Could my adult son really have ADHD?

@theeyeofdoe your daughters psychiatrist did proper testing I am assuming? I am confused as you say it is a different process as an adult and then you say he came in from school with a print out.

As an adult I had to go for actual testing with a psychologist and a psychiatrist and it cost me in excess of 1k so not lower criteria at all just a different process.

To get a child diagnosed with ADHD you need to have evidence of the condition for several years, evidence from previous reports or from school - but like all mental health conditions it has a range. My daughter has moderate inattentive adhd (is medicated during TT and goes to a lovely supportive school) and I can see it in my poor MIL who has not had a great life, but is very annoying and would have been far less so if she's had access to meds and and an insight into why she's had so many issues over the years.

To get an adult diagnosed with ADHD is very different, the criteria is much lower. DS1 decided around the same time that he also had adhd. He does procrastinate, especially when he's been up too late or had too much pc time (we still limit in our house) and obviously it is a spectrum. He came back frm school with a print out to say that it's likely he does. DD's psychiatrist assesses him and there is no evidence of any ADHD.

What’s wrong with asking MN ?
Thats what it’s for ! Really life experience as opposed to just info from a search engine.
Why are you on MN ?

I need a notepad for all the labels I can have just reading this thread alone!

My ex will be sick as a dog to hear of the lesbian one as his biggest fantasy was a threesome. Damn.

This is yet another goady ND thread.

I do the chicken dance myself, 🐓

Despite her original post literally stating he was a normal child.

Thank you! And they’re still arguing at how “rude” I was for calling them out this same post.

🙄

@DeadbeatYoda sure arent we ALL a little bit autistic? That is what I got told by a few people after my very expensive test results came through. Sure we could all be a little bit mongrel too. I might bark a few times in the office tomorrow to see if I get a reaction.

Wow! Are we all a little bit Autistic as well? Christ, the arrogance on here tonight is matched only by the ignorance.

@IbisDancer I had a chat with a lesbian friend of mine once and agreed I also think natural tits are sexier than fake ones. Perhaps I should 'label' myself as a lesbian!

Oh for God's sake stop trying to police the threads.

There are tons of women here who have a lot of experience of this sort of thing. Why shouldn't she ask for help?

This. This is exactly the kind of stuff really unhelpful stuff that people say. I choose not to label myself, I just get on with life. Well bulky for you. You clearly have no idea what it is like to live with some of the problems ADHD can bring. That attitude could have been why your son internalised all the associated challenges of ADHD all these years. For him, it was doable but for many others it can be devastating. You have no idea of the harm this can do.

I didn’t invent your first post, which was highly dismissive of the existence of ADHD:
Honestly if look into it enough I have adhd. Oh and my dds probably do. Because people can’t have certain quirks or behaviour anymore. It has to have a label. That label is always adhd and here is some medication which you pay for monthly to help.

Saying you think you have ADHD because you had a chat with a ADHD friend isn’t very scientifically rigorous of you. ADHD isn’t a “quirk” that “has to have a label.”

And yes my dc adhd traits are normal for !y side of the family.
I remeber my dsis runnimg away from home out the hedge.
I posted an apple down the toilet.
My dc
1 used to run off with no warning
And licked the bleach spray bottle.
Fell in a duck pond

Other frequntly put veg up nose
Turned her back and ate part of a book

Being quirky and annoying is your label though. Having adhd and asd is my diagnosis. There is a huge HUGE difference between label and diagnosis.

This is so true. She is my child who is absolutely the most like me and I just thought they were personality traits and I felt bad that I was so oblivious to how she was struggling.

I am high achieving and very open and flexible like her but horrible at giving myself a schedule (I am much better when one is imposed on me) and generally disorganized and can tend to tardiness. I have learnt over the years how to deal with this. For example simplifying everything and having as little "stuff" as possible, as then it's much easier for me to stay tidy and organized. I also give myself way more time for transitions and am careful not to overbook myself with tasks as I would underestimate how long things would take (including getting somewhere, setting up, taking down and cleaning up etc.). I also have trained myself to never think of the time to be somewhere as the time given, but 30 minutes before. I have no idea why my mind can't organize myself otherwise. I go by the dictum "Early is on time, on time is late and late is unacceptable". - not imposed on anyone except myself!

😂

See. You’ve proved my point! People can be quirky AND annoying. We don’t need a label all the time.

no sounds more like asd.
My adhd dc struggle with sitting and concentrating.

I agree with tippexy the interrupting can be either asd or adhd. The asd kid doesnt perhaos care about the other persons interests or perhaps understand reciprical convervation.

Adhd is worried they will forget or topic change.

How was he in reception and y1? And generally does he have friends?

Was he ever in trouble or told off for daydreamimg?

Maybe you dont have adhd and are just annoying.

I also said in my earlier post that I most probably have it. After a chat with my friend who was diagnosed. The things where I can’t make a phone call and will put it off till the end of time. Lose things in a small room 2 seconds after being handed it, obsess over something so much and a day or so later forget all about it. Lots of what she said resonates with me daily.

You’re just desperate that my opinion doesn’t count. It does. Sorry about that but your constant, inventing is just rude and says a lot about you.

If I was adhd I wouldn’t want to know because I’m quirky and that’s fine. A bit annoying to others but basically doing fine.

Yes it could be an ADHD trait as people with ASD often hyper focus on certain things. It is a broad spectrum though so on its own it may not mean anything. It sounds like he thinks he is ADHD so I would just support him. There seems to be quite a lot of neurodiversity in my family, some of whom are being diagnosed as adults. For some it provides answers as to why they have felt they are different which can be reassuring.

Please please support him. My youngest child was diagnosed with autism and subsequently ADHD (at 3 and 8 respectively). It was very obvious to me and we've come a long way. However, my eldest child is 26 and was flagged at uni. She masked like a pro and I didn't see it. I am sad and sorry that it's taken this long. I know many people with late diagnosis and it's been life changing. Not least because ADHD can be medicated. You'll learn a lot going forward and he'll need you!

And my 2 younger ones info dump all the time. They never seem to listen, more like wait to talk. They don't really connect by asking questions to start or prolong conversations. Yet they're full of questions about stuff they're interested in.
My eldest very different but totally same in many ways. I just thought I was a shit parent for finding it so hard when everyone else seemed to parent so easily. The diagnosis helped me come to terms with that, although not immediately. It took a while to sink in, I think.
That and the realisation that I am clearly neurodivergent myself, which explains a lot about why I thought my kids were 'normal' because it was MY normality too.