Board index › General Discussion › General Autism Discussion

Aspergers vs. ADHD

Page 3 of 3 [ 47 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1, 2, 3

Previous topic | Next topic

Verdandi
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 7 Dec 2010
Age: 55
Gender: Female
Posts: 12,275
Location: University of California Sunnydale (fictional location - Real location Olympia, WA)

23 Jan 2012, 8:47 am

Ganondox wrote:
That's a good point, but what about those with ADHD who aren't medicated, and those some with ADHD act "normal" when medicated?


I don't understand what you're asking - do you mean just ADHD or ADHD and autism?

Stimulants are fairly effective at treating ADHD. Far from perfect, but definitely noticeable. If autism has a similar cause, stimulants would likely impact autistic symptoms to a greater extent than they do.

Aimless wrote:
I am diagnosed with ADD/Inattentive, although the diagnostic process was just 2 or 3 questions and the decision to see if meds worked. Also there were no questions about how I am socially. The meds help but definitely do not fix. The way they help is I can sort things in my mind more easily, i.e. decide which should take precedence when I'm getting ready for work and it also helps keep me from getting irritated from overload. They only help to a degree though. I still have big problems with starting things and then transitioning from them. I'm still easily exhausted from mundane daily activities. I have had to switch to Strattera (non-stimulant) because after years on Ritalin and Concerta I developed severe facial tics. Incidentally, For what it's worth, re: Moog's ball game, I would definitely not be cheering and rooting. I am too detached for that.


I am diagnosed with both ADHD-PI (but I have at least 4-5 H/I symptoms and find the idea that I am not hyperactive at all to be downright laughable) and AS, and I take Ritalin. I used to self-medicate myself with ephedra, which made it a lot easier for me to do some things. Stimulants have never helped me with transitions - my inertia is actually more intense on them. But they help with a lot of other things and I can get things done as long as I can get started on them while the stimulant is in effect.



Moog
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 25 Feb 2010
Age: 45
Gender: Male
Posts: 17,671
Location: Untied Kingdom

23 Jan 2012, 8:51 am

I have the inertia. Not physically hyperactive, but I tend to be internally hyperactive, if that makes any sense; my legs often jiggle like crazy. But I'm not running around climbing walls.


_________________
Not currently a moderator


Ganondox
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 7 Oct 2011
Age: 28
Gender: Male
Posts: 5,777
Location: USA

23 Jan 2012, 8:59 am

I was referring to just ADHD.


_________________
Cinnamon and sugary
Softly Spoken lies
You never know just how you look
Through other people's eyes

Autism FAQs http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt186115.html


Mdyar
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 28 May 2009
Age: 59
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,516

23 Jan 2012, 9:09 am

Ganondox wrote:
I was referring to just ADHD.

The executive functioning is the core problem with ADHD, and we know that this is secondary with autism. There is a difference though, between the nature of the two.
They start to depart from there.

Is this coincidental?



Sora
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 15 Sep 2006
Gender: Female
Posts: 4,906
Location: Europe

23 Jan 2012, 9:19 am

I'm not sure I understand what inertia is about but I do not think I have it?

I don't have the typical difficulty of people with ADHD to do boring and repetitive tasks. I do not enjoy most repetitive tasks that much despite my autism but I just get over with them and it's not much harder than doing other things. Doing things I like is just as hard, I don't seem to have the ability to "hyperfocus" on interesting topics and fun activities.

I wish I had it because being able to successfully focus just like that on things I like does sound pretty awesome. On the other hand, if inertia's basically the downside that comes with the ability to hyperfocus then it's probably not much better to have than what I experience.


_________________
Autism + ADHD
______
The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it. Terry Pratchett


dr01dguy
Toucan
Toucan

User avatar

Joined: 15 Nov 2011
Age: 50
Gender: Male
Posts: 295

23 Jan 2012, 11:20 am

My personal take (AS+ADD, treated w/50mg/day Dexedrine IR or Adderall IR)

no meds: aimlessly drift through day staring blankly at wall & enjoying it immensely.

low dose: can focus on my obsessive special interest of the day/week/month.

current high dose: can focus on uninteresting & boring tasks as long as I'm working on them when the amphetamines kick in, and nothing forcibly derails me. As a practical matter, just about anything that isn't my current OSI is going to seem uninteresting & boring. ;-)

I have a huge 'inertia' problem. Forced change doesn't cause anxiety & fear; it's more like frustration & anger. I like novelty, as long as it's recreational & I'm firmly in control (ie, firmly medicated). Throw novelty at me when I'm under work stress (or about to miss a plane, or the amphetamines are wearing off, etc), and watch me go into pre-meltdown.


_________________
Your Aspie score: 170 of 200 · Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 34 of 200 · You are very likely an Aspie [ AQ=41, EQ=11, SQ=45, SQ-R=77; FQ=38 ]


Verdandi
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 7 Dec 2010
Age: 55
Gender: Female
Posts: 12,275
Location: University of California Sunnydale (fictional location - Real location Olympia, WA)

23 Jan 2012, 11:38 am

Sora wrote:
I'm not sure I understand what inertia is about but I do not think I have it?


This article explains it in detail:

http://archive.autistics.org/library/inertia.html



Aimless
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 1 Apr 2009
Age: 67
Gender: Female
Posts: 8,187

23 Jan 2012, 1:56 pm

So what exactly are the specific differences in executive dysfunction in AS? I apologize if this has been answered before. I missed it.


_________________
Detach ed


EXPECIALLY
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 20 Oct 2011
Age: 40
Gender: Female
Posts: 701

23 Jan 2012, 4:26 pm

AspieDa wrote:
I have AS and ADD not ADHD I was always the kid who was lost in the clouds. Never ever hyper. I don't agree with lumping all attention deficits together as ADD is nothing like ADHD.


I was DXed with ADHD, (hyperactive type0. It's all called ADHD, now.

I am hyper AND i live on my own planet. We may not seem foggy. but we're "in the clouds" too.

Or at the very least detached from reality, in my case.

I have a lot of issues with dissociation and always have, that may be more of an AS thing but I've also always been hyper.


_________________
AD/HD BAP.

HDTV...

Whatever.


Sora
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 15 Sep 2006
Gender: Female
Posts: 4,906
Location: Europe

23 Jan 2012, 4:28 pm

Verdandi wrote:
Sora wrote:
I'm not sure I understand what inertia is about but I do not think I have it?


This article explains it in detail:

http://archive.autistics.org/library/inertia.html


Thanks Verdandi, I found other articles but they only confused me.

This cleared some things up and I still don't think I have it (but I'm not entirely sure).


_________________
Autism + ADHD
______
The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it. Terry Pratchett


theaspiemusician
Deinonychus
Deinonychus

User avatar

Joined: 14 Dec 2011
Age: 27
Gender: Female
Posts: 384
Location: The Cosmos

23 Jan 2012, 10:27 pm

I have both...well more accurately ADD and Asperger's, I'm unnaturally calm but I have the attention span of a squirrel.


_________________
Empathy Quotient Test Score: 63
Hmmm...interesting. Shows what you know about Aspies, doesn't it rofl?

"One pill makes you larger and one pill makes you small but the pills that mother gives you don't do anything at all"


dancing_penguin
Pileated woodpecker
Pileated woodpecker

User avatar

Joined: 6 Jul 2011
Age: 39
Gender: Female
Posts: 178
Location: out of the loop

23 Jan 2012, 10:41 pm

theaspiemusician wrote:
I have both...well more accurately ADD and Asperger's, I'm unnaturally calm but I have the attention span of a squirrel.


This squirrel?
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1tdfucQfCo[/youtube]


_________________
Beware of geeks bearing gifts.


Verdandi
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 7 Dec 2010
Age: 55
Gender: Female
Posts: 12,275
Location: University of California Sunnydale (fictional location - Real location Olympia, WA)

23 Jan 2012, 10:54 pm

Aimless wrote:
So what exactly are the specific differences in executive dysfunction in AS? I apologize if this has been answered before. I missed it.


Something I posted awhile back:

Verdandi wrote:
I know "executive function" is not a very precise term, although some researchers have been trying to define it more thoroughly in recent years. However, I've had the feeling that autism presents a lot of impairments that aren't specifically described in the criteria or necessarily clearly elucidated in one place, so I've been looking for something that might help identify where and how these executive function impairments might exist.

Unfortunately, the research I did find was done in 1996 and collated numerous earlier studies, so there's a lot of research since that may have an effect on their conclusions. Even so, it was rather interesting:

http://www.du.edu/psychology/dnrl/Execu ... %20and.pdf

It covers ADHD, Conduct Disorder, Autism, and Tourette's Syndrome. I focused on the autism. I can't copy/paste text from the paper itself, but the abstract says:

Quote:
In this paper, we consider the domain of executive functions (EFs) and their possible role in developmental psychopathologies. We first consider general theoretical and measurement issues involved in studying EFs and then review studies of EFs in four developmental psychopathologies: attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), conduct disorder (CD), autism, and Tourette syndrome (TS). Our review reveals that EF deficits are consistently found in both ADHD and autism but not in CD (without ADHD) or in TS. Moreover, both the severity and profile of EF deficits appears to differ across ADHD and autism. Molar EF deficits are more severe in the latter than the former. In the few studies of more specific EF tasks, there are impairments in motor inhibition in ADHD but not in autism, whereas there are impairments in verbal working memory in autism but not ADHD. We close with a discussion of implications for future research.


What I noticed here is the verbal working memory impairment. I have tested with a very low verbal working memory, and I have been trying to figure out what it means, if anything.

This bit got my attention at the end of the paper (Implications for Future Research):

Quote:
In the two disorders (Autism, ADHD) with severe EF (executive function) deficits, both the severity and profile of such deficits is distinct for each disorder. More severe deficits relative to IQ matched controls are found in autism than in ADHD on molar EF tasks.


It would take me forever to transcribe enough, but basically: Hyperactivity and impulsiveness are characteristic in ADHD, perseveration and deficits in verbal working memory are characteristic in Autism, but there's a wide range of deficits for both.

One of the problems with the research for autistic EF deficits that they drew upon is that the majority of them did not screen anyone for whether they fit the criteria for ADHD (and the prevailing belief was that an autistic person who had ADHD just had autistic symptoms that mimicked ADHD).

I actually did not expect the paper to say that autism had more severe executive functioning deficits than ADHD, but I am not actually surprised. I would love to see more modern research on all of this.


From this thread:

http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt166483.html



Last edited by Verdandi on 23 Jan 2012, 11:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Aimless
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 1 Apr 2009
Age: 67
Gender: Female
Posts: 8,187

23 Jan 2012, 11:05 pm

Thanks Verdandi :)
I am not impulsive at all and my working memory is poor for the written word and particularly bad for numbers. The best way I can remember a string of numbers is to remember them as sounds and not think of them visually. I'll read the links when I'm a little less tired. Thanks again for responding.


_________________
Detach ed


Verdandi
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 7 Dec 2010
Age: 55
Gender: Female
Posts: 12,275
Location: University of California Sunnydale (fictional location - Real location Olympia, WA)

24 Jan 2012, 5:33 am

Aimless wrote:
Thanks Verdandi :)
I am not impulsive at all and my working memory is poor for the written word and particularly bad for numbers. The best way I can remember a string of numbers is to remember them as sounds and not think of them visually. I'll read the links when I'm a little less tired. Thanks again for responding.


Here's more recent information (more links/pdfs at the bottom of the page):

http://asdculture.wikispaces.com/Executive+Functioning

This is kfisherx' page.