I was diagnosed with ADD as a child, but just recently began taking adderall for it. Promted by my medication, I decided to research ADD. Having also been diagnosed with bipolar disorder I was surprised to find sites linking the two. I am well aware that simple tasks are hard for me when I'm depressed. If I were attempting to clean I would exhaust myself trying to figure out how and where to start, and then get depressed because I was too tired to do it. Even thinking about it became an overload on my system, but doesn't that sound more like a symptom of ADD; too many things to focus on? I also notice the similarity between being hyperfocused and states of mania. Right now I am wondering what the difference is between ADD and bipolar disorder. Could one of them be a misdiagnosis? Could they be the same thing with two different names? Or am I just confused because I have both and they seem to run together?
Dinah: From what I understand BiPolar and ADD have many similarities and can be easily misdiagnosed. I am ADD and a relative BiPolar and the difference really lies in the highs and lows. He would tell me that he would be really high for days and then really low for days. My experience with ADD is little highs and little lows not extreme depression for days and days low but low b/c I, as you, could not figure out where to start on a project and then procrastinate which ultimately gives me a low, but not a considerable depression like with BiPolar.
I'm not an expert in distinguishing between the two but the above is my experience.
Hi everyone, I thought that the traditional Bi-Polar disorder was an extreme dip either up or down. It usually required a more powerful medication to balance the "peaks" out. As with ADHD, there are dips as well, but they seem less intense. I know there is a lot of info out there about co-diagnosis etc, where someone can have ADD/Depression, ADHD/Anxiety, etc., but I would imagine that it varies from person to person. I knew a person in High School who seemed to be in a good mood all the time, but was all over the place. I, on the other hand seem more focused, but I get a little more moody. I guess the difference between the two (ADHD, Bi-polar) might just be the intensity.
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