Found out 20 years ago I was diagnosed.

[jasoco]

After my college brought up the topic of needing recorded medical history to give me leniency on their rules, they reminded me indirectly that I had an ADD diagnoses. From the early 90’s

How do I know that I didn’t “grow out of it” and simply relying on old bad habits?

I’m currently getting re-diagnosed, but every paper step is two weeks apart. I can’t seem to break that notion that “what if I grew out of it” What if …. What if…

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[ramblinon]

49 years and counting

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[shutterbug55]

First off, we don’t “Grow out of  ADD/ADHD”. The condition is hardwired into our brains. We get better at coping with the condition as we get older. We do this by adding more and more tools to employ to situations. The condition is still there. It is just better hidden.

Let’s take a look at bad habits. At work when I get overwhelmed by too many things to do, I have a tendency to not do anything. This is a bad habit reaction to my ADD. My ADD makes it very difficult to prioritize and move out of being overwhelmed. That is a problem with executive function.

One of my coping mechanisms is prioritizing based on due date. Coping machanism = tool. I can solve any problem. That comes to me from my Autism. So I make a check list, order it due date and complete the first task, then the next, and the next.

What does this have to do with you? You get a diagnosis, you seek counseling, and you get on meds. This is the three=leg stool that will help you cope. The diagnosis is to help you label your condition and identify areas you need to work on. The counseling takes the guess work out of finding coping mechanisms to help you with your rough spots. The meds give your brain a chance of identifying situations and reactions BEFORE you get sucked into habitual behavior.

Hope this helps.

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[jasoco]

OK, since my mind won’t shut up about this, one of the reasons for questioning if I did grow out of it or not was, I can be on time to things I must go to these days. That was my major troubles during grade school. Now I just set multiple alarms and force myself to leave to college or required appointments.

From what I’ve been reading, ADD’ers aren’t on time until medicated. Yet I’m able to get to important things on time.

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[deebee]

Sounds like you’ve successfully developed some coping strategies, jasoco! I think most ADDers have at least a few to help manage our wildly diverse symptoms. My husband has to file or pile everything neatly in order to avoid being lost among all the things competing for his attention. I, on the other hand, am afraid of straightening anything up, because once something is in a file or a neat pile, I immediately forget everything that isn’t immediately visible. Makes for some interesting times in our house. We have opposite methods of coping with our forgetfulness and procrastination (NB: I just spent ten minutes trying to remember the word “procrastinate”; then I gave up and used Google.)

If you had really grown out of it, you probably would not have to set multiple alarms and force yourself to go to required meetings. Having ADD isn’t a character flaw. laziness or weakness of will; it’s a physiological, neurological condition for which some people are lucky or persistent enough to manage with medication. Others don’t take drugs, but find other therapies useful.

Don’t beat yourself up about it, but please take advantage of the college’s offer of accommodation. You don’t have to use it when it’s not necessary, but it would be terrible if you found yourself unable to complete a paper or exam on time and did not have a documented justifiable reason to ask for deadline flexibility.

My husband’s severely-ADD daughter thought everything was fine when she finally ended up at a college (her third, after four high schools) and in an arts major at which she excelled – to her own amazement. But several competing projects left her suddenly unable to prioritize anything, even eating and sleeping. Luckily, in addition to meds, she had a request for accommodation on file with the school, and was able to use it effectively – after never taking advantage of it for two years – to get an additional week to get her work sorted out and completed.

It sounds like your college is inviting you to document your situation. If it were me, I’d take them up on it, even if it took a bit of effort to get it done.

Good luck – and please let us know how it goes!

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[jasoco]

Last Tuesday I went to see the therapist for the first time, he asked a bunch of questions. That part doesn’t bother me but, what was new to me is he thinks I have depression and anxiety.

Depression is news to me, from what I’ve seen from my mom, all my problems seem pathetic in comparison. The worst thing that had ever happened to me was being kidnapped by dad, but I’ve long since forgotten about him.

As for anxiety that seems to always been around. In recent years, it has started to spike to unbearable amounts. At this time I’m starting to wonder if it was just anxiety and depression that was misdiagnosed as ADD when I was a kid.

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[deebee]

It is quite common for depression and/or anxiety to accompany ADD. All my ADDled friends and family members have depression, and several have anxiety too. (I’m not saying “are depressed” or “are anxious” because I don’t want anyone to confuse mood disorders with temporary, situationally appropriate feelings.)

“Comorbidity” is the clustering together of symptoms of more than one problem in the same person. It has been estimated by some ADD professionals that 85% of adult ADD patients have at least one comorbid condition. (Info hastily cribbed from the 2011 160-page “Canadian ADHD Practice Guidelines” published by the Canadian Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Resource Alliance or”CADDRA”.)

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