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lasr21
lasr21

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Diary of a Neurodivergent: Chapter 0

Puedes leer este post en español.

I recently won the double prize of neurodivergence: I was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and discovered that I am on the autism spectrum 🦋. I want to start writing about this journey, which has been truly eye-opening. I will be sharing updates about my experiences, learnings, and anecdotes.

First, please do not self-diagnose. Seek a professional to evaluate you and provide an accurate diagnosis. It is very easy to fall into the trap of identifying symptoms you read about online and cherry-picking them, which can lead to incorrect conclusions. What I will share here are my personal experiences. Take it with a grain of salt 🧂.

This diagnosis has been eye-opening for me. It has explained many things about how I think and do and how peculiar/strange I sometimes am. As my psychiatrist told me, knowing that you have ADHD and autism does not give you a free pass to justify everything. It explains certain behaviors, but it does not justify them. At the end of the day, each person is responsible for their actions and words.

The story of my diagnosis began a few months ago when a close family member was diagnosed with ADHD. Then, another family member was diagnosed, and then another. Between conversations and jokes about “I think you should see a psychiatrist” or “I feel like you’re part of the neurodivergent team,” I decided to see a psychiatrist.

Alongside these diagnoses, I also started taking methylphenidate (Concerta). But that is a story for another post. For now, I will say that being medicated has been very interesting.

I decided to start writing these posts as a form of therapy. I hope that sharing my experience can help others going through the same thing or provide some clarity on what it means to live with ADHD and be on the autism spectrum.

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