Missing Out on the Hyperactive Part
April 26th, 2005I was diagnosed as ADD, not ADHD. I don’t know if it was because my doctor always generalizes adult ADHD as “ADD”, or if he really does think that I don’t have symptoms of hyperactivity.
Personally I think that I am not hyperactive anyhow, but I’m not completely sure. I just know that when I was young, I was a daydreamer, but not a child with endless hyperactive energy.
Not being hyperactive makes it more of a hidden illness. It’s more obvious to everyone when a person is clearly hyperactive, but being a daydreamer, people just think that I’m a hard worker. It doesn’t matter that I spend much of the time that appears to be “hard work” daydreaming (without meaning to daydream, of course).
Having a hidden illness can be better than having an obvious illness in some ways, and worse in others. It depends how compassionate and knowledgeable about medicine the people around you happen to be.