Maladaptive Daydreaming

[Sarah]

Hi, 

I'm pretty sure  have maladaptive daydreaming. I've looked up lots of articles on it and I'm pretty sure I have it but I've also seen that a large number of people with it can have adhd, anxiety or depression. I think I have some form of anxiety and I also have a lot of symptoms of adhd but I dont think I have it, but I'm not really sure what to do about all this. I want to try to maybe control my anxiety but at the moment my maladaptive daydreaming is taking up a lot of my life and it's becoming a big problem for me and I dont know how to stop or control it and I'm worried I'm going to have to live with it my whole life which I really dont want. I'm only 17 and I'm too scared to tell my parents about it because the way i do it is by pacing back and forth in my room for hours each day, mouthing imaginary conversations and laughing and crying along with the conversation. I'm easily triggered by music, being by myself and also looking into mirrors. It sounds completely crazy but I do it every day and it's almost like an addiction for me. I don't really know what I can do to stop it since its not an official mental illness yet and theres not a lot of information about it on the internet. I've read quite a few posts here about people who were diagnosed with Adhd or add or stuff like that and I want to go and talk to a therapist about it but I'm worried that they wont know much about it and to talk to a therapist I'd have to tell my parents which I am absolutely dreading and I dont want them to find out unless it's absolutely necessary.

I have really big exams coming up next year and they'll basically decide my future but I find it really hard to study because I get distracted and start daydreaming quite quickly a lot of the time without realizing. Time always goes by so quickly when I'm daydreaming and I feel like I'm missing out on so much of my life because I spend 2-3 hours of my day in my room pacing while daydreaming ad wasting time. I dont text people a lot and I've lost friends over this but a lot of the time my real life isnt my main focus when I'm at home because I'm always waiting until I can go up to my room and daydream. I also dont really have a social life since I dont really go out that often apart from with some of my close friends.

Also I dont know if this is to do with MD or if its just something to do with me but I have a really hard time making my own decisions. I always have to ask for other people's opinions and get them to tell me what to do but this might just be because I didnt have a lot of responsibility when I was younger and I still dont really have much now.

I dont really know what I'm asking for, I guess just advice or something or even just to hear other peoples similar experiences?