WELCOME

Kathleen,

Thanks for opening this forum up…… I’ll tell the Aussie contigency!

One of the major problems I am faced with is the amount of women who are being incorrectly diagnosed as depressed when they have ADHD kids…… it is as if mothers cannot be ADHD!

The other thing that I find lacking is medical training of potential family doctors. In Australia the Federal Government commissioned a study of the Mental Health of our school students (ages 6 to 17) and what was found was the Australian national average of ADHD is 11.2% of the government school population. In low employment areas it can be a lot higher than this, yet even with this document school psychologists are not picking up on it.

Girls are grossly underdiagnosed and misdiagnosed as well. Just tonight a child I know of attempted suicide. The Mother is extremely ADHD and there are other Spectrum disorders in the family such as Aspbergers. The child has LD’s and is a risk taker with the traits of an ADHD girl……… yet the psychiatric assessment team said it was nothing to worry about………she was depressed. ADHD was not even considered as the mother will not admit to family problems.

Well enough of my griping…… what have other people experienced on the journey to assessment and diagnosis?

Judie Gade
ADHD Consultant, Coach & Writer

Kathleen,

Thanks for opening this forum up…… I’ll tell the Aussie contigency!

One of the major problems I am faced with is the amount of women who are being incorrectly diagnosed as depressed when they have ADHD kids…… it is as if mothers cannot be ADHD!

The other thing that I find lacking is medical training of potential family doctors. In Australia the Federal Government commissioned a study of the Mental Health of our school students (ages 6 to 17) and what was found was the Australian national average of ADHD is 11.2% of the government school population. In low employment areas it can be a lot higher than this, yet even with this document school psychologists are not picking up on it.

Girls are grossly underdiagnosed and misdiagnosed as well. Just tonight a child I know of attempted suicide. The Mother is extremely ADHD and there are other Spectrum disorders in the family such as Aspbergers. The child has LD’s and is a risk taker with the traits of an ADHD girl……… yet the psychiatric assessment team said it was nothing to worry about………she was depressed. ADHD was not even considered as the mother will not admit to family problems.

Well enough of my griping…… what have other people experienced on the journey to assessment and diagnosis?

Judie Gade
ADHD Consultant, Coach & Writer

Hi all! I am sooo happy that I ran across this sight! I am an adult woman who has been diagnosed with depression (episodic) and ADD at various times, depending on the therapist and/or psychiatrist.

I was on Ritalin for awhile and it really seemed to help, but when I was diagnosed with Grave’s Disease (overactive thyroid) I was taken off Ritalin. My doctor told me that after my thyroid was regulated to wait a year and be “re-tested” (whatever that means) for ADD because many of the symptoms between overacitve thyroid and ADD are the same.

It has been three years since I started dealing with the thyroid problem and although the “nuked” the thyroid, my hormone levels are STILL not regulated (it is now underactive, which can cause depression and was regulated for about 6 months out of this three year time). I have also been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia due to chronic pain and tender points, fatigue, memory problems, sleep problems and so forth. Since underactive thyroid can cause memory problems and depression, as well as pain doctors are hesitant to put me on any medication therapy.

The point I am trying to make here is that I am FED UP with nobody knowing exactly what is wrong with me or how to treat me. The only medication that seems to help at all that I am taking (including the thyroid hormone replacement) is Effexor because it seems to manage the pain. I am fed up with memory problems, attention problems, pain and different doctors telling me different theories as to what is or could be wrong. One doctor said that if my thyroid is out of whack, any medication I could take to treat my ADD would not work anyway. Is this true? Does anyone know?

I had all of the classic childhood symptoms of ADD, and I honestly think that I DO have it. I also had an extremely high I.Q. when I was tested as a five-year-old because my kindergarten teacher told my mother that I was “crazy”. Seriously, I doubt that I just had an over-active thyroid at five years old. Currently, I am thirty-one years old, and when I was school age there apparently were no gifted programs and I’m not even sure if ADD was even around then so nothing else was done. Today, I can’t stand (literally) to do tasks that I find “boring” (I have cried over cleaning out my closets), and seem to have trouble with tasks that for other people are just no big deal. Again, some doctors have attributed this to either thyroid problems or depression. I believe that I am depressed partly because my ADD symptoms are driving me crazy! In addition to the other issues.

Does anyone have any ideas on how I can deal with all of this? I read some of the things about diet and ADD, and I’ve not had experience with dietary modifications for ADD. Has anyone had any experiences similar to mine? I’d love to at least hear from people who may have had similar experiences.

Thanks!

Traci
Las Vegas, NV

I do know of a child who has graves disease, he is also a fetal alchohol syndrome child, and has adhd. He is on dexadrine as well as the thyroid medicine, I am not sure of what else. Hope I helped some.

I would love to get in touch with you I manager a training company in Sydney
I get over whelmed at times with how different I am and the young people I can see are too…I want to develop resource for the “allergic” to school where do I start any ideas ?

sound like your are ok to me …

Hi Traci,

I am twenty-nine years old. Your description definitely sounds like you have ADD/ADHD.

My great-grandmother, grandmother, father, half-brother, son, and myself all have ADD/ADHD. Here is a picture of us taken in 1997: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~abenaki/Mikes/mikes.htm
My point being that it definitely is genetic, and has been around for many, many years. We have Abenaki Indian in our family six generation before me, and my dad says that the Indians he has spoken to say that ADHD runs in their bloodline too.

I was a very bright student, but bored all the time. My son is also very bright and I feel like the class does not do enough to challenge him. In 1st grade he did 2nd grade work all year.

I also can not stand boring tasks. I’m only diligent when extremely busy or under a deadline. When I was evaluated in 1998 due to depression even though I was taking Wellbutrin at the time, they said my primary diagnosis was Disthymic (?) Depression, which is a low grade depression for many years. My secondary possible diagnosis was ADHD. When I read “Driven to Distraction”, it fit me to a ‘T’.

I experience depression/irritability ten days before I menstruate every month, which I take Zoloft for. I suffer from monthly migraine headaches, despite taking Inderol as a preventative. My doctor just added Wellbutrin because the Zoloft was making me so tired. I also take Claritin D and Singulair for newly diagnosed allergies and newly diagnosed asthma. I hate to think what I will be like at 70 years old!

I’m wondering if you do yoga, or exercise regularly. I do best emotionally when I am doing both. I haven’t been for the past six months because I work full time and go to school at night. Oddly, despite my finding slow things boring, the yoga class is an hour and a half long, but it seems to end far too soon! I love it! The relaxation helps me immensely. It’s like the one point in the week that I have a chance to recharge and begin again.

I would recommend reading as much as you can and implement things in your life to help such as scheduling, routines, writing yourself notes to remember things, placing things within view so you don’t forget them such as keys and purse by the door, and physical activity.

Hope this helps.

Emily

Thank you so much for opening this up finally I have a place where I can discuss my disability. Hey you should tell all colleges about this site so that other students with ADD will benifit too! my college is in canada. it is called SAIT (www.sait.ab.ca) and my children’s college is Mt. Royal college (www.mtroyal.ab.ca)

Disability ..Oh, how I hate that word …… kind of like Disorder!

When I was diagnosed it was a revelation! NO way was I going to be termed as disabled (that implies I have something wrong with me!). I look upon ADHD as a gift. I don’t have a condition I have an ADDition! I LOVE my ADD. I don;t care who knows as most people cannot even pick it and jst see me as enthusiastic! If they saw my housework it would be a different matter…..

What I don’t like is people’s ignorance about the probelms we can sometimes face, the inablility to even recognise the term ADHD. I prefer to call myself a Huntress …… I was lucky enough to have Thom Hartmann as a teacher, so I guess it rubbed off a bit!

Sure we have areas of our lives that can be quite disabling…… like our cheque books, credit cards……… our housework! Even our work relationships can be “disabling” to us at times. When things are presented to us in a manner that does not work for us is just an indication that we need to rework it.

With me, I hate working for other people as my ideas just don’t seem to be on the same wave length - they just don’t see the big picture, lineal thinkers. So I started my own business! I use my “gift” in my work. My colleagues love my enthusiasm and knowledge, my relentless search for information to help them and my way with words!

So, if you want to look upon it as a disablilty, then that is how others will look at you too. If, however, you want it to be seen as a gift that sometimes needs a little help along the way, great! Although sometimes I have to admit to get the help you have to say the “DIS” word……. although I personally would like to DIS it out of my vocabulary!

It is not ADHD that is the disablity, but rather people’s attitudes towards it that we have to deal with…….. they have the problem if they are inflexible and not willing to understand.

That is so right …..your insights when I sick (or my boss and manifesting in my body) your e mails so encouraged me.
I am a Huntress e mail me again before I go to the USA on Tuesday
My farmer husband upgraded or did something and no my addresses are i cyberspace. YUK LOADS TO TELL YOU KARENJudie Gade wrote:
>
> Disability ..Oh, how I hate that word …… kind of like
> Disorder!
>
> When I was diagnosed it was a revelation! NO way was I going
> to be termed as disabled (that implies I have something wrong
> with me!). I look upon ADHD as a gift. I don’t have a
> condition I have an ADDition! I LOVE my ADD. I don;t care who
> knows as most people cannot even pick it and jst see me as
> enthusiastic! If they saw my housework it would be a
> different matter…..
>
> What I don’t like is people’s ignorance about the probelms we
> can sometimes face, the inablility to even recognise the term
> ADHD. I prefer to call myself a Huntress …… I was lucky
> enough to have Thom Hartmann as a teacher, so I guess it
> rubbed off a bit!
>
> Sure we have areas of our lives that can be quite
> disabling…… like our cheque books, credit cards………
> our housework! Even our work relationships can be “disabling”
> to us at times. When things are presented to us in a manner
> that does not work for us is just an indication that we need
> to rework it.
>
> With me, I hate working for other people as my ideas just
> don’t seem to be on the same wave length - they just don’t
> see the big picture, lineal thinkers. So I started my own
> business! I use my “gift” in my work. My colleagues love my
> enthusiasm and knowledge, my relentless search for
> information to help them and my way with words!
>
> So, if you want to look upon it as a disablilty, then that is
> how others will look at you too. If, however, you want it to
> be seen as a gift that sometimes needs a little help along
> the way, great! Although sometimes I have to admit to get the
> help you have to say the “DIS” word……. although I
> personally would like to DIS it out of my vocabulary!
>
> It is not ADHD that is the disablity, but rather people’s
> attitudes towards it that we have to deal with…….. they
> have the problem if they are inflexible and not willing to
> understand.

my husband filed my mail….How whould I know to look in the ADHD in box
anyway thank you for sending you info and the web page stuff. I look forward to playing with that when of vacation in MN nexzt week…
Emily wrote:
>
> Hi Traci,
>
> I am twenty-nine years old. Your description definitely
> sounds like you have ADD/ADHD.
>
> My great-grandmother, grandmother, father, half-brother, son,
> and myself all have ADD/ADHD. Here is a picture of us taken
> in 1997:
> http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~abenaki/Mikes/mikes.htm
> My point being that it definitely is genetic, and has been
> around for many, many years. We have Abenaki Indian in our
> family six generation before me, and my dad says that the
> Indians he has spoken to say that ADHD runs in their
> bloodline too.
>
> I was a very bright student, but bored all the time. My son
> is also very bright and I feel like the class does not do
> enough to challenge him. In 1st grade he did 2nd grade work
> all year.
>
> I also can not stand boring tasks. I’m only diligent when
> extremely busy or under a deadline. When I was evaluated in
> 1998 due to depression even though I was taking Wellbutrin at
> the time, they said my primary diagnosis was Disthymic (?)
> Depression, which is a low grade depression for many years.
> My secondary possible diagnosis was ADHD. When I read
> “Driven to Distraction”, it fit me to a ‘T’.
>
> I experience depression/irritability ten days before I
> menstruate every month, which I take Zoloft for. I suffer
> from monthly migraine headaches, despite taking Inderol as a
> preventative. My doctor just added Wellbutrin because the
> Zoloft was making me so tired. I also take Claritin D and
> Singulair for newly diagnosed allergies and newly diagnosed
> asthma. I hate to think what I will be like at 70 years old!
>
> I’m wondering if you do yoga, or exercise regularly. I do
> best emotionally when I am doing both. I haven’t been for
> the past six months because I work full time and go to school
> at night. Oddly, despite my finding slow things boring, the
> yoga class is an hour and a half long, but it seems to end
> far too soon! I love it! The relaxation helps me
> immensely. It’s like the one point in the week that I have a
> chance to recharge and begin again.
>
> I would recommend reading as much as you can and implement
> things in your life to help such as scheduling, routines,
> writing yourself notes to remember things, placing things
> within view so you don’t forget them such as keys and purse
> by the door, and physical activity.
>
> Hope this helps.
>
> Emily