ADD and CFS???

[ktucker]

OK, so I am new to my ADD diagnoses so I am still learning things but am I to believe that CFS is somehow linked to ADD. I had a severe CFS 'episode' about 10 years ago and looking back on that time now I had serious ADD behaviour.
Could there be a link?
Thanks

[Pigeon]

Don't know about CFS to ADD, but my ADD definately causes CFS if it is unchecked. That's my experience. If I go a while letting the ADD get out of control and unregulated, I get tireder and tireder until it becomes CFS. So I don't see why they wouldn't be related the other way around, as a cycle or something.

[Imnapl]

Dear Ladies,

It is such a pleasure to read posts from people drawing logical conclusions about what is happening with their bodies.

We may find documented proof if we looked for it, but this is what I know for sure:

Fibromyalgia is not a disease, it is a pain cycle syndrome.

If untreated ADHD puts stress on the body / mind connection, it makes sense that it would aggravate certain conditions in predisposed individuals.

Thank you for posting.

[ktucker]

Thanks for the input. I see my Dr next week and will ask him about it. I never even thought to bring it up to him but I can imagine that one would trigger the other. I was pretty 'out there' at the time. I will let you know what he says next week.

[ktucker]

Look at www.nids.net
Perhaps there is a connection.

[Tallulah]

I found my way here via the CFIDS/ME (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis) community and our search for effective treatment. Many take ADD med.s with good outcome. When I began researching ADD I was astonished, and more than a little surprised, that I had not put this piece of the puzzle into place before. I am classic ADD and always have been.

Remarkably, in one of my early careers, I was a Child Care Worker and worked with many kids with ADHD. I knew that I understood them better than most who worked with them, that I had real empathy and that I could help them develop strategies outside the box that helped them cope but as my behaviour had not been blatently hyperactive as a child (anxious, ridiculously underachieving and hyperchatty, yes), the penny never dropped. In light of my recent epiphany, I find this stunning.

I was flattened by a viral illness 25 years ago and it became relapsing and remitting over the years. By the time I fell ill, I had decided that I just wasn't very bright, I was a major procrastinator... and, I had developed coping strategies for dealing with the ADD that were working for me -- mostly having my then husband (a wonderful and accomodating man) do everything that overwhelmed me.

The illness messed with my cognition in a big way but getting a diagnosis for the physical symptoms became the sole focus of my attention as it waxed and waned over the years. As it became a more frankly neurological illness (I was misdiagnosed with MS as they are very similar and present with similar MRI findings) it was easy to forget that many of the cognitive issues predated the onset of the horror that is ME/CFIDS and that they might not have been the result of a flawed character and stupidity.

I have also noticed that the people I know with ADD (I have always had an affinity for us even before I copped to my own condition) have a number of immune mediated conditions/signs- type 2 diabetes, RNA positive...

The site, mentioned in the above post, of the Neuro Immune Dysfunction Syndromes Medical Advisory Board and Reasearch Institute (whew!) makes for some very good reading!

So, did being ADD predispose me to CFIDS? What cofactors do they share? Is ADD in children an expression of the same pathology existant in CFIDS? The chicken/egg conundrum remains. All I can say with any certainty is that the only medications that the CFIDS community has found to be consistently helpful with the cognitive issues are the ADD med.s. To me that is very, very interesting.

Looking forward to exploring this further.
t

[TwistedTerri]

I found a website, I believe it was add-fibromyalgia.com (could have it wrong), that shows a connection and sums a lot of the research up. Contacted the author of the website and she said she's in the process of publishing a book about the connection/brain similarities.

[dormammau2008]

let me know twisted when the book comes out id love to resd it....... dorm

[TwistedTerri]

Don't know if I'll know when it gets published. You could always just check it out yourself. I sent the lady an email and she only took about 3 days to reply. I just followed the contact link on the website. Who knows where my head will be when the book hits the stores???

[jager]

late comer here and not always sure can get back again but let me put in two cents of observation. one of characteristics of the genetic sources of adhd (which I have labled as Altered Attention Traits or AAT) is an all-or-none quality to personality. This appears in such areas as memory, energy, focus, social role, interest in things and I expect the flips of cfs are are part that. Many adults of adhd are prone to depression which turns out to be more bipolar than anything else altho the bipolarity usually extends to only hypomania while the mood difficulties usually appear before age 21. one other feature that contributes to difficulties is a sticky characteristic to memories, particularly unhappy ones and these seem to prolong or potentiate recurrence of other difficulties. exercise is one of the more positive universal non-medical approaches to adhd; with the flip into cfs one loses this resource. anyway happy to hear from anyone who can comment on this and is willing to be interviewed by fax or e-mail. one last comment and then an e-mail address if appropriate. am a semi-retired "shrink" who finally got enough time to follow up some earlier threads on the subject.

[QueensU_girl]

Yup. Many people with CFS and Fibromyalgia have "working memory" problems, like ADDers.

I have Fibro (though it is in remission) and Myofascial Pain.

I had ADHD testing done (8 hrs worth) with a Educational Psychologist, and they found Adult ADHD.

Memory problems (and cognitive problems and executive dysfunction) in Fibro/CFS are informally called "Fibro Fog".

HTH

[dormammau2008]

wounders if theres a link with fcs an add adhd ....that....have semiler trats one makesing over the other......glade your in remino hun dorm