Distracted

I feel like op would know himself better than a professional. I find people who preach against self-diagnosing so annoying because you don't even need an official diagnosis unless you intend to request accommodations from various sources. If he just wants to know for himself and to look for ways to improve by himself, how is that wrong?

With all due respect, I don't think you grasp the complexity of psychology and the brain. A psychological diagnosis is just as excluded to a psychologist as a medical diagnosis is to a medical expert. Self diagnosing can be very tricky, since you could get the idea that a problem (lack of interest in things) is something you can't do anything about, while it's actually completely you and you can definitely change it, so you're basically using your self diagnosis as an excuse. Or you could try to change yourself in ways that do not help your case, because your diagnosis is incorrect, and become unhappy about not being able to help yourself. Although OP might have more knowledge of herself, professionals in general have by far more knowledge of all sorts of different mental disorders. OP is not an authority over what constitutes ADHD or not. So she can, with all authority, claim she is easily distracted, but has absolutely no right to diagnose herself with ADHD nor claim she has ADHD. At least, not in a manner that is meaningful in any way. As I said, psychological diagnoses are just like medical ones. You can't go around claiming you have lung cancer, just because you are coughing up blood, for example.

My friend diagnosed themselves with ADHD and it turns out they actually had generalized anxiety disorder that gave them symptoms almost exactly like ADHD. I have ADD and I never even suspected it until a doctor diagnosed me, because I was misinformed about what ADHD/ADD actually were. Some things are self diagnosable, such as depression or anxiety, but even so you should always talk to a medical professional before diagnosing yourself because they know more about whatever illness you're concerned about.

Um yes, it 100% is...

No it really isn't. Difficulty commencing and completing tasks and staying focused on the task at hand if it's not something within your spheres of interest, those are symptoms. Easily bored is not although there is a high degree of "comorbidity". :)

And another huge but unexpected problem is hyper-focus. Have you ever spent 5 or 6 hours looking all over the internet for this one reference for an essay before remembering it's not useful?

I don't have ADHD. I'm Dyslexic, with shared symptoms of mild Aspergers (or possible minor Aspergers anyway. I've never bothered to get that one tested.), and I get very easily distracted. Especially if it's a subject I don't care about. Essentially, I don't pay attention to them because they get in the way of things that are more important to me. So no... it's not "100% a symptom".

Ugh I don't know why you were down voted I was diagnosed at 17 and I'm now 21 - it has changed my life! It's not only the meds even if they are amazing. It's just knowing that it's not my fault that my brain is a bit ****** up. Helped a lot with self esteem!

I don't know, I guess everyone's experience is different. I have been diagnosed twice, once when I was in 1st grade and one when I was around 16. I was on meds until I was 14 and then stopped taking them. I felt so much better. When I was on the meds it was like I didn't have a personality. I tried going back on at 16 and I just felt like crap again

Generally speaking, if you go on a medication for a condition and the medicine makes you sick, it's a good idea to try a different dose, different meds, add in alternative therapy and to look at the possibility of a comorbid disorder that's interfering with how the medicine works- if you have ADHD and depression, the medications for ADHD tend to have side effects when they wear off that can worsen the apathy, bleakness and irritability of depression. But feeling like your personality is gone is a pretty big indicator that you are on too high a dose. That said, I'm also someone with ADHD- among other disorders- that had to stop the medication because it was making all my other disorders worse, as well as messing with my heart rate. Given one of my disorders means I'm very likely to develop cardiac problems, I'm hesitant to go back on them even though they would probably REALLY help. So, I'm not saying you should never stop medication, just that eliminating other possible factors is a good idea.