GeneFit Mind: Pharmacogenomic Navigator for Late-Diagnosed ADHD

I (55M) was diagnosed 6 months ago. I’d had no knowledge about ADHD at all. My son was diagnosed ADHDi, so I did a deep dive in research to better understand how to help him, and realized that it was me too. I am not unhappy, and am reasonably successful with a good marriage and kids, so I debated on whether to do any treatment. So many people on this sub are so unhappy, and finding the right meds seems hard, and I did not welcome the hassle. I did it though, partially so my son and I could do it together. We are on the same meds (Adderall, guanfacine, buspar) and see the same provider, sometimes together. I will say that even though I was already doing okay in my eyes, medication and therapy have bumped up my life a notch, especially my family life. The positive effect on my day-to-day made me realize that maybe I was not coping as well as I had thought, and maybe I was not so okay. So that is my advice - start treatment if you can, the full boat. You never know where positive change will come from because everyone’s symptoms are different. Your life may significantly improve in unexpected ways. Two other bits of advice: 1. Be careful who you tell. Getting an ADHD diagnosis seems to be pretty trendy right now. Some eye-rolling may be the result of telling people. I run a small business, and my partners were not particularly thrilled when I mentioned it. My parents either. Frankly, I wish I had kept it to myself. 2. If you are going to try meds, consider getting your provider to prescribe genetic testing. I don’t know how accurate it is, but for both my kid and me it was pretty spot on. We had both been on SSRIs for anxiety and had bad side effects (really bad for him), and when we got test results, those meds were in the RED category of ones to avoid based on our genomes. I think at a minimum, it can give one a chance to take some of the guesswork out of finding the right meds.

I (55M) was diagnosed 6 months ago. I’d had no knowledge about ADHD at all. My son was diagnosed ADHDi, so I did a deep dive in research to better understand how to help him, and realized that it was me too. I am not unhappy, and am reasonably successful with a good marriage and kids, so I debated on whether to do any treatment. So many people on this sub are so unhappy, and finding the right meds seems hard, and I did not welcome the hassle. I did it though, partially so my son and I could do it together. We are on the same meds (Adderall, guanfacine, buspar) and see the same provider, sometimes together. I will say that even though I was already doing okay in my eyes, medication and therapy have bumped up my life a notch, especially my family life. The positive effect on my day-to-day made me realize that maybe I was not coping as well as I had thought, and maybe I was not so okay. So that is my advice - start treatment if you can, the full boat. You never know where positive change will come from because everyone’s symptoms are different. Your life may significantly improve in unexpected ways. Two other bits of advice: 1. Be careful who you tell. Getting an ADHD diagnosis seems to be pretty trendy right now. Some eye-rolling may be the result of telling people. I run a small business, and my partners were not particularly thrilled when I mentioned it. My parents either. Frankly, I wish I had kept it to myself. 2. If you are going to try meds, consider getting your provider to prescribe genetic testing. I don’t know how accurate it is, but for both my kid and me it was pretty spot on. We had both been on SSRIs for anxiety and had bad side effects (really bad for him), and when we got test results, those meds were in the RED category of ones to avoid based on our genomes. I think at a minimum, it can give one a chance to take some of the guesswork out of finding the right meds.

I (55M) was diagnosed 6 months ago. I’d had no knowledge about ADHD at all. My son was diagnosed ADHDi, so I did a deep dive in research to better understand how to help him, and realized that it was me too. I am not unhappy, and am reasonably successful with a good marriage and kids, so I debated on whether to do any treatment. So many people on this sub are so unhappy, and finding the right meds seems hard, and I did not welcome the hassle. I did it though, partially so my son and I could do it together. We are on the same meds (Adderall, guanfacine, buspar) and see the same provider, sometimes together. I will say that even though I was already doing okay in my eyes, medication and therapy have bumped up my life a notch, especially my family life. The positive effect on my day-to-day made me realize that maybe I was not coping as well as I had thought, and maybe I was not so okay. So that is my advice - start treatment if you can, the full boat. You never know where positive change will come from because everyone’s symptoms are different. Your life may significantly improve in unexpected ways. Two other bits of advice: 1. Be careful who you tell. Getting an ADHD diagnosis seems to be pretty trendy right now. Some eye-rolling may be the result of telling people. I run a small business, and my partners were not particularly thrilled when I mentioned it. My parents either. Frankly, I wish I had kept it to myself. 2. If you are going to try meds, consider getting your provider to prescribe genetic testing. I don’t know how accurate it is, but for both my kid and me it was pretty spot on. We had both been on SSRIs for anxiety and had bad side effects (really bad for him), and when we got test results, those meds were in the RED category of ones to avoid based on our genomes. I think at a minimum, it can give one a chance to take some of the guesswork out of finding the right meds.