Tish Gentile: it was almost like therapy
for me, telling my story and really
kind of breaking it up into sections
of the, of what I struggle with.
you know, time perception,
struggle with that.
Rejection sensitive
dysphoria, struggle with that.
Struggle with zoning out,
daydreaming, you know, forgetfulness.
I'm very impulsive.
I have, you know, I'm hyperactive
internally and externally, and so, when
I started to really reflect on each
one of those topics, I thought, oh my
goodness, this, this is helping me.
Jesse J. Anderson: Hey,
my name is Jesse J.
Anderson, host of the ADHD Nerds podcast.
The show where we talk about living with
ADHD, and have some fun along the way.
This is episode 14.
And today I'm talking with Dr.
Tish Gentile.
Tish is an ADHD advocate, mentor, and has
worked in healthcare for over 20 years.
She currently works as a learning and
development consultant at a research
medical institute in New England.
Today we talk about how she was
diagnosed with adhd at a young age, her
experience in special education, and
her more recent diagnosis of autism.
Plus, we cover how you should prepare
for seeking diagnosis and what you
need to do to advocate for yourself.
You won't want to miss it.
But first I'd like to
thank our sponsor Sunsama.
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planner for your work.
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You can try Sunsama for free by
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Now let's get to the show.
Tish, it is great to have you here today.
Thanks for coming on the show.
Tish Gentile: Oh my /goodness.
Thank you so much for inviting me, Jesse.
I'm just thrilled to be here
and talk about ADHD with you.
Jesse J. Anderson: Yeah, absolutely.
So I love the, I love to start the show
hearing kind of your ADHD origin story.
What was it like growing up?
When did you get diagnosed?
Kind of all that.
How did that go for you?
Tish Gentile: Yeah, so my story
is a little different than some
of the stories that I've heard,
um, in our ADHD community.
So I got diagnosed at a really young age.
Um, I, in first grade, I started to just,
my behavior was kind of out of control.
I was just not learning like I should, and
so they passed me on to the second grade.
And in the second grade, um,
they, the teachers said we have
to put her in special education.
She's not learning like she should.
She's being very disruptive,
talking too much.
She just up visiting too much and so
we have to do something about this.
Her reading level is
not where it should be.
Um, and all of all of the stuff.
All the stuff.
So had to take a test and it was
determined after taking that, or actually
it was more of an assessment, um, that I
should be placed in special education and
so, I spent special, I spent my time in
special education from the second grade,
um, through my senior year of high school.
And so I went to a public school.
Um, I just went to different, a different
building for, um, some of my classes.
And so it was a, it was an interesting
experience to try to, you know, balance
the special education piece of it with,
you know, having ADHD with tutoring after
school with all of the stuff that I had.
Really do, um, to just make
it through high school.
And so, um, I didn't get
prescribed medication, What that
young, um, it was a little bit
later when I got the medication.
So, um, but yeah, once I got out of high
school, actually right before I graduated
high school, I wanted to go to college.
Never read an entire book, never.
Algebra.
And so I thought, how am I gonna do this?
And so I talked to my counselor and so
my, of my special education teachers,
and so they helped me navigate
through all of the stuff and I.
I went to college and was given
accommodations and with medication
and therapy and tutoring.
I went to all the, you know, reading
labs and, and algebra labs and all the
stuff that they offered just because
I needed that extra, that extra help.
It was not easy, and it
took a very, very long time.
But I'll meet it through.
So yeah, that's just kind of a brief story
to a very long story of my ADHD journey.
So, yeah.
Jesse J. Anderson: that's, uh, that's
incredible that you kind of, uh, Yeah.
Went through that journey.
I.
I have to imagine that there was
a lot of, um, a lot of stigma that
you kind of experienced growing up.
Like what, what was that sort of like.
Tish Gentile: You know what?
I was really lucky because I went to a
very small school, um, and so I didn't
get treated any differently than the
other students did, and so the thing.
Me being on special education is that
I still was able to participate in,
you know, like activities at school.
I was in band, I was in cheerleading
except for one year because I, my
grades were not good enough to be
in cheerleading, so I got kicked
off the squad . Um, but I was
able to still participate in, you
know, public school activities.
Um, so I'm very, very lucky.
And not everyone's story.
Like that.
Um, and so when I graduated from
high school, I, when I went into
college, I didn't tell anyone I was
in, I had been in special education.
I didn't want that stigma because
people, people can look at you like, you
know something, What's wrong with her?
Why was she in special education?
How'd she get here, What'd she have
to do to, you know, get into college?
And so I didn't wanna have
to deal with all of that.
So, you know, I just kind of kept it under
wraps and just struggled my way through.
And yeah, it, it was not easy.
So I actually haven't, I actually didn't
open up about my story until last year.
It's took, I'm 45 now and I didn't open
up about my story till last year because
I was, so, what are people gonna think?
You know?
So, Yeah.
And I think a lot of us go through that.
You know, what if your work finds
out about it, what if someone so,
But it's like, this is who I am,
this is, and if my story can help
someone else, I wanna share it.
So,
Jesse J. Anderson: Yeah, that's, that's
definitely kind of been my experience
with, uh, ADHD in just sort of, , You
know, I found out that I had it when
I was 36 and I, it was like, Oh, this
really explains a lot of my life.
Um, so very different, uh, from your
story, like finding out so late.
But yeah, I, and I didn't really talk
about it much at the time, but even
once I did kinda open up, I realized,
I think I realized how much what I
had learned about myself and sort of
experienced really was helping other
people that had that same story.
And because you just, like,
Particularly my, my own experience
growing up with ADHD, I just felt so
alone and so isolated with kind of all,
I was like, there's all these weird
things about me or about my brain or
things I do and I don't want, like, so
much of what I'm doing is like trying to
avoid people finding out these negative
things about me or these different,
not negative, but just these different
things about me that I was like almost
ashamed of and trying to hide from people.
Tish Gentile: Yeah.
And the thing is, is that, I noticed
this about myself, and I don't, this
may have happened to you too, is
that just when you, When I started to
tell my story and I really started to
kind of peel back all of those layers
of all the stuff that ADHD entails.
I mean, there's just so much
more to it than, Oh, you're
hyper, or, I just can't focus it.
There's imposter syndrome, there's
rejection sensitive dysphoria.
There's the whole, there's
just so many different things.
And so I, it was almost like therapy
for me, telling my story and really
kind of breaking it up into sections
of the, of what I struggle with.
You know, you know, time
perception, struggle with that.
Rejection sensitive
dysphoria, struggle with that.
Struggle with zoning out,
daydreaming, you know, forgetfulness.
I'm very impulsive.
I have, you know, I'm hyperactive
internally and externally, and so, when
I started to really reflect on each
one of those topics, I thought, oh my
goodness, this, this is helping me.
This is really helping me learn
myself and it's therapeutic.
So I kind of felt like this
huge weight had just kind of
been lifted off of my shoulder.
So I don't know if you
felt the same way, but
Jesse J. Anderson: Abs.
Absolutely.
I feel like, yeah, sharing
that story, really.
Yeah.
The more I talk about ADHD, like it really
does feel like therapy for, like, I'm
working through my own stuff, but also
like, like growing from it and helping
others is like, yeah, it kind of helps me
work on myself kind of at the same time.
Um, yeah.
And also I wanted to jump back.
So you, I, I think you kind of briefly
went over your story with college,
but like you did it on hard mode,
like you're a doctor now, so like
how, how much, how first, I don't know
how much like college is that even?
And yeah.
What did that look like?
Tish Gentile: it was a lot of college.
I've spent majority of my, my life in
school, and so it took me a very long
time just to get my bachelor's degree.
I'm talking, I entered school,
um, in 1996 and I didn't graduate
with my bachelor's until 2006.
Okay.
So it took a very, very long time for me
even just to get my bachelor's degree.
I went straight into my master's degree.
I mean, I graduated with my bachelor's
and went straight into my master's degree.
Um, that took two years.
Um, and so I have a master's
of public health degree.
Took a little bit of a break and then,
um, decided I wanted to get my doctorate.
I thought to myself, you know what I've.
All of these things my whole life, and
I'm sure you've heard some similar things
of, you know, you gotta focus more,
you gotta buckle down, do better you,
you're not gonna to amount to whatever.
And so it's like, you know what, I'm
gonna do this for me, but I'm also
gonna do this to show people You're
not gonna tell me , don't tell me that.
I can't focus and don't tell me.
I am not going to amount to anything
because I'm gonna be a doctor.
And so applied to school, actually
graduated, I, I, I entered my doctorate
program, the same, um, school that I
graduated with, my master's, um, degree.
And so that took four years.
It took four years to get my doctorate.
Um, cuz there's a lot of research
and everything that goes into that.
I have to, Yeah.
Anyway, that's just a, that's a whole
other story, but it took a long time.
Um, but I will say, If I didn't have
the tools that I have in my little ADHD
toolkit of medication, which medication's,
not for everyone, but for me, it
definitely helps medication, um, therapy,
accommodations, tutoring, the whole thing.
Even really getting to know my
professors and being honest with them
and letting them know that, Look, I have
problems with reading comprehension.
I have problems with all, you know,
this, this, that, and the other.
And so, Just letting them know that.
And if I need an extension on staff,
then they would be more than happy
to, you know, try to accommodate
me the best this they could.
So it wasn't easy, but that's it.
I graduated with my
doctorate, um, in 2019.
And so, yeah, when I say I've been in
school for really my entire life, I've
really been in school my whole life.
Jesse J. Anderson: Right, Right.
Yeah, I definitely relate with that.
Uh, it reminds me, I mean, I haven't
done any of that school, so I did
community college for like three or
four years and I didn't quite get my
AA degree, which is a two year degree.
Um, , I got real close.
I think I'm like eight credits shy.
And so I really should probably do
that just so I can have that, like,
at least that thing accomplished
for the time I spent in there.
But I really relate with what you said of
like, People saying that you can't do it.
Uh, there's a, I used to watch the show
lost and, you know, years ago and on
it, one of the characters, Locke, he
says, Don't tell me what I can't do.
And oh my gosh, I relate to that so much.
Like someone tells me I can't do something
Tish Gentile: yeah,
Jesse J. Anderson: like, well now
there's, there's nothing in the world.
I want more than to prove
you wrong about that thing.
And just sort of like step up to that,
that challenge and kind of take it on.
Tish Gentile: Yeah.
I think another thing too, to add to
this is that, you know, when you're.
And you have ADHD, you don't,
you're, you're learning what works
for you, what doesn't work for you.
And I mean, I'm still learning what
works and what doesn't, but I have
it in a, I'm in a better shape, of
course, than I was when I was younger.
And so it was almost, I, I
craved school because it was,
I didn't really get to learn a.
Through second grade.
I'm not saying because of special
education, it was because I
didn't have the tools really
to really learn what I wanted.
Yes, I went to tutoring.
Yes, I, you know, did you
know X, Y, and Z, but I didn't
have exactly what I needed to.
The whole combination of things
to really get me through.
Um, to where I could learn and
actually soak, soak it up and get
something out of it, and not just, Oh,
I have to get through this, you know?
So,
Jesse J. Anderson: I, I find that
so many people with ADHD like.
Often struggled in school in
different ways, but almost
universally we love to learn.
And so like, there's this kind
of weird conflict of like school
being like not quite designed right
for us to get us what we need.
Yet we have this like yearning
inside to learn more things.
Like we're, you know, we're craving that
almost that novelty of something new.
Like, I wanna learn more about this
thing and I want to like perfect
it and then move on to another
thing and like keep learning.
I, I want to keep acquiring knowledge.
Um, my career is in, um, uh, software
development, which is a great career for
me because there's so much to learn that
I'm always able to kind of like, you know,
pursue that, that desire to learn more
things cuz there's always new stuff to
learn and I really kind of dive into that.
And yeah, I love that.
I love learning new things,
Tish Gentile: Yeah, me too.
I really do.
I crave it.
Um, again, it's nothing, I'm not
saying anything negative about
special education, but there is
limitations to special education.
And so, I, I just, I still love school
that I'm not gonna go back anymore.
. It's too much.
I'm done.
No more
Jesse J. Anderson: Right.
recently, I know you've had a new
development or new understanding
in kind of your diagnosis.
Uh, maybe you'd like to talk
about that a little bit.
Tish Gentile: Yeah, so I recently
got diagnosed with autism.
Um, and so I honestly had no idea that
I was autistic and it was brought to my
attention, um, by a couple of people.
My therapist brought it to my attention
as well, and um, at first when I
started to hear this about myself, I.
No, I'm not.
I, it's just ADHD, you know, I don't,
not just ADHD, but it's only have ADHD.
I don't have autism.
And so I kind of push
back on it a little bit.
And so, um, and at my age,
what is an assessment gonna do?
You know, That's what,
that's what I was thinking.
What, you know, what
am I gonna be able to.
Like, why now at 45 would I
wanna go and get an assessment?
And so, um, Tom went on, therapy went on.
You know, the couple of people that
had brought it to my attention kind
of didn't push, but you know, you may.
You can get accommodations at work
and whatever you know, you may need,
just go see if you have it or not.
You know, what's it gonna hurt?
And so I, uh, made the appointment with
a psychiatrist, um, and she went through
the whole laundry list of questions
and things, and she had, um, you know,
she diagnosed me with autism, but she
still wanted me to go to a neuropsych,
go through a neuropsych assessment.
And so, That is a very long process.
I don't know.
Um, when I got diagnosed with ADHD, I
didn't go through a neuropsych assessment.
I went through the ADHD assessment
and I actually got reassessed in
2002 just because I just wanted
to know for myself, you know?
You know, you just wanna know.
And so, um, yeah, I went through the
whole neuropsych assessment and that
was an all day, six and a half hour day.
could not take any kind
of medication at all.
And it was just one very interesting
test after the other, putting blocks
together, drawing different things.
It was just a whole bunch of different
things that, um, they had me do.
And so, . Um, and I, I appreciate
that because I'm sure that they
were looking for other things too.
Maybe O c d or anxiety or
whatever, or different learning
disabilities or whatever it may be.
So, um, long story short, very long
process, but I did get diagnosed with
autism and I'm still processing that
and I'm still trying to learn that
piece of it because I didn't realize,
I didn't realize some of the things.
I was doing or wasn't doing
was because of my autism.
I, I just never clicked because I was
born this way . And so I just thought
this was how things were supposed to be.
And also back to the time I got diagnosed
with ADHD, at that time they didn't
diagnose ADHD and autism together.
And so that's been more of a
recent, um, thing with the,
with the joint, um, diagnosis.
Yeah.
I just, it, I had no idea that it was,
Oh, well that's an, an autism trait.
That's autistic trait.
And so,
Jesse J. Anderson: Do you
have any examples of that?
Tish Gentile: Yeah.
So I, um, I am, I don't
read social cues very well.
I never have, and so that's always
been brought to my attention by
family members and friends and things.
And, um, I.
I'm not saying that all autistic
people are socially awkward.
I, I'm telling, I'm
saying that for myself.
I'm very socially awkward.
Um, and so yeah, I don't, I
have to force eye contact.
I get very, I don't
like making eye contact.
I don't understand stand sarcasm or jokes.
I never have.
And so a funny story, I guess, um,
back in college, you know, go to
comedy, you know, shows and things
like that with friends or whatever.
And I would not laugh because I, I
don't understand like the sarcasm,
I can't, To me it's just, that's
just normal, like everyday life,
like what they're joking about.
That's just kinda like, this is just kind
of how, like what's funny about this.
And so I would get called out.
I mean, my friends would be,
Why are you, this is funny.
What's like, what's going on with you?
And so I learned to read the room.
I mimic people.
So I'll mimic people.
Now, if I, if I see somebody laughing
at something that I thought was
kind of a literal thing, if it,
I, okay, I'm supposed to laugh.
Haha, you know, cuz I don't
wanna get called out anymore.
And so I just am watching
movies and things like that.
Um, it takes forever.
Well, with the ADHD side of
stuff, I just cannot sit still
,
Jesse J. Anderson: I was
just gonna say, yeah.
Like what?
The combination of ADHD and autism
is really kind of interesting.
It seems, I mean,
there's a lot of overlap.
There's a lot of, And like the
comorbidity rates, like the, having
both of them is fairly common.
Both of them are, you know, I, I've heard
people say ADHD comes with friends being
other, you know, neurological conditions.
And I've heard autism is the same, where
often there's kind of that overlap.
But yeah.
How, what is that like having the ADHD and
autism kind of conflict with, uh, certain
symptoms and sort of dealing with that?
Tish Gentile: It's really interesting
because I, it is a lot of conflict.
Um, one side of me is I really do
fly by the seat of my pants with
pretty much everything in my life.
But then there's this other side of
me that I do not do well with change.
Um, I didn't realize.
Uh, transitioning from one thing
to the other, or if something is
kind of just spur the moment put
on me, I don't do well with that.
And I would, I would hide my, my
meltdowns and I didn't, I didn't
realize that that was an autistic trait.
I, I thought that it was just
who I am and it is, it's autism.
You know, you, it's, you're
kind of a rigid thinker.
You don't do well with change and
you don't like this me, and I can't
put a blanket statement out there.
But you know, just the spur of
the moment kind of thing can be
difficult for me with having autism.
And sometimes it can really get me
into a spiral and it's kind of hard to
pull me outta that spiral sometimes.
So,
Jesse J. Anderson: Right.
Tish Gentile: Yeah.
Jesse J. Anderson: one, one other thing
I, I kind of wanted to ask about, so your,
your background, You're in healthcare,
and I know a lot of people, a lot of
people come to me asking and saying, you
know, they saw a meme or a TikTok, or
they saw something that kind of gave them
that aha moment of like, Wait a second.
Do I, maybe I have ADHD What?
What now?
What do I do now?
And so I kind of, yeah.
What is it from the healthcare kind
perspective, what should people know?
Kind of going in, like where
do they go for diagnosis and
what should they kind of Yeah.
Have prepared, uh, for that experience?
Tish Gentile: Yeah, that's a
good question and I do get a
lot of questions about that.
Um, and I do wanna say this too, because
I don't wanna discredit anyone but a self
diagnosis, I mean, I find that's okay
if somebody wants to self-diagnose with
ADHD and autism, I respect that 100%.
Um, I do think it's important
to go through an assessment
and go and get diagnosed.
And the reason for that is because
when you do get that diagnosis, first
of all, you're gonna know exactly
what type of ADHD that you have.
There's, there's three
main types of ADHD and.
Depending on what type, it may be
treated a little bit different.
The care plan may look a little different.
Accommodations may look a little bit
different, and so knowing exactly what
you, your diagnosis is, is important.
Getting that diagnosis, especially
if you're in school or even at work,
you can get accommodations made.
You can, you know, go to
a room and take tests.
You can get extra time taking tests.
You know, there's a whole lot of things
that, um, you can get accommodations for.
And with the diagnosis, if medicine
is about fit for you, again,
it's not a good fit for everyone.
And I don't, I don't usually
talk about medication.
Um, but working with your doctor,
it, it can, it can really change
your life in a, in a good way.
It's not a fix all you, it's
definitely not a fix all, but
it does for me, It does help me.
Um, so having that option to either
take the medication or not, it's
your choice, but at least you have
that option, um, to kinda lean on if
you, um, go through an assessment.
So, Yeah.
Jesse J. Anderson: I, I, I, similarly,
I kind of, I see how I see the validity
of medication and how for some people
it makes like a huge difference.
But I also, I kind of don't talk
about it a lot just because it's
not my area of expertise I know.
Like, I think some people will
reach out and be like, What
medications have you tried?
And it's like, well, that's
not really how it works.
So the ADHD meds are so different person
person that there's like, I know there've
been studies of like siblings where one
will need like a high dosage of this
medication and the other one that won't
do anything and they'll need a much
lower dosage of a different medication.
That's kind of what works for their brain.
And so that's like a whole field that.
Like you need to find a doctor
that really knows kind of, Or
Tish Gentile: Oh, yes.
Jesse J. Anderson: Is it psychologist?
A psychiatrist?
Tish Gentile: Psychiatrist.
Jesse J. Anderson: Yeah.
That really knows that kind of
medication world and can help you
with like titration and finding
like that dose that works for you.
But again, like you said, it's kind of,
it's an option that's there, but it's not.
It's not like you get diagnosed and then
someone beats down your door and says, All
right, now you have to take these meds.
Like it's just sort of
an option that kind of.
Available if it's
something you wanna pursue.
Tish Gentile: you Absolutely.
Yeah.
And just like you, I just wanna, you
know, I do not talk about medication, so
anything that I say related to medication
with you is just my experience with it.
And so, um, but I do think it's
important to have those options if
you, you know, a person to have those
options if, you know, they decide
to go, um, down that, that road.
So, um, Yeah, so I also get asked
questions, you know, where do I go?
Where do I go to get a diagnosis?
You know, where do I even start?
And so, There's different options that a
person can choose and, and depending on
your insurance, there's so many factors
that play into it with insurance and white
country you live in and just, you know,
the access that you have to healthcare.
Not everyone has, um, the access,
um, to healthcare to be able
to get the help that they need.
But, um, if you do, I recommend starting
off with your primary care physician.
And the reason why I say that is, They
have your medical history and I think it's
important for them to help be there, to
help you navigate through the assessment
process and, and, and almost be,
almost you're an advocate for yourself,
but help, you know, they can help
advocate for you as well if they feel.
That you're, um, it's appropriate for you
to go through an eight ADHD assessment.
And so, um, I, I think it's important to
start with your primary care doctor, um,
and go from there and either, you know,
they can refer you to a psychiatrist,
um, or some, some primary care doctors.
They may feel comfortable and
may have enough knowledge, um,
to even do an ADHD assessment.
And so it really just depends,
um, on the primary care doctor.
Personally, and this May,
this is just my opinion, but I
think starting there is good.
Jesse J. Anderson: uh, what
would you say to somebody that
has the unfortunate experience?
I've heard of several times where.
Talk to their primary care and they,
you know, they're told like, Oh, ADHD
doesn't exist, or, or they'll just say
something like, Oh, you're successful.
Look, you're doing really
great in your career.
Or You did, you did great in school, so
you can't have ADHD because you wouldn't
be able to succeed if you had ADHD.
Uh, yeah.
What would you suggest for somebody that
HA does have that unfortunate experience?
Tish Gentile: Um, well, I wanna
back up just a little bit.
So, um, , I think that preparing for
just that initial conversation with the
doctor will kind of lay the foundation
for how that conversation's gonna go.
I really do.
And so, um, so step one
is make the appointment.
Step two is to prepare
for the appointment.
And what I mean by prepare for the
appointment, that is if you have, this
isn't ne necessary, but if you have
old report cards or letters or notes or
something from, you know, teachers or
your school, um, that may say inattentive,
you know, talks too much, you know,
all the stuff that we hear, take those,
you know, take them, take it with you.
Um, also, Sit down and print off
a symptom, a traits, um, checker.
Honestly, You can print one off and
just kind of go through the list and
check mark the things that you feel that
you experience, um, if it's, you know,
daydreaming or zoning out or you know,
I impatient or whatever it might be.
And once you go through that
checklist, then the next step is,
What are real life examples of how
that impacts and interferes with your
daily life at work, school, or home.
And so, um, if you have those
examples, you know, I, I, Adrian
all the way through a meeting wasn't
paying attention and I left and had
no idea what I was supposed to do.
That's an example.
Um, but to really show those examples and
how long that this has been going on, um,
with you, how long have you been having.
you know, filling the, how long
have you been filling this way?
And so, um, so that's the next step.
I'll also recommend going and
taking in a free online assessment.
Now, that is not a diagnostic tool at
all, but if you go, there's a ton of free
online assessments that are available.
I know Mental Health America has a
really great, um, assessment tools
available on their, on their site.
take the assessment and uh, print
it off and take that with you too.
So you have your, you know,
report cards and letters if you
still have those from school.
You have your symptom,
you know, checklist.
You have your real off examples and
you have your, uh, free assessment.
And so you put that all together.
And take it with you because I
know some people, I know myself,
I get nervous sometimes when I go
to the doctor and I forget stuff.
And so if you hand the doctor a
package of information and kind of
talk and walk through it, it's really
difficult to find the facts sometimes.
Now there are gonna be some of
those, some doctors that may
be completely against ADHD.
It doesn't exist the whole thing,
which there are some out there.
Um, but if you go prepared and.
Are showing all this information
and even take a friend or a family
member with you that may say, Yes,
she's been like this her whole life.
It's, you know, she whatever.
And, and also ask about family history.
Um, cuz it's, it is hereditary.
So ask your family and collect
that information before you go too.
So there's a whole checklist of
stuff to really get all of your
stuff together, take it with you.
If you go to your primary care
doctor and they say, This isn't no.
We're not gonna, you know, you're
not gonna get an assessment.
you don't, you did good in school.
All the stuff.
Get a second opinion,
always get a second opinion.
Always advocate for yourself because
you are the only person that knows you
inside and out and how you're feeling.
The doctor's not with you all the time.
You're with yourself 24 7.
So it is so, so important to advocate for
yourself and sometimes that is not easy.
It can be intimidating, um, to
kind of not, I'm not saying like
I disagree with the doctor, but,
you know, kind of challenge a
little bit with, with the doctor.
It's not, it's not easy, but
advocate for yourself because it
can really make a big difference.
Jesse J. Anderson: I think that's such
a great set of sort of suggestions
you've given there that I think
that's a really good guide for people.
Uh, yeah, I, I often tell people the same
thing, like, you need to write stuff down
cuz you're gonna get there and you're
not gonna remember any, Like, you're
gonna think you have all this stuff.
And then they'll ask you and
you're like, I can't remember.
I, I can't remember anything right now.
My mind's gone
Tish Gentile: what's my name?
Jesse J. Anderson: Yeah, exactly.
What is my name?
Um, one of those self-report tools that,
um, I know people have recommended.
It's called the Adult ADHD Self-Report
Scale, and it's based on the DSM
four, so it's slightly out of
date, but it's a really great form.
That's really easy to kind of like fill
out and then have like, Oh, this, You
know, Usually I think when people have
ADHD and they fill out a form like that,
it's just like mind blowingly obvious.
It's like, Oh, I'm checking the
box for every single one of these.
How has, how have I not
known about this before?
Tish Gentile: Yeah.
Yeah, that's, Yes.
I will tell you, um, when I went
through my autism, uh, assessment, I
actually was late to the appointment.
I didn't have all anything together.
I was supposed to fill out all this
stuff beforehand and didn't do it.
So that right there, which should, at
least with the ADHD side of stuff, they
were like, Oh, yeah, there's no doubt
Jesse J. Anderson: Right, right.
Cool.
And I'll include a link to that, uh,
self-report scale in the show notes for
anyone that wants to, uh, check that out.
And, uh, yeah, I think this
is a great time to kind of
transition to, uh, shiny objects.
And so, Tish, what is a shiny
object that has grabbed your, uh,
interest or fascination lately?
Tish Gentile: Um, Converse, I, anytime
I see a pair of Converse that is a,
you know, it's a limited edition pair
of Converse or whatever it may be.
I def, that's my shiny object.
I have a lot of pairs of
Converse shoes and yeah, it's
kind of embarrassing actually.
Jesse J. Anderson: Are you, are you the
kind of person that like has displays
for 'em, like you set 'em all up or do
you wear 'em all out in kind of Uh, yeah.
Tish Gentile: Yeah, so I have a shelf
with my Converse shoes on 'em, and
some of them I wear, um, and some
of them I will not, I won't touch.
I had, um, a custom pair made.
I actually went to the headquarters and
picked the fabric out and touched it
and picked all the stuff out 'em made.
And so, um, those were pair that
I only wear on really, really
special occasions, but yeah.
Yeah.
Jesse J. Anderson: is, that is awesome.
I have, I have a friend that's,
uh, really into that world.
It's, it's a, a wild world.
There's so much, like the culture is so
interesting there and all the, like trying
to like get on the next, the new drops
there, like the exclusive drops and all
that sort of stuff, and like having to
time it yeah, it's, it's a pretty wild
world and he'll, he'll tell me sometimes
about how he wants to like,
buy, like maybe wants to
upgrade his camera or something.
So he is like, Yeah, so I'm
gonna have to sell a pair so
that make, get this other thing.
And he just ha, I don't remember, I
think he has like 30, 30 pairs of shoes
that he has like all displayed and
it's, I, something I'm afraid of that
I'm, I'm like, Oh man, I know I could
get into that and spend so much money,
Tish Gentile: I know it's, it's expensive,
but you know, it, it's honestly, it's fun.
It really is.
It's fun cuz it start, it's a
conversation starter sometimes,
you know, especially if you have
a unique, unique pair of shoes on.
And so, yeah, my wedding shoes were.
Uh, Converse, high top, sparkly, glittery,
Jesse J. Anderson: Oh my gosh.
That is, that's awesome.
If you, if you happen to have a photo,
I'd love to put that in the show notes.
Tish Gentile: Yes, I would love to.
Absolutely.
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
Jesse J. Anderson: Cool.
So, uh, for my shiny object, I, I
think I talked on the last episode
how a lot of times when I'm listening
to like, Audiobooks or podcasts.
I feel like there's another part of my
brain that wants to be doing something.
And so one thing, a lot of times I'll
play like kind of more idle games
like Sodoku or, or something like that
where I can just sort of like occupy my
brain while I'm listening to a podcast.
Uh, lately I've been playing, there's this
new game that just came out called, uh,
Dome Keeper, and it's kind of this really.
It's a simple game.
It's kind of this interesting
combination of like a tower defense
mixed with kind of like mining, similar
to an older game called Terraria.
But it's, there's something about, it's
like this perfect blend of like these
two mixes of gameplay that, uh, I have
been addicted, which is great cause
I'm listening to a lot of podcasts.
Uh, cause I kind of do it in
combination, but it's also not great
because I'm avoiding other things
that I really need to be working on
Tish Gentile: I can relate to that,
Jesse J. Anderson: Yes.
Yeah.
But it's a really fun game.
Don't hear, I think it's like
16 bucks or something like that.
Uh, for those gamers out there looking
for something, uh, to, yeah, to
occupy your podcast listening time.
Uh, that's a good one.
So, awesome.
Thank you so much for
being here, Uh, Tish.
This was such a great conversation and.
It's gonna be super valuable for people,
especially kind of walking through that,
that criteria that, that information for
how to go about getting your diagnosis
and kind of strategies for that.
Uh, how can people follow you
and see kinda what you're up to.
Tish Gentile: up to?
Yeah, so I'm on Instagram and I'm,
um, truly underscore ti underscore
ADHD, so you can find me on Instagram
and I have a link in my bio that'll
take you to a blog that I do.
It's my ADHD life,
Jesse J. Anderson: Awesome.
Yeah, and we'll have, uh, links to
those in the show notes as well.
thank you so much, Tish.
This was awesome.
Tish Gentile: Yes.
Thank you so much again for
inviting me to be a guest.
I'm just thrilled to talk to you today
about all of the ADHD stuff, so thank you.
Jesse J. Anderson: That's our show,
thank you so much for listening.
I especially want to thank our VIP
patrons, Charise Carlson, Dan Ott,
Jessica Cherry DePaul, Luce Carter,
Richard Stephens, and Todd Barnett.
Your support helps me do this show and
the other work I do so thank you so much.
If you want to support the show,
you can go to patreon.com/jessej
that's J E S S E J.
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Full show notes and transcripts
are available at adhdnerds.com.