Adult ADD - How can you be sure? | ADHD Information

Kid Rock has a point. If you I can manage to leave my coat in my office, and search my entire house for it because I don't remember it's in my office, how can I remember if I had ADD symptoms before age 7??

Ask family members. Not if you had ADD. But pick some of the behaviors you have now and see if you had them that young.

I too was great in school (except my spelling is terrible) but I did assignments at the last minute, I forgot to do things, etc. When I told my family that I was diagnosed (at 40) with ADD the most common response was "Well, Duhhh" They never thought of me as having ADD because I learned to cope so well and so early, but once told they could see why.

I would like to expand a little on what Daddwithadd said. Ask family members like he said be careful mentioning ADHD. Some people, even some close to you, may immediatly dismiss ADHD because of the general publics ignorance to what ADHD REALLY is. I'm not saying their dumb or closeminded. Its just that so many people have predetermined opinions on ADHD but don't really understand it.

Its easily blown off as no big deal. I think thats because its not tangable and if you have never seen the effects before and after treatement then you can't really get a mental summation of it.

Oh and yea I sucked in school. I read slowly ( had a very high comprehension though ), IF i did my homework it was at the last minute. In fact I past 12 grade english because my best friend slept with the english teacher. Not really something I recommend though. But today I'm more successful than most of my high school graduating class.

I recall as early as 1st grade having what I recognize now as ADD. I was always staring out the window. I like how grown-ups sound on Charlie Brown cartoons, like horns or something you didn't understand. Thats how my teacher would sound till she was cracking me with a yard stick and screaming "DID YOU HEAR ME'? I had a problem with sitting still as well and would do anything to get up and move around. One time in 1st grade I purposely spilled a box of wood pieces with letters on them just so I would have to get up and pick them all up...1 at a time. I did this almost daily for weeks. Then one day when I didn't even spill them, the teacher found a letter on the floor and started freaking out big time, spraying me with saliva like a big sloppy wrestler, snatched me up sharply and dragged me out in the hallway and says, "STAND AGAINST THAT WALL AND DON'T MOVE"! Now this was in Canada... Windsor, Ontario...1961, I knew what was coming as she gracefully made her way like godzilla to the principals office. I got the palms of my hands blistered with 'the strap' , a foot-long srtip of razor-strap type material with a strip of metal in the center to keep it rigid.

Wow! Its all comming back to me now, maybe I was so ADD then, I'm not so ADHD now.

Hello, the best way i can tell you that is a clear sign is this:

if it takes you longer than 1 hour to wash 4 plates, 4 forks, 4 knives, 4 glasses, 2 pots, 1 baking dish and 2 serving dishes, because you keep thinking you need to wash a load of laundry, then you need to clean the bathroom because you went to use it and noticed the sink was dirty. Then you noticed that the floor needed swept so, you did that right quick, then that reminded you to take the trash out, the trash is coming in the morning. That's how you can tell.

OK, I score high on all the Adult ADD tests (such as WebMD Assess Plus), and can honestly say it appears as if ADD behaviors/ tendencies have impacted both my personal life (I don't listen, don't remember things) and professional life (I don't listen, don't finish projects), etc. Also, I've been diagnosed by two psychaitrists, although the assessments they gave me seemed somewhat arbitrary.

My "aha!" moment came when I told psychiatrist #1 "The story of my life is one of always starting things but never finishing."

However, I don't remember having ADD before the age of 7 or 8 (2nd or 3rd grade). I remember school was easy, and while I never excelled, I was never accused of being hyper, inattentive, etc. Maybe once or twice, such as when I lost "eraser cleaning" privaleges because I was screwing around, or didn't get in my class picture because I was making distorted faces, things like that. But I was able to do the work, was a good reader, and even won a spelling bee once.

So...if I don't think I had ADD as a kid, what else could it be?

Thanks for any and all feedback.

My Sumation

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it appears as if ADD behaviors/ tendencies have impacted both my personal life (I don't listen, don't remember things)

However, I don't remember having ADD before the age of 7 or 8 (2nd or 3rd grade).

So...if I don't think I had ADD as a kid, what else could it be?

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The fact that you can't remember if you had ADD as a child is because you have it now.

I have a story related to this. I was the good, compliant, obedient child in the family, according to my parents. I was diagnosed with ADD in my late 30s. There was/is no doubt about the diagnosis; I am a classic adult ADDer (got diagnosed over 10 years ago). Anyway, a few years ago my mom gave me a box she had found when cleaning out the attic, with my old school report cards. It was all there: Cannot sit still. Fidgets. Talks out of turn. Does not finish homework assignments. In those days, I don't think that anybody ever thought girls had ADD -- nowadays this would set off all the alarm bells. I had absolutely no memory of this school experience, but some of it came back to me when I saw the report cards.

[QUOTE=Wordwoman]I have a story related to this. I was the good, compliant, obedient child in the family, according to my parents. I was diagnosed with ADD in my late 30s. There was/is no doubt about the diagnosis; I am a classic adult ADDer (got diagnosed over 10 years ago). Anyway, a few years ago my mom gave me a box she had found when cleaning out the attic, with my old school report cards. It was all there: Cannot sit still. Fidgets. Talks out of turn. Does not finish homework assignments. In those days, I don't think that anybody ever thought girls had ADD -- nowadays this would set off all the alarm bells. I had absolutely no memory of this school experience, but some of it came back to me when I saw the report cards. [/QUOTE]

Be careful of being overwhelmed by memories of a kid with adhd - when you open that can of worms - it can be ugly!!!!

I also was made aware through reports and other things i recieved copies of as an adult by a strange means that i had suppressed certain things in very early childhood related to adhd (called something else then) and when it all came back to me or i read through some of the stuff - i got pissed and depressed for a time!!! Luckily i am the kind of person that cannot stay depressed for more than a day of three, i am still too hyper!!!

Hyperactivity is certainly one of the main actions of someone with ADHD but there is also the predominately innattentive type of ADHD. Maybe looking back at your childhood you may fit that discription best???

"Hello, the best way i can tell you that is a clear sign is this:

LOL - I laughed so hard when I saw this ogram!! In fact last night I had this problem, as I always do, and nothing got done, as usual. I still have a pile of laundry about 2 feet high sitting on my couch that will probably be there all week long....