How do you know? | ADHD Information
Question: how do you know if you have Adult ADD? My son was diagnosed with ADHD in October, and when I read over some of the characteristics in children, I realized that as a child...I too could have been diagnosed. As an adult though I wonder if I still am. When we were testing my son the Dr. had asked if there was a family history of it? Well back then it was unheard of? I really wonder, and if so it would explain alot about me except for the hyperactivity-I am not and have never been....I am scared to be tested myself, I know this sounds crazy, but I am. So how do you know?Hi Dawn,
I think most of us have asked the same question at sometime - or at least wondered where to start. Take a look at the checklist here -> http://www.addresources.org/article_checklist_amen.php
That should give you some idea as to whether it needs further investigation. Also, read some of the posts on this forum - if you find that most of them could have been written by you, then welcome to the club!
Mark -
The majority of females (girls and women) with ADD are NOT hyperactive.I suggest reading any of Dr. Edward Hallowell's books - "Driven to Distraction", "Answers to Distraction", and his newest, "Delivered from Distraction". He is a psychiatrist with ADD himself, so he knows what he is talking about.
I have an appointment with a psychiatrist next Thursday (the 17th). My family doctor agreed back in February that my symptoms were consistent with Adult ADD, but wanted to send me to a specialist to be sure. Personally, if the result IS ADD, I will be relieved to know that my flakiness has a legitimate medical cause. There is another book on ADD in which the titile alone sums things up quite nicely - "You mean I'm NOT Lazy, Crazy, or Stupid?" I don't remember the author's name, and I haven't read it, but I very much like that title.
Keep us posted!
[QUOTE=Dawn Joyce]I read over some of the characteristics in children, I realized that as a child...I too could have been diagnosed. As an adult though I wonder if I still am.[/QUOTE]
If you were ADD back then...... You still are. We don't outgrow this but we can learn to control many of the outward 'symptoms' In my case, I can now control the hyperactivity I displayed as a child. It took work and it still does depending on daily factors.
The medication can help with the outward (and some of the inward) symptoms that are harder for us to control on our own.
[QUOTE=ZORG]If you were ADD back then...... You still are. We don't outgrow this but we can learn to control many of the outward 'symptoms' [/QUOTE]
That's a very good point. I have been self-treating certain aspects of my ADD for a good many years - without even realizing that I was ADD. One of the major symptoms of ADD is disorganization - but I am organized to the extreme in many ways because I know that if I wasn't I would lose everything! It's the only way I can function. Mess and disorder freaks me out. LOL.
[QUOTE=ZORG]If you were ADD back then...... You still are. We don't outgrow this but we can learn to control many of the outward 'symptoms' [.[/QUOTE]
I know this may sound ignorant, but I did not know that.
Mark, thank you for the website...I already checked it out. I marked alot of 4's especially in the impulsivity part.
It's weird, almost like a light has come on for me. Going through school I can remember being handed out directions for an assigment, and can remember telling myself "OK DAWN YOU CAN DO THIS" but no matter how hard I tried I was the one always raising my hand asking for a repeat of directions overtime I learned to conquer this but other things have taken over. Depression too, is this common? But mainly impulsive and frustrated behavior. My financial life is a mess due to impulsiveness. But with the overwhelming of my sons diagnosis and trying to get him better...I dont think I can handle another problem/diagnosis.
But with the overwhelming of my sons diagnosis and trying to get him better...I dont think I can handle another problem/diagnosis.
[/QUOTE]
I think I can understand that.
Personally, I found the diagnosis a great relief - it meant I wasn't the complete ar**hole that everyone had always told me I was, and that I had gradually come to believe I was. It meant a great deal when I realised that I never had a choice, and so I could stop blaming myself - and that was like an enormous weight being lifted off my mind.
I'm still hopeless with money though 
Mark -
[QUOTE=Dawn Joyce]Question: how do you know if you have Adult ADD? My son was diagnosed with ADHD in October, and when I read over some of the characteristics in children, I realized that as a child...I too could have been diagnosed. As an adult though I wonder if I still am. When we were testing my son the Dr. had asked if there was a family history of it? Well back then it was unheard of? I really wonder, and if so it would explain alot about me except for the hyperactivity-I am not and have never been....I am scared to be tested myself, I know this sounds crazy, but I am. So how do you know?[/QUOTE]
go see your family doctor or psychiatriast. the internet test applies to too many people. the main thing is to figure out if ADHD is having an effect on your personal/social life, work, school, family, etc... If the symptoms affect at least two of these, chances are you may have ADHD.