Juggling too many things

Mary’s ADHD story

Mary had coped well with school and college after being diagnosed with, and treated for, ADHD. She felt once in work she did not need medication any more. The excitement of her first job had helped to keep her focused. She was also good at her work and did not find it difficult. However, once she got a promotion, was managing other people and was expected to attend courses at work to further her knowledge, she struggled to cope.

She started to feel useless and stupid again – a feeling she remembered from school in the days before she was diagnosed. Restarting ADHD medication helped and she worked hard to try and use lists and enter information into her phone, as she knew these would help.

Mary then had a career break and started a family. She stopped her medication during her pregnancy and during the early years of having a new family. However, she started struggling again. Having a family with kids to organise and going back to work, albeit part time, had been really hard. Life seemed chaotic, hectic and too much like a battle. She felt exhausted, the effort needed to keep up with work was draining her and she was working longer hours than her colleagues, as she seemed to be slower at getting things done.

She felt out of control and then found it hard to relax and enjoy her home life. Also her son was fun and seemed healthy, but was very lively and quite a handful, just like she had been at that age. She thought it would get better in time, as her son got older and her career stabilized, but it never seemed to.

She felt that she was not there for her family emotionally and was constantly stressed, disorganized and tired, not enjoying her sons bed time routine, feeling guilty that she just wanted to be in bed asleep. She felt she was missing out on family life and failing in her work life.