Do you have family members who share your disorder?

[Rebelyell]

I think im the only one

[Conman]

come to think of it...im all alone in my family since im the only one diagnosed (and only one with the 'H') so it's not like i can relate or talk to them about it. most my cousins are NT, only a couple have problems, and the problems arent even AD/HD, it's other stuff. but i love them anyway such as any family

[Ipsofacto]

My father for sure. My mother is a maybe. Sister for sure. Brother no.

Two nephews for sure.

My fathers two brothers, a for sure, and a maybe.

Father's mother, the queen bee of ADD.

None of the above have been diagnosed, and my uncles and grandmother are passed.

I do need to talk to my sister about my niece and nephew. Their lives read like text book cases, but I think my sister will dismiss it out of hand unfortunatley.

[Moonshadow]

Hi. I think there are several patterns of behaviour that may have some overlap, and that as the years go by science will work out how they fit together and overlap, where and how they arise, etc. It's so recent that ADD, ADHD, dyslexia etc have been recognised, and even more recent that they have been taken seriously, that there is so much still unclear or unrecognised.

I have ADD (self diagnosed, late in life) and my daughter (still a child) shows some strands of behaviour similar to mine, that may or may not indicate ADD. One of my brothers (a retired physician who is said by his wife to be very absent minded) scorned my suggestion that I have ADD. There seems to be some dyslexia in the family.

We can be astonished by the ignorance of past generations in various scientific/medical contexts, and future generations are certain to be astonished at the ignorance and shortsightedness of current generations...

[Ipsofacto]

Originally Posted by Moonshadow

We can be astonished by the ignorance of past generations in various scientific/medical contexts, and future generations are certain to be astonished at the ignorance and shortsightedness of current generations...

No kidding. I am now working on improving my moderate amblyopia. This after always being told for forty years, that it can only be improved at a very young age. If I've read the story right, all opticians based this mindset on a 1929 study, and never questioned the findings.

As for families, it's so interesting to see the spectrum effect. It seems like they all drank the same cocktail, only some of them got a few extra shots in the mix.

People like your brother didn't get the extra shots, and the impairment is more of a nuisance than a curse.

[DvlsAdv0c8]

I am ADHD-C, pretty sure my sister is also; after my recent re-diagnosis my 68-year-old father realizes that he also is ADHD.

He told me the story of how my sister and I were originally diagnosed.

When I was 7 and my sister was 2 (1978), my mother saw a doctor on Phil Donohue who specialized in hyperactive and inattentive kids (not sure who, neither can remember his name now). Apparently he came to our hometown and my parents were able to get an appointment with him.

My dad says my sister and I were literally crawling up the walls, chasing each other around, screaming, jumping, laughing - I think OFF THE CHAIN is a fitting description. He said the doctor came in, saw us and a look of shock came over his face.

He looked at my parents and said, "I don't think I need to ask why you're here."

We left there with a prescription for Ritalin, which my parents inexplicably only gave to my sister. She was a Ritalin zombie for hours.

My dad flushed the rest of the Ritalin down the toilet and here I am, 34 years later finally getting the help I needed then.

[Conman]

according to a few exams and my brother's doctor (although ive never met the doctor or heard it from him) thinks my brother has some AD/HD tendencies in terms of Inattentiveness.

but naturally, like i said, im the only official diagnosee until i myself have kids

[NATIVE762]

Let's see....there's 3 of my brothers, Myself, my nephew, and maybe one of my sisters....so, yeah... it's kinda like another member of the family

[Drewbacca]

Nuclear family: father, brother, and sister... no ADHD. I'm not so sure about my mom, she has a lot of ADHD-like personality traits but is functional. Sometimes I think that the difference between my mom and myself is that she grew up with a structured family which gave her a fighting chance... but then, she raised me without structure (and here I am, on the forums).

Beyond that, I have on uncle who is undeniably ADHD but not diagnosed. His son is diagnosed ADHD.

I have another uncle who is like my mom, adhd characteristics but no impairment. He has three sons, two of which I'd say are undiagnosed ADHD. My mom has one other brother and three sisters and eight more kids between them (non of which have adhd).

What's interesting is that I have access to a detailed family tree. A childhood friend of mine (who clearly has ADHD as did his father before he committed suicide) is distantly related to me. I'm willing to bet if I could put together a detailed family history, the inherited ADHD would be fairly obvious.

[Asylum]

All four of us, my parents and my younger brother, are on the add / adhd / aspergers scale. My mums brother has aspergers. At least I think so, no-one is diagnosed! We're not a real family. I feel like I've never had a mum or dad. And now I have to run off to go play violin in a corner somewhere.

[Johnnny]

My mother dad and brothers we all have ADD in some form or another.... My dad and i are the hyperactive ones, and my mother and brothers are the inattentive types....

My moms side, 8 of my 15 cousins have ADD... With one of the 8 being hyper like my dad and myself....

[Bethylphenidate]

Pretty sure my mother was diagnosed in the '60s, but they called it something else. Think my sister was diagnosed in the early '80s, as well. I don't think my grandmother nor my mother took their diagnoses seriously at the times.

My brother and I were both diagnosed in the mid-'90s, at the same time, by different doctors. He was 14 at the time, and I was 8. I used to joke that we were "backwards" because he was diagnosed with ADD and I with ADHD.

[Seravance]

I'm fairly certain that my brother has ADHD too. He's definitely severely depressed and he's got a whole plethora of other issues that may or may not be related to some disorder or another.

My mom has ADHD tendencies, but she has never been diagnosed. I've been talking to her more about it and from what she says and what I've observed, I think she is at least mildly ADHD.

My father had some pretty serious problems but was never diagnosed. I think, from what I've heard, that he had bipolar disorder. He killed himself when I was young, and he was never able to be officially diagnosed. So I can't really be sure about that.

As for extended family, I really have no idea. I think my younger cousin has either ADHD or ODD or both, but my aunt is pretty against the idea of getting him tested.

[scrambled86]

It would be easier for me to name the NT members of my family

Aspergers, autism, ADHD, depression, eating disorders, schizophrenia, substance abuse, OCD....just the people I can think off from the top of my head.

Barely have contact with any of them now though and not sure I really identify with any of them.

[arrested_truth]

1 Cousin that I know of... and unfortunately his story ended with a few drug rehabilitations for methamphetamine/alcoholism before he was 'diagnosed with ADHD' but now he is 100% sober and loving life... just can't touch substances of any kind, even cigarettes. He said cigarettes was the hardest thing to quit lol

Another cousin has Bipolar, and mom apparently has OCD and Bipolar...
All these relatives on the same side of the family