#not self-diagnosing i promise
Every time I see a post like “Having ADHD is…” or “Neurodivergents are…” and I find myself relating to it kinda fucks me up.
Like… is this thing I do really a symptom of this whatever? and how many of these symptoms do I need before considering if I have this? Or is it just like a sort of common thing that I only exhibit because I share blood with someone who does have ADHD? And me sharing a symptom of this is just a fluke of genetics?
I mean, these sorts of posts are really good because they help people find others like them and understand more things about their own mental illnesses (I know I’ve found some interesting things about my own illnesses from various online posts) but they also create this weird little crossover world that I keep accidentally sticking my feet into.
And I also know that most of these conditions are really difficult to diagnose properly so perhaps only having one or two similar behaviours doesn’t mean I have any level of the condition.
My own personal theory is that people with mental illnesses/neurdiversity all have the same little glitch in their brain that causes this condition to develop, and because it’s the same glitch even though it causes different reactions, it can mean that there are little mistakes. So, specific symptoms can cross between conditions, without any others appearing. Of course, I’m nowhere near being a doctor so this is pure speculation, please tell me how it actually works/what information I’m missing because I’d like to learn why this happens.
(see here w/r/t “people with neurodiversity”)
i would say most posts people make like this on tumblr aren’t about things exclusive to or suggestive of whatever diagnosis they mention or even exclusive to/suggestive of having any mental or brain condition (being neurodivergent.) if you suspect you may have [x] disorder i suggest looking into it yourself outside of social media because i once saw someone ask “wait is having a favorite color or color motif a neurodivergent thing?” if you suspect you may qualify for an adhd diagnosis i’d be happy to discuss that with you as someone who’s been diagnosed three times and is currently on cns stimulant medication for management.
also there’s really very few, if any, blanket statements that apply to the whole of neurodivergent people, other than we’re at risk for/subject to ableism. so especially take any “neurodivergents are/it’s a neurodivergent thing”-type posts.
I’m very sorry it took me so long to reply to this, I was on holiday with the faeries :P
I definitely agree with your comment about not deciding purely from internet strangers. And after a few months feeling really weird and uncomfortably I finally raised it with my doctor recently. I’ve taken the DIVA test and we’re going to discuss my results when I next see her next week.
But thank you very much for offering me advice and information, I really appreciate it!
