Steph Claire Smith has claimed she has lost Instagram followers after announcing she has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder [ADHD].
The pregnant fitness influencer, 30, revealed on Stellar’s Something to talk about podcast, she noticed a “huge spike” in unfollowers the day she revealed her ADHD diagnosis.
“There was a huge spike in unfollowers and I looked at the date and it was the day I had posted about my ADHD diagnosis,” she said.
Steph, who is expecting her second child with husband Josh Miller, said women were previously “misdiagnosed” and many more people are now discovering they have ADHD.
“It’s been a terrible sentiment online in recent years with ADHD because a lot of people are coming out with this diagnosis,” she continued.
“People think it’s this trend and they’re tired of hearing about it, so I was very aware of that and it was one of the things that made me very nervous about sharing it.”
Steph Claire Smith has claimed she has lost Instagram followers after finding out she has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
Steph bravely spoke about her health update in a vulnerable confession in October, admitting she felt ‘relieved’ when a doctor confirmed her diagnosis.
Speaking on KICPOD, the podcast she co-hosts with fellow influencer and business partner Laura Henshaw, Steph said she first asked to get tested after inviting Em Rusciano on the show to discuss her experiences with ADHD.
“I was recently diagnosed with combined ADHD,” she said in the podcast.
“I had Em on and she was talking about her subsequent ADHD diagnosis, and during the conversation there was so much I didn’t realize, but I nodded along and agreed with and shared her story.
‘At one point she said I might be a bit neuro-spicy, and at that point I thought, “I don’t know”.’
The model and mother of one went on to describe the screening process she underwent for a woman in her 30s and confessed that she worried about not being diagnosed.
“I think one of the scariest parts of the process was, ‘What if I don’t get diagnosed?’ And then I just feel more lost than ever, because there are all these things, there are these qualities that have really frustrated me in my life,” she added.
“I’ve never been able to change them or habits that I feel like I can’t shake, or things that I think are so much more challenging than anyone else around me seems to find them.
The fitness influencer, 30, revealed on Stellar’s Something To Talk About podcast that she noticed a “huge spike” in unfollowers the day she revealed her ADHD diagnosis
‘Now that I’ve been diagnosed, I’m keen to learn more about it and find different tactics and ways that I can help myself a little more. And I can also just talk about it with my loved ones and people around me, so that they can understand it better too.
“It’s made me understand myself a little better about why things may have been more challenging than they should be.”
Steph has joined a growing list of high-profile women revealing ADHD diagnoses, including Mia Freeman, Em Rusciano and Abbie Chatfield.
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder affects approximately one in twenty Australians.
It is characterized by persistent patterns of inattentive, impulsive and sometimes hyperactive behavior, and is often accompanied by challenges with emotional regulation, according to ADHD Australia.
Although ADHD is the most common condition among boys aged four to 11, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare says around half as many girls of the same age are diagnosed with it.
That’s not because girls don’t have ADHD, experts say, but because they usually have the inattentive type of the condition, meaning their symptoms can fly under the radar.
Steph bravely spoke about her health update in a vulnerable confession in October, admitting she felt ‘relieved’ when a doctor confirmed her diagnosis