ADD/ADHD and compulsive eating? | ADHD Information

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Hi, I'm new to this message board.
I'm a 21 year old female in college. I have never been diagnosed with ADD/ADHD but I have firmly believed that I have it since I knew what it was--probably in my early teens. I never went to see anyone about it, because my mom for whatever reason never wanted to recognize the possibility of a mental disorder in one of her family members. But anyway, I recently decided that since I'm 21 I'm finally going to see a psychiatrist over my winter break.
Anyway, I recently read that compulsive eating can be a symptom of ADD. Since I was about 16 or 17, I have engaged in compulsive eating at night--mostly simple carbs and sweets. I don't know why but I just feel like I need to eat lots of these kinds of foods at night and if I don't eat them, I just keep thinking about eating them and it drives me crazy. I don't purge though and I'm not overweight. Does anyone else experience this and do you think this really is a part of my (assumed) ADD?
I know that stress can cause cravings for sugars and simple cards, and I definitely get extremely stressed at how easily distracted I get and how it seems to take so long for me to be able to get things done. But I don't know.
Of course I'm going to talk to a doctor about this and if I really have ADD, but that's still about a month off, so I wanted to see your thoughts on this.
Thanks

YES YES YES, Dear Mek

do get tghe full work up on add and yourself.

have you  read the book Deliverede from distgraction by drs hallowell and ratey?

I have been a compulsive overeater since age ten.  I am MUCH better now.

It is a symptom of my personality and problems NOT the problem itself

for sleep i have fouond the perfect answer myself.  first i learned all the basic sleep hygene facts available on line.   Still even doing all that, when i awoke at night i wanted to ear.  the problem is a wonder mind .  i solve that byhaving an MP3 with audio books o n it.  I set the 15 minute sleep timer and listen.  It keeps my mind ocupied long enough for me to flal back to sleep.

pls keep us posted.

any poste you like, you can read all of that posters previous posts usint the search feature.

Welcome and Best Wishes

What you can get away with eating in your 20's, is often defferent from what you can eat, and not gain weight, in your 30's and 40's.  So I agree that it is good to avoid developing habits of overeating at night.  That is a potential for weight gain, eating too much in the evenings, when the body is going to be inactive for some 4 to 6 hours.

There are many aspects to ADHD, and compulsive behavior is one of the aspects.  Habit control is one approach to handling compulsive behavior.  Substituting activities for eating, that might substitute to satisfy food cravings might be an option.  Many Psychiatrists perscribe medications, as a first response to ADHD symptoms.  Psychologists can give you tests to evalutate your over-all symptoms percentages of ADHD.

Nero Linguistic Programmers help to change habits, whether based on ADHD or whatever.  So they will treat you with habit changing techniques, without meds and without ADHD testing.

 What meds interest you?  What side effects are you willing to tolerate?

 

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