ADHD and late diagnosis

[MicroBob]

I'm 35 and suspect I would be diagnosed as a mild to moderate case if I bothered to look into it. This is something I have., on occasion, considered doing. Most recent time thinking about this was yesterday.

Good friend of mine is 36.
4 or 5 years ago he went back to school to get a law-degree.
He finally was diagnosed for his ADHD which I think anyone who has ever met him for 5 minutes could have figured out.
He got prescirbed some med (don't remember what) and said that it really helped him.
He stopped putting off his various stuff he needed to do to finish his law-school (which he naturally was wishing he could just finish and then forget about), did a great job on the papers he owed and got the best grades he had gotten in his whole stretch there.
He said that the medication he had taken made a big difference for him.


Anyway, I don't know why mid-20's would be 'too late' to be diagnosed for such things as I am pretty sure I am a 35-year-old who has it and is just making his way through life having never been diagnosed (although I'm only able to GUESS that I would be).

[LVcardjunkie]

I'm convinced that if it's not the weed i definitely have ADD or something. Problem is, I can't focus long enough to concentrate on not puffing. Sounds ridiculous, but that's me. I just get bored really easily and being stoned is like that thing that's always in my mind to alleviate the boredom. These things don't affect my immediate activities, such as a single decision during a poker game, yet they prevent me from any long, *quality* sessions. I can already hear you saying, "just stop puffing", but honestly, I think I smoke to cope with the other thing, ADD or whatever it is.....anyone else ever been in my boat?

[Corpsebean]

I actually have a question for those that are ADHD Pozzed.

I have a very difficult time reading. Specifically, when I read I cannot make it past one or two sentences without my mind drifting off and I then have to reread what I spaced out on. Usually, I have to read something anywhere from 3-10 times before I actually grasp it. I feel my vocabulary and comprehension skills are adequate, but I just can't keep from drifting off.

It is at it's worst with most academic books, especially those that are purely text in format. I have been this way as long as I can remember.

Also, I do the exact same thing an above poster mentioned. I constantly blow work off, screwing around on forums or playing games or whatever. Although I'm unhappy to admit it, I would say 90% of my college work thus far is done the night before.

Last semester I ended up doing a 40+ page project the night before it was due. We had the entire semester.


Do any of you guys have similar difficulties? Does this sound ADHD related? Should I see a doctor? Do I just need hooked on phonics? Am I gay?

[psyduck]

[ QUOTE ]
Am I gay?

[/ QUOTE ]

LOL

[Zarathustra]

LV,

At the risk of grossly oversimplifying the situation, the neurotransmitter dopamine is a predominate communicator in areas of the brain regulating such functions as motivation, pleasure, motricity, attentiveness and learning. A depletion of dopamine or its receptors is correlated with motivational and attentional dysfunction and is often comormid with depression. When you toke the ganja, the THC binds to receptors that causes the release of more dopamine. This explains why the host of behavioral effects are almost exclusively related to these dopaminergic mechanisms. A stimulant like Concerta (methylphenidate in slow release form) will ultimately prevent the reuptake of dopamine to facilitate neural activity in the brain areas governing pleasure, attention and motivation. This is why it is not completely out of the ordinary for a doctor to use the same drug in treating attentional deficits and certain cases of depression.

[LVcardjunkie]

[ QUOTE ]
LV,

At the risk of grossly oversimplifying the situation, the neurotransmitter dopamine is a predominate communicator in areas of the brain regulating such functions as motivation, pleasure, motricity, attentiveness and learning. A depletion of dopamine or its receptors is correlated with motivational and attentional dysfunction and is often comormid with depression. When you toke the ganja, the THC binds to receptors that causes the release of more dopamine. This explains why the host of behavioral effects are almost exclusively related to these dopaminergic mechanisms. A stimulant like Concerta (methylphenidate in slow release form) will ultimately prevent the reuptake of dopamine to facilitate neural activity in the brain areas governing pleasure, attention and motivation. This is why it is not completely out of the ordinary for a doctor to use the same drug in treating attentional deficits and certain cases of depression.

[/ QUOTE ]

now this is what I wanted in that Psychopharmacology of Abused Drugs class I took at UNLV, however the school blows so it was a total joke....ty

[nuggetz87]

[ QUOTE ]
I actually have a question for those that are ADHD Pozzed.

I have a very difficult time reading. Specifically, when I read I cannot make it past one or two sentences without my mind drifting off and I then have to reread what I spaced out on. Usually, I have to read something anywhere from 3-10 times before I actually grasp it. I feel my vocabulary and comprehension skills are adequate, but I just can't keep from drifting off.

It is at it's worst with most academic books, especially those that are purely text in format. I have been this way as long as I can remember.

Also, I do the exact same thing an above poster mentioned. I constantly blow work off, screwing around on forums or playing games or whatever. Although I'm unhappy to admit it, I would say 90% of my college work thus far is done the night before.

Last semester I ended up doing a 40+ page project the night before it was due. We had the entire semester.


Do any of you guys have similar difficulties? Does this sound ADHD related? Should I see a doctor? Do I just need hooked on phonics? Am I gay?

[/ QUOTE ]

exact same things for me. nobody i know reads slower than me, and i need to read most academic material several times over. i also have a pretty decent vocabulary. i scored 150 points less on the verbal part of the SAT than the math part, almost solely because of the stupid reading passages + questions regarding them. didn't finish any of those sections.

i also have the same problems with school, but clearly not to the same extent you do [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

i've never been diagnosed with ADD or anything, and i think everyone has a little of it in them. the severe cases are the only important ones IMO.

[NaobisDad]

I do not know too much on the subject, but ADHD is not a strictly defined disorder. There are so many symptoms it encompasses that imo it makes more sense as a label than as a definition.

With respect to the dopamine-hypothesis, this is what I was taught as well, and also what my psychologist explained to me recently. It relates well to the lack of inhibition/ control that ADHDers feel. However, to me it really seems like the hypothesis was conceived working back from the way that most of the effective meds work.

My exprience is that I share a lot of symptoms witha lot of people. SOme will be forgetfull, others will have internet surfing problems like me. OThers will be impatient, whatever. However, none of these people have ALL The symptoms, but I do. In addition there are a couple of things that I have that only ADHDers have. In comparison to other ADHD pozzers there are a lot of things we share, however, also plenty things we don't.

Sharing so many symptoms with others caused me to not recognize I have a problem, it caused me to put off testing when I started to get suspicious. And caused me to doubt myself after I decided to get tested.


So as I see it, it's not as clear cut as deliniating the ADHD cases. It seems more like a gradient, and at some point you draw a line and you say, this is probably ADHD.