apologies if it is...
1) From the little I know about ADHD meds since I am not on any, if you have AD/HD and you take your meds you slow down, focus better etc. but in a non ADHD person it speeds them up and acts like a mega coffee fix or something.
Does/can this actually reliably indicate if you have ADHD or not? Take the meds and see how you react to it?
If you take ADD meds and it seems to help you focus better, does that necc mean you have ADD?
Also does the meds to help ADHD kids slow down etc. work the same way in ADD in attentive type people?

ADD in attentive type people? I'm one of those types with me personally with the meds ,or without the meds it's pretty much the same i think i do notice though the meds help me to get more motavated to study ,or wrtting pappers so it does feel like much of a chore. With that in mind it's been wrttien there is a post on the different types off ADD i belive i read it there that meds might make things worse for those in attentive I could see why that is to point.

It seems like i have a little more confusion with some things when on the meds then without.


Hope that helps ya

apologies if it is...
1) From the little I know about ADHD meds since I am not on any, if you have AD/HD and you take your meds you slow down, focus better etc. but in a non ADHD person it speeds them up and acts like a mega coffee fix or something.
Does/can this actually reliably indicate if you have ADHD or not? Take the meds and see how you react to it?
If you take ADD meds and it seems to help you focus better, does that necc mean you have ADD?
Also does the meds to help ADHD kids slow down etc. work the same way in ADD in attentive type people?

No, it doesn't, though I think some doctors tend to do this (give a trial of medication to tell for sure). If you're grossly overstimulated by a typical dose of medication (hyper, bouncing off the walls), then I'd think that you wouldn't be AD/HD, but a person being able to concentrate better with it doesn't imply AD/HD, at least from a medical standpoint.

The point here to remember is that (at least by current research, anyway), certain parts of the brain are underactive in AD/HD (all three DSM significant types, I believe). So, the medication does speed your brain up, which improves your executive functioning, which allows you to better control your mind and behavior.

Lurker it's a bit more complicated than that. Some physicians will try medication as a trial as HF mentioned, but that's after they've done an interview and are thinking based on symptoms that it's likely to be ADD. Besides not all meds for each indiv. For some Ritalin does nothing, but Adderall is great, etc. You can't use medication to diagnose.

Stimulants also make some nonADDers calmer. Just being an extrovert makes it more likely that caffiene will have a calming effect.

In general, a positive response to stimulants increases the likelihood that an ADD diagnosis is correct. Note the uncertainty in that statement, though.