Possible Undiagnosed Adult ADHD

awhellcastiel

Hi everyone, I don't post to boards.ie very often so apologies if I'm doing it wrong, I did search for a similar thread but haven't found anything recent.

I'm a twenty-year-old female with diagnosed OCD, which makes me feel very reluctant to seek an additional diagnosis for ADHD, which I think I might have. I don't want to feel as though I'm looking for excuses for what might just be laziness and personality flaws.

My entire life I have performed very well academically, but it's been an intense struggle to study and work. If I have to sit down to study something, it's like a cloud descends over my brain and I can't organize my thoughts. It's very difficult to absorb and process the information so that it sticks in my head, and I can always feel my attention being tugged away to some other task. I frequently feel so restless that I can't sit still; I walk for an hour and a half every night, alone, and have done since my early teens because if I'm cooped up inside it feels as though something's crawling underneath my skin and it's like a physical pain. I'm incredibly forgetful and disorganized. It was always a joke in every class I was in since primary school that I was the daydreamer, the one who was always going to forget and lose things. My friends frequently tell me I'm a mess and a trainwreck (they're joking) and I've fallen out with people because I've forgotten to fulfill obligations. The idea of sitting down and working through my college notes is both appealing because the subjects are so interesting, and absolutely impossible.

I've tried different ways of studying, what seems to work best is recording the lecture and transcribing it later, for some reason this is easier than just reading and re-writing notes. It's not a permanent fix though, because my course requires a lot of essay work and I'm finally beginning to struggle and fall behind like my teachers predicted. I have an excellent short term memory, but almost no long term memory. I procrastinate all study and work until the very last moment because the intense pressure is the only thing compelling enough to force me to get the work done, and even then it's usually late or unsatisfactory. I wouldn't dream of self-diagnosing, but I've taken several internet screeners as a starting point which have all indicated I should speak to a professional, because I have several symptoms.

I suppose the point of this rambling is to ask people with experience- is this what ADHD looks like? I was a quiet, very nervous child who performed well, so no one was looking for ADHD in someone like me. I'm only questioning it now that my difficulties are alienating friends and making college a bit of a nightmare. What steps should I take from here? A friend of mine struggled for years to get an ADHD diagnosis as a kid, even though she's a textbook case and both of her parents have it. How would I proceed as an adult? Feel free to tell me I just need to get a grip.

Professor Moriarty

awhellcastiel wrote: »

Hi everyone, I don't post to boards.ie very often so apologies if I'm doing it wrong, I did search for a similar thread but haven't found anything recent.

I'm a twenty-year-old female with diagnosed OCD, which makes me feel very reluctant to seek an additional diagnosis for ADHD, which I think I might have. I don't want to feel as though I'm looking for excuses for what might just be laziness and personality flaws.

My entire life I have performed very well academically, but it's been an intense struggle to study and work. If I have to sit down to study something, it's like a cloud descends over my brain and I can't organize my thoughts. It's very difficult to absorb and process the information so that it sticks in my head, and I can always feel my attention being tugged away to some other task. I frequently feel so restless that I can't sit still; I walk for an hour and a half every night, alone, and have done since my early teens because if I'm cooped up inside it feels as though something's crawling underneath my skin and it's like a physical pain. I'm incredibly forgetful and disorganized. It was always a joke in every class I was in since primary school that I was the daydreamer, the one who was always going to forget and lose things. My friends frequently tell me I'm a mess and a trainwreck (they're joking) and I've fallen out with people because I've forgotten to fulfill obligations. The idea of sitting down and working through my college notes is both appealing because the subjects are so interesting, and absolutely impossible.

I've tried different ways of studying, what seems to work best is recording the lecture and transcribing it later, for some reason this is easier than just reading and re-writing notes. It's not a permanent fix though, because my course requires a lot of essay work and I'm finally beginning to struggle and fall behind like my teachers predicted. I have an excellent short term memory, but almost no long term memory. I procrastinate all study and work until the very last moment because the intense pressure is the only thing compelling enough to force me to get the work done, and even then it's usually late or unsatisfactory. I wouldn't dream of self-diagnosing, but I've taken several internet screeners as a starting point which have all indicated I should speak to a professional, because I have several symptoms.

I suppose the point of this rambling is to ask people with experience- is this what ADHD looks like? I was a quiet, very nervous child who performed well, so no one was looking for ADHD in someone like me. I'm only questioning it now that my difficulties are alienating friends and making college a bit of a nightmare. What steps should I take from here? A friend of mine struggled for years to get an ADHD diagnosis as a kid, even though she's a textbook case and both of her parents have it. How would I proceed as an adult? Feel free to tell me I just need to get a grip.

Yes, much of what you describe would fit into ADD or ADHD, especially the highlighted piece. However, don't try to self-diagnose. You say that you are attending a third level institution. Many institutions have student supports such as Health, Counselling and Disability Support. I would suggest that you make contact with one of these (with possible ADD/ADHD, Disability Support might be your first port of call).

awhellcastiel

Thanks for responding! I'm going to look into the support services the university offers, maybe they can point me in the right direction.

Wanderer78

College support services are fantastic, I'm dyslexic and autistic myself and have availed of these services before. Best of luck

BloodBath

ADHD is a made up "condition" to push drugs on kids by big pharma. Nothing more, nothing less.

The side effects from most of the drugs they prescribe for these fake conditions are worse than the supposed conditions themselves.

Stop self diagnosing. What's your diet and exercise routine like?

Charmeleon

BloodBath wrote: »

ADHD is a made up "condition" to push drugs on kids by big pharma. Nothing more, nothing less.

The side effects from most of the drugs they prescribe for these fake conditions are worse than the supposed conditions themselves.

Stop self diagnosing. What's your diet and exercise routine like?

There’s no blood test or MRI scan for ADHD, but you can say the same for depression. According to the ‘skeptics’ logic depression doesn’t exit either, it is only a self-reported illness made up by ‘Big Pharma’ to sell drugs.

ADHD is a cluster of symptoms that have a moderate to severe impact on several areas of your life and must have been obvious since early childhood. You can’t just walk in and get a diagnosis here in Ireland because you’ve had a lot on your mind the last few months or years. It has to be a chronic set of symptoms and it has to be negatively impacting several aspects of your life.

The problem with the ‘ADHD is made up’ mentality is that it ignores the statistics that show people who are diagnosed but untreated are far more likely than the average person to end up with poor exam results, few friends, more likely to get fired from jobs, more likely to get divorced, far more likely to abuse and get addicted to drugs and alcohol, more likely to have children in their teens and much more likely to die in car and other accidents.

Say what you want, the drugs do work extremely well and save lives and livelihoods.

BloodBath

Yes it's a cluster of symptoms that could be contributed to any number of conditions but it's most often connected to poor diet, lack of exercise, vitamin or mineral deficiency, food allergies, gut problems etc. Doctors don't give a crap about fixing the cause of the problem when they can prescribe a drug and take your €50+ for a 5 min consultation.

Maybe there are people who genuinely have this condition but I guarantee you that at least 75% of the people being diagnosed with it do not have it.

Depression is also mainly caused by the above but instead of taking allergy tests, eating a good diet and getting enough exercise people want anti depressants which will make you suicidal along with a lot of other side effects because you still aren't fixing the root problem.

Charmeleon

BloodBath wrote: »

Yes it's a cluster of symptoms that could be contributed to any number of conditions but it's most often connected to poor diet, lack of exercise, vitamin or mineral deficiency, food allergies, gut problems etc. Doctors don't give a crap about fixing the cause of the problem when they can prescribe a drug and take your €50+ for a 5 min consultation.

Maybe there are people who genuinely have this condition but I guarantee you that at least 75% of the people being diagnosed with it do not have it.

Depression is also mainly caused by the above but instead of taking allergy tests, eating a good diet and getting enough exercise people want anti depressants which will make you suicidal along with a lot of other side effects because you still aren't fixing the root problem.

Your theories don’t explain how ADHD is very heritable or why two children in the same family can have very similar diets, excercise etc. yet one may have severe ADHD and another have no symptoms at all.

If your theory on depression were correct then sports stars and atheletes would never get depression.

A lot of people hate believing that a pill can almost entirely manage a complex condition but there’s no denying they have had a huge positive impact on the people affected by them.

BloodBath

Charmeleon wrote: »

Your theories don’t explain how ADHD is very heritable or why two children in the same family can have very similar diets, excercise etc. yet one may have severe ADHD and another have no symptoms at all.

If your theory on depression were correct then sports stars and atheletes would never get depression.

A lot of people hate believing that a pill can almost entirely manage a complex condition but there’s no denying they have had a huge positive impact on the people affected by them.

Families with poor diets and/or genetic gut problems will share the same symptoms. They may also share food or other undiagnosed allergies or intolerance's. Poor absorption of vitamins and minerals from an unhealthy gut or a genetic defect leads to a whole host of medical problems that doctors are just banging out pills for which are causing more problems than they are curing for the majority of people using them.

Have you looked at the side effects of anti depressants? Have you seen the cocktail of drugs they give to counter the side effects?

Obviously depression and most likely ADD is far more complex than any single factor but you can not deny the impact of diet and exercise and restoring a healthy gut if possible.

We are adopting this American "a pill cures everything attitude" which is killing millions of people every year. It's a broken system.

PTH2009

I took anti depressants and other psychotic drugs for a over a year (summer 2013- April 2015) and hated them. suffered bad effects such as weight gain, anger issues, tiredness/fatigue and others issues. never again will i take them. I'm not saying this in cause of the tablets but I was driven too alcohol at lot around this time and drank a lot (had a lot of family deaths and work issues around that time)

they work for some people and not for others

kod87

PTH2009 wrote: »

I took anti depressants and other psychotic drugs for a over a year (summer 2013- April 2015) and hated them. suffered bad effects such as weight gain, anger issues, tiredness/fatigue and others issues. never again will i take them. I'm not saying this in cause of the tablets but I was driven too alcohol at lot around this time and drank a lot (had a lot of family deaths and work issues around that time)

they work for some people and not for others

Well yes statistically they do, that's the whole idea of evidence based medicine, if someone presents as moderately to severely depressed then statistically their best chance of recovery is with anti depressants and CBT (that's how doctors see it/ cold hard facts and numbers), that's not to say everybody recovers and gets anything from medication but statistically it's shown to help along with other interventions.

That's not to say that diet, exercise are irrelevant, they are clearly important to someones overall mental and physical health and it's just common sense really to look after these things.

The Black Oil

BloodBath wrote: »

ADHD is a made up "condition" to push drugs on kids by big pharma. Nothing more, nothing less.

The side effects from most of the drugs they prescribe for these fake conditions are worse than the supposed conditions themselves.

Stop self diagnosing. What's your diet and exercise routine like?

This is all bunkum, then? Perhaps you need to put this nonsense down for a second.

The central psychological deficits in those with ADHD have now been linked through numerous studies using various scientific methods to several specific brain regions (the frontal lobe, its connections to the basal ganglia, and their relationship to the central aspects of the cerebellum). Most neurological studies find that as a group those with ADHD have less brain electrical activity and show less reactivity to stimulation in one or more of these regions. And neuroimaging studies of groups of those with ADHD also demonstrate relatively smaller areas of brain matter and less metabolic activity of this brain matter than is the case in control groups used in these studies.

~

This evidence, coupled with countless studies on the harm posed by the disorder and hundreds of studies on the effectiveness of medication, buttresses the need in many, though by no means all, cases for management of the disorder with multiple therapies. These include medication combined with educational, family, and other social accommodations. This is in striking contrast to the wholly unscientific views of some social critics in periodic media accounts that ADHD constitutes a fraud, that medicating those afflicted is questionable if not reprehensible, and that any behavior problems associated with ADHD are merely the result of problems in the home, excessive viewing of TV or playing of video games, diet, lack of love and attention, or teacher/school intolerance.

Link

BloodBath

Forgive me for being sceptical of US medical journals but I am and will remain so. I don't trust these people. There are too many vested interests and money in this. Maybe I came in a little strong earlier but the science behind these studies is flawed. I still stand by the opinion that doctors are over prescribing drugs for people who potentially don't need them and diagnosing adhd isn't so straight forward and the spectrum of effects is so wide that at least 1 of them would apply to most people for various reasons.

These same scientists are the ones telling us that fluoride is alright in our water when it's been proven to destroy the gut bacteria as well as being highly toxic to the brain. That aspartame is ok to put in as a sugar substitute. The same guys who made the old food table which has now been proven to be completely wrong. They place foods like bread, pasta, cheese etc as healthier than nuts and eggs which they still say you shouldn't have more than 2 servings a day of while men can have up to 7 a day from bread, pasta, rice etc. It's now been proven that eggs are a super food and you can eat as many as you want and that nut's are also a super food with the majority of fats in them being not just healthy but essential. Far far healthier than eating refined carbohydrates like bread and pasta which just turns to sugar in your stomach.

My point is the science behind a lot of widely accepted beliefs is flawed and adopted by people who go through the same education process and are surrounded by peers who push the accepted views. They are just coming to a consensus that people that exhibit certain behaviours have this condition without concluding what the cause is outside of some hereditary problem in some instances.

The reasons for these behaviours in people are probably vast and outside the scope of the narrow field of tests the majority of these signatories used. Banding everyone into a group and calling it ADHD is pseudo science. Can you tell me what the success rate for the drugs they are prescribing for this? What about the side effects?

These drugs are only masking over the under lying problem as well. While some people may have an untreatable brain defect/injury that causes the problems many others have it from diet, and gut health. Gut health is a seriously under estimated factor in a wide variety of illnesses and should be one of the first port of calls when trying to diagnose an illness. The over prescription on antibiotics has also massively contributed to this problem as it wipes out the friendly bacteria as well as the bad. The massive amounts of sugar in many peoples diets is also causing serious gut problems like candida and leaky gut.

Kids are also potentially swallowing reasonable amounts of toothpaste along with drinking tap water. This intake of fluoride is wreaking havoc on the gut and brains of children.

Anyway sorry for hijacking your thread op. I suggest you start with diet, allergy and gut checks as well as taking vitamin and mineral supplements before going the route of lifelong prescription drugs which will do more harm to your health than your condition. It should be a last resort when everything else has failed.

Freedive Ireland

I'm loathe to start into this debate in case I end up with a tin foil hat. Evidence base can be how you manage the evidence. Eli lilly with Prozac would be an example. Yes drugs work over the short term but the efficacy of them over long term is certainly questionable. They certainly suit some people so I am not against them. I am against the dominance of the medical model and the ever increasing diagnosing of many normal behaviours/reactions into conditions/disorders.

Psychiatry has asked itself this question before and needs to do so again. The iatrogenic consequences of some medications are way beyond first do no harm and I have seen first hand where these consequences are played down if not completely hidden and the simpler side effects acknowledged. Many service users do not receive their meds in packages with all the warnings attached. The greatest argument in favour of a re-examination of mental health services is in how many are now on medication and how many are now disabled by their condition. How many make a full recovery back into society with a job, home, relationship etc as opposed to become asymptomatic. Something is broken, either society or the way we treat people who are currently struggling with it.

https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G17/076/04/PDF/G1707604.pdf?OpenElement
https://www.madinamerica.com/2012/02/the-real-suicide-data-from-the-tads-study-comes-to-light/

If your argument against all this is to say that Whitaker is being selective, then that's kinda my point.
Sorry op and mods we've gone way off topic.

pointelle

hi! I hope itt went well for you! sounds like add or adhd to me too. Drugs can help I understand the stage you're at and while it's a big decision, it could certainly help you out! I believe cbt can help with your executive function but it can be hard to wrestle the steering wheel from the monkeys hands (feet?) as it were! I've found meditation and some you tube brainwave music things ( binaural or isochronic beats ) can help a remarkable amount for just noise! Best of luck!

Feu

HI awhellcastiel, just seeing this now, I agree with Professor Moriarty that you should check out your college services, some are very good, and offer occupational therapy (NUIG, UCC, TCD, DCU, UCD). ADD can be associated with daydreaming

There is more information about getting assessed and support over here: https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057610250

If you do get a diagnosis, I would encourage you to speak with your psychiatrist and come to your own decision about medication, it works really well for some and not for others. And from someone who has actually worked in the health system and with people with ADHD, i can tell you that it is a fallacy that people are being over-diagnosed or over medicated with ADHD in this country.

Best of luck!

Noodleworm

Please Ignore the tinfoil hat guy above. 

What this guy completely misses is that its actually very difficult to get diagnosed with ADHD, especially for an adult. 
I am diagnosed myself and have found virtually no supports for adults. 
St Patrick's hospital used to have an outpatients clinic where adults could be seen but it has since closed down over a year ago. 

Some private doctors may chose to take you on, but its very difficult in Ireland. 
This goes against the conspiracy theorists above, who I am 100% certain will also be anti-vaccines.

People I have just met can see my ADHD patterns in how I act and think. 
I have a brilliant diet, plenty of exercise, no gut problems. My brain is simply lacking in dopamine and finds it much harder than the average person to keep my attention on less rewarding tasks. My body will almost feel itchy from the inside out. 

As for the tinfoil hat people: Any doctors who have researched ADHD can show how people without intervention or diagnosis clearly have much worse outcomes. A huge proportion of the prison population, people more likely to become addicts, people who struggle to continue school, in young women it's associated with impulsive behaviour and unplanned pregnancy. 
ADHD is also comorbid with depression and anxiety, as well as eating disorders. As you can image, individuals who don't understand why they can't keep up with their peers, why they can't reach the expectations other place on them - are far more likely to struggle with mental illness. 
In fact an off label use of ADHD medications is an antidepressant, since many are dopamine reuptake inhibitors, and dopamine is a factor in depression and motivation. 

Why shouldn't I take my medication? Its helped me be a model member of society, I completed college, I have a good job, a good relationship, I pay taxes.

In every possible way, our ability to diagnose and treat ADHD has done good for society and the individuals affected.

Feu

noodleworm, as far as I know St John of Gods private hospital still has an outpatients ADHD Clinic. I honestly don't know the insurance situation etc, but might be worth checking out if you are looking for MDT support

And you're right in all you say, too


Check out the thread here too, if you like https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/show...p?t=2057610250

SuperRabbit

BloodBath wrote: »

ADHD is a made up "condition" to push drugs on kids by big pharma. Nothing more, nothing less.

The side effects from most of the drugs they prescribe for these fake conditions are worse than the supposed conditions themselves.

Stop self diagnosing. What's your diet and exercise routine like?

How do you explain the fact that people diagnosed with ADHD are 8 times more likely to get in a car accident?

How do you explain the fact that kids diagnosed with ADHD who do not get medication are twice as likely to end up abusing substances as teens as adults, while kids diagnosed with ADHD who do get medication have the same level of likelihood for substance abuse as the population at large?

Stop telling other people their problems are made up and go examine your own life.

Harry Mullane

As per your other post, no soliciting