ADHD – the symptoms

My last post had taken all the energy out of me for that day, I actually slept an hour on the couch. It is hard for me to focus on things for a long time. I wanted to tell more about how it effected me but I somehow couldn’t find all the right words. I know a lot of people will recognize themselves in the following symptoms or at least in some of them, because we all have these symptoms from time to time, but when you have ADHD you have them all the time, all your life. They effect so many levels of your life. I copied and pasted some things from the internet that explain the symptoms very well.

Adult vs. childhood ADD / ADHD

The symptoms of ADD / ADHD change as someone with ADD / ADHD develops from a child into a teenager and then into an adult.  While the core problems of hyperactivity, impulsiveness, and inattentiveness remain the same, the specific symptoms manifest differently. Typically, the symptoms of hyperactivity decrease and become more subtle, while problems related to concentration and organization become more dominant.

Hyperactivity in adults: inability to relax restlessness, nervous energy talking excessively

Impulsiveness in adults: volatile moods blurting out rude or insulting remarks interrupting others

Inattentiveness in adults: “tuning out” unintentionally inability to focus on mundane tasks constantly losing and forgetting things

Adults with ADHD have problems in six major areas of executive functioning:

• Activation – Problems with organization, prioritizing, and starting tasks.
• Focus – Problems with sustaining focus and resisting distraction, especially with reading.
• Effort – Problems with motivation, sustained effort, and persistence.
• Emotion – Difficulty regulating emotions and managing stress.
• Memory – Problems with short-term memory and memory retrieval.
• Action – Problems with self-control and self-regulation.

Signs and Symptoms of ADD / ADHD
Activation	Focus	Effort
Procrastination; difficulty getting started on projects Excessive disorganization and messiness Inability to prioritize tasks Underestimating the time needed to finish a task	Inability to screen out distractions "Zoning out" when others are talking Randomly skipping from topic to topic in conversation Reading words over and over in order to grasp the meaning	Difficulty sustaining effort over long periods of time Starting multiple tasks, but never completing any of them Missing deadlines Trouble going to sleep at night and staying alert during the day.
Emotion	Memory	Action
Easily bored Low tolerance for frustration and stress Unstable, unpredictable moods Quick temper Constant worrying	Trouble remembering things, even for a short time Doesn’t recall conversations, things others said Forgetting appointments Constantly losing or misplacing things	Inability to delay gratification Speaking without thinking Acting impulsively (e.g. impulsive spending, sudden change of plans) without regard for consequences Jumping to conclusions

Effects of adult ADD / ADHD

Left untreated, ADD can wreak havoc in your life, disrupting everything from your career to your social life, love life, and financial stability.

Work

ADD / ADHD can be a big stumbling block on the road to career success. The symptoms of disorganization and inattention, in particular, pose problems in the workplace. If you have ADD / ADHD, you may:

• be chronically late to work,
• miss or forget deadlines and meetings,
• have a hard time organizing projects and delegating work,
• have difficulty completing projects on time,
• spend hours at work, but get very little done,
• get distracted by trivial tasks, while neglecting the most important ones, and
• have trouble paying attention in meetings or in conversations with your boss and colleagues.

Relationships

ADD / ADHD can put a strain on your relationships. The chaos that surrounds the disorder is particularly hard on romantic relationships. The spouse or partner without ADD may feel resentful if he or she is the one who has to take care of all the planning, organizing, cleaning, bill paying, and other household responsibilities. And you may resent your partner’s constant nagging to tidy up, get organized, and take care of business.

Friends and family members may also take it personally when you tune them out, forget conversations or commitments, speak a little too bluntly, or keep them waiting.

Finance

The ADD / ADHD symptoms of procrastination, disorganization, and impulsivity can interfere with good money management. If you have ADD / ADHD, you may find that you:

• forget to pay bills,
• run up huge balances on your credit cards,
• cannot save money,
• are unable to follow through on long-term financial goals,
• shop impulsively,
• have difficulty keeping financial paperwork in order, and
• fail at budgeting and recordkeeping.

Eating behaviors

The impulsivity of ADD / ADHD can extend to eating, and many adults with the condition also suffer from overeating, obesity, or disordered eating.  talks about the connection between ADHD (ADD) and disordered eating:
If you have ADD / ADHD, you may:

• eat snacks throughout the day, rather than eating at planned meals,
• be unable to stick with a diet,
• have intense cravings for carbohydrates and caffeine (in coffee and chocolate),
• eat a lot of fast food and “junk food” (cookies, chips, soda, fries, ice cream),
• ignore hunger signs, waiting until you’re too hungry to plan a healthy meal and then eating whatever you can find.

The Connection between ADD and Disordered Eating

Healthy dietary regulation requires organization and planning—two areas of cognitive functioning that are typically difficult for those with ADD. Good eating habits also require self-awareness: awareness of when one is hungry, awareness of when one is full. Many individuals with ADD report that they skip meals because they were busy and distracted; these same individuals often report that later their hunger becomes so intense that they swing in the opposite direction, overeating well beyond the point of reasonable intake because they don't know when to stop until they feel "stuffed."

Source: Diet and Weight Management Strategies for Adults with ADD (ADHD)

The Link Between ADHD & Addiction

It is common for people with ADHD to turn to addictive substances such as alcohol, marijuana, heroin, prescription tranquilizers, pain medication, nicotine, caffeine, sugar, cocaine and street amphetamines in attempts to soothe their restless brains and bodies. Using substances to improve our abilities, help us feel better, or decrease and numb our feelings is called self-medicating.

 

Depression
Those with this depressive type of ADHD are often:

·                             Inattentive

·                             Have a chronic sadness or low-grade depression

·                             Seem to be negative, or apathetic

·                             Have low energy levels

·                             They just do not seem to care

                They often feel worthless, or helpless, or hopeless.

Studies suggest that between 10% to 30% of children with ADHD, and 47% of adults with ADHD, also suffer from depression. Usually ADHD occurs first and depression occurs later. With depression, the patient may feel constantly left-out, or feel as though everything bad happens to him or her. The person might lose interest in things that he or she used to enjoy being engaged in. The individual’s self-esteem is usually heavily affected. The symptoms of ADHD can cause a child to behave in a way that annoys other children. When other children become annoyed they tend to avoid the child that creates the annoyance. Over time this can lead to a feeling of isolation for the child that pushes other children away. Since pushing other children away is a common result of ADHD symptoms, children with ADHD tend to make themselves isolated. This isolation can lead to depression. The occurrence of depression is found in conjunction with ADHD too often for it to be considered as “just a coincidence.”

Bipolar Disorder or Mania

Up to 20% of individuals with ADHD may also develop Bipolar Disorder. This condition involves periods of abnormally elevated moods contrasted by episodes of clinical depression. Adults with this disorder may experience extreme happiness for long periods of time, and even believe they have special powers or receive messages from God. In younger people it may show up differently. Children may have mood swings out of nowhere, and become wildly aggressive for no reason. ADHD is much more common than mania, and while many children with it may first exhibit ADHD symptoms, very few children with ADHD will go on to develop mania. The combination of ADHD and mania often make it extremely difficult to function normally. The overlap of mania and ADHD is being studied carefully because this can be devastating to an affected individual’s life.

Anxiety

Up to 30% of children and 25% to 40% of adults with ADHD will have an anxiety disorder in addition to ADHD. Anxiety disorders are sometimes hard to detect and research has shown that half of the children who describe prominent anxiety symptoms are not described by their parents as restless. In other words, parents persistently fail to pick up on anxiety as a major part of their child’s problem. As with depression, the child’s inner feelings may not be very noticeable to parents or teachers. Patients with anxiety disorders worry about almost everything and seem to be perpetually “stressed out.” Individuals who suffer from anxiety can also experience a difficulty in getting good sleep. Some patients have severe anxiety or panic attacks which cause dizziness and an accelerated heart-rate. People having panic attacks can have difficulty breathing and may even feel as if their own death is imminent. These episodes may occur for no reason and without warning. Students with ADHD and anxiety report more school, family, and social problems than students who only have ADHD without anxiety.

Social impact
"ADHD, as part of it's wide reach of sprinkling disorder about in adult's life, can have a profound impact on a person's social relationships and romantic relationships. People with ADHD sometimes are too impulsive in their speech. They blurt out things that may be not appropriate to say, they cut off and interrupt other people, which is of course very off-putting. Or they may talk to an incessant point or level that the other person in the conversation has become completely disengaged, or they've lost interest, or they feel that they're not being valued in the conversation. So ADHD people can end up very isolated, just in terms of not being able to converse with people properly. ADHD people are impulsive sometimes in behavior, and may act a way in public that makes other people uncomfortable. They may make poor choices about behavior--like I've said in prior segments, ADHD sometimes comes with substance abuse, so there might be substance abuse behaviors or activity that are uncomfortable. In a romantic relationship, ADHD can make a person look like they're not interested in their partner, like they're not engaged in their relationship. ADHD spouses sometimes rely on the other spouse for all the organization, record-keeping, bill-keeping in the house and it can cause an imbalance in the workload of a relationship, which can be very stressful. I'll take a minute too, to mention that in some people with untreated or under treated ADHD, sexual difficulties occur because a person loses focus on the arousal state, loses focus on the activity, and can become completely disengaged from sexual activity at the drop of a hat, which is frustrating and confusing for a partner who feels that they may have done something wrong or off-putting, and confusing and frustrated for the person with ADHD because once you start having sex or a sexual activity, who doesn't want to complete that activity? Nobody's trying to lose focus, it's just something that happens."

Positive characteristics of adults with ADD / ADHD

The symptoms of ADD / ADHD are not all negative. People with ADD / ADHD also have many positive traits that are directly tied to their active, impulsive minds:

• Creativity – People with ADD excel at thinking outside of the box, brainstorming, and finding creative solutions to problems. Because of their flexible way of thinking about things, they tend to be more open-minded, independent, and ready to improvise.
• Enthusiasm and spontaneity – People with ADD are free spirits with lively minds—qualities that makes for good company and engrossing conversation. Their enthusiasm and spontaneous approach to life can be infectious.
• A quick mind - People with ADD have the ability to think on their feet, quickly absorb new information (as long as it’s interesting), and multitask with ease. Their rapid-fire minds thrive on stimulation. They adapt well to change and are great in a crisis.
• High energy level – People with ADD have loads of energy. When their attention is captured by something that interests them, they can have virtually unlimited stamina and drive.

Hyperfocus: A Positive Symptom of ADD / ADHD

While adults with ADHD have great difficulty maintaining attention, those same individuals often are able to “hyperfocus” for long periods of time on tasks or projects that they find interesting. This is particularly true of interactive or hands-on activities. They may even be compulsive about it, spending hours immersed in the activity without a thought to anything or anyone else. 

When they’re “in the zone,” people with ADD often lose all concept of time. Hours pass as if they are minutes. This single-minded ability to hyperfocus can lead to significant accomplishments, discoveries, and creative breakthroughs.

Checklist English and Dutch

Here is an English checklist to see if you probably have AD(H)D:
http://www.addvance.com/help/women/girl_checklist.html

And this one: http://www.addresources.org/article_adhd_checklist_amen.php

Dutch checklist: http://www10.antenna.nl/hersenstorm/Checklist.html

Comments

[Tessa]

Jee corinne wat een artikel, heb hem weer helemaal gelezen. 't lijkt wel huiswerk ;-) Kan me voorstellen dat je moe van het je vorige post was, 't was ook niet zo maar iets wat je even neer pent. En dan ook nog in het engels.

Al een beetje bij gekomen van zondag en maandag?

XX Tessa

[Nili]

so much info. no wonder you are tired after posting. I guess it is never too late to start facing this problem and learn how to live with it and improve your life. Good luck with it!
Nili:)

[Renata Pacheco]

Hi, Corinne. My 15 years-old son has the same problem. He failed at school when he was 10 and ADHD was diagnosed when he wad 11. He has many of the symptons you described, but he has been much better since he began to take Ritalin, two years ago. Now he can focus a bit more, and he is doing his homework regularly.
But I'm counscious that's a big problem and I'm doing everything I could to help him. I hope you find your way to deal with it too.

[Cindy]

Hoi Corinne,
ik heb alle info aandachtig gelezen. Het is ongelofelijk maar in 90% van wat hier staat herken ik mijn man. Ik heb het hem ook laten lezen en er wordt voor ons heel veel duidelijk nu. We weten nog niet hoe en wat nu maar het is goed om te weten dat bepaalde dingen een reden hebben/hadden.
Dank je wel.

[Ingvild Bolme]

Wow Corinne, THANK YOU SO MUCH for this post! This was just sooo important for me, thank's again!

[Rachel Tanner]

Hi My Partner Andy has (9 months ago been diagnosed, finally with ADHD/Asbergers/Posible traits of Dyspraxia and dyslexia, he is 41)!
He has taken this quite badly but slowly coming to terms with it. He is medicated on RItalin, but has helped some, it runs out too quickly for him and he is a big bloke. Your post rang a bell especially the hyperfocus! Yes he has that (and cant understand why we cant keep up or tidy up as fast as he)! but also the ability to have no concentration if he has no interest in the subject or no reason to do it.
Obviously things are different here in the UK, but I have concerns my 7 yr old dd has it too, but people don't seem to be taking it seriously- school, just think she has the ability if she put more effort in.
I have my dd in tears most nights as she has problems with her friends and she has got into trouble for things she had no intention of doing and has no control over.
I have 2 yr old twins and the boy I think has it too. I have asked to see an ed psychologiost for my daughter. My partner just dosn't want the kids to go through what he went through at school and be treated as if he just can't be bothered, how do you deal with this?
Take care,
I hope things get better,
Its the social side that gets me and my daughter down so badly.
Rachelx