I'm curious to know, for those diagnosed as adults, did you see ADD everywhere you looked at first?

I have had my husband do a few screening questionaires and, while his scores are not as bad as mine, he still consistently falls within the "see a professional" range. He is actually starting to wonder also.

I know I am obsessing. Someone help me snap out of it LOL

Yes and no. The only person I am really starting to see a trend in is my father. and he refuses to even look at anything because he thinks I am telling him he is a mental patient and he refuses to become a mental patient. :mad: He always sleeps all the time and he never rests when he dose sleep, always loosing things, very disorganized, tunes you out all the time. Until I read more about it and was diagnosed myself I didn't think anything of it. I guess he is to stuborn to even try. Which is sad because he has to beautiful granddaughters that he is missing out on and he dosn't realize it. but thats another story.

yes!

i'm almost 100% sure my father would be diagnosed with adhd, add and asperger syndrome (like me), were he to be tested...

i've helped one of my friends to get over the "hurdle of psychiatric phobia" - i invited her to come meet my doctor (a PSYCHIATRIST!!!:eek:)for *two* reasons:

a) i wanted my doctor and my friends to meet, because they're all very *cool* people!;-)

and

b) ever since i first met this friend, i've felt like we had many "behavioral traits" in common, and since i've done *a lot* of reading on various neuropsychiatric disorders/conditions since my diagnosis (thank *God* for asperger syndrome, which enables/forces me to know "everything about everything"! i'm proud to say that i'm a *very* informed consumer!;-), i felt "sure" (ya know what i mean...) my friend would be diagnosed with adhd/add, were she to be tested...
i've urged her repeatedly to go see her family doctor, but she's so afraid "people" will think of her as "a mental case"/lazy, and so she's done nothing about this...

now that my friend has met my doctor (and realised my doctor's absolutely *nuts*, but *very* well-read, emphatic, cool, intelligent and funny;-), i'm hopeful she'll be able to contact her family doctor for a referral to the psychiatric clinic at the local hospital!

now: where do i pick up my microwave oven?
(or do i have to "recruit" more than *one* add patient to get one of those?!)

;)

Yes, I have been kinda doing the same thing (seeing ADD eveywhere) since I took that online test (or should I say "tests"-many of them).
I guess because there are so many symptoms, and so many ways you can be ADD. I think the thing is that they all need to add up, and really cause a problem in everyday functioning.
Do you plan to bring a million of things (printed out self-tests, etc.) to bring to your eval. on Fri.? I have been like research queen nonstop for the last few days, and it is driving me nuts, but I can't stop. Ahh! Probably that's why I see ADD everywhere...

I do have some things printed out to bring but I have not gone overboard on it. The things that I have are related to taking ADD meds while breastfeeding.

I have done some background checking on my Dr. Turns out he has a PhD in addition to his MD. He studied monkey brains before he switched to humans LOL!

I have done a ton of researching and can't make myself stop either. Luckily I have less than 24 hours to go. My biggest fear is that the apt will turn out to be just a consultation and I'll have to start the waiting process again. Or he will tell me that I am too smart and can't possibly be ADD.

I guess I really need to lighten up. But my husband went back to work this week(after being off for the summer) and I'm struggling to handle the kids all day. UGH.

gabriela, since I have just recently gotten out of the generic self-help book info. and more into the "neuropsychiatric disorders/conditions", and haven't read too much yet (just give me a couple days), I was wondering what in a nutshell is asperger syndrome?

It really hit a chord when you wrote, "enables/forces me to know "everything about everything"! i'm proud to say that i'm a *very* informed consumer!;-), " That is soo me, which is why I have not been off the internet for more than 5 min. these days. I just always need to know more-even for the simplest things.
Thanks!

Our kids need so much attention. I definitely hear you there. My little one just fell asleep, and I should be catching up (what else is new?).
Anyway, i am sure you are very smart (you definitely have a great sense of humor), but you can still have ADD. Are you so afraid to hear you may not have ADD, or that the Dr. just would not know what he is talking about?
I was looking into making an appt. with a psychiatrist, but ended up booking with a psychologist because he was the only one in my city who specialized in ADD. It would really frustrate me if I went to an appointment knowing more about ADD than the Dr.
OK, see what over-researching does to your head?
Anyone else out there have similar experience?

I think a good a lot my relative has undiagnosed ADD. I just can't get away from ADD either. No matter where I go somebody has some type of connection to ADD. Sometimes I feel like telling new people I meet that I'm doing something else for a living...lol.

Just when I thought I was safe from ADD...When I was at the dentist having my teeth cleaned last week I heard another patient telling the dentist that he had ADHD.

I started seeing that DUH WHAT look on peoples faces in a whole new light....

* see other post for meaning of DUH WHAT look*

I think my side of the family is pure ADD (inattentive), and I see ADD traits in many other people too. I've come to realize that when I can hit it off with someone right away, that means they have ADD traits too .... ;)

i actually quickly checked what asperger syndrome was all about-couldn't help myself. I realized from reading that it is, as most things are, more complex than just researching too much. Sorry, i took one idea, and it got me curious.
Oops! Didn't mean to get off topic from the main thread...:o

adina1:
:)

i must be in "aspie heaven" - what could be better than having *yourself* as your "special interest"/"obsession"?!
:D

but: i *have* started to spread the information i've gathered during my countless hours on-line, and i'm determined to educate "medical and school people" (and everyone else, too, actually;-) about neuropsychiatric disorders/conditions, so that *no one* will *ever* have to go through what i went through before being diagnosed at age 34!

Yes, I see ADD everywhere. Beside my family, which makes sense because ADD is in great part a genetic disorder, I see ADD on my husband and his family, and on two friends of mine that are not related. Maybe I tend to surround myself with ADD people because they can understand me. I don't know.

He he, that got a chuckle out of me!


I know I am obsessing. Someone help me snap out of it LOL

Hello Daisyo75

I am a talking hamster! *ah bish* ;P
Well i think that the most people can fit into the add symptoms, it depends how u look at it. When i feel i have add, i really feel panick. Same as that time when i think i was depressed, which i believed i really was. I have so low self esteem that i will "make-up" for 2 hours before i dare to step out my house. LOL. I am glad it is all over. Many things in life are stressful. Jus like u thinking looking after kids is? So maybe try to control the stress, calm down before it overwhealm you.
I also wonder if i have add according to some symptoms. I am introverted, not noisy but the concentration problem and procrastination. Awareness indeed help me to decide these are not part of me. They are what can be helped. At least that is what i think that i really have the condition. But i still didn't go on medication and things like that. Reason being, i still believe i am a mild case. Oh why am i out of topic. hee hee

I seen signs of it in my mom a lot....she's always blurtting things out at the wrong time....and she admitted she had same problems in school as I did and she shows much empathy and compassion.THE BIG KICK is how she and I think the same thoughts and say the same sentences at the same time Sounds like The ADD Link to me:D...Oh course..poor woman..bless her heart...she is amoung those who thinks they have grown out of it...maybe not as severe as I am but, oh yeah, I can see it in her too. She is about the only family member who understands

As for others...I don't go anywhere to even bother to notice..the community I live in..all I see is Non ADD Ppl..that's why I am so glad that I live online:D I felt sooo alone before finding other ADHD people in Yahoo and the forums. :D

My mother & I are very alike. She's a quiet creative dreamer & a bit of a space cadet & even more prone to depression than me. Of course she kept her act together just fine being a woman but now that she's retired she's letting it all hang out. She insists I'm just obsessing over this & don't have ADD but she really knows nothing about it. She's always been the one to "just try harder" & I've seen that approach either fail or exhaust her over the years. My approach has always been to just go with the flow & I always knew I function different from most people, I just didn't have a name for it. I also think if I do have it, it's pretty mild but I'm at the point in life I need to do something about it.

My neighbor is a psychologist and artist age 50 something, we're occasional chatty friends & I asked her when I found out about this & she said yeah she thought I had ADD, cause it always seems I'm "running around little rabbit trails not getting anything done, too distracted". She said her sister has it real bad & she even said (I think seriously) that "most people have it" which is a bit extreme IMO but hey she's a professional, maybe just being a shrink & hanging around loonies all day plus the art scene she sees it everywhere she looks.

For sure there's lots of hyper or dreamy people out there who are getting by in life alright & would meet many of the criteria & would gladly admit they have trouble concentrating but they'd scoff at the idea of having ADHD.

I'm still so torn about what exactly is going on with me. I really don't have trouble concentrating in fact I concentrate too well (overfocused type) & I'm generally plenty smart. I'm not hyper or particularly lethargic. My main problem is profound procrastination recently but procrastination is more complicated than just strictly an ADHD thing.

I'm doing some temp work & yesterday was getting bored till I found a really interesting unique challenging way to tackle the task at hand & that got me through the afternoon when sleepiness was threatening to overwhelm. I've been doing this job for a few weeks & it appears that I'm just perfectly fine, performing very well above expectations but that's because mostly it's new and interesting & the structure of the tasks is easy to wipe out any possibility of the procrastination that haunts my self employed lifestyle. But I know I'd not survive there long term. My last job I lasted 5 years but I had a lot of freedom to do things my nutty way without anyone breathing down my neck & enough opportunity to review with the boss & keep things on track: the perfect balance. But I did screw things up with sloppy mistakes, not knowing how to please clients & when they wanted me to be a manager I could not so they hired a manager, he breatherd down my neck & I ended up getting fired. But their overall impression of me is that I'm smart & have a lot of interesting ideas, just not practical or suitable for them & of course the ODD defiance made a mess with that new manager. In the previous 8 years I had a lot of different jobs & did temp work for a couple of those years & was unemployed for a few stretches. Almost always frustrated.

Another thing is the durn meds don't seem to work.

The more I think about this the more I decide that I am not imagining it. My husband is actually starting to realize that there might be something more going on with him than a chronic inability to accomplish anything.

I guess we will see what happens. I have an apt with a psychiatrist on thrusday and my husband has an appointment next monday. I hope we can get some stuff worked out!