{"id":1306,"date":"2014-03-04T22:21:15","date_gmt":"2014-03-04T21:21:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.addkenmerken.net\/blog\/?p=1306"},"modified":"2021-03-02T12:46:29","modified_gmt":"2021-03-02T11:46:29","slug":"over-50s-and-adhd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.addkenmerken.net\/en\/vijftigplusser-en-adhd\/","title":{"rendered":"The older, the crazier | Fifty-something and ADHD!"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-large\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">632<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">shared<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-large mash-center mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.addkenmerken.net%2Fen%2Fvijftigplusser-en-adhd%2F%3Futm_source%3Dsharebuttons%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook%26utm_campaign%3Dmashshare\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Share<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-large mash-center mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.addkenmerken.net\/en\/?p=1306&amp;via=krachtvanADHD\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Tweet<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-large mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>ADHD in adults<strong><br \/><\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-2164\" src=\"https:\/\/www.addkenmerken.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/adhd-bij-volwassenen1.jpg\" alt=\"ad(h)d in adults\" width=\"242\" height=\"364\" title=\"\">Being over fifty and then being diagnosed with ADHD. Well, what does that do to you?<br \/>Not too long ago, someone asked me if I had ever been tested for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.addkenmerken.net\/en\/characteristics-of-adhd\/\">ADHD<\/a>. ADHD? Isn't that something for kids who are Very Busy Every Day? Those bouncing balls that have a hard time at school? As a child, I was quiet, shy, withdrawn, a daydreamer, had few friends, an outsider. One with a lot of imagination and a temper, that is. A messy ass: 'Good thing your butt is attached to you, otherwise you'd lose that too!' and a tin pan: 'so hot and so cold again!', a 'spice-roer-me-not'.<\/p>\n<p>Growing up, I often wondered why I had such trouble finishing something. So many half jumpers and unfinished crafts, because yes, a different pattern and colour was always prettier. When painting the house, the paint was no longer available in the shop, while there was still a whole section of wall and ceiling left. I revived my own blog several times, only for it to quietly bleed to death again after a few stories. My own business keeps playing in my head.<\/p>\n<p>And I really do see the point of tidying up, but I have always hated cupboards. No matter how 'neatly' I try to arrange them, something invariably falls out. I have a lot of trouble getting rid of stuff and tidying up usually means moving it around, in a frantic attempt to keep some order.<\/p>\n<p>A few years ago, I discovered that I <a title=\"Picture thinking\" href=\"https:\/\/www.addkenmerken.net\/en\/blog\/image-thinking-and-word-thinking\/\">visual thinker<\/a> was, scenariodenker actually. So that's why people didn't understand me when I tried to tell them something and why my head was so crowded. I read that visual thinkers see lots of pictures at the same time and have to convert them all into information. Scenario thinkers are always a few steps ahead of others with their thoughts. My head is always full. I often feel rushed and restless, because there is still so much interesting to do and the clock of life is ticking relentlessly. But just as often I catch myself hanging out in the sofa doing nothing. Just because I don't know what to do first.<\/p>\n<p>A test at work showed that I was a pioneer, someone who liked doing new things and struggled to keep up routine chores. And indeed, I struggled with long-term projects, needed deadlines, was an odd duck to policy staff, tried to avoid meetings or, with an excuse, leave early. But if there was a job I really liked, I had no problem working on it late into the night at home.<\/p>\n<p>Then I became unemployed and my career coach told me I was struggling to focus, frame and prioritise. My children were growing up into adolescents and social workers caught me failing to give them structure, consistency and boundaries. I was losing control of my family, of my life. My mood swings prompted a psychological assessment and voila: diagnosis <a title=\"Different types of ADHD\" href=\"https:\/\/www.addkenmerken.net\/en\/differences-similarities-add-adhd-hsp\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">ADHD - C, (combined type)<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>I don't experience the diagnosis as an illness, but a lot of quarters are falling. Since the end of last year, I have been taking medication (ritalin). I feel calmer, more cheerful and my tantrums have decreased. I do not (yet) notice any effect on concentration. Last week I started a course on ADHD for Adults. What will it bring me? I have no illusions that I will ever be able to master the chaos and I know I don't want to. That chaos is part of me, structure and routine scare me. But now that I know a little more about ADHD, I can at least do something to make the lives of those around me at least a little more 'bearable'.<\/p>\n<p>Alie Engelsman<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-marketing-button uagb-marketing-btn__outer-wrap uagb-marketing-btn__align-center uagb-marketing-btn__align-text-center uagb-marketing-btn__icon-before\" id=\"uagb-marketing-btn-bc07d9fd-afab-465d-bd82-96e12407b527\"><div class=\"uagb-marketing-btn__wrap\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.addkenmerken.net\/en\/category\/life-stories\/\" class=\"uagb-marketing-btn__link\" target=\"\" rel=\"noopener \"><div class=\"uagb-marketing-btn__title-wrap\"><h6 class=\"uagb-marketing-btn__title\">View all submitted life stories here<\/h6><\/div><div class=\"uagb-marketing-btn__prefix-wrap\"><p class=\"uagb-marketing-btn__prefix\"><\/p><\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ADHD in adults Being over fifty and then being diagnosed with ADHD. Well, what does that do to you?Not so long ago, someone asked me...<\/p>","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":13269,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1162,1506,1132,1139,552],"tags":[5,6,1197,1218,469,70,1272,1280,1377,1386,1391,1420,611,1445,1468],"class_list":["post-1306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-volwassenen-met-add-adhd","category-add-adhd","category-adhd-artikelen","category-gastblog-artikelen","category-levensverhalen","tag-add","tag-adhd","tag-beelddenker","tag-buitenbeentje","tag-chaos","tag-diagnose","tag-fantasie","tag-focussen","tag-opvliegend-karakter","tag-pionier","tag-prioriteiten","tag-routineklusjes","tag-structuur","tag-teruggetrokken","tag-verlegen"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.addkenmerken.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.addkenmerken.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.addkenmerken.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.addkenmerken.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.addkenmerken.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.addkenmerken.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1306\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.addkenmerken.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.addkenmerken.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.addkenmerken.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.addkenmerken.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}