Asperger vs ADHD, what's the biggest difference?

[Anonymous]

Hi, I’ve not been diagnosed with anything yet, but I know something’s wrong with me. I’ve heard about ADHD for 3 months now and since I knew the symptom I read and read and read, that was on my mind for the entire holiday. I just can’t go to sleep because I’m seeking the web for information that can describe what I have. I’ll do everything it takes to find out what I have, this have caused me wayyyy too much impairement in my life, mostly on the social level.

I’ve just seen the movie The Social Network, which is the story about the inventor of facebook. I found a lot of my social behavior in the guy who invented it. I was sure that he had ADD so I did some googling and found out he had Asperger… Googling again and found some online test. The test I took was divided in four subcategories :

AQ: Autism Quotient — How close to autistic are you?

EQ: Empathy Quotient — How sensitive to others’ emotions are you?

FQ: Friendship and Relationship Quotient — How concerned are you with these?

SQ: Systematizing Quotient — How systematic are you?

Here’s the link : http://homepage.mac.com/lpetrich/Asperger/Index.html

I scored asperger level on all of those test, and moderatly high on autistic quotient. I asked my mother to read my test and see if I wasn’t too hard on myself, in fact she gave me even higher score.

So what would be the biggest difference between someone who has ADD/ADHD vs someone with Asperger. I’m 99.9% sure I have at least ADD with high anti-social behavior, but I don’t seem to be alone in that case! I did scored 27/135 on the Friendship and Relationship Quotient, (35-78 would be asperger level and 55-86 normal level) and 9/80 for empathic quotient (lowest score, not even half of a normal person score).

If you have the time, would somebody take the same test as I did. I just need to see if the test is a good indication or just point out some of ADD symptoms. I know I have to see a specialist, but I want to have the best info I can get

Thank you

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[Anonymous]

I keep scoring the one point that’s in for “normal male” but not in the “normal female” range

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[Ivriniel]

js-cart: Seriously, dude, I say this is all kindness: Stop trying to diagnose yourself and get the to a specialist.

I’m a teacher, and when I took my Special Education Part 1, they told us “You will probably see parts of yourself in many of the conditions that we study. Don’t panic. This happens to almost everyone who takes Special Ed, just like a lot of male medical students diganose themselves with thyroid cancer when they get to that portion of the curriculum. They touch their necks, feel their Adam’s Apple, and freak out.”

Now in my case, I turned out to be ADHD and have a Learning Disability, but the point still stands. If you go in for testing, you really need to leave your preconcieved notions at the door, and the more you convince yourself you have one thing or another, the harder that will be.

It’s far better to go in and say “Doc, these are the problems I am experiencing…” than “Doc, I think I have ADHD, and this is why.” If you list your symptoms, they may point your Doctor to something you never considered. If you start with a diagnosis, you may find yourself emphasizing symptoms that back up your thesis, and forgetting other things that don’t fit with the diagnosis, but also might be important.

As far as the differences between ADHD and Aspergers goes, a person with Aspergers tends to be less socially aware. A person with ADHD might offend someone through inattention or impulsivity, but generally, if they are told that they were rude, they will be able to understand what they did wrong. A person with Aspergers will generally have a harder time figuring out what they did to offend someone.

People with Aspergers also tend to have an obsessive streak. They will often become experts on a very narrow topic. This coupled with lack of social awareness means that some people with Aspergers will approach complete strangers and do information dumps on whatever their topic of interest is.

The obsessive streak can also result in people with Aspergers developing and adhering to rigid routines. People with ADHD by contrast often have difficulty establishing and maintaining routines because the routines simply don’t hold their interest.

The character of Sheldon on the Big Bang Theory is often said to have a lot of Asperger’s traits, though the writers insist that they did not have Autism Spectrum Disorders in mind when they created the character.

As far as Mark Zuckerberg goes, if he has ever been diagnosed with anything, ADHD, Aspergers or something else, he has never publicly revealed it. It’s nothing more than idle speculation on the part of the public.

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[Anonymous]

Ivriniel, I’m going through a lot of things right now, my life’s on the edge and I really need to figure out what’s wrong with me. I knew from a long time that I needed assistance from a psy, but I always saw them as living dictionnary : they are there to help yourself find out what you have, because I always thought we have our own solution, it’s just hidden by our ignorance. Sorry, but I have an obsession to find out what I have. I just can’t go to sleep. I know I’m different, I just don’t want to go the wrong way.

I saw my school counselor who commonly see student with learning disability and she told me I had ADD. She’s no specialist but she still have seen a lot of student like me… She told me that my kind of ADD, if treated correctly bring the highest change in life and huge potential, it gave me hope, something I lost a long time ago. Next semester I’ll take an optionnal class for those who have attention or learning disability. The course is given by a neurolog.

I do need to self-diagnosed. I begin my master degree in the next week, mostly working at home and don’t want to fuck thing up. Already did too many times and it cost me a lot with friends, school capability, finance, familly and a bad reputation.

I just never asked anybody for help. This is the first time I’m trying to seek help other than myself. I don’t talk that much with friends about what I feel, or when I do, it’s over the internet and I don’t really care to whom I talk, just getting all this stuff off my head is already, for me, a start of a therapy.

Sorry if it bothers you me spaming this forum, it won’t be for long, I’ll get help during this semester and I’ll get real help. Still, being able to see what are the symptoms did a lot of good to me, as well as telling my parents who found it hard to raise a kid like me. My problems where so deep it also give headache to my parents and a lot of anxiety. So I figured if I could just tell them it’s not their fault why I’m like this, it would at least take them a lot of their shoulder.

When I saw the psychiatrist, one of the first thing she told me was that normally ADHD is grown out of… After reading about it, I figured out she wasn’t experienced with ADD cases, so I closed myself up. Damn I don’t want to see another psy and have that same anger after leaving the clinic. I just don’t know how to ask for help, what do I need to do. Is their in any way I could help myself the good way? I mean if I write a text (without publishing it over internet) to help my next psy/neuro, what should be written in it? I’m just so bad speaking, I just say everything’s on my mind even if it’s not true or not what I believe, but writing it down help me regroup my thoughts.

Btw, I prefer being told the truth than anything else, I was not offended by anything you said, being contradicted of faceslap back to reality is what I need.

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[Anonymous]

do you understand and can you easily use humour, irony and figurative language? i don’t know anyone with aspergers who is remotely socially competent in those areas.

tpeople with aspergers i’ve known also tended towards fixations with certain topics or hobbies . in one case the guy collected model trains and cars- he knew their serial numbers, production lists, brands, specs sheets, etc…. another guy knew everything about movies- he knew every plotline, character, actor, the producers, directors, their careers, etc- he could tell me who worked with who on what film between which dates and what they’d done previously with that actor and did i know that so and so also worked with you know who- who is this first guys cousin… and he’s make a verbal spiderweb connecting films over different genres, timeframes, production companies, in an almost monotone speech pattern, etc).

they struggled a lot and became rapidly out of their depth with changes to regular or predicted patterns, such as deviation from a regular driving route or daily routine, and things that didn’t conform to a perceived law- like the ‘i before e’ rule, statements that were based in sarcasm or not meant to be taken literally “i could kill for some fries right now”, “i’m dying of thirst”, “well doesn’t THAT suck?!” etc resulted in a blank stare, and request for clarification- if not complete misunderstanding.

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[Ivriniel]

JS-cart: Everyone here can relate to the feeling of needing to figure out what is wrong. The best way to do that, is to go to someone who is qualified to make that determination.

A counselor at a school is not qualified. There are other conditions that can present like ADHD, so just because you look like other students she has dealt with doesn’t mean you have it. When my fiance’s niece was in Grade 1, the Special Ed teacher and the Social Worker at her school insisted she was ADHD. They staked their many years of experience on it. Then her mother took her to see a specialist at McMaster, and it turned out that they were wrong. (She struggled in Grade 1, but is now doing a lot better in school. She’s a rather active little girl, and was slow to start reading. Had she been a boy, I doubt they would have tried to label her as anything at all.)

If you’re starting a Masters degree, then I would *strongly* advise you to get a professional diagnosis on paper, ASAP. If you do have ADHD, Aspergers or another condition that affects your ability to do you work, you would be eligible for accommodations which can be a big help.

I can relate to your difficulties with the Psychiatrist. Don’t give up. The first Psychiatrist I went to was horrendous. My diagnosis came from a Psychologist, so I went to a Psychiatrist in order to try ADHD meds. I gave him a copy of my report, and he made disparaging remarks about Psychology and started arguing with the my Psychologist’s conclusions before he had even finished reading the first page. Took me a year to work up the nerve to ask for another referral. But now I’ve got a Psychiatrist who is willing to work with me, and I’m currently giving Concerta a test drive. So far, so good.

As far as spamming the board goes, no worries. Sometimes you need to spam a board. As I said in my last post, my motivation was kindness. You look like you are driving yourself crazy trying to self-diagnose.

What I would suggest is, slow down, and just make a list of your symptoms. Things like: Difficulty focussing, difficulty getting projects done, easily distractible, and so on. Ask your parents about what you were like as a kid and add that to your list as well. For a diagnosis of ADHD, there needs to be evidence of the condition from an early age. If you have any Grade school report cards in a box somewhere, try to dig them up. She what your teachers had to say about your work habits.

Then I would suggest going to your GP and getting a physical. Talk to your Doctor about your symptoms. (And if they include either fatigue or hyperactivity, ask about getting your thyroid hormone levels checked. It’s a simple blood test and it’s good to eliminate as many possible conditions as possible. ) A GP can diagnose and treat ADHD. Yours may or may not feel comfortable with the issue, and may want to refer you to a Psychiatrist.

Another line of inquiry might be with your University. These days Universities have centres dedicated to helping students with Special Needs. Some of them offer testing.

Keep an open mind about what your difficulty might be. For example, I have a friend who has a lot of symptoms in common with me and we were both tested by the same Psychologist. Despite the fact that we both have issues with executive function, our diagnoses are quite different. My friend has a Non Verbal Learning Disability, while I have ADHD and a Learning Disability.

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[Anonymous]

Ok, thank you!

@jene: The thing is that I score pretty damn high on Asperger online test. Social skill is my biggest impairment, in fact, it goes to a point where I’m totally incapable of getting a girlfriend. I have to rationalise their actions to seek for interest, but by the time I come to the conclusion she might be interested, she saw how weird I am and go away. Also, I have a hard time keeping friends over time.

I have a good knowledge for word meaning, when I was young I used word way out of my league and did a lot of poetry. Still, when friends get sarcastic with me or do words joke, I often don’t get it and need some time to figure out what they mean or laugh right away but understand it later. But I can be overly sarcastic with others, to a point where I can be hard to follow.

@Ivriniel:

I asked about Asperger because it came sometime in my research around ADD also around Alzheimer. My grand-mother and her son are diagnosed with Alzheimer, and it’s terrible to see them. I saw them during the holiday, and that scared me for my futur. Also, some website are stating a lot of similarity between Alzheimer and Asperger. By taking some online test, it didn’t help me with not thinking I’d have asperger. They may not be accurate, but social skills are my biggest impairement.

As I said, I do want to see a REAL specialist as soon as possibile. For example, I’ll take an optionnal class “Apprendre mieux et plus efficacement” which translate to “Learn better and more efficiently” . This course is given by a neurolog and will talk about :

– Better learning of ourselves

– strategy and learning mecanism

– note taking

– neuro-anatomy of learning

– attention and memory process

It’s some kind of group therapy for student.

I do need to see a paper stating what I have, because I realise I need help. Still it’s something hard for me as I’m so used to seek for help when I’m on the edge or falling or not at all. I’ll show sign of distress, but it’s the only way I asked for help.

What other condition is their that could be associated with ADD, forget the hyperactivity, I don’t think I have it, a friend of mine was diagnosed ADHD a few months ago and the “H” is amazingly evident.

Btw, I already looked out for my report card from primary school (age 6 to 11). It does show sign of ADD. Talking in inappropriate timing, want to do every too fast, forgetting my things, motivation, have a hard time with long time schoolwork, poor handwriting and reading. I took this to my psychiatrist, and she looked at it for 5 seconds and put it away.

I do try to be open minded about what I have, but it just punched me in the face when I read about ADD symptoms. It’s like somebody took time to describe my behavior. Or when you profoundly seek for an answer to a simple enigma and realise how stupid you where not figuring it out when you know the answer.

Btw, I did see a GP (I presume stands for general practician?) and he told me he couldn’t do a diagnosis but can gave me a paper so I can see a psychiatrist with public health. Maybe the law is different where you are. When I told him my symptom, he did hesitate between bipolarity and ADHD, but over here, GP are more for physical health and guide their patient to the right specialist. I think it’s because some university had problem with over diagnosis of ADHD so some student can get Ritalin even if they didn’t need it, it was just to help them with their study, much like steroids for an athlete.

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[BuxomDiva]

I cannot stress enough how important it is to be diagnosed by a REAL expert.

When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. It’s very easy to misdiagnose yourself; heck even doctors get it wrong sometimes.

While I’ve always cited Edison as a class ADD’er, I have recently learned that he may also have had Asperger’s, as the Aspies claim him for one of their own as well.

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[billd]

>>do you understand and can you easily use humour, irony and figurative language? i don’t know anyone with aspergers who is remotely socially competent in those areas. <<

We have clients here who can’t do that face-to-face, but put them at a computer, or give them a phone and they are socially able again.

One in particular won’t look you in the eye, won’t speak to you in the hall, struggles to answer questions, but we put them at our help desk (a work training thing we do sometimes) and they were shear genius and spoke freely on the phone, and were fantastic with emails to customers. In fact, better on the phone and with the email than some of the other help desk staff! They were like two different people.

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[Anonymous]

wow! thats brilliant. thanks.

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[caper]

EQ: 5 2nd time: 9

http://homepage.mac.com/lpetrich/Asperger/EmpathyQuotient.html

SQ: 60

http://homepage.mac.com/lpetrich/Asperger/SystemQuotient.html

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[Anonymous]

28 AQ (male 12-26 ; aspies 31-45)

11 EQ (male 26-51 ; aspies 9-13)

38 FQ (male 55-86 ; aspies 35-78)

58 SQ (male 19-42 ; aspies 20-52)

101 SQR (male 35-80 ; 50-120)

Probably good sensitivity, but lower specificity (false positive with ADHD HP?

ADHD diagnosed, but asperger was maybe forgotten in the differential…

Btw, concerta 54 or Ritalin doesn t help much for me. What about you?

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[billd]

We have clients who are “asperger” and I see very little if any connection with myself and these folks symptoms.

In fact, we had a client who is on sort of a work-study thing in our IT department – GREAT fellow – but has trouble looking right at you, etc.

We’ve got another now who is similar, but I think his is in big part due to head injury.

ADD or ADHD? I never really saw it in them.

But then I’m no doctor – I’ve just worked around folks with head injuries, and special needs for a few years and can only go by my “observations” and what a co-worker who has a child with bits of each says.

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[Anonymous]

Well, I had big trouble looking right at people^^

A friend told me about it when I was 18 and since then, I have made big efforts to correct it and learn body language ( like a foreign language for me ^^)

I can give examples in other areas where I’m a bit like aspies : geometry, math, statistics, strategy, stamps, botany…

And other characteristics where I see only little connections : routine, anxiety

I believe it could be a problem of specificity and sensitivity in the criteria.

My hypothesis :

-ADHD criteria : very sensitive, but low specificity

-Asperger criteria : high specificity, but maybe lower sensitivity

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[caper]

Re drugs; I’ve tried concerta(methylphenidate) 36mg and I felt calmer; when my kids were interrupting me while I worked on the computer and were talking while I was trying to watch TV I didn’t react(although I still felt irritated). Normally I’d have to take a deep breath to calm down (if I was able to catch the irritated feeling before I reacted) otherwise I’d be barking at them.

After watching Dr. Barkley’s video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cw8jHUkHiA&NR=1) I’m guessing the concerta helps my anterior cingulate work better. Related to the aspergers (and not directly related to ADD) I think my mirror nurons don’t work well, so I have a muted emotional perception.

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[Author]

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