Anyone here diagnosed as ADD as an adult?

[Michelle T]

I'd love to hear from any here who were diagnosed with ADD as adults. This is another one of my long posts!

 

I have a DS, 12, with raging ADHD, as well as a DH the same. There's never been any question about both of their ADHD, although DH won't admit it most of the time, and has never been willing to be formally diagnosed or try meds. DS is currently on Ritalin LA.

 

Anyway, about six weeks ago, I started seeing a therapist for help with my

overwhelming anxiety, depression, and multiple phobias. He has been quite helpful in that area, but yesterday, he really blew me away. He's a psychologist (PhD) who has ADHD himself and does do a lot of work with ADHD patients, as well as those with anxiety/depression.

 

He told me he thought I had inattentive ADD, and had me do one of those written evalutions. I scored fairly high on the evaluation! And it kind of blew me away. I never even considered myself as ADD. Here are the things I had talked about that made the doctor think I was ADD:

 

endlessly getting excited about starting new things, yet dropping them almost immediately

getting bored quickly

lots of daydreaming, spacing out

difficulty keeping track of people's names, hard time paying attention to

conversations

low self-esteem

always feeling like others are "better" than I am

constant procrastination, even though I know it will make me feel terrible

labeling myself as "lazy"

having been involved with drugs in high school, dropping out of high school

fidgety, often with an anxious feeling in my belly

hard time relaxing, because I dwell on all the things I should be doing, but

procrastinated

in college, I endlessly started classes, yet dropped almost all of them within a month or two

feeling like an "imposter" or like I'm just fooling everyone else

 

I think there was more, but that's what I remember right now.

 

Do these things sound typical of an adult with inattentive ADD? I am NOT

especially cluttered/disorganized/sloppy around the house, even though I tend to procrastinate on doing housework. It makes me very anxious to have an messy house, so I keep that up fairly well. I did well in school up until high school, when the stress of not fitting in became so overwhelming, I developed depression, started smoking pot, and ended up dropping out.

 

I like planning, but have a horrible time in actually carrying through, or doing what I organize. I am the worst procrastinator, a trait I have always labeled as laziness in myself. I'm NOT bad about losing things, or forgetting appointments. I do like keeping lists and charts.

 

The psychologist thinks I have ADD along with fairly severe generalized anxiety disorder. GAD runs strongly in my family. He encouraged me to look into meds. I've done many of the natural treatments for ADD over the years just as a regular part of life. None have been especially helpful for me.

 

I'm sort of blown away by this, I never would have thought of myself as ADD.

 

What do you think? Does it sound plausible? Anyone else here diagnosed as an adult? I'm almost 44, kind of late for figuring this out! I've always thought of myself as a very anxious person, who just doesn't really measure up to others, and has a terrible time sticking with anything.

 

Comments? TIA!

Michelle T

[Mom2GirlsTX]

Have you googled around for adult ADD groups? I know that when my youngest was diagnosed, I was so shocked at how the description fit my husband almost more than her..LOL Upon doing research, I did run across a website for adults who had been diagnosed and were taking medication. I wish I had kept the site, but the stories were pretty amazing, most knowing that something wasn't right but not knowing what.

 

Please keep us posted, I am very proud of you that you took the positive step of getting yourself some help. Often times I think that as women we think we need to just "be tough" or fix it ourselves somehow, I think you are doing the right thing in getting professional help. The anxiety link is interesting, that I didn't know, I have horrible anxiety so I can commiserate with you on that. I sure hope the meds can help you.

 

Again, keep us posted on your journey!

[Rhonda in TX]

It explained so much! Feel free to PM or email me. I take Strattera off and on for my ADD. I know that's not for everybody, but I'm amazed at how "normal" I feel when I'm on it.

[cin]

Yep. I was diagnosed just this past year. I've been adderall for abotu 2.5 mos now. INCREDIBLE. My life has changed soooo much. I actually feel 'normal'. I can tolerate dd incessant chatter for alot longer now (I do still have a limit!), I actually started reading to them, I have invited them into the kitchen with me instead of shoo-ing them out because I couldn't focus on the recipe, my house is somewhat cleaner, I'm starting AND COMPLETING many more projects. And I'm not as tired as I use to be. My theory is that my brain was tired. ALthough the fact that the drugs are a stimulant MIGHT play into that a bit :D.

 

I take adderall, the lowest dose. I have to take generic ($$$) so it is short acting. I take 10 mg @ 8, 12 & 4. My rx is for 20 mg, but when I took a 20 mg I was shaky. I could really tell I had taken 'speed'.

 

My MD said that the only way to REALLY tell if it is ADD is to see if the medicine helps. If it does, then it is. If it makes you hyper, then you don't.

 

I am 43 yrs old.

 

Regrets? Sorrow? Oh yeah. My teen years were HORRIBLE. The chasm between my IQ and my GPA is HUGE. I would love to know where I would have gone if I had had the meds. Many people go undiagnosed if they do NOT have the hyperactivity element. I was rebellious, moody, and, since I was adopted, I had emotional issues. I also had a mom that was OCD, NOT good with ADD. In hindsight, probably all I had was ADD.

 

Feel free to email/pm me if you'd like.

 

:grouphug:

[nakitty]

Formally diagnosed at 18 or 19....but my Mom knew I was for a long time....but chose not to have me medicated. My cousin has it and was medicated at the age of 5 and my Mom did NOT like the effect the meds had on him...and she felt that it was better not to medicate and to just deal with it. This was the 80's so ADD wasn't nearly as widely known....I was a nice kid that most everyone liked....but I just could not focus or sit still...at ALL! So I got sent to the office or out to the hall A LOT....and my parents were called in A LOT...my Mom would just tell them the same thing everytime..."She is like that at home too....we just make her do laps around the house until she can settle down..." and would suggest they do the same....but they wouldn't...LOL So, they would call her in again...and on and on it went. My "H" levels went down considerably at the onset of puberty...and while I still had massive attention problems.. I would at least keep my seat....so I got into trouble less...at least, for THAT particular problem. I had plenty of other troubles, I assure you. Between my ADD and my family moving around A LOT....I made it to my senior year without enough HS credits to have graduated as a FRESHMAN....LOL So, I dropped out and got my GED instead...scored in the 99 percentile in everything but math (never one of my strengths)....so, I *WAS* learning....just couldn't make myself get my work done and turned in. Fast Forward...I start college and I'm doing OK...but definitely struggling....then I went to my Aunts for a weekend to house sit....was working on memorizing a speech and ran across my cousins Ritalin...so, thought, hmmmm.....I wonder if this stuff really works....and I took one. :blush: WOW!!! I was completely able to focus! It was amazing! So, the next week...I made an appointment with a psych. after only 5 minutes of talking to me about pretty much nothing....he agreed, I had ADD...LOL College was SOOO much easier on meds....and so is life. HOWEVER, I am also very very glad my Mom chose NOT to medicate me early on....because I learned some very valuable coping skills that I would NOT have learned otherwise....my Cousin has been on meds for almost his entire life....and when he isn't he does not function AT ALL! This is true for many many many people I have known through real life and discussion boards....I really do NOT advocate meds for children...except in the most extreme cases...and ONLY when being diagnosed and monitored by an actual psychiatrist...NOT a MD. So, my advice, try the meds...if the first kind/dosage doesn't work....go back for something different. Not all meds work for all people...and I had to go through about 5 different things before my doctor just put me on good ole Ritalin...and I have stayed with it ever since. :001_smile:

[Laurie in VA]

Chiming in late on this, but I was searching myself and came across this post. I was diagnosed ADD-Inattentive six weeks ago. I have so many of the traits you discussed:

• constantly starting new things but never finishing them
  
• getting bored quickly
  
• spaced out all of the time
  
• never remember people's names
  
• never really pay attention to conversations
  
• low self-esteem / always feeling like others are "better" than I am (this is a huge one for me)
  
• constant procrastination, then calling myself "lazy"
  
• hating myself for never finishing anything
  
• also feeling like an "imposter" or like I'm just fooling everyone else
  
• underachiever in school - test scores always very high, yet I was a "B-C" student throughout much of my school career

I never, ever thought of myself as having ADD until I started reading about it for my DD, who I firmly believe is ADHD (as is DH, who has been on Ritalin for years). The book is Driven to Distraction and in it is a test to see if one might have ADD. I answered almost every single question "yes"! I was floored. So many things in that book rang true for me. My whole life I have beaten myself up for all that I should be doing but wasn't. I have also suffered from dysthymia (chronic mild depression) for at least 30+ years.

 

At any rate I was put on Adderall six weeks ago and my life has changed. I am now able to do so much more than ever before. I am no longer wandering about the house aimlessly wondering what I should do next. I find something to clean, complete the task, and move on. I can carry on conversations and actually remember what was said. It is amazing! I was scared to take Adderall, but the benefits for me far outweigh the negatives and now I can't picture my life without it.

 

Not sure if any of this is helpful or rings true, but just wanted to share my story as well.

[cin]

Laurie,

 

You sound like me! Another book that I really really like, in fact I finally bought it, after renewing and renewing and renewing it from the library is 'You Mean I'm Not Lazy, Stupid or Crazy? The title caught my eye, becuase that's how I sort of felt, all my life. There are also a plethora of books out there specifically for women with ADD. I can't rememeber which book it was in, but one of them discusses how difficult it is to be a WOMAN with ADD, because men with ADD have wives to clean up after them (so to speak). Women don't have a wife to take care of all the disasters left behind.

 

And yup, Adderall has changed my life, too! Un-freakin-believable!!!!!! And I'm on the lowest dose!!!!

 

Things are getting done. NEW things are getting done. Since I've been on the adderall, some of the NEW projects I've completed include: putting up 20 lbs of apples, and 20 lbs of peaches, a BIG batch of barbecue sauce, spaghetti sauce and meatballs. Painting our bdrm and bth (which have been on terminal hold for about 5 yrs) and washing ALL the windows and screens (It has been, oh, 6-8 yrs since that has been done!).

 

The hardest thing for me, is dealing with DH's discouragement. Don't buy the apples, you won't do anything with them. And he's not trying to be mean. Before the meds, they would have rotted. He's been trained for the past 20 years, to say that. He's trying, really trying to NOT be discouraging. When I remind him, he agrees and then says, are you sure you have time? Because my schedule and project load has tripled. But I'm getting it all done with time to spare. is it the 'speed' in the adderall? ;) I don't feel hyper, just focused. And I'm remembering what needs to be done. And I do it.

 

Ok, off my soapbox of Joy! Glad it's working for you, too!

 

Forgot to say, I too, cannot imagine life without adderall. If the Dr. ever says I need to go off of it, it will be a serious quality vs quantity of life discussion!

[Pam "SFSOM" in TN]

I'd love to hear from any here who were diagnosed with ADD as adults. This is another one of my long posts!

 

I have a DS, 12, with raging ADHD, as well as a DH the same. There's never been any question about both of their ADHD, although DH won't admit it most of the time, and has never been willing to be formally diagnosed or try meds. DS is currently on Ritalin LA.

 

Anyway, about six weeks ago, I started seeing a therapist for help with my

overwhelming anxiety, depression, and multiple phobias. He has been quite helpful in that area, but yesterday, he really blew me away. He's a psychologist (PhD) who has ADHD himself and does do a lot of work with ADHD patients, as well as those with anxiety/depression.

 

He told me he thought I had inattentive ADD, and had me do one of those written evalutions. I scored fairly high on the evaluation! And it kind of blew me away. I never even considered myself as ADD. Here are the things I had talked about that made the doctor think I was ADD:

 

endlessly getting excited about starting new things, yet dropping them almost immediately

getting bored quickly

lots of daydreaming, spacing out

difficulty keeping track of people's names, hard time paying attention to

conversations

low self-esteem

always feeling like others are "better" than I am

constant procrastination, even though I know it will make me feel terrible

labeling myself as "lazy"

having been involved with drugs in high school, dropping out of high school

fidgety, often with an anxious feeling in my belly

hard time relaxing, because I dwell on all the things I should be doing, but

procrastinated

in college, I endlessly started classes, yet dropped almost all of them within a month or two

feeling like an "imposter" or like I'm just fooling everyone else

 

I think there was more, but that's what I remember right now.

 

Do these things sound typical of an adult with inattentive ADD? I am NOT

especially cluttered/disorganized/sloppy around the house, even though I tend to procrastinate on doing housework. It makes me very anxious to have an messy house, so I keep that up fairly well. I did well in school up until high school, when the stress of not fitting in became so overwhelming, I developed depression, started smoking pot, and ended up dropping out.

 

I like planning, but have a horrible time in actually carrying through, or doing what I organize. I am the worst procrastinator, a trait I have always labeled as laziness in myself. I'm NOT bad about losing things, or forgetting appointments. I do like keeping lists and charts.

 

The psychologist thinks I have ADD along with fairly severe generalized anxiety disorder. GAD runs strongly in my family. He encouraged me to look into meds. I've done many of the natural treatments for ADD over the years just as a regular part of life. None have been especially helpful for me.

 

I'm sort of blown away by this, I never would have thought of myself as ADD.

 

What do you think? Does it sound plausible? Anyone else here diagnosed as an adult? I'm almost 44, kind of late for figuring this out! I've always thought of myself as a very anxious person, who just doesn't really measure up to others, and has a terrible time sticking with anything.

 

Comments? TIA!

Michelle T

 

 

I certainly think it's plausible.

 

Check to see if you have a provider for neurofeedback in your area. My understanding is that it is not recommended for the hyperactive component if it's present, but that it works just about as well and in some areas of the disease better than meds. After the treatments, as I understand it the brain is considered "rewired." No side effects is a very big plus for some people.

 

Your therapist might be able to recommend someone.

[Momof3Maidens]

Just last week I saw the initials ADD in a book or something and imediately wondered to myself if that was what is wrong with me. For the life of me I can't figure out what's going on in my brain. Seeing some of the signs were an eye opener because I have almost all of them. I can go for a little while and do fine but then the world comes crashing at my feet and I feel so overwhelmed by things. I have friends who juggle a lot more than I do but yet seem to just handle it and move on. Not me. I also feel lazy most of the time. Anything I do takes forever it seems. My inability to comprehend things I read is awful. I can read something and in 5 minutes wondering what it was I just read. I do okay with conversations, listening fairly well, but the ability to relay that story back in my words is almost always impossible so I don't even try. And that's not good because my husband is a pastor and a lot of times I need to share with him things I have talked to people about. I find myself very distant emotionally from my children and husband which I hate. I love them with my life but find it hard sometimes to express myself physically to them ( hugging, kissing, just reaching out to touch them) and don't know why. Most of the time I don't want to be touched at all. For a woman, I know this is strange because most of my friends are touchy-feely and it leaves me wondering what's wrong with me. I find that I really don't need friends like most people do. I never truly open up to anyone but my husband and sometimes not even him but just choose not to talk about things at all. Needless to say, my lack of desire for physical touch is beginning to take a toll on the intimate side of my marriage and it's to the point to where I am finally wanting to get professional help instead of just waiting for it to go away. I realize it's not going to go away. Something is wrong. Honestly, it frightens me. I have never thought of myself as ADD. Never. I was always a perfect Paula in school though my grades never matched what I knew I could do. I'm not hyper but most of the time very discouraged. I don't want to use the word depressed because that's such a strong word to me. I can remember feeling heavy as young as 10 or 11 and never knowing why. To this day, I'm like that. I can become very sad on days for no apparent reason. Anyway, I'm so thankful you posted this Michelle. I hope it pushes me to get some help. As far as your diagnosis, I can't say because this is all new information for me. Thank you for opening up about your situation and I truly pray you find the help you need. Blessings!

[Laurie in VA]

...it's to the point to where I am finally wanting to get professional help instead of just waiting for it to go away. I realize it's not going to go away. Something is wrong...I don't want to use the word depressed because that's such a strong word to me. I can remember feeling heavy as young as 10 or 11 and never knowing why. To this day, I'm like that. I can become very sad on days for no apparent reason.

 

I certainly don't presume to know your situation, but you may want to take a look into dysthymia or dysthymic disorder. It often goes hand-in-hand with ADD. Some of what you wrote sounds very much like myself (the "disconnect even though there is tremendous love, the lack of desire for physical touch, feeling "heavy" etc.). The average person suffers for over 20 years before seeking help, and when you wrote that you felt this way as a child...well it just made me sit up and take notice. Feel free to PM me if you'd like me to explain things further...or look into it online. There is plenty out there on dysthymia (chronic, mild depression).

 

(((((Hugs)))))

[Momof3Maidens]

Thank you Laurie! I don't have time at the moment but would love to email you and talk further about my situation. Blessings to you.

[lwilliams1922]

I'd love to hear from any here who were diagnosed with ADD as adults. This is another one of my long posts!

 

I have a DS, 12, with raging ADHD, as well as a DH the same. There's never been any question about both of their ADHD, although DH won't admit it most of the time, and has never been willing to be formally diagnosed or try meds. DS is currently on Ritalin LA.

 

Anyway, about six weeks ago, I started seeing a therapist for help with my

overwhelming anxiety, depression, and multiple phobias. He has been quite helpful in that area, but yesterday, he really blew me away. He's a psychologist (PhD) who has ADHD himself and does do a lot of work with ADHD patients, as well as those with anxiety/depression.

 

He told me he thought I had inattentive ADD, and had me do one of those written evalutions. I scored fairly high on the evaluation! And it kind of blew me away. I never even considered myself as ADD. Here are the things I had talked about that made the doctor think I was ADD:

 

endlessly getting excited about starting new things, yet dropping them almost immediately

getting bored quickly

lots of daydreaming, spacing out

difficulty keeping track of people's names, hard time paying attention to

conversations

low self-esteem

always feeling like others are "better" than I am

constant procrastination, even though I know it will make me feel terrible

labeling myself as "lazy"

having been involved with drugs in high school, dropping out of high school

fidgety, often with an anxious feeling in my belly

hard time relaxing, because I dwell on all the things I should be doing, but

procrastinated

in college, I endlessly started classes, yet dropped almost all of them within a month or two

feeling like an "imposter" or like I'm just fooling everyone else

 

I think there was more, but that's what I remember right now.

 

Do these things sound typical of an adult with inattentive ADD? I am NOT

especially cluttered/disorganized/sloppy around the house, even though I tend to procrastinate on doing housework. It makes me very anxious to have an messy house, so I keep that up fairly well. I did well in school up until high school, when the stress of not fitting in became so overwhelming, I developed depression, started smoking pot, and ended up dropping out.

 

I like planning, but have a horrible time in actually carrying through, or doing what I organize. I am the worst procrastinator, a trait I have always labeled as laziness in myself. I'm NOT bad about losing things, or forgetting appointments. I do like keeping lists and charts.

 

The psychologist thinks I have ADD along with fairly severe generalized anxiety disorder. GAD runs strongly in my family. He encouraged me to look into meds. I've done many of the natural treatments for ADD over the years just as a regular part of life. None have been especially helpful for me.

 

I'm sort of blown away by this, I never would have thought of myself as ADD.

 

What do you think? Does it sound plausible? Anyone else here diagnosed as an adult? I'm almost 44, kind of late for figuring this out! I've always thought of myself as a very anxious person, who just doesn't really measure up to others, and has a terrible time sticking with anything.

 

Comments? TIA!

Michelle T

 

how have you been doing with this?

 

I JUST posted a similar post today!

 

I would love to chat with you or others that would like to share stories.

email if you like.

 

Lara

[Carrie12345]

Michelle,

 

You can mark me down for every single thing you said except the drugs and dropping out in high school. I didn't smoke pot until after hs graduation, and I didn't drop out until freshman year of college.

 

I was diagnosed about 2 years ago, at 29.

[Parabola]

I have just about every symptom/sign listed above as well. I was dx'ed by one pdoc with Inattentive ADD. My current pdoc says I don't have it. I remain unconvinced, so next appt I'm presenting my case again. I don't if I want to take meds for it or not, I never have even tho last pdoc offered.

 

There's a lot of overlap between dysthymia, Major Depressive Disorder, and ADD. It can be hard to disentangle what's what. There is research that suggests it all goes back to the same basic neuro-transmitter problem.

[Guest Virginia Dawn]

• constantly starting new things but never finishing them

• getting bored quickly

• spaced out all of the time

• never remember people's names

• never really pay attention to conversations

• low self-esteem / always feeling like others are "better" than I am (this is a huge one for me)

• constant procrastination, then calling myself "lazy"

• hating myself for never finishing anything

• also feeling like an "imposter" or like I'm just fooling everyone else

• underachiever in school - test scores always very high, yet I was a "B-C" student throughout much of my school career

 

 

This is interesting. I have had all these things in my life for years, some more than others at different times, including periods of depression, especially bad during puberty and post partum. The only difference is I pay a great deal of attention to conversations and can usually remember them better than the people in them. I tend to play them over and over in my head.

 

"My whole life I have beaten myself up for all that I should be doing but wasn't."

 

This is me. It never occurred to me that this is not a normal state of being. I function well enough for general purposes unless I am ill or stressed out. I have learned many coping skills, especially over the last ten years.

 

I've been on depression medication once, and I don't want to medicate again unless absolutely necessary. I wish there was some natural magic bullet to make someone feel "normal."

[tntgoodwin]

This sounds just like me...

[Sushi's Mom]

*I wish there was some natural magic bullet to make someone feel "normal."

 

 

You could try dark chocolate. My daughter's psychologist told me that there is some research showing that it can be helpful for some people. I think maybe it is a step or two below the ADHD meds. The info below I posted on another thread, but I will include it here for you.

 

Dark chocolate, Ritalin, and Adderall all have something called phenylethylamine (PEA).

 

The chocolate needs to be 70% or higher. If you don't like dark chocolate, it tastes yucky and will take a while to get used to. The doc said to start with 1/2 to one square, which is usually enough for most people, but you could do more if you don't see an improvement. I tried this on myself, as I was also recently diagnosed with ADHD and I do notice a difference. I mainly notice when it is wearing off; I start to feel my mind racing again and like I want to run around, and I talk faster. For me it wears off at about the 2 hour mark. The doctor said it usually lasts about 2-3 hours, depending on the person.

 

I read about some kind of cookie that is being developed to give to kids with ADHD.

 

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/43208/chocolate_a_cure_for_adhd.html

 

I also read, somewhere, that European chocolate has more of the 'good-for-you stuff' than American chocolate. I have been buying chocolate at Aldi, the Moser Roth brand. They have 70% and 85%. It is not too expensive and comes from Europe. I also like that it is individually wrapped servings that I can keep in my purse.