mild adhd | ADHD Information
Mild... I would be mild... I have all of the symptoms, but most are cooped with... although there are things that can't be cooped with... like reading long posts... I have a short attention span, if it does not interest me.. but i find many, many things interesting, so i am able to trigger the hyperfocus...
I am hyper... and always sit's on my legs, to stop blod flow... so they do not get that agitated...
I have a short temper... but most of the time I do not offend people... but when I was younger i would beat my fellow schoolers until I was stopped...
And then I am very inattentive.. althought I can se the logic in not being it...
I am a combined type... in those test I have taken... and "might have"... so I must be a mild example...
But It might be because of my intelligence... that I can control it... I do not know..
I agree with Sonya. I was diagnosed with mild add in middle school because my mom had been diagnosed and recognized it in me and had me tested. I didn't start to have major problems until college when I had to create my own structure and make myself go to bed and have long term assignments with nobody checking up on my progress that I started to really have trouble and started medication. I had wanted to try medication in high school but my family doctor was against it, so it went nowhere. I have noticed that it gets worse as I get older, I think because I have more and more to keep track of and more to do.hmmm....I'm not so sure intellegence has much to do with being able to control the symptoms of AD/HD. Perhaps channeling any 'gifts' we may have as a result of AD/HD can be helpful. But I don't believe intellegence has any bearing on whether we can control it or not. Mind you, this is just my opinion.It's like I have OCD/Tourettes on top of my severe ADHD, and believe I am quite intellegent (and one can be intellegent w/o a high IQ, although mine is high)...yet I can't control the urges I have...or if I do, like in public...when I'm alone, I let all hell break lose and tic/jerk up a storm!
GypsyWomyn38460.5531828704[QUOTE=GypsyWomyn]hmmm....I'm not so sure intellegence has much to do with being able to control the symptoms of AD/HD. Perhaps channeling any 'gifts' we may have as a result of AD/HD can be helpful. But I don't believe intellegence has any bearing on whether we can control it or not. Mind you, this is just my opinion. 
It's like I have OCD/Tourettes on top of my severe ADHD, and believe I am quite intellegent (and one can be intellegent w/o a high IQ, although mine is high)...yet I can't control the urges I have...or if I do, like in public...when I'm alone, I let all hell break lose and tic/jerk up a storm! [/QUOTE]
I agree with you, but I think it is a big plus that I am a real thinker... I think allot before I do anything at all... unless people hit me... then I get knocked all over into instinctive crush, kill and destroy mode hehe
Intelligence... it's with an I :) Just a kind note... it really does not look convincing when you spell it wrong hehe... remember... just a kind note 
Hey, It might even be my upbringing that have given me the power to control myself... My have talked allot with me about those things, in my youth... about self control... think before you do... all things like that...
Taag Man38460.5608101852What exactly is "mild" adhd like? Are you just forgetful every once in a while? Mildly messy?I fall at the other end of the spectrum, myself.
I was reading something where someone referred to having mild adhd and really didnt know what he was talking about.
i dunno, maybe "mild" ad/hd is not diagnosed much because people don't realize it...
i think it's the REALLY scatterbrained, dazed, confused ad/hders (like me), and the really hyper bouncing off the wall, jumping up and down, hang gliding, out of the airplane ad/hders that really realize that something is wrong...
however, i do vaguely remember reading somewhere that the longer a child goes without symptoms, the milder the ad/hd is....i.e...some of us get diagnosed in elementary school, some of us have no problems until high school, and some even make it all the way to college before they start having major issues...
i guess it gets worst as you grow, mine surely did...
My guess is perhaps more severe is less able to cope with symptoms. ?? More distracted than some ?? Less able to control hyperness, like not able to sit still, or control this? These are my guesses. I also would like to know more from more informed people. Thanks! I believe I am more towards the severe, and have been most my life.There was a lady on another board that I visit who said she was diagnosed as "borderline" ADD.I guess she fit some of the profile, but not all of it - like those questionnaires that say "score over 65 - ADD possible", "score over 90 - ADD very likely", etc. Perhaps if you score 65, you have "mild" ADD.
I dunno about that though. ADD manifests itself differently in everyone. I think you either have it or you don't.
It's hard to say, since we all only have ourselves to examine thoroughly. It wouldn't surprise me though, if there exists a full spectrum between 'normal' and 'delibilitated'.
[QUOTE=GypsyWomyn]Impulses. Ugh! I wish it was for spending...not opening my mouth and saying things without thinking first. 
It the 'other' impulses that are so difficult to live with. Interrupting, inappropriate comments, etc., etc., etc. 
[/QUOTE]
I still interrupt, finishes peoples sentences, and tend to talk like a waterfall... people are just TO slow... I know what they are going to say... BEFORE they say it, most of the time... I'm very, very good at mind reading... and my middle name is Impatient.... hehe
Only wish ADHD could be 'outgrown'! Oh happy day! 
[quote=Taag Man]...I'm very, very good at mind reading....[/quote]
Oh yeah, can you read what I'm thinking right now?
[QUOTE=GypsyWomyn]Oh yeah, can you read what I'm thinking right now? [/QUOTE] Naughty, naughty woman....! 
I used to be a
terrible compulsive spender. I would buy things on my debit card, and
then realize too late that I'd had just enough in my account to cover
that cheque I wrote for the rent and end up getting a cash advance off
my credit card to cover the difference.... After you do this about 500
times, you eventually start to learn, KWIM?Now, before I buy stuff, I literally stand there in the store and try to do mental calculations in my head. Sometimes though, I still goof.
I used to be terrible for double booking plans with friends with other events (concerts, etc). Now, if a friend asks me to hang out, I sort of "uuuuuuuhhhhh......" while I try to figure out if I had any other plans. Usually that gets me a "if you don't want to hang out you can just say so!"
Ok, guys, CLEAN this post up!!!
So, where are those tests BC Girl was talking about in her post- where you score according to your answers etc.?
I took a couple of written tests when I was diagnosed and I think my score was in the 90's? I cant remember the name of the test, though. I am combined type and have trouble with "all of the above." Obvious differences and difficulties visible from infancy.
Taag- my therapist would agree with you that intelligence does affect the degree of symptoms that you show. I had asked him about it once. [QUOTE=chocoholic]
Taag- my therapist would agree with you that intelligence does affect the degree of symptoms that you show. I had asked him about it once. [/QUOTE]
Huh. I wouldn't have thought that because we ADDers are generally all supposed to be intelligent, are we not?
I do have a high IQ. Maybe it explains though why I didn't have trouble with my grades in school, and why most of my friends were confused when I told them I thought I had ADD.
As for that test... I found it when I searched for "attention deficit adult questionnaire" on Yahoo. I think it was on mentalhelp.com, or mentalhealth.com, or something.
bcgirl197838460.602037037
[QUOTE=Taag Man] a big plus that I am a real thinker... I think allot before I do anything at all... [/QUOTE]
I usually do the thinking afterwards. A while ago, before I knew about ADHD I was talking to a friend at work about why I had been in trouble so much, and I described it thus:
Most people, when about to do or say something which is, shall we say, 'inappropriate' - think to themselves "I shouldn't do that, or there will be trouble". With me, there is a slight difference - I say "I shouldn't have done that, now there's going to be trouble!" .
Poor impulse control, you see? It's an ADHD thing...
Mark -
This is just a flat out guess but I wonder if the people who have Inattentive ADHD rather than the Combined type or the Hyperactive type are preceived as having mild ADHD because they are not "bouncing off the walls".[QUOTE=Mark Goode]Poor impulse control, you see? It's an ADHD thing...Mark -[/QUOTE]
Yes... I have done that also... and I tend do spend... oh the spending...
[QUOTE=Taag Man]... and I tend do spend... oh the spending... [/QUOTE]
Yeah, tell me about it. You seen that bloody lizard I bought?
Mark -
Hey, perhaps the poor impulse control lies with the Hyper kind...? I'm more inattentive... I'm sure....
My problem is perhaps more that i seldom get any impulses
[QUOTE=Taag Man]My problem is perhaps more that i seldom get any impulses
[/QUOTE]
Sounds like you need Viagra.
Mark -
That is funny that I misspelled 'intelligent'...but at least I was consistent.
I'm somewhat envious of you for being able to 'control' your ability to 'think before' doing anything. That's a biggy (problem) for AD/HDers. Actually, I think before, during and after! But thinking is the extent of it mostly.
TM...I still wonder sometimes if you actually have AD/HD or not, just because of so many things you do so well that ADHDers have difficulty with. I look forward to you getting dx'd....and hope for your sake, you don't have it. You'd be very fortunate. This is not meant as an attack on you...so please don't feel a need to 'defend' yourself. 'k?
[QUOTE=Mark Goode]Yeah, tell me about it. You seen that bloody lizard I bought? [/QUOTE]
Lizard...? It's just a bag without a handle hehe
[quote=Mark Goode]Most people, when about to do or say something which is, shall we say, 'inappropriate' - think to themselves "I shouldn't do that, or there will be trouble". With me, there is a slight difference - I say "I shouldn't have done that, now there's going to be trouble!" [/quote] 
Exactly!!
[QUOTE=GypsyWomyn]so please don't feel a need to 'defend' yourself. 'k? [/QUOTE]
I know I know... you mean well :) I am not sure that i have ADHD either... I just know that I were ADHD when I were younger and did not have control over all those symptoms...
When I was 15-18 I were very impulsive, and bad mouthed and uncontrolled... but I have "grown" out of it... I have learned to control those stupid behavioural patterns...
I still have an attention span of a gnat... that, I cannot control... It might just have low Dopamin... but I do not know... I just can't wait to get to the psychiatrist late may.
Impulses. Ugh! I wish it was for spending...not opening my mouth and saying things without thinking first. It the 'other' impulses that are so difficult to live with. Interrupting, inappropriate comments, etc., etc., etc. [QUOTE=bcgirl1978]
I do have a high IQ. Maybe it explains though why I didn't have trouble with my grades in school, and why most of my friends were confused when I told them I thought I had ADD.[/QUOTE]
If there is anyone that resembles me... it's you...
I first got problems with my grades when I got to the higher educations, because I had to work for it...
Now we're touching on the discussion we've had in the past of how well we did in school. I did very poorly, except with subjects I truly was interested in and were taught well by the teacher. I had the difficulty of reading retention and hyper mind (and body) that didn't allow me to concentrate on my studies.As I've mentioned, I have a high IQ, yet still had difficulty in school. So perhaps it does have to do with the severity of AD/HD
We are all so alike, yet so different.
GypsyWomyn38460.6086111111[QUOTE=GypsyWomyn]As I've mentioned, I have a high IQ, yet still had difficulty in school. So perhaps it does have to do with the severity of AD/HD [/QUOTE]
I find that VERY plausible... as I said... I think I'm a mild case... if there is any
You know, I'll take a crack at this post.I don't know if it's mild or not either because some times it is worse then at other times.
I know when I MUST be 'on the ball', so maybe it's because I make very, very serious concscious efforts to function better at some times then at other times.
I dunno. Who knows?
Many adults with AD/HD can't be officially diagnosed with AD/HD under the DSM-IV model. Many of the hyperactivity/impulsivity characteritics of AD/HD'ers are usually more under control as an adult.
Personally, right now I would be dianosed with mild AD/HD, but if I was tested when I was younger, I would definately have been diagnosed with at least moderate AD/HD.
I still show almost every single AD/HD symptom under the DSM-IV model, but I've learned to control many of my bad habits, and have learned to use them in a positive manner. No disorder can be officially diagnosed unless it is causing you problems, so if you're functional without medication, you can probably say that you have mild AD/HD.