How much chance do you have to "pass it on" ?

[Anonymous]

Greetings,

I am currently waiting to see my general practitionner to have an ADD assesment. I had a first meeting with him where he ask question about my general health, but when I mentionned ADD to him he dismissed it out of hand, saying that I would have been diagnosed in childhood (I am 38) and since I graduated from university.. was impossible. Anyway, I guess I made more a point then I thought.. he called me at home for another appointement and ask me to bring all the self-assment I filled out !

Anyway, (sorry I tend to babble…guess I am not the only one around here..)…

My question: IF the diagnostic say ADD…. what are the chances that my children might also suffer from it? Since there is a genetic factor, I tend to believe they are more at risk.. but… is that so?

And if it is so: we know bad parenting does not cause ADD, but is there any positive reinforcement or trick we can/could use to be pro-active?

Thanks!

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[Patte Rosebank]

It’s genetic, so there isn’t really anything you could do to prevent your child from developing it. My mom was really nurturing when I was little. She taught me to read when I was just a toddler, and encouraged me to learn more about anything & everything that interested me. She really built up my brain. But if you saw how she over-plans things (especially big dinners), then gets side-tracked onto a million tangents, causing her to completely freak out, you’d immediately see where I got it from.

Just because you may have it, doesn’t mean that your children will. If one parent has it and the other doesn’t, then there’s only a 50/50 chance you might pass it along. But I wouldn’t really call having it “suffering”. Yes, it’s more difficult to do things, since our brains work differently than “normal” brains. But we’re the ones with all the creativity, and the different approaches to problem-solving. We’re the actors, the inventors, and the dreamers. Without us, the world would be boring and stagnant.

Maybe your GP changed his tune, when he realized that you couldn’t have been diagnosed in childhood, because ADHD was comparatively recently defined. Back then, you’d have just been a “daydreamer” or a “hyperactive kid”. And just because you graduated from university doesn’t mean you couldn’t have ADHD. I graduated from university, but it was a struggle, and I ended up taking 5 years to get my 3-year B.A. in English. Rick Green got a degree in Science. So there’s two people who finished university, despite having ADHD. There are many, many others.

Or maybe, your GP visited this website, and it opened his eyes.

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[purlgurl]

Purely anecdotal – my dad (“R”) has two siblings (“O” “D”). He suspects that my grandfather (passed away about 14 years ago) might have had ADHD, and I suspect that my dad has ADHD. I am the oldest of four kids, O has two, D has two. In all three families, the oldest child has been diagnosed with ADHD.

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[Ivriniel]

If I recall from the videos correctly, Dr. J said that at least 8 different ADHD related genes have been identified. So there could be multiple genes involved in any given case, making it hard to come up with the odds you’ll pass it on.

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