My case

[MartinB]

Hi,

About a month ago I have been experiencing a lot of stress at work. I visited a counselor for that and they also suggested I might have AD/HD. Last week I started having anxiety. This also worsened my AD/HD symptoms. Right now I feel completely unable to concentrate on anything. In fact it took me a lot of effort and false starts to write this (sorry if anything is incoherent or words are missing).

Yesterday I visited a Psychiatrist, she said there is some evidence against the fact that I have ADHD and some evidence for it.

I have all symptoms listed in the sticky thread "Diagnostic Criteria for ADHD" under Inattention. I addition to that I also fidget. I had those symptoms since childhood.

I did do a Conners CPT test. This test indicated that I do not have AD/HD. I currently work for a big tech company as Software Engineer and have a college degree. The psychiatrist said this could be an indication that I don't have AD/HD, since people who have it usually are not as successful academically.

She did end up prescribing me Tenex and she told me I will have to do more tests. I am changing medical insurance next year so I will have to find a new doctor for that.

I was out from work this past week, but I will have to go back on Monday. I am worried I will not be able to get anything done.

I was wondering if anyone here has any thoughts or advice. In particular: Do I have AD/HD? What does it mean that I "passed" the CPT test? Are there any reasons I might have those AD/HD symptoms? Is there anything that can help concentrate at work on Monday?

[Fuzzy12]

I haven't heard of that test but currently no test is considered capable of confirming or ruling out ADHD.

Having ADHD makes academics difficult for a lot of people but not necessarily impossible. It might be more interesting to see how you achieved your degree than merely the fact you did. I've got a PhD but it took me 5 (
years and in those 5 years I did very little else.

Keep in mind though that there are many other things that can symptoms similar to ADHD. It could just be because stress.

What exactly are you struggling with at work?

[MartinB]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy12

I haven't heard of that test but currently no test is considered capable of confirming or ruling out ADHD.

My psychiatrist recommended me to undergo more neuropsychological testing. Do you think she is wrong?

Originally Posted by Fuzzy12

It might be more interesting to see how you achieved your degree than merely the fact you did.

I got a degree in computer science.
In class and later during lectures I would often loose attention. I am relatively smart, so I could often deduce the parts I missed through reasoning.
I was always good at Math, but never on tests because I would make small mistakes.
I have learned programming at a young age, which was helpful for getting a CS degree.
I remember rarely going my homework, copying it before class instead.
I rarely studied for tests.
I am not particularly good at reading and writing.

Originally Posted by Fuzzy12

Keep in mind though that there are many other things that can symptoms similar to ADHD. It could just be because stress.

I highly doubt it's because of stress, especially since I had those symptoms for all my life.

Originally Posted by Fuzzy12

What exactly are you struggling with at work?

Right now, I can't really concentrate on anything. I don't know if I can do any work on monday at all.

In general:
I have trouble with organization.
I find it impossible to get myself to do tasks that I don't like (in general I like my work for the most part).
My manager will ask me about details of my work and I can't remember them fast enough which will make me look incompetent.

[sarahsweets]

Originally Posted by MartinB

My psychiatrist recommended me to undergo more neuropsychological testing. Do you think she is wrong?

If its expensive tests that you have to pay for yourself then I would be suspect. If they are completely covered they might be ok, just not as a confirmation tool for adhd.

I highly doubt it's because of stress, especially since I had those symptoms for all my life.


Right now, I can't really concentrate on anything. I don't know if I can do any work on monday at all.

In general:
I have trouble with organization.
I find it impossible to get myself to do tasks that I don't like (in general I like my work for the most part).
My manager will ask me about details of my work and I can't remember them fast enough which will make me look incompetent.

Some of these things sound like adhd and some of them sound like life problems which is why seeing a doctor is a good idea.

[PoppnNSailinMan]

Originally Posted by MartinB

I did do a Conners CPT test. This test indicated that I do not have AD/HD. I currently work for a big tech company as Software Engineer and have a college degree. The psychiatrist said this could be an indication that I don't have AD/HD, since people who have it usually are not as successful academically.

As Fuzzy pointed out, it's more interesting to know how you achieved your degree than the fact that you did. In their book Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Adult ADHD, University of Pennsylvania professors, J. Russell Ramsay and Anthony Rostain say (pp. 28-29):

Even in cases in which a student earned high grades, it is useful to inquire how those grades were achieved. We have heard many stories of patients who "got by" in school without doing any assigned reading or by relying on extra credit assignments, and were able to move on to the next level of education having earned good grades but without necessarily being adequately prepared in terms of having sustainable academic skills...We have heard similar stories about students getting by in school without doing assigned readings or benefiting from sympathetic teachers or diligent parents who provided structure, supervision, and other "academic scaffolding."

I know that I certainly benefited a lot from "diligent parents" and "sympathetic teachers."

The Conners CPT is a "continuous performance test" (CPT). According to Ari Tuckman, a past vice president of the Attention Deficit Disorder Association, in his book Integrative Treatment for Adult ADHD (pp. 46-47):

The theory behind CPTs is that errors of commission (responding when one should not) are indicative of impulsivity, and errors of omission (not responding when one should) are indicative of inattention. Unfortunately, for all their face validity, there isn't a sufficient correlation between the types of errors that someone makes and the ADHD symptoms that he displays...

[S]ignificant care should be taken when interpreting the results of CPTs in an ADHD evaluation, for multiple reasons. First, there are concerns about the ecological validity in that computer tests do not necessarily reflect the broad spectrum of attention skills used in real life (Weiss et al., 1999), particularly by an adult living a normal, multifaceted, interruption-prone life. Given this limited range of skills that is assessed by the CPTs, it should therefore not be surprising that one study found that one CPT correctly identified only 55 percent of ADHD subjects and 76.4 percent of non-ADHD subjects, which should give clinicians pause when interpreting the results for individual clients (Epstein et al., 1998). Once again, remember that flipping a coin will correctly identify 50 percent of ADHD individuals in a group comparison study.

[Fuzzy12]

Originally Posted by MartinB

My psychiatrist recommended me to undergo more neuropsychological testing. Do you think she is wrong?


I got a degree in computer science.
In class and later during lectures I would often loose attention. I am relatively smart, so I could often deduce the parts I missed through reasoning.
I was always good at Math, but never on tests because I would make small mistakes.
I have learned programming at a young age, which was helpful for getting a CS degree.
I remember rarely going my homework, copying it before class instead.
I rarely studied for tests.
I am not particularly good at reading and writing.


I highly doubt it's because of stress, especially since I had those symptoms for all my life.


Right now, I can't really concentrate on anything. I don't know if I can do any work on monday at all.

In general:
I have trouble with organization.
I find it impossible to get myself to do tasks that I don't like (in general I like my work for the most part).
My manager will ask me about details of my work and I can't remember them fast enough which will make me look incompetent.

My school history sounds very similar to yours. I always copied my homework too. At least in secondary school. In primary school I loved homework. It was so much fun that it was the first thing I used to do after coming home from school.

If you've had symptoms all your life that's pretty telling.

What helped me with organisation was to use task planners, calendars and alarms.i put everything into outlook calendar and added alarms for each item.

I struggle hugely to do things that Im Not absolutely crazy about so I hear you on that.pressure and anxiety did work though I cant recommend them.

Write down the details of your work. I used to write down everything. What other people said and what I did. I used Microsoft onenote quote extensively. I even noted down every program or script I wrote including where the inputs were stored and where the results were saved.

[MartinB]

Thanks. It sounds like the neuropsychological testing is probably not necessary. I will try to find a psychiatrist that works with my new insurance and specializes in diagnosing AD/HD.