Autism & ADHD (please everyone vote!)

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Pretty self explanatory poll, I hope. I would like to get a good idea of how prevalent ADHD may be in the autistic population. Thank you!

Last edited by Moog on 01 Dec 2010, 7:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I've not been dx'd with ADHD, nor has it even been suggested, but I have reason to believe I have it co-morbidly.

1) Extremely short attention span when not hyper-focused
2) Very easily distracted and extreme difficulty getting back on task afterward
3) Tendency to jump back and forth between interests/projects
4) I just *have* to move my hands in some manner during all waking moments

I have never been diganosed with ADHD.
I have been diagnosed with OCD, GAD, and PTSD in the past.

I have been diagnosed with ADHD among some other things. I don't have an official diagnosis of AS, I almost got one, though.

I'll have to see a specialist.

I got both.

I have a diagnosis of ADHD but I don't believe it really exists; in the case that there is no scientific explanation for it.

Yeah that sounds like it. My most annoying trait.
I have both autism and ADHD (combined). Actually inattentive symptoms are the most annoying.


It's a lack of dopamine and norepinephrine receptors in the brain.

You need to read more about it. My ADHD book explains clearly about the changes in the brain of people with ADHD. But it's far too long to memorise. My memory ain't that great.

You may as well join the group of people that think autism is caused by bad parenting or that AS is just an excuse for anti-social geeks.

Diagnosed with both.

I have serious doubts that ADHD is a real condition.

<rant>
It sounds like something culture just made up to explain why kids are the way they are. When you look at a kid who is diagnosed with ADHD, they exhibit very normal behaviors of being a child. The public education system in modern society does not accommodate natural childhood anymore. Everybody wants to be politically correct, and have nice little Stepford Children. Parents are too preoccupied with their work and adult recreation to be bothered with the little pests and their demanding natures. This has been, and continues to contribute to the downfall of modern society in my opinion, and ADHD is just an excuse to medicate our children so they will be more docile and not inconvenience us anymore. Check out the youtube documentary End of Liberty and watch between 25:20 and 26:50 regarding ADHD.
</rant>

ADHD is not just about hyperactivity but that type can be very out of control. They have more severe executive dysfunction than autism/AS. They have social issues but not as severe as autism/AS, still they get a lot of social anxiety over it.
I have both hyperactivity and hypoactivity. I prefer the hyperactivity. When I'm not on my meds I feel like I'm in a fog, that I can't grasp my thoughts. I'm easy to anger because of a dysfunction in the limbic system. Not to mention every other area in my brain.
One thing common in ADHD is the inability to get words out of your mouth in a clear way and getting mental blanks all the time. Then there's the lack of impulse control and you find yourself either in a lot of debt or in a stranger's house in the morning, with no idea where you are.
People with ADHD get fired a lot or need to constantly change their job. I try to start projects but then get interested in something else so I have 10,000 interests and can only pursue one at a time. I can have severe procrastination issues and forget things constantly.

ADHD is real. I live it everyday of my life. I was a low achieving student in school because of it. If I was medicated I'd have done ok. My medication gives me motivation, energy and the need to want to constantly learn everything.

Next time someone tells you AS isn't real then just remember how you feel about ADHD. Because just because you don't know what it's like to have it doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

Take my Ritalin away from me and I'd hardly get anything done. I'd sit on a couch or listen to music all day. On Ritalin I taught myself physics, got into astronomy, write extremely long blog posts, want to clean everything, talk more, and find myself constantly reading about neuroscience, that I can't understand when the meds wear off.

Very interesting.

I'm curious: What do you suppose would have happened if you had been born 500 years ago before psychotropic drugs were invented? Would you have been able to lead a normal life in a more relaxed society? One without modern technology to direct our attention constantly. Do you think your condition is an inherent part of who you are or something separate from your "self" that influences you? This may be difficult to discern, I know.

Is it possible that your condition is actually caused by external factors you've experienced in your life? Things which (again) may not have existed in the distant past? Many theorize that its the modern diet or exposure to too much stimulus when you are growing up which causes conditions like this. It makes sense because artificial attention direction (TV etc) robs children of the skills to control and direct their own attention at will. It makes sense that such children would be deficient in attention behaviors just as anything in our bodies atrophies without exercise.

With the prevalence of disorders like ADHD, one wonders why there wasn't marked documentation from past centuries stating the large number of people with these mysterious behaviors? What do you think?

No, I would have been placed in a mental institution for being abnormal. I still can't lead a normal life. I've been this way since I was 18 months old. Actually my attention, comprehension, executive functioning was worse when I was younger.
If I wasn't on medication now I wouldn't have the drive to do anything, maybe I'd have goals but lack the focus to achieve them.


Probably not. I didn't experience much of life when I was younger. I was well fed and didn't watch too much TV. Poor diet and watching too much TV usually makes ADHD symptoms worse. Some food make me feel sluggish and some others makes me feel hyper.
Also, when I was a child technology was less advanced than it is now. I used to play outside. Actually I wandered off a lot and climbed almost everything.


There wasn't for Asperger's either. ADHD has been known for over half a century.

I still don't see how you can deny the existence of ADHD when the symptoms are similar to AS, just with worse memory and other executive function tasks.

I eat healthy, I exercise, I take supplements and I try to learn as much as I can. But I still have memory problems and find that I can't keep my focus at times. I jump from interest to interest. I actually prefer to read from books and barely watch TV anymore. I've had predominantly inattentive ADHD symptoms all my life, with some hyperactivity. I know I have it because I'm never without a thought, I even can't sleep because of it. And they're just regular thoughts.

I have both Asperger's and ADD, which is basically ADHD without the hyperactive part.

Very hard to get a sense of how other people experience the world, but through my own experience, study and talking to people with a range of attentional 'ability' for want of a better term, I am inclined to believe it is a very real condition. As to whether it is one that is commonly misdiagnosed or over diagnosed for the purposes of control... maybe.

I haven't been dx'd but I have a strong suspicion I have some form of it, as my concentration span is very limited and I often find my thought processes going on constant tangents. I've been trying meditation though and that does seem to be helping a bit but I wish I could focus more.

I'm glad you think I'm putting my 9 year old kid on drugs just so I won't be bothered with her running around. I started a medicine for it last week, now instead of constant supervision to get anything done, like put on pajamas, it's constant supervision and she is starting to stay focused enough to put them on herself without reminders, not all the time.
Yes, in a slower paced world she wouldn't need medication, I'd send her out for berries and she would never return, problem solved. I'm glad to hear there are more people who can consider me a bad parent who just isn't patient enough or strict enough. I won't deny that there are kids on medication that could be better treated with other measures, but an overmedicated society and lack of medical diagnosis of ADHD in 1510 do not prove there is no condition that might warrant it.

That video is pretty biased, mostly a scare tactic. That section you mentioned was nothing more than a messed up family, with diagreeing parents, no info about the child at all. There are parents who don't thing there child should ever see a doctor, that doesn't mean they won't get sick. After seeing the video you base your opinions on, I really don't know why I'm bothering to reply.