ADHD in adults

I once read the teacher comments on my DH's report cards from early elementary school. I was astonished. One said "Something is wrong here..I don't know what, but something is very wrong. Steve is very smart, but cannot focus..."
Some of the comments were just plain mean. I couldn't imagine what would have happened if I had written that stuff when I was teaching. But, people just didn't know in the early sixties. My DH got almost a perfect score when he took the SATs and he was accused of having someone take the test for him, because, well, how could someone like him do that?
So, yes, the self esteem issues that are part of ADHD are not small things at all.

One of my son's preschool teachers told us that Dane couldn't be ADHD, since he could hyper-focus on things he enjoyed to the exclusion of everything else.

Duh, that is one of the hallmarks of ADHD! We went another 2 years without pursuing any sort of diagnosis because of that woman's "assessment."

Then kindergarten screeners recommended we hold him back...because he had no focus during the session (put a little car/truck-obsessed boy in a room full of his favorite toys and what do you expect, people?).

This is the same boy who now scores advanced on state standardized tests. Holding him back would have been a disaster. Instead of being just ADHD he would have been bored to tears and ADHD. Bucking their recommendation and enrolling him in an Montessori kindergarten (and subsequently a Montessori Elem. school) was the best thing we ever did for our kid. It was at that kindergarten that the school director recognized instantly that our kid was perfectly ready for kindergarten. She also worked with us and our son's pediatrician through the diagnosis process. Rather than writing him off as a "problem child," as previous educators had.

So I've seen my psychologist now a couple of times. I am told I have moderately severe ADHD symptoms. I asked where I rank to others who have ADHD and he said I was in the "upper echelon". Apparently this has been a much bigger problem than I ever realized for a very long time. I'm in the process of getting on some type of drug therapy. I'm a little worried about side effects and all. I hear that each drug reacts differently in each person so there's no way to know exactly what will happen.

Wow; that's pretty heavy stuff, WR. I'm just glad that you finally pieced it together and sought professional help. Hopefully your doc will keep a close eye on your meds and help you deal with any side effects. Is conventional talk therapy also recommended. Good luck with dealing with this.

My son was diagnosed with severe ADHD by a pyschologist years back. As he was diagnosing him I seen similarities in the symptoms in me. I mentioned it to him and he said that women cope with it better because we can multi task. He also explained how the meds work if you do have this disorder compared to if you don't. And it can be seen on a special scan of the brain.

Winding Road, I am glad you are on your way. You will notice an immediate effect with the medication. It might take awhile to work out the dose or even which one is right. And these meds don't seem to follow the usual rules of dosage by weight. It's a very individual thing.
Women don't get diagnosed because they are nice little girls, sit in the back of the classroom and daydream. Then people wonder why they can't read, etc. But, sometimes they act out in other ways. If you looked at the stats on girls who have a substance issue, cut, or are sexually promiscuous, you might find a pretty high # of them have untreated ADD. All of those things are self medicating/soothing. Sometimes people can focus themselves on one thing they really love (like riding), but it doesn't help with all of the symptoms. The women/multitasking thing has no real basis in neuroscience. The evidence is very contradictory. You can make it look that way if you want to.

I have been recommended for testing but decided not to pursue it since it serves no purpose now. This was after 11 years of struggling in school with accompanying low self esteem issues, depression and such things. It MAY NOT be proper ADHD because the psychologist's suspicion is that I may have sensory issues which make me seem like I'm ADHD, dyslexic and dysgraphic. But whatever the heck it is, it does interfere with my life and I work with my therapist on modifying my life and behaviors to make it less interfering. It may not be practical for everyone but the thing that changed my life was changing jobs. I now work in special education where I'm required to be extremely active and be able to do ten thousand things accurately at the same time. Which is terrific because it puts all the annoying ADHD-ish traits to a use that is functional. And I find that after chasing around kids and multi-tasking like my life depends on it for 5 hours a day, I can settle down relatively ok to finish off paperwork for the next 5. There are other things like forgetfulness and the hyperactivity but I figured out what helps with remembering stuff and also what I need in order to avoid hyperactivity (enough sleep because exhaustion dulls my senses and I will seek out more extreme sensory input like spinning on chairs or jumping around, none of which are appropriate, to get some sensory input).

The thing is, it takes a long time to figure out what works for you. You may need meds, you may not need meds. Along the way, there will be people who tell you that you're just imagining things, like this neurologist I was sent to who told me that all I needed was a larger dose of psychiatric drugs to stop thinking. But keep looking for information that helps you, get a professional's help if you need to, keep going at it. It will get better one day.

Great some folks here have found their path from ADHD.

Alexis, has your therapist recommended that you work with an OT? I have seen a world of wonders done by OTs who work with people who have sensory integration issues. Don't laugh at this, but many years ago, when I was teaching, I had a student with very, very severe ADHD and other things. The OT assistant asked me if I would run a hairbrush over his back a couple of times a day. I thought this was nuts, but now I know that it works.

Crankin, my therapist has recommended an OT but I can't get services because it means having to get a diagnosis which can cause me trouble at work. But she did do a lot of research for me and she has recommended brushing, weighted blankets, chewys, all of which I use. People find it hilarious that I have a chewy at 24 years old but in the last year, there was a lot of improvement and I'm slowly tapering off the use of them now.

Alexis, are you a teacher or an assistant? I don't see how a dx of ADHD would harm you at work. It's confidential medical information that no one would know about, unless you tell them in the first place, and second, I worked with several teachers who were on various ADHD or psychotropic medications for things and they became better at their jobs because of it.

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Originally Posted by alexis_the_tiny

Crankin, my therapist has recommended an OT but I can't get services because it means having to get a diagnosis which can cause me trouble at work. But she did do a lot of research for me and she has recommended brushing, weighted blankets, chewys, all of which I use. People find it hilarious that I have a chewy at 24 years old but in the last year, there was a lot of improvement and I'm slowly tapering off the use of them now.

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What's a chewy? I mean, my dog has one :D, but in relation to people? Just curious b/c I truly don't know!

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Originally Posted by Crankin

The women/multitasking thing has no real basis in neuroscience. The evidence is very contradictory. You can make it look that way if you want to.

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I also don't think the multitasking thing is accurate...either that or I just didn't get a copy of that gene! Trying to do more than one thing at a time usually makes me crazy.

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Originally Posted by Jolt

I also don't think the multitasking thing is accurate...either that or I just didn't get a copy of that gene! Trying to do more than one thing at a time usually makes me crazy.

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I'm suspicious of that, too. I have not been conclusively diagnosed, though everyone who knows me and is familiar with ADHD is pretty convinced that I am (and having a kid and a sibling with it makes it very likely). I can't multitask to save my life. Waiting tables was really a rough career for the few years I did it.

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Originally Posted by emily_in_nc

What's a chewy? I mean, my dog has one :D, but in relation to people? Just curious b/c I truly don't know!

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OTs sell these things called Chewy Tubes for kids with sensory issues, they're just tough little rubber tubes shaped like a little hammer with bumps and stuff for chewing on. Mine isn't as sophisticated, I just got one of those teether things they sell at the baby store. They function like chewing gum. Only about a few hundred times tougher.

Chewing helps to give sensory input which can heighten a person's concentration. That is why sometimes, people like to chew gum, pens, pencils or snack while doing concentration heavy work. :D