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What if?
(lemmy.dbzer0.com)
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this post was submitted on 25 Mar 2026
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You very well still could be. Diagnosing conditions like these is very complicated when different things can present similarly, or even mask each other depending on their presentation. Autism and ADHD have a lot of overlap for example where it's not uncommon for someone to have one and be mistakenly diagnosed with the other because of how their particular combination of strengths and deficits manifested. Then still other conditions can mask symptoms entirely that without them no one would ever guess that someone might have ADHD.
That's what happened to my wife in fact. She joined a research study that was aiming to improve diagnosis for ADHD looking to be part of the control because she was reasonably certain she didn't have ADHD.
We come to find out through participating in that study that no, she did in fact have ADHD and her severe OCD had just been masking it all her life. The second she got on a new medication that got her OCD more under control I got a front row seat to literally watch the things I struggle every day with just manifest in her like I'd given her the damn Curse of the Were-Fuckup.
Autism and ADHD are a such a good example for this. While 15 years ago the DSM still said that it is impossible to have both, today we know that there is a huge overlap. Depending on the studies, when you have Autism, there is a 40-70% chance that you also have ADHD. And if you are diagnosed with ADHD, the chances to also have autism are between 20-50%
And there are enough other common comorbidities that could be seen as the "main" diagnosis and prevent you from being correctly diagnosed, like depression, odd, ocd or anxiety.
It's so important to get a psychiatrist that is specialized and it's a shame that it seems to be an almost global problem to even get any.
Or maybe it's time to understand that mental issues aren't as clearcut as viruses that you can test in a lab. As long as we don't understand the fine grain of how the whole brain work (and so far we only have ideas about it, not the whole story), the yes/no diagnostic will stay a dead end imo.
Sorry to hear you have trouble though, I hope you still lives ok <3 good luck!