50 conditions that mimic ADHD, PART I

[bumpey]

And the list goes on, the more you hear about other conditions, the more you think you've got them, a common condition amongst medical and nursing students, its good to see one amongst us, probably lots more.

Tho I do like the Head Injury, Caffien and illegal drug use, as you'd have an idea of root cause there i think? hyercondriacts would love this.

[Mignon]

Originally Posted by speedo

I do agree that amalgam fillings can't possibly lead to high mercury levels in the body.
Amalgam has a really low solubility and basically can't be absorbed into the blood in amonts that are detectable. Amazingly though, I've rad that the europeans have banned the use of amalgam dental fillings because of their mercury content.

That's not what certain scientific experiments demonstrate, like the one that resulted in the paper Whole-body imaging of the distribution of mercury released from dental fillings into monkey tissues by Lezek et. al

[bof00]

38. Gifted Children

Hmmm... how sound is that? My parents and teachers came to this conclusion when I was young. What about adults that score in the genius range? I always thought something is too boring if easy. But, I should still be able to do the boring stuff. I can't force myself to right now. Procrastination or even hours devising elimination of the menial task ensues.

[Fortune]

Being classified as gifted was a setback for me. I'm suspicious of the category.

[sastarlite]

One that I haven't seen is borderline personality disorder. The more I look at my boyfriend, and take into account that medication does not work for him, the more I see a borderline personality disorder.
This is what I found on at
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publi...et/index.shtml
Symptoms
While a person with depression or bipolar disorder typically endures the same mood for weeks, a person with BPD may experience intense bouts of anger, depression, and anxiety that may last only hours, or at most a day. These may be associated with episodes of impulsive aggression, self-injury, and drug or alcohol abuse. Distortions in cognition and sense of self can lead to frequent changes in long-term goals, career plans, jobs, friendships, gender identity, and values. Sometimes people with BPD view themselves as fundamentally bad, or unworthy. They may feel unfairly misunderstood or mistreated, bored, empty, and have little idea who they are. Such symptoms are most acute when people with BPD feel isolated and lacking in social support, and may result in frantic efforts to avoid being alone.
People with BPD often have highly unstable patterns of social relationships. While they can develop intense but stormy attachments, their attitudes towards family, friends, and loved ones may suddenly shift from idealization (great admiration and love) to devaluation (intense anger and dislike). Thus, they may form an immediate attachment and idealize the other person, but when a slight separation or conflict occurs, they switch unexpectedly to the other extreme and angrily accuse the other person of not caring for them at all. Even with family members, individuals with BPD are highly sensitive to rejection, reacting with anger and distress to such mild separations as a vacation, a business trip, or a sudden change in plans. These fears of abandonment seem to be related to difficulties feeling emotionally connected to important persons when they are physically absent, leaving the individual with BPD feeling lost and perhaps worthless. Suicide threats and attempts may occur along with anger at perceived abandonment and disappointments.
People with BPD exhibit other impulsive behaviors, such as excessive spending, binge eating and risky sex. BPD often occurs together with other psychiatric problems, particularly bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety disorders, substance abuse, and other personality disorders.

I have bolded what I have experience wity my boyfriend in the 5 years we have been together. Does this ring a bell with anyone else?

[mapster2]

Good post, speedo. Right on the money.

[Lebatron]

Missing was Celiac's disease. Over on the Celiac's forum there is much talk about many of them suffering from ADD. Much like myself. Having this food allergy, if you want to call it that, leads to malnutrition. And malnutrition leads to what? You guessed it, poor mental function. With all the same symptoms of ADD like poor working memory, inability to ever maintain sustained effort, etc.

[MismedicatdMess]

Autistic Spectrum Disorders such as Aspergers and HFA. Thats a big one! Though often comorbid with ADHD and carrying similar symptoms... With the way that the ritalin inhibits verbal expression and shuts kids up at high enough doses, Not so sure how that goes down when it comes to the already impacted social development of kids with Autistic spectrum disorders. But I have a feeling it might be bad. I dont mean to be so blunt, but its important.

[deeinsun]

excellent got told over years you have over active thyroid, you have wheat allergy, 37 years in oh yes its adhd awesome thanks

[Drewbacca]

Originally Posted by speedo

Ever think that your adhd could have a cause that is curable ??

ME

Yes! BUT, I'm pretty sure that I'll have to achieve a very high level of education in order to know enough to hold my doctor's accountable until we find that cause (assuming that there is one). It seems like it is up to the patient to fight for finding the truth... as most modern medicine will just write off the problems as either a) already diagnosed as ADHD, b) psycho-somatic, c)hypochondria, or d) some incurable syndrome or another that has not obvious biological mechanism so we'll just treat the symptoms and call it a day.
I really ******* hate modern medicine sometimes.

Thanks for the post. Still useful after all of these years!

[dresser]

If it walks like a duck-if it swims like a duck-if it Quaaks like duck then it must be a duck thier tryin to sluff somthing off.remember the old movies about africa and the witch doctor and his necklace of lions teeth (maybe before you're times) but nothing's changed all smoke and mirrors.it's to bad i'm going to heaven I wont' be abel to give them a peace of my mind

[Subtract81]

ADHD is a set of symptoms. Yes symptoms are ambiguous, but if you have the symptoms of adhd then by definition you have adhd, therefore this thread is based on a logical fallacy.

This thread does however further highlight why symptoms should not define diagnostics.

[Mallory95959]

Originally Posted by speedo

I think the important thing to know is that there are a lot of things that can mimmic ADHD.
They ought to be ruled out early in the diagnostic process in order to avoid getting treated for the wrong illness.



The first thing I was tested for was metal poisioning. Along with that test the doc ordered blood sugar and thyroid... also with the usual blood tests in case I had allergies of some kind. They took 5 tubes of blood that day.

From there I followed up and discovered a hearing problem that was adding to my sensory troubles.

I was later diagnosed with ADHD combined type and anxiety disorder NOS. Now, I've been diagnosed with insomnia and sleep aphnia....and there is lots more to come.

ME

That is if you even presented enough of a problem to be considered at all. I was 27 before I sought treatment because all the adults in my life made excuses like this for not getting me checked out. She is so smart, she is just bored and not living up to potential. That is something I will never do to my son. It is important to get a full physical to rule out contributing factors but I think that this will lead more people to do nothing instead of have their child checked out. Most parents are tired and stressed and unless there is a significant issue they will do nothing. The schools too, unless you present a significant problem to the movement of the class a teacher will let you read novels from home all year. You slide through life until you hit a wall you have to deal with it all yourself. You talk about a myriad of possibilities and yes some of them are valid but this also goes to the problem of not having real ADHD taken seriously because it could be so many other things. People already look at us like there is something we could be doing about this to make our lives easier. We are just depressed or lacking sleep, exercise and nutrition. I have been doing everything I could to help myself feel normal from exercise to nutrition and supplements heavy metal cleansing and more. I have hearing problems and infections that have lasted for years but even when i didn't my ADHD symptoms didn't go away they got somewhat better because I didn't have the other stressors acting on my body and mind, but ADHD gone, no. I would like to know the sources of your information if this isn't just you own experiences talking but scientific evidence. Insomnia can also be a symptom of ADHD because your brain won't shut down, it just keeps going like the energizer bunny
I'm new to this sorry for the slight rant and personal emotionalism towards the subject but I have been though the "What about this and try this" for so long and dealt with so many people telling me it was this or another thing and once I was medicated and being treated I felt so much better. Its not a magic pill but If it is what your brain needs and you don't get it you can tell.
sorry for breaking any rules if i did...

[non-hyper-adder]

Fibromyalia symptoms have many crossover symptoms. I also had polio at age 2 (now 61). Chronic depression too. Five siblings also have fibro. ??