I still remember the first time I treated a child with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Back then, around two decades ago, the condition was considered rare and GPs seldom came across it. But the moment I did, the symptoms were unmistakable. The boy, no more than 11 years old, frankly, was a nightmare.
He wouldn’t sit still in school, he wouldn’t sleep, and he was disruptive at home. I can vividly recall his mother’s stress. She worried he would never live a normal life – get a degree, hold down a job or learn to drive.
How things change. Once seen primarily as a disorder that caused children to be disruptive, ADHD is increasingly associated with middle-aged, middle-class women struggling to focus at work.
Celebrities have led the way. Actress Gwyneth Paltrow, 53, has said her daughter’s diagnosis led her to get tested. ‘I thought, oh my God, I have this too,’ she revealed a few years back.
Singer Lily Allen, 41, is another. She claims her ‘adult ADHD’ is why she limits her time on social media – because ‘as soon as I look at it, it can be hours of my day gone’.
There’s a bigger picture, too. ADHD diagnoses among British women aged 31 to 49 rose by an astonishing 694 per cent between 2020 and 2025, according to an analysis of NHS records by health data company IQVIA. But there is a very uncomfortable truth here that many people – doctors included – refuse to acknowledge: many of these women may not have ADHD at all.
The central concern is that, over the past decade, the list of behaviours and symptoms said to be indicative of ADHD has broadened to such an extent that diagnosis can appear almost inevitable.
The NHS now cites ‘feeling restless’ and ‘not liking waiting’ among signs of the condition – but you would be hard-pressed to find anyone who does like waiting.
The result has been both spiralling numbers of children and also adults being labelled.
Something else I’ve noticed: People in affluent north-west London, where my own surgery is based, are three times more likely to be on ADHD medication than those in Yorkshire.
Singer Lily Allen, 41, claims her ‘adult ADHD’ is why she limits her time on social media – because ‘as soon as I look at it, it can be hours of my day gone’
Anecdotally, many of these new patients are mothers who – like Ms Paltrow – get the diagnosis after taking their child to be investigated. They get tested too and, hey presto, are told they have ADHD as well.
This is hardly surprising when the ADHD industry has become a money-making scheme.
Patients hoping for an NHS assessment can wait as long as ten years, so most go private. The problem is these clinics have a financial interest – more diagnoses means more money.
Worse still, they advertise on social media, reeling patients in with baseless claims that a lack of motivation or always being late could be ADHD – and fixed with medication.
These clinics are preying on the insecurities of stressed midlife women, who are often fighting multiple battles. They may be going through the menopause, robbed of energy and a good night’s sleep. Children are growing up, relationships are worn down by years of childcare and chores while careers can feel aimless.
It’s hardly surprising many feel something is wrong with them – but calling it ADHD is the wrong move.
The condition does not simply appear one day in adulthood. It is a neurodevelopmental disorder whose hallmarks are present from childhood, whether or not they were identified at the time.
Think of that 11-year-old boy for whom simple tasks were impossible. There is no way he could have reached his 40s without a diagnosis.
Yet this is a hard message to get across. Many women hold on to their diagnosis tightly. Some describe themselves as ‘being ADHD’ rather than ‘having ADHD’. It becomes an identity.
But there is a real price to pay. First, the financial one: private assessments can cost £1,000. But more importantly, a mistaken diagnosis can distract from real solutions.
If it’s actually menopause or depression, then we have medication and other approaches that help.
Or the answer may be simpler still: put down your phone. We talk endlessly about phones and children, but adults are equally addicted – and it’s melting our brains.
Yes, adults do have ADHD – and some will have grown up with it undiagnosed. But such cases are rare.
So if you are a woman who believes she has ADHD, by all means talk to your GP. But first, try leaving your phone in another room for a few hours and reading a book.
It might prove far more effective – not to mention cheaper.
I have a painful bone spur – what can I do?
A bone spur is a small bony projection on the underside of the heel bone, causing pain and inflammation, particularly when standing or walking.
The heel and ankle are made up of several bones working closely together. When a spur develops, it pushes out from one of these bones and irritates surrounding nerves and tissue.
Spurs are more common in people with flat feet or high arches, those carrying extra weight, and those who wear unsupportive footwear, such as flip-flops. Most cases can be managed without surgery.
A bone spur is a small bony projection on the underside of the heel bone, causing pain and inflammation, particularly when standing or walking
These include orthotics – specially made insoles that support the foot’s structure – as well as cushioning devices, heel cups that cradle and offload the heel, and targeted stretching exercises.
A podiatrist, a foot expert available on the NHS or privately, can advise on the best treatment.
Losing excess weight, wearing supportive shoes and taking over-the-counter painkillers can also help.
If the pain remains disabling despite this, surgery to remove the spur is an option – but it is a last resort.
Maternity inquiries that change nothing
Over the past few weeks we’ve heard the conclusions of not one, but two NHS inquiries into maternity care.
And they join a depressingly long list of inquiries with many of the same conclusions – essentially that maternity services are failing women. So why has nothing changed?
For the families who agree to participate they can be traumatic, as they relive some of the worst hours of their lives. They do it, no doubt, in the hope of preventing what happened to them from happening to others.
And yet it does – with pregnant women continuing to bear the brunt of the service’s incompetence.
Let’s hope these latest findings finally draw this shameful chapter in the NHS’s history to a close, and that policymakers and health chiefs work together to protect women and babies from preventable harm.
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