Just curious as a parent newly facing this disorder, I know there is a lot of adult ADHD out there, does it begin with childhood & continue---forever?
Excuse my naiveity, I just want to know if my child will always need to be on meds?
Nope, never outgrown, never cured. Some adults and older kids DO learn to control the symptoms, similar to someone with Tourettes controlling tics while in public.,
Hi,
Don't take me as an expert but look at the Blog on this website titled:
ADHD Brains Might Need More Growing Time.Maybe this will give you some answers. Read the entire article. It was helpful for me to look at my husband's childhood and realize how much ADHD had an impact and yet he is an extremely successful adult. More than most people could ever imagine. And yet, he will be the first to admit that had he had medication as a child his accomplishments would have been greater. Hard to imagine by anyone's standard. Hope this article gives you some hope/answers.
ADD/HD is a genetic trait.
So no, you don't outgrow it.
You do learn coping mechanisms.
And how to compensate.
I still take drugs, too.
my son is add inattentive no hyper activity, our ped told us that she has seen kids hit puberty and get worse and some get better. I don't believe any person/child is the same and no one knows what the human body is capable of...my 93 year old grandmother had a stroke and began talking to us about milking the cows and getting veggies from the garden, neither of which we had. A week later she was back to normal and the doctors said the brain can heal itself. Have faith! I do!
YES, you can outgrow some symptoms, especially hyperactivity. The intensity of the symptoms can decrease in general. You learn coping mechanisms for the symptoms that remain. Also, the school environment is especially demanding regarding focus. This is not the case with many careers.I think you just learn to compensate.
I don't even think the hyperactivity really decreases, just becomes more constructive. When I was a kid I was going nonstop, didn't need to be doing anything productive. I'm still going nonstop but I'm do more productive things with it. The bad part is that I still don't stay with any one thiny long enough to make significant progress.
In many ways I feel that my symptoms have actually become more prominent as an adult. When I was a kid I had my parents to rely on for the daily household responsibilities and now find that they pose so much of a challenge for me that I have to sacrifice most of the things that I would like to be doing.
Not me- Spaced Out As Ever- 25 years after my initial Dx
thank you all for your responses! they have been very helpful. Actually at this point, I am just trying to do as much research as I can before a diagnosis is even made. We are taking her to a neuropsychologist next month and will go from there. I guess I didn't mean to ask if she will always need to be on drugs (being that we might not ever even put her on them) really I was just crurios if we did go that route, if it was something that we would eventually wean her off of, or if some treatment would always be needed. So I found this thread very helpful! thank you! sorry for my lack of clarity, like I said--this is all still so new.
[QUOTE=inspiredbymusic]No decision about taking or not taking medication has to be permanent.
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I like that concept!
I also think that there is a lot of bad press given to ADHD meds because of their nature. Bad things happen with all medications, we need to out weigh the risks and benifits of anything we take.
I was perscribed continous oral contraceptives to help control endometreosis, two different medications caused me to break out in a really bad rash. Despite the thought of how great it would be to not have to deal with having my period every month, and the potential return of painful endometreosis, I decided that it was not worth the risk of a full out allergic reaction.
It's all about being as educated as we can about any medical treatments and taking on the responsibility of monitoring any symptoms that may indicate a problem.
My personal opinion is that there is still so much that is unknown about ADHD. Much more that is unknown than known. It seems that for the most part people do not outgrow ADHD, but some do learn better coping skills as they get older.