Hi Kathie:

Welcome to the ADDitude forums! I'm glad you found us and I hope we can help you with your diagnosis/treatment questions. First, you should know you're not alone...

Until the early 1990s, the medical community considered ADHD a “childhood disorder.” Believing that children “outgrew” the condition, physicians routinely took them off medication before high school. In many cases, however, the teens struggled socially and academically, making it clear that ADHD symptoms had not gone away. Some individuals do show enough improvement after puberty that they no longer need medication. But the American Academy of Family Physicians reports that two-thirds of children with ADHD continue to grapple with the condition throughout adulthood. (For more about 'outgrowing' ADHD, click here: http://www.additudemag.com/adhd/article/2515.html)

Your first steps should be to find a good doctor who specializes in ADHD, get an evaluation, and follow from there with discussions about treatment - medication, exercise, nutrition, fish oil, etc. To get you started down this path, here are some good ADDitude resources about Adult ADD...

ADHD Symptom Checklist for Women: http://www.additudemag.com/adhd-web/article/1908.html

About Adult ADHD: Take This Self-Test: http://www.additudemag.com/adhd/article/1041.html

Do You Have Adult ADHD? Why Diagnosis Is Critical: http://www.additudemag.com/adhd/article/673.html

Adult ADHD Diagnosis: What to Ask a New Doctor: http://www.additudemag.com/adhd/article/1860.html

You've Got Adult ADD… Now What?: http://www.additudemag.com/adhd/article/815.html

Treatment for Adults with ADHD: http://www.additudemag.com/adhd-web/article/558.html

I hope this helps!

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After all these years you didn't have symptoms or you just learned to cope with them?

I didn't realize I had it until I was grown and researching it for my children. I have ADHD and have had it all my life it just wasn't debilitating for me, I have one DD10 with ADHD and the other DD11 with ADD... I'm a single mom. And none of us take medication. I LOVE IT!!

Having ADD/ADHD is not the end of the world. There are plenty of tools that will help you control it and be successful regardless of taking medication or not. All you have to do is find what works for you.

As far as medication goes, talk to your doctor. If you were diagnosed as a child, it won't be difficult.

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My daughter was diagnosed with ADD several years ago. At the time, I was not convinced that meds were the answer. I'm still not. However, she is really struggling. Actually, I take that back, she doesn't seem to be struggling in the least, but I am. The biggest challenge is that she doesn't believe she has ADD. I have given her material from this web-site, and asked her to look at the characterstics and let me know what she thinks. She now thinks "maybe" she has it. Mind you, she was diagnosed by a professional. Her late father, (my ex-husband) was diagnosed as psychotic and bi-polar, but refused to accept his diagnosis, too. He unfortunately chose to self-medicate. Tragically, this led to some very dangerous behavior, and ultimately, his death. What can I do to prevent my daughter from following the the same footsteps?

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I still have lots of symptoms!!! I can't really say I learned to cope with it. But since I was told as a teenager that it was a childhoood disease, I never realized my life was one big "symptom"! I guess I have learned to cope to some extent, but I can't help but wonder how much better things could have been had I realized early on that I still had it. So, I am looking forward to getting some help.

I am absoloutely not an advocateof medication. All three of my kids were ADD and I kept them off of meds as a result of my experiences with meds. I thought that my taking Ritalin as a child was the cause of a lot of my problems as a young adult. Now that I am older and learning more, I realize that I probably did need to be on meds and probably should have been on them longer and the doctors should have monitored it better.

My 4-year old grandson is undergoing an evaluation for ADHD. We are all sure he has it!!! Much worse than myself and all three of my kids. I am actually contemplating putting him on meds just so he can finally slow down and relax. His attention span is about 3 seconds, if that!!! I am hoping that if I am getting help at the same time, I will better be able to help him.

I realized I had adult ADHD when I read the book, "So I'm not lazy, crazy or stupid?!" What a great book!!! I am so glad I found this web-site too. Lots of info for both adults and children.

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Thanks ADHD symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment information for adults and children from experts in attention deficit and learning disabilities like dyslexia.Meet the mothers of three ADHD super-achievers — and learn how they helped their kids beat the odds. ADHD symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment information.

Max

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After reading about AD(H)D for almost 30 years, I sometimes feel I know more than my pediatrician. Thank G-d he listens to my concerns, opinions and questions and then makes his determinations. And he is knowledgable about ADHD too. I got lucky. First of all, if you can keep your child off medications and busy enough to balance the "H" in ADHD, more power to you. The only issue I see with all of that is that your children will need someone to 'help' them determine how to keep busy and direct them moreso. Even if they don't realize it. It also creates a view that if they want it, they will get it (I'm talking sports, athletics, other program type stuff) because of their challenges. If that can be balanced with the idea that this helps them cope, focus, balance their life skills all the more better. If not, then they will become loud, bullying and spoiled type adults. All I can say is be careful to balance both sides of the coin here. Look at the 'pretty' and popular kids and the 'me' generation. It's a very fine line. I see both sides everyday. Not all of us can afford to have our children in the 'athletic programs' offered because the only type offered are pay-type programs and there is no room for additional (I am talking when a family/parent is just over the grant level and the scholarship is not working because of grade-level in classes or whatever. And I'm not being bit--y, just real. I've gone thru the checks and balances and ended up not getting in for one or another reason). I do push my son towards lots of play and his interests to keep him interested and busy as much as possible. Pickup games, make him go out and find people to play a game of whatever, basketball, baseball, soccer, ride bikes, fishing, whatnot. It helps with the energy level, social level, and organization level too. There are ways. Yes, he is on medication and has been since 5 yrs. old to help him focus. And yes, for a while to help the "H" in ADHD. We're battling it now but that is because of the teen independence thing. I hope he gets over it soon. I keep pointing things out to him about how he needs to use what is offered to 'help' him stay focused on his tasks in the immediate future. Whether at school from one period to the next or at home from one job to the next; or even what his future after school will be to support himself. He will always be ADHD, I just hope he learns to work with it and not against it. It is what makes him who he is.

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Check with a good doctor and get more than one opinion if necessary. Also explore traditional as well as alternative solutions. All the very best to you. Joseph

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I'm 42, my son was just diagnosed with ADHD and I've always had it in some form or another, I've always been in special ed classes, for extra help in math & other subjects, so i's nothing new to me & I wasn't in the least bit surprized when my son was officially diagnosed because it's heraditary & more common in boys than girls & twins like me. I've learned to live with my ADHD, my mother says I need meds, but in my day you didn'y put kids on meds so she never put me on any. Now my son is on Concerta & he's doing great, but I'm not interested in trying it, I have a job that works great for my ADHD, so I'm doing well, .... if I could just learn to stop procrastinating with my housework and put away the clean clothes!!!!

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My wife and I had our son (7 then-8 now) tested. The psychologist lead him through a battery of test and his IQ was there. The verbal being especially high. However, he suggested that Dylan see a physician about meds. Dylan is now taking Vyvanse and he's calmer, more focus, and happier. As for myself , I was diagnose as a child, but anything I took made me my me bite my lip more and even in one case gave me a slight tick. For years I worked as a chef and this was heaven for my ADD to work in positive ways. ALWAYS MOVING!!! I am now back in school and that's when I started taking Vyvanse. It definitely works for me. However, the key is still routine, routine, routine., and I'm not the best at it by any means. There are clothes to be folded and walls to be painted, but the meds do help stay focused on the day or even the week and not just the moment. See it does work. I just typed all this without fading off into something else.

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