Also from Germany but moved to Japan for work. I never suspected ADHD until someone here on hackernews hinted at it, and even then the idea just seemed absurd.

Also from Germany but moved to Japan for work. I never suspected ADHD until someone here on hackernews hinted at it, and even then the idea just seemed absurd. Went to a doc and they suggested doing a "NIRS scan" while I perform a basic task (in my case playing rock paper scissors). I only later read that NIRS scans are only being trialed for ADHD so it seemed more like a quick money grab, but in either way my result graph looked a lot different than what an average graph should look like, hinting at depression and ADHD. Had a conversation with my doctor about my symptoms and how I feel and concluded that yes, I pretty obviously have ADHD and that it might be the cause of my depression. Went to a second doc for a second opinion as well and he also concluded ADHD. So yeah, I was a little shocked but as someone else said "I suddenly felt like my life story made sense". A lot of the problems that I attributed to my personality felt explained. I talked to older classmates as well and even they said that yes, looking back it was pretty obvious that I have ADHD. He directly prescribed me a test batch of Atomoxetine (strattera) for trying. At this point I still didn't think I actually had it but went with it anyway. The side effects were nuts for a couple days but I pulled through. Because of the slow onset it's very hard to actually 'see' a difference but oh man, it feels like life became a lot more manageable: Less arguing in my head, less impulsive behavior, I can keep habits like going to the gym up without getting bored, less of a fight to start a task and so on. Atomoxetine allows me to be myself, minus a few of the ADHD quirks. I still have attention issues, or am jumpy and hyper, but it is less than before and more manageable by me. I am worried that once I go to a different country I will have exactly what you described: That I will be in a long queue waiting for my turn, or that clinics are just full and reject me. My current advantage is that I speak Japanese and that ADHD here is still a kind-of new field. Not many Japanese adults go to get diagnosed, so the Japanese docs are free while the English clinics are booked out months in advance.