Child vs Adult Symptoms

[Crescendo]

I recently filled out a few questionnaires as recommended by my school psychiatrist to get diagnosed for ADHD.

It turns out I'm heavily positive in almost all traits for ADHD for adults.

However, according to Wikipedia, these symptoms must emerge before the age of 7.

One of the questionnaires was related to asking about those symptoms from age 5 to 12, and asked one of my parents to fill it out.

I was either "rarely or never" or "sometimes" in all of those symptoms. None of them showed up as "very often" or even "often."

Now, it's possible one of us is wrong. I might be over-exaggerating my side, and my parents might be understating their side. But I can't wrap my head around the fact that I didn't have these problems (or at least, apparently not) around age 7 while all of these are appearing to have consequences on life now. (I'm 21)

If anyone can help me sort this out with possible explanations I'll greatly appreciate it.

[Assumption]

Basically, the authors of the DSM-IV got carried away and added the "symptoms start before age 7" thing, even though the evidence for such a claim is lacking. It is going up to age 12 in the DSM 5, though that won't help you. Some psychologists argue that it should be higher than 12 - perhaps 16 or else something like "symptoms emerge in childhood or adolescence".

Personally, I think my symptoms started at about 10-12. My mother seemed pretty oblivious and would deny it. She may be in denial. Whenever my symptoms started, they were definitely strongly present by 16 - this is backed up by the few school reports I've managed to hunt down. Hopefully this won't buy my chances at a diagnosis next week!

[Crescendo]

I suspected that as well. My "symptoms" did not start till 16 and they worsened after 1 year in college. My first year in college was OK - it wasn't very painful or anything, but after that I haven't recovered since.

[naissele]

I'm a little confused with the childhood symptoms thing. Research shows that ADHD can and sometimes does continue into adulthood (with or without treatment). ADHD in adults is sometimes found when a child is diagnosed and the parent sees the same patterns in their life. However, ADHD can also be more easily managed by a supportive/structured environment during childhood and can manifest more severely in adulthood...Is this contradictory to the DSM manual or are the ADHD symptoms not really considered a problem until adulthood when they become more prevalent due to added responsibilities?

[Drewbacca]

Childhood ADHD has been studied for well over twenty years now in some depth. Adult ADHD is a relatively new concept, but undeniable. There are still a lot of wrinkles to work out. We are still very early in the science and understanding of attention disorders.

Where it gets tricky is when you define ADHD as a disorder which causes impairment. For many of us, the impairment wasn't there until the number of responsibilities increased beyond a certain threshold in adulthood. Personally, I believe that the inattention has been there all along for any of us who have ADHD. That isn't to belittle anyone who lacks symptoms, but rather, I'm stating that inattention and ADHD are not one in the same, ADHD is just one of many disorders in which inattention plays a prominent role.

For most of us, it seems that as we increase our knowledge and understanding of ADHD, we begin to notice symptoms that started from a very young age that just didn't get recognized at the time. Don't be too certain that you didn't display such traits, they may have just gone unnoticed.

[sarahsweets]

Originally Posted by Assumption

Basically, the authors of the DSM-IV got carried away and added the "symptoms start before age 7" thing, even though the evidence for such a claim is lacking. It is going up to age 12 in the DSM 5, though that won't help you. Some psychologists argue that it should be higher than 12 - perhaps 16 or else something like "symptoms emerge in childhood or adolescence".

Personally, I think my symptoms started at about 10-12. My mother seemed pretty oblivious and would deny it. She may be in denial. Whenever my symptoms started, they were definitely strongly present by 16 - this is backed up by the few school reports I've managed to hunt down. Hopefully this won't buy my chances at a diagnosis next week!

I disagree. Statistically those with adhd have symptoms before the age of 13. This os backed by alot of research. If you were tine until say ...college it's not adhd. It doesn't have to be acknowledged or diagnosed in childhood but those symptoms must have been present.

[DvlsAdv0c8]

My younger sister and I were both diagnosed as just plain hyperactive back in the mid seventies at very young ages, before ADD/ADHD was available as a diagnosis. None of my early report cards seem to reflect much evidence of it, but my mother, after reading the information I sent her on ADHD, actually APOLOGIZED for not getting more done for me because she recognized so much of me in what she read.

None of us ever had the opportunity to put all of the pieces together, even though they were all there. Even the two therapists I had to see in my teenage years (1980s) missed it, but caught elements of it.

Two days until I find out what the new doctor thinks...

[Lunacie]

Some kids don't seem to have a problem with ADHD symptoms because they

have a better support system or more understanding parents and teachers.

When you head off to college or your first job, suddenly the support isn't there,

and you're responsible for everything, and it sucks.

[DvlsAdv0c8]

I think it also helped that I always liked school. It got way bad when I hit my tween years and got worse from there. I never really had a lot of school problems - just life problems, although in jr. and sr. high school I did hear a lot of "not working up to potential" stuff.

The structure of school, plus my interest, seemed to help - although pulling a knife on another girl on school grounds probably didn't....

[mctavish23]

Please remember :

1) School's do not diagnose ADHD;

2)There are NO TESTS of ANY kind accepted for the sole purpose of diagnosing ADHD;

3) Parent and Teacher Rating Scale's DO NOT have to "match" to help support ADHD.

As a Developmental Disability, ADHD symptoms change over time, but "used to" counts.

Good Luck.

mctavish23

(Robert)

[Dizfriz]

From the current DSM (diagnostic manual)

B. Some hyperactive-impulsive or inattentive symptoms that caused
impairment were present before age 7 years.
C. Some impairment from the symptoms is present in two or more settings
(e.g., at school [or work] and at home).
D. There must be clear evidence of clinically significant impairment in
social, academic, or occupational functioning.



From the proposed DSM http://www.dsm5.org/ProposedRevision...n.aspx?rid=383
B. Several inattentive or hyperactive-impulsive symptoms were present prior to age 12.
C. Criteria for the disorder are met in two or more settings (e.g., at home, school or work, with friends or relatives, or in other activities).
D. There must be clear evidence that the symptoms interfere with or reduce the quality of social, academic, or occupational functioning.


On the age requirement (B), what this means is that *some* symptoms were present in childhood. This does not mean that they had to be severe enough for a diagnosis of ADHD just severe enough to be noticeable and recordable by the clinician.

C and D I just threw in for general information.

All of these are necessary for a supportable diagnosis.

Just some general information on the topic.

Dizfriz

[Assumption]

Originally Posted by sarahsweets

I disagree. Statistically those with adhd have symptoms before the age of 13. This os backed by alot of research. If you were tine until say ...college it's not adhd. It doesn't have to be acknowledged or diagnosed in childhood but those symptoms must have been present.

What do you mean by statistically? Normally that would describe an association or correlation of some kind - I.e 95% of adults with ADHD had onset before 13. Are you claiming it's 100%?

Here Barkley argues for ditching a specific age criterion, or perhaps replacing it with "childhood".

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/9291721/

There's a video out there where he argues for "childhood or adolescence" and gives statistics to suggest that increasing the age to 16 would increase the sensitivity of the diagnostic criteria. Running out of batteries so can't look it up now!

[mctavish23]

The other thing I forgot to mention is that there's no validity to the "age 7" thing.

Never was. Look for DSM V to change it to "from an early age," or "early childhood,

before age 12."

Something along those lines.

Diagnosing ADHD (at any age) is complicated, as the brain develops thru ages 24 -25.

Hope that helps.

tc

mctavish23

(Robert)