Well I have suspected I have ADD for some time now. I cant go to the Dr. due to lack of insurance. I told my mom I thought I may have it and I told my MIL who is, like me, a nurse. They both agree that I may have it. I had not told my DH about. I guess I was afraid he would think me crazy. So instead of comming out and telling him what I thought, I got on the net and printed the signs and symptoms out and later gave it to my DH to read. I did not say a word, just handed him the print out. He read it and then looked at me and said "it looks like you have ADD too"(it runs in my family but so far only the ones with the hyper active form have been diagnosed and very few at that have been due to denial from family members). He agrees that the symptoms fit me to a T. I was very relieved that he did not try and say I was crazy. Anyone else ever been afraid of telling your family about it? When you did how did you do it and what was their reactions?

I honestly can't remember how I let my family know about my ADHD. I think I told my sister straight out, but I think I told my mom and dad the medication I was taking was for my 'concentration.' I honestly haven't sat them down and explained ADHD out to them, quite simply my Japanese is rather limited!

I'll be honest; Prepare yourself for some less than supportive comments. But keep things in perspective. Sometimes it's not you they're reacting to. Maybe there's guilt, fear, shame...who knows.. ADHD still suffers from a lot of stigma, so maybe they think it's odd an adult suffers from something that is still largely thought of as a 'kid's thing.'

For me, I did pick and choose who I told. That has nothing to do with being decitful or lying. My life is not an open book, and having good family relationships doesn't necessarily mean every detail has to be revealed. Don't misunderstand me, I certainly am not advocating you to hide your ADHD. Rather, save your heart and head and reach out for those you know who can be supportive and helpful to you.

Well for me my mother was the one who brought up the idea of me having ADD at 29. All but one of her children have ADD. We are a pretty straight up bunch we are also a pretty accepting family also. Naturally being sarcastic, unsupported or rude will get an equally straight up "shove it".{shrug} In my family having ADD is normal - it's neurotypical that is a condition - most NTer in my family have adjusted to ADD with little or no psychological scaring.

my mom feels guilty for not having caught it earlier, but she's very supportive.
My dad doesn't really believe in it, so we don't talk about it much. He's learned to bite his toungue some i guess.

Be prepared for people who don't understand it or have misconceptions, or just don't believe in it. It sucks. You can educate some of them, but not everyone. You just have to remember you're doing it for you and not them. plus talking to people like the ones on this forum helps a lot.

I've yet to recieve a diagnosis as to whether I have ADHD or something else (in the process of getting that process started) but my husband's been pretty supportive as I've raised my concerns that something is "not right". He seemed to be in denial about it at first.... He's ADHD combined type, and I think to some degree or another he's sorta viewed me as being the more neurotypical one, so it's been kinda hard to accept that I have some mental issues of my own...

I think another think that's been kinda rough on us is the fact that since I fit in more closely to the criteria of inattentive and he's combined, we have a lot of struggles because we don't process the same way.... Verbal conversations with us can be tough... At times, I find his hyperactivity really overwhelming because I simply don't have the same energy level, and I'm strugglng to keep up as he flies through subject after subject and loops around again.... I have a hard time remembering what I was going to say because by the time I think of something, he's moved on... It often feels like he's moving in fast forward and I'm moving in slow-mo. We both are distracted, but it's staggering in how differently we're affected.

So in some ways, I think that's made him more understanding, and in others it hasn't, if that makes any sense. Likewise, the same with me with him.