12. The 6 Most Serious ADHD Symptoms
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio
ADHD can operate as a “silent impairment.”. An invisible paralysis that occurs in your mind instead of your extremities. The hardest part is, sometimes, it’s hard to notice how impulsiveness, inattention, or hyperactivity is impairing you. If you’re not careful to manage these symptoms, it can drastically threaten your livelihood.
These are the top 6 most severe ADHD symptoms
6 Poor school/ work performance
Most kids with ADHD do fine in their early academic careers. With little to no homework and simple lessons, it’s easy to keep straight A’s without ever studying. Around middle school, this starts to change. Homework becomes a big part of education, and you don’t feel like doing it, so you don’t.
Once you enter the workforce, it may feel like a repeat of grade school. Instead of zoning out in class, now you do it at meetings. Instead of receiving detention, you just get fired. And answering emails and staying on task feels like homework. The fear of failure follows you, and you may think, “how the hell can I do this job for the rest of my life!?”.
5 Unemployment
If you work in a very strict environment, you can easily lose your job. This poses obvious threats to your livelihood. When you have neurodivergence, you may not have to be fired from a job to become unemployed with the help of #4...
4 Impulsiveness
As previously discussed in other posts, ADHD is largely a complication of brain chemistry. People who suffer from neurodivergence don’t have the same ability to feel motivated with tasks or experiences unless they offer an immediately promising reward. To feel okay often requires drastic measures. Impulsive purchases, sexual encounters, quitting jobs, adrenaline-inducing activities, and danger can all be alluring to someone with ADHD. This can result in jail time, accidents, STIs, negative bank accounts… you get it.
3 Substance Abuse/Poor Stress Management
How does an average person relax? Cup of tea, a walk in the park? Yeah, that’s probably not going to cut it for the ADHD brain. Again, our disorder is neuro-chemical. It’s not easy to feel satisfaction the same way as someone with typical brain chemistry. Sometimes the quest to relieve stress can lead to drug abuse and manic outbursts.
2 Frequent Auto Accidents
It’s true. If you have ADHD, you are statistically more likely to become involved in multiple auto accidents. Becoming easily distracted poses an obvious danger if it happens while you are operating a 2-ton death machine. This also puts people around you in danger.
1 Low Self-Esteem/Depression
It makes sense, right? After constantly feeling like a failure, you may start to believe that you are one. This is possibly one of the worst symptoms that come from neurodivergence. This is what people can’t see and tends to feel worse and worse every time you make a small mistake. This can exacerbate other symptoms and lead to depression and self-harm.
What do I do?
Medical Consult -
What do you do if you think you have ADHD? There are many online assessments you can take. They aren’t meant to provide a diagnosis but can give you a general idea of where you stand. If you want a free assessment, you can take one here. From there, consult with your physician. You will likely be referred to a mental health professional such as a psychiatrist or psychologist.
Medications -
If you do have ADHD, you will likely be prescribed stimulants as treatment. Non-stimulants and anti-depressants are available and also used to treat neurodivergence.
Lifestyle-
Understanding ADHD-brain is imperative to avoid unpleasant complications associated with neurodivergence. Medication sometimes isn’t accessible or doesn’t work. I’m not a doctor, but I can say what worked for me under those circumstances.
Sleep. I feel like in 2023, it is unnecessary to elaborate on the importance of sleep. It’s bad enough we are constantly blasting our faces with blue light right before bed, and disrupting important biological processes in the process. Turn electronics off an hour or two before bed and go to bed at a reasonable hour.
Exercise. Did you know that sitting is considered the new smoking? Really. So walking, running, and lifting weights are all things that only help to improve your neurochemical balance. Exercising releases chemicals like dopamine and endorphins, which help with mental function.
Supplements help me tremendously if prescription drugs become too expensive.
I became educated about something called nootropics several years ago. Nootropics are supplements used to improve cognitive function. Former athletes who suffer from cognitive impairments like CTE, even people who have had strokes, have shown mental improvements from using nootropics.
Alpha Brain by Onnit is my favorite. It allows me to get into the zone and stay there without jittering feelings or chemical highs and lows, unlike the stimulants I was prescribed. It’s even been proven effective in double-blind, placebo studies. Check out the studies here.
This shouldn’t be used to replace medication; you should always consult a doctor before mixing anything with your existing prescriptions. I’ve used Alpha Brain for years, and I’ll never use anything else. Except for Alpha Brain's “Black Label” formula.
Conclusion
I hope that this information helps someone who needs it. Keep coming back for more information about how to thrive with ADHD. Visit abndtADHD.com to find even more. Until next time, much love!