Digsite

Since Friday of last week, I have been reading, listening to and watching every single thing on ADHD I can lay my hands on.  I’ve had a burning need to know EVERYTHING. I’m just not completely convinced that I have this disorder.  If I do have ADHD tho, then how could I have not known?!  Why would no other doctor pick up on it?!   On Friday, I set out to find the answers to two main questions:

- Do my current behaviours and problems really mesh up with this diagnosis?
- Have I had these problems long enough to qualify for this diagnosis?

Although I don’t fully have faith in them, I completed a handful of online Adult ADHD screening tests and each time I scored very high.

Ie,
I scored 90 @ http://psychcentral.com/addquiz.htm
I scored 26 @ http://psychcentral.com/quizzes/adultaddquiz.htm

The questions are either the same or similar on other sites so there’s little point in doing more. Not surprisingly, these questions are similar to the ones on my drug doctor’s questionnaires.

Making Sense of the Acronyms:

The newest, official term for the disorder is AD/HD.

AD/HD: “Attention Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder”. (no duh)
“AD/HD is a diagnosis applied to children and adults who consistently display certain characteristic behaviors over a period of time. The most common core features include:

* distractibility
* impulsivity
* hyperactivity

In order to meet diagnostic criteria, these behaviors must be excessive, long-term, and pervasive.” (stolen from add.org)

In children, the behaviors must be present for 6 or more months. In adults, the behaviors must have been present since childhood.

The following is only my theory… but  I think that AD/HD has been divided with a forward slash to illustrate that the disorder has two main subtypes: Attention Deficit, and Hyperactivity.  The third subtype, called ‘Combined’, combines the symptoms for the first two subtypes.    I’m pretty sure I heard this on a conference vid, but I can’t find it now to check so I won’t say this is definitive reason for the ‘/’.

ADHD: Same as above. This is the term most frequently found in literature today. I think I’ll stick with this one.

ADD: Usually it means the same as above. Some people may use this term to imply a form ADHD that doesn’t have ‘H’yperactivity associated with it. Technically, the correct term to label a kind of adhd like that would be ADHD-I. I stands for the “Inattentive”, a subtype ADHD. People with this subtype of ADHD don’t exhibit hyperactivity.

The Three Subtypes of ADHD:

ADHD- Inattentive type

• Fails to give close attention to details or makes careless mistakes.
• Has difficulty sustaining attention.
• Does not appear to listen.
• Struggles to follow through on instructions.
• Has difficulty with organization.
• Avoids or dislikes tasks requiring sustained mental effort.
• Loses things.
• Is easily distracted.
• Is forgetful in daily activities.

ADHD- Hyperactive/Impulsive type

• Fidgets with hands or feet or squirms in chair.
• Has difficulty remaining seated.
• Runs about or climbs excessively.
• Difficulty engaging in activities quietly.
• Acts as if driven by a motor.
• Talks excessively.
• Blurts out answers before questions have been completed.
• Difficulty waiting or taking turns.
• Interrupts or intrudes upon others.

ADHD- Combined type

• Individual meets both sets of inattention and hyperactive/impulsive criteria.

(the above subtype bullets plagiarized from help4adhd.org)

There is yet fourth, but unofficial, subtype below the Inattentive subtype called SCT or Sluggish Cognitive Type. The American Psychiatric Association may include it in their next their next publication of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in 2012, making it an official subtype of ADHD-I. Some researchers argue that SCT should be made a separate disorder altogether because the criteria for it is completely the opposite from classic ADHD. These kids/adults will lack the necessary energy to do anything, they are shy, introverted, have little drive or motivation, move slowly both mentally and physically, process information more slowly, daydream a lot and to stare off into space.  To me this sounds like ADHD-I with comorbid Depression.  (Can you tell I’ve read a lot of this shit lately?  Maybe too much?!)

And that was me for a lot of my childhood.  Daydreamer, tuned out of my present surrounding completely, slow, etc.  But I remember being depressed as well.  Crying for no reason on the way to school, feeling unimportant, etc. The issue with me, tho, is that I also remember times when I was very disruptive, overly talkative, and said things to other kids that were downright offensive. I did a handful of stupid things out of impulse.  I’ll be more verbose about those tomorrow

So how convinced am I that I have ADHD now? Um… god… I just can’t get passed the thinking that this is a childhood disorder.  That’s not true and logically I know better, but I can’t help thinking that way. I’ll keep digging and see what I come up with.