Do I have ADHD?
4/21/2025 by Robert Wilfahrt, M.D.
In recent years, TikTok and other social media sites have made it seem like an epidemic of inattention has crashed upon us. Changes in how we work — often meeting online rather than face-to-face — can make concentrating hard. At the same time, a historical pattern of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, going unnoticed in females is being rectified. Both trends have increased identification rates in the last few years.
Diagnosing ADHD in an adult involves more than feeling like you're experiencing those symptoms described online since there's a big difference between being sometimes frustrated by symptoms of distraction or forgetfulness on the one hand and being "impaired" on the other. When you have more trouble deciding on and accomplishing a course of action than the average person in your situation might, and that trouble is present in every aspect of your life, that's when you might be identified as having an impairment. By comparison, a student who, for the first time, has trouble concentrating on an advanced chemistry project — a subject that would be difficult for the average person — but who has successfully managed their friendships and work life probably isn't impaired. In that example, it'd just be that their chemistry project is complex.
ADHD is defined as a problem that a person is born with. While your ADHD might not have been labeled in childhood, there should have been some signs of it then for it to be diagnosed now. For that reason, diagnosing ADHD among adults often includes interviewing your parents or other adults who knew you before you were 12 years old.
It's also true that it's hard to have ‘only' ADHD — instead, ADHD tends to run with other problems. Learning disorders, eating disorders, sleep disorders, intra-family trauma, poverty or tics are often present when a person has ADHD. A good evaluation for inattention seeks to find and address as many of these issues as possible so that all the things that contribute to inattention might be better.
Finally, you might be saddled with any number of other conditions that can decrease your focus and could explain your inattention trouble. So, a good ADHD evaluation starts with a medical checkup. You should work with your primary care clinician to discuss depression and anxiety and rule out sleep apnea, iron deficiency, the hormone variation of menopause or other common causes of cognitive change. Your clinician may eliminate medications that make you sluggish.
You should also reduce or eliminate your use of alcohol or cannabis, as little as two servings of either of these substances per week can worsen concentration. Making sleep habits predictable is very important; using melatonin to put yourself to sleep or a lightbox to wake up is enough to reduce symptoms of ADHD by 30%. Exercise is an excellent treatment for ADHD, too. After physical activity, you might notice that for 6 to 8 hours, you find it significantly easier to settle yourself for a task that needs concentration.
Initiating the above steps may correct many of the issues causing you to be concerned about ADHD. If your symptoms are not improving, schedule a visit with your primary care clinician to discuss the possibility of ADHD.
Robert Wilfahrt, M.D., is a physician in the Department of Family Medicine and practices in the Baldwin building in Rochester. His interests include ADHD, psychiatry in primary care, and medical student education.