is this ADHD? | ADHD Information

I am 16 and for the past 3 years have been questioning whether or not I have ADHD. I had a psychological evaluation done and it turns out I probably do have it. I am convinced I have it...unless I am just hoping I do so that I'll finally have a solution to most of what I'm struggling with (I know I didn't explain that last part well at all).

Anyway, I would like to know if anyone here knows about, or struggles with, obsessiveness. It's like, you get an idea in your mind and it's the only thing you can think about. Nothing else is interesting except this one thing. It could be pretty much anything--an idea, an activity, a place, etc. Is this common in ADHD? My therapist thinks it's OCD but I doubt it. With OCD the obsessions are intrusuve. The obsessions I have are with things that interest me. Does anyone else have this problem? Has anyone had this and is taking ADD meds? Do ADHD meds make obsessivness worse? This problem seems to be intensified when I have something with caffeine, so I thought maybe a stimulant would have a similar effect. If anyone has had this problem and/or is taking meds, please let me know what your experiences were with this symptom. Thanks.

-Rebecca-

Oh, one more thing, ADHD is often comes with another deal, or what's called a co-morbidity. ADHD and bipolar are common. ADHD and OCD are common. ADHD and depression, or with anxiety, you get the picture. It would be a good idea to follow with that psych evaluation, and pursue your questions about yourself. You seem very insightful and aware of your self for your young age. Good for you! And, welcome to the boards. :-)

I have two ideas.

OCD. Obsessions can be with things you like, find comfort in, enjoy doing, etc, and you are perhaps more drawn to them under stress or anxious times. Can be a variety of things. For me, any hobby I have will do, or cleaning. :-) Does this sound familiar? It's a way for OCDers to push the problem out of the mind with an intense activity. For example, I took up rollerblading during my divorce. It was an activity I could do to relieve my mind of the troubling thoughts of that time.

This probably isn't it, but higher-funcitoning aspi grownups, as well as when they were children, do focus on one interest. This ONE interest carries over into their entire life. I have an aspi friend and his son, and they are both this way.

ADHD meds, the stims, CAN make OCD and obsessiveness worse. I have no personal experience with it, but in my readings and research for myself, this is a general common thread we see.

If you are diagnosed with OCD, your diagnostician will probably switch to a non-stim med, or give you a combo of meds to balance you out. Definitely worth talking with your therapist about.

Usually if I start talking about it, it just makes me think about it even more.

If it is OCD, what can I do about it? And if it's ADHD, I just don't know if a stimulant is the answerOh well I tried lol. I don't think a stimulant is the answer. I'd say talk to your Doc about it.

Skye [QUOTE=soberxinsanity] unless I am just hoping I do so that I'll finally have a solution to most of what I'm struggling with (I know I didn't explain that last part well at all). QUOTE]

Rebecca, I understand that completly. lol. I struggled all my life with ADD until I was about...IDK 13 I guess, and am still struggling with it, even with being diagnosed. Hang in there. I agree with Calicorose, you seem very aware of yourself, very mature. That's a great advantage.

I don't have OCD, but I have ADD and other disabilities and also do get overly rilled up on an idea every so often. I'm on Ritalin which I haven't found to make a difference (and I wouldn't suggest taking it. I'm in the process of finding an alternative. There's a whole crap load of side effects and I haven't felt right since I started on it.) But one thing I've found to help me chill when I'm about to go extreme with an idea, is to wait a minute. Rethink what it is. Maybe talk to someone about the idea. It's hard, I know, and sometimes I don't think about it and just start doing whatever it is, but I've found a lot of times that when I say it out loud I suddenly realize "Skye there's no way you can do that" or "Skye you don't have the time to do that". IDK if that's any help. Like I said, the Ritalin's not working well.

Best of luck!

SkyeAspergers/ocd not uncommon together also. The onset is age 3.

landtheplane- I'm a speech pathologist, and work with Asperger's some. As we would say in professional language, he certainly has several "red flags" - it sounds as if he has a lot of the traits of Asperger's. Some of those are having a "high interest". Some popular high interest topics for children (or adults?) with Aspergers are trains, dinosaurs, military (I have a student who can tell me anything about WWII), Pokemon, Anime, computer games. The interest goes beyond just "I really like this," but that is ALL they like - any homework assignments they get to choose a topic for will often find a way to involve this high interest topic. (Don't ask me how a speech on "foods and nutrition" can involve Anime, but apparently it can!). Many children with Asperger's are highly intelligent, and act like "little adults". But they lack the social skills to interact appropriately with their friends the same age, so they need help learning social skills. Some older children may think their friends are just "immature", but in reality, they are not picking up on non-spoken language, so they don't understand why all their classmates act certain ways.

Other red flags include being SUPER orderly. This is the kid who parents think it's GREAT because their room is so clean, but they may meltdown if a book is out of place. Or one child I knew HAD to change the font on his report because it left uneven gaps between the letters. Routine is VERY important to them so it helps to warn in advance for changes, to let them get used to the idea. A child with Aspergers may be an early reader, but not be able to comprehend what he reads. They may also have a hard time with "pretend play". It seems silly to them. This child may take the toy cars and drive them around or ram them into walls, but doesn't pretend to drive them to a park or McDonald's or have any sort of purpose to the play.

I can't remember how young they can diagnose Asperger's. I kind of think it may not go as low as preschool. It would be worth checking in with the doctor if you feel like I just described your son. Also, there may be some good websites or books that explain it better than I did. Meanwhile, celebrate his strengths, and do what you can to encourage same-age friendships. Supervise the play, and if it seems like he's not "getting" what the other kids are doing, just tell him, in simple words.

People with Asperger's can be very successful. Apparently microsoft hires so many "computer geeks" with Aspergers, that they actually hire people to help these employees with their social skills. Another interesting thing - the more you learn about Aspergers, the more you will recognize the child you probably went to school with way back when, who likely had undiagnosed Aspergers.

Good luck - I'll watch the thread - I'm curious to see how it goes for you. If only I knew as much about ADHD-inattentive type as I do about Aspergers, life would be easier in our family right now. We're waiting for our first evaluation appointment for our 8 year old DD. I've just been reading about ADHD inattentive for about 2 weeks. I was pretty clueless before this!!

One thing that our guidance counselor suggested was to ask him to do three tasks, i.e go upstairs, brush your teeth and pick up your shoes to bring downstairs. Inevitably, he would forget at least one or sometimes forget what he was even doing upstairs. He has trouble concentrting and interrupts a lot. He can't stay on task unless you are on him constantly. He impulsively raises his hand in school to answer questions and then has no idea what the answer is.

I, myself as a female, struggle and have always struggled with finishing what I started. I am a very creative person and can come up with some of the greatest plans. Putting them into action and actually following through, are a totally different story. I start one thing, look over and see something else that needs to be done, so I go ahead and start that, etc. (get the point!) Also, I am always finishing people's sentences and tuning them out, so to speak, because I can't follow a conversation for long without interrupting.

I've always felt under par, but after having three children and a small business, I couldn't cope with everyday stuff, which most people could.....That's what prompted me to be evaluated.

Hope this helps.

That's a good sign that he pretend plays. Also that he's not super tidy. (yeah - celebrate the mess!) K and G errors are some of the most "popular" errors in preschoolers. That and "s-blends" (a spider becomes a bider). I have many 4-year-olds on my caseload - lots of them working on K and G. It won't hurt him to wait until 5 to start speech, but the advantage of starting this year is if he makes good progress this year, he may not have to be pulled out of the classroom as much in kindergarten (if any), and he would miss less in the line of academics. As a therapist, I prefer to start earlier, to a certain extent - they haven't practiced the wrong way as long, so it's easier to undo, as long as they are developmentally ready, which would be the case with those sounds in a 4 year old.

Sounds like he's probably a bright little boy.

We had a teacher meeting today too. Went well, considering. She is pretty positive, but will support us and do what needs to be done if we want to pursue an evaluation. She did seem to have a little bit of the "she can do it if she tries" attitude, suggesting that her attention only wanders on the subjects she doesn't like. I was happy to hear she seems to have a variety of teaching methods, and was pretty aware that Mikkela's learning style is not a sit and listen style. Our eval is the 24th. What were the signs for your son, of the ADHD inattentive type?

ham, 2006, he actually does engage in pretend play with his cars. i can hear him in the room while he's playing talking about where he's going and really focusing on the wheels of the car. he only likes the realistic ones, though. he only plays with diecast cars that are models of "real cars" such as mercedes, bmws, jeeps, etc. he can tell you what make and model most any cars are that are on the road. i think his key fixation is due to his deep interest in cars??? i don't know.

i've never seen a child like him. of course, no two are the same. i'm not sure if he's just really smart or if he's missing something. he does, in fact, have a small speech problem. he can't say Gs and Cs or Ks. For example, if his name were Greg he would say "Dreg" or if he were trying to say Karen, he would say "Taren". (he's 4 1/2) His preschool teachers said they would give it some time before sending him to speech therapy. I'm going to wait until he's 5 and then get him into speech therapy. Since you're a speech therapist, does this sound like what I should be doing?

Referencing the orderliness/neatness, he's not very orderly. He does get excited if I clean his room and he walks in and everything is nice and neat. However, he doesn't make a special point to be that way himself.

I am going to talk to his preschool teacher this evening and get some feedback on how he's doing socially.....I'll let you know what she says.

Wow! It's great to be able to talk to someone who has some knowledge. Thanks so much for your time and information.

Good luck to you with your 8 year old. My 11 year old is going to the psych on the 18th to be tested for ADD inattentive type. I'm pretty sure that he has a mild case, but need to know for sure. After dealing with my own ADD my entire life and not knowing it, I don't want any of my children to have to feel inadequate like I did! Support your child and let he/she know that you're on their side!!!

Landtheplane- I don't have to ASK her to do three tasks - I know exactly what will (or won't) happen. Actually, I should try it to see if I'm right. The forgetting to do it or getting sidetracked is VERY common. Loosing things is common. I don't know about raising her hand and not having the answer but she did say something the other day to the effect of needing to stop answering the questions in class when it wasn't her turn. I asked her about it and she said she doesn't really answer out loud, but she whispers, and the teacher hears her. "I just can't help it" she said. Impulsivity?? Does he have areas that he really CAN concentrate in? Is school supportive? Here, the teachers are supportive, but the one doesn't seem to think it's that bad - "There are one or two that aren't as good as she is in (distractibility, handwriting, math facts, keeping her desk cleaned....)" I don't WANT her to tell me how awful my kid is - I'm so thankful for positive feedback for a change! I just don't know if she's seeing what we see. I guess we'll see.

In learning about ADD, I wonder somewhat about myself - I struggle with organizing, my desk at work is always covered with piles - at my last job one of my friends would periodically come in and help me clean/organize. The house is not much better. But I didn't really have a problem with it until college, when I got my first apartment - that's when it seemed to fall apart. That's also when depression kicked in stronger so I suspect it's more that than ADD. I worry about either of those issues with my DD. DH probably has ADD, as far as either of us can tell, so she's fair game for either. Poor thing.

If you want, I can give you some easy ideas to try at home that may help your son turn the corner on those k and g sounds. I can email, or post them here, whatever you want. If you want.

[QUOTE=calicorose]

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my brother has OCD and he tydes up the chocolate bars in the shops and makes sure the chearal boxes r the right way up and opens crisps the right way up silli little things ya no?

I didnt know OCD can involve being really or too interested in a hobby. I thought that people just have obsessions with little things and treat them with compulsions....thanks, calicorose. should i get him checked out? another situation we're dealing with him is that he is very precocious and has a hard time interacting with kids his own age. Loves adults and gravitates towards them. I've got him in preschool but, the teachers tell me that he'd rather hang out with the teachers than the kids. When he does break out and hang with some kids, he prefers the girls over the boys. hmmmmm????

Really, the only experience I have with Asperger's is my friend and his son. I do not know how his son was at that young of an age, as he is in his older teens now, and i have only known him for a few years. I do know that he was indeed also precocious and tended to feel more at ease with the company of older individuals. Remember, he is quite an intelligent guy, and if your's is too, he may be way over their heads!

I'm sure there are others on the board here will be able to much better answer your questions about what is the best way to go about finding out what's best for your child, and lead you to the best kind of evaluation to find answers. Maybe you could post a new question on the parent's board?

Good luck! :-)

calico rose, what is aspi? i'm curious because my son is displaying some similar behaviors mentioned above. Landtheplane, sorry about that, aspi is short for asperger's. My friend tells me that is quite typical, about having a fixation on something for a period of time, or a lifetime. His son, when younger, was fixated with anything with hinges. His father my friend, as an adult, is fixated on knives, swords, and other similar items. It's interesting that they are both very VERY bright, and can tell you anything you want to know about any war in history.