First cohort of adults diagnosed with ADHD and growing old. AMA

[Imdunfer]

I'm in the first cohort of adults diagnosed with ADHD and growing old with it. It has definite challenges related to aging that I'm dealing with daily. Ask me anything as long as you don't suggest that you think ADHD doesn't exist and that it's just a variety of neuro typical.

Fantastic thread op. I’m mostly placemarking to come back and read it later when I have time.

It’s probably been asked, and answered, but would swimming be an option for aerobic exercise? Pilates is shockingly effective for my joints and despite the movements being tiny the amount of concentration and coordination keeps my brain intensely focused for an hour.

I'm sorry, but when I was diagnosed at 14 I was under the impression the ADHD was classed as a learning difficulty. What do you consider it to be?

Mmm. Is that the close monitoring which delayed my latest sight check until I needed an emergency surgery, overdosed me on hydroxychlorosine and nearly let my husband die of prostate hyperplasia? I trust the NHS to look after me as far as I can throw them in afraid.

My withdrawal is a strategic quiet time every day, not a generalised withdrawal from society.

Look, like it or not that’s the way it reads…like you were the first cohort to get the diagnosis and then subsequently grow old with it 🤷‍♀️

It doesn’t matter now it’s clarified, but there’s no reason to get annoyed with me or pp. It’s just something to be mindful of if you’re writing about this in the future.

Some differences in the way my brain works from most people.

It has advantages and disadvantages but I certainly don't have any learning difficulties.

Like many bright girls I sailed through school with a retentive memory and then held down a well paid career.

Have you got anything to actually contribute to this thread but your nit picking? Please give it a rest.

Hydroxychloroquine that should be. Very dangerous for eyes to be overdosed.

This is such an interesting thread- so much I relate to. I’m late ‘40s now, diagnosed a few years ago. But I still haven’t got on top of it at all.

DM has LBD (and there is a lot of dementia in the family) and she def has ADHD though not of an age to have got a diagnosis. I’d heard about the dementia link but not specifically LBD, that is pretty depressing to be honest 😔 Will research the amino acids - didn’t know about that.

I take Amfexa but very erratically and less than I’m prescribed because it can affect my sleep and poor sleep is obvs a big risk factor for dementia too, feel i can’t win really.

what I find so frustrating is that I know I am doing / have done so much less than I’m capable of because I can’t stick with anything long enough. After a couple of years in a job I get so bored I underperform (I get away with it because if I feel there’s a threat of being found out I’ll suddenly get supercharged and do something that impresses and gets me brownie points). But it’s so depressing to be bored at work so much of the time. Wish I’d chosen a more high adrenaline career. reading your and other people’s posts for useful strategies.

what would you do differently if you’d know what you know now 15 years ago?

Sorry if I’ve missed this but do you drink alcohol at all now?

Also I very ignorantly thought I couldn’t be hyper mobile because I’ve always been so stiff! But DD has recently been told she is hypermobile (v similar physically to me, also with ADHD). I get a lot of joint pain and have had a prolapsed disc in recent years so am now wondering

OP, I'm 50 and have ADHD. On the exercise point there is good evidence that yoga is effective in helping with ADHD symptoms (this is on a very different basis to more extreme sports- my understanding is that rather than giving you a big dopamine hit it helps with dopamine regulation by strengthening dopamine pathways in the brain, as well as reducing stress). I've certainly found it really useful.

It might. I love sitting in water but I hate swimming in public pools because of the other users. I got my nose cracked once!

I do Pilates. I used to do classes, now I do a set of pilates exercises every morning, it's very, very effective for strength and mobility.

OK, I had a horse on alcar to control a muscle disease and I read reports of some horses going loopy on it. At the same time, it was being widely discussed in athletics that Mo Farah was talking large doses of the stuff intravenously (legally).

I looked up what it was doing and discovered it had been tested as an antidepressant and was effective. I wasn't getting on with the SSRI that I was on so I thought I'd give it a go and found it was very effective.

At that time I didn't know I had ADHD, but given that Alcar is a mitochondrial stimulant you can see why it might help.

Further testing, some recent, has shown that Alcar is not an antidepressant as such but it is an anxiolytic, it stops anxiety.

At the time I got my diagnosis tyrosine was being used by some people when the effects of ritalin wore off so I started talking that as well and it felt like it capped my anger. I had to drop tyrosine because tyrosine kinase is an RA pathway, so I replaced it with theanine which has improved my sleep and seems to keep a lid on my anger.

There is anecdotal stuff about vegetarians with ADHD starting to eat meat and finding their ADHD symptoms reduced, attributed to the amino acids in red meat in particular.

I know I get cravings for steak every now and then and when I do I eat some.

I don't follow any expert opinion, I just do what works for me. I never felt like I needed to ask for prescription meds but then nobody ever pointed out the dementia link to me before.

Yoga is one of those things I've always meant to try and never got around to.

what I find so frustrating is that I know I am doing / have done so much less than I’m capable of because I can’t stick with anything long enough. After a couple of years in a job I get so bored I underperform (I get away with it because if I feel there’s a threat of being found out I’ll suddenly get supercharged and do something that impresses and gets me brownie points). But it’s so depressing to be bored at work so much of the time. Wish I’d chosen a more high adrenaline career. reading your and other people’s posts for useful strategies.

I understand exactly what you're saying. I was lucky enough to find some stuff I was really interested in when I got into my 30s.

I changed jobs every 18 months to 2 years and had 5 different careers! My pattern was enjoy the first 6 months because it was different, get bored in the second 6 months, start looking for another career or a big promotion in the third 6 mouths. Leave.

what would you do differently if you’d know what you know now 15 years ago?

Good question!

Value how my husband helped and helps me manage myself a lot more,

Stop telling strangers my life story within 5 minutes of meeting them.

Be more aware of the demands that my need for "immediacy" puts on other people.

Be less frustrated with people whose brains just don't work as fast as mine. And incidentally this is another benefit of age, your brain does slow down and you aren't quite such a mismatch with the world.

Sorry if I’ve missed this but do you drink alcohol at all now?

Both drugs and alcohol scare me because I can sense my own capability of addiction to them. Gambling as well. I've never taken any kind of illegal drug, unless you count removing magic mushrooms from my field and absorbing some through my skin. That was interesting!

I drink around 14 units a week, almost all wine, using tiny sherry glasses so it can't just be glugged back without thinking about it.

I had the almost obligatory eating disorder but I haven't eaten intending to throw up again for over 30 years. I've been through some appalling stress this last 4 years with my husband's health and it hasn't come back so I think that's over and done with now.

I read the words. The first words indicated you were among the first to be diagnosed. The other words indicated you are growing old.

your user name seems very appropriate. Have you anything to actually contribute too the thread?

It’s ok for me to point out your wording mislead me. You have kicked back at me, hence me reiterating. If you just accepted that what you said was badly worded I wouldn’t have said another word about it.

I'm not looking for your advice on how to word my thread title or posts, but thank you very much. Have you anything useful to actually contribute to the thread?

Really grateful to you for taking the time to answer. The changing jobs every couple of years is so familiar. I've been in my current one for a while (4 years albeit different roles) and I think that might be why I'm particularly struggling at the moment.

Also, don't know if anyone else here can relate to this but I find it really hard to make myself do the work during my working hours- starting to wonder if this is what PDA looks like but I can't seem to function when I'm meant to and then suddenly burn through hours of work from 5-7pm.

Value how my husband helped and helps me manage myself a lot more,

Can I ask for specific examples of how he helps you manage yourself? I'm struggling with DH at the moment and maybe recognising the things he does that I don't really think about would make me appreciate him more!

Be more aware of the demands that my need for "immediacy" puts on other people.

Be less frustrated with people whose brains just don't work as fast as mine. And incidentally this is another benefit of age, your brain does slow down and you aren't quite such a mismatch with the world.

I'd love to be better at this - I'm so impatient, so easily frustrated, want everything to happen now etc

I'm sorry about your ED and very much hope you are through it now. I was anorexic in my late teens/early 20s (haven't thought about that in a long time, funny seeing it written out) - I actually feel very grateful that I've had a good relationship with food for the past 20-odd years. Also treated for depression as per so many women with ADHD pre diagnosis. V high levels of anxiety too, I'm only really realising that now because I've never really known anything else.

I think the clarification has been a useful addition to the thread.

The point you made had been clarified before you made it. If you haven't anything to contribute to the substance of the discussion would you mind going away?

@Imdunfer I thought your post was very clear but the ND need for absolute clarity without any room for ambiguity is real 😁

Also, don't know if anyone else here can relate to this but I find it really hard to make myself do the work during my working hours- starting to wonder if this is what PDA looks like but I can't seem to function when I'm meant to and then suddenly burn through hours of work from 5-7pm.

I think it's quite common to work better to a deadline. I tend to come at it from the other end, get the work done and then go and do something more fun, but I was self employed by then.

Can I ask for specific examples of how he helps you manage yourself? I'm struggling with DH at the moment and maybe recognising the things he does that I don't really think about would make me appreciate him more! him more!

He stops me making knee jerk decisions and ill thought out purchases by gently pointing out the flaws, He listens without criticism when I rant about things then either makes supportive noises or makes sensible suggestions how to put the situation I'm ranting about right. He praises the things I do well and the benefits I bring to our relationship, like spontaneity and our social life. His financial nous and planning is responsible for us having a comfortable retirement. I earned plenty but if it had been left to me we wouldn't be as well off now as we are.

I'd love to be better at this - I'm so impatient, so easily frustrated, want everything to happen now etc

Awful isn't it? Everything has to be now. think I'm getting better at this with age, tomorrow will sometimes do instead 🤪

Today he left me open mouthed by his ability to know he had a very important update waiting on voicemail, and saying "I'll listen to that when we get home". How does he DO that? I just have to listen to it immediately.

I hope you find aging a benefit in the ways I have.

And then of course there's the over sensitivity to criticism 👋 🤣

I'm not sure that ones fading much with age.

What is RA op? I think I have ADHD. A psychiatrist told me he thinks it’s likely. Im going to try some of your suggestions for supplements x