You sound like me! Except I got my bi-polar (II) diagnosis first and haven't officially gotten my ADD dx but there's no question in my mind after reading all that I have.
I have had major problems with depression and definitely get manic. People tend to mention that to me more than anything else. But unlike bi-polar I's, I don't get off the wall or need hospitalization. The two times I was hospitalized was for severe depression, which I seem to have gotten a handle on myself the last few years.
The ADD symptoms are another story. They HAVE gotten me in trouble and even fired from work, but never with any animosity. I was either late too often, pissed people off (never meaning to--I think I intimidate a lot of people for a number of reasons), or just didn't "fit in." The technical quality of my work has only ever been criticized when I was doing totally boring stuff and then I make a lot of errors. But I haven't needed to take those kinds of jobs for a long time.
Fortunately, I don't have any learning disabilities and am currently carrying a 4.0 average in a doctoral program, even though my undergraduate degree was a stellar 2.3! (If they'd given grades on partying, I'd have been in great shape!)
My point is that it doesn't appear to me to be at all uncommon for bi-polar--especially bi-polar II and ADD to go together. But I'll have to do some research on the specific connection. (I'm working more in psychoneurology at the moment.)
What do you do that results in people suspecting you of ADD? Most people I know aren't sufficiently aware of what it is, period, much less that adults can have it.
I was so sure I am ADD, every symptom matched in my life. Talking to you wonderful people here, was like reading a chapter in my own book. It was so nice to find so many people like me and could understand how off the wall we are sometimes, yet we are still caring kind people.
Then I find out I may be Bipolar instead of Unipolar, (which I always thought) and that many people with Bipolar are diagnosed with ADD sometimes when they are in a mania.
HMMM
So now I wonder if i can be both. I do have mood swings something aweful, but I also am extrememly ADD too. I mean to the point where people have come up to me and asked if I had ADD even before I figured it out myself.
I relate so much to add, that if I had to chose between the two, I would say I am more ADD than Bipolar. My mood swings, but its not so bad as I loose my job or anything. I just have my sad days, and I have my happy days. But Sad of Happy, I am still forgetfull, distractable, unorganized, cluttered, shirt inside out, but kind if not ADD ruffled self, PHEW..
Add to that I have Dyslexia, and that makes three issues rolled into one. Is that possible, seems that way for me. Like all three mesh into each other.
From what they have told me, its because someone can be talking with me, and someone else will walk up and interupt me, and I will turn and start talking to them. Then I will totally forget my conversation with the other person completly and sometimes just walk off when the conversation with the other is over.
THey say I distract worse than a puppy, they don't say it meanly, but one person told me, "you sure you don't have ADD, because man, it looks like it" At the time I hadn't considered it, and I wondered what he meant. come to find out, LOL, he was right. Maybe he has a relative with it.
I laughed it off, but wondered.
[QUOTE=Dave2u4now]From what they have told me, its because someone can be talking with me, and someone else will walk up and interupt me, and I will turn and start talking to them. Then I will totally forget my conversation with the other person completly and sometimes just walk off when the conversation with the other is over.
OH MY GOSH! I do that all the time. I do not always realize it but I usually figure it out by the expression on the other person's face that I just went off into my own land again. Coworkers have told me that they will be telling me something, thinking that I am listening, and then answer with something totally different than what they were talking about. It has gotten better since I am on meds; but by the end of the day of holding myself together....Whew watch out!
It is possible for sufferers of one to have the other. I always thought I had both. I tackled my bipolar first and am now working on ADHD. There are many different drugs to help with bipolar. After you try the stimulants and Stratterra you're pretty much out of bullets with ADHD. I believe I'm starting to response well to a "natural" remedy for ADHD (and believe me I'm not normally Mr. Natural!) My pdoc believes that most bipolar people also suffer from ADHD (his view not mine). But when I took the ADHD profile I scored very high. It's not neccessarily true in reverse. My unscientific take on all this if you're dx'd with ADHD and you have a bunch of big time mood swings I'd explore the possiblity of bp with my pdoc. Your pdoc can give you a much more better dx than us amatuers on the internet.