ADHD = Chemical Imbalance In The Brain, Right?

[Anonymous]

So, from what I understand ADHD is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. My question is: if that’s the case [and I’m not saying it isn’t, I’m just posing a question], how do some kids grow out of it? Or, does it never go away, just get toned down?

For example, my two brothers were diagnosed with ADHD fairly young at about 1st grade but one of them is 16 now and is far from hyperactive. I’m not sure if he ever was on meds, but he certainly isn’t now and hasn’t been in any recent time. So, is it possible for some people to grow out of ADHD or is it still there no matter how hyperactive or outward the symptoms are?

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[Curlymoe115]

I am certainly not an expert but from what I have read and studied this is my opinion. I don’t think my ADHD ever went away. But we can learn better control and be successful. But in a lot of lives something happens and these traits come back and they again manifest in familiar or unfamiliar ways. Some people never master control and others are able to control everything for a while until everything builds up to such a pitch that everything unravels and they just collapse. Some I am sure do outgrow things. But were they ever really ADD in the first place. Do we diagnose too early and they just haven’t matured at the same rate as their peers. When they mature to the same point as the other 90 percent of the population the manifistation disappears. It is gone because it never really was. Doctors still do not have a conclusive test for ADHD so how can they say whether it is this versus something else. Unless they are running MRI’s and looking at brain patterns there is no absolute. Even then they can only conclusively say that they recognize brain patterns that are consistent with what they see in other ADHD people.

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[Anonymous]

Very good points! Thanks for your input

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[BuxomDiva]

actually curlymoe I would disagree with you about MRI’s – on the NIMH website there’s an article about the decade of the brain and there are images of PET scans showing the difference between a “normal” brain and an ADD brain – as I recall it has to do with the metabolism of glucose or something? – but an MRI is just a snapshot and I have good days and bad days so I don’t believe that an MRI is a useful diagnostic tool – the 100+ pages of questions I answered as part of my assessment with Dr. J was much better and I believe those tests are conclusive

@Chelsea – the ubiquitous “they” used to believe that everybody outgrew ADHD – my dear friend and fellow ADD’er Beamer explains it as learning to act more “normal” to get dates once we hit those teenage years! we learn to adapt to survive

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