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Wait… It Was ADHD All Along?

I always wondered what the actual hell was wrong with me as a kid. I was constantly told I just had “anxiety.” That was the label — anxiety. End of story.

Plot twist: I’m 20 now and was recently diagnosed with ADHD.

Suddenly, it all makes sense. My brain? Never shuts up. My mouth? Also never shuts up. Life with ADHD is beyond raw and unfiltered — it’s like living a whole second life in your own head. Don’t get me wrong, I love who I am and how I function, but to other people, I’ve never exactly been “normal.”

As a kid, I bent over backwards to fit the mold — trying to be what everyone expected me to be. That constant effort to shrink myself into something palatable pushed me into a state of being always on edge. Only recently have I started untangling that mess.

I was originally diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder, but deep down, I knew it didn’t quite fit. My head wasn’t spinning with anxious thoughts — it was just full. Full of everything. Ideas. Thoughts. Songs. Random facts. Narratives. Entire conversations I hadn’t had yet. I’ve always loved talking to strangers in passing. I’m not even socially anxious (besides the normal “being a young woman in public” baseline anxiety).

Getting that anxiety diagnosis was a helpful stepping stone, but it wasn’t the full picture.

And honestly? I’m 90% sure I wasn’t flagged for ADHD sooner because — shocker — most clinical research has been done on men. ADHD in women often gets missed, dismissed, or misdiagnosed. Which is equal parts frustrating and infuriating, but here we are.

When I finally did get diagnosed with ADHD, people in my life had the audacity to say, “Oh yeah, I could’ve told you that.”

Really? You saw me struggling with emotional dysregulation and what I affectionately call “verbal diarrhea” — and just… didn’t say anything? Okay then.

But still, getting this diagnosis has brought me so much clarity. I no longer lay in bed hating myself for having big feelings or doing things “differently.” Now I just think, hey, my brain is literally wired another way. That’s not something to hate — that’s something to work with.

And that’s powerful.

Now I get to use that energy — that chaos, that creativity — to fuel things I actually love. Like this blog. Like connecting with other people who feel just as “too much” and “not enough” as I did for years.

Turns out, I was never broken. I just had ADHD.

Shanda Schram

Sharing my experience as a 20-something women navigating migraines, a late ADHD diagnosis, and university life! Follow along for my tips, tricks, and unbeatable stories <3

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