ADHD meds only is wrong
When I received an ADHD diagnosis, the only real ‘solution’ presented to me was to take meds.
After saying I didn’t want them and asking the specialist what other support I could get that my insurance covered…
they basically said ‘nothing, go figure it out for yourself’ in a way that was slightly more dressed up.
This was 3 years ago now.
After being on a private waitlist for 6 months which still cost £1k through my mum’s healthcare cover.
Fortunate I know.
The waitlist
In that 6 months, there was nothing to signpost me to.
No suggestions or potential methods to try.
It lived up to it’s name and was 6 months of waiting.
This meant that when I was finally diagnosed in November 2022, that was the start of my journey.
The reality is it could have started a lot sooner, had I known there were ways besides medication to do it.
The luxury
The reason I’m saying this is because it was a still a limiting process even for me.
Someone who was in the luxurious position of being able to cover a private diagnosis, which still took 6+ months without any support.
I have friends who have been waiting for 3+ years with no support or guidance at all.
I’ve read stories online about people waiting 7-10+ years.
If it was a confusing time for me, I can only imagine how even more confusing it will be for someone who isn’t in a position to go the private route.
Have you / someone you know spent time on the waitlist? How did you find it?
My findings
If I knew back then, what I know now, I’m not sure a diagnosis would have been as much of a priority as it were.
The natural foundations most of my energy goes into have allowed me to design a life that works for my brain and all a diagnosis brought was the awareness to seek them out.
I didn’t need permission from anyone, or a prescription or the green light, they’re all foundations which could have been started 15 years ago.
This energy has gone into eating helpful food choices, prioritising sleep, cold water exposure, moving as much as possible, not drinking alcohol and the regular practice of living mindfully.
What I started to find was a complete different transformation.
To the point where my overwhelm, negative inner critic, impulsivity and trouble regulating my emotions are not really issues for me anymore.
The first steps
All of those things I mentioned have significantly helped me although to pin one down, the first step for real change was practicing mindfulness.
It gave me back the self awareness and taught me how to start listening to my body.
How to distance myself from those negative thoughts which consumed me.
Showed me how to take a pause before reacting and spend more time out of my head.
It’s one of those things that might seems like it’s not working until you look back and realise how different the previous 3 months were.
Extending my progress
I invite anyone, regardless of which stage of their journey they’re at to consider practicing mindfulness.
It might seem weird at first although there’s plenty of resources out there to teach you.
What I do find is that a lot of isn’t overly tailored for an ADHD brain, whereas finding that optimisation has been my focus for 3 years.
People discover this in my 1:1 Teaching sessions although there will be many people out there who haven’t got the time or money for 8 weeks of guided sessions.
Mindfulness can be as simple, flexible and compassionate as you want to make it.
Simple that it’s very easy for you to take action.
Flexible and it can slot in your day.
Compassionate in the sense that your mind will wander and this isn’t a sign that you failed.
If you want to learn mindfulness in an ADHD way, maybe the ‘Mindfulness with ADHD’ blueprint I launched yesterday could help…
P.s everyone who gets it in October will have the chance to participate in 3x guided mindfulness sessions depending on when you got it. That’s 3 sessions for completely free worth over £150