Elderly parent with ADHD?

[fropunka]

My sister and I were talking yesterday, and we are fairly certain that my dad has ADHD. He's 74.

I know that there are only a few, if any, studies being done on ADHD and the elderly, but does anyone know of ANYTHING I can read about it?

I'm assuming that there isn't much difference between Elderly and Adult ADHD, I'm just curious.

[Dizfriz]

I might consider getting him checked out. You can probably start with his primary care doc.

The reason that this is a good idea is that depression and some other issues can mimic the symptoms of ADHD especially the inattentive ones.

Good luck.

Dizfriz

[fropunka]

LOL.

I laugh because he won't even entertain the idea that he has ADHD. He gets mad when I bring it up.

He paces constantly
He is a leg jiggler
He can't remember appointments
He ALWAYS buys the wrong thing at the grocery store
He has a short temper
He is obsessed with getting to places early (learned coping mechanism)
He procrastinates
He has major spelling issues

Sure, someone could write it off as "it's cuz he's old", but, he's been that way since I was little

[bunkie68]

If they'd been diagnosing ADHD when my dad was younger, I suspect he'd have been diagnosed. He's always had a short fuse, he can't sit still to watch a movie, he starts a project, loses interest, and moves on to something else (he had a used car lot for a while; then sold that and had what I call his "hobby cows" - a little herd of cattle; he bought and rebuilt cars to sell for a while, and so on). My mother kept up with his appointments while she was alive, and now my stepmom does it. He's actually mellowed as he's gotten older - not sure if that's due to the natural slowing down that comes with age (he's 83), or if his Parkinson's has something to do with it, or a combination of both. At any rate, at this point in his life, I don't think he'd do anything about it even if he were diagnosed.

[fropunka]

Yup, your dad sounds like my dad. I think my uncle (dad's bro) has ADHD too. That uncle also is in the beginning stages of alzheimers, and is a compulsive gambler. Another uncle on that side was schizophrenic. Another uncle was borderline mentally retarded.

All that is on ONE side of the family.

[meridian]

Originally Posted by fropunka

I'm assuming that there isn't much difference between Elderly and Adult ADHD, I'm just curious.

I think your assumption is a good one. I'm 15 years younger than your Dad but the symptoms you describe could also fit me.

I think the only difference between childhood ADHD, Adult ADHD and geriatric ADHD is the age at diagnosis!

Have you given your Dad one of those 18 point checklists to complete
that are online?

It could be enlightening for everyone.

[Fortune]

My maternal grandmother was diagnosed at 83 or 84, IIRC. I found this out when I talked to my mother about my ADHD.

I lived with her for a few years, and I'd say in retrospect that the primary difference between her and I (ADHD-wise) was that she was fifty years older. That and we had clashing interests and expectations.

She was always forgetting to pay the bills, irritable, she'd impulsively spend a lot of money on possible gifts or whatever that she'd then lose. She couldn't keep her house clean at all, and when I lived with her this was a constant point of friction. I was at the time obsessive about maintaining kitchens, and we kept getting into fights because I'd clear clutter out of the kitchen so I could cook things and she'd keep recluttering it. I think living with her actually killed my housecleaning habits, because housecleaning meant fighting over how I was cleaning. Not that it was strictly her fault or anything. Not that my housecleaning habits were all that great outside of the kitchen.

I'm not trying to locate her as a source of great misery in my life, because she was so much the opposite, but really more that I think that adult ADHD doesn't change much as you get older.