Inverclyde deputy council leader on her struggle with ADHD

Councillor Natasha McGuire says that symptoms such as brain fog, auditory and light sensitivity, exhaustion and difficulty with sleep have had a significant impact on her day-to-day life.

It can sometimes be so extreme that she forgets to eat.

The Labour politician, who was diagnosed with the condition in 2021, hopes that sharing her story will help remove the stigma around the condition and encourage those with symptoms to get themselves tested.

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Attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) is a condition which can often manifest as restlessness, impulsiveness and a difficulty concentrating on tasks.

Councillor McGuire was first tested for the condition in the middle of 2021, after having reached out to an educational psychologist to be checked for dyslexia and dyspraxia.  

The 32-year-old told the Tele it is important for people to be aware of the condition and the impact it can have on their lives and the lives of those around them.

She said: “I hope by speaking out about this will help alleviate some of what people are experiencing.

“I just want to make people more aware, so that if there are people around them who they think are a bit flaky or a bit sensitive, they might realise there could be more there.

“For the people who do think that they’ve got it, I want them to know that they’re not alone and that they should try and reach out.

“I’ve got an inattentive type [of ADHD], which is different from the type most of us know, which is the hyperactive type.

“I only knew about the hyperactive symptoms, people don’t talk about the inattentive type I feel.

“I think in our education system in general or even in workplace settings, if you don’t have the explosive, hyperactive type of ADHD it can often get missed.

“I didn’t kick, I didn’t scream, I didn’t meltdown in the typical way – there were signs where I had emotional dysregulation but that was just palmed off as me being overly sensitive.

“As a woman that can happen a lot as well, but it also means there are boys and men who aren’t getting diagnosed.

“What you end up with is a huge section of people with ADHD who don’t get diagnosed.”

Councillor McGuire says she goes to great lengths to ensure she stays on top of her day-to-day commitments, but the hyper fixation that comes with her condition can lead to her forgetting to eat or not realising how tired she is.

She says her condition can cause difficulties during important council meetings.

She added: “In council committees I’m a very active reader, I take a lot of notes, highlight a lot of things from the papers and write down my questions because I won’t remember otherwise.

“I don’t think doing any of that makes me incompetent, my job is to ask questions and scrutinise, so I need to be able to do that.

“There are days when I force myself to continue beyond my natural limit or when I unintentionally hide my symptoms, which is known as masking.

“I have discovered I naturally do this, and this is likely due to my ADHD being undiagnosed until later in life."

The ward seven representative says receiving her diagnosis helped her realise that many of the difficulties she had assumed were part of everyday life had in fact been symptoms of the condition.  

She added: “When I got diagnosed, I told my mum and my husband, but I felt like I couldn’t tell anyone else.

“I was almost ashamed that I had this, but there was also an moment when I realised this was why I was always tired and had this pressure at the front of my head.

“I thought that the exhaustion I felt was just part of being an adult, part of holding down a job and having a house and relationships.

“That was the point where I realised this had been affecting me my whole life and I had no idea. Looking back there were symptoms all through school, through high school, university.

“I think there are people locally that suspect or know that they have ADHD but haven’t been able to get help. It’s still very stigmatised and there are a lot of misconceptions.

“I hope that by talking about this it can help people realise they can reach out for help and work through these experiences.”