![[dr. bob]](/dr-bob-sm.gif)
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 19 of 19. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by nickguy on September 9, 2006, at 18:42:03
You didnt show symptoms of it as a child? I'm almost 20 now and it could have been partly ADD that has caused my grades and concentration to drop pretty dramatically, although I have been previously diagnosed with depression and social anxiety. I was an A and B student from the time I started school until about 15-16 years of age. And at about 17 I was a C student, with a few failures here and there. I can't finish my work unless I strongly push myself mentally, and it's troublesome because I care about college and get behind. I also have some trouble paying attention in class.
Posted by finelinebob on September 9, 2006, at 19:43:00
In reply to is it possible to have ADHD if......, posted by nickguy on September 9, 2006, at 18:42:03
Sure.
Once I started hitting higher-level physics and math, the effort to concetrate would put me to sleep. Same thing in grad school. Read the same paragraph for 10 times and then zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
But grade school? High school? I was a teacher's dream student. I graduated with twice as many awards and honors as the next "highest" person in my class. Who, me? ADD? Not until it mattered, not until I had to concentrate and focus and, by then, I was so convinced I was some sort of flawless learner it was unthinkable.
These days I'm on 20mg/d of Focalin XL and now I understand what concentration is. Don't wait until you're 40-something to figure that out.
Posted by nickguy on September 11, 2006, at 20:47:07
In reply to Re: is it possible to have ADHD if......, posted by finelinebob on September 9, 2006, at 19:43:00
So I think me and my doctor are going to try a stimulant. I guess there's no way to be sure if ADHD is my diagnosis, so at the least it could help me with school.
I have a few random questions for those with an Adhd diagnosis... (I'll probably have to post these on an adhd forum)
Have symptoms of depression or anxiety ever masked your adhd?
How has your adhd affected your alcohol consumption and/or your behavior under the influnce?how has your adhd affected your life outside of work/school? (i.e relationships, love life...ect)
I really appreciate anybody who can answer these questions, it might help me figure out if this is something I might be suffering from. Thanks.
Posted by nickguy on September 12, 2006, at 22:02:15
In reply to ADHD, posted by nickguy on September 11, 2006, at 20:47:07
Posted by linkadge on September 13, 2006, at 7:12:09
In reply to anybody? (nm), posted by nickguy on September 12, 2006, at 22:02:15
I don't know. I'd tend to think that if ADHD was the case, then there would have been a lot of evidence suggesting so.
I personally had a ADHD diagnosis given to me. I really had to strech it to see how this one fit my life since there was no evidence of it.
Ritalin was a bad road for me, but I guess you never know unless you try.
Sometimes ADHD is diagnosed as other things, but even still, you'd likely have some clear indicatiors that there were problems with attention in the past.
In high school were you able to concentrate for long periods of time when necessary ?
Linkadge
Posted by nickguy on September 14, 2006, at 13:11:17
In reply to Re: anybody?, posted by linkadge on September 13, 2006, at 7:12:09
I can only concentrate on things that are interesting to me. When I sit down to type a paper, i'll sometimes go on the internet and forget what i was doing for a few minutes. Sometimes at work I would have to ask somebody to repeat something they said to my face. (that could perhaps be because I was socially anxious at work and sometimes wrapped up in that) when I have to concentrate hard I start to get agitated. I can however, eventually get the task done. I'm starting a low dose stimulant just to experiment.
Posted by gardenergirl on September 14, 2006, at 15:20:21
In reply to more on add/stimulants, posted by nickguy on September 14, 2006, at 13:11:17
Good luck with your stimulant trial. Provigil's not quite doing it for me, but it does help me with impulsivity some. That's a plus. But I need help with the getting lost and absorbed in something so much that I lose track of time and don't get done what I need to.
Still working on that one.
Let us know how it goes.
gg
Posted by nickguy on September 14, 2006, at 19:34:08
In reply to Re: more on add/stimulants » nickguy, posted by gardenergirl on September 14, 2006, at 15:20:21
I really don't know if adhd is a serious consideration diagnosis for me, but I do show a few of the symptoms. And for whatever's causing to disrupt my school work, concentration in school, and ability to follow through with tasks...I think adderall will help...whether I actually have a.d.d or it is because of slight depression or anxiety or whatever. I start tommorow, 5 mg twice a day. I'll let you guys know.
Posted by AuntieMel on September 15, 2006, at 15:58:14
In reply to is it possible to have ADHD if......, posted by nickguy on September 9, 2006, at 18:42:03
Yes, yes, and yes.
But it sure is hard to convince a doctor if you didn't show sympoms as a kid.
The problem is they only tend to diagnose in kids if you are the hyperactive type, not the inattentive type. Not causing any disruptions? Who cares.
I've got the concentration problems, too. Luckily for me so does my boss's kid....
I take adderall myself, but there are a lot of non-med ways to help deal with it also.
Lists... and more lists. If I break dull things up into small tasks and check them off as I go then I can maintain interest better. It also helps a lot to talk to someone about what I am working on - it helps get me 'fired up' to continue.
Posted by Margreet on September 16, 2006, at 12:31:20
In reply to is it possible to have ADHD if......, posted by nickguy on September 9, 2006, at 18:42:03
Hey nickguy
I have ADHD inattentive type. We can be seen as lazy and inactive, so the diagnosis of ADHD is often missed. Subjects that were inherently interesting to me were always easy, or if I really liked a teacher, I had no trouble at all. Otherwise, forget it.Other things are going on in your life: what are they? Many different stressors and substances can produce ADHD symptoms. SSRI's make me stupid: reduced cognition, difficulty expressing myself verbally, problems with writing, no interest in reading anything longer than a magazine article. Grief, worry, anxiety, depression, lack of sleep, emotional turmoil, lust, a noisy environment, an illness, a blow to the head, miscellaneous pharmaceuticals, a major change in your family: all of that stuff can mimic ADHD. (Well, lust tends to make me hyperfocused on one person, but distracted in relation to everyhting else.) Everyone on the planet can be distracted sometimes.
The real stuff has a genetic component. If you're with your biological family, it will likely show up in some of your relatives. And it shows up all over your life, not just in your schoolwork.
Another possibility is that you're just so dang smart, you haven't been challenged until lately, with more advanced courses. The last I heard, our brains are still developing until we're about 25 years old. Maybe the higher math circuits in your brain need a little fine-tuning?
It just seems un-ADHDlike that you could cruise through your schooling with no trouble, and no sign of ADHD in any other area of your life. At the very least, I'd expect a tendency to start and not finish things because you simply lost interest. We are attracted to "new and different", but once it loses the novelty, it's gone and replaced by something else.
Sorry for the long-winded post. Hope this may help.
Posted by Racer on September 16, 2006, at 13:15:28
In reply to Re: more on add/stimulants, posted by nickguy on September 14, 2006, at 19:34:08
> I think adderall will help...whether I actually have a.d.d or it is because of slight depression or anxiety or whatever.
Good luck with it.
Just a note, though: Adderall caused greatly increased depression for me. Apparently it's a known side effect. (I stayed on it because my T advised it, but my pdoc said to stop right away, and we switched to Dexedrine, which was a halfway point for me: Adderall made things much worse, Ritalin helped a lot but had some other problems. Dexedrine wasn't as helpful as Ritalin, didn't have the side effects that Ritalin had, but didn't make me as depressed as Adderall...) Anyway, my point is that if Adderall should happen to have that effect for you, the others might still be good.
And the problems with Ritalin were: headaches, feeling high -- and stimulated appetite. The headaches and high feeling would probably have gone away in a few weeks, and there's the chance that the appetite would have, too. The problem is, I've got an eating disorder, and that was just too scary for me. I'm hoping, though, to go back for another try of it after something else in my life is over...
Good luck.
Posted by Racer on September 16, 2006, at 13:17:11
In reply to Re: anybody?, posted by linkadge on September 13, 2006, at 7:12:09
> I don't know. I'd tend to think that if ADHD was the case, then there would have been a lot of evidence suggesting so.
>
>
>
> In high school were you able to concentrate for long periods of time when necessary ?
>The pdoc who may or may not have dx'd me with ADHD -- never entirely clear, really -- said that my ability to focus in on things that interested me was a symptom of ADHD. Seems counterintuitive to me, but hey -- just thought I'd throw that in there...
Posted by gardenergirl on September 16, 2006, at 14:43:39
In reply to Re: anybody? » linkadge, posted by Racer on September 16, 2006, at 13:17:11
It's hyperfocus versus shifting focus. Hyperfocus is associated with ADHD in that it's "zoning in" versus "zoning out" in some ways. It's detrimental in that the person loses peripheral attention to things that might actually be important, oh, say, time passing, etc. (My big problem). It's a function of faulty or dysfunctional attention filters.
gg
Posted by nickguy on September 16, 2006, at 16:11:19
In reply to Re: anybody? » Racer, posted by gardenergirl on September 16, 2006, at 14:43:39
im surprised adderall isnt really giving me a boost in energy. I exercise weekly yet am still tired throughout the day. It's helping me with school though so far. It also kind of actually helps with anxiety.
Posted by linkadge on September 16, 2006, at 18:18:20
In reply to adderall so far, posted by nickguy on September 16, 2006, at 16:11:19
Maybe its just me, but I'd think its pretty natural to have a good attention span for the things that interest you, and have weaker attention for the things that don't interest you.
I mean, thats what I hear time and time again in school. People saying things like, "I just can't crack down and do this, its so boring..."
Linkadge
Posted by Racer on September 16, 2006, at 21:31:07
In reply to adderall so far, posted by nickguy on September 16, 2006, at 16:11:19
> im surprised adderall isnt really giving me a boost in energy. It's helping me with school though so far. It also kind of actually helps with anxiety.
That's good to hear! I hope it continues for you. (I think my increased depression happened in the first couple of days, so it sounds as though you probably missed it...)
For what it's worth, I noticed that stimulants mostly lowered my anxiety, too. That was a great benefit. I don't know -- maybe it's the faulty circuitry that makes attention a problem for me? In my case, though, I'm betting that the improved focus reduces the obsessionality that generally leads to my anxiety... Since I'm not obsessing, I'm not as anxious...
Good luck! I'm glad it's helping!
Posted by nickguy on September 16, 2006, at 22:24:10
In reply to Cool! » nickguy, posted by Racer on September 16, 2006, at 21:31:07
I think your right racer. Having more focus makes it easier to control my thoughts> I've been raising my hand more in class because I can put the thoughts together. I"m not anxious to do so for that reason.
I may have some slight a.d.d, or I may not. But getting through school work and being able to pay attention in class, and do well is something thats a huge confidence booster and eases worry.
Posted by nickguy on September 19, 2006, at 0:00:31
In reply to Re: Cool! and further thoughts, posted by nickguy on September 16, 2006, at 22:24:10
did the depression you exerienced with adderall come during the time it was in your system, or as it was coming out?
Posted by Racer on September 20, 2006, at 11:12:26
In reply to A QUESTION FOR RACER, posted by nickguy on September 19, 2006, at 0:00:31
> did the depression you exerienced with adderall come during the time it was in your system, or as it was coming out?
The increased depression eased as soon as I stopped the Adderall. It was very much WHILE I was taking it...
Hope that helps. And I'm tickled that it's helping you! Sounds like it's a winner, huh?
This is the end of the thread.
Psycho-Babble Medication | Extras | FAQ
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.org
Script revised: February 4, 2008
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/cgi-bin/pb/mget.pl
Copyright 2006-17 Robert Hsiung.
Owned and operated by Dr. Bob LLC and not the University of Chicago.