I'm starting Concerta on Monday, but now I'm paranoid that my diagnosis has mistaken depression for ADHD

  • I feel awful for not being able to give more advice or support, but this is honestly a concern that'd be best brought up to your doctor. I'm not a doctor and the best I can give is my experiences, which really have very little bearing on your own situation.

It's entirely possible that you could have both (I'm not necessarily saying that you do, just that it's a possibility), seeing as they do have a high rate of co-morbidity with one another. I have both, but my ADHD went undiagnosed for so long because I also have rather bad anxiety (Poorly-worded explanation incoming: I'm trying to remember how my therapist described it).

  • I was clearly depressed, but then at points I would get so wound up from anxiety, plus the general hyperactivity, lack of focus, etc from ADHD... Well, there was a lot of back-and-forth as to whether or not I had bipolar disorder for a very, very long time. It took almost four years of "Wtf is going on in this kid's head" before the lightbulb went off in my therapist's head and she assessed that I probably had ADHD.

I wound up starting medication a while later, and it was like a whole new world in regards to the difference it made.

  • Like I said before, my experiences aren't entirely applicable to yours, since we're different people with different lives and different situations.. But my point is that mental health is extremely complex, and sometimes certain symptoms can overlap.

I could offer conjecture about about how your depression might be linked due to the situation your ADHD puts you in, but it'd be just that: pure conjecture. I would highly recommend you speak with your doctor about any concerns you might have, since we're all just random people on the internet with no ability to diagnose you with anything.

  • I'm sorry again for not being able to offer much help, but I hope things turn out well for you!
/r/ADHD Thread