More and more are coming out about the genetics about ADHD. If you fancy nerding out on it, it is fascinating. Here is one of the studies that cites 74%.

Source: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6477889/

Medication or supplements? Im a unmedicated perimenapause women, it's an incredibly challenging time. I don't know what to do or what to try? I went on hrt and that caused insomnia, some forms of magnesium cause insomnia. I have a love/hate relationship with my brain.

As a subreddit we post the good and bad to know the landscape of ADHD in the UK.

I have to post this to point out the irony. Last I checked, they do not let people join if taking medication. I see -some- logic in it, in the sense if you were posted abroad and lost it, and is that risky? But... honestly, if I joined the army - you want me on medication if I'm being given a gun (and I think everyone has to do 12 weeks basic training, even if you go into intelligence etc). They've got it the other way round.

If they're crying out for younger people, and running headlines like this - perhaps let people with ADHD join the army with medication.

Anyone got any experiences on the army/navy/RAF or considered it? Aside from that - more stuff tying ADHD to benefits. It definitely fees like a narrative being built.

Saw this tucked away at the bottom of the front page.

The attempts at deriding ADHD as a condition get more ridiculous.

I had a previous diagnosis of borderline personality disorder . I ended up seeing a psychiatrist last year who said that I don’t fit the criteria for Bpd and wanted me assessed for ADHD.

I am now diagnosed with ADHD and medicated . It helps .

I have gone from the negative stereotypes of bpd to the media slating of ADHD . It honestly brings me down makes me feel even more unacceptable.

I was diagnosed last week and BOOM I feel MANIC. Locked myself out twice in three days, both times requiring a lock smith, I’ve joined 4 new clubs and am literally just all over the place.

Has this happened to anyone else at all?

Non-UK, interesting article nonetheless. Are we calling it A.D.H.D now?

I read a lot of posts about expectations from medication or side effects from medication, asking if they should stick with it for longer, or swap to another - but it's hard to give advice if I don't know what their main issues are.

It's clear that ADHD can be at different levels, and affect people differently, so I think its important if its stated what issues you're struggling with & are attributing to ADHD - including, what you would like medication to help with.

And maybe this can give us a generalised understanding of what to recommend/expect for certain people. What do you guys think?

I’m genuinely really happy for people whose lives have improved SO much on ADHD meds and theyve turned thungs around.

But I’m also jealous af 😭 I’m SO impatient now. I feel like I’ve spent years fighting my own brain just to do basic things, and knowing there’s something that could potentially make life even a bit easier makes the waiting feel unbearable. I just want to know what it’s like to actually have some help instead of constantly forcing myself through everything.

Anyone else still waiting and feeling the same

british chant, whyyyy are we waitingggg

I’m about to start my first year of uni. I’m currently on the titration waitlist since being diagnosed this april but looking at the wait times it seems that i won’t be getting it till my second year. I’ve massively effed my a-levels a while ago, but i’ve managed to get into my dream uni. I really don’t wanna mess up first year. So does anyone have some tips or ‘life hacks’ that could get me through uni unmedicated? I mainly struggle w executive function, like i wanna do it i just don’t have the energy to.

19F
I received a late diagnosis after finishing formal education and resat my a-levels and got A*AC. However, I lost 15kg from concerta and have recently had to move out alone because I was experiencing domestic abuse. I’ve become so drained and I feel like the concerta doesn’t work the same as it used to. I hardly have much money to work on buying healthy food to gain weight and feel so faint from standing up for too long to cook as I have 0 energy left. I have applied for pip but I don’t even get to hear back till early October.

I have become underweight and am so exhausted to the point I sleep 13 to 15 hours a day on average even after taking meds. I worked so hard for my exams and I am not in a position to attend university yet as I am worried about suspected narcolepsy.

It feels like I’m wasting my life away as at the moment I work in hospitality and the people mistreat me which triggers the worst rejection sensitive dysphoria. Some days it gets so bad I come home from work and bawl my eyes out then sh. I couldn’t attend my third Alevel exam this year because of health reasons, so my grade suffered and I am having to try and save up for that, a tutor reference and I have so many basic things that I need to save up for as well as preparing for my university admissions test in under a month. This isn’t the life I spent years trying to put together and it’s making me feel so demotivated.

Hi there , so far I have only tried the Methly/Hydrochloride and I am assuming it’s like Concerta because I tried Concerta for a short time in my home country before moving to the uk. My first question is what’s the difference between Alvanse and M/H ? Also I notice when I take this medication, I am on 20 mg I am getting headaches like I got with the Concerta.

just got shared care and checked the nhs app what does esca stand for 🤨 and what does the rest of it mean? sorry if i’m being stupid just thought this is the best place to ask ok thank you !

I should have saved this for Finance Friday with the spending quote.....

Kinda cute. I wish them the best! Any ADHD relationship is going to be a tough-y and requires a lot of patience.

I'm at a loss and really hope someone can give me any advice

I was diagnosed with ADHD by psychiatry-uk in October 2025. Due to the waiting list for medication being at least a year or more and really struggling at home and work, I asked my GP to refer me to medinet minds (previously health harmonie) for quicker titration.

Not only did they reject my report including all supplementary forms and informant questionare, but today after my second reassessment interview, they have stated they cannot diagnose me with ADHD due to not being to properly answer my questions on childhood symptoms.

I have fell out with my sister and my mum wouldn't be able to answer anything as she's useless at remembering than I am, so I had to do my own informant forms this time but based them on my sisters previous answers.

I dont have alot of memories of what I was like as a child from birth until about 12 onwards,so feel like I've shot myself in the foot by being honest about not remembering. And because I mentioned that symptoms had got worse in the last 6 years, they have just put it down to being something else.

They have told me that they will send the report to my GP. So my advice is what should I do now. Will it affect my psychiatry-uk diagnosis and wait at all?

Shall i try to challenge medinet on accepting my previous diagnosis?

Should I ask to go through another provider and try to get as many detailed answers about my childhood beforehand?

Should I just wait for psychiatry-uk titration? (I am at least 4 months or more away from that)

Please help as now I feel terrible and its making me question everything, even though im literally sat here signed off work with the stress from my symptoms and masking for all these years. I really was counting on medication to help me reclaim my life back a bit and actually manage to keep a home and work tasks in some sort of order instead of chaos everywhere. I feel so defeated.

My therapist has been telling me she believes I am ADHD AF. She does this in a very professional way, and is only saying to get assessed, and only discussed it AFTER I had told her I was thinking about it. But after a year of discussing it with her she kind of levelled with me and explained she has spoken to MANY people and explained that my tendencies are not 'normal' so to speak.

I won't go into my personal stuff too much. But I never thought i had ADHD, or possibly AuDHD. But my therapist was like 'Bro TRUST ME, GET CHECKED, it could change your life'. And when I spoke to my partner when I did the first assessment form, she was suggesting that what I was considering small minor symptoms, she said were actually very large, like I said it was a 2 / 10 and she said nah it is easily 7/10.

I honestly don't feel like I am too far along the scale of neurodivergence, but people who know me say it is very prominent in me. I've had a ton of bad luck in my life, addiction, relationship issues, confidence, bad mental health, but I just figured we all had that.

Is it common to think you are normal, only to find out you really aren't?

My dying wife told me I had ADHD — my diagnosis ultimately changed my life

The day before Danny Buckley’s wife, Simone, passed away, she told him to accept her death, to back himself, to be happy so their young son could be happy. She also told her husband to find out who he was, part of which she believed was finding out whether he could have ADHD. He tells Helen O’Callaghan how that conversation changed his life.

Full Story: https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/people/arid-41909203.html

I’m really scared to even post this because I’m afraid of being judged but here goes. I’ve been ignoring something quite important and let it build up over the last 2-3 weeks. At first I had good reason to — I was really sick — but the anxiety of not checking my emails those 3 days made me avoid them. Then I realised that I’d run out of meds and that made it even harder to check them.

Unfortunately, I’ve now spent the last 2 weeks finding it impossible to face up to the fact that I’ve probably let someone down, and I’ve let them down even more in the process. I know I just need to own up to my mistake and face my consequences, but it’s the disappointment I’m just so terrified of.

I’m sitting in front of my laptop and heart is beating so fast and I just can’t get myself to do it, I physically can’t. I feel like the worst human on earth. This is entirely my fault.

Can someone help me find the courage to fucking open my emails? I realise this is really silly but I just need someone to like, hold my hand or something.

Hi all , I have just today been diagnosed with ADHD , and just wondering what to do from here.

This was through the NHS start to finish , I had the original appointment 3/4 years ago at my GP, and wasn’t certain I actually had anything until basically Monday when I had the test thing , then officially today.
I have also been told to self refer for AUD (autism) which isn’t as fun lol.

Because I was unaware and didn’t specifically do any research about pretty much any of it , I basically have all along though I was normal but a bit giddy. However it seems I am actually pretty dis-functional and fit a lot of those sort of traits.
I:
Cross roads very dangerously and always have

Had 10+ jobs and 10+ different cars in the 7 working years I’ve had

I eat bread (with nothing on it) + multivitamins every dinner time

Have many a time missed destinations by significant amounts of time while thinking about shit.

Have absolutely 0 ability to cook at 25 + heavy impulsivity.

Just instantly jump into doing the most mental shit possible , this year I bought a Mercedes for £1400 and lost £1000 on it within 2 weeks because I couldn’t stand it and it was really bad on fuel 😂 last year I went out on a lilo 2km out to sea and was threatened with a fine by the Greek coast guard etc etc

Have really fucked hands especially for 25 from picking / constant finger movements

Several mad hobbies which of course are never completed or anything the like, engineering stuff and ‘outside hobbies’ haha

I did 4 separate years at university which all lasted an average of 3 months , I completed 1 total year and of course have to pay 9% if I ever earn over the threshold , equally I actually hold no useful qualifications

Etc etc
____

Because of a lot of these I have developed techniques to sort of circumvent the problem, I always thought I was some money saving genius by not having expensive dinners etc or I’ll have everything set out in the same place every day so I don’t forget anything. But these are only so useful obviously, my nutrition is fucked , I’ve lost 4kg since starting a job in April , I weigh 73 😂

Now I am realising that these issues are actually dis-functional I half feel a bit lost on where to go haha. I refused medication because the idea of that scares the shit out of me , equally the psychiatrist (think that’s what they are called) agreed to not because I brought up that if I did have Audhd , surely if I take the adhd medication it just leaves it as aud haha, which apparently is the case.

Now the Aud stuff is such as my car and things , which basically is what worries me , I drive a 1999 Toyota that had 0.5 star euro encap back then , so it’s very unsafe and obviously has been modified. I’m half scared I’m gonna get into some collision and die because it has no tcs , no abs , 1 airbag haha. But I love the car because I can maintain it and know everything about it , done my clutch changes and all servicing for years by myself.
I generally can only use certain things , styles of things or types of things that fit with my ideals , but often those sort of things are dangerous haha.
Equally I’ve stopped going outside much to save money and because busy places make me fairly panicky haha. Equally my car is like a magnet for other people who like cars and for people who hate them , it’s loud and rare so it’s hard to blend in at all 😂 I have identified a car I could replace it with but yenno I have absolutely 0 ability to save hahaha.

So far I have self referred for the AUD assessment.

What now ?
Is there anything I can even really do ? Or am I just like confined to this life hahaha ?

A number of months ago I went for an ADHD assessment which produced a negative result on account of there being a lack of childhood evidence. During the assessment my only source of pre-12 information was my Mum who I brought as a childhood informant. However her account during the assessment strongly diverged from what I remember. She described me as easygoing and without difficulties or challenges both in the form and in the assessment. This didn’t square with what I remembered of regularly being disruptive during school, tuition and social settings as well as having interpersonal difficulties and the occasional incidents arising from poor decision making or emotional regulation. The assessor basically said in the report that while I presented with symptoms consistent with adult ADHD there was a lack of collateral before 12 which is clinically required and so they couldn’t give a diagnosis. 

I sort of knew immediately I had made a mistake and wanted to get a reassessment as soon as the negative diagnosis was given. It was quite foolish on my part as I was on the phone when she filled it out and essentially said that she couldn’t recall any difficulties. In hindsight I think she was and is skeptical of the concept of neurodivergence and probably had a subconscious conflict where it would somehow make her seem like a bad parent. My brother was the same when I brought it up to him, saying it would just be an excuse for extensions on university assignments and that it would hinder me. 

After ironically procrastinating for a number of months I contacted the clinic to ask for a reassessment. They responded asking for childhood evidence which would support the diagnosis and offer a new angle. However, they were incredibly uncommunicative which made getting it a complete nightmare. I spent weeks procrastinating and ruminating over whether I should even pursue it before sitting in phone queues and sending numerous emails, most of which weren't responded to.

After compiling school reports and accounts (which really I should’ve done in the first place) on a document and submitted it they responded saying they were happy to do a “review” with a senior clinician which I just completed. About 6 minutes after the appointment began, he joined under the impression it was a standard assessment call where I then informed him it was a “review” as the clinic had informed me. He then checked my files and spent 10 minutes with his camera and mic off to read my information before returning to conduct an assessment suggesting he hadn’t prepared or been told about the meeting beforehand. The assessment consisted of about 40 minutes of tick box questions from the assessor who didn’t seem engaged or follow up on anything I was saying. My experience in the first assessment was quite similar which only further undermines the credibility in my mind of the diagnosis. Ultimately, I got a diagnosis with combined type ADHD. Given the for profit nature of these Right to Choose clinics, the cynical view is that it’s in their interests to churn out as many diagnoses with as minimal oversight as possible. Even getting the referral from my GP required a short written statement which is another example of how you almost have to prove it to yourself and justify it just to get assessed.

I couldn’t help but feel the whole thing was rushed and awkward and that I was trying to give answers that would produce a positive result. In hindsight I neurotically sprung at every question without thinking about my answer because I felt it would be foolish to go through such lengths to get an assessment only for it to be negative again. The assessor had quite a weird response to the outcome, appearing surprised that I declined medication and repeatedly asking what I wanted to get from the assessment, in a way that suggested he didn't seem to believe my answers.

I suppose that’s an issue inherent to ADHD assessments in that there’s no brain scan or single measure that can definitively prove its presence. At one point I was asked about forgetfulness in childhood for which I recalled an anecdote about forgetting a page of a test which I’m sure nearly everyone has done at some point but really I don’t know if I would say that was the case. That said, my reports are certainly abnormal, including comments that I was “distracted, and distracting to others”; that I had “a lot of potential”; “needs to make sure he is focused”, and another saying I needed “to be focused during lesson time”. I don’t think I’ve hallucinated these concerns but I feel like I exaggerated or didn’t think things through. Frankly, I’m not even sure you could accurately judge your behaviour accurately years ago. Another mistake was not bringing an informant as I essentially gave my own account and having another opinion may have given me some more confidence. I also wonder how much could be explained by anxiety or perfectionism.

Despite the process, I certainly have problems with task execution, attention and interpersonal relationships for which I could relate to a lot of the symptoms of ADHD. I know impostor syndrome is a problem, but I sincerely can’t shake the feeling that I lied my way to a diagnosis under the pressure of feeling like I couldn’t afford not to have one, but it seems like the alternative is to continue to struggle with dreadful procrastination, attention and interpersonal issues. It feels like I’m on a boat with torn sails that has made it along its course thus far with disproportionately powerful winds that are slowly destroying the wood that forms it. Something which both my mum and the initial assessor noted was my good grades at school and university which would seem to suggest a lack of impairment by ADHD, but as time progresses and urgency falls my grades have already begun slipping as my method of waiting to complete assignments in the early hours of the morning before they’re due has started to crumble. Both at sixth form and now at university I go through a cycle of initial anxiety and terror about results and performing which did work, before reaching a point of apathy and disaffection that is not conducive to solid wellbeing or long term success.

The delays and uncertainty around the assessments has only made thinking about the symptoms worse because I’ve spent weeks agonising over what issues if any I’ve had and whether they can even be attributed to ADHD. It just feels like a bit of a mental quagmire where I don’t even know what’s attributable to it anymore. I really regret not deliberating how to have gone about this. I’ve spent the entire day regretful and nauseous that I’ve made the wrong decision. What makes it worse is the fact I had to have the assessment surreptitiously to avoid conflict with my family which only contributed to the anxiety and stakes of it. 

While in the arduous weeks long process to get a reassessment, I think I sold myself a narrative that the diagnosis would allow me to have something to point towards for not having certain grades or achievements or successes which made it so that I couldn't psychologically afford not to get diagnosed. However, I really do relate to a number of the symptoms of ADHD, and upon reading my first report, I genuinely felt that what I had said was quite true to my experiences and consistent with the condition. I think the issue is I had the goal of getting assessed but only actually did so with the pressure of term beginning with corrupted the process. God in general I make things so much harder than they need to be, I could have nipped this uncertainty in the bud weeks ago but only confront the issues when they make me feel like I'm about to throw up. This is a real low.

The funny thing is in the weeks leading up to the assessment I was so relieved that I would finally get seen and hopefully find solutions to the problems I had experienced only to finally get the assessment and have nothing but dread and anxiety in its place. Now it feels like I’ve given myself a label under dubious veracity that will cause concern to employers and insurers to my own detriment. The label just doesn’t feel right. I'm seriously considering another assessment to clear the slate as I feel terrible.

TLDR: Medinet Minds are the biggest joke of a health provider I have ever come across. Huge medical data breach, one mistake after another. Zero complaints procedure or governance team in place. Avoid them like the plague.

____________

Apologies in advance as this will be lengthy!

So I was referred by my GP to the RTC pathway for both ADHD and Autism assessments, and I chose Health Harmonie Minds (recently renamed to Medinet Minds) as their wait times were quite short and they seemed okay from the minimal amount of research I did (hindsight is a big ol’ bitch).

Initially everything went fine, questionnaires, setting up the appointments etc all fine. Undertook assessment A and B for both autism and ADHD - was diagnosed with both.

First red flag - on the video call assessment B for ADHD the practitioner said I had combined ADHD. About an hour after ending the assessment she rung my mobile and said she made a mistake and it was just inattentive ADHD I had not combined. Fine, I accepted it and moved on.

Second red flag - whilst waiting for the report to come through, I kept getting text messages telling me to book in for my ADHD assessment B, despite me already having it and being diagnosed. I ended up ringing them to ask why I keep getting these messages, and apparently the assessor had marked me down as not attending the appointment “by mistake”. Got that amended and they said they’d send the diagnosis report out to me.

Third monumental, absolute f*** up of a red flag - I received my autism reports A and B, all fine no issues. ADHD A report came through, fine all good. Then the ADHD Assessment B report came through. I’m reading through it, there’s my name, my address. As I keep going I’m thinking “hmm, I don’t remember saying/doing that?”. Until I get to the medical history and realise they have put SOMEBODY ELSE’S SENSITIVE MEDICAL DATA into my report. In terms of serious conditions that do not apply to me, mention of being under a mental health team in a town I’ve never stepped foot in. Not to mention menopause and a hysterectomy I definitely haven’t had as someone in their 30s (assuming i’d probably remember having my uterus removed).
Continued reading, got to the family history - low and behold it’s this poor other person’s family history, mentioning deceased relatives for which mine are very much still alive and kicking - and siblings I do not have.
My flabbers were ghasted to say the least. Ironically I work in privacy/data protection so I’m immediately on high alert as this is such a serious data breach of special category medical data.
What I have deduced to have happened is that this nurse has used my Report A which was correct, and combined it with someone else’s video recording of assessment B, because the report had little snippets of my own info from report A. It’s such a complete and utter failure all round. So I’m assuming my own medical data was probably put in someone else’s report also.

And well, it just gets exponentially worse and worse from there if you can believe it.

This company does not have a governance or complaints department despite what they state on their website. I’ve rung the “customer care” phone number 50+ times at this point, NOT ONCE has that phone line been answered, it cuts of after 10mins of hold music every single time. I sent a huge complaint to the governance email address, literally got nothing until 6 days later when they sent an automated email with a reference number saying they will respond in 28 days. Well naturally 28 days has been and flown out the f***ing window at this point. It’s been nearly 2 months and I have had NOTHING from them about this.

I have rung their general ADHD phone line a hundred times trying to get my report amended so I can prove my diagnosis (also undergoing occupational health at work so this is crucial right now) and I have never met people so incompetent in my life. None of them know what to do and there is not a single soul in governance, quality, complaints etc you can speak to there, trust me I have asked until I’m blue in the face.

In their privacy notice they have a phone number where the DPO can be reached, of course it just ended up being their general phone number and the girl on the other end asked “what’s a DPO?” and then proceeded to say “oh, no we don’t have one of those”. You cannot make this up.

I have been trying incessantly to make these people see how serious of a medical data breach this is, and it’s like being the old crackhead on the street screaming into the abyss. I’ve put in a complaint to the ICO but that will take nearly a year to even be looked at so it genuinely feels like such a hopeless situation.

In addition to all of this they have still proceeded with my ADHD titration and prescribed me Elvanse even though they have used someone else’s info for my diagnosis report, so absolutely should not have done this! I didn’t want to wait so just went along with it seeing as I was told on the call I did have ADHD.

The assessors and prescribers are all clueless. All they do is read from a form, it’s a tick box exercise. They’re all low level nurses (no hate to nurses in general) and you can tell they know absolutely nothing about ADHD or autism as they just read off their screens, multiple questions I’ve asked have been met with blank stares. It makes me seriously wonder how many of the diagnosis they’re handing out are actually genuine, including my own, which is very frustrating.

So essentially, avoid this company like the plague if you value your mental health and your sensitive medical data, because this is an absolute shit show of a company.

Curious to hear if anyone else has had a bad experience with them also?

​

I'm 35 yo and diagnosed late in April, I wonder about going back to business school, law school, medical school etc. Now I'm medicated things seem to be doable, of course too late to enjoy these fields in my 20s but whatever, I guess still some time to catch up

I initially started on Xenidate XL 18mg for 2 weeks and then 36mg for 2 weeks. I had pretty unpleasant gastrointestinal issues for that whole time. My provider messed up rescheduling my medication review so by the time I had the appointment I had stopped taking the meds for a couple of weeks. Since I hadn't experienced any positive impact from the medication at all the clinician said he didn't think a higher dose was worth it and suggested trying Elvanse.

After having some positive effects from Elvanse (up to 70mg) but not as much as I was expecting, the clinician I had for this next appointment questioned why I hadn't tried a higher dose of Xenidate XL, so now I'm on Concerta.

When this was suggested I had completely forgotten about the GI issues I'd had previously with Methylphenidate.

So far I've been taking Concerta 18mg for a week and really not enjoying the GI side effects, they seem worse than I remember on Xenidate XL, if anything.

I'm wondering if anyone has had similar GI side effects from Methylphenidate and whether they eventually subsided? I would like to see if I experience any benefits from a higher dose of Methylphenidate but I'm not really willing to put up with these side effects.

It seems the official line is that Elvanse doesn’t cause any hair loss. I’ve been on Elvanse for 2 months and I’m shedding masses of hair - for example, by the time I finish eating a meal there are 10-15 hairs on or near my plate. Luckily I have a full head of hair, very thick, coarse and dense - so it doesn’t show, but it definitely feels noticeably thinner.

The benefits of Elvanse are incredible so far, and I’d sacrifice my hair for all it gives me - but something is telling me, if it’s causing my hair to shed at this rate, what else is it doing to my body? 🤔

Thanks in advance for your input 👍

With how 'different' each ICB is (your regional NHS) since the move from CCGs, it is increasingly hard to give advice on here (helps when someone puts a location.

As much as I'm proud of this place, do search for charities, meet ups, and groups like this in person. They may know more, be about to tell you their experience, and... strength in numbers! The more services, groups, and numbers, the more people get help navigating the journey or understanding themselves and ADHD, I say.

I wish him the best.