Ok, so this is the 3rd thread I've posted in a row. Obviously you can tell I have ADD. I just remembered one more thing I wanted to ask about. Are mood swings part of ADD or is that something else on top? Some days I have really happy days, and some days it seems like everything ****es me off or offends me and makes me want to cry. I am also super sensitive to other people's emotions and swear I can feel their hurt or anger. I'm hoping it's all part of ADD although the psychologist said I was "moderately depressed" at our first meeting. Any thoughts?:confused:

hey there
i know exactly what you mean i tend to be very in tune emotionally even though i seem not to realize it as much with myself.....i've often had people tell me they feel as though they've known me for years after a 10min conversation....i dont agree with people that say when you're spacy you're not thinking .....i think people with adhd have a sensitivity to emotion....which is sometimes why we can be set off so quickly. i know with myself at least, i have a physical reaction to even the smallest grimace. i seem to be overly sensitive to tension. you may want to consider the positive which is the benefit is truly being aware of every presence in your surroundings and refining your intuition through body language.....i may be a space cadet at times but i've reached a point where i can channel my sensitivity that you'd never know....you can talk to me in a language i dont speak and 8/10times i can guess what you're trying to tell me based on you're body language.

being in hyper-sensitive to your emotions is a very draining disposition to live with on an everyday basis.......and what you are describing could in fact be signs of early depression.....i'm no doctor after all and it is no coincidence why the percentage of people with adhd who suffer from depression is so high.

i hope ne thing i said helps or makes sense....i'm still trying to make sense of some of this stuff myself and i'm never sure how to describe some of what i feel about this kind of stuff

jeden:)

Ok, so this is the 3rd thread I've posted in a row. Obviously you can tell I have ADD. I just remembered one more thing I wanted to ask about. Are mood swings part of ADD or is that something else on top? Some days I have really happy days, and some days it seems like everything ****es me off or offends me and makes me want to cry. I am also super sensitive to other people's emotions and swear I can feel their hurt or anger. I'm hoping it's all part of ADD although the psychologist said I was "moderately depressed" at our first meeting. Any thoughts?:confused:
Yup, me too, i can be moody. I cry at the drop of a hat.

I wouldn't say I am super sensitive to other peoples emotions, but I usually do sense when someone is sad or mad and am very empathetic.

Ok, so this is the 3rd thread I've posted in a row. Obviously you can tell I have ADD. I just remembered one more thing I wanted to ask about. Are mood swings part of ADD or is that something else on top? Some days I have really happy days, and some days it seems like everything ****es me off or offends me and makes me want to cry. I am also super sensitive to other people's emotions and swear I can feel their hurt or anger. I'm hoping it's all part of ADD although the psychologist said I was "moderately depressed" at our first meeting. Any thoughts?:confused:
OMG, I thought I wrote this! I can totally relate. I am VERY sensitive to other people's emotions. I am always intune to reading body language, especially when I feel someone is sad. I am very moody also. I wake up feeling like I'm going to have a great day and then the littlest thing can set me off and then I'm in a bad mood for the rest of the day. I have a hard time pulling myself out of "bad moods". I will avoid tense situations if possible, it makes me so anxious that I can't think straight. My husband often tells me that I "read too much into what people say" and that I perceive things said to me differently (usually more negative) than what the person meant. I think I am just quick to throw my "guard" up to protect myself from criticism (even if it is constructive) because I am so afraid of looking "stupid" to others. And if it's the week before my cycle...watch out! Tears at the drop of a hat!

When I was diagnosed with ADD, the doctor also said I have signs of depression. I think that having ADD symptoms all my life and not having it diagnosed until recently has done a number on my self-esteem, causing a lot of the sadness and the frustration with myself that I often feel.

Right now, I can only relate and am not sure how to handle these issues. I am currently working on alternative treatments to see if they help.

I think that having ADD symptoms all my life and not having it diagnosed until recently has done a number on my self-esteem, causing a lot of the sadness and the frustration with myself that I often feel.


I feel EXACTLY the same way, "At Sea." My undiagnosed ADHD lead to enormous frustration as my level in University got higher, as the work became harder and more intense, and the readings became more difficult. After I moved away from my parents, even just the simple everyday tasks of laundry, grocery shopping and cooking felt near impossible sometimes!

For the past 3 years or so I've been an emotional wreck, and I thought too that it was all because of depression.... due to parent's divorce, being forced to give up my "first love," struggling through university etc etc. But I could pull out of the slump so easily sometimes and be my normal, vibrant, hyperactive self again. It was only until I began to look deeper into my past and really consider my long term behaviors and how it all related to my daily struggles, that I really started to understand the root of my problems... not depression itself, but "depressed," overwhelmed and emotional, because I was fighting so hard to deal with ADHD on a daily basis.

When my Psychiatrist questioned me about depression, he sent me home with a form and told me to answer the questions based on how I've been feeling IN THE PAST WEEK. Well, that had been far from a depressing week because I was feeling so "up" about a new year, a new semester, and taking care of alot of things that should have been dealt with LONG ago. My depression scores on the little questionaire thingee came back very low. Same for the anxiety one. Although I do feel a little anxious sometimes... very restless mostly... I think that just comes with the ADHD.

Anyways, in all my babbling here, I just wanted to say I can completely relate to all of you. I too can be very moody, cranky and emotional...fits of crying.. little temper-tantrums, (I usually take it out on my mom and grandma and then feel TERRIBLE about it afterwards), and I don't think it's because I'm depressed at all... not seriously anyways.. it's because of all of my combined ADHD tendencies. And the undiagnosed ADHD played a huge role in my uncontrolled emotions.

I've also noticed it tends to be worse when I'm hungry, tired, or when my meds are wearing off. ;)

I am also super sensitive to other people's emotions and swear I can feel their hurt or anger. I have noticed just recently that I tend to get a lot out of my interactions with others. If they are happy then I am all laughs, but if they are upset and moody then I inevitably become the same way. It can be draining at times, no doubt, but ultimately the ability to be compassionate is what makes us human, and I for one wouldn't change that for anything.

I have noticed just recently that I tend to get a lot out of my interactions with others. If they are happy then I am all laughs, but if they are upset and moody then I inevitably become the same way. It can be draining at times, no doubt, but ultimately the ability to be compassionate is what makes us human, and I for one wouldn't change that for anything.
I was just thinking about this very same thing earlier today. it seems like I often feed off of other people's emotions. I can definitely relate to all of the posts here. i've always been on the sensitive side, & can be moody at times. i'm not bipolar, but my dr prescribed lamictal to help w/my mood swings. although I don't think it is quite as effective as a month ago, it has no doubt helped level things out for the most part. i've read somewhere before that sometimes ADDers feel things more "intensely" than other people. I think this is true for me. music has a really, really strong effect on me. and, i'm w/you ImNotPerfect, I wouldn't change it for anything either :).

I know how you feel and what you mean, I hate seeing other people upset. I have to tune out of what is going on in the news most of the time because if something bad happens to someone it just really brings me down. Mood swings I would say are quite normal.

sadly, I feel peoples emotion, but OMG I am terrible at showing empathy...I never know what to say, which i guess stems from such a long time having my foot in my mouth, and making things worse..

Aparantly, according to my friends, I appear both non-empathetic, and quite apapthetic too :-( the apathy I guess is the trouble i had learning general knowledge, so I always brushed off conversations with "err..boring, I don't care about that" when I was really trying to hide the fact I didn't have a clue..

I'm feeling you on this too. Does anyone else have big problems dealing with a negative environment because of it? No one likes a cranky workplace, but it seems when I'm in a place like this it's always the negative people that win. I completely pick up the vibe. If I don't actually get cranky, I at least get totally stressed out. One place I work even made me physically ill-- I had stomach problems constantly that no medicine could fix. If the place is upbeat, I thrive like a happy flower in the sun, working away.

People's feelings influence me so much, but I hate feeling helpless. I wish I could turn things around in a group. Alas, not my gift.

Tracyhaddb hit on exactly what I was dealing with, that I was coming off uncaring and aloof, and superior, when that's not how I really felt. And as hard as it is to step out and risk saying the wrong thing, I started to find times to do that, because nothing was gonna change until I changed it, right? And yes, sometimes I've said the wrong thing but usually it works out okay. I wish I had taken these chances years before.

I totaly a agree 100% with all of you. I can also feel people's emotions, I am good at hearing it over the phone too. I do my best in a fun happy enviroment. I worked at a vets office one time and in the morning it was always just me and the receptionist and everyday I would come in she would never look up and say hi,she never smiled at me and I could always feel her negative energy. I would smile at her and be nice, but I got nothing. I felt so down because of the way she made me feel, I would sometimes go in the bathroom and cry because she did this every morning, that gets you down if that is the only person you see for 8 hours everyday.:mad: Anyway also with music,I can't get enough and alot of songs make me cry because of the lyrics. I also get highly emotional when I think about my kids and my childhood and if it is a topic I feel strongly about.

My doctor told me that I wasn't deppressed it was low self esteem from so many years of untreated ADD, who knew:cool: