Note: This story mentions disordered eating.

Messy, disorganised, naughty, inattentive and “away with the fairies”.

Kat Hamill has had symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) all her life, but it wasn’t until age 35 that she got appropriate treatment — after she “spiralled” into a “pretty severe” binge-eating disorder.

“I thought, I know this is my untreated ADHD.”

The Tauranga mother-of-four is sharing her story to reduce the stigma of the neurodevelopmental condition and to explain her symptoms, as these could differ between females and males.

It comes after Pāpāmoa woman Xena Jones called for more education on ADHD symptoms in females after being diagnosed at 36, saying they were “so different” from boys’.

Rotorua woman Ayla-Anne Gwilliam, 31, previously spoke out about her costly battle to get a diagnosis and Tauranga’s Ashleigh Yates, 28, described the “ridiculous” process for accessing ADHD medication.

Hamill, 36, said she had experienced ADHD symptoms her “whole life” that were “dismissed as a morality failure”.

“I was just messy … naughty … disorganised. I was just away with the fairies — everything was in one ear and out the other.”

She described herself as “inattentive” rather than an “in-your-face, naughty little toerag”.

Hamill was first diagnosed with ADHD while living in America in 2015, aged 28. She and her husband had three children and she was pregnant with a fourth.

She was prescribed medication and thought: “This is going to be the magic pill that is going to make me like everybody else.”

But it did “absolutely nothing”, which she now attributes to the low dose. She stopped taking it and moved on.

Returning to Tauranga in 2021, Hamill said she developed “a pretty severe binge-eating disorder”.

“Last year, it really spiralled … I just felt so incredibly out of control of everything and I just felt so down.”

Hamill said food had always been her “dopamine hit” and she would binge eat six days a week.

She described it as eating a bag of corn chips and “all of the chocolate biscuits that were supposed to be for my kids’ lunch” in 30 minutes.

She was “secretive”, for example buying extra chips and eating them on the way home.

She said she would hide her depressive and binge-eating disorder symptoms behind a “facade”, compartmentalising her emotions and making it hard for others to see she was “super unhappy”.

She believed developing the eating disorder was linked to untreated ADHD.

This year, she reached her “breaking point” and went to her GP, who referred her to a psychiatrist.

The psychiatrist confirmed her prior ADHD diagnosis and prescribed her an anti-depressant and ADHD medication.

Hamill explained for people with ADHD, “the dopamine gets released but we don’t get the effects of it because it’s gone too quickly”.

The medication lets them “use the dopamine that is available to us”.

Hamill said she also started taking an appetite suppressant.

“The combination of the ADHD meds with this appetite suppressant — all the food noise died. I’m able to spend the time to prepare a meal that is a good choice.”

Dr Hiran Thabrew chairs the New Zealand office of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists.

He said people with ADHD were about 10 times more at risk of developing a binge-eating disorder or bulimia compared to the general population.

They may be less organised and more prone to being impulsive and chasing stimulating things for a “dopamine reward”.

Some would get this through food and develop disordered eating behaviour.

Binge-eating disorders could be treated through cognitive behaviour therapy, which helped people recognise and manage their triggers.

Thabrew said guidelines from the Australian ADHD Professionals Association were released recently about improving recognition of ADHD by educating health professionals and increasing access to assessment and treatment.

A Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand spokeswoman reiterated its statement last month that it was “working hard” to improve the approach to mental wellbeing, including people with neurodiverse conditions having “fair access” to help.

The intention was to support people earlier before they needed specialist treatment.

ADHD could be diagnosed and treated in a range of environments, and may involve a variety of professionals but primary care providers, such as GPs, could give advice on diagnostic testing/investigations, treatment options and getting expert advice, the spokeswoman said.

Treatments varied based on individual needs — for instance, not everybody required medication, even though it has high efficacy, the spokeswoman said.

The Government invested $455 million in improving access to mental health and addiction services in Budget 2019, followed by $100m in 2022.

What is ADHD?

ADHD is a neurodevelopmental condition caused by the slower development of the frontal lobe, specifically the prefrontal cortex. This “neurodevelopmental delay” to the prefrontal cortex makes the automatic controlling and filtering of attention, behaviours and emotions harder. Other behaviours, such as restlessness, impulsivity or inattention, can also result from this delay.

ADHD in adults

• Living in the moment, becoming easily bored, leaving activities to the last minute.
• Racing mind skirts over numerous subjects. This and impatience can be a challenge when making realistic goals. Often over-commit, multi-task and get off-track, inhibiting the completion of projects.
• Easily distracted by noise, people walking past or email alerts.
• ADHD brains have to work much harder to control and filter attention, behaviours and emotions, commonly resulting in significant fatigue.
• Constantly tired, yet often have difficulty getting to, or staying, asleep. Headaches and allergies but succumb to food/sugar cravings, and habitual nail-biting.

ADHD in children

• Lack of routine.
• Finding food they will eat, let alone that is nutritious, is the next challenge. And that is only if they sit for long enough to eat it.
• Making friends easily but sometimes struggling to keep them.
• Meltdowns are a common after-school occurrence. Screen-time is calming.

Source: ADHD New Zealand

Megan Wilson is a health and general news reporter for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post. She has been a journalist since 2021.