Does anyone ever struggle with doubting their own ADD. I guess it's easier to say you're diabetic, because the blood test proved it or to say you have cancer because the blood test showed signs and the biopsy was malignant. ADD is just one of those things that I've seen over diagnosed in my community growing up. I live in a small rural area and every child that wasn't sitting quiety in church and acting like a miniature adult was ADHD. Now I'm an adult with ADD and I sometimes find myself thinking "what if I have been misdiagnosed?" and "what if it's something else causing these problems?" Do you ever feel that way too?

yeah, then I go off my meds for 3 days. Changes my mind REAL quick.

yeah, then I go off my meds for 3 days. Changes my mind REAL quick.
You read my mind

You read my mindyeah mine too! I did just that for about 3 months and it was a disaster. Really created problems in many areas of my life. Now that I am back on my meds, things just kind of correct themselves.

I don't know.

I do believe that those of us with higher IQs and EQs tend to be able to cope better with the deficits.

My own experience is not the same as many people mention. For example, no history of severe substance abuse, no history of violence, no rages, arguments or fighting with people. I tend to be over sensitive and have high empathy.

My sense is that there are many causes of it, and various forms (outcomes or presentations) of this thing we call "ADD" or ADHD"... (Maybe more than Dr. Daniel Amen has found...)

Let's say you buy the toxin hypothesis (this includes cortisol's toxic effects on brain tissue).

In Embryology, the developing brain is sensitive to toxins all thru the time a baby is In Utero. (e.g. Neuroanatomy development)

Each week (and even day) there are certain brain things developing, or misdeveloping. (e.g neural tube, various other structures).

Toxic exposure, or genetic glitches, can create different problematic outcomes in brain development, depending on WHEN they occur (timing of the exposure).

i doubt my add all the time, especially since my dad doesn't really believe it. It helps when it comes up with someone new, like it just did with a family friend, and they go, "well, duh," or "i've been telling you that for years," (as in the case of the family friend. I looked back on it and remembered, well yes, she has been telling me that for years.

I kind of look at it like this: ADD is hard to define in terms of a concrete diagnosis, but as long as my counseling, education, and meds are helping my symptoms and improveing my overall quality of life, then I must be on the right track, all labels aside.

I doubt my diagnosis all the time!

I try and think that if i didnt have ad/hd and i took the meds i would soon realise that was the case. However, when i take them i feel almost the same untill i try and study and find i can do it for hours and not even notice! like today, clocked up 5 hours already!

I doubt my diagnosis all the time!

I try and think that if i didnt have ad/hd and i took the meds i would soon realise that was the case. However, when i take them i feel almost the same untill i try and study and find i can do it for hours and not even notice! like today, clocked up 5 hours already!

I'm going to play devils advocate.... but do you think that if someone who DIDNT have ADD/ADHD that took the medicine would be able to focus better than normal too?

I used to..well at first I didn't..then after a while the more I lookd at myself, the more I didn't doubt it :-)

Sure. I doubt the ADD from time to time, but as mentioned above, as soon as I skip the meds, I can feel the old distraction monster creeping around in the attic.

Hi Tracy. Been a while. Cheers.

Hi Tracy. Been a while. Cheers.yeah! I have been back for a few weeks..I got distracted..:D
for like 6 months...:eek:

I'm going to play devils advocate.... but do you think that if someone who DIDNT have ADD/ADHD that took the medicine would be able to focus better than normal too?Yes they would be able to focus more and longer hence Dexedrine's use with fighter pilots and truckers. However it agitates a normal brain like a few potfuls of strong coffee and causes argumentativeness and aggression. It may also cause serious misjudgment based on responses that mimic paranoia. It does not tend to calm people down - that's the paradoxical response that's often used as a key to diagnosing ADD or AD/HD.

I often doubt the diagnosis because I developed really good coping skills and AD/HD drive and restlessness spurred me towards success in my past profession but all of that was at an extremely high cost. I stop doubting the diagnosis when I remember that amphetamines help me fall asleep. I also stop doubting when the meds wear off and I turn into a mean tempered, dagger-tongued, short-fused ***** intolerant of the slightest irritation.

I often doubt the diagnosis because I developed really good coping skills and AD/HD drive and restlessness spurred me towards success in my past profession but all of that was at an extremely high cost. I stop doubting the diagnosis when I remember that amphetamines help me fall asleep. I also stop doubting when the meds wear off and I turn into a mean tempered, dagger-tongued, short-fused ***** intolerant of the slightest irritation.
Sounds exactly like me! especially the last bit :p

I doubt my ADHD all the time! Again, I am also one of those people who wonder about it, and then the medication wears off and I know it's not a lie! *lol*

Everyday I hear people around me having the same kind of struggles I'm having. And then it makes me wonder how I'm any different.

It's true that our non-ADHD neighbour may be able to relate to some of the struggles we endure, it's probably safe to say that it's isolated to only one part of their lives. So maybe my non-ADHD co-worker will say that she has to repeat something a lot too, but does she also have problems with focus and attention? Probably not.

It's true that if we could 'see' our disablity, somehow it would be 'real' to us. But it's not that simple. Also, I cannot deny the almost incredible transformation that happened when I started my medication. Or what happens when I'm off my medication. Those are the little cues that might suggest I'm not like everyone else.

If you ever meet a room full of people with ADD you probably won't ever doubt your own ADD again!

Does anyone ever struggle with doubting their own ADD. I guess it's easier to say you're diabetic, because the blood test proved it or to say you have cancer because the blood test showed signs and the biopsy was malignant. ADD is just one of those things that I've seen over diagnosed in my community growing up. I live in a small rural area and every child that wasn't sitting quiety in church and acting like a miniature adult was ADHD. Now I'm an adult with ADD and I sometimes find myself thinking "what if I have been misdiagnosed?" and "what if it's something else causing these problems?" Do you ever feel that way too?I do it all the time. My symptoms seemed to present very rapidly over a short period of time, but I don't know if they were insidious in their onset or I just started to notice them.

I've considered other etiologies such as a tumor or something, because the learning/thinking-specific problems caused by ADHD are so foreign and new I have difficulty believing they've always been there; I am still considering another evaluation by a neurologist.

Does anyone ever struggle with doubting their own ADD.

No . . . . . neither does any one else for long.

I worked for a doctor when I was first diagnosed and he said ADD wasn't real.

Okay doc you are better educated than I am. So if ADD doesn't exist then I do not need to take these pills.

I went to work un-medicated the next day

He sent me home to get my medication at 10:20am. - He was a believer before lunch! I haven't doubted it sense


I guess it's easier to say you're diabetic, because the blood test proved it or to say you have cancer because the blood test showed signs and the biopsy was malignant.

To much anti-ADD propaganda exposure perhaps?

I shall tell you the same thing I tell them

There is no blood test proving love, hate,jealousy , racism or greed. Does that mean those things do not exist either?. The most powerful motivators of men can not be determined by any thing BUT that of knowing the person's history and observation of behaviors.

It really is that simple - {IMHO}


Hope this helps

oh jeez, just throwing out a quick apology for the length of this post, I got sort of into it. if yall don't read it i wouldn't blame you, if I hadn't taken my Adderall I wouldn't have written it.

Howdy friends, I'm a new member, just discovered this really great forum, and, of course, haven't stopped surfing ADHD/LD links for going on 72 hours now. Adderall + internet + people who might not think I'm nuts [a relatively unknown new variable!!!OMFG!!] = total fading of inattentiveness, for a bit anyways.

One of the very few constants I have noticed in my life is that not much in my life is constant. Questioning, doubting, challenging ideas and generally infuriating about 90% of the people I was in prolonged social contact with characterized my first 21 years of life. Up until very recently I had the amazingly strong and pervasive subconscious impression that this was due to some categorically "bad" part of my conscious mind. For most of my conscious life I let people convince me I was really just looking at the world incorrectly, and being contrary most of the time just because I was pessimistic or antagonistic, and couldn't stop asking people why they believed what they believed because I was a God-less, immoral Heathen/Infidel.

Around this time I was finally recommended to a set of legitimately empathetic and, (my favorite) genuinely curious, psychologists. No matter how much testing I did, or how many doctors would express how strikingly clearly my ADHD (primarily Inattentive) affected my day to day life, I, for a long time, couldn't honestly accept that I was hindered by anything other than foolishness and sloth, except for that one time when I was 8 and let myself be convinced I was possessed after seeing the Exorcist and identifying wtih the little girl. To this day I subscribe to a non-practical view of labelling mental conditions, especially ones like the one I think I have, in that I honestly don't think of it as categorically "bad", "debilitating" or "devoid of value". This is not to say, however, that I don't recognize the plethora of well documented and analyzed negative effects surrounding people who think similarly to myself, only that I see those negative effects as being negative only in the relative condition of our society, and the labels "ADD"/"ADHD"etc. as being relative inventions by uncertain humans.

An important destinction I've made for myself is in that I recognize the massive value of labels like these in their offer of community, understanding and acceptance for people that the majority misunderstands and tends to cast aside. Every time I was at my most depressed and introverted, the thing that put a smile on my face time and time again was realizing that it is my seemingly "crazy" thought processes and ideas that set me apart from the mainstream, the usual, the relatively functional but cognitively banal mass of humanity that told me to stop wondering why and made me feel like a pariah because I couldn't. If you doubted yourself having ADHD, maybe youre like me and just naturally cast aside socially popular labels in a neverending desire to be free from paradigm.

Then again maybe I'm really possessed, or just damned due to innate evilness. That wouldn't be very sweet, but then again (given the choice) I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints.

Oh, yes, I do. Especially on good days when I have a lot of energy and get things done. And then comes the day when I just get on people's nerves and don't the energy to do anything... and stop doubting. :)

I doubt it constantly. I am only in the beginning of working with meds and that makes it more confusing. I have sometimes gotten more irritated on them, so I wonder if that reaction is an indication of not having an ADD brain? Or is it normal "trying out meds" process.

It can be very frustrating.

But, something led me to investigate ADD in the first place, and those issues are still there. ADD does fit so many of the lifelong issues I have had.. but then I don't have many of the typical ADD symptoms either.

Very confusing and frustrating indeed.

On the contray, now that I know about it, and that it is a brain function type, it all makes sense.. my whole life makes sense to me now. I only wish I had found out about it when I was in my twenties or earlier.

An important destinction I've made for myself is in that I recognize the massive value of labels like these in their offer of community, understanding and acceptance for people that the majority misunderstands and tends to cast aside. Every time I was at my most depressed and introverted, the thing that put a smile on my face time and time again was realizing that it is my seemingly "crazy" thought processes and ideas that set me apart from the mainstream, the usual, the relatively functional but cognitively banal mass of humanity that told me to stop wondering why and made me feel like a pariah because I couldn't. If you doubted yourself having ADHD, maybe youre like me and just naturally cast aside socially popular labels in a neverending desire to be free from paradigm.

This is much like the neurodiverse perspective,not all that unusual really. I see my ADHD in a modified "neurodiverse" manner. I think this is a accurate description of how I view my ADD. Neurodiversity may be every bit as crucial for the human race as biodiversity is for life in general. Who can say what form of wiring will prove best at any given moment?.

I part company with the Proponents of the neurodiverse movement in that I believe interventions and medications should be a choice of the individual their use should not be deemed right or wrong by a group.

For more information about Neurodiversity (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurodiversity)

Types of neurodiversity (http://www.brainhe.com/students/types/index.html)

I registered at these forums for the sole purpose of responding to this thread. I have been here a couple of times before, actually looking for these kinds of sentiments.

I'll try not to give my entire life story here. I'm currently living at home, working and taking a couple of classes. After three years of struggling in college, getting incompletes, and some, some bad grades, the school forced me to take a year off. I started realizing as a senior in HS that I had some emotions that needed to be addressed. Stuff that had been building up and that I need professional help for. Sought out therapy in college. Finally commited to it eventually. Serious depression stemming from extreme low-self esteem from being repremanded all throughout school and from being harassed by peers. I did really well in HS. Went to an all-male Catholic school. You wanna talk about structure, yeah, that was it. I thrived in that environment. When I got to college, I was confronted with the exact opposite.

I was diagnosed at the school's counseling center. I've been reassured I have it, but not to the extent I would like I guess. So when I got home a year ago, I decided I needed to get testing done so I would know either way for certain. Unfortunately, like most will understand, diagnosis isn't that concrete. Because that kind of testing is REALLY expensive, I worked through a state rehab program(vocational) and got some done. The guy was like, yeah, you could be, but it might just be the depression. Wonderful, just what I wanted. I read "Driven to Distraction" as per a recommendation from a buddy with ADD. I read it and thought to myself, this is my life!

I'm currently really busy and think I'll be leaving the area to go back to school full-time so it doesn't make sense to start a new relationship with a Doc. Gonna stop here. All I can say is that I'm 95% sure because it fits really well as an explanation for a lot. But, I torture and question myself all the time about it. I'm just trying to get back to school full-time so my locale is more stable. Trouble by the nagging shadows telling me I just lookin for an excuse. An excuse that Doctors are making very often for a lot of other people these days. Looking forward to reading and talking more to everybody. HEY

I registered at these forums for the sole purpose of responding to this thread. I have been here a couple of times before, actually looking for these kinds of sentiments.

I'll try not to give my entire life story here. ..snip...I read "Driven to Distraction" as per a recommendation from a buddy with ADD. I read it and thought to myself, this is my life!
..snip... HEYThere's one more book that will help you more then that one, it's Delivered from Distraction, also by Hallowell. This book has helped me tremendiously.

Best of luck,

I want to begin with a welcome to the forums. :)



Trouble by the nagging shadows telling me I just lookin for an excuse. An excuse that Doctors are making very often for a lot of other people these days.

I must respectful disagree with you on the above statement.


Doctors do not make excuses because ADD is NOT an excuse.

Not in my experience any way. The mortgage company still wants their payments, I still gotta go to work to earn mommy, my children still want their mother ADD not with standing.

BTW- The over diagnosis is a myth -

Charges of Overdiagnsos, Overmedication of ADHD Are Exaggerated, Study Shows (http://www.psych.org/pnews/98-05-01/adhd.html)

Reports of the overdiagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and overprescription of stimulants appear to be exaggerated, according to an article in the April 7 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

"Epidemiologic studies using standardized diagnostic criteria suggest that 3 percent to 6 percent of the school-aged population may have ADHD. The percentage of U.S. youth being treated for ADHD is at most at the lower end of this prevalence range," the authors state.

***End Quote

Hope this helps.

I doubt it sometimes but something always reminds me that I'm ADD...he he he:p

Selena:)