I think I got adult ADD? | ADHD Information

Although, I have not diagnosed it w/ a doc, I am convinced I have ADD.  There's just way too many symptoms that I recall while growing up and now.  Like, I just recalled, I would used to talk to myself in the shower and would revisit conversations I had during the day.

I never really think much of it but it's certainly not a normal thing.  Unlike others have reported, I never did talk to myself in the public.  It also been alone.  It almost felt that there things couped up inside me and it came out when I'm alone.  It seemed natural and never questioned it.  I always felt maybe I couldn't express myself enough and it was a way to release it.  Now thinking about it, that can't be normal.  I mean, why anyone talk to themselves??  I don't recall doing it now though. weird.

Back to missing words thing, i always noticed not able to get certain words out like it's on the tip of my tongue but it came out with the wrong word.  This typically happens in a social gathering.  It seems to also have a little of anxiety involved.  Just like when i talked about when I blank out and could not get my friend's name who I've known all my life. 

I have heard of ADD a long time ago and but never figure out I would have it given the clean health in our family history especially when there's this talk about being hereditary.  So, I'm sort of disappointed and shocked to get it. 

Btw, just typing this up, I've messed up like over 10 words and had go back and correct it.  These are not mispelling mistakes but complete wrong word usage.  I know any normal person can have this but I seem to have a lot more. 

The nightime wake-up calls MAY help with keeping the sheets dry for the night, but it will do nothing to physically fix the problem itself.

Unfortunately, I believe, from a strictly psychological standpoint, that a child needs to learn to wake up and go to the bathroom on his/her own. The "urge to pee" message needs to link to the "wake up" message.  For me, I finally became conditioned to wake up to that "going to the bathroom" dream. I suppose then, theoretically, that alarm blanket thing may actually work for some kids.

As for forgetting words and letters, yup, all the freakin time! I seem to go through phases - where I will mispell/leave out certain words for a while, then I will be good with those, and mispell/leave out a whole new set of words. Lately I've been forgetting to add vowels in a lot of my words.  I think it's dyslexia - it often runs co-morbid with ADD.
[QUOTE=nothappy]Back to missing words thing, i always noticed not able to get certain words out like it's on the tip of my tongue but it came out with the wrong word. [/QUOTE]

Yup. I also change my mind mid-word sometimes. Like I'll be saying "garbage", but change my mind mid-word to "trash", and it ends up coming out "garbash". I've always done it, usually at least once of twice a week, and it has gotten me a lot of strange looks.

ok, fellow add'er,

I did it and went to my primary doc and talked about my condition and he gave me Ritalin.  Surprisely, he took it seriously probably in part because I set a very serious tone when I talked about it.  If I had joked about it he would not have taken this the same way and probably brushed me off. 

I do get some laughs from our discussions but by no mean I think an illness of anykind is cool.  I don't want to take any kind of medication unless I have to.  But the recent growing of symptoms like lack of concentration and blank outs really concern (scare) me since they affect my well being.  And the fact that I sometimes multitask myself to the point mentally exhaustion is also not helpful.

I want to be able to play with my kids each after work but recently I just feel way too mentally exhausted to do so.

I'm a bit nervous taking the medicine not knowing the effect and if it would change me to a completely different peron.  I almost feel a bit of shame as I consider myself fairly intelligent and getting knocked out by this illness.

I appear to have a mild ADD condition compared to others in this thread.  Nevertheless, I want to resolve my issues.

Thanks for everyone's support and look forward to share my experience after the medication. 

nothappy38499.8156944444

hey all,

WOW.  I took my first ritalin.  I feel very good!  I feel very grounded, focused, and calm.  Now, I'm very interested in comparing my before and after ME.  Like, as I'm typing this I'm paying attention to my words and thoughts to see if they come together better than before.  From what I can see, I see an improvement over my thought process.  I FEEL VERY FOCUSED.  I don't think I felt this focused for a long time. 

I am so happy.  Almost like the best feeling I've ever felt for the last 32 years.

If I indeed have ADD, then I think I have waited way too long to treat myself. 

nothappy38500.9162268518

I'm not sure about treatment in the USA, but here in Merrie England we get a physician to come and bleed us every three weeks.

Your little health issues sound like the kinds of things that are usually associated with anxiety - which itself is a common companion to AD(H)D.  Could this be it?

As to our sense of humour, that was my first discovery about ADD - those who have it are (mostly) very funny and intelligent people.

yeah, sorry about the long post.  Blame it on my "can't put my thoughts in words" symptom! 

I'm in the good old USA - CA.  I should have an instant cure, right! 

On a side note, I'm curious if others have other odd health issues with ADD?  Recently I have a lot of little health issues I can't seem get rid of.  Dr. is always wondering if I had issues with stress.  Who doesn't!!?? 

I have little things like bad allergies (more often nowadays), eczema, muscle pains, and lightheadedness.  Is there some underlining effects of ADD?

Man, I need help. 

On a positive note, seems like we all have a sense of humor here!!

I found a directory of medical shrinks in my insurance directory.  Now, I just got convince my doc to refer me.  They don't seem to take my condition very seriously but now I am going to make it an issue because I truly feel it.

nothappy38498.4011921296Hi there and welcome to the board! Umm... I didn't read your whole post - got ADD ya know - but I skimmed the beautifully and wonderfully organized underlined subtitiles to get the gyst. LOL.

I did, however, read your section on bedwetting. I wet the bed until I was about 11 or 12 years old. I too, recall that vivid "sitting on the toilet" dream. It's like my brain was getting the signal that I needed to go, but it wasn't getting the signal to wake up. Now - when I have that dream, I actually bolt awake - like I've been conditioned now to wake up from it. Weird!

I read an article that said 48% of adults with ADD wet the bed past age 5, some still into adulthood. Something about the "wake up" signal not travelling very effectively in an ADD brain - so it confirmed my theory. The doctor who wrote the article said there was reason to believe that a child who wets the bed past age 5, who has no other medical condition to cause it (such as diabetes), can almost be guaranteed to have ADD, especially when other ADD characteristics are present.

BTW, I am officially diagnosed with ADD.
I just re-read most of your post. LOL. These symptoms ARE common in everyday, normal people, BUT the difference is, they only experience these things once in a while, whereas for us it is a daily, constant thing.

On the mental fatigue thing - if it is something you feel is getting worse, it could just be an accumulation of lifelong frustrations with your life, school, career, etc. I never used to feel mentally exhausted on a regular basis until the last couple of years or so. I used to come home from work and think "thank God I'm out of there! Who's up for some fun?" NOW, I think "thanks GOD I'm out of there! Where's the couch?" Going out again is the LAST thing I want to do. I'm not physically tired, but mentally, I don't want to deal with people, tasks, housework, or ANYTHING after I get home. The tv and my cross-stitch is about all I can handle. I think it is because I hate my job so much - the frustrations of my life have accumulated and gathered into a mild depression, which translates into a mental exhaustion.

Anyway, I'm rambling. I hope that made some sense.

bcgirl,

thanks for that bet wetting insight.  Oh no, now to think of it my son who just past 5 still bed wets.  We tried all sorts of stuff and but he can't seem to get up on his own to do it.  I hope I didn't give him my ADD.  It's good that I know the connection so I keep an eye on his condition. 

I too have gone thru that abolt wake times but now seems to have transitioned into where I just get the urge and prop myself up without going into the shock  And I realized I still dream about it but don't actually do it. 

wow, this is such an eye opener.  I couldn't figure out why I was bed wetting for the longest time!  It seems like everything all clicked along with my other symptoms.  Believe or not, I thought I was being punished by god when I was a kid and would pray to him to get rid of this.  LOL!! 

You hit it right on on that fatigue thing.  I used to commute 3 hours a day thinking that that was my issue but now I no longer commute but I'm drained after work.  It's always getting glued to the couch after work and image you have to deal with the little ones when you get home.

I wonder if getting marriage and kids tend to trigger ADD symptoms. 

You guys are definitely the funniest psychos I've talked to!!   

 

nothappy38498.4275578704Yes, definitely keep an eye on your son. If you haven't already, have him tested for diabetes, and other possible medical causes, to be absolutely sure, just in case.

I don't remember anything working when I was a kid - my parents tried not giving me liquids after dinner, waking me up in the middle of the night to take me to the bathroom (I have vague memories of my mother propping me up on the toilet while I was still half-asleep, telling me I wasn't going back to bed until I peed), reward systems (which are absolutely POINTLESS, as the child obviously doesn't have control), everything. I remember a friend not talking to me for days once because I wet her bed on a sleepover (I was probably about 9 years old). It was so horrible! No child WANTS to have this problem.

These days you can buy diapers made for older kids, and alarm blankets which sound an alarm when they get wet (the idea is to condition the child to wake up the same time they feel that urge to go). I don't know how effective they are, and frankly, placing an electric device in my bed-wetting child's bed would make me extremely nervous.

Need to tell the wife about it.  She still thinks the middle of night wake up calls may help him.  This is funny, we actually tried all the methods you mentioned.  The peditrician did mention some type of medicine that may help with bladder. 

One other ADD question, did you guys ever find yourself always missed words in a sentence or paragraph?  I also find myself overly descriptive at times (l think you already noticed it).  I know what I want to say (write) but somehow I would miss a word here and there as I write it.  I've always seem to have this problem.  I would have go back and review my writing constantly.

nothappy38498.4923611111

Um..  in your list of symptoms you missed out 'extreme difficulty reading long posts'...

As to your other list of symptoms, well.. they all sound pretty familiar to me, and it's likely you are a member of our club.  It would help if we knew where in the world you are from, as ADHD treatment/diagnosis varies greatly from country to country.

Cheers,

Hi all,

First off, I am so happy to find this site and I know how these symptoms can apply to a typical "busy" person and just want to hear others on my symptoms.

Did some research,  I seem to have many classic symptoms of adult add.  Didn't realize my frustration over the course of years until I started researching the web.  It seems like it's getting worse and it's really scaring me.  I'm not looking for medical diagnosis here but want to hear from others on my symptoms and just want to reaffirm my need to seek some help.  So here goes...

Life long Procrastination

As a I recall, I've always had a problem with procrastination especially with big school projects when I was in grade school.  I would get frustrated a the end and often used plagarism as a last resort to get by.  Now that I understand ADD more, I do recall I do especially bad with complex projects or when multiple tasks involved.

Also as a child, I had issues with bedwetting which extended to my teen and early adulthood.  I would always have vivid dreams of going to the toilet and could not tell the difference between a dream or I was actually going to the toilet!  Strangely enough, one day the problem went away.  This is very strange.  It's not that I don't feel the urge but I dream of relieving myself!  I recall bedwetting is one of symptoms of Adult ADD.  Anyone experienced this? 

As a college student, I get B's and C's but I always felt that I could do better.  I often have the desire to do good but just always have a problem on the follow through when it comes to studying.  I think it's the attention thing as I always end skipping through the book.  How do you distinguish plain laziness vs.  ADD?  I always seem to have a guilt trip when I don't do good. 

I literaly lived next door to my college but yet always ended up being late at school practically everyday.  I tend to always do thing the very last minute even if I knew and wanted to be on time.

Now as an adult in my 30's, I find myself always easily distracted at work.  For example, when I have to work on a project, I seem to surf the web aimlessly wasting time knowing that I am suppose to do real work.  I always to seem to have a guilt trip feeling that I wasted a good 8-10 hours doing other things other than the primary project and always become very concentrated the last 1 hour before going home. 

Blank Out's

And now I even notice that I would blank out in a social conversation.  Let say, I would introduce two friends who have never met, I would blank out as get to their names.  This is very embarrassing! 

Lack of Concentration

And sometimes I noticing the lack of concentration when reading and would notice I would blank out in middle of conversations.  This happens more often at work then home.  Is this related to anxiety I have during work?

Repeating details in a conversation

Other situations include where I find myself repeating what others have already said or I have a hard time following or understanding conversation like in a group setting.

Putting thoughts to words

Another thing that bugs me a lot is when I have write emails for work.  I can spend up to an hour and can't put all my thoughts together.  Once I do put it together and send it off, afterwards I find that I missed a lot of details.

Forgetfulness

Forgetfulness is another problem.  Like loosing my keys and stuff especially when I have take multiple items to work.  There were many times where I either forget my laptop or lunch after tying my shoe laces then just take off to work.  My wife has started to put post-it notes as reminder in different places of the house.  You know what, I just noticed connection now!

Unsureness?

Finally, I noticed a new one recently.  I get overly concerned or unsured if I have closed my garage when I go to work in the morning.  I've never missed it once but ended going back home to double check.

Mental Fatigue/Exhaustion

I get extremely exhausted when I get home each day from work.  It's like a mental drain much more than a physical tireness.  I've never felt this bad before.  I used to think it's other factors but I remove the "other" factors and it's not improving, I think.  My mind is very active during night times.  Unless I'm extremely tired, it takes me sometime to fall asleep.

Like others I freak out about taking these type of drugs because I don't really want to admit I got a "mental" problem.  But some of these symptoms are really scaring especially the ones that affect my function at work.

I didn't even realized I had so much symptoms until I started this post. 

Are these typical modern day people symptoms or ADD?   

On the up side, I don't think I have depression and don't have a problem like keeping my job and stuff and do alright as far as making good money with my career.  But for some reason, I am becoming much more concerned about my condition now. 

Thanks and sorry to overwhelm you with so much!

 

nothappy38497.9688425926