Continuation of the ADD discussion.

Ben Davis

Active member
There we go. I'd first like to apologise to Eriksrocks for er... 'hijacking' his other thread.

This thread is about ADD, Aspergers, and assorted disorders of the type.

I was diagnosed with ADD at, roughly, the age of 7-8. I haven't as of yet found a way to deal with it, without medication, but hope I will do in the future.
 
I have a son who is 14 who is* an Aspie, he was DX at 6 and is doing pretty well, he had a DX of ADHD at one point, but I was not sure about that.

* we say is rather than "has" because Asperger's is a neurological difference it is not a disease, and there is no cure, so the implication that someone "has" is negative compared to "is" this which is positive... this came about from an excellent site I was a member of, with lots of adult Aspies who objected to being treated as if they were suffering.. when the only suffering they had was from NT (neuro typical) people with little or no understanding that they are just Different... not faulty.
 
I was diagnosed with ADHD (I usually just say ADD because people don't know the difference, and I've been able to deal with the hyperactivity for years to a point) when I was about 5 (Which is really to young to -actually- be diagnosed with it), and forced into therapy by my school.

I have horrendous OCD that covers most things (I'm a fanatic cleaner, though I can deal with hiring a cleaning service for parts of my house, my room and office have to be done by myself). I have to organize -everything-, including game items, accounts, words, and have to keep my computer as organized and clean as possible.

I have clinical insomnia, as well as a condition that stops me from going into REM (Which is the opposite of what most insomniacs, who will go into a deeper state of REM when they are asleep); I on average get 4-5 hours of sleep a week if I'm lucky, though occassionally I can get a few more hours.

I also have anxiety disorder, mostly pertaining to being late on things, or having to finish what I start (Deals with the OCD).

I also have two bleeding disorders: http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/960592-overview and http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/959825-overview both of which are semi-common in my family (My uncle suffers from the second one, my cousin has the first one, my younger brother has both, and my mom has the first one).
 
We say is rather than "has" because Asperger's is a neurological difference it is not a disease, and there is no cure, so the implication that someone "has" is negative compared to "is" this which is positive... this came about from an excellent site I was a member of, with lots of adult Aspies who objected to being treated as if they were suffering.. when the only suffering they had was from NT (neuro typical) people with little or no understanding that they are just Different... not faulty.
I'm sorry to come to this part of your post first but I must say that I find that very true. My step-father has literally no understanding of my ADD, or Aspergers, and has on numerous occasions gotten angry with me because of something that was simply out of my control. I sympathise with anyone that is an 'ADDer' and/or an 'Aspie' who have been put down because of such people.
I have a son who is 14 who is an Aspie, he was DX at 6 and is doing pretty well, he had a DX of ADHD at one point, but I was not sure about that.
I was originally diagnosed with ADHD but I find that I'm closer to having ADD with a err... spring in my step. I was diagnosed with ASD at the same time as my ADHD, which after recent research by me, I've found to be more likely Aspergers.
Do you, yourself, have either of these conditions or similar? :)
 
I'm sorry to come to this part of your post first but I must say that I find that very true. My step-father has literally no understanding of my ADD, or Aspergers, and has on numerous occasions gotten angry with me because of something that was simply out of my control. I sympathise with anyone that is an 'ADDer' and/or an 'Aspie' who have been put down because of such people.

I was originally diagnosed with ADHD but I find that I'm closer to having ADD with a err... spring in my step. I was diagnosed with ASD at the same time as my ADHD, which after recent research by me, I've found to be more likely Aspergers.
Do you, yourself, have either of these conditions or similar? :)
My stepmom is like this... She often gets angry at my younger brother when hes focused on something to the point that he ignores people; it takes a while for him to realize you're talking to him and that he needs to pay attention.

She also doesn't allow him to use his DS when we're out to dinner (It -is- rude, however he tends to act up if he doesn't have it to focus on before eating), and more then once he's left with me to go on a walk and bursts in to tears because he knows he needs to learn how to control it, but can't, and she just makes matters worse.

My dad had ADD, though he doesn't understand the difficulty I had with it.

I'm actually currently involved with a lot of the Los Angeles school districts (I think 4-5 of them), where we're trying to force the districts to put more effort into programs of dealing with these issues. I was forced into the special ed classes when I was younger, because I had issues focusing, and because behavior issues, but my grades upon graduating from high school were the top 5% of my state? The schools are a major problem with how children with ADHD and the like are treated, and not helping them to deal with the problem makes it worse and alienates them in the schools.
 
I personally don't *think* I do have either, but I could be slightly Aspie... and dx in females is a lot harder than males, my husband however definately is both OCD and On the Spectrum somewhere :p lol
 
I know the worst time my son had was at a school he attended with absolutely zero understanding, they really were horrible to him, locked him in closets when he acted up, and did things like grab him really hard by the arm when he was trying to get away from them, things that to him were a full on sensory assault, but they just couldn't see it at all - argh!!!

Thankfully he is now in a special program in a mainstream school, so no bullying and they do understand, but he doesn't like being in that class as it makes him feel like a 'tard >_< some of the kids are fully Autistic, and he doesn't want to be seen as being the same, but yet he couldn't cope in mainstream, it is very hard sometimes I must say.
 
I have read all the recent posts but unfortunately it's time up for me. The missus is getting tired and would like to go to bed seeing as it's 04:30 here lol
I'll come back to this thread probably tomorrow afternoon. I hope you guys have a good night/morning, and sleep well if you can do so or plan to.
Night guys/gals
 
I know the worst time my son had was at a school he attended with absolutely zero understanding, they really were horrible to him, locked him in closets when he acted up, and did things like grab him really hard by the arm when he was trying to get away from them, things that to him were a full on sensory assault, but they just couldn't see it at all - argh!!!

Thankfully he is now in a special program in a mainstream school, so no bullying and they do understand, but he doesn't like being in that class as it makes him feel like a 'tard >_< some of the kids are fully Autistic, and he doesn't want to be seen as being the same, but yet he couldn't cope in mainstream, it is very hard sometimes I must say.

My brother had a teacher last year who would purposely put him in a situation to humiliate him. I ended up going to the school, confronting the teacher, and when he gave me attitude, I took it up with the district.

It really disgusts me how schools and teachers that should be making an effort to help children deal with these things instead alienate them and often make matters worse; I developed an anxiety disorder dealing with people because of how I was treated when I was younger, and I still have problems with it around strangers.
 
More and more people are being diagnosed with add/adhd and similar conditions. One thing I try to caution people is not let the 'condition' become your 'belief system'.

I have a friend who suffers from epilepsy. They fit all the clinical definitions of the condition. Since the docs have been telling my friend that they are "x" for years, it has - in some ways - defined their belief system. Now, I'm obviously not a doctor. I'm not going to say my friend does not have this condition. However - I have noticed over the years that as they learned to handle stress better, and learned to balance their life better, the episodes went down from weekly, to monthly, to maybe a few times a year now. I firmly believe my friend can control it 100% without medication at some point if they can focus on it more.

I have another friend who was extremely bi-polar. The docs put him on dangerous doses of depekote and barely curbed the swings. Unfortunately he hit rock bottom for a while and had a wake up call of sorts. He picked himself up and found a deep down determination to turn his life around. Things are not perfect for him by any stretch of the imagination but he is happier and more content than I've ever known him and in the last 7 years, he's been 100% off of medications. He still has swings, don't get me wrong, but he works with it to his advantage.

I know its not always that easy, and some conditions like aspergers are a whole other story but I believe, based on what I've seen, that treatment should consist of more than medication alone. Medication is important for many but we tend to forget the rest of it.
 
My brother had a teacher last year who would purposely put him in a situation to humiliate him. I ended up going to the school, confronting the teacher, and when he gave me attitude, I took it up with the district.

When I was in 1st grade, a friend of mine had bad adhd and the teacher tied him to the chair on an almost daily basis. When your a kid, you don't realize it but looking back on it now -- that's horrendous!
 
More and more people are being diagnosed with add/adhd and similar conditions. One thing I try to caution people is not let the 'condition' become your 'belief system'.

I have a friend who suffers from epilepsy. They fit all the clinical definitions of the condition. Since the docs have been telling my friend that they are "x" for years, it has - in some ways - defined their belief system. Now, I'm obviously not a doctor. I'm not going to say my friend does not have this condition. However - I have noticed over the years that as they learned to handle stress better, and learned to balance their life better, the episodes went down from weekly, to monthly, to maybe a few times a year now. I firmly believe my friend can control it 100% without medication at some point if they can focus on it more.

I have another friend who was extremely bi-polar. The docs put him on dangerous doses of depekote and barely curbed the swings. Unfortunately he hit rock bottom for a while and had a wake up call of sorts. He picked himself up and found a deep down determination to turn his life around. Things are not perfect for him by any stretch of the imagination but he is happier and more content than I've ever known him and in the last 7 years, he's been 100% off of medications. He still has swings, don't get me wrong, but he works with it to his advantage.

I know its not always that easy, and some conditions like aspergers are a whole other story but I believe, based on what I've seen, that treatment should consist of more than medication alone. Medication is important for many but we tend to forget the rest of it.

It annoys me when people act like victims though; I have the conditions I do, however I don't let them control my life.

I know people who use ADHD and the like as a crutch, and it really annoys me at times.


When I was in 1st grade, a friend of mine had bad adhd and the teacher tied him to the chair on an almost daily basis. When your a kid, you don't realize it but looking back on it now -- that's horrendous!
My kindergarten teacher use to beat us with rulers. Great teacher there.
 
I was brought up to not use my ADD as an excuse or a 'crutch' but it has made it difficult for me to learn when to use it as a reason, as I always think that bringing it up is simply me using it as an excuse.

I've managed, to an extent, without medication. I would say there are people who are better off than me but I'm all too aware that there are also people worse off than me, as such I don't complain if something is too difficult.
 
I was brought up to not use my ADD as an excuse or a 'crutch' but it has made it difficult for me to learn when to use it as a reason, as I always think that bringing it up is simply me using it as an excuse.

I've managed, to an extent, without medication. I would say there are people who are better off than me but I'm all too aware that there are also people worse off than me, as such I don't complain if something is too difficult.
My ex girlfriends ex fiance had ADHD/OCD as well, and he was always making excuses onto why he can't do something, or how he had the worst conditions ever.

I've never really used it as a crutch; most people don't even realize I have anything other then OCD because I'll rarely show any symptoms now.
 
GOOD posts here. Thanks for weighing in on this Reeve, even though you don't have these "disorders". It always helps to hear how the other side feels. :)

I probably won't talk about me so much, because I have a pretty good handle on my issues. I like to talk more about my son.

As I said in the other thread, he is diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome and ADHD, Sensory Processing Disorder, severe Anxiety Disorder, OCD, depression, a mood disorder, and chronic insomnia, which is also a symptom of AS and mood disorders. I will say that I'm a bit skeptical about the ADHD diagnosis as well as the depression diagnosis, since many of the symptoms are mirrored in Aspergers and Sensory Processing Disorder. At any rate, he is on meds to help control these disorders, and does very very well.

His symptoms started appearing at around 4 yrs old, but were not really positively apparent to anyone but me until he entered kindergarten. That's when the difficulties really started. In preschool he was fine, no problems there whatsoever. But one you enter school here in Ohio, the typical child to teacher ratio is 27 (or more) to 1. :eek: He was absolutely miserable in that large of a class. He could not concentrate or stay in his seat, or do his little assignments, or anything at all. He wouldgo from one thing to another, pick on other kids, throw tantrums out of frustration, and worse.

Since my daughter (now 23) has ADD, I immediately thought, oh no, ADHD! However, his teacher, guidance counselor and principal all suggested that he be tested for Asperger Syndrome, because of his somewhat clumsy gait, problems with fine motor skills, and of course the ADHD symptoms (also inherent in AS). Sure enough, a day long stay at a local childrens' neurological center confirmed AS, as well as ADHD and mood disorder. BUT before I would consent to any drugs at all, I tried everything I possible could... casseine-free, gluten-free diet, vitamins, no dyes/preservatives/etc, etc etc. Nothing worked. By the time he was halfway through 1st grade we were ALL miserable.

4 psychiatrists, 3 psychologists, and many many meds later, we finally found the help we needed. A wonderful psychiatrist at a local childrens psychiatric center, a fantastic family psychologist at PsyCare, and the correct combo of meds has helped him SO much. It's an ongoing process, and it will never end. Kids don't outgrow AS or ADHD, or any of these other neurobiological disorders. But they can learn to live with them, and even use them to their advantage.

My son is bright, funny, and fun. He is intelligent (and has a very high IQ), and smart. He does very well in school, loves math/science/reading, and is a complete electronics geek. He's had his own computer since he was 4 yrs old (daddy did it, not me), and is very proficient on it! He's also into the Wii, DSi, Transformers, and Hot Wheels.

One of the "symptoms" of AS is that children most often talk like "little professors", meaning that their vocabulary is beyond their years. That's my boy. He's 10 (almost 11) and talks like an intelligent 30 yr old.

He's the love of my heart and the biggest joy in my life. :D
 
GOOD posts here. Thanks for weighing in on this Reeve, even though you don't have these "disorders". It always helps to hear how the other side feels. :)

I probably won't talk about me so much, because I have a pretty good handle on my issues. I like to talk more about my son.

As I said in the other thread, he is diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome and ADHD, Sensory Processing Disorder, severe Anxiety Disorder, OCD, depression, a mood disorder, and chronic insomnia, which is also a symptom of AS and mood disorders. I will say that I'm a bit skeptical about the ADHD diagnosis as well as the depression diagnosis, since many of the symptoms are mirrored in Aspergers and Sensory Processing Disorder. At any rate, he is on meds to help control these disorders, and does very very well.

His symptoms started appearing at around 4 yrs old, but were not really positively apparent to anyone but me until he entered kindergarten. That's when the difficulties really started. In preschool he was fine, no problems there whatsoever. But one you enter school here in Ohio, the typical child to teacher ratio is 27 (or more) to 1. :eek: He was absolutely miserable in that large of a class. He could not concentrate or stay in his seat, or do his little assignments, or anything at all. He wouldgo from one thing to another, pick on other kids, throw tantrums out of frustration, and worse.

Since my daughter (now 23) has ADD, I immediately thought, oh no, ADHD! However, his teacher, guidance counselor and principal all suggested that he be tested for Asperger Syndrome, because of his somewhat clumsy gait, problems with fine motor skills, and of course the ADHD symptoms (also inherent in AS). Sure enough, a day long stay at a local childrens' neurological center confirmed AS, as well as ADHD and mood disorder. BUT before I would consent to any drugs at all, I tried everything I possible could... casseine-free, gluten-free diet, vitamins, no dyes/preservatives/etc, etc etc. Nothing worked. By the time he was halfway through 1st grade we were ALL miserable.

4 psychiatrists, 3 psychologists, and many many meds later, we finally found the help we needed. A wonderful psychiatrist at a local childrens psychiatric center, a fantastic family psychologist at PsyCare, and the correct combo of meds has helped him SO much. It's an ongoing process, and it will never end. Kids don't outgrow AS or ADHD, or any other disorder. But they can learn to live with them, and even use them to their advantage.

My son is bright, funny, and fun. He is intelligent (and has a very high IQ), and smart. He does very well in school, loves math/science/reading, and is a complete electronics geek. He's had his own computer since he was 4 yrs old (daddy did it, not me), and is very proficient on it! He's also into the Wii, DSi, Transformers, and Hot Wheels.

One of the "symptoms" of AS is that children most often talk like "little professors", meaning that their vocabulary is beyond their years. That's my boy. He's 10 (almost 11) and talks like an intelligent 30 yr old.

He's the love of my heart and the biggest joy in my life. :D

Is he on medication for the chronic insomnia? I've had it as badly as I do since I was about 5 (Though it gets worse, especially when I'm as busy as I am at work), and have gone through all the medications that have passed trials, ones that are currently in trial, and some that aren't FDC approved in the United States (Had to get them from a friend in Canada).

Most of those have either made me sick, or have made me tired, but have done little to help me sleep, and have just sapped all my energy and caused various fluctuations with chemical balances.

Overall, I try to avoid medicines as much as possible, just because it seems most doctors and such try to prescribe tons of them (Mine doesn't, but I've had a few in the past that did). 
 
Yes he is. He is taking Seroquel XR for both mood swings and sleep, and Clonidine to help him get to sleep. Both work wonderfully and he wakes up rested and refreshed.

See, none of those worked for me.

Seroquel gave me seriously bad tachycardia (Which I tend to suffer from due to the insomnia anyways), and increased the more dizzy spells I was experiencing. 
 
See, none of those worked for me.

Seroquel gave me seriously bad tachycardia (Which I tend to suffer from due to the insomnia anyways), and increased the more dizzy spells I was experiencing.
Wow I'm sorry to hear that. It has worked wonders for my son.
 
Once the internship period for my work is over (Around January), my doctor is going to have me go through some more tests for the insomnia, and for how I rarely go into REM, because he thinks thats whats making it harder to find a way to help the condition. 
 
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