ADHD diagnosis - The aftermath nobody prepares you for
ADHD diagnosis doesn’t just give you answers
It gives you a new lens to relive your entire life, and not in a good way...
When I got my ADHD diagnosis, I was relieved.
Finally.
The proof I needed to live an aligned life.
To unmask.
The answer to the question I had been asking myself for years:
What the f*ck is wrong with me?
Side note, nothing is.
But that is not how it felt at the time.
You get the diagnosis… and then you’re on your own
You get handed that piece of paper, and then you’re booted out the door.
Maybe with a pamphlet about therapy options.
Maybe with a recommendation for a psychiatrist if you want meds.
That’s if you were lucky enough to have a competent assessor.
Or maybe you get nothing at all.
The door closes behind you and suddenly you’re back in the real world, still raw dogging life, just with a new label.
At least now you know it’s ADHD, right?
The moment after diagnosis, no one talks about
I had no idea what to do after my diagnosis.
I didn’t know whether to go left or right.
Up or down.
So I grabbed the magic pills, sat down, and changed absolutely nothing about my life.
I didn’t process a single emotion before popping that first pill.
I was just hoping that one little tablet would solve everything for me.
And honestly?
At first, it felt euphoric.
Energy.
Focus.
Quiet mind.
Medication doesn’t process grief
And this is where no one warns you what happens next.
Medication doesn’t process grief.
It doesn’t rewrite your past.
And it doesn’t teach you how to live inside a brain you’ve spent decades fighting.
Underneath the euphoria, I had shoved 24 years of confusion, shame, anger, and grief into a box and pretended it didn’t exist.
I put my head down and charged forward like a bull.
But there was always something there.
An unseen, unheard shadow looming over my shoulder.
That constant feeling that the rug was about to be ripped out from underneath me.
When unprocessed emotions catch up
And years later, it did.
I fell into a deep depression.
I got slammed by a wave of unprocessed emotions that nearly drowned me.
I burnt a successful business to the ground.
I withdrew from friends and family.
My inner monologue became the cruelest it had ever been.
And if you’re newly diagnosed reading this thinking, that won’t be me…
I thought that too.
Diagnosis isn’t just an answer
It’s a lens
What no one tells you is that diagnosis isn’t just an answer you’ve been unknowingly searching for your whole life.
It’s a new lens.
A lens that makes you relive every past situation.
Every failed relationship.
Every traumatic experience.
Suddenly, you can see the struggle so clearly.
And it becomes painfully obvious how invisible it was to everyone else.
That realisation alone can break you if you’re not supported through it.
Why I wrote the After Diagnosis Guide
I wouldn’t wish that experience on anyone.
It breaks my heart to think someone could go through that alone, flailing, blaming themselves or others, slowly hardening instead of healing.
So I wrote the guide I wish I had.
Not because diagnosis ruined me.
But because no one helped me process what it unlocked.
Here’s the truth no one says out loud:
Unprocessed emotions don’t disappear.
They wait.
And if you don’t process them now, they surface later.
In relationships.
In burnout.
In self-sabotage.
In the quiet moments where the mask slips and everything you avoided comes crashing in at once.
You don’t have to carry this alone
Processing these emotions now, not four years from now, can protect your relationships.
Your self-worth.
And stop the mask from being cemented on even tighter.
That’s what my After Diagnosis Guide is for.
It’s raw.
It’s real.
And it’s written entirely from lived experience.
It walks you through the six stages of grief after diagnosis, with self-reflection activities to help you actually process what this moment brings up.
There’s also a gentle, grounded guide to medication, if that feels like the right next step for you.
I didn’t have this support.
I white-knuckled it.
And it cost me years.
If you’re not ready yet, that’s okay
If reading this stirred something, even quietly, trust that.
You don’t need to hit rock bottom to deserve support.
You don’t need to be “sure enough” yet.
And if now isn’t the moment, that’s okay too.
Just know this path doesn’t have to be walked in isolation.
Whenever you decide to take the next step, I’m here.
And the After Diagnosis Guide will be waiting for you.
Final note from me to you
If you’re newly diagnosed and feeling tender, lost, or quietly overwhelmed…
There is nothing wrong with you.
This is part of the process.
And you don’t have to navigate it alone.
