AD(H)D & OCD: peas in a pod? | ADHD Information

Interesting, I'm ADHD and my daughter is seriously OCD. Thought there was a connection. OCD for her is as big of a challenge as ADHD is for me. It affects her everyday life and makes her quite miserable at times. The way she responds if there are any food particles left in the sink is much like I respond to any one of my phobias. She is on Lexapro now, but still locks herself in her room at times trying to keep get it together. It's painful to watch. Daughter is a genious. 26 yrs old with 3 degrees.

Dad/Aspergers, Mom/ADHD, Daugher/OCD Can you picture what her life was like while she was growing up? Poor thing.

I have some concerns about the 3 year old now. She articulates like an adult and has since she was 13/14 months old. Everything has to be routine or she flips. Like, he rocks on horsey 3 times never 2 or 4, looks out window and talks about the stars asks questions far beyond her years, says her prayers and sleeps with Bunny lots, more quirks. This could be normal 3 year old behavior, but, you can not vary from her schedule at all without upsetting her greatly. Then there is family history.

Imagine how shocked I was when watching a special on "hoarding" on MSNBC last night (oh yeah, that's me) and discovering hoarding behavior falls under OCD! When thinking about OCD, I'd always thought it meant people who were either just plain compulsive about idiosyncratic behavior or neat freaks. I'd NEVER associated it with chronic disorganization and untidiness, but there it was!

One counselor who ran a support group for hoarders made a comment that it was coupled with ADD but that's all that was mentioned about the relationship. I have a wonderful book by Dr. Jeffrey Seigel, a neuropsychiatrist, who was the OCD expert consultant for the movie "The Aviator" but didn't identify with Hughes type of OCD, so never made the connection. Nor did I buy one of Seigel's books on OCD, but another one, for that reason.

Anyone else know more about AD(H)D and OCD/hoarding?

Thisis how it was explained to me, with my wife providing the personal experience:
norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors help control symptoms of ADD. Strattera is this class of drug.

Seratonin defficiency is thought to be the cause of OCD, lexapro is an option usually prescribed to help control compulsive behaviors.

My wife shows major signs of undiagnosed (and refuses to believe in her having) ADD. Because she's from a stern engineering family her reaction to the ADD was to overcompensate and she developed OCD in response.

My pdoc explained to me that the chemicals are related, out of the X number of steps (i think it was 20 or there abouts) that it takes to build a seratonin molecule the "decision" as to whether to be dopamine or seratonin occurs at the very last step, which is why certain other disorders can become apparent once the ADHD gets medicated.

It's true- they are finding connections with OCD and ADHD - which is very promising. There was a psychology today article that showed that OCD can actually be caused by head injuries in the front- along the logic area of the mind. People who after an injury begin hoarding were found to be injured in an area different than those who never developed the tendencies.

With this - they are eventually going to be able to narrow down where all this comes from - and hopefully find better treatments. So much for all this being our imagination or plain "laziness" - huh?

I have ADD I am not OCD about anything! I can not keep anthing clean. I make a mess everywhere that I go. My husband is OCD and walks around and picks up after me everyday. He can not stand messes. I love it! We wrok good together. If house work was my chore. Our home would look like a junk yard. Maybe not that bad but it would not be pretty!!!!!!![QUOTE=GlenW]

With this - they are eventually going to be able to narrow down where all this comes from - and hopefully find better treatments. So much for all this being our imagination or plain "laziness" - huh?

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According to the program I watched, they've linked (not sure how many studies on it) OCD with some strep infection. They can actually test for something in the blood (simple test) called DH17 that's some level of predictor for OCD.

They also said it didn't generally respond well to either mediciation OR talk therapy, although both could help reduces severity and symptoms. Fortunately, my own doesn't seem too severe although it HAS gotten progressively worse over the years. Almost dying as an indirect result of it, though, sure did heighten my motivation and it's under MUCH more control than it was before I was in the hospital. I'd have to say that motivation related to consequences plays a pretty big role. The motivation within our genetic makeup to survive is pretty darned strong. At least once the connection between "business as usual" and survival becomes clear!

My uncle has OCD, and my brother & I both have ADHD.

When my brother was dx'ed (six or seven years ago), my mother did a lot
of research & found that OCD and ADHD are linked - they affect the same
parts of the brain, or such. IIRC, Tourette's is also related.

I'll have to ask her if she can find that info - it was really interesting, and
frankly made me feel better as I have some obsessive tendencies & was
very afraid I had OCD as well.