Late ADHD diagnosis helps Southwest Florida woman find her focus in life

ADHD, a mental health disorder typically diagnosed in children, wasn’t identified for one Southwest Florida woman until she was in her late 20s. Looking back, she says she now knows she struggled with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder all along.

Ashleigh DePalma still remembers the notes on her report cards from her teachers.

“‘Ashleigh doesn’t stay in her seat. She daydreams,'” DePalma said. “I remember getting sent to the office a lot for silly things.”

DePalma struggled in school and throughout college, then decided it was time to get help once she started a data entry job.

“It wasn’t that I didn’t want to do it, I just couldn’t sit down and do it and I couldn’t understand why,” DePalma said. “It felt like I wanted to crawl out of my skin. So I felt like I couldn’t sit there. No matter how much power I had it was just not going to happen.”

That’s when doctors diagnosed DePalma with ADHD.

“I spent so much of my life thinking I was different or stupid, even, that I couldn’t do things,” DePalma said. “Everything that I tried to do, it was really hard.”

Nearly 9% of children in the U.S. are diagnosed with ADHD. Dr. Reese VanCamp, a psychiatric nurse practitioner at Elite DNA Therapy Services, says symptoms include difficulty focusing or completing a task and forgetting things.

“I think that’s a lot of the stigma; it’s not laziness, it’s a neurodevelopmental disorder,” VanCamp said. “As they grow as adults, there tends to be a lot of the same difficulties presented a little bit different. So, you know, at work not getting things done in a timely manner or taking longer than your peers to get the same things done.”

“If I had been treated much earlier, I would have had an easier time in college, I would be farther in my life and in my career, so it really set me back a lot,” DePalma said.

Now, however, DePalma is thriving. She works as a therapist, helping others with ADHD. Exercise has really helped her—she plays soccer four times a week, which helps her get more dopamine to the brain. Researchers believe low dopamine levels in the brain contribute to ADHD.

“I want people to know there’s no shame,” DePalma said. “That you can come forward and have an assessment and get help.”