I don't know if I am dyslexic. Is it possible?

Question

Hi, I am bipolar and have adhd, social anxiety, ocd and panic disoder.

I am 24 years old and just graduated and it took me 6 years to graduate.

I have been on medicine for bipolar disorder, and social anxiety and i talk to a therapist about ocd and panic disorder when it gets really bad.

So i have been reading about dyslexia and see that as a child i had these problems. Its is not so much reading letter backwards and such, its just that i never liked reading, especially out loud, and would have trouble understanding the "tricky" questions on tests. I also had trouble following the story when i would read, unless i was really really concentrated, which was hard. I would find myself reading it again and again to understand.

Now due to being bipolar and feeling my first manic episode 6 years ago, much of things before that have been confusing and hard to remember.

I do know that during these 6 years suffering from manic and depressive episodes, i had trouble concentrating and reading things, but i knew it was caused by my thoughts racing all over the place. I would often have to sit down and think about something and structurally put everything in order in my mind to understand it.

Right now, when I am typing, I have a habit of forgetting forgetting important words or i misspell words thinking its another word.

example:

"i think i go without saying some worlds"

thats really supposed to be

"i think i can go without saying some words". I would add and subtract things unconsciously.

I understand some of these are just bipolar tendencies, but could some be dyslexia?

I really don't want another problem to seek therapy for, i finally started getting things together and i am planning on getting an IT job soon.

I mean I graduated high school and college with a 3.7 and 3.3 GPA respectively. When i got bad grades it was usually me procrastinating, or being lazy, or depending myself on cheating. Some good grades came from cheating, but only on tests(yes yes, i know cheating is very wrong, i stopped around junior year)

How do I seek help? Should i ask my psychiatrist to test me on it?

Bipolar disorder has definitely taken a large toll on my mind...

Answer 1

Lack of comprehension can be a cause of Dyslexia too. I have Dyslexia and your examples are mistakes I make all too much. There are many different forms of Dyslexia and you may have a few or many.

Dyslexia and ADHD are very similar. I have problems concentrating, not just studying but in a conversation. You may have been misdiagnosed with ADHD, which can happen but I don't want to put thoughts in your head.

Here is the process:

Ask your GP for a referral to see a Psychologist. He/she will give test you over a few weeks to see if you have Dyslexia. Then they will give you recommendations for treatment.

By the way Dyslexics only do not visually see the words backwards but they may read or spell it backwards. It's hard to explain but when I see words or numbers on paper they are in the right order when I go to say or copy them they turn out in the wrong order.

Do you have any other Dyslexic symptoms? Because it does sound like ADHD, but it's also common for Dyslexics to spell and miss out words too.

Answer 2

Probably not.

Answer 3

Your spelling seems just fine. Lack of comprehension of reading material is probably because of adhd.