Is there such a thing as Adult ADHD?

[dcp_pj5]

Just to chime in, I was diagnosed not longer before my 30th bday.

This was after graduating from a very competitive private high school and a Jesuit university both with 4.0s (this was before the days of 4.4s even existing....don't get me started).....in retrospect I was ignorant to the symptoms and thought ADHD looked like ill-behaved adolescents not paying attention and bouncing around the room like wayward pinballs.

In fact, they showed up in my personal life before I ever noticed them handicapping me professionally.  However, when I inquired about the possibility with my GP (and later a specialist) they said my symptoms were about as textbook as they get.

The meds have helped me tremendously.

 

[Jools]

Hi

I've been wondering if there is such a thing as late onset Adult ADHD?

Has anyone encountered this diagnosis?

Best

MVT...X

@Allhoney75. Here, in the UK, they stop all ADD AND ADHD meds when you turn 18. I used to have the eminent and pretty well known Professior David Nutt as my psychiatrist and he would allow me dexamphetamine but only for the weekend. He is a pro drug guy and wants wholesale legalisation. He is working on psyllsibin as a curative thing for depression and I also had a couple of sessions which him, under strict supervision, whilst given extasy. I made bigger steps forward with him than any other but he left Bristol for a position in London and so my weekend pills were stopped. 

It is seen as the rule of thumb that adults don't suffer ADD/ADHD. I used to very much enjoy the prolonged release Adderall but I only got that when I visited family in Chicago and had a few sent to me after that. I am thinking about revisiting that as I would really like to have the extra energy and attention span. I really find that I have a very low tolerance to people who are hyper or if I see them as pretty ignorant but the adderall allows me to not get agitated and even talk to people I don't normally have time for 

Some of the best life advice I have ever received is to not dwell on the past. I spent years always thinking about "what if I had done this or that" or "what if that hadn't of happened to me." The truth is that we can't change the past and second guessing history has a negative affect on our present and future health. In my case, it is really difficult to shut out these thoughts, but as I am learning to do so, I find myself happier overall. I am a big believer that everything happens for a reason. Let's be thankful for discovering our ADD late and not never.

@Hank34 I love this and it's true but intrusive thoughts are very difficult to quieten. I have often been dwelling on the past and on losing all immediate family in a very short time. I would go over and over what I should have done. 

I was told to forget yesterday as it gone, not to worry about the future as it's uncertain but to concentrate on the moment as its a bit and is why they call it the present. Something  like that anyway 

 

[US Army Veteran]

Can someone have adult ADD? I don't think I'm have ADHD because I'm not a hyper person but I can get easily distracted at times. It's not severe though. I've never been much of a "speed" drug type user because adderall always made me too hyper. However the other day a took a small dose of about 10MG. It gave me a little bit of energy(not much) but it also made me concentrate. I've taken it before but usually a higher dose and it always made my brain move faster than it could keep up and I never could accomplish anything.  At that low dose i had no side effects like "clinching my jaw."

is it possible I have ADD or am I just mistaken. Again I'm not a "speed drug" type person but I am looking for an answer. I was and always will be more of a "downer" type user.

 

[Requiem]

I think he was dyslexic too. I wonder how many of us are ADHD? Or add? 

 

[Requiem]

I think "mental troubles" like ADD/ADHD/dyslexia which implicate short memory, verbal fluency or thinking too much about things not only bad things (anxiety which I also think is linked to that troubles) are very common in people's which CAN'T  do with their life what they really WANT TO DO and dream about.

Majority are ashamed about their trouble, are not open-minded, do not have a neuropsychiatric culture or even know the basics: dopamine noradrenaline serotonin, and which thinks is a  steroid (Don't forget your PCT after a Monster LOL) .. then talk to them to take stimulants (@mps  omg) in order to remedy their disorder often people who have passed their twenties and realize that something is wrong because  in order to remedy their disorder.

After many trials I took piracetam which is sometimes used for dyslexia :   
- day 1 : after 20 minutes feel something and felt better a little
- day 2 : wow after 20 Minutes clear minded verbal fluency, optimist about school, very good concentration, no more ADD and sad person just being a normal person.
After 1 month tolerance became and never gone

A med for dyslexia?! Wow! You don't get that in the uk. Will research it, very interesting.

 

[US Army Veteran]

I completely agree. I was diagnosed as an adult and looking back, I definitely had symptoms throughout my childhood. ADD meds have been a game changer for my career. I wish I would have realized I needed them earlier in life.

A game changer for your career? Really? How much? I've periodically wondered if I could be "ADD." If I am I've often wondered how much better my career would be if I could get proper treatment. Of course I may not be ADD at all. Glad to hear you career got better! That's awesome friend. Congrats!

 

[mbsilvia]

Hi all, From someone who has been diagnosed as an adult with add (not so much adhd) I can tell you that the right add meds can make a HUGE difference in how you do in your professional life. I run a small business, and it helps me so much, I cant even put it on a scale of 1-10, because it's an 11 (yes, that's a spinal tap reference) However, I don't think it's as easy as swallowing a pill. I think finding not only the right medication, but the right dose is imperative. I suppose that goes with any medication. What I'm saying is that more isn't better with add meds, unless you're looking to get high. Which is fun too.. But that will actually make my add worse. The right med/dose enables me to much more efficiently run my company, and I'm a one man show. Doctors are a pain though, they are asking for more and more money, and they never seem to take insurance for that kind of thing. Now, uninsured, I'm researching other methods, which is why I'm here. Back to my point though, I believe that adult add/adhd is legit. Just depends on the person!

 

[2earls]

Welcome to the group @mbsilvia. My husband has adult ADHD and he doesn't like to take any of the traditional meds such as Addies or Ritz. They don't have the same effect on him as they do me. No extra energy and such. I know this is bad, but I wish he would get a prescription for the Addies anyway so he could give them to me. 

It's probably just as well he doesn't as I'm thinking they would be nice to have when I need a bit of extra pep in my step, but in reality, I would just have another dependency.

I hope that you find help getting what you need here.

 

[US Army Veteran]

Hi all, From someone who has been diagnosed as an adult with add (not so much adhd) I can tell you that the right add meds can make a HUGE difference in how you do in your professional life. I run a small business, and it helps me so much, I cant even put it on a scale of 1-10, because it's an 11 (yes, that's a spinal tap reference) However, I don't think it's as easy as swallowing a pill. I think finding not only the right medication, but the right dose is imperative. I suppose that goes with any medication. What I'm saying is that more isn't better with add meds, unless you're looking to get high. Which is fun too.. But that will actually make my add worse. The right med/dose enables me to much more efficiently run my company, and I'm a one man show. Doctors are a pain though, they are asking for more and more money, and they never seem to take insurance for that kind of thing. Now, uninsured, I'm researching other methods, which is why I'm here. Back to my point though, I believe that adult add/adhd is legit. Just depends on the person!

How do you go about getting a screening for adult ADD? I feel like the VA would laugh me out the door. I also own and run a small business. I could see how much more my business would prosper if I got on the proper medication if I do have adult ADD.

 

[2earls]

@US Army Veteran in my husband's case, he has had it since childhood and he went to a psychiatrist and explained how he was on Ritz as a teenager and they just wrote him a script for Addies.

I think it helped that he said he didn't like taking them and wasn't convinced that they helped him. If he had seemed like he wanted a script he probably would not have gotten one. They didn't request old medical records.

 

[mbsilvia]

I've actually had an ok experience dealing with doctors. It was literally a questionnaire that i filled out, and she diagnosed me. Though it would be SO easy to fake, I didn't have to. I would still get them, but she lost her practice due to a scamming office girl that helped an agent from the dea falsely sting her. I've quit going to them because it's ridiculously expensive, and they dont take insurance. One reason I'm here actually. But we'll see, From what I'm reading, it's not particularly easy to get ahold of thems kinds.. 

 

[2earls]

It's not hard to get them, it's hard to afford them. Addies in particular are pretty expensive as you have probably already noticed, although I have heard that Starlite has good ones. If you are in a hurry, you have to go with the Mexican vendors or US, but if I had to get them regularly, I would go with SL to save money. 

 

[US Army Veteran]

@US Army Veteran in my husband's case, he has had it since childhood and he went to a psychiatrist and explained how he was on Ritz as a teenager and they just wrote him a script for Addies.

I think it helped that he said he didn't like taking them and wasn't convinced that they helped him. If he had seemed like he wanted a script he probably would not have gotten one. They didn't request old medical records.

I'm not drug seeking. I would like to know if I really am ADD. In your other post you speak of cost which is not a concern to me being the VA "SHOULD" cover all costs(as I said they SHOULD) the VA isn't know for their awesome health care.

 I've been down the road of addiction and I was never a "speed" drug type addict. I was always a "downer" Kinda guy. But just recently my roommate had some adderal and i took a few very small Doses for energy and the medication made me really concentrate. 

Ive taken it in the past and I felt it gave me to much energy and I couldn't concentrate on a fucking thing. But of course I was taken way more than I recently took.

to top all that off I've always wondered if I was add even as a child.

what do you guys think???

 

[US Army Veteran]

If it helps you concentrate now with a small dose, I think your're ADD and you also found the right dosage treating your ADD symptoms

Thanks for your input! 

 

[Requiem]

Yes, I have that diadgosis. However they are saying that the reason for it is no Stage 3 or 4 sleep. I've tried everything and even took a sleep test while taking Xyrem and got 9 minutes of Stage 3 and Stage 4 sleep. My first sleep test was 7 years ago. I can take 60mg of Adderall and have a poor day and the other days is I sleep when my body tells me to. My last sleep test involvolved a MSLT the following day and the diagnosis came back as "Moderate to Severe Narcolepsy"

The harder I try the worse I get. but disability wants me to drive to work taking a equilavant to 340mg of morphine. I'm going to ask the judge if he has children that drive and wants me on the road taking that much medication. Matter of fact it will be higher because that is based on me not working. It will be closer to 420mg if I ever start work.

I wouldn't ask a judge a personal question as it might appear confrontational. Instead state u r concerned for others on the road whilst u drive about highly medicated.