Being a Vet student with ADHD

Hello, I’m Tom, and for about six years of my life, I’ve known I have ADHD. I’ve probably had it longer than that. I think that’s how it works. 

To be honest, the clues appeared early during primary school, from sprinting in circles around my house with lunch in hand, to being as hard to find as the neurovascular bundle on horse feet (there’s my quota of vet school jokes). No detectives in the Gillespie house, however in the interest of fairness, one of my older brothers was also diagnosed with ADHD at the same time, making the third brother the psychological deviant. 

When I arrived in secondary school, I launched into academics like a feather at a darts board, no matter how much energy I threw at something, I always seemed to fly off in another direction by no fault of my own. Several other directions sometimes. CATS came and went, and to my complete surprise, I had scored below expected. I honestly thought I had been working hard for them, and I had, just not in quite the right way. Fast forward a little and I’m sat in a nicely lit room, across from an equally nice psychiatrist, who glanced at my near constant ‘chair dancing’ and said “I think we could pursue an ADHD diagnosis”.

Shut the front door. My mind was blown.

Looking back, as I write this with both legs flying around under my desk, it might have been an easy spot. 

Once we’d figured out the right daily amount of atomoxetine to keep me controlled without stifling my energetic disposition, I managed to do pretty well in my GCSE’s. I maintained the strategies and methods I’d acquired through my A-levels, also netting some grades I was surprised and happy with. Then came my ambition, my goal in all this; veterinary education. 

To those who don’t know, I’m part of the first April cohort at Nottingham, unfortunately meaning I began vet school in the confines of my own room. All day. As you can imagine for someone of my mental faculties, this was a challenge. But this was new, this was exciting, this is what I had strived for, so I applied myself. I dug in, made peace with my stress balls, and attacked learning in a way I hadn’t before. The great breadth and wealth of information sent my way, considered by some a challenge, actually did help a great deal, as I always found covering many things in rapid succession helped a great deal with my focus. I humbly thank my family for helping me through this long period of being stationary.

Then came moving in day and the resuming of in-person practical teaching, an exhilarating, scintillating prospect indeed, much of the reason I gravitated to veterinary medicine. I enjoy getting hands on and seeing the oddities of evolution up close and all the avenues this profession has to offer. Nothing quite compares.

Quickly following that was the first formative exam, and picture my joy when I see the exam structure. Short answers and multiple choice? No two and a half hour exams? Colour pictures with drag and drop? I could quote Gordon Ramsey liking food for once. These exams weren’t just a breath of fresh air, but also a comparative joy to what I had done before and gave me a distinct positive attitude about my prospects in this degree. However, the arrival of exams also brought another sudden realisation. I could not revise as I had before. No longer could I pace in circles as my family quiz me with flash cards. No longer could I practice exam technique on past and sample papers or utilise my unique exam arrangements. (I was able to pause the clock and step away from my exam when I felt I needed to and was given a separate room to myself, the latter was probably due to other students getting fed up with my constant vibrating on squeaky chairs during exams, Izzy, I do apologise).

So came the adaptations and overhauls. Well into my second year now, I use Quizlet instead, an artificial voice to replace my family’s. I stopped bothering with scribbled notes and now go straight to making revision materials, too much sitting still was required for things I wouldn’t use again. I now live for practical teaching, where all the jumbled theory and lectures come together in a series of electric lightbulb moments. I sometimes listen to lectures whilst skipping, or if they’re pre-recorded, on 1.5x speed. I also cannot apply myself to any degree of academic teaching if I have not exercised that day, struggling to even stay in the chair, let alone listen to a forty five-minute lecture. Daily exercise through any means is what gets me by in many ways. I began to pick up hobbies I’d left by the wayside before, music and art primarily. I always found keeping my mind active and engaged in many things was the best way to placate it.

I suppose the point of all this is partly to recount my experiences and challenges as a fledgling veterinary student, but also to say everyone learns in their own way. Whether you have those same four letters tacked on that I do, something totally different, or nothing diagnosable at all, it doesn’t really matter. You learn at your pace, struggle and cope at your pace, and succeed at your pace and in your own way, entirely unbeholden to all but you. Our minds are, as many things with humans are, utterly, wonderfully, horrifyingly, beautifully unique.

And who’d want to change that?

Coming to Vet School has not only rekindled my love for many things, writing included, but has given me the chance to meet more unique minds than I ever have before. I see all sorts of strange and endearing personalities every day and there are few things in life that I enjoy more. I think we could all stand to be a bit weirder.

If you’d like to speak to me about my ADHD or yours, or even anything else at all really, I’d love nothing more.

Thank you for your time

Tom