ADHD/ADD support thread..

[TheBreastmilksOnMe]

I am trying to get diagnosed for ADHD and having a nightmare really so I thought about starting up a thread for anyone who is living with this unique slant to their mind and can share advice/experiences in the hope that it might help other people.

I'm interested to hear your stories so please join in (if you can find the time)and stick around (if you can focus for long enough)

hello .

I have done some half-hearted googling of adult ASD but not figured out if there are any specialists that would be able to help me. I get hilarously high scores on the informal ASD tests.

I still find socialising crippling, just as well I'm at home watching Sky news then!

Hi and welcome!

So have you been officially diagnosed with ADHD, but not as yet ASD, but strongly suspect that you have ASD, rather than ADHD?

yes, that's right. My sister assumes I have it, although she then started wittering on about everyone being somewhere along the autistic spectrum so I shouldn't worry. But I seem to be at the very far end of it! And she works with proper poorly people, even geeky, obsessive, awkward little me is a doddle compared to the people she meets!

I was under the impression that adult diagnosis of ASD was almost unheard of.

To be honest I don't know, I assumed that it was diagnosed in much the same way as ADHD. I should have included ASD in the title, sorry. The thing is though, you are born with it and it never goes away so you would think that diagnosis is irrelevent to age. Where do you live? I am in North Wales and they just don't have the experts here to diagnose. I would like to try out medication to see if it makes a difference to me but also there is a part of me that thinks, hey I'm different, not wrong, why should I need to take something in order to help me fit in with everyone else? But I'd dearly love to have better social skills and confidence with people.

I'm in Hampshire, so if I do track down someone who can help then they'll probably be in London.

Hi I have just been diagnosed with ADHD at 43! My eldest son also has it i went to my gp and was referred to the adult mental health service. The tests were self questionares, one to my mum and then a series of tasks under test conditions. Answers a lot of questions for me I now have a bit of a wait to try medication.

I tried to get a diagnosis for add 4 years ago in the uk. They refused to take it further because I couldn't provide my school reports, and because I was able to sit in the waiting room for 10 minutes without running around like an idiot.

I'm now in Australia, and have finally been diagnosed and receiving treatment. It took a nervous breakdown, self harm, severe depression and anxiety to get there, but I now have an awesome psychiatrist who trusts my judgement, treats me like an intelligent human being and doesn't think I'm a drug addict risk. She did still need to see my school reports though.
I started on ritalin 10mg as and when needed (most workdays), and my concentration and productivity has gone through the roof. I do find it makes me physically antsy, but it is great for calming my mind down.

Arana - the thing about school reports worries me, because nowhere in mine does it say that I constantly interrupt conversations/go off at a tangent/read a paper when my DP is trying to talk to me (you get my drift). Plus, my teachers had no idea that I wouldn't be able to keep a tidy home!

lancarra1 - I have seen counsellors privately and through the NHS for my anxiety. Did you get the impression they took you seriously? I will do what I can through self-help, but wonder if drugs might help now that I'm almost sure that ADD is my problem. I've always resisted ADs because I wasn't convinced I was depressed - anxious, yes, depressed, no. I'll be interested to hear how you get on.

There are aspects of myself I have always hated. I'm hopeless in conversation (rude, abrupt, tactless), messy as anything, dreadful procrastinator, will butt into complete strangers' conversations in shops . I will often have nothing to do with friends for months on end, and it doesn't bother me in the slightest. It's like they don't even exist. Ditto siblings/parents. How harsh does that sound?! My family (siblings/parents) think I'm a cow, and have called me selfish and opinionated for years and my mum once told my sister she didn't like talking to me on the phone 'because she talks too much'.

However, I only connected the dots because I made a GP's appointment for my middle child, who I am 100% convinced has ADHD, and as I read through the material I recognised myself and my character 'flaws' so clearly that I actually broke down in tears.

WSOL your background sounds very similar to mine. The stuff on my school reports specifically were things like the fact that I talked too much, never handed my homework in on time, had a tendency to daydream, and the general exasperation that I'm bright but would amount to nothing if I didn't apply myself.

It has only been through seeking help with DS's problems (which I'm not sure if they're ADHD, anxiety or Aspergers) that like you, I recognised all the problems he has and equated them to what I went through growing up. It breaks my heart to think of all the pain he's going to have to go through, just because his brain is wired slightly differently.

All those aspects you described that you don't like about yourself - I have most of them too. I have horrendously low self esteem, which is the root of my depression and anxiety. I'm on ADs now, and they've done wonders for my anxiety, but not touched my depression yet. Fingers crossed that will come.

I hope it gets better, for both of us :)

They were very serious and I felt ,for once, truly understood. Now I don't feel the need to 'hide' I can recommend Sari Solden's book on women with ADD, I was surprised when I was diagnosed with the hyper part as I never considered it before, but I am always restless , fidget a lot! I am hoping the medication will help as I am a single mum of 4 one with ADHD, so am operating on my limits at the moment.

lancarra1 - thanks, I'll look out for that one. I got really upset on the phone earlier with the local NHS mental health clinic (who already have me on their books - I self-referred for anxiety last year) because all I wanted to know was, was I going to be wasting my time by asking for a psych referral from my GP, since it seems some areas of the country don't actually have any adult ADD specialists.

And the receptionist couldn't provide a satisfactory answer to anything I asked her - it was only when I started crying with frustration and explained "I'm really sorry, I don't make myself very well understood in conversation and I get very wound up very quickly because of my condition, although I appreciate this isn't your fault" that she put me through to a duty worker, who said that the process is that I my GP can refer me for an assessment, but he couldn't tell me whether the assessment was available in our area! What a shambles. If they don't even know, then gawd knows which bin where any referral letter will end up.

My children have it... My son has ADHD, and the other has ADD... They are adults now...and I do talk to their partners about it, when they are having a tough time.

My DS8 I believe also has it... (??) He will throw a fit and be completely unreaslistic, and a few minutes later, he won't acknowledge the battle prior too. I've learned to deal with his outbursts by picking the battles to fight with... As he doesn't realize what he is doing... imho.