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Ever since I can remember, I’ve been a bit of a daydreamer and a little spacey. I also tend to be a little. When I get engrossed in an activity I enjoy, I can forget about life’s basics like eating or brushing my teeth. I’m always up for trying something new, as the many unfinished craft projects in my home show and I find big parties overwhelming but my close friends will tell you that I’ll also talk your head off if you let me.
There’s also a side I hide from others as much as I can. No matter how hard I try, I can’t keep my desk from looking like a paper factory exploded over it. I will procrastinate for as long as possible when I need to get something done, and then burn the midnight oil because there are fewer distractions at night. I’ll fixate on items that I’ve misplaced to the detriment of everything else and continue to misplace items. I often struggle with insomnia and then there’s the black dog of depression that has followed me for most of my life, sometimes hanging back and sometimes getting a little too close for comfort.
I always thought that this is just who I am. An article about attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in adults gave me some pause, but I didn’t take it too seriously because honestly, I’m far too lazy to be accused of hyperactivity.
Then a friend was diagnosed with ADHD and I read up on it in more depth and discovered that this mental health condition is severely underdiagnosed in adults, especially in women since conventional wisdom has always held that girls don’t get ADHD. It tuns out that there are different ways that ADHD manifests and the hyperactivity part of it is less common in girls and women.
Suddenly so much made sense but I also needed to be certain that I wasn’t just self-diagnosing, like a psychology student who thinks they have every disorder described in their textbooks. Then I discovered the website Done., an online clinic specializing in ADHD.
I did a quick quiz and when the results indicated that I might have ADHD, I filled in some questionnaires, including ones about my medical history. Then the platform helped me book an online appointment with a licensed clinician in my state. I’ve heard of people waiting for weeks to get an appointment with a mental healthcare provider but I could get an appointment with the Done.-recommended clinician within a few days.
Because of the questionnaires I’d completed, the clinician already had a good idea of my diagnosis and which treatment options would be most helpful. During our video call they spent most of the session listening to my concerns and answering my questions. It was so refreshing not to have to rehash my history once again! By the end of the session, I had a prescription for medication, recommendations for dietary changes and a follow-up appointment for talk therapy booked. I couldn’t believe how quick and easy it was. And I didn’t even have to work up the motivation to shower, get dressed and travel to some office building where I’d sit in a waiting room, paging through ancient copies of gossip magazines until it was my turn to see the clinician.
Since my diagnosis, I’ve had monthly sessions with my clinician. We’ve had to adjust my medication a couple of times to minimize the side effects but overall, I’ve been thriving. When my local pharmacy couldn’t refill my prescription, Done. helped me find another one in my area that had my medication in stock. I’ve been to see my clinician in person a few times, mainly to check that everything was fine physically. (In some states, you have to see the clinician in person in order to get a prescription too.)
Thanks to the Knowledge Base on the Done. website, I’ve been learning a lot about adult ADHD and hacks for living with it. The collection of articles has shown me that my ADHD diagnosis doesn’t have to be a curse and that I can turn it into one of my biggest strengths. I can now clearly see that my dad probably had ADHD too, and I know what to look out for in my niblings.
All of this must be costing me a fortune, right? Wrong! The first month, which included that initial session where I got my formal diagnosis and treatment plan, was $199. After that, it’s been $79 a month. My health insurance plan covers most of it and my copay hasn’t made the slightest dent in my wallet.
Speaking of my wallet, it’s been weeks since I’ve had to look for it underneath stacks of paper on my desk. Probably because those stacks of paper are now neatly filed away, and I don’t misplace things all the time anymore.
Now until 1/15, Done. is offering a special holiday deal, where your first month is only $99. That’s a savings of 50%!
The editors at SheFinds wrote this post on behalf of Done. and received compensation as part of our agreement.
