25 Things People With ADHD Thought Were Totally “Normal” Until A Neurotypical Person Said “Um, No, Actually”

If you have ADHD, you know that the symptoms can range from classic to complicated. You might be well-acquainted with common symptoms like hyperfocus or difficulty getting on task, but even for people who’ve been diagnosed for what seems like forever, there are still some symptoms you might not realize are symptoms for years.

Recently, I wrote an article detailing people’s experiences with ADHD wherein they shared everything they thought was “normal” until after their diagnosis or a neurotypical person told them otherwise. It had a great response, and since it actually got people with ADHD to the end, I know it must’ve struck a chord. So, I decided to share even more answers! Here are some of the best:

1.“For me, diagnosis itself was an eye-opener because I started seeing myself and my actions in a completely different way! Things that until then I’d seen as cardinal flaws in myself suddenly became symptoms, and therefore easier to manage without overwhelming guilt.”

—paulinak490321f72

2.“I’ve always had problems, but once I turned 16 I developed stereotypical problems, at which point it took me over 20 years to find a doctor who would test me because neurodivergence was considered a white boy problem and I’m neither white nor a boy.”

—certified_drapetomaniac

3.“My boyfriend always told me I had such energy and behaved younger than my age. I took it as a compliment, as I acted silly sometimes and I knew I had lots of energy.”

“It all makes sense now, as I got diagnosed with ADHD during college.”

—freshminion943

4.“My boss called me into his office and told me I must stop being a few minutes late all the time. He then proceeded to tell me exactly what he did every day when his alarm went off and asked me to tell him what I did every day when my alarm went off.”

“It was a tale of two cities! He did exactly the same thing in the exact same sequence each morning. I have never done that in my life! I bounce all over the place changing directions with every new thought that pops into my head. That’s when I realized what I thought was normal actually was not!”

—minisinger764

5.“Choice paralysis is a big one. If I have a project to do for a class and don’t have precise instructions, I’ll just shut down.”

—daynam4b6e28fa3

6.“You know the saying ‘time flies when you’re having fun’? It’s not so fun when time flies ALL the time! I have zero concept of time. How long have I been here? Five minutes? Five hours? Was that yesterday or 10 years ago? It has caused SO, SO many problems in my life.”

—proprocrastinator74

7.“I’ve always been chronically late, going back as far as my school years. I was always written off as just being lazy.”

“My generation never allowed for mental health issues. I got diagnosed quite late, and the realization actually gave me better coping mechanisms. I don’t like it (post-diagnosis) when people make it their personality and don’t try to put things in place to help themselves.”

—pangalacticgargleblaster

8.“My sensory overload makes me cranky and mean. When I feel there is too much going on I will get very irritated and enter this weird blind rage cleaning mode where I have to get rid of everything as quickly as possible. Even if it’s stuff I need, it gets put away with everything else.”

—catsarebetterthanpeople21

“Rage cleaning because I’m overstimulated is how I get things really, really clean. Glad it’s not just me.”

—modernrocket51

9.“Hyperfixating on new hobbies or interests to the point where other people around me have heard about it ad nauseam.”

“Having an intense memory of a specific instance or what somebody said or did, but forgetting to email my doctor/lock the door/bring that thing my mom asked me to bring.

I’m really sensitive to change: policy changes at work, people changing plans on me, and even cell phone updates that change the OS layout.

I definitely thought all of these were normal and not ADHD!”

—Anonymous

10.“Memory issues: I’ll be in the shower. My brain will be firing off thoughts or to-dos. If I don’t write it down or constantly repeat it in my head until I get out, I’ll forget. My husband bought me a waterproof notepad to record things I need to remember.”

—Anonymous

11.“Having FULL length conversations in your head one moment, remembering what’s for dinner the next moment, thinking about what clothes to wear out with friends, all while being in a work meeting as someone is talking. Totally thought it was normal.”

—Anonymous

12.“Interrupting people.”

—Anonymous

13.“Diagnosed later in life. Not completing tasks at work is getting me trouble. At least now I have an understanding of what is going on with me. Wish my boss could understand.”

—Anonymous

14.“Impulsivity, that’s the worst and shows up for me as compulsive online shopping. It took forever (after medication) to condition myself to just put things in the cart, move to a different website/activity, etc., then forget about the cart. See, making my ADHD work for me!”

“Decision paralysis is bad, too: getting completely stuck at simple choices until you refuse to make a choice at all (avoidance).”

—Anonymous

15.“Feeling completely debilitated by criticism or just my own inability to complete a task.”

—Anonymous

16.“I turned 66 this month and was only diagnosed with ADHD Impulse Type last December. Our family had a tradition of first pet at 10, first watch at 12. In the 1960s, girls never had ADHD…”

“I got a delicate girl’s Timex at age 8 because I was constantly late and could not tell you if 10 minutes had passed or as much as an hour. My lateness drove my military father up the wall.

Because I was a very obedient child, my parents finally realized I never meant to be late. My father placed the watch on my wrist and told me very seriously that I was never to be more than six minutes late unless I got to a phone and called my mother before being late. Dad unknowingly instilled in me the billable block every attorney uses to bill out their time.

Nevertheless, since high school, I have to set every clock ten minutes ahead to ensure I make it anywhere important on time-ish with tons of alarms and notices.

With all three of my children having ADHD Impulse Type, I insisted I finally get tested. I can’t begin to imagine how much better my life would have been understanding all the foibles as well as being aided by medication and treatment.

When I told the physician’s assistant on my surgical team about the diagnosis, he laughed and said, ‘Honey, that is news to you and you alone.'”

—Anonymous

17.“I was diagnosed as an adult when I was taking my son to get checked out by a psychiatrist. When I was filling out his form, I realized I would have checked yes to every box and just about freaked out!”

“I told the doctor I was ‘yes’ to every box, and she told me we were there for my son, but I could schedule to come back for myself. I did. I was on the highest end of ADD.

I had so many people mad at me for interrupting them, demanding that I wasn’t listening or didn’t care, which wasn’t true. I had 100 projects open and not one finished. I’m still wild and silly and act childlike at times.

I’m so grateful that I got the diagnosis. I don’t use it as an excuse, but I do use it to be gentle with myself. ADD medicine (when I need it) and meditation have been game-changers!”

—Anonymous

18.“Being messy, but knowing exactly where something is and being upset if someone ‘cleans’ it.”

“Need a paper clip? Oh yeah, there’s one on the floor in my bedroom. That super important document? Oh yeah, it’s on the floor of my car beneath the box of tissues.”

—Anonymous

19.“THE TAPPING. Sometimes I don’t even realize I’m doing it. My brother finds it really annoying, but for me it’s like when your ears pop and you can finally hear clearly.”

” I didn’t get diagnosed with ADHD until I was 28, and when I went my first day on meds without randomly tapping or fidgeting it was like a dream.”

—Anonymous

20.“I thought the need to doodle or do something different in order to pay attention to the teacher was normal. I could totally be reading a book and still know what the teacher was talking about.”

—Anonymous

21.“Doom bags. Clutter, bills, and paperwork will pile up and sit for weeks. I get overwhelmed trying to sort it so I toss it all into a bag to deal with later. But ‘later’ never comes and the bags just accumulate.”

“I’ve always done this. As a kid, my parents called me ‘bag lady.’ I discovered, in my 40s, that this was a sign of ADHD after reading an article that explained this behavior.”

—Anonymous

22.“Always needing to work in a high-paced, high-stress environment. I thought it was normal and I couldn’t understand how anyone could have a fulfilled life working behind a desk.”

“Found out in my 20s in my first adult relationship, with a white collar man, that I was in fact wrong and people found a desk job exciting. I was diagnosed 11 years later with ADHD but still need to be in a high-stress environment to function at work.”

—Anonymous

23.“I could sit and work on a paper or project for 10-12 hours straight — suddenly my body would start to hurt and I would think, ‘Oh yeah, I haven’t eaten, drank anything, or used the bathroom all day!’ While not great for me physically, this definitely helped me finish my PhD.”

“Like so many others, I went undiagnosed in school because I was quiet and introspective, not failing most class work, and people around me were very tolerant of my ‘quirkiness.'”

—Anonymous

24.“Being able to take a two-hour nap after drinking an energy drink. Also, being able to work on something for hours upon hours if it’s something I’m interested in, but feeling crippling anxiety paralysis when trying to do tasks I’m not really enthusiastic about.”

—Anonymous

25.And finally: “Sitting in front of my work computer for eight hours, with multiple tabs and documents open, and not accomplishing anything by the end of the day. I was 54 when I was diagnosed and I legit thought I was in the early stages of dementia for several years before that (my father had it).”

“I told no one and worried constantly, WebMDing symptoms almost every other day. The psychiatrist asked me to describe a typical day of mine, then told me, ‘You don’t have dementia; you have ADHD!’ 

…How the heck did I get through two Bachelor’s, a Master’s, and a PhD, you ask? Pure adrenaline. I am the deadline queen!”

—Anonymous

Fascinating. If you relate, let me know down below! I want to hear all about it.

Or, if you want to write in but prefer to stay anonymous, you can check out this anonymous Google form.

Note: some comments have been edited for length and/or clarity.