Newly Diagnosed Adult ADHD✌️ What Next?! 🤔 Self Discovery Journey✨
38yo-Wife-Mum💗💙💚-Author
22/04/2024
BIG day for Rick and I at the Victorian ADHD Conference on Saturday!
Oh the people you bump into at breakfast!! Thanks for tagging along and being our 3 wheeler !!
Got some good tips and resources….
23/03/2024
❤️💙💛💚
Feelings are just Feelings Children’s Book
🐰 EASTER SPECIALS!! 🐣
If you’re on the hunt for a last minute Easter gift check out these bundles* below and give the gift of Resilience, Empathy, Kindness & and bit of FUN this Easter!! 🐰
Price and details of bundles on Pictures
Free pick up or delivery in Sale until Thursday.
Inbox me for more details
* Colours selected at random unless otherwise requested.
04/02/2024
Great way to start a relaxing Sunday!
ADHDers are total creatives and Harley last night made this MEGA AMAZING Cubby House 😍
He invited us all in and said we could bring our breakfast!
The super sad thing is… I’m going to have to use these clothes airers very soon (as we have no clothes line) to get the weekly washing dry… Leading to a mega meltdown and rejection sensitivity I’m sure… 😔
We of course will try to help him to build another but “Not as cool as this one” I’ve already been told…
Wish me luck! And I can only hope he has enjoyed this mornings memories with us!
💙 A Mum who is trying
24/01/2024
Just a Mama Snuggin’ her baby Doggy… 🥰
💞
14/01/2024
We’re on holidays in our Caravan!
Holidays for me always bring about a mix of emotions.
I love being on holidays and have fun & can relax when I get there, but getting packed & organised to go, takes me longer than the average Joe-Blow…!
This causes a lot of tension & frustration for my husband & a lot of stress, pressure, anxiety & frustration for myself.
Rick thinks I leave everything until the last minute on purpose & doesn’t understand why I can’t just pack & be ready days before.
While me on the other hand, pulls late nighters & feels like I’m busting my gut non stop, working towards the end goal, but it’s just not getting done fast enough…
Since finding out I have ADHD, I now know this is due to something called Executive dysfunction: A term used to describe faults or weaknesses in the cognitive process that organises thoughts & activities, prioritises tasks, manages time efficiently, & makes decisions.
Eg.
- I get distracted a lot (all with important jobs - I’m not a “Dory”)
- I packed mine & the kids clothes in the van & thought I’d done great! But left my toiletries to the last minute (because I needed to use them)
- The night before leaving, I decided to bake an egg & bacon pie & 2 zucchini slices (creating an almighty but delicious mess) because we had 4 dozen eggs.
- We also have our awesome friends house sitting & so I wanted the house SPOTLESS! And if you’ve ever seen my house, you’ll know this is an unimaginable task that I practically made happen… 🙌🏼
BUT it caused us to leave 1.5hrs later than Rick had hoped… You can imagine how that went down!! 😱
Let’s just say, mismatched expectations from BOTH of us lead to some unhappy campers & a tension filled road trip. One in particular just couldn’t get over the time delay & 5hrs into our trip, I snapped!!
After a mini mental & emotional breakdown, we pulled over for a “Fresh Start” AND FINALLY the holiday could begin!!
DID YOU KNOW…
That by age 12, children with ADHD have received 20,000 more negative & corrective messages from their parents, teachers & the adults in their life - compared to those who don’t have the condition… 😢
This can lead to low self esteem and a negative self image.
These were things I saw in Harley and I often wondered “Why?!!”
And now I know… All the re-direction and trying to parent his busy ways…
“Stop running in the house!”
“Quiet, That’s too loud”
“Stop jumping on the furniture!”
“Don’t hit your brother!” Etc. 😭
I also suffered with low self esteem for most of my life - My Mum was like my personal psych & pep talk coach 😄
🌟 ✨ 🌟
One of the BEST things about being diagnosed with ADHD myself (aside from the magnitude of lightbulb moments and self compassion/ understanding), was being able to let Harley know…
“Hey guess what buddy? Mummy has ADHD too…!” 😁
Because since his diagnosis, I could tell the “label”, those 4 letters affected him and his identity/confidence…
And you should have seen the smile, look of relief and happiness on his little face when I told him..!! 😄
It was like “What? I’m not alone… Mum is the same as me!”
I LOVE the little bits about myself and the condition that I am learning. I’m piecing together parts of my life and situations that only now make sense… Things that I though were faults in myself are actually parts of the condition coming to light - Now to learn ways to manage them!!
BUT what’s more beneficial is the fact I am able to understand Harley’s perspective more, because I often feel the same way and are triggered by the same things that he is.
I can help him learn these traits of our condition from a young age, so hopefully he will have a better understanding of himself and can differentiate from what is Harley and what is ADHD. Therefore having a more positive self esteem and self worth 🙌🏼
I feel a little sorry for my little old self… Not having someone to guide me through this process. But I am so happy that I can be that someone, that I once needed for Harley moving forward… 💙
Omg EVERY NIGHT!
Even if I’m doing long blinks and can’t keep my eyes open, I still refuse to get up and tuck myself in… 😣 And I’m someone who actually loves to sleep and loves my bed!
The ADHD world call this ‘sleep procrastination’
Another one of my “Ah ha” moments 💡🙌🏼
There’s a meme I used to relate to that said -
“Motherhood is a constant battle between going to bed early to get enough sleep & staying up late to get that much needed alone time”!! - ! 🙋🏼♀️
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https://ouraring.com/blog/revenge-sleep-procrastination-adhd/ SAYS:
Why People with ADHD May Be Prone to Revenge Sleep Procrastination
The ADHD brain is wired a little differently than a neurotypical brain and can cause revenge sleep procrastination in a number of ways.
For example:
Dopamine-Seeking Behaviour
Studies suggest that ADHD is linked to lower levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine, which is responsible for feelings of pleasure, satisfaction, and motivation.
Therefore, people with ADHD are naturally prone to seek out activities that produce dopamine — which can lead to staying up late at night seeking a hit, especially if you don’t get enough stimulation during the day or don’t have time for activities that you enjoy.
Revenge sleep procrastination means staying up late even though you’re tired and have to get up early the next day. The idea is that you’re getting “revenge” on the stressors of the day by doing activities that give you pleasure and help you reclaim some “me” time.
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!
Makes sense to me 😏 I love me some “ME time”!!
07/11/2023
👋🏼 Hi, I’m Andrea!
I’ve just turned 38, I’m a Wife, Mum to 3, Early Childhood Educator, Children’s Book Author & my newest credential… An Adult ADHD Diagnosis !!
Just under 2 months ago, I was diagnosed with ADHD - What?!! Who knew?!! 🤯
Predominantly Inattentive - 9/9 💪🏼 & 3/9 for Hyperactive/Impulsive…
AND I believe the I only reason I ever found this out, was because our youngest son H was diagnosed mid year!!
* AND just by chance, not long after H’s diagnosis, I was chatting to another awesome Mama, whose son had also been diagnosed with ADHD. She’s studying nursing & doing her final piece on the correlation of how ADHD is often genetic and how it presents differently in adult woman.
She started listing off all these symptoms & I was thinking… WTF, that’s me!!
Thanks to a Dr. Google search, it confirmed what she was saying…
I showed my Husband & he was like “WTF?!!” also…
WHAT HAPPENED NEXT:
- Booked a GP appointment
- Got a referral they never called back
- Got a different referral for
- Made an appointment for my 1 hour clinical interview & waited
- Filled out an extensive questionnaire & my husband had to fill one out also + sent in a school report
- Had interview
- Waited another week for the follow up consultation review, result & assessment outcome…
- There’s a reason!
- How did I not know this?
- Who even am I?
It explains so many of my day-to-day struggles: The chaos, the total cl*******ck, the mess, the disorganisation, the overwhelm, the negative self talk, feeling like a failure/ not good enough, unable to meet everyone’s expectations, always running late, lack of motivation/ impulse control, hot temper (at home only😅), having so many great ideas/ plans but unable to implement ANY of them…
THIS IS MY JOURNEY to self discovery & FINALLY learning how my beautiful neurodivergent brain works, so hopefully I don’t have to “tread water” any longer 🤗
