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Rick Green answers 3 important questions about ADHD.

  1. How can I be sure I have ADHD and not something else?
  2. Does the disorder officially fall under the term ‘ADHD’?
  3. I’m not hyperactive, can it still be ADHD?

Doesn’t Everyone Have ADHD?

I went through a clinical trial last year and the conclusion was that I have some degree of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Now here’s an interesting thought, everybody has some degree of ADHD, everybody has some degree of paranoia, everybody has some degree of anxiety. Some people have very little degree of it but, anyway so when people, that’s a little tip I give you. If anyone says doesn’t everybody have ADHD say yeah doesn’t everybody have height weight intelligence, just varies from person to person. Anyway, okay we’re almost done and I haven’t gotten to the first question. Man that’s so ADD.

How To Diagnose ADHD?

How can I be absolutely sure it’s ADHD and not some other condition slash disorder? You can’t, not yet, there’s no blood test even though a great number of genes have been identified and don’t quote me on this. Well go ahead and quote me on this. In ten years I won’t be surprised if the term is not ADHD, if it’s broken up even further or it overlaps, they all overlap. I mean 40% of people with ADHD also struggle with a learning disorder like dyslexia, 75% of kids were diagnosed with Tourette syndrome also diagnosed with ADHD.
The overlap with Asperger’s or autistic spectrum disorder and OCD and that the same genes keep showing up. So the short answer is you can’t be absolutely sure. What does that mean? That means you try strategies and see if they help and if they do great and if they don’t try different strategies and if nothing seems to work go back to the doctor and say could it be something else.

What does the hyperactivity component actually refer to?

It refers to the hyperactivity. It actually also refers to hyperactivity and impulsivity, blurting out, interrupting, saying yes to everything, and then ending up overwhelmed, so there are two sub-types there’s actually, there may be more depending on who you talk to.
But the main ones are the combined sub-type. Problems with attention and problems with restlessness by adulthood they don’t call it hyperactivity so much as restlessness. Well it is, it’s hyper activity but it can be internalized, impulsivity and that leads to all kinds of interesting addiction behaviours. But there’s also the predominantly inattentive sub-type which doesn’t have a lot of this stuff, you remember what was over here hyperactivity and impulsivity but it does have a lot of the problems with attention and they’re different. They’re also there’s no clean line between them it’s not like you’re a guy or a girl it’s like there’s people who have elements of both and on certain days I’m over here and I’m not hyperactive.

Attention Deficit Disorder Without Hyperactivity

Okay here we go next question. I’m a quiet reserved person especially as a child however I’ve always had difficulty with focusing especially comprehension reading or listening. See did I say something about learning disorders? Yes. Since I don’t fit the hyperactive child mold could it still be that I have ADD? Absolutely in fact if you shorten that the ADD attention deficit disorder that’s what some people use to describe or short form for the inattentive sub-type. So yes she definitely could have that day dreamy they used to think that it was almost all girls and that the boys were the hyperactive ones but that’s not true at all. Read Zoe Kessler’s book ADHD according to Zoe. I can’t remember but anyway she’s a girl who had both and in fact I was diagnosed after my son was diagnosed and my son is way less impulsive and hyperactive than me. He’s predominantly inattentive and he’s doing very well.
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