I have been wondering. If someone who is ADD, do they know they are ADD or is it their actions that make their family and friends push them to go get some help?
I would really be interested in hearing from anyone with ADD or who has a family member with it. What does it feel like to be on ridalyn ? How has their lives changed after the diagnosis?
Shirley,
I was taken to the Doc and diagnosed when I was doing so absolutely poorly in sKool. We knew I had some brain damage from a childhood vaccination, but we weren’t sure to it’s extent. Thank GaWd it was just a little epilepsy and my learning disabilities.
I have ADD and ADHD with Spatial Dyslexia.
Is this person an adult? or a child? That will really determine the course of action for this person.
How do you know you’re ADD or ADHD? go to this website. http://mentalhelp.net/disorders/sx1.htm
It has a pretty good list of the symptoms and a quiz to take for a good guess about whether you have it or not.
Ritalin…I have avoided the stuff all my life. When I was a kid, my LD’s were controlled well by changes in my diet. I believe the most famous is the “Atkins diet”. It worked well.
I am very against Ritalin for lots of reasons. It’s an upper, and I don’t dig uppers. I think they lead to Methamphetamine abuse later in life if given to a child. There are host of other reasons as well. here’s a recent story I ran across a few weeks ago… http://www.ashevilletribune.com/ritalin.htm
I don’t know much more about it.
I recommend reading a book called “Driven to Distraction”. It’s very informative, and well help to ease the person/family/adult into ADHD-hood.
THere are several people on the board who can help you with the Ritalin question.
Good luck, and feel free to ask anything you wish about LS’s!
-Sam
Both my children have ADD; my older boy has some learning disabilities as well.
The Ritalin works very well for improving their attention span and concentration, especially for my younger boy. I’m really not worried about drug abuse; neither of the boys gets “high” from the Ritalin; indeed, they seem more relaxed when they use it. The biggest side-effect I’ve seen is appetite suppression with my older boy.
As with any psychoactive medication, a physician, preferably a psychiatrist, should carefully monitor the patient’s response.
I don’t want to upset you SingleDad, but I used to get pretty relaxed when I smoked pot, too.
(Not that I do that anymore, I’m a good boy now) 
One nitpick:
This is not the case. I haven’t read anything saying that methylphenidate use leads to any sort of illicit drug use. In fact, I have read some studies claiming that kids with untreated ADHD are more likely to use illicit drugs than those who are treated.
Shirley–I was diagnosed with ADHD about a year ago. I would say that most adults who have it recognize themselves when they read about it. I was hesitant to mention it to my psychiatrist, lest he chastize me for making my own diagnosis. In retrospect, I don’t think you’d be at all out of line to say, “I think I have ADHD”. (An interesting, related note: I read a study last year saying that the best screening test for moderate to severe depression–a screening test with very close to 100% sensitivity and specificity–is to ask the patient, “Are you depressed?”)
Methylphenidate (Ritalin) has worked wonders for me. I’ve really noticed it lately, as I’m studying for the boards and going over some of the material from two years ago–it takes much less effort and is much clearer to me now. (Medical school is pure hell for someone with ADHD.) It might not be for everyone, and some believe it’s an unnecessary crutch, but you don’t know what it’s like to turn the page of a book without your mind wandering if you’ve never done it.
GaWd is right that Driven to Distraction is a great book. Just avoid anything by Peter Breggin–he is the Kent Hovind of the ADHD world. (Those who follow the evolution debate know what I’m talking about.)
Dr. J
Shirley UJ,
I am an ADDult.
I was diagnosed at age 15. Essentially, my parents saw a strange pattern with me. I would do great in school the first few weeks then end up failing classes etc. Looking back through my elementary school grades there was always “Very intelligent but doesn’t complete her work” “stares out the window a lot” and similar comments.
After a complete days testing with a psychiatrist and about 3 counseling sessions, my doctor determined my ADD without the H.
Unlike GaWd’s thinking, Ritalin, in a true ADD/ADHD patient does not lead to stimulant abuse. When I was on my Ritalin I never felt different. In fact, during my experimentation of recreational drugs stimulants like cocaine and speed didn’t affect me like they did my friends.
Driven to Distraction is a great book. I highly recommend it for those that suspect they have it or a loved one does.
Here are some common things with ADD people:
Intelligent, does well below average in standard academic settings.
Disorganization
Forgetful
A risk taker or spontaneous
One or both parents have ADD
Has many unfinished projects
Can hyperfocus --either doesn’t know you exist or get very upset if you interupt during an intense and engaging activity the ADDer is involved in.
Those are common but don’t apply to all ADDers.
I do agree that ADD is overly “diagnosed” today. Often a teacher will mention it and a General Practioner will simply prescribe Ritalin, Adderall etc. In my years of research and talking to others about ADD, I have come to the conclusion that a pyschiatrist along with the person’s main doctor should be involved.
Forms of bi-polar can mimic ADHD and vice versa which is why it is important that a doc of the brain should be involved. Also, as SingleDad mentioned, ADD can accompany other learning disabilities so a patient should have a thorough eval before treatment begins.
Well I have to say…
Er, why am I posting here?
I covered the link between Ritalin and meth use a few weeks ago in another thread with you guys. It’s not a study, it’s not printed. It was simply an observation that my mother and I noticed with at least 60 of her crank fiends. They had been treated with Ritalin as children(mostlikely bad diagnoses), and moved on to crank as adults.
It is refutable, it is only an opinion(you know what they say about opinions :)).
Lots of people do great on the stuff…more power to ya!
I simply think there are better ways of treating LD’s.
-Sam
From that list of qualities, I might have it but then I would be functionally ADD & wouldn’t get medication.
I knew a girl with Spatial Dyslexia once, I taught her sign language &she did just fine.
A friend of mine has ADD as do his kids. He’s a movie screenwriter, and it’s hard for him to sit still long enough to write. He would often have a message board up, which would allow him to be distracted, but not leave his desk - so he’d bop back and forth. He and his boys are all on ritalin, and he said he wouldn’t be able to work at all without it. He did say that caffeine makes most ADD peole drowsy, instead of wide awake. And he says his wife is a saint for putting up with all of them. 
StG
I took the test and scored a 65. I’m really not surprised that I scored that high. If I were to pursue this further, should the first person I talk to be my Primary Care Physician or a psychologist through the EAP? (I can probably figure this out by looking through my benefits package). I do recognize that this is overdiagnosed so I would want to take every precaution available to make sure I’m not falsely diagnosed.
I’m also curious about what Joe Average (help me out, SDMBers!) scores on this test and how it corresponds to the scoring key on the lower right. It’s good that the test points out that it is merely a tool, but I’m still curious about how good the test is.
I always knew that there was something different about me, I just didn’t know what it was. It was obvious enough that something was wrong, that Mom took me to the Child Study Center in FW when I was in fourth grade. That would be '71 or '72.
Yes, this hurt my self-esteem. Badly.
I always knew there was something different about me. It was obvious enough that Mom took me to the Child Study Center in FW when I was in fourth grade.
The usual line I got was “You would do so well, if you would just apply yourself.” But I never understood how to do this and no one ever taught me how.
Yes, this hurt my self-esteem. Badly.
I did not even know about ADD until a couple of years after I graduated from college. A cousin of mine was diagnosed, and Mom told me about it. The symptoms matched my experiences nearly perfectly.
Knowing what was going on helped me quite a bit. I have been able to teach myself how work for longer than 5 minutes without becoming stressed, and I have found ways to accomodate the expectations of the world within my framework of behavior.
I have never been on Ritalin, except for a mini-double-blind experiment my ex & I put together once (yes, I’m weird) I noticed that I was calmer because I was less stressed, because it was easier for me to work the way the world wants you to work. But I’ve never gotten a prescription for it.
Hmmm. Maybe I should see a doctor.
I have been previously diagnosed with dysthymia, maybe I should get a second opinion.
I have ADHD, though when I was diagnosed back in the 3rd grade is was called ADD. A few years back a wrote a very long paper on it for college, so I may not have the most updated info, and I mostly don’t remember the stuff I learned, but I’ll input what I can on the subject.
Adults or children? It is nearly impossible for ADHD children to be aware of it or to really understand it. But most do have an idea that they are different, and they don’t generally perceive this difference as a positive thing. The thing about it is, that when most people list the symptoms (i.e. impulsivity, inattentiveness, rigidity, etc.) they really aren’t explaining the experience. It’s lacking the ability to interact with others appropriately. It’s saying the wrong things at the wrong times. This obviously makes it very difficult to have friends which makes it very difficult to have a high opinion of oneself (yes I was a total loser in grade school). It is usually the child’s teacher that notices the problem, and the teacher than has the responsibility of discussing it with the parent and school counselor.
Adults can recognize that they have it but it is difficult to avoid being objective. Let’s face it, the list of symptoms could seem to apply to almost anyone if you look for it. Everyone does their share of daydreaming, everyone has trouble focusing when their doing something unpleasant. But people who truly have ADHD will differ markedly from those who don’t. A lot of people have trouble working with noise around, but (take for example a steady water drip from a leaky faucet) most could ignore that. An ADHD person finds that water drip unbearable. I know I need absolute silence (or white noise) to focus on anything. (Incidently white noise is a great way to handle distractions). Also ADHD adults have very poor short term memory. If you tell me a list of things to get at the grocery store,. even if its only 4 or 5 things (bread, eggs, milk, cheese, juice, cookies) by the time you get to cookies I’ve lost the first 2 things. I need to have it repeated a few times. Actually, to stick to the question, it is probably more likely for an adult to recognize it in himself than for others to recognize it in him/her (I’m trying not to be sexist so assume this for every gender specific pronoun- thank you). Adults are not nearly as obvious in their behaviors as children. So if an adult suspects he may have it, he would probably want to think back to his childhood and look for obvious differences in social activity and academic success.
Now, the controversial ritalyn. Well, I was on ritalyn and quite honestly it probably saved my life. Normally as a child I was a viscious tyrannt who was so impulsive I would do anything I pleased the moment the thought popped into my head. I remember once on the playgroud, a kid ran passed me and just for the hell of it I stuck my foot out and tripped him. I have 1001 of those types of incidents some with very bad outcomes. Ritalyn helps you focus your attention on what you are doing and where you are, which helps you to act more appropriately. It also, of course, helps you accomplish things. I’d like to make it very clear that Ritalyn use in children DOES NOT lead to any type of adult drug addiction at all. Studies show that children have no concept of the psychoactive properties of it. They do not experience any type of euphoria or dependence, and most children actually hate the idea of taking any form of medicine. ADHD children usually see any successful defiance of authority as a victory. Thus when I was slippery enough to sneak out without taking it, I felt I had beaten them.
BTW, drug addiction is common in ADHD children, but this is apparently not linked to childhood ritalyn use. Tendency towards drug addiction has been shown to have a strong genetic basis as does ADHD, and the answers probably lie there in the genes.
Adults on ritalyn is a different story. Adults will probably feel a little euphoric on ritalyn. Also (in children and adults) the come down is very very unpleasant. If one is prone to depression, coming down can be very depressing. You feel easily irritated, unsocial, sometimes angry, and this may last for a good half hour or so. Ritalyn also lasts only 4 hrs, and the onset as well as offset times are extremely rapid, making it very easy for an adult to become psychologically dependant if used unwisely.
I don’t believe ritalyn or dexadrine (which was what I most recently used) should be used on a daily basis. It should be used as needed. If you have a large project, or intense house cleaning, than it can certainly help.
However, I’ve found that through meditation and relaxation techniques, I’ve been able to deal with it without use of any drugs. I haven’t taken a dexadrine in over a year, and I feel much better in general. I don’t like the ups and downs, though with dexadrine the mood swings aren’t as great. However, I don’t think that the drug is a bad way to go. It can be of great benefit if used prudently.
I haven’t formally been diagnosed with ADD, but I strongly suspect that I have dysgraphia. I fit the profile for that variety. It has long been a standing joke in my family that I get my left and right’s mixed up. The funny thing is that I have been scored in the top 1% for spatial perception.
Keith
Just curious…
I know what ADD is, but what’s the H in ADHD?
Hyperactive - and males tend to have the hyperactive component more than females.
I see. Thank you.
Rilchiam–yes, the H stands for Hyperactivity. There used to be ADD and ADHD, but now it’s all called ADHD, either Primarily Inattentive, Primarily Hyperactive, or Mixed Type. (Just a terminology change.) I’m a PI, which is less common in males. That’s one reason that the condition is underdiagnosed in females, since it’s easier to spot hyperactivity than inattention.
GaWd–I certainly don’t doubt your observation. I would mention, though, that certain personality types are drawn to certain drugs. One lecturer we had on illicit drugs said that he could go over to our local rehab center and name everyone’s drug of choice just by looking at them and what they were doing. I would say that someone with ADHD (or enough of it to get a diagnosis and Ritalin) is probably the kind of person that would enjoy meth. (Hell, if it weren’t for all those nasty adverse effects, I’m sure I’d love the stuff.) There are too many confounding factors there to say that methylphenidate leads to methamphetamine abuse.
Dr. J
Gosh, where was everyone when I had my ADD Lounge thread.