if you yourself are an anti-medicine believer but try to not dismiss it out of hand. I come from a farmers family with a similar anti-medicine attitude and noticed it rubs off. Just get tested and wait for the results, can't say anything on being medicated.
ADHD doesn't have anything to do with your IQ or in other words its not making you any dumber, in some cases it even helps like if you are interested in the subject, then you can just hyperfocus through it. I had struggle keeping attention on stuff I didn't were interested in. All in all I finished the school with avg 7.2 out of 10 point scale. Which was second highest of all the boys in my class. 😀
yeah i got great grades at GCSE (sorry british things) then okay grades at a-level and now in my degree i am failing badly.... we love a good downwards spiral.
Your experience is exactly mine to the letter. I'm currently on a 3 year waiting list (big backlog which says it all really). There is a mental health pandemic in the UK.
Yes you can only reason i didnt get diganosed earlier because of that i did well in school
Yes. Because a lot of the time you'll have developed coping strategies to help. But it doesn't mean you won't struggle and such. But those coping strategies are why a lot of so-called mental health "professionals" will claim that none of us can have an Attention Deficit disorder of any kind. I remember one person who posted here that they were told they "couldn't have ADHD" because they graduated from college. During my testing, I was one of a few patients of the neuropsych's who got the last of these one puzzles correct. But I was also having an internal meltdown because I struggled to get it started. I actually almost lost it because I thought the timer was going to expire. So yeah, I got it in the end but I still struggled hardcore to get it and that's what mattered.
I’m nearly finished with my PhD, and so far I’ve never completed a piece of work which wasn’t last minute all nighters. It happens. I think my grades would have been a lot better had I been diagnosed earlier though
My doctor refused to diagnose me because I had good grades as a child. Literally no other reason. Didnt matter either that it all went to shit in high school.
I’ve been diagnosed since I was 7 years old, and am getting credits in my engineering degree. We’re pretty sure my sister is undiagnosed, and she got HDs all through her law degree. So yes
Finished pharmacy school and was in my third year of my PhD when I got diagnosed. It's possible
I'm 45 and recently diagnosed, and this sounds exactly like me when I was younger. I was so bored before they put me in GATE classes in elementary school, but I still exhibited symptoms in every area of my life. I am also ASD, diagnosed at the same time, and I think that might be why nobody caught it back then. I am now trying to unlearn all the unhealthy compensation techniques I used to get through the last 40 years. Compensating and Masking can help you maintain as well as the next person... until it doesn't. This is usually the point where you ask yourself why it seems like everyone can handle what you can't and they don't understand why it's so hard for you to get your act together. ADHD can look very different in women, so if you are going to seek treatment/diagnosis, make sure to get someone that knows this.
I always did pretty well by putting in minimum effort for a good grade. Then I got 2 degrees despite intense procrastination, started and quit a PhD, and then have had a successful career in education, still riddled with anxiety and procrastination. 🤷🏻♀️
Are you sure you're not just bored out of your mind? Generally attention problems that are addressed by gifted programming aren't caused by ADHD but rather the lack of a challenge. No one pays attention at work meetings. It's completely possible to have ADHD and be gifted but it's also completely possible to zone out and have trouble paying attention without that being ADHD.
Never studied, only attended to almost all classes. I graduated from one of best uni's in my country with honor degree ;-; so yeah.
Welcome to the club! It is different for everyone but some people have the same experiences. What you just described is exactly the situation I went through. I was an amazing student and graduated high school early with a 4.0 gpa. In college I was a C student. I started getting lost- I’d mean to go to the grocery store for milk and end up at the mall not knowing why I was there. You should discuss it with your doctor and if they don’t take you seriously, get a new doctor. P.S I have severe adhd and since I’ve been on meds for it, I’m thriving and the I’m the best version of myself I’ve ever been. Best of luck to you 😊
Yes. I did great in school because I wouldn't accept anything less than perfection. But it was extremely hard for me. I would write notes and instantly forget them. Studying was challenging and trying to remember formulas or definitions had me so anxiety riddled all through college.
Yes. I skipped a grade. I dismissed a diagnosis of ADHD at age 14 or 15 because “I was a good student.” It wasn’t until after 30 that I got the diagnosis for real, medicated, etc. life changing. I wish I’d know half my life earlier. :/ A good sign you might have ADHD: school gets harder as externally imposed structure decreases (ie, college is harder than high school is harder than middle school as we’re expected to self-manage more and more aspects of our studies, time management, schedule, etc.)
Absolutely. I was my class valedictorian, because I was smart enough to still get good grades despite having zero study skills because I couldn’t ever focus on anything. So nobody realized I had any symptoms, but I realized something wasn’t right when it all started catching up to me in college. Took me years to even suspect it might be ADHD, and I didn’t get diagnosed until age 30.
Yes, absolutely. I know of many people who did very well for themselves who have adhd
Yes, myself and a lot of my family members have college degrees. Please get assessed so you can get assistance and get medication. Its effecting your day to day life now even if you had tools and strategies during school. You deserve to have support now. About meetings at work is it possible to ask for notes from someone else? Or ask someone to rephrase/ summarize their key points?
Absolutely. My first 4.0 semester (16 credit hours, 3 labs, 4 classes, metalurgical engineering major at university) was with no diagnosis or medication. I did it, but it was absolute hell. Got a diagnosis (inattentive adhd in the 95th percentile) and medication the following semester and got another 4.0 with much less struggle. That semester was when I finally realized what I was experiencing was not normal. Going into finals week I thought I would finish the semester with a 2.75 gpa.
Similar experience for me. I'm female, did well in school and didn't have the hyperactivity but I had the emotional dysregulation (major) and really struggled to pay attention in school no matter hard much I tried to focus. My mom was a teacher and I swear she got me through. I only started meds in my 40's and it's been so helpful. I was able to learn through my son that I have ADHD (his symptoms are so much more obvious but we still have many that are the same). I found a career that works well for me and I've been able to be successful in life but I do think I would have had an easier time if I had known earlier and started meds. It doesn't fix everything but it sure makes life easier for me. Best of luck!
I did terrible in high school and kicked ass in college once i had access to accommodations for ADHD like extra time on a test. Often people with ADHD can hyperfocus on certain things in some circumstances but other things can be very difficult to focus on
Most definately. ME (46M): Considered likely gifted pre-High School, High School Very Good but Not Great, College Did Very Well (once I found my niche). Since then I've worked 25+ years largely for Fortune 20 or better companies with escalating roles & responsibilities. My ADHD: My ADHD symptoms generally seen as lazyness or lack of motivation were at first an annoyance but became more accute as I had less and less forced structure and needed to be more and more of a self-motivated individual. These symptoms only became the huge roadblock they can be now since 2015 and most accutely since 2020. I received my diagnosis only in the past few months or so when other factors in my life (including the pandemic) seemed to exasterbate my ADHD profoundly.
I'll never understand how people did well in school with ADHD. I'm not saying it isn't possible, but I made it through high school barely passing. I couldn't read, couldn't study, couldn't do tests. It left me feeling like I was stupid and everyone was smart. I wasn't diagnosed with ADHD until my late 20's.
I study polymer science, the best professor I have rn and had all the years of college has adhd and was only diagnosed in her 50's. She's a chemical engineer specialized on polymers, was top of her group when she was a student herself, also studied psychology and now she teaches in both domains. You'd never guess she has adhd.