Posted on 03/06/2010 7:17:22 AM PST by LouAvul
When Len was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), it explained a lot. Why he had made poor grades in school even though he was smart. Why he was always losing things. Why he felt so restless.
The diagnosis was a surprise, though: Len was 38. He didn't think adults were supposed to have ADHD. But after his 8-year-old son was diagnosed, the therapist suggested that Len be evaluated.
"I grew up thinking I must be dumb or lazy," Len said. "It's hard for me to keep my mind on things that don't interest me. Finding out it's due to a difference in the way my brain works was a relief. The medicine doesn't fix it, but it does make it easier for me to stay focused."
ADHD has become a fairly common diagnosis in children. But for many years, experts thought that children grew out of it in adolescence. It is now thought that about four out of 100 adults have ADHD. And many of them have never been diagnosed.
What are the symptoms of ADHD?
There are three main subtypes of ADHD: primarily inattentive, primarily hyperactive/impulsive, and combined. Below are some of the symptoms of each.
Primarily inattentive type:
Fails to give close attention to details or makes careless mistakes Has trouble sustaining attention Often seems not to listen when spoken to Often doesn't follow through on instructions and fails to finish work Has trouble organizing tasks and activities Avoids or dislikes tasks that take sustained mental effort Loses things Is easily distracted Is forgetful in daily activities Primarily hyperactive/impulsive type:
Fidgets with hands or feet or squirms when sitting Has trouble staying seated Often feels restless Has trouble engaging in activities quietly Is often "on the go" or seems driven by a motor Talks excessively Blurts out answers before questions have been completed Has trouble waiting or taking turns Interrupts or intrudes upon others To be diagnosed with ADHD, a child would have to have at least six of the traits in one or both of these categories. Symptoms would have to appear before the age of 7.
It is hard to apply these same criteria to an adult for many reasons. By the time that they are adults, many people with ADHD have learned to compensate and may not have as many symptoms. They also may have trouble pinning down an age when the symptoms first appeared.
Adults with ADHD are likely to have problems in areas that would not show up in childhood, such as in work performance and problems with safe driving, substance abuse and relationships.
Who can diagnose ADHD?
Licensed mental health professionals (such as psychologists or counselors) can diagnose ADHD. Doctors (such as psychiatrists, neurologists and family doctors) can also do an evaluation. But some professionals may not be very familiar with ADHD in adults. It's a good idea to ask what kind of training and experience the person has working with adults who have ADHD.
ADHD traits are often more subtle in adults than in children. Also, many people with ADHD have other issues, too, such as depression, anxiety or substance abuse problems. These facts can make it harder to figure out if a person has ADHD. A professional will need to rule out other possible causes of symptoms before making a diagnosis of ADHD.
Why get diagnosed?
Some people with ADHD can succeed without being diagnosed and treated. But for many people, untreated ADHD keeps them from living up to their potential. They may fail in school, lose jobs, have trouble in relationships or fall into substance abuse. If you believe you may have ADHD, it can pay to seek an evaluation.
Getting diagnosed gives you a chance to improve your life. Often symptoms become less severe as a person ages, but the core elements of impulsivity, distractibility or inattention remain. So you may not be bouncing in your seat anymore, but you may have trouble paying attention in meetings. You may still make impulsive decisions, lack patience and blurt out things you later regret.
Taking medication and learning how to organize your life may help you succeed. Many people use a day planner to keep track of their priorities. Others benefit from having a counselor or a coach. A coach can help a person with ADHD learn better time management and offer encouragement and feedback to help the person stay focused on goals.
This is no surprise to me. I’m 56, and I was diagnosed four years ago—Oh! Look! That dog has a puffy tail!
My daughter calls it ADOSS - Attention Deficit Oh Something Shiny.
Just keep telling yourself these things, and maybe eventually they will be true.
Who needs science? Conservative ideology answers all questions!
It's possible your child is just very intelligent and becomes bored very easily. A simple test would be to de- medicate and see if the old behavior returns. If necessary get some placebo pills to avoid behavior modification. The long term affects of anti-pyscotics are unknown but I suspect they are similiar to THC, another brain altering chemical.
“A.A.A.D.D. – Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder.
This is how is manifests itself:
I decide to wash my car. As I start toward to the garage, I notice
that there is mail on the hall table. I decide to go through the
mail before I wash the car.
I lay my car keys down on the table, put the junk mail in the trash
can under the table, and notice that the trash can is full.
So, I decide to put the bills back on the table and take out the
trash first, but then I think that since I’m going to be near the
mailbox when I take out the trash anyway, I may as well pay the bills
first.
I take my checkbook off the table and see that there is only one check
left. My extra checks are in my desk in the study, o I go to my
desk where I find the can of Coke that I had been drinking. I’m going
to look for my checks, but first I need to push the Coke aside so that I
don’t accidentally knock it over.
I see that the Coke is getting warm, and I decide I should put it in the
refrigerator to keep it cold.
As I head toward the kitchen with the Coke, a vase of flowers on the
counter catches my eye–they need to be watered.
I set the Coke down on the counter and I discover my reading
glasses that I’ve been searching for all morning.
I decide I’d better put them back on my desk, but first I’m going to
water the flowers.
I set the glasses back down on the counter, fill a container with water,
and suddenly I spot the TV remote. Someone left it on the kitchen table.
I realize that tonight, when we go to watch TV, we will be looking for
the remote, but nobody will remember that it’s on the kitchen table, so
I decide to put it back in the den where it belongs, but first I’ll
water the flowers.
I splash some water on the flowers, but most of it spills on the floor.
So, I set the remote back down on the table, get some towels and wipe up
the spill.
Then I head down the hall trying to remember what I was planning to do.
At the end of the day; the car isn’t washed, the bills aren’t paid,
there is a warm can of Coke sitting on the counter, the flowers aren’t
watered, there is still only one check in my checkbook,
I can’t find the remote, I can’t find my glasses, and I don’t remember
what I did with the car keys.
Then, when I try to figure out why nothing got done today, I’m really
baffled because I know I was busy all day long and I’m really tired. I
realize this is a serious problem, and I’ll try to get some help for it,
but first I’ll check my e-mail.”
“Adults can have ADHD”
Why that’s the most ridiculous thing I ev...OOH SOMETHING SHINY!
No but we live in a world where people have forgotten that there are other ways that people have dealt with things. It used to be if a child couldn’t sit still he faced a ruler. Now they face a pill because their parents and the teachers don’t have the time. Liberal Science does not have all the answers and that is what we have. Some children may need medication as do some adults but most who have problems have them for reasons that do not require it. However we live in a lazy, gotta have it now world, so instead of dealing with the increasing faults of a society which doesn’t even know how to teach its children but has no end of excuses of why we don’t just go back and teach and live the way it worked without having to be medicated and dependent. I know it is easier to believe in liberal “science”, it is easier to believe you have no choice, that is the world we live in an easy one where our children and our people are more medicated than ever before but there is no good result. Education scores are horrible, more unwed births, more permissiveness and dependence.
Yes seems like all that science is working out well yet people are believing all these very liberal scientists as if they are infallible as if they have the one answer to all their problems. Well they do not. It is on display every day in every town and city across this nation. They are not even honest among themselves. It wasn’t so long ago scientists endorsed lobotomies now they do the same thing with little pills. Maybe people are ADHD, they don’t have time to know the history, they buy the liberal weak drivel and the pop culture fiction and all the kids behave like animals because they all have been told they aren’t anything better.
This won’t stop until every behavior has a place in the DSM.
So is DSM-IV.
Your post is completely without merit. Mental illness is as real as any other malady. It has nothing to do with social programming.
The difference between a trait and when it becomes an illness is when it interferes with function. It isn’t a cut and dried diagnosis like “You have cancer” or “You don’t have cancer.”
For example, my son as a baby didn’t sleep through the night, it was always interrupted sleep even past the time of the newborn stage. This continued right through the toddler stage and still happens. He can’t sit still at the dinner table but rocks back on two chair legs or stands next to the chair. He calls it being too full of energy and he has to get rid of it. Yet, he is sweet and obedient in all ways. He is very smart and scores exceptionally well in school, but we have a meeting each year with the teacher before school begins and talk to them about his condition. He stands up or bounces around in his chair but he isn’t lazy and he isn’t bored. Will he grow out of it? Probably not. But he is wonderful in all ways.
The diagnosis is over used I’m sure. But, it has nothing to do with conformity, feminism, or “marginal mental diseases.”
Now, it is one thing to be misinformed or completely ignorant, it is another thing to be proud of it. Please read up on the condition before you post again on the topic as I think you will know better than to post what you did.
Take care.
He rarely drings soft drinks. Maybe if we have Pizza he’ll ask for it, but were talking maybe once a week. He drinks mostly water and milk. And he hates juice of all kinds, I don’t know why.
And we are weaning him off the anti-pyscotics and on to the non-narcotic guanfacine. We tried going cold turkey on the Focalin and onto the guanfacine and that was a disater. So we have him on both and bumping down a mg at a time on the Focalin.
guanfacine is a new product that according to some stories I have read is the one parents of ADD/ADHD children have been waiting for. None of us want to drug up our kids, and quanfacine may be the steap in the right direction.
The one we are trying is called intuniv.
I’ve begun to notice an increasing tendency for those posters with the poorest language skills in exposition making the greatest displays of their talent, lately.
Perhaps these ills of which we speak are becoming contagious?
He is completely “normal” now and does well in school. I sometimes wonder if his behavior is related to the fact that he was never given soda or chocolate regularly as a child. I'm firmly convinced that diets high in caffeine have a similar effect to ADHD medications. ADHD medications are stimulates just like caffeine and “overcharge” receptors causing a relaxed state in the user. Most children nowadays drink Coke or Pepsi product in lieu of water.
He is completely “normal” now and does well in school. I sometimes wonder if his behavior is related to the fact that he was never given soda or chocolate regularly as a child. I'm firmly convinced that diets high in caffeine have a similar effect to ADHD medications. ADHD medications are stimulates just like caffeine and “overcharge” receptors causing a relaxed state in the user. Most children nowadays drink Coke or Pepsi product in lieu of water.
I recommend having him academically tested, and look at short term memory, auditory memory, working memory.
It’s a good idea for any kid with something like ADD/ADHD or any learning disability.
My daughter has awesome long term memory also. You just can’t tell her things. I write things down for her. Once she reads something, then she can remember it. She’s a visual learner.
However, when she was little it was very frustrating. We were constantly repeating things to her.
Medication and good habits go hand-in-hand. Our family accomplished a lot with my daughter through good nutrition and attentive parenting. Yet, when she went on medication, her handwriting took a great leap forward. Her ability to write down assignments in her planner, talk to me without losing her train of thought, and control her temper all improved. She still misplaces things and gets distracted, but it is now more possible to picture her actually holding down a job someday.
There is a great site here in Canada called Totally ADD, which deals with adult ADD and ADHD.
The site is mostly visual, and has a test you can take to see if you should see a doctor about it.
Ping.
Your ignorance is in full display. Regardless of whether it is over diagnosed, or a poor excuse for teacher’s to medicate kids who shouldn’t be, or whether adults use the ‘condition’ as a crutch or excuse, it is a realty.
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