Stories of an ADD Adult

I believe that childhood ADHD may very well be overdiagnosed. However, adult ADD is another matter altogether.

In my mind there are two main groups of people who get diagnosed with adult ADD. The first group consists of adults who had the ADHD diagnosis when they were children and are now grown up. They are the ones who didn’t outgrow their diagnosis. That is, they are the ones who genuinely suffered from ADHD as children and were more likely not to be part of the overdiagnosis trend.

The second group consists of adults who have been hearing about ADHD and adult ADD in the news, in magazines, and in commercials. They see it on TV or read the articles and say to themselves, “Hey, that’s me! That describes exactly how I’ve suffered all these years.” They then go online to find whatever other information they can find about adult ADD, including this website if they are lucky. They really do their research well, and if they are sure that they fit the symptoms, only then do they see a doctor about their problems.

Like the second group of adults, the first group is also extremely knowledgeable about ADHD and ADD, due to all the years of being labeled with the disorder. They know all the details by heart, both because they have gone through therapy and because they have been reading about ADHD and ADD for years and years.

Anyhow, both groups of adults have one thing in common: they themselves identify with the adult ADD diagnosis, including most or all of the symptoms, and they feel comfortable that it’s not a misdiagnosis. They have done their research. They differ from the children who get diagnosed with AD(H)D in that not all of those children can comfortably say that they identify with all of the expected symptoms. Many of those children have the diagnosis imposed upon them by a teacher, school administrator, doctor, or parent. Few children received the AD(H)D diagnosis only after doing their own independent research (though it may be true in some cases).

Self-diagnosis is probably quite accurate in the case of ADD. The symptoms are pretty simple to understand, and you either relate to most or all of them, or you don’t. Since the majority of adults with ADD either self-diagnosed themselves or are sure that their symptoms from childhood are real and have carried over into adulthood, the diagnosis is probably accurate for most ADD adults.

Furthermore, doctors tend to be especially careful in prescribing ADD medications to adults. Adults are also the ones who abuse these controlled medications, so doctors know to take the extra effort and care to be sure that the adult ADD diagnosis is correct.

Based on all these facts, adult ADD must not be overdiagnosed. It is a completely different scenario from childhood ADHD, which has great potential for overdiagnosis.

I was talking to a friend of my mother’s who happens to be a pediatrician. She regularly prescribes ADHD medications to her young patients. She was saying that it’s sad how so many parents insist that their kids be given a prescription immediately, rather than trying to examine and change other factors first.

I agreed that too many parents try and take the easy way out of solving their children’s problems with medicine. But I also told her that I was a patient myself, and that I was taking Ritalin. I told her that it had helped me tremendously.

She said that if it’s what helps, that it’s good to take the medication. She clarified her words right away, saying that there were children who justifiably needed meds to treat their ADHD, but that there were too many other kids who needed more personal attention from teachers and parents first before resorting to prescriptions.

I will admit that I’ve felt kind of lost so far blogging about my ADD. I have so much to talk about, and I just haven’t figured out where to begin. In the first few posts, I kept rambling and ended up having to edit those posts significantly.

I guess my approach reflects the fact that I have ADD pretty well. Being all over the place at once, having a messy, unclear direction, etc. Consider yourself lucky if you didn’t see the original unedited posts.

Now that I’ve cleared my throat, I’ll turn on my headlights to help guide me.

Well, what I know at this point is that I want to talk about my experiences. There are a lot of lists of ADD or ADHD symptoms out there, but those lists can feel very two-dimensional. I hope that I can give you a real picture of what ADD has been like for me, and I hope that my writing comes out more naturally.

Do you have ADD or ADHD? Well, don’t worry if you do, or if you think you might, because I am an adult with ADD and have been able to improve my situation greatly and to use my ADD traits to my advantage.

I intend to use this website for the following:

• telling the world about my experiences
• posting basic information about ADD
• sharing my random thoughts and feelings about ADD

and possibly other things, but I don’t know for sure yet.