Keith Walsh on ADHD diagnosis at 49: 'I was trying to figure out why I felt the way I felt'

The broadcaster and former RTÉ 2FM host opens up about his journey to an ADHD diagnosis aged 49

Broadcaster Keith Walsh.

Broadcaster and former RTÉ 2FM host Keith Walsh has been on “a bit of a journey” over the past number of years and now, at 49, he has learned that he has ADHD. The diagnosis, he says, explains a lot.

According to ADHD Ireland, ADHD — or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder — is a medical or neurobiological condition in which the brain’s neurotransmitter chemicals, noradrenalin and dopamine, do not work properly.

For Walsh, the road to eventually being diagnosed started with his 14-year-old son, who also has ADHD.

“[My son] was recently diagnosed with ADHD so when we were doing a lot of the exploring of his condition and whether he had ADHD, my wife was answering questions about him but everything she said, she thought about me as well,” he explains.

With this, Walsh started to look into the possibility and did an ADHD test for himself. The test result, he said, showed he did have the condition.

While the Longford native admits it was not something he had considered prior to his son’s experience, when he was diagnosed a couple of weeks ago, aged 49, he felt relieved that “there was something”.

After he finished up on 2FM’s Breakfast Republic, Walsh decided to start therapy in a bid to help him keep on top of his mental health and it is something he has been open about in the past.

“I was feeling quite low at that point so I thought well, I should get some therapy here and it will help me figure out the things I need to do [to make] the best of the situation, make sure that my mental health was good. So that was kind of separate and just something that I wanted to do,” he says.

However, his decision to start therapy ultimately helped him to get to the point where he was looking at ADHD.

“I suppose I’ve been on a bit of a journey the past few years. I have been to therapy. I’ve stopped drinking. I was trying to figure out why I felt the way I felt,” the father of two explains.

“I’d given up drink, say for instance, even though I wasn’t necessarily a heavy drinker [but] I was like, well if I give up drink I’ll definitely be more focused during the week and have more energy for work I need to do. Or I wasn’t exercising enough, I wasn’t taking the right vitamins… 

"I was always on something, trying to figure something out because I felt like I had certain skills or talents but sometimes, I didn’t seem to have the motivation or the ability to see things through.” 

He says he was trying to fix something, but he didn’t know what it was so his diagnosis “explains a lot”.

For Walsh, who also has a podcast aimed at promoting wellbeing, ADHD meant a lack of focus and forgetfulness and he would often start a task before forgetting about what he was doing.

For my wife, it would have appeared that sometimes I just didn’t care."

One recent example he shares is when he booked to do a comedy gig and a break away with his wife for the same weekend.

“These two things were happening in two weeks’ time on the same weekend and I was excited about both of them simultaneously but separately and I never put the two together until like, the week before.” 

He says he didn’t know how to explain it, but to now have the diagnosis, means he can put things in place and try and make sure a similar situation doesn't occur — and if it does, “it’s not because [he’s] an asshole”.

Walsh spoke about his diagnosis on Twitter in recent days in the hopes that others may be able to share their experiences with ADHD as well as any tips or tricks they have learned along the way. He hopes to share more about his journey but for now, he is still adjusting.

“I’m just trying to figure it out. I’m doing a lot of reading, I’m listening to a lot of podcasts and audiobooks just to get tips and ideas.”