30/05/2026
every afternoon, like clockwork, the dread would roll in.
heart racing. chest tight. that hum of “something is wrong” with nothing actually wrong. i was so sure it was anxiety. i’m a clinician, i know what anxiety feels like.
except it wasn’t.
i called our NP ready to talk about regulation, and she asked one question: was i taking my second dose of adhd medication? i wasn’t. i’d been forgetting for days. and in that gap, my brain did what so many ADHD brains do; it filled the silence with alarm.
this is the part people miss. when ADHD goes untreated, the nervous system doesn’t just get distracted. it gets dysregulated. the racing thoughts, the restlessness, the sense of impending doom. it can mirror anxiety almost perfectly. so many people spend years being treated for the anxiety while the actual driver goes unseen.
i felt better within two days of taking my correct dose. not because the anxiety lifted, but because there wasn’t true anxiety. there was an unmet need wearing an anxiety costume.
so many of you have lived this for decades. misnamed, mistreated, and quietly wondering why nothing worked. you weren’t broken. you were misread.
comment WORKBOOK and i’ll send you my free ADHD workbook 🤎
share this with someone who’s been calling their ADHD an anxiety diagnosis who might need to hear this.. they deserve to finally see it clearly, too.
