Which parent did you inherit your ADD from?

ack--neither parent came equipped a/ADD. my mother has a few other head-type things going on, & my dad drank too much until he quit, but mental illness doesnt just run in my family, it races :), so im sure there was another relative somewhere in my family bush that has it.

I voted neither, too. Neither one of them show any obvious signs. I got my learning disability from my mom, though, and all 3 of her brothers probably have ADD. :)

when i first started therapy & meds & stuff, i thought that my whole family showed signs of ADHD & co-morbids, but i guess i was just too optimistic :D
im gonna ask ma if i was adopted (:p snicker snicker)

My Dad for sure. He's quite OCD too but never a diagnosis. You can set your watch by him though. < g >
ian

When I found out that I have ADD, my parents thought it was a phase and it would go away. Then I was diagnosed with severe depression also. But when I think about it, my mom has problems paying attention and sometimes when she has a conversation with someone, she gets very very easily distracted by the television or the dog. LoL

I believe from my Mother but she died of Alzymers befor I recognised that there was a name for my ADD

I think my dad had it, looking back now it would explain a hell of a lot about him. But he functioned well enough, so he never wound up in a psychiatrist's office until I was dragged to one in my early teens.

My mother was more of a control freak -- so organized I used to say every thing was in its place, and every place was in its thing -- and diagnosed with depression. I can't talk with her about it because she's also suffered from progressing dementia for at least the last seven years.

I picked my father for the survey. He's the one I know for sure has it. I greatly suspect my mother's side, although she didn't come up as having it, I did inherit tendencies towards anxiety and depressive disorders from her end, and the fact remains when the screening occured they didn't think women could have it. So she might well have it too.

no doubt my mom. we've known she was add for years. I don't know I never suspected I was too.

The other "smoking gun" for the case of my father having it was his rampant alcoholism. Alcoholism and ADD go together like "peas and carrots".

I got my ADHD from my mom and we found out a few years ago that my moms dad has it and my uncle i think has it.

E-boy, Irish/Swedish and god only knows what else in extraction, ADD by the grace of god. ;-)

Hi all! I don't know where mine came from. I remember in the first grade (1956) I was done with my studies before everyone else was and would "disrupt" (hehehehe) the rest of the class! (read: class clown). But I always had very good grades in elementary school....then Jr High came along.....the Beatles...Music.......all the shiny stuff I wanted to do and be......fit right in with my ADD.......but I didn't realize I had ADD till I was 46, I just thought I had "Peter Pan Syndrome" :D
But I don't see ADD as a "curse" as some do.....I think we with ADD are a special bunch that sees life a little differently....and want to hold on to our "inner child" as long as we can. And thank God for our spouses that are able to put up with us!!! I love it when my wife says to someone when they don't exactly know how to take me; she tells them, "I wouldn't change him for the world." And we've been married for 14 years:cool:
If this seems rambling I think it's time for more medicine! hahahaha.
Piney

Maybe my dad, who is somewhat of an underachiever but good with his hands. Or maybe my mom's side, where my (late) uncle the chronically un/deremployed alcoholic divorced guy comes from. I really don't know, since nobody has really been formally diagnosed except my kids.

It finally dawned on me that my dad was ADD, although he certainly never would have thought that about himself, and neither did anyone else in my family. We always just teased him that he was the absent-minded professor. He was a college English professor, and very knowledgable about English literature but always with his head in the clouds. He would head off on an errand, saying he was going to the post office to drop something in the mail, and would come back hours later after doing who-knows-what. He had at least 1 addicition - chain-smoking cigarettes. His office in our home was a mess of papers and files. Mom called him a pack-rat. He was always misplacing his eyeglasses and blaming someone else for it. His one professional failure he never got over was not completing his Ph.D., and therefore not having the credentials he needed to be full-professor. He said that he just got distracted by the everyday responsibilities of having a young family. Now I understand why he felt so distracted. I definitely believe that I inherited this from my dad.

I believe my Father has ADD, but has never been diagnosed. He is the classic "absent minded professor". I believe he received it from his mother.

All of my siblings (four of us total) have some form of ADD, my nephew does, as does my daughter and perhaps my son.

This means we are all amazingly creative, fast thinking, and share our thoughts quickly. It makes for interesting holidays!

I want to say my father's side a good old type3 when i got treated he goes i wouldn't be suprised if i had that disorder, however though my mother's side had alot of ld's as well such as dsylexa i hope that spelled right.

My dad was also an underachiever. Dropped out of two colleges just because he wasn't sure what he wanted to do. Ended up as an alcoholic steel worker and later as a broke *** carpenter who only hustled jobs when he needed to.

Dad couldn't sit still to save his life, mom placed house keys in the freezer while leaving ice cream somewhere on a counter top. Nuff said.

had to be the old man he was such a dick:eek:

I'd say at the moment,that my,
Father was inattentive,until drunk.
Mother,most definitely hyper,until depressed.

i have no clue, i do know.. i have a brother with retty bad ocd, had a cousin who had to be hospitalized with mental health problems.. but i dont see any adhd in the family.. does it have to come from someone? i know alcoholism is in the family..

Dad

even though to this day he wont get tested or admit it he is just like me... or i should say I'm just like him! lol

Looking back, I'm pretty sure it was my father. My mom might have been a little. It's hard to say for sure, looking back.

You stated that perfectly for me starscream. I remember one time at dinner when I was seeing a psychiatrist, I suggested that maybe my Dad should see one too. Whew!! His veins on his forehead and neck stuck out as he screamed "I don't need to see any G**damn psychiatrist!!"

But we all need to remember that only part of your ADD is inherited. The other part comes from the way you grow up.

You stated that perfectly for me starscream. I remember one time at dinner when I was seeing a psychiatrist, I suggested that maybe my Dad should see one too. Whew!! His veins on his forehead and neck stuck out as he screamed "I don't need to see any G**damn psychiatrist!!"

But we all need to remember that only part of your ADD is inherited. The other part comes from the way you grow up.

Hello Naurice,
Being born and breed by the genes,interesting and very logical.

I voted both.
I would claim both my parents,complete and utter.....anyway....

I remember being 21 and approaching my father at a bar,per usaul and saying I need help,I need to see a doctor,that-'I think I'm cracking up...',to which he replied,'No Son of mine is going to no f***ing nut house!'.Or what he was saying to himself-'I don't want people knowing,that I am a useless father,and do not want evidence of it.I will just tipple my alchoholic beverage down my throat and forget,any of this ever happened'-as if by magic,he's dream came true!And it is all owed to his special potent potion,ALCHOHOL.(now i like alchohol,but i do not like being an AHOLE)

I'm positive it was my Dad. He hasn't been diagnosed, but I think he's been self-medicating with alcohol for a LONG time (he's an alcoholic).

I'm convinced that my younger brother has it too (interestingly enough, we are the two kids that look alike... red hair, blue eyes, freckles... quite different from my brown haired, brown eyed older brother). He's also having troubles with alcohol, so I think he's been self medicating too. I wrote him a letter asking him to get tested. We'll see how that goes.

Definitely my Father, it seems all the males in our family (father, me and all of my brothers, my sisters little boy, uncles) have something up with us, ADHD, XYY, Autism/Aspergers, Dyslexia, CD/ODD...

My Mother, sister, her little girl, aunts, etc are all 'fine' as it were... girls get all the luck... pah :)

Logic

I'm surprised to hear how many of you have alcoholic fathers, my Dad drinks a lot too, always has as far back as I can remember. I have always assumed the drinking was because of anxiety (runs in his side of family really bad), but I suppose it could be ADD related as well.

I think my grandmother on my Mom's side has ADD too, she has always been VERY spacey acting and forgetful.

i have been thinking about this and I really think I just got ADD.. I cant think of one thing my mom or dad do that would suggest ADHD in either one. My brother, the one with pretty severe OCD definetly shows signs but when I told him to ask his dr about it he said "I take enough pills every day, I dont need another one" tried to say maybe he wouldnt need the otheres if he took an ADHD drug if he had ADHD.. he wouldnt hear it though.

I'm surprised to hear how many of you have alcoholic fathers, my Dad drinks a lot too, always has as far back as I can remember. I have always assumed the drinking was because of anxiety (runs in his side of family really bad), but I suppose it could be ADD related as well.

I think my grandmother on my Mom's side has ADD too, she has always been VERY spacey acting and forgetful.

I've come to believe that self abuse issues are related most closely to wounded self esteem and self image. Just a thought.
Cheers!

I got my ADHD from my mom. She is the classic super Hyperactive ADHD person. I am not Hyperactive though just a lot of trouble with concentration.

Def. both. Mine are super hyperactive and I am the ADHD combined type. No inattentiveness for either of them.

Mensa99
That poll is a really neat way to ask questions,
Could you tell me how to ask another question poll.
With the question.
"how many people went through seperation trauma, example adopted, or early childhood seperation, from one or more parents??"
FH

Both, I think. None of them have been diagnosed yet but my mother is trying to get a diagnosis for herself after realising that the ADHD symptoms fit just as much on herself as it did on me. My dad doesn't really give a **** but he sure as hell fits the diagnosis, terrible at organising things, forgetfull and so on.

My mom is very clearly overfocused type ADD. She's been diagnosed with depression etc. etc. but never, IMHO, the CORRECT diagnosis: ADD. I had her read a chapter in a book on overfocused ADD- it didn't click so I dropped it. People can't embrace it until they're ready I guess.

My father definitely has ADHD-I, as per my diagnosing skills. My paternal grandfather likely had it, and 2 out of the remaining 3 siblings on my fathers side are almost definite.

My maternal grandfather was highly likely to have it as well.

I got diagnosed because I realized my handwriting was 100x neater when I was drunk, and I was able to think properly at that point too. Turns out it was slowing my brain down enough that I could function properly. Speeding it up does the same thing :)

My mother's been diagnosed, along with my sister. I'm convinced that my partner has ADD, but she's learned to live with it. Watching her try to write an essay for a course seriously brings back painful memories from high school!

I'm quite sure my dad has ADD as well, but he's probably learned to live with it by now, which is completely fine.