Adult ADHD

[5r6jhd]

Does anyone on the forum have any experience with adult ADHD? It's recently come to my attention that I might in fact have ADHD.

This really shouldn't be a surprise. Back when I was 17 I was told by a psych in the states that I had ADD. Both of my parents have been diagnosed and have been on ritalin at various times. All of my siblings have been diagnosed with it over the course of hte last 15 years. I think I've always tried so hard to NOT be like my family, so I rebelled against any thought of having it myself.

Now my daughter is being assessed for issues and they are thinknig that she is most likely ADHD. This pretty much makes it almost impossible for me not to be.

That aside, a friend of mine posted an article on ADHD and how it presents in women on facebook the other day. I had a read of it and I identified with 90% of the symptoms.

People think I am disinterested in what they say in conversation sometimes because I can be easily distractable....my mind wanders and I jump from topic to topic very quickly. My brain is a very loud place...it's busy and im always over thinking. This has always been attribute to my anxiety, but even when my anxiety isn't acting up I am this way.

I know I am very intelligent, but I consistently under acheive and don't reach my goals. I start things and don't see them through. College has always been tough for me...I'm totally interested, but th work can be a challenge. I lose focus reading -- my mind wanders to other things constantly. Studying is very difficult for me. I get overwhelmed with the sheer volume of information before me, I struggle to pick out what the most important parts are and then I shut down and procrastinate. Even writing on the forum...I know I am a good writer when I put my mind to creating a piece, but I don't have the focus to proof read my work. When I do, I notice tons of typos and stuff that doesn;t make sense because it's almost like my brain jumped ahead of what I was typing and I jumbled it all up.

I am organised in some ways, but my surroundings are a disaster. I always feel like im playing catch up in life.

I have a huge amount of sleep problems. I can get to sleep ok but I wake up a lot during the night.

I mentioned my ADD diagnosis to my psychologist once, but he was like nahh you don't. I think maybe because of my PTSD diagnosis it could have been masked and overlooked. I'm increasingly anxious about heading back to university because I'm afraid I'll do what I always do and lose focus and fuck it up. That';s not an option for me, so if I could get a diagnosis and medication to help me that would be amazing. I recently found out my Psychiatrist is one of the only doctors in the country that deals with adult ADD so I want to gather all of the info I can before getting in touch with her about possibly lookng into it.

 

[SpecialEdition]

I looked into this for myself recently. There are a lot of online assessments you can take to determine whether or not you are experiencing symptoms of ADHD. It presents VERY differently in females than it does in males and in fact there is a lot less information available for females experiencing ADHD so it's harder to tell.

There's a few online quizzes you can take and there are actually psychologists who specialize in adult ADHD.

For example: http://www.adhdlearningcentre.com/take-a-quiz.html

 

[5r6jhd]

I looked into this for myself recently. There are a lot of online assessments you can take to determine whether or not you are experiencing symptoms of ADHD. It presents VERY differently in females than it does in males and in fact there is a lot less information available for females experiencing ADHD so it's harder to tell.

There's a few online quizzes you can take and there are actually psychologists who specialize in adult ADHD.

For example: http://www.adhdlearningcentre.com/take-a-quiz.html

I took a bunch of online tests when I was younger with a psychologist thatsaid I had ADHD. I was never medicated and I pretty much ignored the diagnosis.

You hit the nail on the head. Its the same wth the likes of Aspergers -- it presents differently in males and females. I think because males have a higher prevalance most of the information out there is around their symptoms. I never really identified with any of that, so I ignored it. It wasnt until I started reading how it presents in females that it started ringing a bunch of bells.

 

[5r6jhd]

Do you think you have it after more research [MENTION=7838]SpecialEdition[/MENTION]?

 

[SpecialEdition]

Do you think you have it after more research [MENTION=7838]SpecialEdition[/MENTION]?

Ohhhh I don't know. I scored high enough on the quiz that it said I might benefit from seeing someone about it but I never followed up on that. I would say that some of it speaks to me. I'm an intelligent and high functioning person but always found that I was overwhelmed with having to do certain things in life such as school work or chores or any kind of project. Most of this doesn't show up at work because I'm a high performer but I take a lot of liberties with mental breaks and tasks to power through. I do easily distract and was always prone to spacing out and daydreaming and losing focus and would get overwhelmed easily if there were things I couldn't really focus on or understand and I would let that pile up a lot. I think in subtle ways I definitely have a lot of the symptoms but have trained myself out of it.

The more I practice self care and take care of my body and my mind the easier it is to continue to function highly in my life. The more well rounded I am the better I am at not slipping up or letting things get out of control. I would say that it's easier to see aspects of it in myself if I am having a "low" day but that doesn't happen a lot.

Overall I won't really be pursuing treatment or counseling for it because I don't feel like it's getting in the way.

 

[Artemisia]

I took the tests and apparently I have it! I have suspected it for a while now and it does make sense because as a child I was fidgety all the time, had bad personal hygene, and no manners when interacting with other children. I would also daydream a lot and was in my own little world, with maybe 1 friend if I was lucky. My room was always a mess and chores would be a nightmare. If a subject interested me (like history), I would overfocus and get top marks; if a subject was boring (like math), I would not bother with it at all.

Luckily I outgrew the bad hygene (now I am overly hygenic) and some of the dread for chores. I still have to train myself to do the latter though.

My overfocus on history and the social sciences led me to obtain a PhD from a major university and now, at 33, I have published a few articles and two books and I am quite well-known in my field (which comes as a surprise to me). It is only in the past three years or so when my struggles with love addiction (which became severe after my father passed away) left me uninterested in my field that I have discovered the root problem: ADHD.

These days, my day are scheduled and I get a lot more done. I can at least focus on work again and this will hopefully diminish the struggle with love addiction.

My question to other ADHD folks: did your symptoms improve once you hit your 30s? If so, did you take conscious action or did they improve by themselves?

 

[Asa]

I took the test. (I don't have it.) If a creative and imaginative person was stuck in a dull cubicle job, or if a big picture thinker (like INFJs) was stuck at a detail-oriented job, and they failed to adapt, they could get labeled w/ Adult ADHD, according to this test. Seems better to find the right environment for people to work in, and write fewer prescriptions.

 

[Artemisia]

I took the test. (I don't have it.) If a creative and imaginative person was stuck in a dull cubicle job, or if a big picture thinker (like INFJs) was stuck at a detail-oriented job, and they failed to adapt, they could get labeled w/ Adult ADHD, according to this test. Seems better to find the right environment for people to work in, and write fewer prescriptions.

ADHD is more than just being stuck in the wrong job or environment though. Certain things that may come naturally to you require extensive training for the ADHD person to master. It's not easy having an overactive mind and finding it difficult to know where to place your energy. It takes a lot of training and conscious effort.

 

[aeon]

I was formally Dx’d with ADHD-PI at age 41 (I am 47 now).

It was the common thread that ran through and tied together so many disparate events such that my life began to have a narrative.

Pharmacological treatment has been absolutely life-changing. I still have to work harder to get not quite as far, but at least I have a chance now.

ADHD is recognized differently between boys/men and girls/women, but in terms of neurodevelopmental disability and executive function deficit,
and how those things are expressed among life domains, there are no differences between men and women, based on current research.

I found more of “my people” and their understanding and acceptance when I paid less attention to xNFP and began to understand and treat my ADHD.


Cheers,
Ian

 

[Artemisia]

I found more of “my people” and their understanding and acceptance when I paid less attention to xNFP and began to understand and treat my ADHD.


Cheers,
Ian

Hello Ian, may I ask, besides medication, what other things have you been doing to treat your ADHD?

 

[aeon]

Hello Ian, may I ask, besides medication, what other things have you been doing to treat your ADHD?

Specifically? Nothing. The only other thing shown to have clinical efficacy, daily coaching/therapy, I cannot afford.

In general, which all help greatly: practice good sleep hygiene, eat well, exercise and do only what I like and do it hard when I do it,
make use of the lists/alarms/reminders on my phone, have caffeine every day, practice good emotional health.

And meds make it possible for me to choose and do those things, and for that I am very grateful.


Cheers,
Ian

 

[Night Owl]

typo

I do not have ADHD, but my father and brother do. Interestingly, when I was at the doctor's the other day, he randomly mentioned how magnesium and namely zinc supplements can assist with ADHD.

Edit: lol I wrote typo in the heading section instead of the ediitn gsecotion. Nor can I be bothered fixing those typos over there - the result of poor fast typing.

 

[Asa]

ADHD is more than just being stuck in the wrong job or environment though. Certain things that may come naturally to you require extensive training for the ADHD person to master. It's not easy having an overactive mind and finding it difficult to know where to place your energy. It takes a lot of training and conscious effort.

I know, and I care about that. I'm not saying people on this thread do not truly have it and struggle with it, and for that I am sorry and care, but the situations in these questions apply to my comment. People in the wrong job would answer the questions a certain way. This test favors detail-oriented, non-creative "left brain" types. If doctors ask the same questions and those patients answer a certain way, they would get mislabeled. I think ADHD is way over-diagnosed and too many people are on prescriptions of all sorts.

Personally, I would try changing my lifestyle a bit (ie career) to see if the symptoms persist because self-diagnosing via an online test. I definitely could have answered a different way to many of these questions when I was in a job that didn't suit my brain.

 

[5r6jhd]

I do not have ADHD, but my father and brother do. Interestingly, when I was at the doctor's the other day, he randomly mentioned how magnesium and namely zinc supplements can assist with ADHD.

Edit: lol I wrote typo in the heading section instead of the ediitn gsecotion. Nor can I be bothered fixing those typos over there - the result of poor fast typing.

Interestingly enough, I began taking magnesium and zinc for other reasons and noticed a huge improvement in my sleep! If I took it more regularly, it wouldnt surprise me if I noticed other improvments.

 

[Night Owl]

Interestingly enough, I began taking magnesium and zinc for other reasons and noticed a huge improvement in my sleep! If I took it more regularly, it wouldnt surprise me if I noticed other improvments.

Wow, yeah it'd be interesting to hear how it goes if you do take it regularly (they say 1 week is enough to begin to see results, but 3-4 weeks to really see). Vitamin D has really helped me too (5000 IU). I'm on all three due to a deficiency.