Struggles with Chronic Health Issues and Neurodivergence

Episode 172 with Heather Jean Ransom.

“It feels so detached when I say ‘I have ADHD’ because it is part of me. I can't discern it from myself. I am ADHD.”

Heather Jean was born in England and now lives in Germany with her husband and two daughters. She was diagnosed last year with ADHD at the age of 47. 

We talk about her journey to diagnosis after a leave of absence due to chronic pain and fibromyalgia, and we discuss the frustrations many of us have felt describing our lived experience and endless rabbit-hole research findings to clinicians, only to discover we know much more than they do about neurodivergence and suddenly we’re in the position of having to convince the “expert” to take you seriously.

Heather Jean does an amazing job of describing what it’s like to have ADHD, Autism, and chronic pain. We talk about spoons and spoon theory — if you’re not familiar with the term, I’ve put a link in the episode show notes that gives a nice quick primer on the concept of spoons.

We also talk about alternative names for ADHD (Heather Jean and her daughter came up with some fantastic ones!) and the inherent difficulty in finding a name that accurately reflects the condition when so many of our experiences are so different from the DSM and from each other. 

And, of course, we talk about Scrat from Ice Age, who really should be the official ADHD mascot — you’ll love Heather Jean’s SCRAT acronym as an alternate name for ADHD!

Links & Resources:

Gemma Wilson: Chronic pain, fibromyalgia & ADHD

Pain and Prejudice: How the Medical System Ignores Women―And What We Can Do About It by Gabrielle Jackson

Unmasking Autism: Discovering the New Faces of Neurodiversity by Devon Price

What Is Spoon Theory? (VeryWell Health)

The Spoon Theory by Christine Miserandino

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Episode edited by E Podcast Productions

Find the transcript of this episode at www.womenandadhd.com/transcripts

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Small group coaching with Katy: www.womenandadhd.com/groupcoaching

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Work 1-on-1 with Katy: www.womenandadhd.com/coaching

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Order the “Hey, it’s ADHD!” course: www.womenandadhd.com/adhdcourse

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