Just saw a tiktok from a woman with ADHD, really doubting myself now
The tiktok was basically criticizing others who make shallow tiktoks on ADHD that are like "5 signs you might have ADHD: you zone out a lot, you forget things a lot, etc". And she was understandably upset that it was making ADHD seem not that bad when in reality it can be very debilitating. She said said things like "you're making neurotypical people think they have ADHD" and that it's not fun or quirky to "constantly be putting yourself in dangerous, life-threatening situations because of your impulsivity or being in crippling debt from shopping". And that it's not fun to "speed and get caught by police [...] constantly be late/miss meetings so your boss thinks you're incompetent [...] not being able to handle any life stress at all so you end up in task paralysis".
And, man, I have an ADHD assessment coming up and I just don't experience the extent of any of these things. A lot of symptoms I have are so minor in comparison that it's making me question whether I should even have spent the money on the appointment. I can handle stress. I'm in medical school right now and I score well, not because I'm naturally gifted or am extremely passionate about the content, but because my daily plan only consists of studying. I get distracted every few minutes and therefore know I need to plan out my entire day to accommodate for the number of times I get sidetracked.
I had constant issues with punctuality and deadlines in high school, and I still struggle with them in med school and have had professionalism meetings because of them. But it's not like I'm on the verge of getting kicked out or that my life is falling apart or that I can't manage stress at all. In fact, it's stress and anxiety of failing out of medical school and being perceived as incompetent by others that drives me.
I get this debilitating anger when something extremely minor happens with a friend (eg taking longer than usual to respond), and I just spiral and question their entire morality and the basis of our relationship. My logical side knows it's completely irrational even when it's happening, but I just can't stop these consuming thoughts. But I'm also NEVER putting myself in any life-threatening situations?? Do most people with ADHD put themselves in those situations? (The tiktok had almost 500k likes)
There are many other things that made me consider having ADHD for the past year (eg compulsive behaviors, hyperfixations, lack of personal routine, putting off small tasks for months/years costing relationships/money, constantly needing multiple sensory inputs to focus, etc). And I know that if I do have ADHD, I'm likely quite high functioning
But now I'm just thinking that maybe I'm the neurotypical person who thinks they have ADHD lol